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Easter treat: Asgreen outsprints Van der Poel to take the Tour of Flanders

Hugo Houle in the day's breakaway

April 4, 2021
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All week Mathieu van der Poel played down his chances of repeating as Tour of Flanders champion, saying he wasn’t feeling good and citing a disappointing performance in the Dwars door Vlaanderen as evidence, but no one expected the Dutchman’s prediction to come true by the title-holder getting beaten in a thrilling two-up sprint. Kasper Asgreen, the E3 champion, took his first Monument by cracking Van der Poel with speed to become the first Dane to earn the title. Ben Perry was top Canadian in 70th.

The Course

With Paris-Roubaix postponed until October, the Ronde was spring’s cobbled king. Over 263 km, the riders faced 17 “hellingen”, 10 of which were cobbled, and five sections of cobbles. The Oude Kwaremont would be climbed thrice, and twice in the final 60-km. The Koppenberg, a vicious climb of uneven cobbles, would make a crucial selection with 45 km to reace. With 26 km remaining, the riders would take a cobbled trio: the Kruisberg, Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg, all within 13 km. After the Paterberg, there were 13 km to the finish line in Oudenaarde.

Hugo Houle, racing his eighth Tour of Flanders, was one of seven fugitives who skipped away early to roll up a 13-minute gap.

Also early in the race, Houle’s teammate Yevgeniy Fedorov got involved in some argy bargy with Otto Vergaerde of Alpecin-Fenix and both were yanked from the race.

AG2R-Citroën’s Michael Schär ran afoul of the UCI’s new bottle-tossing rules and he was pulled from the race as well.

On the Molenberg (1.8 km at 3 percent) with just under 100 km to go, the team known as Elegant-Quick Step for the day tested the field by coming to the front and increasing the pace. The gap plummeted. Elegant-Quick Step-centred action on the Berendries and Valkenburg climbs brought Houle’s gang even closer.

Soren Kragh Anderson (Denmark/DSM) burst from the bunch on the Kanarieberg, but his effort only thinned out and strung out the herd. A crash in the middle of field caused a split and put delayed several Elegant-Quick Step riders, including Julian Alaphilippe.

Entering the final 60 km, the riders still had eight “hellingen” with the Houle breakaway 2:00 up the road. First came the second passage of Oude Kwaremont, where the fugitive shattered into pieces and Elegant-Quick Step once more strung out the field. With 54 km remaining, heading towards the first climb of the Paterberg, Van der Poel attacked and caused a selection.

Van der Poel attacked again on the Paterberg I, with Wout Van Aert chasing. Twenty riders broke free.

Up front, EF Education-Nippo’s Stefan Bissigger was the last standing fugitive. He approached the nasty Koppenberg (600 metres of 11.6 percent) alone.

Alaphilippe attacked on the Koppenberg and found Bissegger by the top. The steep cobbles sculpted a nontet of riders with Alaphilippe, Bissigger, Van Aert, Van der Poel, Tom Pidcock, Tim Wellens, Marco Haller, Anthony Turgis and Christophe Laporte. It stayed ahead of the next group on the 2 km Mariaborrestraat section of cobbles but couldn’t survive until the Taaienberg.

With Haller up the road, the reformed group took on the Taaienberg, Van der Poel leading the way. This particular hill created yet another leading group of Van der Poel, Asgreen, Alaphilippe, Van Aert and Haller with teammate Dylan Teuns. Greg Van Avermaet and Jasper Stuyvent were part of a 14-rider chase close on its heels.

Alaphilippe’s leading group just ahead of the Van Avermaet chase on the Kruisberg.

It was time for the last three climbs: Kruisberg (2.5 km of 4.3 percent), Oude Kwaremont III (2.1 km of 4.3 percent) and Paterberg II (800 metres of 11.7 percent).

The leading group received a reinforcement after the Kruisberg, and on the road toward Oude Kwaremont, Asgreen, Van der Poel and Van Aert flew the coop.

At the foot of Oude Kwaremont, Asgreen, Van der Poel and Van Aert were 24 seconds ahead of what was now the Alaphilippe-Van Avermaet chase group.

Asgreen, Van der Poel and Van Aert lead the race on the last climb of Oude Kwaremont.

Van der Poel attacked over the top, dropping Van Aert. Alaphilippe cracked in the chase group.

Could Asgreen live with Van der Poel on the horrible Paterberg? The Dutchman decided to take the Dane to the line for a sprint, as he did not attack.

Van Aert was caught with 10 km to go and the chase started to pull the duo closer. With 4 km left to ride, the cohesion among the pursuers broke and they started thinking of the podium. Van Avermaet would stand with Asgreen and Van der Poel at the end of the day.

Van der Poel threw both bottles out, making everyone nervous. He led Asgreen under the red kite and hugged the right barrier. Asgreen opened up the sprint with 250 metres to go, and at first Van der Poel had his measure, but with 50-metres left, the Dutchman sat down and shook his head.

2021 Tour of Flanders
1) Kasper Asgreen (Denmark/Elegant-Quick Step) 6:02:12
2) Mathieu van der Poel (The Netherlands/Alpecin-Fenix) s.t.
3) Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium/AG2R-Citroën) +0:32
70) Ben Perry (Canada/Astana-Premier Tech) +9:00
79) Hugo Houle (Canada/Astana-Premier Tech) s.t.
98) Guillaume Boivin (Canada/Israel Start-up Nation) +13:00