@ Ronde van Vlaanderen
Ronde van Vlaanderen : Pogacar makes history
Tadej Pogacar won his first Tour of Flanders, the fourth Monument of his career, by launching himself on the last ascent of Old Kwaremont to cross the finish line alone. On the attack all day, the Slovenian made the difference on the penultimate climb of the race to beat Mathieu van der Poel by 17 seconds. The other big favourite, Belgian Wout Van Aert, finished fourth more than a minute behind, beaten by Dane Mads Pedersen, who won the sprint in the small chasing group.
At 24, Pogacar becomes only the third rider in the history of more than a century of cycling, along with the French Louison Bobet and the Belgian Eddy Merckx, to have won both the Tour de France and the “Ronde”.
“It’s amazing, it’s a day I will never forget. I could almost retire after this day,” he smiled.
Note that Pogacar won at the end of a very lively day, marked by many crashes and raced at a crazy speed, the fastest in history (44.1 km / h)!
The results : 1. Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) ; 2. Van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) ; 3. Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo)…
*****
Dwars door Vlaanderen : Laporte does it again with style
After his victory at Ghent-Wevelgem two days earlier thanks to a gift from Wout van Aert, Christophe Laporte did it again by winning Dwars door Vlaanderen. The Jumbo-Visma rider won fifteen seconds ahead of Spaniard Oier Lazkano and American Neilson Powless after escaping from a group of attackers four kilometers from the finish line. Laporte thus became the second Frenchman to win at Waregem, fifteen years after Sylvain Chavanel.
“Such a double is difficult to achieve,” said the very happy 30-year-old from Var. “This is proof that my condition is good. I trained well after falling ill (before Paris-Nice in early March, editor’s note). I have a lot of freshness.”
Jumbo-Visma also confirmed its hold on the Flanders spring before the Tour of Flanders by winning the five preparatory cobblestone races ahead of the Tour of Flanders: Het Nieuswlad (with Dylan van Baarle), Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne (Tiesj Benoot), the E3 Classic (Wout Van Aert) and then Ghent-Wevelgem and Dwars door Vlaanderen.
The results : 1. Laporte (Jumbo-Visma) ; 2. Lazkano (Movistar) ; 3. Powless (EF Education – Easy Post)…
*****
La Route Adélie de Vitré: Dversnes an opportunistic victory
Fredrik Dversnes (Uno-X) won the 27th edition of the Route Adélie de Vitré. The Uno-X rider, very active in the final, won by five seconds ahead of Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-Samsic) and 43 seconds over Louis Barré (Arkéa-Samsic) who took top honors from the chasing group.
The 26-year-old Norwegian made the difference in the last passage in the côte de la Chênelière, five kilometers from the finish, to earn himself the biggest victory of his career, two years after winning at the International Tour of Rhodes . “We agreed in the middle of the race that we were going to try to drive the echelons, and we had a guy up front (Adne Holter). From there, it was a very selective race, the selection was done from the back,” Dversnes explained. “In the last laps, there were attacks on the most difficult sections and I managed to follow. My best chance was to attack. I’m glad I managed to hold on.”
The results : 1. Dversnes (Uno X Pro Cycling Team) ; 2. Vauquelin (Arkéa-Samsic) ; 3. Barré (Arkéa-Samsic)…
*****
Gran Premio Miguel Indurain: Izagirre doubles up
Seven years after first winning the Gran Premio Miguel Indurain, Ion Izagirre did it again in Navarre. Attacking the peloton with Sergio Higuita just over 10 kilometers from the finish, the Spaniard from the Cofidis team cracked the Colombian on the last steep ramp of the course to win by a few bike lengths. The podium was completed by Dane Mattias Skjelmose Jensen. “Today was a really great day. I had very good feelings throughout the race. I hope that this success will give us the motivation to do well in the general classification at the Tour du Pays Basque,” he said. “I really thank my teammates because this race was one of my goals for the season.”
The results: 1. I. Izagirre (Cofidis) ; 2. Higuita (Bora-Hansgrohe) ; 3. Skjelmose (Trek-Segafredo)…
*****
Volta Limburg Classic: Groves braves the deluge to win
After 193 kilometers and 26 climbs in difficult weather conditions, Kaden Groves took his third victory this season, this time ahead of Maxim van Gils.
The Australian attacked more than 80 kilometers from the finish with four favorites for the final victory. After bridging up to the breakaway, only Pascal Eenkhoorn and Maxim Van Gils managed to accompany him before the Dutchman was unclamped on the final climb 20 kilometers from the finish.
Though the Belgian then never worked with the rider from Alpecin-Deceuninck, Groves was the strongest in the home stretch to win in Eijsden and succeed defending champion Arnaud De Lie. “This victory makes me very happy. I had a good week in Catalonia, and I knew that I was coming to this race in great shape,” Groves explained. “The hard work I did during the winter is now being rewarded. I really have to thank the team. They have been patient with me because the results took a long time to start coming.”
The results: 1. Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) ; 2. Van Gils (Lotto-Dstny) ; 3. Eenkhoorn (Lotto-Dstny)…
*****
Races to come:
April 3-8 : Itzulia Basque Country, https://itzulia.eus/
April 4-7 : Région Pays de la Loire Tour, https://www.regionpaysdelaloire-tour.fr/
5 april : Scheldeprijs, https://www.scheldeprijs.be/fr/
8 April : Paris-Roubaix femmes, https://www.paris-roubaix.fr/fr
9 April : Paris-Roubaix, https://www.paris-roubaix.fr/fr