After 253 kilometers on the bicycle seat, Mads Pedersen and Mathieu van der Poel were to make up for the victory in Sunday’s Gent-Wevelgem.
Pedersen led the way and opened the sprint with 300 meters to go. Van der Poel was on the wheel for a long time, before he tried to pass, but quickly had to give up and Pedersen could thus celebrate the second victory of his career in the race.
16 seconds later came a larger field, where Jordi Meeus (Bora-hansgrohe) was fastest and secured third place.
– How confident was it on your sprint?
– Not sure. On the one hand, I had to believe in my sprint because we couldn’t attack, then the field would catch us, but with the form Mathieu has shown lately, it was also hard to fully believe in it. It was a risk. I took the front [på siste kilometer] because I knew Mathieu had [Jasper] Philipsen in the field, so I had to keep up the speed and hope I had the legs for the sprint, said Pedersen in the victory interview shown on Eurosport.
The victory was well-deserved after Lidl-Trek rode as the best team in today’s race.
Van der Poel, who took a superior victory in Friday’s E3 Saxo Classic, blasted the field for the first time up Kemmelberg, with 86 kilometers to go, but the tight group of seven included Pedersen, Jonathan Milan and Jasper Stuyven.
Lidl-Trek was quick to send out Milan, which ensured that Van der Poel, along with Rasmus Tiller (Uno-X Mobility), Tim van Dijk (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Laurence Pithie (Groupama-FDJ) had to the job.
THE COLLABORATION: Pedersen and Van der Poel worked together to keep the field behind them. Photo: Cor Vos
This meant that Van der Poel had a lot of time in the wind and had to use his strength, but the Dutchman was as usual offensive, and gradually thinned out the group, when an increase in speed ensured that both Tiller and Van Dijk disappeared from the group.
At the same time, Stuyven had a puncture, and thus eventually only Pedersen, Van der Poel, Milan and Pithie remained in front.
The third and final time up Kemmelberg, 33 kilometers from the finish, Pedersen showed his strength, when he took the front and Van der Poel had to dig deep to keep up, while Pithie was driven off.
The duo cooperated well against Wevelgem, but in the field, among others, Tim Merlier’s Soudal – Quick Step had mobilized to try to gather it into a sprint, but ultimately did not succeed.
No results for Uno-X
Uno-X Mobility started the race with bad news: Alexander Kristoff had to sit out the race due to illness. The 36-year-old caught a cold after last weekend’s Milan-Sanremo.
However, Rasmus Tiller picked up the glove and it looked very promising as the 27-year-old followed just behind Pedersen and Van der Poel co. the first time up Kemmelberg, and afterwards got up to them.
SIT WITH: It looked promising when Rasmus Tiller managed to follow this group after Kemmelberg. Photo: Cor Vos
But when Van der Poel attacked on one of the gravel sectors 15 kilometers later, Tiller sat at the back of the group and was caught on the bed. Thus he was unhooked, and was eventually driven into the field.
With 50 kilometers to go, Tiller was also involved in a rollover, but apparently escaped it well.
Together with Jonas Abrahamsen, he was part of the field that was fighting for third place, but the duo had little to contend with in the sprint.
In the end, Abrahamsen finished in 20th place and Tiller in 23rd place.