Tour of Flanders: an outsider gives up, scares for Pogacar and van der Poel (Direct, 2 p.m.)

The Bahrain formation took advantage of the side wind to accelerate more than 200 kilometers from the finish and create breaks. Wout van Aert made the effort to recover in extremis while Mathieu van der Poel let himself be surprised. The Dutchman’s group was up to 45 seconds behind before making the connection at the cost of a big effort, in particular for his best lieutenant: Kragh Andersen, sacrificed very early in the event. A runner was never going to return, on the other hand: Valentin Madouas, ill, was forced to abandon. The Frenchman finished third last season.

A few kilometers further, a fall created breaks in the peloton and Tadej Pogacar let himself be surprised this time. He too had to use his teammates to reintegrate into the first peloton, in which the fight to take the right breakaway was not yet over.

140 kilometers from the finish, just before the first ascent of Vieux Kwaremont, a terrible fall threw around fifty runners to the ground. Including Tim Wellens, forced to retire, and Wout van Aert, who was able to start again quickly.

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