Van Aert Outduels Big Guns At E3 Cobbled Classic

Belgian Wout Van Aert beat great rivals Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogacar to win the E3 cobbled classic in Belgium on Friday for his first victory of the season

Harelbeke, Belgium, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 24th Mar, 2023 ) :Belgian Wout Van Aert beat great rivals Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogacar to win the E3 cobbled classic in Belgium on Friday for his first victory of the season.

The 204km race takes on the same climbs and cobbles as the more revered Tour of Flanders and the lead trio broke away from a strong field to contest the victory between them.

Jumbo man Van Aert just edged Van der Poel, who won the Milan San Remo last week after two-time Tour de France winner Pogacar led the trio over most of the final kilometre.

"I'm happy to be stood in the middle" on the podium, Van Aert said.

"It's been a while since I won a race on the road." Van Aert also won the race last season.

"It was a really nice race today, at the end we also had some good weather. In the end Wout Van Aert was too strong in the sprint," he said.

"But I can live with second place and hopefully next week I can turn things around," he said of the April 2 Tour of Flanders.

"For sure I wanted to win today this race as well, I was close. My first time I was third, now second, so maybe I have to come back next year." Pogacar was also stoic about his third place.

"I tried two times, but they expected it and they were on my wheel. I hope things will different next week," he said of Flanders.

"I'll go home and do some good training, it's just a week to Flanders.""The shape is there and there's not much to do now."