In Flanders Fields: Jasper Philipsen clinches bunch sprint victory as spectacular late breakaway by Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert collapses close to the line

Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) was the fastest in a reduced group to take a commanding sprint victory, and his 60th career win, at In Flanders Fields - From Middelkerke to Wevelgem on Sunday.

The Belgian was part of what was left of the main field that caught a breakaway that included his teammate Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) and late-arrival Alec Segaert (Bahrain-Victorious) in the final few hundred metres of the race that led into the final gallop to the finish line.

"60 wins is a good number, one I've been chasing for a long time, this race has been one I've been wanting to win for many years but never had the legs in the end," Philipsen said later.

"Everything came together today, and I was able to take the victory."

He then explained the late-race tactics, "With Mathieu on the front, it was an ideal situation for the team. Already, some kilometres before the finale, he said he didn't have the best legs because of Friday. But if you can still ride away with two in the end, his legs weren't too bad." Adding to that, he said, "From the past, I knew the finish was long and difficult to have fresh legs, but that's what I needed today to get the win."

Philipsen launched his sprint off a teammate's wheel on the left side of the road and crossed the line ahead of Tobias Lund Andersen (Decathlong CMA CGM), with Christophe Laporte (Visma-Lease a Bike) taking third place on the day.

Fans were treated to a one-on-one battle between two of the sport's most popular Classics riders, Van Aert and Van der Poel, as the pair raced into Ypres after launching themselves off the front of the race over the decisive Kemmelberg-Ossuaire.

They appeared to be swapping pulls equally well and worked together on the roads toward the finish line - met by cheering crowds along the way - but as they reached the final 10km, only 25 seconds separated them from a reduced peloton.

Faced with strong winds and an eager peloton, their gap was slashed to just 12 seconds with 4km remaining. With the two leaders in sight, Segaert bravely launched out of the reduced field and bridged across, and then tucked in on the back of the now three-rider breakaway.

Ineos Grenadiers, Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe and Decathlon CMA CGM all sent the riders to the front of the reduced field in one last attempt to close the gap.

Upfront, Segaert jumped off of Van Aert's and Van der Poel's wheel in a solo attempt, and while he gained a small gap, all three were reabsorbed into the peloton, led by Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers), inside the final few hundred metres of the race.

Decathlon CMA CGM and Alpecin-Premier Tech led the race onto the final straight away and into a drag race between Andresen and Philipsen, with the Belgian taking the victory.

How it unfolded

In Flanders Fields - From Middelkerke to Wevelgem, formerly Gent-Wevelgem took the peloton on a 240.8km demanding parcours into Wevelgem.

It wasn't long before an early breakaway formed that included Julius Johansen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Victor Vercouillie (Flanders-Baloise), Camille Charret (Cofidis) and Wessel Mouris (Unibet Rose Rockets), with another four bridging across: Dries De Bondt (Jayco AlUla), Frits Biesterbos (Picnic PostNL), Jules Hesters (Flanders-Baloise), and Hartthijs de Vries (Unibet Rose Rockets).

The eight riders pushed their lead to more than five minutes over the chasing field, which later split into three groups on the roads through the De Moeren.

Alpecin-Premier Tech added pressure to the main field that had been reduced to about 45 riders, and among those were Van der Poel and Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Van Aert and Laporte (Visma-Lease a Bike), Gianni Vermeersch (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe), Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep), Florian Vermeersch (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Matteo Trentin (Tudor Pro Cycling).

Vermeersch and Laporte were the first to attack out of that reduced field and made contact with the early breakaway riders over the Baneberg (1km at 7.1%) with 100km to go. But their efforts were short-lived, and they were reeled in by the main field that had merged back together in the approach to the Monteberg (1km at 5%).

The breakaway of eight hit the first of three times over the Kemmelberg-Belvedère (0.4km at 10%), and although Hesters was distanced, they managed to push their lead back out to a minute.

Ben Turner (Ineos Grenadiers) surged over the climb, while the main field bottlenecked and was forced to a stop on the steeper sections. A small group then joined the British rider, but they were reabsorbed into the field. Florian Sénéchal (Alpecin-Premier Tech) led the next split off the field, but that too was given no leeway.

Several splits in the main field, once again, left a reduced group chasing the seven breakaway riders, who continued to hold onto 45 seconds with 65km to go.

Van Aert and Van der Poel launch searing attacks on the Kemmelberg

It was Wout van Aert's attack on the second time over the Kemmelberg-Belvedère (0.4km à 10%) that lit up this year's In Flanders Fields with 58km to go.

The searing attack over the steep slopes of the climb forced a reaction from Van der Poel and Florian Vermeersch, with all three bridging across the breakaway, which had already split apart before the crest of the ascent.

Van der Poel, Van Aert and Florian Vermeesch led the new breakaway with tired legs from the remnants of the original move: De Bondt, Biesterbos, de Vries and Johansen.

It was no surprise to see Johansen struggling to hang onto the blistering pace in the breakaway, and he was distanced over the Baneberg (1km at 7.1%)

Now only seven riders up front, Van der Poel led the breakaway into the Kemmelberg-Ossuaire (0.8km at 9.7%), with Van Aert on his wheel, followed by Florian Vermeersch, Biesterbos, De Bondt, De Cries and Mouris, who were ultimately dropped.

Van der Poel put in a massive attack on the upper slopes of the Kemmelberg-Ossuaire, and even Van Aert struggled to follow. Vermeersch was completely distanced by the time they reached the top.

Van der Poel and Van Aert reconnected over the crest of the climb and continued through the narrow, twisting roads to form an uneasy alliance with just 30km remaining in the race.

De Bondt, Biesteros, De Vries and Mouris' day-long effort came to an end when they were caught by the chasing field with 21km to go.

The two leaders appeared to be evenly trading off pulls as they entered Ypres to lines of cheering fans out to watch the men's and women's top-tier races on Sunday, Florian Vermeersch still hanging on just 10 seconds behind. But finally he was caught by the field, as the race for the day's victory continued up the road, seemingly between Van Aert and Van der Poel, hanging onto a precarious half a minute.

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