It starts with a foot. Spaniard Ivan Garcia Cortina is alone in the lead in the Tour of Flanders when he feels his rear wheel slipping on the Koppenberg. To avoid falling, his foot goes to the ground. More will follow soon. Behind him, almost the entire peloton of professional cyclists has to get off their bikes, as the combination of slippery stones and a steep slope proves impossible.
There are only three riders who can continue cycling. The front of them: Mathieu van der Poel.
It is his experience as a cyclo-cross rider and mountain biker that will serve Van der Poel in the decisive phase during this rainy edition of the Tour of Flanders. He has already become world champion in the field six times. The slide of the Koppenberg must have felt familiar to him. The rest of the peloton will not see him again until the finish.
It is now a safe bet to bet on a good classification for the Dutchman in the Tour of Flanders. In the five times he participated, he won twice and came second twice. His worst performance was a fourth-place finish on his debut in 2019.
Yet the way in which Van der Poel achieved his third victory in the Flemish monument on Easter Sunday is special again. He wants to make a difference early on, he will say after the match. So when he emerges alone on the Koppenberg, with 45 long kilometers still to go through the gray, rain-soaked Flemish landscape, he decides to take a chance.
More than a minute ahead
An hour later, Van der Poel comes across the finish line alone, with more than a minute's lead. That's how exhausting the race has been for him. There is gray ooze on his calves, his white rainbow jersey (which he is allowed to wear as world champion) is stained brown. Van der Poel grimaces, sticks out his tongue, and then stops just over the finish line. He just has the energy to lift his bike into the air and celebrate his victory. Immediately after the finish he calls it the toughest edition he has ever cycled.
Van der Poel is only the seventh rider in history to win the Belgian spring classic for the third time. He was the big favorite beforehand, especially after other favorites such as Wout van Aert and Mads Pedersen had a hard fall last Wednesday in Dwars door Vlaanderen, a preparation race.
It is already the fifth monument, one of the five largest and oldest one-day races, that the Dutchman has won. In addition to three victories in Flanders, Van der Poel was also the best in Milan-Sanremo and Paris-Roubaix last year. Later this spring he wants to attempt to win Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
Behind the winner, second and third places went to Michael Matthews and Luca Mozzato. But Matthews was later disqualified due to a maneuver during the final sprint. As a result, Mozzato moved up to second place, third place went to Nils Politt.
For the Dutch team Visma-Lease a Bike it was an edition to quickly forget. After Van Aert's loss last week, things also went wrong in the Tour of Flanders itself: due to equipment failure and a slow bike change, Belgian Tiesj Benoot missed out on a podium spot.
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