Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) conquered the cobbled climbs of E3 Saxo Classic for the victory for a second consecutive year, and in the process also won the battle with his top competitors, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates).
Van der Poel attacked at the front of the race with 60km to go and only Van Aert and Pogačar could match his efforts. It was then Pogačar who tried a final attack with 3.5km to race, but he was left in the wake of the Belgian winner and the Dutchman taking second.
E3 Saxo Classic returns to the Flemish Ardennes on Friday, March 24, and officially ushers in the 'Holy Week' of Flemish cycling. The one-day cobbled Classic began in 1958 as the E3 Harelbeke and was held on a Saturday. The race took its name from an old motorway, that is now called the E17, and it used to be known as E3-Harelbeke, which is the town where it starts and finishes. The name changed slightly across the decades, and settled on the current title in 2012 when the race gained its WorldTour designation.
It was also in 2012 that Belgian Tom Boonen won his record fifth, and final, title. He had previously won four consecutive races, 2004-2007. Belgian Rik Van Looy is next in line with four victories, taken between 1964 and 1969. Two riders have won a trio of times, Dutchman Jan Raas in succession from 1979 to 1981 and then Swiss star Fabian Cancellara between 2010-2013.
The race was cancelled in 2020 due to the coronavirus global pandemic, but returned for the last two years, Kasper Asgreen (Deceuninck-QuickStep) winning in 2021 and Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) winning ahead of teammate Christophe Laporte in 2022. Van Aert attacked along with Laporte over the Paterberg climb with 40km to go and time trialled to the one-two finish in Harelbeke.
Often described as a mini Tour of Flanders as it borrows much of the same parcours as De Ronde, the E3 Saxo Classic route heads into the Flemish Ardennes to tackle some of the most famous cobbles and climbs.
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