Van Der Poel 1 - Alaphilippe 0 in 2021. -

DIRK WAEM / Belga / AFP

The Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel won in the Strade Bianche, the first major cycling event of the season, ahead of the Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe, and the Colombian Egan Bernal, Saturday in Siena (Italy).

Van der Poel (Alpecin) released his breakaway companions in the wall of via Santa Caterina (12.4%), a few hundred meters from the finish, to win the Strade Bianche for the first time in his career.

The Dutchman is the strongest of a strong group which was formed on the initiative of Alaphilippe at about fifty terminals from the finish.

Alaphilippe tried everything

First in the game, Pogaçar, the last winner of the Tour, gradually let go, just like Wout Van Aert, who was just getting back to competition after a big training camp in the Canaries for the Flandrian classics.

The tricolor world champion tried to take everyone down before the finish in Siena, but Van Der Poel was the stronger, and he proved it by taking down Alaphilippe quite easily on the last ramp.

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