Asgreen beats Van der Poel to win Tour of Flanders classic
April 4, 2021 GMT
OUDENAARDE, Belgium (AP) — Danish cyclist Kasper Asgreen timed his attack perfectly with about 250 meters left and overtook Dutchman Mathieu Van der Poel to win the Tour of Flanders classic for the first time on Sunday.
Asgreen sat on the defending champion’s wheel entering the last kilometer and then surged ahead of Van der Poel, who tried to resist but eased up just before the line when he knew defeat was inevitable.
“I felt good in the last kilometres still so I decided to try and trust my sprint,” the 26-year-old Elegant-QuickStep rider said. “I decided to stay (on) the wheel, so I could decide when to go. It was a really hard race. We were both on the limit. It was a question of margins at the end.”