Van der Poel Wins E3 Saxo Classic with Devastating Solo Ride

That didn’t happen. However, the appearance at the start line of two-time Saxo winner Wout van Aert (Visma–Lease a Bike) added much of the spice the race had lost due to Pogačar’s withdrawal, though the race is not one of the Belgian’s targets this year. Those are the Tour of Flanders and the aforementioned Paris-Roubaix, in which Pogačar and van der Poel will face off again.

But any dreams of a van der Poel–van Aert duel evaporated not long after Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) attacked on the cobbled ascent of the Taaienberg (0.6km @ 6.3%), with about 82km left to ride in the 208.8km race. He was soon joined by van der Poel (of course!) and eventually Ganna, and they soon caught the two riders who’d been leading the race, Casper Pedersen (Soudal Quick-Step) and Aimé De Gendt (Cofidis).

But van Aert had been dropped and was never a factor in the race. However, his Visma–Lease a Bike teammate Matteo Jorgenson joined a six-rider chaser group as the rain began to fall and the wind picked up. But they never got close to the leaders.

With 39km left to ride, on the cobbled ascent of the Oude Kwaremont (2.2km @ 4.3%, with ramps of 12%), van der Poel powered away on one of the steep sections and the race was, to all intents and purposes, over. Though Pedersen gave it a good shot. He trailed van der Poel by 28 seconds after that climb, but the Lidl-Trek fast man began to gnaw away at the gap, eventually bringing it down to 15 seconds. Ganna was further behind, but also began to gain on the former world champion.

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But van der Poel climbed the Kaarnemelkbeekstraat (1.5km @ 5%, with ramps up to 18%) faster than his pursuers and increased his lead as they lost both energy and hope. At the finish, as he celebrated his second consecutive win in the race, the gap to the courageous Pedersen was 1:05, with the no less valiant Ganna finishing 2:04 behind.

“I’m very, very happy. We had a tough race with team, but I have to thank my whole team for the amazing job they did today. I was really motivated to finish it off,” Van der Poel said after the race. In fact, he might not have been in a position to win if his teammates had not been instrumental in bridging a 2-minute gap after an early crash had caused a large split in the peloton. But it wasn’t all clear sailing for the Dutch rider. As he rode alone on the final climb, a spectator lacking both intelligence and manners spit in his direction.

It has been clear for several months now that van der Poel is in the form of his life and apparently unbeatable. The only race he has lost since December 2024 in both cyclocross and road racing was the recent Tirreno-Adriatico stage race, which he rode to prepare for the Classics. That win streak includes eight cyclocross races, including the World Championship, and now three spring Classics. That’s 11 out of 11 one-day races without a loss (not counting the Tirreno stages). I think Pogačar has a problem.

The E3 Saxo Classic is a warm-up for the Tour of Flanders, which will come on April 6 and includes several of the same climbs, though over a longer distance. No fewer than 13 winners of the Saxo have gone on to win Flanders, including eight in the last 20 years. The last rider to win the Saxo-Flanders double? You guessed it: van der Poel. What if he beats Pogačar in both the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix? Could we still call the Slovenian the greatest of all time?

Van Aert and Visma–Lease a Bike also have a problem. Since the second of his two serious crashes last year, in the Vuelta, Van Aert has looked light-years away from the rider he used to be. Perhaps the knee he injured in the Vuelta crash has not yet recovered. Or he has not yet recovered psychologically from the effects of last year’s misfortunes. Whatever the case, he finished a meek 15th, 2:43 behind the winner, and does not look ready to challenge the likes of van der Poel and Pogačar.