Dwars door Vlaanderen: Van der Poel wins first WorldTour race

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Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon-Circus) took the first road WorldTour win of his career at Dwars door Vlaanderen with a convincing win ahead of Anthony Turgis (Direct Energie) and Bob Jungels (Deceuninck-QuickStep) rounding out the podium.

The trio were part of a five-man break that came into the finish after the main field had failed in their attempt to mount a chase. Van der Poel watched as Turgis opened up the sprint inside the final 250 meters before unleashing his own kick as the line approached. The Dutch national champion, who had been instrumental in forming the winning break with a series of early attacks, had no opposition in the end. He came around Turgis, with Jungels finishing a distant third.

"I had to make sure that nobody came from behind, I just looked when Turgis went. I felt there was a sprint in my legs and I just finished it off," the 24-year-old winner said at the finish.

The victory was confirmation that Van der Poel's form was unaffected by a hard crash two weeks ago in the sprint finish to Nokere Koerse, but he still played down his chances for a top finish in the Tour of Flanders on Sunday.

"It wasn't a special moment when I crashed the other week it's a very hard race. This was a very hard race too, only 180km today but this Sunday we go nearly 100km more. I don't see myself as a favourite for Sunday yet, we'll see what happens," he said modestly.

The top three finishers were part of a group of five that formed with Tiesj Benoot (Lotto Soudal) and Lukas Pöstlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe) on and over the top of the Knokteberg, when Jungels and Benoot attacked on the climb to bridge over to van der Poel, Pöstlberger, and Turgis.

By that point Van der Poel had already attacked, kicking clear with over 60km to go and bringing a selection of riders with him. He and his companions quickly caught the remnants of the day's early break, with the Corendon-Circus rider playing a pivotal role in as several of the pre-race favourites were left behind.

"It was an instinctive moment really Garcia Cortina reacted and I went with him. I think it was a perfect moment to anticipate everyone else," van der Poel said.

With the bunch able to hold Van der Poel's group at under a minute Benoot and Jungels attacked together and bridged over. After a fast descent, a new lead group had formed with Van der Poel, Benoot, Jungels, Turgis and Pöstlberger creating the winning selection.

Several riders, including Gianni Moscon (Team Sky) and Arnaud Demare (FDJ), attempted to make the juncture but with such firepower up ahead they were unable to make contact. Even on the final climbs of the Vossenhol and the Nokereberg, a determined chase from FDJ proved futile.

The five leaders worked tirelessly as they built a lead of over a minute, with Jungels kicking twice as he looked to shell the weaker riders from the group. However, even Pöstlberger, who had been in the first move of the day, held firm, and as the leaders swung around the final corner it was Turgis who attacked first.

The 24-year-old's attack was well-timed but he lacked the finishing kick to distance van der Poel with the Dutch rider first on his wheel. By the time van der Poel came through on the right the win was virtually guaranteed.

An early break and a race stopped

With a number of high-profile Classics riders choosing to skip Dwars door Vlaanderen as they prepared for the Tour of Flanders, it fell on others to shine in one of Belgium's most underrated mid-week WorldTour races.

Jonas Koch (CCC Team), Nelson Oliveira (Movistar), Ramon Sinkeldam (Groupama-FDJ), Zhandos Bizjigitov (Astana), Lukas Pöstlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe), Michael Hepburn (Mitchelton-Scott), Kris Boeckmans (Vital Concept-B&B Hotels) and Mihkel Räim (Israel Cycling Academy) formed the early break inside the opening phases of the race, and they built up a lead of around three minutes.

The peloton rose from their slumber inside the final 80km but they were soon at a standstill when race officials were forced to neutralize the race just before the Kluisberg. By the time the break was allowed to start riding again, their impetus - and Pöstlberger, who was given a motorbike tow after missing the restart - was lost.

Soon after an eager van der Poel kicked clear with Asgreen, Garcia Cortina, De Bondt and Turgis Knokteberg and by the time the Dutch rider's group had crested the Tainenberg he had only Cortina Garcia and Turgis for company. Up ahead, Oliveira dropped his companions, and with 48km to go the Movistar rider lead the race from van der Poel's group and the chasing peloton.

Six kilometres later and van der Poel's group had merged with the first break, while Oliveira still held a slender lead. Jumbo-Visma, Team Sky and Lotto Soudal kept the bunch within touching distance and it looked as though van der Poel's efforts would be in vain when the race reached the foot of the Knokteberg and the gap was down to just 15 seconds.

Jungels and Benoot looked to capitalize, with stinging attacks that brought them to within touching distance of the leaders.

On the descent, Pöstlberger linked up with Oliveira, but the Movistar rider would suffer a mechanical, and with 25km to go, Jungels, van der Poel, Turgis, Benoot and the soon caught Pöstlberger, created the key move.

Demare, who had tried to bridge over with the aid of a CCC Team rider, soon sat up and waited for his teammates, but even a determined Groupama-FDJ could make no impression on the leaders. The gap steadily grew towards a minute, and by the time the five leaders crested the final climb it became clear that the winner would come be determined from within their group.

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