Tour of Flanders 2019

The road

At the start

The cross champions come to Flanders

Antwerp, 270 kilometres, seventeen climbs, and a Ronde nobody can call. Mathieu van der Poel is a debutant and the favourite anyway, off Dwars door Vlaanderen and fourth at Gent-Wevelgem. Wout van Aert has passed Van Avermaet as Belgium's best hope; Zdeněk Štybar tops the QuickStep ladder with Omloop and E3 on it. Peter Sagan has been ill, and has been training rather than racing.

How it was won

1. 154 km to go

   Van der Poel hits the deck

   Approaching the second ascent of the Oude Kwaremont near Berchem, the pre-race favourite Mathieu van der Poel tries to bunny-hop a traffic island, punctures and tumbles over the bars. He clutches his shoulder, loses a chunk of time — but refuses to climb off.

2. 245 km to go

   Van Baarle over the Koppenberg

   On the savage cobbled wall of the Koppenberg, Dylan van Baarle rips clear of the peloton to chase the three leaders, while behind him Van der Poel drags himself back onto the tail of the stretched-out bunch just in time.

3. 325 km to go

   The Kruisberg splits it

   The long Kruisberg-Hotond sparks the real selection with 25km to go. Van Baarle drives, Štybar cracks, and somehow Van der Poel, Sagan, Valverde and Van Avermaet claw their way back to the front for the final showdown.

4. 417 km to go

   Bettiol lights the fuse

   Seventeen kilometres from Oudenaarde, where the Oude Kwaremont's gradient finally eases, Alberto Bettiol spins a huge gear and detonates. He lines out the very best — making even Sagan suffer — surges past Van Baarle and crests the fabled cobbles alone. The winning move of a career that had never won a race.

5. 513 km to go

   Alone over the Paterberg

   Bettiol grimaces up the brutal ramp of the Paterberg but does not crack — it is his rivals who are at their limit. Behind, fifteen big names glance at one another and no one commits, gifting the Italian thirty seconds.

6. 6At the line

   Bettiol wins the Ronde

   Time-trialling the last 13km as the chase races itself rather than him, Bettiol turns into the long finishing straight and finally lets himself believe it: a first-ever professional road win, and it is the Tour of Flanders.

The result