106th edition Ronde Van Vlaanderen kicked off, Dewulf joins in early flight

For a long time, Wout van Aert was the obvious winner, but on Friday the Belgian champion reported that he has contracted COVID-19 and has to give up. That while the Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel just made a successful comeback and the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar is also showing his top form. Van der Poel impressed on Wednesday with a win in the last Dwars door Vlaanderen, in which he broke the course with his teammates more than 90 kilometers from the finish.

Today, van der Poel can again count on the support of Jasper Philipsen and Gianni Vermeersch, among others. Van der Poel already won the Tour of Flanders in 2020. At UAE Emirates, Pogacar is guided over the Flemish roads still unknown to him by the Italian Matteo Trentin. Another Slovenian, Matej Mohoric, must uphold the honor at Bahrain Victorius, just like Dylan Teuns.

At Jumbo-Visma, Tiesj Benoot and Frenchman Christophe Laporte have to fill the gap left by Van Aert. At Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl, it is up to Dane Kasper Asgreen, last year’s winner, to pull the team out of the Flemish classics. Frenchman Florian Senechal, Yves Lampaert and Czech Zdenek Stybar are assisting him. Lotto Soudal is counting on Tim Wellens, Florian Vermeersch and Victor Campenaerts. The third Belgian WorldTeam, Intermarché-Wanty Gobert, hopes for another brilliant performance from Alexander Kristoff, winner in 2015.

After 15 kilometers of racing there was the first concrete undertaking of the day. Stan Dewulf from Alveringem (AG2R-Citroën) drove together with Sébastien Grignard (Lotto-Soudal), Lindsay De Vylder (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise), Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert), Mathijs Paasschens (Bingoal-Pauwels Sauzen- WB), Manuele Boaro (Astana Qazaqstan), Luca Mozzato (B&B), Tom Bohli (Cofidis) and Max Kanter (Movistar) away from the pack. The early flight was immediately a fact.