An epic duel on the cobbled climbs had Pogačar and van der Poel at the head of the race after a gruelling Tour of Flanders, with seemingly the race to be decided between them on the flat run-in to Oudenaarde.
A track sprint-style final kilometre between the pair ensued, and the late arriving pair of Dylan van Baarle (INEOS Grenadiers) and Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) nearly spoiled the party for both.
Van der Poel was in front when the sprint launched with 250 metres to go and was able to hold off the pair with momentum and a frustrated Pogačar with his final sprint to the line to collect the Tour of Flanders victory ahead on van Baarle and Madouas.
"I worked so hard for this one,” said van der Poel. “At first, it wasn't even sure if I would get to the Classics and to win is incredible."
Van der Poel was the more fancied of the pair from a sprint, but didn’t want to cede any advantage to the handy sprinter Pogačar, especially after last year’s race saw him beaten by dark horse Kasper Asgreen (QuickStep Alpha Vinyl) in a similar circumstance.
"They were coming really fast from behind, so I decided to sprint from far out,” said van der Poel. “It was amazing that [Pogačar] was busy with me and not with the others coming back. It was a bit of a shock to see it play out like that.
"It is certainly a pity that Pogacar is not going on the podium. Maybe he was the strongest in the race today. He has been very aggressive. I would have awarded him the podium, even the victory if he had beaten me. Perhaps the advantage of having to sprint here a few times was that I was able to win.
"He went up Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg really fast. I was almost at the point of dropping. At the end, it was a scenario I've had three times before, so I knew it already. I was only taking Tadej into account.
“I just tried to recover a little bit every time I was in the wheel, but I was just hurting a lot. I've worked extremely hard for it and I just went 100 per cent. I'm really happy it has worked out.”
Pogačar was fourth in the end, stuck in between van Baarle and Madouas as they loomed up either side of him and unable to get clear to sprint for himself. He threw up his hands in frustration as van der Poel surged to the win, later saying it wasn’t directed at anyone other than himself.
"All in all it was a great experience," Pogačar said after the finish. "It was a really amazing race. The team was super and perfect. We lit it up in the finale, me alone with Mathieu and the atmosphere on the climbs was incredible. I think I love this race.
"In the first moment [after the finish] I was really disappointed because I couldn't do my sprint. I was boxed in but that’s cycling. Sometimes you’re boxed in and sometimes you have an open road.
"I was not mad about it to anyone. It might have seemed that way but I was frustrated with myself because I couldn’t do the last 100 metres to the finish."
An initial breakaway of Sebastien Grignard (Lotto Soudal), Taco van der Hoorn (Wanty Gobert Intermarche Materiaux), Stan DeWulf (AG2R-Citroen), Manuele Boaro (Astana Qazaqstan), Tom Bohli (Cofidis), Max Kanter (Movistar), Luca Mozzato (B&B Hotels KTM), Mathijs Paasschens (Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB) and Lindsay de Vylder (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise) made their way clear of the peloton in series of attacks, eventually forming at the front of the race as a cohesive move.
Alpecin-Fenix and QuickStep Alpha Vinyl were the teams predominantly responsible for the chase from the peloton, with race favourite Mathieu van der Poel and the array of potential winners from QuickStep the riders they were driving the pace for. The gap hovered around the four-and-a-half-minute mark for most of the early kilometres, with the teams of the favourites keen to keep the breakaway in hand.
Small crashes punctuated the race, with the pace increasing within the peloton on the approach to every cobbled climb, with teams battling to position their leaders perfectly into the key crunch points of the race.
The climb of the Berendries was the location of the first major attack as the major teams looked to position themselves well by sending their lieutenants up the road in a strong group of eleven forming off the front of the peloton but still behind the initial breakaway. Former Flanders winner Alberto Bettiol (EF-Nippo) and former world champion Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) were present in the move.
The attackers steadily ate into the gap of the break, with the peloton chasing behind and never ceding more than 40 seconds to the dangerous group.
The attackers caught the breakaway before the eventual explosion came from Pogacar. The Tour de France reigning champion attacked on the early slopes of the second ascent of the Oude Kwaremont forcing his way clear of the main group bridging over to the attackers and finding himself at the front of the race. There was a regrouping over the top, with the elite classics men from the peloton combining with the stronger riders of the breakaway at the head of affairs.
There was a slackening in the pace as the group sorted itself out, and then the pace was upped again on the Paterberg, again seeing riders dropped from the front of the race. Over the top, Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious) and Dylan van Baarle (INEOS Grenadiers) used the opportunity of riders looking at each other to attack clear, forming a working duo at the front of the race and ekeing out a small lead.
The next big split came on the Koppenberg, the fearsomely steep, uneven cobbled climb seeing another acceleration from Pogacar, with only Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) and Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) able to follow the surge. The trio were clear of the main group at the top, and set off in pursuit of Wright and van Baarle. The chasing groups behind weren’t effective, and there were a number of attacks that tried to force their way clear, with Stefan Kung (Groupama-FDJ) the rider most present in the moves.
The front five worked together into the last double of the Oude Kwaremont-Paterberg climbs. Pogacar used the first climb to explode the group, with van der Poel glued to his wheel throughout. Madouas and van Baarle formed behind chasing the pair, with Wright dropped.
On the steep, short climb of the Paterberg, Pogacar again applied the pressure, van der Poel was distanced at one point, but pushed hard to get himself back in contention and managed to reach the back wheel of the Slovenian and crest the top of the climb with him.
The pair only had the flat run into the finish remaining, with Madouas and van Baarle mounting a chase thirty seconds behind. They worked together before Pogacar started to sit on with just over a kilometre remaining. Van der Poel slowed in front, keeping an eye over his shoulder, both for Pogacar and the closing chasers.
The slow pace continued to the final 200 metres, when Madouas opened a long sprint from behind and it became clear that the chasers would make contact with the front two. Van der Poel kicked hard for the line to raise his speed and prevent himself from being swamped by the greater inertia of the riders coming from behind, and maintained the lead. Madouas and van Baarle tried to go either side of the Dutchman, having the effect of boxing out Pogacar, the Slovenian throwing up his hands in frustration just before the finish as van der Poel sprinted to the victory ahead of van Baarle and Madouas.
The season of classics racing continues with Amstel Gold Race next Sunday, April 10 with the men's and women's races LIVE and FREE on SBS VICELAND and SBS On Demand.
