Pre-race favorite Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) ran away with the 2024 Tour of Flanders. Almost literally: Van der Poel launched an acceleration on the steep, slippery Koppenberg to power away from the chase as riders behind slipped and slid their way up the climb, often forced to dismount. Over the top, only Visma-Lease a Bike’s Matteo Jorgenson looked within reach of making the catch, but Van der Poel didn’t wait, soloing over the rainy hellingen to take his third Flanders title.
- With rivals like Wout van Aert and Mads Pedersen out of the race or banged up, the rest of the field looked to test Van der Poel early and often and make him chase. Former World Champion Pedersen was the first to make a serious move, at almost 90 km to go.
- Pedersen got a gap, but an alert Gianni Vermeersch shadowed him for team leader Van der Poel. With Vermeersch attached to him like a remora, Pedersen was largely left to drive the move himself and the pair never got more than about 25 seconds on the elite chase group behind.
- While the race rode off in Antwerp to sunny skies, clouds and rain had moved in by the time the peloton hit the crucial finishing circuits. Comfortable in his element, Van der Poel decisively closed the gap to Pedersen and Vermeersch on the first passage of the Oude Kwaremont/Paterberg circuit. With principal threat Pedersen gassed from his 30 km move, Van der Poel surged again on the rain-slicked Koppenberg and in a matter of moments on its briefly 22% slope, the decisive gap was set.
Brief analysis
- Pedersen wasn’t kidding the other day about his incomplete recovery. But he still felt solid enough to be aggressive early. Appreciation for making things interesting, but that might have been a mistake; had he been dropped immediately after Van der Poel’s catch on the Kwaremont, Pedersen’s boldness might be easily chalked up as a Hail Mary for a rider with few other options. But Pedersen hung tough, and it’s easy to wonder if he’d have been able to hold Van der Poel’s wheel on the Koppenberg had he saved a few matches.
- Reserve another what-might-have-been thought for Visma-Lease a Bike. Even without its captain, the injured Van Aert, the team refused to fold and was active throughout. And it’s easy to imagine things playing out a bit differently: Jorgenson was also active early, and almost stayed with Van der Poel over the Koppenberg – indeed, with Jorgenson dangling around 10 seconds behind, Van der Poel looked back and appeared to touch his radio to ask if he should wait. The answer came back: no, and within five km the gap was close to a minute. Tiesj Benoot, who fought to hang tough all day, was in position for a solid result when a late flat tire and a botched bike change cost him a shot at a podium finish.
- And finally, without that awful crash in Wednesday’s Dwars door Vlaanderen, Visma might have had the perfect cards to play to put Van der Poel on the defensive. A 1-2 punch of Van Aert and Jorgenson, with Benoot as a further foil, would’ve been a devilishly tough puzzle to solve, especially if Lidl-Trek had also been full strength.
- Instead, Van der Poel has his third Flanders win, which ties him with six other riders for most wins overall in the hallowed Monument. Since the start of the 2023 season, the Dutch rider has three Monument wins and a World Championship to his name and has to be accounted the best men’s one-day racer in the world right now.
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