Tour of Flanders: Kasper Asgreen outsprints Mathieu van der Poel to claim first monument

Danish champion wins after Mathieu van der Poel sits up in final sprint. Wout van Aert was dropped in the final 20km after fending off a wave of attacks.

Kasper Asgreen (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) won the Tour of Flanders from a two-up sprint on Sunday.

The Dane stormed into the final 300 meters with Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) after the pair wrenched themselves clear in the final 17 kilometers of the race.

Van der Poel led the duo into the final kilometer before sprinting first to set up a long drag race to the line. The Dutchman suddenly blew as the two riders drew level, sitting up at 30 meters to go to leave Asgreen to cross the line first, screaming in victory.

“I felt good in the last kilometers,” Asgreen said. “I decided to try and trust my sprint, and going into the last kilometer, I got Mathieu on the front – I decided to just stay on the wheel, so I could decide when we can go. It was a really really hard race, we were both on the limit and a question of the margins in the end.”

Greg van Avermaet (Ag2r-Citroën) won the sprint for third place behind van der Poel.