Dwars door Vlaanderen 2021

Dylan van Baarle atop the Dwars door Vlaanderen podium with Christophe Laporte and Tim Merlier

Dylan van Baarle atop the Dwars door Vlaanderen podium with Christophe Laporte and Tim Merlier (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)

Van Baarle parlays 50km solo attack into Dwars door Vlaanderen victory

Dylan van Baarle (Ineos Grenadiers) won his team's first WorldTour one day race since 2017, taking out Dwars door Vlaanderen with a massive solo attack that spanned over 50 kilometres.

It was a fast edition, covering 184km in less than four hours in temperatures more suited to midsummer than late March. The heat withered pre-race favourites Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) and Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep).

But Van Baarle, who chased behind the leaders in the E3 Saxo Bank and Gent-Wevelgem Classics, opted to push his chips early and go away solo. The chasing group featured Classics favourites like Greg Van Avermaet (AG2R Citroën) and powerhouses Victor Campenaerts (Qhubeka-Assos) and Luke Durbridge (BikeExchange) but even working together they could not being the flying Dutchman back.

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Dwars door Vlaanderen 2021 brief results
Pos.Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Ineos Grenadiers 3:58:59
2Christophe Laporte (Fra) Cofidis 0:00:26
3Tim Merlier (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix
4Yves Lampaert (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
5Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal
6Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
7Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) AG2R Citroën Team
8Anthony Turgis (Fra) Total Direct Energie
9Florian Senechal (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep
10Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo

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