Ineos Grenadiers’s Dylan Van Baarle gambled on a 50km solo break to win cycling’s Dwars door Vlaanderen yesterday rampaging over more than a dozen hills and tricky cobbled roads.
Also known as the ‘Around Flanders’ the 180km race is a precursor to the Tour Of Flanders on Sunday, and many of the contenders for the event competed in the sunshine through the lush-green fields here.
Dutchman Van Baarle broke with 52km to go with most of the 13 hills still ahead of him.
His relentless effort was of such power the peloton, including world champion Julain Alaphilippe and Matthieu van der Poel, eventually gave up the chase.
The usual start line at a bustling and carnivalesque downtown market square was replaced with the Roselare football stadium on the outskirts of town due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Annemiek van Vlueten won the women’s race earlier in the day beating Kasia Niewiadoma in a long range sprint after the pair had been involved in a breakaway.