Mathieu van der Poel storms towards Flanders record

The Dutchman has won as many editions in five years as anyone in history. Adam Becket was there to witness his charge

It was not the race-winning move that would come on the Koppenberg about 10km later but the second time up the Oude Kwaremont where Mathieu van der Poel put in the kind of surge that marked him out as comfortably the strongest rider in the Tour of Flanders last Sunday.

As Mads Pedersen's doomed attack was chased down, Van der Poel calmly put the power down, and moved clear on the rain-soaked cobbles. As the flares went off and the well-oiled crowd cheered, the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider picked his line and led from the front.

Standing on the muddy verges of the Kwaremont, one got the sense of a rider in total control. The next time he came up the famous cobbled climb, he was alone, and a third victory was his to lose.