The image will undoubtedly remain in the history of this 108th edition of the Tour of Flanders. Dozens of runners at a standstill, forced to dismount during the climb of Koppenberg and at the front, 45 kilometers from the finish, Mathieu van der Poel ready to fly to victory.
On this slope, 600 meters long at an average of 11%, one of the most difficult of the event, almost all of the riders present at the front of the race had to get off the bike to succeed in reaching the top. difficulty. The road, narrow and straight, was also very wet this Sunday due to the rain falling on Belgium.
Result: Ivan Garcia Cortina, the last escape in the lead until then, was easily recaptured and the other favorites of the day, including Mads Pedersen and Dylan Teuns, were left behind.
🚴 #RVV24 | 🚀 Mathieu van der Poel flies into the terrible Koppenberg!
Impressive images as several runners are forced to dismount!
đź“ş Follow the live: https://t.co/gyQwOjMoHd pic.twitter.com/yTXB4c85iA
— francetvsport (@francetvsport) March 31, 2024
At the front of this leading pack, we found the big favorite of the day: Mathieu Van der Poel. If he was unbalanced for a moment in the last meters of the climb, the Dutchman clearly did not need to stop. Very skilled thanks to his practice of cyclo-cross, the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider took the opportunity to widen the gap with his competitors.
Behind, only Matteo Jorgenson (Visma - Lease a Bike) seemed to be able to catch Van der Poel's pace for a while. But 40 km from the finish, the Dutchman did not want to wait for his competitors and started off alone.