Mathieu van der Poel of the Alpecin-Deceuninck team claimed a record-equalling solo win at the Tour of Flanders 2024 on Sunday.
He rode away from the field with 45 kilometres remaining of the total 270.8km to secure his third win, following his triumphs in 2020 and 2022.
Only six other riders have managed to win the Tour of Flanders three times: Fabian Cancellara, Tom Boonen, Johan Museeuw, Eric Leman, Fiorenzo Magni and Achiel Buysse.
At the age of 29, he still has time to do what none of those riders could, and become the first man in history to win a fourth title.
"Today was all about survival. The weather made it the toughest Ronde I've ever ridden," van der Poel said.
Following the withdrawal of top opponent Wout van Aert due to injury and of defending champion Tadej Pogacar, the Dutchman entered the race as the almost unbeatable favourite.
Luca Mozzato (Arkéa - B&B Hotels) sprinted to second place and Germany's Nils Politt (UAE Team Emirates) took third after Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla) was relegated for dangerous sprinting.
Hundreds of thousands of fans lined on the streets of the Flanders region in Belgium, but sometimes too close to the riders. Two crashes were apparently caused by riders colliding with spectators, one of them involving Giro d'Italia stage winner Nico Denz.
