E3 Saxo Bank Classic: Wout van Aert brings home Jumbo-Visma two-up TT with Christophe Laporte

Wout van Aert crossed the line first to win E3 Saxo Bank Classic after a 40km two-up Jumbo-Visma TT with Christophe Laporte.

Van Aert took victory at the so-called “mini Tour of Flanders” after blasting from the lead bunch with Laporte over the Paterberg.

The duo rolled through together all the way into Harelbeke, easily keeping the chasers at bay to seal a Jumbo-Visma demonstration of strength in the days ahead of De Ronde.

“The team was impressive. I thank every one of the guys to set up me and Christophe for the final,” van Aert said. “We were supposed to be a bit more defensive before the Paterberg and from then on we were in the front together. Big thank you to Christophe for giving me this victory, it means so much to me to take this big win in Flanders.”

Stefan Küng (Groupama FDJ) won the sprint for third from a pursuit that seemingly lost hope after a Jumbo-Visma demonstration that saw van Aert force the day’s two major splits before his final-hour gallop toward victory.

The result harkens back to Paris-Nice earlier this month when Laporte, van Aert and Primož Roglič swept the opening stage in a Jumbo-Visma powerplay.

While Laporte won in France, in Belgium home champion van Aert had his day while promising his teammate’s time would come.

“There was no discussion who would win,” van Aert said. “There are plenty more races to come and we will definitely end up with more difficult situations with more riders around us, and then sooner or later Christophe or someone else will get their chance. This is how we want to race and this is the way everyone believes we can have the biggest chance of winning.”

After amassing victories at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Paris-Nice before being disappointed with eighth at Milano-San Remo, van Aert is no doubt top-favorite for Sunday’s Gent-Wevelgem and the uber-prestigious Tour of Flanders that follows. But he’s not taking himself too serious just yet.

“What did I learn today? Bike racing is really hard,” he quipped at the finish.

Jumbo-Visma makes the first move

Van Aert and Jumbo-Visma set the team steamrolling in action on the Taainberg climb at around 80km to go.

Van Aert hammered his way up the cobbled ascent with teammates Laporte and Tiesj Benoot on his wheel. Matej Mohorič, Stefan Kung, Jasper Stuyven and Kasper Asgreen also made the move, and the septet soon caught and promptly dropped the day’s early break.

Ineos Grenadiers and Ag2r-Citroën both missed the attack, and the former chased hard before a huge surge by Jonathan Narváez at 60km to go pulled the final selection together and blew a stack of riders out the back.

Jumbo-Visma dominated the split with four riders while Quick-Step, Groupama FDJ and Ineos took two into the final. Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty)and Matej Mohorič (Bahrain-Victorious) were among those left to fly solo.

… and Jumbo-Visma makes the second

Just like van Aert forced the first major split, he was at it again at 40km to go.

The Jumbo-Visma captain surged on the steep slopes of the Paterberg, and this time only teammate Laporte could follow.

Mohorič and Ineos duo Narvaez and Dylan van Baarle put the motor into the eight-rider chase as van Aert and Laporte began building out a mammoth lead.

Jumbo-Visma’s third card Benoot sat at the back of the octet, disrupting the chase and putting a further handbrake on ambitions.

Asgreen, Girmay, Küng and his teammate Valentin Madouas also contributed in the pursuit, but it wasn’t enough to stop the fast-motoring leaders that vanished up the road.

Once Laporte and van Aert topped the final climb and rolled into the flat final 17km, the chasers looked crestfallen at their 80-second deficit and seemingly resigned themselves to racing for third.

Van Aert and Laporte rolled toward the line with a 90-second advantage and relished the padding to sit up and cross the line hand-in-hand, with van Aert a fraction in front.

Groupama-FDJ and Ineos Grenadiers began the scuffles for third place in the final 2km, but the chasers stayed together into the final straight.

Küng hit out early with a long-range acceleration that narrowly held-off the fast-charging Girmay. The Eritrean finished fourth for a marquee result in his blossoming palmarès.