Van der Poel takes maiden WorldTour win in Belgium

ByEurosport

Updated 03/04/2019 at 15:29 GMT

Mathieu van der Poel of Corendon-Circus took an impressive victory at Dwars door Vlaanderen on Wednesday, the first WorldTour road win of his career.

Arrival / Mathieu van der Poel of The Netherlands and Team Corendon-Circus Celebration / Anthony Turgis of France and Team Direct Energie Disappointment / during the 74th Dwars door Vlaanderen 2019 a 182,8km race from Roeselare to Waregem / @DwarsdrVlaand

Image credit: Getty Images

Van der Poel, 24, was part of a five-man break that wasn’t caught by the main peloton and in the end it was easy for the Dutch champion.

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Anthony Turgis went first but Van der Poel easily caught him in the final sprint, with Bob Jungels some way off in third to complete the podium.

Dwars door Vlaanderen

'Fantastic result!' - Van der Poel takes victory

00:02:43

03/04/2019 at 15:23

'Fantastic result!' - Van der Poel takes victory

Lukas Postlberger rode well to finish fourth ahead of Tiesj Benoot whilst Team Sky’s Luke Rowe came sixth in the sprint battle of the rest of the pack.

Postlberger hitches a ride during an interview!

Van der Poel’s victory sets him up nicely for the Tour of Flanders on Sunday although the race winner was quick to point out he would not be the favourite when reflecting on his victory afterwards.

Arrival / Mathieu van der Poel of The Netherlands and Team Corendon-Circus / Celebration / Alejandro Valverde Belmonte of Spain and Movistar Team / during the 74th Dwars door Vlaanderen 2019 a 182,8km race from Roeselare to Waregem / @DwarsdrVlaander / @

Image credit: Getty Images

"I had to make sure that nobody came from behind, I just looked when Turgis went. I felt there was a sprint in my legs and I just finished it off. It was an instinctive moment really - Garcia Cortina reacted and I went with him. I think it was a perfect moment to anticipate everyone else.

Van der Poel wary of longer race on Sunday

"It wasn't a special moment when I crashed the other week [at Nokere Koerse] it's a very hard race. This was a very hard race too, only 180km today but this Sunday we go nearly 100km more. I don't see myself as a favourite for Sunday yet, we'll see what happens."#

Van der Poel's win is the first Dutch victory since Niki Terpstra in 2014.