"I now show that I can also win man against man" - Wout van Aert breaks mental barrier to conquer heavily fought E3 Saxo Classic

It was a dramatic and explosive day over in Flandres today, as the bergs of the E3 Saxo Classic saw Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert and Tadej Pogacar battle over them. Van Aert came through with the win in the end, and was very happy to have managed to beat the competition today.

The race opened up very early on as with 80 kilometers to go van der Poel launched his first attack. He and Pogacar dealt several blows throughout the afternoon in many different climbs, but van Aert always had the watts to match them. A race of intelligence, the Jumbo-Visma rider suffered on the climbs but didn't risk an early attack and tried to keep as much energy for the sprint as possible once he realized that was possible.

“I was on the limit on the Kwaremont. I had to watch out for the steep part, but I was still able to catch up. I think Mathieu and Tadej looked at each other for a moment," he tells in a post-race interview. "After that I had a hard time again, but I kept concentrating on that last sprint.”

It wasn't the best of days for the Dutch team, with Laporte and van Baarle not performing at the expected level, whilst Tiesj Benoot abandoned the race early on. However as he flew through the climbs, he had a sprint on the table. In the past he was beaten by both of his competitors, but not this time around. “At about 250 meters, I think. I knew that a short sprint was not in my favor. I learned from the past," the Belgian continued.

In what was his first cobbled classic of the season, van Aert has proved his level and form. In a course similar to that of the Tour des Flandres, van Aert has asserted himself. “It's important, I must say. Just because I like to win. The past few weeks have not always been easy, so winning like this is nice again. I now show that I can also win man against man," he concluded.