As it happened: how Van Aert outwitted Pogacar, Van der Poel at E3 Saxo Classic

Hello and welcome to the live coverage of the 2023 E3 Saxo Classic

We're currently in the countdown to the race start, with riders signing on. Racing for this 65th edition of the E3 Saxo Classic will get underway at 1215 local time, just over half an hour hence.

A lot of the talk at the sign-on is about the weather currently brewing up in Belgium, which is a typically fickle March mixture of rain, sunshine, strong winds and hail. No plagues of frogs yet forecast but we'll keep you posted.

Last year's E3 winner Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) is amongst those talking to the media. His compatriot Tom Boonen, who holds the record (five) for E3 wins, has argued that a repeat WVA victory is necessary in E3 to boost his confidence for the upcoming Tour of Flanders.
However, Sporza.be reports that Van Aert does not agree. To give you the direct quote: "That I need a win to go to the Ronde with confidence, as Tom Boonen says? I do not think so."

Our correspondents Barry Ryan and Patrick Fletcher are on the ground at Harelbeke and have talked to Stefan Kung (Groupama-FDJ), third last year in E3 Saxo Classic, at the start. He's got the weather on his mind, like so many other starters, saying “with the wind, it’s going to be a real Belgian classic, a real day for Flandriens.”

The sign-on interviews are over and racing is set to start very shortly. One confirmed DNS so far, sprinter Cees Bol for Astana Qazaqstan, who has gone down with an unspecified sickness according to his team, but there may yet be others.

And racing for the 65th edition of the E3 Saxo Classic has officially started.

Reports that Hugo Houle (Israel-Premier Tech) is also a non-starter, along with the previously confirmed late absence of Cees Bol (Astana Qazaqstan).

202 kilometres to go

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) is taking part in his first ever E3 Harelbeke right now, and as Cyclingnews' Barry Ryan reports, the double Tour de France winner had this to say at the start:
“The plan is to be in the front and to have good sensations and do a great race as a team. I’m not too bad after Milan-San Remo, I did some good training afterwards also."
Referring to his upcoming challenge of the Tour de Flanders, where he placed fourth last year, Pogačar said, "I think I’m ready for today. But I hope I will be even more ready for next Sunday."
"I’m looking forward to today, it’s going to be really interesting race. I mean -  it’s my first time in E3, but I think it’s going to be very good. I expect chaos, a hectic, nervous race, and you need punchy legs at the end.”

Pogačar was a little cagier about his decision to skip another pre-Flanders Classic, the Dwars door Vlaanderen next Wednesday saying when asked why he'll miss
“I don’t know, just the feeling."
However, he was more upbeat about the Ronde, replying  to the question of ”How eager are you to win the Tour of Flanders?" with a simple “A lot.”

As for E3 and the much-talked about poor weather forecast for doay, Pogačar predicted.“I think it’s going to be like this all day, some showers and wind, it’s going to make the race even more interesting. Let’s hope for good legs and then we can get aggressive in the end. We have a strong team, we can be offensive. We’ll see.”
Is the E3 Saxo Classic simply training for Flanders? “You can consider it as training but of course we are here to do a good result.”
As for how to beat Wout Van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel, who had the measure of Pogačar in San Remo six days ago, Pogacar argued “That’s a tough cookie. We need to be much better than them.”
He was loathe to draw too many parallels, though, concluding, "You cannot compare the races. But if you’re good, you’re good, whether it’s here or at San Remo. You need the good legs to be at the front.”

193 kilometres to go

And in the race, the peloton stays together for now.

Milan-San Remo winner Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) has a third place to his name in the 2021 E3 Harelbeke, his sole participation to date, and he had this to say about the race at today's start.
“We’re happy to have won Milan-San Remo but this is a different race. San Remo is really a special race, this will be very difficult, especially with the wind and the rain. I’m ready, but I think there are more riders [besides Van Aert, Pogacar and Ganna – ed.] who will be at the front today. It’s a different race today and we start all over again. I’ve only raced this once before but it’s certainly like a little Tour of Flanders."
"It's maybe even harder because all of the critical moments come very quickly, one after the other, so that makes it very difficult. As a team we had to wait a few weeks for our first wins but now I hope our season has really started.”

For our story on the difficult weather conditions that may be lurking round the corner for the E3 Saxo Classic peloton, by the way, the link is here.

182 kilometres to go

A brief attack by Classics specialist Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Bingoal WB) is reeled in. The peloton is still together.

No less than six former winners are amongst their name, by the way. That's Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) - 2022;  Kasper Asgreen (Soudal-QuickStep) - 2021; Zdenek Stybar (Jayco-AIUIa) - 2019; Greg Van Avermaet (AG2R-Citröen) - 2017;  Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) -  2016 and Peter Sagan (TotalEnergies) - 2014.

Some more pre-race thoughts, in this case from Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty), fifth last year  in his sole participation to date.
"It’s really hard. Last year, this was one of the hardest races I did in Belgium. Today I’ll do my best. We have a strong team here, but there are a lot of big riders. And with the weather, it will be more difficult, but I’ll try to do my best. It’s not only preparation, but this race can give you everything because of the speed and the intensity. And it can give you more confidence. If you’re at the front with four or five riders here, for sure it’s a good sign." 

As Girmay, Van Aert and Pogačar have all made clear to a greater or lesser extent, E3 Saxo Classic is often considered the dress rehearsal for the Tour of Flanders in nine days' time. To read about how it's taken on that role in the last decade, Cyclingnews' Barry Ryan has this excellent and timely  in-depth analysis of each of the last 10 editions and how each winner then fared in the Tour of Flanders:

Cycling's ultimate dress rehearsal - How E3 Saxo Classic predicts the Tour of Flanders  

175 kilometres to go

And there's a two-man break up the road:  Thomas Bonnet (TotalEnergies) and Mathias Norsgaard (Movistar).  Lots of warnings on the race radio about the large puddles on the raindrenched course.

Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-QuickStep) is one of the unknown factors in this year's race, not least because he's making his debut in E3 Saxo Classic, but also because he had a rollercoaster Milan-San Remo, crashing mid-race on the Passo delle Turchino, then getting back on in the downhill following a spectacular descent through the teamcars. However he was not ideally placed in La Primavera's finale and ended up eleventh.
Alaf was in a good mood at the start of E3, telling reporters: “I feel good and motivated. This is always a difficult race and even more so with the weather. You need the legs for sure, but positioning is important too because there are a lot of places where that’s crucial."
"It’s not just training for the Tour of Flanders, this is an important race where we want to get the best result possible It’s my first time at E3 so I’m looking forward to discovering this race."
"It will be a very difficult day. I know the route a bit already, but in the race it’s always different and the weather will change things a bit too.“I
Referring to his performance last week in Italy, he said, "I wasn’t really unlucky at Milan-San Remo, it was more that I was badly positioned. Today is a race where you need the legs and you also need to be well placed.
Soudal-QuickStep are coming into for some intense scrutiny after their uneven Northern Classics performance to date, and perhaps inevitably Alaphilippe was asked if his addition to their line-up for E3 "changed the team after a poor Opening Weekend."
“I don’t think so. We always have a strong collective. I hope we’ll show that today and in the coming weeks.”

163 kilometres to go

And we now have a break of six riders ahead:  Thomas Bonnet (TotalEnergies) and Mathias Norsgaard (Movistar), who made the first serious dig of the day, have been followed up the road by Mathis Le Berre (Arkea-Samsic), Kelland O'Brien (Jayco-AlUla) and Martin Urianstad (Uno-X). There's an as-yet unnamed sixth rider, but hopefully he'll be identified soon.

162 kilometres to go

The six riders have a gap of 45 seconds.

Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious) continues on the hunt for his elusive first pro win, but he's more than happy to be looking for it at the cobbled Classics, he said at the start: "I’m at home here, I’ve even got my legs out. It’s perfect weather for me, wet and windy. It’s going to be a hard race. The grimmer the conditions, the more I tend to enjoy that – well, enjoy it more than some of the other guys, I think. I’m hoping to use that to my advantage. We’ve got a good team here. I’m looking forward to it. It’s going to be good."

We've already had some comments from Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) about the weather, but here's what the man who finished third in the E3 Saxo Classic last year had to say about the racing as well: “On Paris-Nice, the objective was GC, so we worked for David [Gaudu] and that was also useful as a preparation for me. I skipped Milan-San Remo to be ready for today, so the idea is to give the maximum today. The objective is always to do at least as well as the previous year, so we’ll be looking to get on the podium again today with someone from the team. I think we’ve got a good team, a mix of young and experienced riders. We showed last year that we’re competitive in races like this.” 

Alexander Kristoff has his Uno-X ProCycling teammate Martin Urianstad up the road in the break of the day, and with seven participations stretching all the way back to 2012, the best being a fourth place in 2015, he's certainly got the experience to handle anything E3 Saxo Classic can throw at him. Kristoff had this to stay at the start to reporters including Cyclingnews.
“I got some shape from Paris-Nice. I don’t know how it’s going to turn out today for me, but also Paris-Nice was a bit easier because there was an extra day of rest as they cancelled a stage due to high wind. In training, I was feeling ok, but training is not the same."
“I had my best performances in Gent-Wevelgem, so I said in the team meeting, if I’m not in a good position today, I will save my energy for Sunday. But of course today I will try for as long as I have the legs. If I can fight to the finish line and for the podium, then of course I will do it.”

154 kilometres to go

Ok, the question of the identity of man number six in the break has been resolved in the simplest fashion possible. He didn't exist. The five riders up the road are Thomas Bonnet (TotalEnergies), Mathias Norsgaard (Movistar),  Mathis Le Berre (Arkea-Samsic), Kelland O'Brien (Jayco-AlUla) and Martin Urianstad (Uno-X). They have a gap of two minutes on a Jumbo-Visma-led peloton.

And here is a picture of said break

Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) was another sought-after interviewee at the start following his impressive second place in Milan-San Remo less than a week ago. Ganna had this to say about his participation in this year's E3 Saxo Classic: “It’s a very difficult race, especially for me with the steep climbs, but I’ll try to do something to support the team. Ben Turner is back in the team today after the crash at Omloop where he broke the elbow. I expect a really hard race, there are lots of big champions here.” 

Like Alexander Kristoff at Uno-X ProCycling with Martin Urianstad, Zdenek Stybar (Jayco-AIUIa) also has a teammate up the road in the break, Kelland O'Brien, so can relax a little in the peloton. A former winner and runner-up in the E3 Saxo Classic, at the start Stybar had some wise words about how a race he knows very well is likely to play out.
“I have always great memories, because with my previous team, we won the race several times. This race is always a natural selection. The group just gets smaller and smaller after every climb, it’s very intense. Today with the wind and some showers, it could be very intense from the beginning. There might already be splits in the early kilometres, I think it will be a very tough race."
It is more tactical than the Ronde, but like most of the Flemish races, it’s about positions: you always have to be in the right place at the right moment, because if you have a strong team, you can anticipate in those places. It’s a very tough race but also very nice.
"Dylan Groenewegen is in our team, but I don’t think today will be a sprint, with this wind and this field, I think it will be very aggressive racing.”

And last but by no means least, courtesy of from Cyclingnews' Barry Ryan and Patrick Fletcher here's final pre-race interview from the start -  with Wout Van Aert, winner last year in an impressive 1-2 finish for Jumbo-Visma alongside Christophe Laporte.
“I’ve only done this race a few times but it’s a very nice race, where the final can begin a long way from the finish. Sometimes it’s more tactical, but last year, we also saw it’s possible to go a long way from the finish. That’s a good scenario, because a lot can happen after the final climb.
“I don’t think I need to confirm my leadership. We’re here with a few riders on the same level. I’m not above the others, and that makes us more dangerous for our rivals.” 

And here's a picture of the man himself at today's start.

143 kilometres to go

And the quintet out front now have an advantage of just over three minutes.

A reminder of what happened last year in the E3 Saxo Classic, when Wout Van Aert and Christophe Laporte disappeared on the Paterberg with 40 kilometres to go and were never seen again by the peloton until the race reached the finish in Harelbeke.

Van Aert, Laporte go 1-2 for Jumbo-Visma at E3 Saxo Bank Classic

128 kilometres to go

The gap continues to hover at just over three minutes for the five riders in front. Very variable weather conditions, with a downpour earlier on and some sunshine a little later.

And here's a photo of the race that shows just how rainy the first 80 kilometres have, at times, been.

Weather conditions are currently dry, fortunately, but the ground is looking very waterlogged.

Reports filtering through that Stefan Kung (Groupama-FDJ), third in the 2022 edition of E3 Saxo Classic, was caught up in a crash earlier in the day.

112 kilometres to go

The five ahead are on the Kanarieberg climb and the peloton are notably upping their pace as they approach it.

Mathias Norsgaard (Movistar) leads over the top of the Kanarieberg as the gap shrinks to a shade over two minutes.

The peloton swings over the top of the Kanarieberg three abreast, with EF Education-EasyPost present in numbers towards the front.

The sun breaks through the dense cloud cover. Thankfully no sign of the forecast gale-force winds yet, though that could yet change.

100 kilometres to go

The five leave the town of Ronse with their advantage shrinking steadily: 1:46 now.

Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) has been held up and is out the back of the peloton.

Van der Poel is behind a team car, moving back up to the peloton.

Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-QuickStep) is also with Van der Poel, as they rejoin the peloton.

The peloton is fighting for position as it heads towards the next climb of the 17 on the menu today, the Knokteberg.

The peloton winds its way up steadily the exposed slopes of the Knokteberg. No cobbles on this ascent, and it's only narrow right at the top, which might partly explain why there are no attacks from the bunch for now.

Things are going so steadily in fact, that the peloton briefly shudders to a halt a couple of times that a number of riders stop altogether on the Knokteberg before remounting and continuing.

And here's another shot of the five rider break of the day.

90 kilometres to go

Former E3 winner Greg Van Avermaet (AG2R Citroën) is dropped.

Things suddenly hot up in the peloton and the breakaway's gap is suddenly down to well under a minute.

The bunch is splitting on a downhill as EF Education-EasyPost step on the throttle, a sign of how high the pace has suddenly become. 

87 kilometres to go

The gap for the five ahead is down to 30 seconds as they move onto the Katteberg climb.

85.5 kilometres to go

Just as a delegation of Jumbo-Visma riders nose their way to the front, there's an attack by Alpecin-Deceuninck's Dries de Bondt.

Crash for a Trek-Segafredo rider on a sharp lefthand downhill.

84.5 kilometres to go

De Bondt reaches the five rider break of the day and latches on behind. 30 seconds the gap.

Jumbo-Visma and Alpecin-Deceuninck are jostling for position at the front of the bunch, even as they approach the traditionally crucial climb of the Taienberg.

Three Jumbo-Visma riders at the front as they hit the Taaienberg.

Van der Poel attacks.

Van der Poel blasts away, moving up to the break and powering past De Bondt. Van Aert is on his back wheel. 

80 kilometres to go

Pogačar moves up in the peloton, looking to chase.

Big crash for Florian Vermeesch (Lotto-Dstny), just as the race is crackling into life. Really unlucky timing.

Four riders ahead: Van Aert, Van der Poel as well as Kelland O'Brien (Jayco-AIUIa) and Thomas Bonnet (TotalEnergies) from the morning's break.

Van der Poel is doing the bulk of the work in the quartet ahead, while Pogačar makes another dig behind to try and get across.

77 kilometres to go

The four ahead are caught after Van der Poel, followed by Van Aert, went for it on the Taaienberg. That move only lasted six kilometres in total, but that certainly set a feline among the pigeons.

75 kilometres to go

A lone attack goes clear with Matteo Jorgensen (Movistar) 

The peloton shatters, the front end headed by Van der Poel catching up with Jorgenson.

66 kilometres to go

Soren Kragh Anderson (Alpecin-Deceuninck) makes a move off the front.

Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) skids briefly off a righthand bend, but regains control.

A three rider group is now up the road containing Nathan Van Hooydonck (Jumbo-Visma), Soren Kragh Andersen (Alpecin-Deceunicnk) and Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious) with 20 seconds advantage. 

60 kilometres to go

In the second group, around 20 seconds back, there's around 50 riders in the main pack.

Ben Turner (Ineos Grenadiers) jumps out of the pack and a UAE Team Emirates; Rui Oliveira, goes with him. Mohoric drives in the trio ahead.

Crash in the peloton, Van Baarle and Senechal both down.

57 kilometres to go

Another dig from Van der Poel, with Van Aert and Pogacar close behind.

Van Aart, Pogacar and Van der Poel's group has reached the trio of Van Hooydonck  Kragh Andersen and Mohoric ahead.

Jorgenson has dropped back, leaving us with six riders ahead: Van Aert, Van Hooydonck, Van der Poel, Kragh Anderson, Pogacar and Mohoric.

55 kilometres to go

30 seconds for the six riders ahead.

This looks like it could be the key move of the day: Van Aert and Van der Poel both have teammates, Pogačar is also present. Behind Ineos Grenadiers and EF Education-EasyPost chase hard.

51 kilometres to go

Six riders ahead as we moved into the final quarter of the race: Wout Van Aert and Nathan Van Hooydonck (Jumbo-Visma), Mathieu van der Poel and Soren Kragh Andersen (Alpecin-Deceunicnk), Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious). 42 seconds the gap.

Full collaboration by the six in front as they keep the gap at just north of 40 seconds. 

Ben Turner leads the chase for Ineos Grenadiers at the head of the peloton behind.

No return of the rain for now, thankfully.

The gap for the six ahead is creeping out to 50 seconds.

Pogačar, don't forget, is making his debut here in E3 Saxo Classic, while Van Aert is defending champion. And Mohoric was fourth last year.

Reports of an abandon for Dylan van Baarle (Jumbo-Visma).

Pogacar accelerates on the Paterberg

Mohoric is struggling, while Van de Poel and Van Aert are the only ones to stick with Pogačar. The lead group is down to three.

The trio ahead were three of the top four in Milan-San Remo.

And they've just been joined by the 2022 Milan-San Remo winner, Mohoric.

Van Aert takes a swig from his bidon, even as his teammate Van Hooydonck fights to get back across to the four ahead.

40 kilometres to go

And Kragh Andersen also gets back on. We're back up to six. A scant 40 seconds their gap on the peloton, but the race all but looks to be ahead now.

Attack by Pogačar on the Kwaremont. Van der Poel follows and Van Aert struggles.

Van Aert is pounding at the pedals, but the gap on the two ahead is growing, where Pogačar is grinding away and Van Der Poel is shadowing him all the way.

And after a colossal effort, Van Aert regains contact. Van der Poel moves to the head of the lead trio.

Attack number two from Pogačar. Van der Poel once again the quickest to follow.

Van Aert is letting the wheel go a little.

The Kwaremont is over, and we're down to three at the head of affairs again: Van Aert, Pogacar and Van der Poel. 

Just 20 seconds between the three ahead and the Mohoric-Van Hooydonck-Andersen trio behind, but Mohoric is likely going to be the only rider working here.

The peloton has shattered behind the two trios ahead, incidentally, with Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) and Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) heading a group of eight riders also containing Stefan Kung (Groupama-FDJ), Ivan Garcia Cortina (Movistar); Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo), Sep Vanmarcke and Krists Neilands (both Israel-Premier Tech). Groupama and Ineos lead the chase, but so far to little avail.

31 kilometres to go

Pogacar attacks again on the next climb, but it's only a brief dig.

Van Aert lifts himself out of the saddle a little towards the summit of Karnemelkbeekstraat and begins to push a little harder.

Behind the group of three and the  chasers have joined up. So that's Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers), Valentin Madouas and Stefan Kung (both Groupama-FDJ), Ivan Garcia Cortina (Movistar); Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo),  Krists Neilands (Israel-Premier Tech), together with Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious), Nathan Van Hooydonck (Jumbo-Visma) and Soren Kragh Andersen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) at around a minute back on our trio of leaders.

26 kilometres to go

1:08 for the trio ahead: Van Aert, Van der Poel and Pogacar.

Van der Poel leads onto a nasty-looking section of wet, muddy cobbles.

No sign of any shirking from any three ahead as they pound across the cobbles towards the last climb of the day, the Tiegemberg.

A brief sally by Mohoric and Madouas, incidentally, from the chase group, has been brought back.

Van Aert gets a bit of mechanical assistance for his chain. But it's quickly resolved.

The chase group are hesitating and looking at each other. They know they're likely fighting for fourth place at best now. 1:15 the gap.

The Tiegemberg is a relatively easy climb, incidentally, just 800 metres at 4.9 percent. But after 180 kilometres of racing, it's not so straightforward for anybody.

Van Aert is surging forward over the top of the Tiegemberg, but it didn't really have much effect.

Madouas is putting Ganna into the hurt locker in the chase group behind, but it's more of a fight for the minor places now. Barring a major upset, the top three of the E3 Saxo Classic looks to be locked in.

14.5 kilometres to go

Van Aert swings a little from one side of the road to the other, but for now the collaboration for the three ahead is still fairly effective.

Various riders visible on the bike paths on either side of the trio as they head back towards Harelbeke, but no sight of the group of four chasers behind.

Pogačar will be looking for win number 10 this season, Van Aert his first of the year, and Van der Poel his second (on the road) after Milan-San Remo.

It's a flat run in from here on, so difficult to read who is in with the best shout for a three-way sprint should it materialize

10.5 kilometres to go

And the gap is now reduced to 1:02. 

The chasing group has split for the umpteenth time, with Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious), Jorgensen and García Cortina (both Movistar) and Stefan Kung (Groupama-FDJ) working well behind. Kung and Mohoric were third and fourth respectively last year, don't forget.

Six kilometres to go

The three are watching each other closely, but no sign of a last minute attack in the flat run in to Harelbeke.

Five kilometres to go.

The three swing into the outskirts of Harelbeke. The tension is palpable.

And the gap on the chase group is dropping still, but with a 43 second gap, it's still advantage Van Aert/Pogacar/Van der Poel.

A fairly flat run-in so far, on broad boulevards. Pogacar is looking back at his two breakaways, perhaps wondering what the best strategy is.

And Pogacar goes for it.

Van Aert closes him down quickly. Van der Poel shadows behind.

Three kilometres to go

Still 41 seconds despite the feinting and slowing. 

Pogacar looks around again from the front, then Van der Poel comes through.

One kilometre to go

We're still on broadish roads and Pogacar attacks up the left hand side. No good.

Pogacar leads under the final kilometre banner.

Pogacar is still at the head of the string, Van der Poel follows, Van Aert third place as they're into the finishing straight.

Pogacar launches the sprint.

Van Aert gets it, defending his 2022 title.

Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) wins the 65th edition of the E3 Saxo Classic.

Second was Van der Poel, while Pogačar places third.

Fourth for Matteo Jorgenson, 33 seconds back, and his Movistar teammate Ivan García Cortina is fifth.

For Van Aert, this is his first win of the 2023 season, and first since the Bretagne Classic last August, and it's not a small one by any means.

This also means Jumbo-Visma are continuing to dominate in the biggest cobbled Classics, too, after their brace of triumphs in the opening weekend.

Van Aert is talking through his win, humorously agreeing with the interviewer that the top three for the podium in E3 could hardly be "more beautiful", “because I’m in the middle.”

As for the lack of attacks in the closing kilometres, he says, “because of the strength of the group it was hard to try something, Tadej did two smaller attacks, but at least for me I really wanted to focus on the sprint and stick to one plan. In a group of three it’s really hard to surprise somebody.”

“It’s been a  long while since I won a race on a road bike, I had a difficult preparation going into the Classic, but I’m on the right way.”

Asked about the now-infamous couch where the three top finishers at Milan-San Remo in the podium truck were jammed together backstage, Van Aert joked  “I hope they solve the problem [of the couch] because it's quite awkward.”

And here's a first picture of Van Aert celebrating his victory.

Van Aert played his cards very cleverly in the race. He might have been weaker on the climbs and never made an all-out attack, but when it came to the three-way sprint, he had kept back all the power he needed.

If this is a dress rehearsal for the Tour of Flanders, incidentally, then we are up for another epic edition of the race next weekend.

Pogačar crosses the line in third place after a blisteringly strong performance in his first E3 Saxo Classic.

Huge cheers as Wout Van Aert steps up onto the podium as E3 Saxo Classic winner for a second year running.

And some brief analysis from Pogačar about his third place and what it means for next week:
"I had great feelings today, it was a really nice race, I'm really happy with today's result." Referring to the point with some 80 kilometres to go where he was caught behind, he said,  "It was a bit hectic with the positioning, I don't do these races often, I had to get used to it, I was not in the best position. I lost a bit of energy, but there will be no such mistakes next Sunday."
Then in the finale against Van der Poel and Van Aert, he said, he attempted to go clear before the sprint finish.
"I tried two times, but they expected it, but they raised their speed and they were on my wheel. I hope things will different next week. I'll go home and do some good training, it's just a week to Flanders."
"The shape is there and there's not much to do now, one recon. Friday and talk about the climbs then rest and race."

Last but not least, some words from Mathieu van der Poel, victorious in Milan-San Remo but outpowered here by Wout Van Aert after a long sprint in central Harelbeke:
"It was a really nice race today, at the end we also had some good weather conditions and I felt quite strong. I did a few nice attacks and in the end Wout Van Aert was too strong in the sprint but I can live with second place and hopefully next week I can turn things around."
"For sure I wanted to win today this race as well, I was close, my first time I was third, now second, so maybe I have to come back next year."

You can read our full report on the E3 Saxo Classic here, with further reactions, analysis and pictures as the evening unfolds.

And here's a podium shot of the top three finishers in the E3 Saxo Classic this year.

That wraps things up for us for the 2023 E3 Saxo Classic. Cyclingnews will provide more live coverage of the next upcoming Belgian Classics: the men's and women's Gent-Wevelgem races on Sunday.