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Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) won a thrilling battle against Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) at the Superprestige Diegem on Wednesday.
The Belgian Champion capitalized off a last-minute error from Pidcock through the last corner into the bottom of the circuit’s decisive staircase to take the victory, as Van der Poel finished 33 seconds back in third place.
The race between the three top riders swung back and forth on each lap, but with Van der Poel distanced on the final lap, the race for the win was between Van Aert and Pidcock.
The two leaders fought for the first position into the final 21 steps, but Pidcock slightly faltered and was forced off his bike to run through the left-hand turn, while Van Aert took the lead out of the corner, ran up the steps, clipped in and sprinted for the day’s victory.
“I thought the last time I went over him, I was a bit complacent. I had the lead into the final stairs, and Wout came passed me in that last bit before the final bridge, so at that point, I was never going to beat him. He ran up those stairs and jumped on his bike before I even looked up. It was a shame I couldn’t pull it off,” Pidcock said.
More to come!
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