After a hectic last kilometer in the Tour of Flanders, Mathieu Van Der Pol came out on top for the second time in three years in Oudenaarde. The Dutch rider led the last kilometer with Tadej Pogachar and looked set for another two-man sprint finish, but Van der Pol slowed before setting up his sprint. Van der Pol backed up his rival and with 250 meters to go, the Slovenian was swallowed by the chase group.

"He was catching me really fast from behind, so I decided to sprint myself from a distance," said van der Pol. He went really fast up Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg. I almost fell off the bike. He went really fast up Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg. All I could think about was Taddei

"It was amazing how busy he was with me, not caring about the other riders coming back. It was a bit of a shock to see it turn out like that." Dylan Van Baar (Ineos Grenadiers) and Valentin Maduas (Groupama-FDJ) dominated the podium. But before the poker game with 13km to go, Pogachar put Van der Pol in a tight spot with his pace up the race's final hill, the dreaded Paterberg. 'I've never suffered from lactic acid as much as I did on the Paterberg, but I knew I had to get on his wheel,' he said. I had no choice. Every time I took the wheel I tried to recover a little bit, but it hurt anyway. I've worked so hard for this, and I gave it 100%. I'm really happy it worked out

"At Quaremont and Paterberg I was struggling to get behind the wheel of Taddei. He was incredibly strong. Especially in Paterberg it was really limiting for me. But then after a few kilometers I was able to get my legs rolling and focus on the sprint. I think he was the strongest guy in the race. If he had won or been on the podium, I would have applauded him. Maybe he needs to sprint a few more times here to get better at sprinting." Van der Pol's victory came just three weeks after he made his season debut in Milan-San Remo following a long rehabilitation period from a lingering back problem. In early March, it was reported that he would not be ready for the race in Flanders, but he returned ahead of schedule, just in time to win the sprint race, his main goal, along with Paris-Roubaix, two weeks later.

"I can't believe it. I worked so hard for this. At first I didn't even know if I was going to make the classics, and to win the Ronde after the Doire de Vranderen is unbelievable. I can't believe I won the Ronde after the Doir de Vlaanderen. I've worked incredibly hard to get here and I have a lot of people to thank. I'm looking forward to having fun with them."