2024-03-31 16:12:36
By winning the queen of Belgian classics for the third and second time this Sunday March 31, the Dutchman and the Italian join the club of record men and record women for victory in the event.
Achiel Buysse, Fiorenzo Magni, Eric Leman, Johan Museeuw, Tom Boonen, Fabian Cancellara. And, now, Mathieu van der Poel. By lifting his bike at arm’s length on the finish line in Oudenaarde this Sunday March 31, the Dutch rider, world champion jersey on his shoulders, entered his name on the list as tight as it is prestigious of those who have won the Tour of Flanders three times, the queen of Belgian classics. At 29, he still has time to dream of a historic quadruple.
Mathieu van der Poel did not tremble, he who was announced as the overwhelming favorite. For his history in the race (only once off the podium, 4th, for his first participation) and his intrinsic qualities, of course. But also because the competition had considerably diminished since the withdrawal of his eternal rival, the Belgian Wout van Aert, injured during a fall on Wednesday in the Across Flanders race. Victim of the same gadin, Mads Pedersen was well aligned this Sunday, the scars covered by bandages, his state of form uncertain.
Perhaps because he had little left to lose, he who judged that he could only win if he was at 100%, the Dane was the first great leader of the race. More than 100 km from the finish, he attacked Van der Poel several times before running away, certainly supported by Gianni Vermeersch, a teammate of the Dutchman. Who never seemed to panic, maintaining a reasonable gap with Pedersen before coming to pick him up in Old Kwaremont, the legendary mountain of the Tour of Flanders, 55 km from the finish.
The decision was made on another sacred climb, the Koppenberg, named after the “kinderkoppen”, “children’s heads” in Flemish slang, these rounded cobblestones with a thousand traps, especially when the rain falls on their skulls. This was the case this Sunday and the muddy berg, 45 kilometers from the finish, turned into a station of the cross: most of the favorites were forced to dismount and climb while pushing their bikes, as in a test cyclocross. And to watch Mathieu van der Poel fly away, expert in this discipline of muddy undergrowth, one of the few to have remained in the saddle. His first pursuers will arrive 1 minute after him.
Among the women, who arrived after the men, it was also a historic victory since Elisa Longo Borghini won her second Tour of Flanders. No one has done better since the introduction, 20 years ago, of this Monument on the women’s circuit. The 32-year-old Italian joins Mirjiam Melchers, Judith Arndt, Annemiek van Vleuten and Lotte Kopecy in the club of double winners of the “Ronde”.
To build her success, the winner of Paris-Roubaix 2022 managed to escape in the Paterberg from a group of favorites 15 km from the finish in the company of the Polish Katharzyna Niewiadoma. Two terminals further, the tandem caught up with Shirin van Anrooij, teammate of Longo Borghini who had started at the forefront. Of this trio, the Italian was the fastest and it was logical that she won in the sprint.
#Mathieu #van #der #Poel #Elisa #Longo #Borghini #join #greatest #Flemish #masters #Libération