The 104th edition of Flanders’ Most Beautiful has a denouement that will resonate for a long time to come. A duel between the tenors Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert and Julian Alaphilippe was decimated after an unfortunate fall of the French world champion, after which Van der Poel showed himself the better in a sprint against Van Aert. The difference? A few inches.
The 104th Tour of Flanders in a nutshell:
- Key moment: Julian Alaphilippe was a very good student on his debut and also gave a playful and eager impression, but his dream burst after an unfortunate encounter with a motard.
- Winner of the day: Mathieu van der Poel puts his name on the honors list, but we can hardly label Wout van Aert as a loser. He can be very proud of the corona season he shook out of his thighs.
- Remarkable: At the end of the day, we are all winners. The riders have offered the cycling fans a great final, the organization delivered professional work and the population clearly understood the message to stay at home.
Alaphilippe forces the selection
Would Flanders also become Julian Alaphilippe’s playground? The world champion gave the answer on the Koppenberg with a first tease.
Yes, was his convincing reply and a second chapter followed on the Stationsberg.
Alaphilippe stormed down and got a wide awake Mathieu van der Poel with him.
Those who wanted to win the Tour had to get up just before the Taaienberg. Wout van Aert had set his alarm clock and joined 40 kilometers from the finish.
World champion bumps into motorcyclist and is eliminated
The corona version of the Tour of Flanders thus got its dream final, even though we had to wait a long time for it.
The 104th edition of the Tour was locked for a particularly long time, but when the door was hammered open, big names such as Pedersen, Bettiol and Naesen had to bow their heads (quite) quickly.
Anyone who then thought that the three of us would go to the last pair of Oude Kwaremont-Paterberg, was disappointed by a dramatic turnaround at 35 kilometers from the finish.
Van Aert opted for the slipstream of a descending motorcyclist, Van der Poel was just alert enough to perform an evasive maneuver, a communicating Alaphilippe crashed into the unexpected obstacle.
Van der Poel screams after nail biter
The world champion lay groaning for minutes in pain: his Tour was over, the 2 birds were now completely flying.
On the last bumps, the titans remained obediently together as bosom friends. The nerve-racking denouement would fall in Oudenaarde and the plea was settled in a millimeter sprint.
Van der Poel took care of Van Aert professionally, our fellow countryman was never completely equal to his Dutch rival.
On the line the difference was only a band thickness, but for the duo this division after a true thriller of course makes a world of difference. Van der Poel on 1, Van Aert on 2 and the eternal outsider Kristoff on 3.
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