A vintage performance by cycling royalty.
Alpecin-Deceuninck showed interest in eviscerating the race from the gun, and they did so with great success. No team was even close to their level throughout the race, and their leader, Mathieu van der Poel launched with 60k to go. No one even tried to follow him.
MVDP won the race by an insane three minutes. Second place went to his teammate Jasper Philipsen in the sprint, and Mads Pedersen took third.
Some people say a race like this is boring. I disagree. I love dominance. We are privileged to watch perhaps the greatest classics rider of all time in his prime right now. And sure, with none of the other heavy hitters in the race, his victory is almost a foregone conclusion. But a three minute margin after a 60k solo? And to break the record for average speed (47.8kph) for a third year in a row, and by a full kilometer per hour? Absolutely unbelievable. He’s simply an alien right now.
On Sunday he rides Amstel Gold Race, which he won five years ago in one of the craziest comebacks in cycling history. He will enter this year’s edition as the heavy favorite. I’ll have a preview of that one up soon
Jamie
Puncheur 
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