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Opinion
Tadej Pogacar has won a drama-packed Tour of Flanders, winning in a breakaway with Matieu van der Poel second, Mads Pedersen third and Wout Van Aert fourth.
Pogacar who came second in 2022’s edition to van der Poel, claimed revenge by winning the Tour of Flanders in 2023.
With 6 cobbled sections and 19 climbs, the 273.4km classic saw a drama-packed race with crashes and cross winds playing havoc in the race.
2022 winner and Alpecin-Deceuninck cyclist Mathieu van der Poel, Jumbo Visma’s Wout Van Aert and UAE Team Emirates’s Tadej Pogacar were seen as the three main contenders for the one-day classic.
With two early crashes, one leaving Intermarché-Circus-Wanty cyclist Taco van der Hoorn having to leave the race and head to the hospital after a hard fall.
Another crash with 141km to go saw the majority of the peloton taken down. Bahrain Victorious’ Filip Maciejuk tried to ride a path before going into grass, losing control and swinging into the peloton. Maciejuk was disqualified from the race not long after the crash and has since apologised for the crash.
The crash saw UAE Team Emirates’ Tim Wellens, Movistar’s Oier Lazenko and TotalEnergies’ Peter Sagan retire from the race due to injury with many team leaders such as Soudal Quick-Step’s Julian Alaphilippe and Bora-Hansgrohe’s Shane Archibold also involved in the crash.
Riders were also crashing on elsewhere with TotalEnergies’ Thomas Bonnet and EF Education-Easypost’s Neilson Powless crashing in separate incidents, but both continued with Powless coming in an impressive fifth.
A touch of wheels saw another crash with 71km left saw Bahrain Victorious’s Matej Mohoric, Intermarché-Circus-Wanty’s Aime De Gendt and Biniam Girimay involved in the crash which left all three retiring from the race.
With 55km to go, van der Poel, Van Aert and Pogacar joined to chase down the leading groups before going on to lead themselves. Pogacar attacked with Van der Poel not far behind and Van Aert further behind.
Pogacar’s determination saw him attack and lead for 16kms, extending the lead from 15 seconds with 15km to go to 25 seconds with 7km to go to win by 16 seconds.
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