E3 Saxo Classic 2024

March 22, 2024 A group 10 got away early on a cold and damp day. They had a handy gap of nearly five minutes with 100KM to go but as the race made its way to the Hotondberg, riders were dropping off the back in twos and threes. Off the Hotondberg, all of the favorites were sitting very far forward, waiting to see who would make the first move. They didn't have to wait long because Lidl-Trek took control on the way to the Taaienberg, stringing the group out on the twisty, narrow farm tracks. Alex Kirsch of Lidl-Trek took the peloton to the base but it was Mathieu van der Poel of Alpecin-Deceuninck who lit the fireworks. Teammates Mads Pedersen and Jasper Stuyven of Lidl-Trek, Wout van Aert of Visma-Lease a Bike and Matteo Trentin of Tudor Pro Cycling formed a chase group over the top. The finale was just beginning so there was enough firepower among the remaining riders in the peloton to organize and get back to the van Aert group. Once that happened, van der Poel stopped his press forward and came back to the group. Kirsch went to the front to regain control but Julian Alaphilippe of Soudal Quickstep attacked, temporarily splitting the group in half but this came back together as well. By this point, the initial break was holding on to just two minutes advantage. Mads Pedersen was next to go, this time he got a gap at 70KM to go. A counter move from the bunch saw van der Poel and Matteo Jorgenson of Visma-Lease a Bike stretch the group, van Aert was caught at the back and made a big effort to get up van der Poel. This flurry brought back Pedersen and left just seven in the favorites group. The pace went out again, and again the larger group of twenty five riders got back to the favorites. Oier Lazkano of Movistar made his move on the Stationsberg and only van der Poel and van Aert could follow. After a moment, van der Poel went over the top again, dropping everyone except van Aert but after the Mariaborestraat, the dropped riders came back as the breakaway was roped in. On the Paterberg, van Der Poel attacked again and van Aert tried to come out of the gutter and on to the cobbles but his wheel slipped out and he came down. By the time he got back on, van der Poel had gone solo and van Art was forced to ride through dropped riders. van der Poel had half a minute over the Oude Kwaremont from a solo van Aert who had gotten away from all the others on the climb. Over the Tiegemberg with 20KM to go, van Aert had slipped to forty seconds and nearly ninety seconds to a group of five chasers. Stuyven was able to jump out of the group of three and caught van Aert but there would be no catching van der Poel who won by two minutes over Stuyven then van Aert.