Hat trick for van der Poel at the E3 Prize

“I’m very happy about the victory. But the victory cost a lot of energy. My legs weren’t running so smoothly at the end. It was very close,” said van der Poel.

Exciting finale in Harelbeke

The eight-time cross world champion, who was unable to follow Pogacar’s first victory in Sanremo on the final climb last Saturday and came eighth, initially dominated the well-contested race at will. With just 63 kilometers to go, he broke away from most of his rivals. Shortly afterwards he reached the breakaway group, which he finally left at Paterberg 42 kilometers from the finish. But it got very tight at the back. The Norwegian Per Strand Hagenes and the Belgian Florian Vermeersch took second and third place, five seconds back.

Many sections of the race are also run during the “Ronde” on Easter Sunday. Van der Poel competed in the race with a bandaged finger on his left hand. But the memory of a small collision at the spring classic last Saturday no longer hindered him. At the Tour of Flanders and a week later at Paris-Roubaix there will be another big duel with Pogacar.