OUDENAARDE, Belgium — Another blistering attack from Tadej Pogacar saw the world champion win the Tour of Flanders cobbled classic for the second time on Sunday.
In the women’s race, Belgian world champion Lotte Kopecky made history as the first female cyclist to win three editions of the event.
Pogacar had plenty of time to raise his arms above his head and soak up the applause of the crowd as he soloed to victory after taking off on the third and final ascent of the Oude Kwaremont.
The three-time Tour de France champion had launched his last and decisive attack on the penultimate climb — about 18 kilometers (11 miles) from the finish — and not even defending champion Mathieu van der Poel could stay on his wheel.
“I’m so happy to win in this jersey this race,” said the UAE Team Emirates rider. “The plan was to go from [Oude Kwaremont] and we followed the plan even though we had some crashes in the team.
“But we made it and we stick to the plan.”
Pogacar finished 1 minute, 1 second ahead of Mads Pedersen, who edged out Van der Poel in a four-man sprint for second, just ahead of Wout van Aert and Jasper Stuyven.
Also known as De Ronde (The Tour), the Tour of Flanders is one of cycling’s most challenging one-day races and was first held in 1913. This year’s 268.9-kilometer (167-mile) route featured 16 short but punishing climbs and several cobblestone sections.
It was a second victory for Pogacar after he won in 2023. The Slovenian didn’t defend his title last year, when Van der Poel claimed a record-equaling third win.
It was expected to be another episode of the great rivalry between Pogacar and Van der Poel, who had won the recent Milan-San Remo, and so it proved.
Van der Poel had escaped unscathed from an early crash and the duo played cat and mouse with each other in the final 50 kilometers (31 miles), with each matching the other’s attacks, before Pogacar left the Dutch cyclist and the other hopefuls in the distance.
“I was already on the limit from quite far,” Van der Poel said. “The crash of course was not ideal, but I think we put up a good fight with the team and I did everything I could and I’m happy with the podium.
“Of course it’s never good to be in a crash, but I think the damage was still quite okay for the crash, I was lucky.”
The Tour of Flanders is one of the “monuments” of cycling — the five most prestigious one-day events in the sport — along with Milan-San Remo, Paris-Roubaix, Liege-Bastogne-Liege and the Giro di Lombardia.
The two Pogacar has yet to win are Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix, which has even tougher cobbles than Flanders. Pogacar is going to attempt the grueling French classic for the first time next Sunday.
“It’s a completely different race, but I will accept the challenge and try to do my best,” Pogacar said. “I know this Flanders suits me a bit better, but you never know.”
It was a closer Tour of Flanders for Kopecky, who edged a four-way sprint finish ahead of Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, Liane Lippert and Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney.
Kopecky also won in 2022 and 2023.
Elisa Longo Borghini was also chasing a third victory but crashed about 40 kilometers (24 miles) into the race. The Italian struggled on for a further 10 kilometers (6 miles) before abandoning.
