Tour of Flanders 2022, as it happened - Mathieu van der Poel wins after Tadej Pogacar conspires to lose podium place

Van der Poel and Pogacar gambled by easing off so much - and in the end there was one clear winner and one huge loser, the Slovenian not even making the final podium. Here's how it happened:

Not just his second win in De Ronde but his second win of the week after Dwars door Vlaanderen on Thursday. Here's what Mathieu van der Poel had to saw after that victory:

“It’s incredible – I worked so hard for this one. At first, it was not even sure that I would make the classics. But to win after Dwars door Vlaanderen is incredible. I was trying to hold the wheel of Tadej on the Kwaremont and Paterberg – he was incredibly strong out there. Especially the Paterberg, where I was really on the limit. But I had a few kilometres to get the legs back working and then focus on the sprint."

Asked about the Slovenian making his debut today, Van der Poel was full of praise:

You hardly ever see Pogacar lose his cool but the double Tour champion is absolutely livid - with himself and with Van Baarle, who he feels cut him up. The Slovenian actually raised his arm in anger before the end of the sprint - and afterwards he rode off on his own to cool down and avoid the media. Van der Poel, meanwhile, is ecstatic after a second victory in De Ronde, righting the wrongs from his loss last year to Kasper Asgreen.

What an astounding victory for the Dutchman. He backed himself so much that he was willing to let Madouas and Van Baarle back into the fold before opening up his sprint. And Pogacar was completely flummoxed by the returning duo and managed to find himself completely boxed himself in. The Slovenian dug his own grave to lose a spot on the podium as Van Baarle took second and Madouas third.

Flick of an elbow from Pogacar and Van der Poel comes through, reluctantly, for the last time - and then Pogacar then sticks to his wheel. They're both looking over their shoulders because the five riders behind are closing in...

Pog and Van der Poel take their final toots on their bidons before discarding them on the side of the road. One of them will win today and it's impossible to predict who. Whatever the result is, it would make sense and be entirely logical. That's how tight it is.

What a finish... two riders locked on 37 pro wins apiece are riding towards Oudenaarde to contest the win. They can't ease up just year because they have two riders - Madouas and Van Baarle - 29 seconds behind, then another three - Teuns, Wright and Kung - at 46 seconds. Too much cat and mouse and they'll let the foxes back in.

Van der Poel and Pogacar have 30 seconds on the chasing duo of Madouas and Van Baarle, with Teuns, Wright and Kung another 10 seconds back, and Benoot over a minute in arrears.

This will be the third time in as many years that Van der Poel has been involved in a two-up sprint finale in the Ronde: he beat Van Aert in 2020 and lost to Asgreen in 2021. How will he fare against a debutant who usually excels in the high mountains while in yellow?

It's the last ascent of the Paterberg now and after a brief foray on the front from the Dutchman, it's the double Tour winner who puts in a big effort on the front. Van der Poel seeks the flatter gully and almost loses his footing. But he claws his way back and they go over the summit together. What a slug-fest this is!

Van der Poel stuck to Pogacar's back wheel like glue over the Kwaremont and now the Dutchman comes to the front for a pull once they're back on the flat tarmac road. It's impossible to call it right now: Pogacar still looks fresh but he still hasn't distanced the Dutchman. He'll try to do so on the Paterberg because leaving things to a sprint is a lottery. That said, Van der Poel lost to Asgreen in the two-up sprint last year so it's no done deal.

The quintet hit the final crossing of the Kwaremont with 47 seconds over the trio of Benoot, Teuns and Kung. Almost instantly Pog ups the tempo to distance Van Baarle and then Wright. Madouas then starts to drop back as Van der Poel digs deep and sticks to the Slovenian's wheel.

A great stat here: Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogacar both have 37 career wins to their name. Which one will end up on 38 tonight?

And another good stat here: the last rider to win De Ronde on his debut was Belgium's Rene Martens in 1982. Could Pogacar break that record four decades on?

The Slovenian won't want this to come down to a sprint so we can expect dual attacks from him over the Kwaremont and the Paterberg. It's an interesting dynamic what with Teuns and Kung chasing behind because they have teammates Wright and Madouas up ahead. The gap is down to 50 seconds and so this isn't over yet.

Some drops of rain have appeared on the camera lens and the wind has got up; all the sunshine from earlier on has disappeared and we could have a fairly apocalyptic finale here. It looks to be a five-way battle for victory now with this quintet of Pogacar, Van der Poel, Van Baarle, Madouas and Wright now holding a gap of 1:13 over the disorganised chase faction behind. They take on bidons and gels on a turn after the Kruijsberg-Hotond.

Tiesj Benoot is the latest rider to have a dig following an acceleration from the 2015 winner Kristoff. He opens up a small gap going over the Hotond with Kung and Teuns. Behind, one of the team cars almost ploughs into Tratnik as he chases back on with Matthews.

There's 10km of 'normal' roads between the Taaienberg and the Kruisberg/Hotond but the gap is 45 seconds now for this quintet. Nerves are starting to fray behind because the race is starting to run away from them. Some big names are in the main chasing pack - including Matthews, Laporte, Benoot, Kung, Naesen, Pidcock - but they're not combining well together at all.

We're onto Tom Boonen's favourite section of cobbles, the location of many of his decisive attacks. Pogacar, on his Flanders debut, is taking on these cobbles as if he's been doing it as long as Boonen, to be fair. He has Van der Poel on his wheel, followed by Van Baarle, Madouas and Wright. Behind, it's Tom Pidcock and Chriostophe Laporte, I think, who lead the chase with Ivan Garcia and Jan Tratnik. They're 30 seconds down and it looks like Alexander Kristoff is also in this move.

Pogacar, Van der Poel and Madouas have Van Baarle and Wright in their sights as they approach the top of the next cobbled test. It's almost 40 seconds back to the first chase group and then another 20 seconds back to a larger group being driven by Quick-Step. It includes the defending champion Kasper Asgreen after his mechanical on the Koppenberg.

What a beast! It's the man with the helmet-tuft who splits the pack once again on the iconic Koppenberg - and only Van der Poel and Valentin Madouas can go with him! And it's not looking good for Quick-Step: Asgreen has a mechanical near the top and needs to dismount and sort it out. It's telling that none of his teammates stop to lend a hand, with Zdenek Stybar looking over his shoulder and considering it before deciding against stopping.

Tratnik was reeled in after the Paterberg and as a lead group of around 12 riders forms, Ineos Grenadiers - who have three men in the move - see Dylan van Baarle put in a testing acceleration. He opens up a gap with Fred Wright of Bahrain Victorious while behind more riders return to that chasing group. Koppenberg coming right up - and before a reassembling there were no QuickStep riders in the move.

We have around 30 riders on the front now following that searing attack by Pogacar made up of a combination of those leading groups and the main pack. It's a short 400m climb that averages almost 10%. Van der Poel, Benoot and Pidcock are all still here.

When the big attack comes it's a Slovenian one but not the one you'd expect: Jan Tratnik of Bahrain Victorious surges clear and he's chased by Van der Poel. Pidcock is in the mix but Pogacar is feeling the effect of that earlier attack...

And now the Slovenian sensation goes! The breakaway and chase group were all but swept up on the flat cobbles of the Oude Kwaremont before Tadej Pogacar then threw down the hammer as the gradient started to go up on the climb. The double Tour de France winner powered through the remnants of the leading groups while completely blowing things up behind. Mathieu van der Poel missed the move and is now leading the chase behind.

The world of cycling was rocked this week with the shock passing away of the journalist and writer Richard Moore. A veteran of over 15 Tours de France, the Scot was one of the three founding members of the popular Cycling Podcast and a huge advocate and tireless supporter of women's cycling for which he enjoyed a strong relationship with Eurosport presenter Orla Chennaoui. Before today's race, Orla made this tribute for her dear friend - a terrible loss for the sport and everyone who knew him.

Lotto Soudal, Jumbo-Visma and Alpecin-Fenix are all jostling for positions ahead of a tight right-hander. It's all perfectly poised ahead of the second ascent of the Kwaremont with Trentin now leading the pack which trails the leaders by 35 seconds and that chase group by just 15 seconds.

Meanwhile, in the women's race they are approaching the Wolvenberg - the first of 11 cobbled climbs on the menu - with around 95km remaining. You can follow Nick Christian's live blog on the race here.

An acceleration from Connor Swift (Arkea-Samsic) forces a reaction from Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) and Kevin Geniets (Groupama-FDJ) on the Kanarieberg. This is the climb where Tadej Pogacar threw down the hammer over the summit in his (failed) bid to join the leaders in Dwars door Vlaanderen last week.

Tom Bohli, meanwhile, has been dropped by the break and passed by both the chasers (who trail by 30 seconds) and this new trio (who are 50 seconds back). UAE have two men on the front of the pack now as they bid to restore some order ahead of the approaching Kwaremont-Paterberg double. They're 1:10 down and about to catch Nils Politt of Bora-Hansgrohe, who was unable to stick with the Swift-Wellens-Geniets move.

You have to feel for Christophe Laporte - the Frenchman just managed to get back onto the peloton after his crash before it split in two following those accelerations by Trentin and Pidcock. He's now in the second part of the pack and faces an uphill challenge to get back into contention. What's more, the gap for the chasers continues to grow - it's up to 30 seconds now. It's worth mentioning that Anthony Turgis also went down in that incident earlier with Laporte, so TotalEnergies are caught in a bind, too.

The main pack is thinning quicker than Alejandro Valverde... It's Matteo Trentin of UAE who makes the first move on the Berg Ten Houte in a bid to neutralise that chase group - and his dig is covered by Tom Pidcock and others. The net result is a massive whittling down in the pack as the favourites close in on the chasers, who themselves now trail the break by only 55 seconds.

This 1.1km climb has an average gradient of 6% but peaks at a whopping 21% and is immensely narrow so there's going to be a battle to get on it - and up it. The barriers on the side of the road make it impossible to ride the gutter and gives tunnel vision to the riders. Ag2R-Citroen lead the chase on the counter group and the gaps are coming down: the break has 1:35 and the chasers only have 15 seconds on the peloton now.

No huge surprise there given the increased stress and pace in the pack ahead of the next cobbled section. A raft of riders hit the deck including Christophe Laporte and that's a big blow for Jumbo-Visma for the Frenchman is one of the co-leaders. With two riders in the counter attack, will the Dutch team have anyone to spare to help Laporte back into the fold? Magnus Sheffield of Ineos went down, as did numerous riders from Lotto Soudal and Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise.

Following that acceleration from Garcia, a split occurred and many of the big teams got caught out - most notably Alpecin-Fenix, UAE Team Emirates and Bahrain Victorious, who are all caught napping. This move includes QuickStep trio Yves Lampaert, Jannik Steimle and Zdenek Stybar, the 2019 winner Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost), Trek Segafredo duo Mads Pedersen and Alex Kirsch, Ben Turner of Ineos Grenadiers, Marco Haller (Bora-Hansgrohe), Olivier Le Gac (Groupama-FDJ) and Mick Van Dijk (Jumbo-Visma). They have caught Van Hooydonck and Koch and now trail the leaders by 2:15 with the peloton 30 seconds back.

Van Hooydonck managed to grab hold of Koch shortly after the Molenberg and the pair is now combining hard as they bid to join the leaders. They trail the break by 3:10 with the pack another 30 seconds back. It seems to be a bit pointless, in all fairness, but you never know what the game plan may be.

Alexander Kristoff, the 2015 winner and Intermarche's leader, flatted ahead of the Marlboroughstraat cobbles and needed a bike change. Meanwhile, Yves Lampaert has now come to the front of the peloton as they start the Berendries cobbles, until Ivan Garcia of Movistar decides to throw down the hammer and string things out.

The first big move comes from the Belgian Nathan van Hooydonck of Jumbo-Visma who exploits the enforced go-slow going onto the Molenberg to ride clear of the pack. He will be a good match to later burn for the likes of Laporte and Benoot.

It's a steep and narrow beast whose only saving grace is the early end to the cobbles, which finish before the summit of the short but sharp climb, which kicks up to 14%. A couple of incidents to report: Dion Smith (BikeExchange-Jayco) has gone off the road and into a grassy ditch, while Xandro Meurisse of Alpecin-Fenix needs a wheel change after a flat. A terrible time for it because the peloton's pace has spiked as they jostle ahead of the Molenberg. Trek-Segafredo are on the front now for their man Mads Pedersen, with Groupama-FDJ there as well and UAE for Pogacar.

Jonas Koch of Bora-Hansgrphe, meanwhile, darted clear of the pack a little earlier during a lull. The German trails the escapees by 3:50 and has 20 seconds on the main field as he hits the Molenberg.

The break has devoured the Wolvenberg and are now onto the Kerkgate cobbles - a nice suburban stretch of quite uniform and flat cobbles. They still have 3:35 over the pack. A reminder of the names of these nine escapees: Sebastien Grignard (Lotto Soudal), Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert), Stan Dewulf (Ag2R-Citroen), Manuele Boaro (Astana-Qazaqstan), Tom Bohli (Cofidis), Max Kanter (Movistar), Luca Mozzato (B&B Hotels-KTM), Mathijs Paasschens (Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB) and Lindsay de Vylder (Sports Vlaanderen-Baloise).

"It's carnage at the back," says Bradley Wiggins, reporting from the back of a motorcycle. Another crash on the Holleweg cobbles floors two Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise riders and one of them is that man Kenneth van Rooy, who has really been in the wars having already tasted the ditch on the side of the Kwaremont.

There's another incident towards the back of the pack as the road bottlenecks going onto the Achterberg. Niki Terpstra is held up by the crash but the Dutch veteran keeps cool and uses it as a chance to take off his arm warmers and shoe covers - rather than do some cyclocross to sidestep the sprawling bodies. The 2018 winner is not expected to be in the mix today but he may have an important role for TotalEnergies's leader Anthony Turgis.

Two separate incidents inn the pack result in individual riders going down after touches of wheels exiting a tight right-hander. One of them is Piet Allegaert of Cofidis, who lands heavily on his rump. The gap has gone down to 3:30 ahead of the next climb, the Achterberg, which is 1.5km long at 4.2%.

Oh, that's amateur from the professionals at Ineos Grenadiers: Dylan van Baarle stops for a bike change and the steed he takes from the top of the car has a puncture and he needs an instant wheel change. Someone is going to cop an earful for that gaffe... What's more, the front wheel change is very slow. Well, it's a disc brake bike, isn't it... and the mechanic doesn't have a drill. Tell you what, Ineos should look into this marginal gains malarkey...

Van Baarle is an outsider for today. He's finished fourth and sixth in this race before, plus made the top 10 the last two years as well. Ineos' main man is probably Tom Pidcock, who finished third at Dwars door Vlaanderen midweek. They also have the youngest rider in the race, the American tyro Magnis Shaffield, the only teenager in the pack today, plus the in-form duo of Ben Turner and Jhonatan Narvaez.

While Adam Blythe chooses his adjectives with care...

Poor Kenneth van Rooy - as the peloton hits the natural cobbled bottleneck the Belgian discovers the hard way the laws of physics: he runs out of road and ends up inside the ditch. It's going to be a lonely climb up the Kwaremont for the Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise rider - although he'll have the company of thousands of spectators lining this iconic mecca to cycling, which features the biggest VIP tent you'll ever see. So great to see fans on the roadside again after last year, when the pandemic meant everyone had to stay at home.

It's worth adding that Van Rooy had only stopped a short while before the climb to change his rear wheel - resulting in a little mix up with a roadside fan, who mistook his signal to his mechanic as a wave...

Caption translation: "Kenneth Van Rooy raising his hand for assistance and the man in the audience waving back is already my favorite moment of #RVV22."

The break hit the Oude Kwaremont with a gap of 4:27 over the pack. It's a 2.2km cobbled section with the climb averaging a gentle 4% but hitting a leg-sapping maximum tilt of 11.6%. Sit tight, buckle in, and stay tuned for fireworks: the road leading onto the climb is a mere farm track around a fifth of the width of the wide main road that leads the pack onto it. You do the maths...

The breakaway are on the wide asphalt road ahead of the first of three crossings of the Kwaremont cobbles and climb. It's fairly relaxed for them, as they collude well with a cushion of 4:30 over the pack. But it's going to be a fierce jostle for positions - the proverbial washing machine - when the peloton rampages along. As they always say, you won't win the Ronde on the first ascent of the Kwaremont, but you could really damage your chances by being out of position and then wasting energy getting back in contention.

It's still pretty incredible to think that a rider targetting his third consecutive Tour de France win this July has decided to inclide this cobbled classic on his programme. Pogacar clearly means business - he's not here to chalk it down to experience, but to win it. And win it he may.

The leaders have just gone through the finish town of Oudenaarde - through the historic town square with its jaunty town hall and belfry, then past the famous Ronde van Vlaanderen museum where I once had coffee with triple Flanders champion Johan Museeuw after riding over the cobbles in his lofty presence. The gap is 4:30 for the nine leaders as Tim Declercq fronts the pack by quite a few bike lengths - yes, he's opened up a gap after the rider behind him slowed to take off his cape - as it passes through town. Not long till the Oude Kwaremont...

The big news for those of you who weren't following the race build-up this week is that the in-form Belgian champion Wout van Aert has been ruled out after being laid low by Covid. Van Aert was the out-right favourite after his E3 Saxo Bank Classic win - and the prospect of him going head-to-head with his rival Mathieu van der Poel, who won Dwars door Vlaanderen on Thursday, was mouth-watering.

But with Van Aert out of the picture, it's not all doom and gloom for his Jumbo-Visma team, for whom Christophe Laporte and Tiesj Benoot have been in stellar form this spring. Benoot was runner-up behind MvdP at Dwars while Laporte had also finished runner-up in his last two races - at E3 (behind teammate Van Aert) and at Gent-Wevelgem (where he lost out to Biniam Girmay). Both these riders could cause an upset today - as could Mike Teunissen, the Dutchman - and with their leader not here, they will perhaps have more opportunities.

Sep Vanmarcke's team pulled their entire squad for the Ronde for medical reasons. In a release dated 1 April 2022 (but was not an April Fool's joke), the team announced: "The team in Belgium has been impacted by illness and injury and yesterday, a second Covid case was confirmed. The rider and staff group currently in Belgium are now all considered close contacts. With the team also racing in Spain this weekend, and many other riders currently sidelined with injury or illness, the team is unable to field a healthy roster at this late notice."

That's a blow for the 33-year-old Belgian, who was due to start his 13th Ronde van Vlaanderen today. Twice third place in this race, Vanmarcke came fifth last time round.

The crowds are out in their droves as they line the gutter of the Paddestraat cobbled section. That's the graphic which came up when the nine riders passed through although we have, in our road book, the Lippenhovestraat as the first section, so perhaps the moto cameras missed that. It came just moments before and so that's not infeasible. In any case, the peloton are now on that first section, the Lippenhovestraat. It's a wide and fairly uniform section that lasts 1.3km. The gap is 4:20.

And they are the four previous riders - Kasper Asgreen (QuickStep Alpha Vinyl; 2021), Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix; 2020), Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost; 2019) and Niki Terpstra (TotalEnergies; 2018), as well as Alexander Kristoff (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert; 2015). That means the only winners not present since the days of Fabian Cancellara and Tom Boonen are Philippe Gilbert (Lotto Soudal; 2017) and Peter Sagan (TotalEnergies; 2016).

That first section of cobbles isn't so far away now with the gap regulated to just over four minutes. The peloton is all strung out at the moment and Matej Mohoric, the Milan-San Remo winner, is currently off the back alongside a Bahrain Victorious teammate and the Belgian Victor Campenaerts of Lotto Soudal. They clearly had a mechanical issue or some such.

It's the familiar sight of Tim Declercq now on the front of the peloton doing his usual breakaway killer schtick with the gap growing to 4:10 for these nine leaders. The sun is out but the temperature won't get above eight degrees today. Most riders are still in gloves but many of the leg warmers and shoe covers have come off.

Declercq is working for QuickStep's leader, Kasper Asgreen. The Dane is the defending champion after outlasting Van der Poel in last year's thrilling two-up sprint on the home straight. He's has a solid if unspectacular start to the season but feels he's hitting top form in time for the Ronde. Asgreen is many people's tip for the win - and he should be right up there with the support of Yves Lampaert, Florian Senechal, Zdenek Stybar, Declercq et al. There's no Julian Alaphilippe, though. The world champion has lit up the last few editions of this race but he's down to ride the Tour of the Basque Country, which starts tomorrow.

Interesting to see the collaboration between the major teams today, with Jumbo-Visma, UAE and Alpecin all taking their turns alongside QuickStep. As a point of reference, last year's break got 13 minutes ahead of the cobbles, but this year they've been given less than five.

After coming 10th midweek at Dwars door Vlaanderen, the Slovenian double Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar is making his first appearance in Flanders today - although he hit the deck in a low-speed crash at a pinch point earlier today. A little reminder that positioning is everything in this race...

It's worth remembering that the last reigning Tour de France champion to take on De Ronde was Lance Armstrong in 2005 - although the American harboured no real ambitions of winning the thing. You have to go further back to Eddy Merckx in 1975 for that when the Cannibal won his second Ronde title the year after his fifth Tour triumph. Can Pog do it today? He will be right up there, that's for sure.

The riders in this move are: Sebastien Grignard (Lotto Soudal), Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert), Stan Dewulf (Ag2R-Citroen), Manuele Boaro (Astana-Qazaqstan), Tom Bohli (Cofidis), Max Kanter (Movistar), Luca Mozzato (B&B Hotels-KTM), Mathijs Paasschens (Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB) and Lindsay de Vylder (Sports Vlaanderen-Baloise).

This move went inside the first 15km of this race. But remember, the first of the cobbled sections comes with 169km to go - in around 40km. That's the Lippenhovestraat and it's followed soon after by the Paddestraat. Then we have the first of the Oude Kwaremont cobbles and climb combos, which comes with 138km to go.

UAE Team Emirates, Jumbo-Visma, QuickStep and Alpecin-Fenix all have riders on the front as they pave the way for their leaders Tadej Pogacar, Tiesj Benoot, Kasper Asgreen and Mathieu van der Poel respectively.

We pick up the action with 215km to go of this 272.5km cobbled classic. We're yet to hit any of those 18 cobbled sections or pointy bergs as the race snakes its way south-west from Antwerp towards the 'Flanders zone' around Oudenaarde, where all the action will happen. We have a nine-man break with almost four minutes to play with - and it will come as no surprise to hear that the Dutch breakaway specialist Taco van der Hoorn is in this move for Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert.

Starting in Antwerp and ending in Oudenaard, the men’s route is 275.5km long with the first of 18 cobbled sections coming after 100km. The first climb comes at the halfway point with the first of three ascents of the Oude Kwaremont. The climbs then come thick and fast with an uphill test pretty much every 10km, starting with the Kortekeer and the Achterberg, then, after the Holleweg cobbles, the Wolvenberg, ahead of the Kerkgate and Jakerij cobbles.

A feisty 15km section crams together the Molenberg, Marlboroughstraat, Berendries and Valkenberg ahead of the first of two Oude Kwaremont-Paterberg combinations. The Oude Kwaremont is a long 2.2km drag with a gentle average gradient of 4% while the Paterberg packs a punch of 12.9% over its short 360m length. This marks the point the race really comes alive – the equivalent, say, of Milan-San Remo’s tre capi climbs heralding the Cipressa and Poggio finale.

The steep and narrow Koppenberg is followed by the climbs of Steenbeekdries and Taaienberg all within 10 frantic game-changing kilometres. Get distanced here and it’s game over, especially with the Kruisberg-Hotond climb followed by the second and decisive Kwaremont-Paterberg combo ahead of a flat 13km run to the finish.

With Wout van Aert ruled out of the race after testing positive for Covid-19, the Jumbo-Visma rider’s big rival Mathieu van der Poel has assumed the tag of favourite. The Dutchman returned from injury to win Dwars door Vlaanderen, and that suggests he will be tough to crack on Sunday.

Jumbo-Visma will likely promote Christophe Lapore to team leader, while Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar is sure to be in the mix.

Kasper Asgreen is always to be feared in one-day races, while Tom Pidcock showed a welcome return to form at Dwars door Vlaanderen and will look to make his mark on Sunday.

- - -

Eurosport, GCN+ & discovery+ are proud to be the home of women’s cycling