Greig Leach

As the favorites went over the top of cobbled climb of the Oude Kwaremont they hit the cement slab roads of Flanders. Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) had chased down the attacking Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) with Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) who was quick to get back on terms. Van der Poel looks back into the eyes of Pogacar perhaps trying to assess the Slovenians condition. I am quite sure he wanted to make sure that he saw that van der Poel was right back in the race. At this point Pedersen was just happy to be on the wheels. Spoiler, Pedersen was able to win the sprint for second place - I'll tell you more about who won later.