Mathieu van der Poel takes first win in rainbow jersey at Super 8 Classic

Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) claimed his first victory as World Champion in the rainbow jersey at the Super 8 Classic, ahead of Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) in second and Florian Vermeersch (Lotto Dstny) in third. 

It wasn’t the most powerful performance of the Dutchman’s career, but in typical Van der Poel style, he was still able to muster enough strength to overpower his fellow escapees in the reduced-group sprint.

Gianni Vermeersch (Alpecin-Deceuninck) completed the leadout for Van der Poel after instigating many of the early moves on the 203km route from Barkel to Haacht and looked very strong throughout the day.

Vermeersch kicked first in the sprint but the World Champion quickly came around him, able to punch the air to the crowd's delight as he crossed the line ahead of Turgis, who was closing quickly. 

“It feels great, unexpected as well and those are the best wins," said Van der Poel. “It was the plan to have two up front, but this win is absolutely 50 per cent his [Gianni Vermeersch's] doing and I really thank him for that.

“I did feel that I needed a few races to get back and after the hill zone, the best was gone in me but I was really fortunate to have a teammate who, especially in the end, controlled really well and it’s really nice to win.”

Van der Poel made his move out of the peloton in response to an attack by Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Dstny) on one of the cobbled sections, the Alpecin rider sporting the full white bibs and rainbow jersey combo.

Van der Poel and Campenaerts would bridge the gap to Vermeersch’s group alongside Lars Boven (Jumbo-Visma), eventually creating a six-rider breakaway that made it to the line.

Young Dutch talent Frank van den Broek (Team dsm-firmenich development) unfortunately crashed out of the lead group 16km from the finish, leaving him unable to contest the finish after a solid day out in the breakaway.

Intermarché-Circus-Wanty, Uno-X and Soudal-QuickStep would try to bring back the lead group of six, but with Vermeersch folding into a domestique role and emptying the tank for Van der Poel, they were unable to make the catch and finished 15 seconds down on the Dutchman. Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X) won the bunch sprint.

Results

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