Pogacar & record-breaking Kopecky claim Tour of Flanders wins
Tadej Pogacar held off defending champion Mathieu van der Poel to claim his second Tour of Flanders title.
The three-time Tour de France champion, racing for UAE Team Emirates-XRG, completed the 270km course in Belgium in five hours, 58 minutes and 41 seconds.
Pogacar finished just over a minute clear of Denmark's Mads Pedersen in second, while Dutchman Van der Poel came third, having recovered from a crash with 127km to go.
The Tour of Flanders, which began in 1913 and known as De Ronde, is a historic one-day road race held in Belgium every spring and highlighted by climbs and cobbled sectors.
"The goal was to win, but at the end it's hard to realise. I cannot be more proud of the team," said 26-year-old Pogacar.
Van der Poel re-joined the peloton within just 10km of his crash and tussled with Pogacar through the hills.
But the Slovenian pulled away with a race-winning attack on the final ascent of the Oude Kwaremont with around 15km to go and cruised along the flat roads to a solo victory.
The chasing pack sprinted for the remaining medal positions with Belgian Wout van Aert missing out on a podium finish.
In the women's race, Belgian Lotte Kopecky made history as the first cyclist to win three editions of the event.
Riding for Team SD Worx, the 29-year-old claimed victory in thrilling style by winning a four-way sprint finish ahead of France's Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, Liane Lippert of Germany and Poland's Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney.
"It was a crazy race with a lot of crashes in the beginning," said Kopecky. "When it went with the four of us I was pretty confident."
Italian rider Elisa Longo Borghini was among the favourites with Kopecky and also chasing a third Tour of Flanders title, but had to withdraw after crashing around 95km from the finish.
Around 750,000 spectators gathered on the streets from Bruges to Oudenaarde for the event, which is one of five one-day races in the cycling calendar known as the Monuments.
The others are Milan-San Remo, Paris-Roubaix, the Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Tour of Lombardy.
On 13 April, Pogacar will be taking part on more cobbled tracks for the Paris-Roubaix race - known as 'hell of the north' - for the first time, where Van der Poel is again the defending champion.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
Jannik Sinner suffers ‘Roger Federer curse' as French Open final fan repeats fateful gesture six years on
JANNIK SINNER had two hands on the French Open crown - or at least nine fingers... But fans reckon he was then hit by the same curse that struck Roger Federer in the Wimbledon final six years ago. 5 5 Nothing less than "the cursed finger". Sinner was leading Carlos Alcaraz 2-1 in sets and 5-3 in the fourth, before earning three match points at love-40 on the Spaniard's serve. And it was then that some Sinner fans gleefully raised a finger in anticipation of the World No1 clinching his first Roland Garros title. That's just what happened to Federer when he had two match points on his own serve against big rival Novak Djokovic at SW19 back in 2019. Both times fingers went up. Both times fortunes went down for the man on top. Djokovic clinched a five-set epic, then Alcaraz did just that too on Sunday - winning in the longest-ever French Open final. And fans couldn't resist making creepy comparisons. One wrote: "If it's not a cursed finger again" - followed by crying-with-laughter emojis. 5 Others taunted Sinner fans - as their hero went on to lose 4-6 6-7 6-4 7-6 7-6 in five hours and 29 minutes. The 23-year-old might also have thought the spirits were against him for another reason. Novak Djokovic digs out French Open rival for 'spying' on him and seeing Champions League trophy He sportingly gave up a point in the fourth point after telling the chair umpire an Alcaraz shot had wrongly been called out. But replays showed line judges had been right to call it long. Three-time Slam winner Sinner admitted afterwards it was tough to speak after losing from such a strong position. The rueful runner-up said: "It's easier to play than talk now. "I'm still happy with this trophy - I won't sleep very well tonight but it is OK." Meanwhile, Alcaraz praised his beaten rival - perhaps knowing the pair are way ahead of the world's rest in the men's game. He told Sinner: "The level you have is amazing. "It is a privilege to share a court with you in every tournament and in making history." 5 5
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Sinner and Alcaraz thriller proves rivalry here to stay
A first major final between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, the two best players in the world, always promised to even the most optimistic could not have anticipated it would reach the heights it did during a breathtaking five hours and 29 two generational talents played out an instant classic at Roland Garros, in which Spain's Alcaraz recovered from two sets down - and saved three championship points - to retain his French Open title after a fifth set match is only the third man to win a major final after saving a championship point since the Open era began in was a fifth major triumph for Alcaraz, 22, who has now shared the sport's past six major titles with Italy's world number one Sinner, blockbuster, which broke the record for the longest French Open final in history, was the first Grand Slam men's final to feature two players born in the any doubt remained, this was confirmation of the dawn of a new era in men's tennis. For more than two decades the men's game was dominated by Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Djokovic, the only remaining active member of the trio, admitted he could have played his last French Open after his latest bid for a standalone record 25th Grand Slam title was ended by Sinner in the the excitement surrounding Alcaraz and Sinner's rivalry entered the stratosphere in Paris on Sunday, the question of who could rise up and fill the void at the end of the 'Big Three' era has been major winner Mats Wilander, who won the previous longest Roland Garros final in 1982, said on TNT Sports: "Federer and Nadal played a couple of good finals, but nothing comes close to this."I thought 'this is not possible - they're playing at a pace that is not human.'"These are two of the best athletes the human race can put forward and they happen to be tennis players. I'm not speechless often, but what a wonderful day." This was the first meeting in a major final between two familiar foes who have become the standout performers on the ATP Sinner, who served a three-month doping suspension between February and May, has shown remarkable consistency over the past 20 months, losing just 10 of 121 matches since the Beijing Open in September half of those defeats have come in his past five meetings with Alcaraz. In fact, Sinner has lost just three of his past 50 matches - all to the Spaniard."I think every rivalry is different," said Sinner."Back in the days, they played different tennis. Now it's very physical, but you cannot compare. "I was lucky enough to play against Novak and Rafa. Beating these guys, it takes a lot."I have the same feeling with Carlos and some other players. It's very special. I'm happy to be part of this." Alcaraz, who will begin his Wimbledon title defence in just three weeks, now leads the head-to-head with Sinner becoming the first man to win his first five Grand Slam singles finals in the Open era, Alcaraz ended Sinner's perfect record in major finals and his pursuit of a third-straight slam."Every match I'm playing against him is important," Alcaraz said."This is the first match in a Grand Slam final. Hopefully not the last because every time we face each other, we raise our level to the top. "If you want to win Grand Slams, you have to beat the best tennis players in the world."With seven of the past eight slams going to Alcaraz and Sinner - a streak of dominance punctuated only by Novak Djokovic's 24th major title at the 2023 US Open - it remains to be seen if any other players can challenge the newly established status quo. Alcaraz emulated his childhood hero Rafael Nadal - a record 14-time champion at Roland Garros - by winning his fifth major at the exact same age of 22 years, one month and three meanwhile, is the youngest man to reach three consecutive Grand Slam singles finals since 14-time major winner Pete Sampras in statistics offer a strong indication of the trajectory they both find themselves where does their rivalry go from here? The pair both have titles to defend at the two remaining slams in 2025 - Alcaraz at Wimbledon and Sinner at the US who leads Sinner 20-19 in career titles, has reduced Sinner's lead at the top of the world rankings to 2,030 the reigning champion has 2,000 points to defend at Wimbledon, compared to just 400 for Sinner after his quarter-final exit last year."I'm sure he will learn from this match and come back stronger next time we face each other," Alcaraz added."I'm sure he's going to do his homework. I'm going to try to learn how I can be better [and] tactically hurt his game. "I'm not going to beat him forever, that's obvious. So I have to keep learning from the matches I play against him."
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Aryna Sabalenka vows to ‘learn' after releasing statement on Coco Gauff comments
Aryna Sabalenka vowed to 'learn' and said she wanted to give 'credit' to Coco Gauff following her comments that came after her French Open final defeat to the American on Saturday. The World No 1 criticised her own performance, in which she lost from a set up and made 70 unforced errors in difficult, windy conditions, and said 'it was the worst final I have ever played'. Sabalenka continued by suggesting Gauff was fortunate to win, saying the 21-year-old had been lucky when she was 'framing' balls and adding that she would have lost to defending champion Iga Swiatek had she made the final. In a particularly ungracious press conference, which came after Sabalenka lost a second grand slam final in a row, the World No 1 said: 'I think she won the match not because she played incredible, just because I made all of those mistakes.' On Sunday, Sabalenka posted on her Instagram stories: 'Yesterday was a tough one. Coco handled the conditions much better than I did and fully deserved the win. She was the better player yesterday, and I want to give her the credit she earned. "You all know me... I'm always going to be honest and human in how I process these moments. I made over 70 unforced errors, so I can't pretend it was a great day for me. 'But both things can be true... I didn't play my best, and Coco stepped up and played with poise and purpose. She earned that title. Respect. Time to rest, learn, and come back stronger." Sabalenka, who also suffered a painful defeat to Madison Keys in the Australian Open final in January, said she had no plans to re-watch the final and will be going on holiday to Greece for 'tequila, gummy bears and swimming'. 'No, no, I already have a flight booked to Mykonos and alcohol, sugar,' Sabalenka said. 'I just need couple of days to completely forget about this crazy world and this crazy - if I could swear, I would swear right now - but this crazy thing that happened today. 'I think everyone understands. I'm just trying to be very polite right now, but you know, there is no other word, that could describe what just happened today on the court. But yeah, tequila, gummy bears, and I don't know, swimming, being like the tourist for couple of days.'
