Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel wins his third Tour of Flanders. The rider thus announces himself as the big favorite of Paris-Roubaix, which must take place on Sunday.
The Alpecin rider made the difference in the Koppenberg, a particularly steep mountain, where he managed to stay on his bike while most of his competitors dismounted on cobblestones made terribly slippery by the rain. The race was decided 44 kilometers from the finish, in a scene from another time which has made the Ronde legendary.