Tour of Flanders: Kasper Asgreen outsprints Mathieu van der Poel to claim first monument

Kasper Asgreen (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) won the Tour of Flanders from a two-up sprint on Sunday.

The Dane stormed into the final 300 meters with  Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) after the pair wrenched themselves clear in the final 17 kilometers of the race.

Van der Poel led the duo into the final kilometer before sprinting first to set up a long drag race to the line. The Dutchman suddenly blew as the two riders drew level, sitting up at 30 meters to go to leave Asgreen to cross the line first, screaming in victory.

“I felt good in the last kilometers,” Asgreen said. “I decided to try and trust my sprint, and going into the last kilometer, I got Mathieu on the front – I decided to just stay on the wheel, so I could decide when we can go. It was a really really hard race, we were both on the limit and a question of the margins in the end.”

Greg van Avermaet (Ag2r-Citroën) won the sprint for third place behind van der Poel.

Asgreen klopt Van der Poel en wint de Ronde van Vlaanderen 2021! pic.twitter.com/Ijb8pN6dRB

— Sporza 🚴 (@sporza_koers) April 4, 2021

Van der Poel dropped Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) with a massive acceleration on the final climb of the Oude Kwaremont with 17km remaining.

After marking a wave of rolling attacks from Deceuninck-Quick-Step in the final hours of the race, van Aert fell away from the final trio and looked to crack over the final climb of the Paterberg. The Belgian finished sixth after slipping into a group that chased behind the hard-charging duo of van der Poel and Asgreen.

Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) finished in the bunch after the world champ had made a number of attacks to help set up Asgreen. The victory made for Asgreen’s second of the spring campaign after winning E3 Saxo Bank Classic, and marked his biggest win to date.

“It’s been an incredible classics campaign this year and I am so happy to finish it out,” Asgreen said. “The plan was to jump to hit the hilly zone on the second time. We rode a perfect race all day – the guys were incredible, we prepared this race so well, we know every single meter of the course. It’s an incredible team to be a part of.”

Deceuninck-Quick-Step throws wave of attacks to force selection

The second ascent of the Kwaremont at 55km to go saw the first major move after a tense mid-section of the race. Asgreen and van der Poel clipped away after a flurry of attacks on the cobblestone climb, with van Aert left the responsibility for pulling around 20 riders back to form a select group of favorites.

Asgeeen and van der Poel attacked again on the Paterberg just 5km later, with van Aert again left to pull the race back together. Alaphilippe was the next Quick-Step rider to pressure the favorites, punching away on the Koppenberg at 44km remaining.

The first selection was made just as a front group came together again inside the final 40km. Asgreen and van der Poel accelerated over the Taaienberg climb with van Aert and Alaphilippe first to respond and Bahrain-Victorious duo Dylan Teuns and Marco Haller in the wheels. Anthony Turgis (Total Direct Energie) bridged across from a chase group, which rapidly lost time on the escape move.

Taaienberg! Asgreen, Van der Poel, Alaphilippe, Van Aert en Teuns sluiten aan bij Haller pic.twitter.com/hGLXEkwL1w

— Sporza 🚴 (@sporza_koers) April 4, 2021

The final selection was decided at 25km to go with a surge from Asgreen. The Dane hit out on a tarmac section to pull out van Aert and van der Poel as Alaphilippe waited in the group behind. The trio then rode together toward the final ascent of the Kwaremont as van Aert’s matches started to run out.

Early disqualifications

A number of riders were ejected from the race early on.

Yevgeniy Fedorov (Astana-Premier Tech) and Otto Vergaerde (Alpecin Fenix) were disqualified for a tussle at the front of the bunch in the first hour of racing, and Michael Schär was the next to be ejected. The Ag2r-Citroen workhorse was caught throwing a bidon to fans outside of a designated litter zone. The Swiss rider was pulled from the race shortly afterward for the contravention of UCI’s strict new measures.