There’s no point pretending otherwise or sugarcoating it: the finish of E3 Saxo Classic was great television, enthralling bike racing at its gripping best, but it was also a complete and utter disaster for the chasing four who had victory within their sights. There will not be a day that goes by for the rest of their careers when they don’t think: how? How on earth did we throw that away? 

Mathieu van der Poel is rarely caught. When he goes, he’s gone. So when you’ve got a chance of denying the inevitable – another MvdP win – you seize it and don’t let it go. Per Strand Hagenes, Florian Vermeersch, Jonas Abrahamsen and Stan Dewulf (the only survivor from the break) had worked in unison to wipe out Van der Poel’s 30+ second lead with over 10km to go. What seemed a certain victory was now spectacularly in doubt – and that was mostly down to the four's efforts.

Approaching the final kilometre, weaving in and out of what are usually quiet residential streets, the quartet had Van der Poel so close that they could smell his perspiration. They could reach out and touch him, put an arm around him, commiserate him on the most unusual of happenings: Van der Poel letting a victory slide away. Tadej Pogačar, no doubt watching at home, was rejoicing – here was his great Classics rival on the cusp of humiliation; how would this affect his mental state ahead of next week’s Tour of Flanders?

But no. It was the once-valiant foursome, not Van der Poel, who chucked it all away. They were now the hesitant, foolish, stumbling gang of four who just as they pulled the catch down on their snare, released it, giving the catch a reprieve, a chance to escape again, never to be caught. 

Van der Poel was clever, it must be said. He paused, sat up, momentarily stopped pedalling, indicating to the chasing four that the race would be decided in a five-man sprint. He claims it wasn’t mind games nor his own trap – “the legs were not turning well anymore,” he said, adding that “I knew if I waited I’d have come fifth as I didn’t have the legs anymore to do a sprint.” – but his actions must surely have contributed to what happened next.

Vermeersch, leading UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s charge in the absence of Pogačar, had done everything right up until that point, but when Van der Poel was waiting to be passed and swallowed up, it was he who sat up and started playing games, readying himself for a sprint. It was a disastrous decision for they couldn't even see the finish line. The other three chasers followed suit, allowing Van der Poel to march off in the distance again, just 800 metres separating him from winning the race for a third successive time.

Van der Pole was almost caught – until he was given a repreive. Image: Tim de Waele/Getty Images.

All four will be kicking themselves, and all four ought to take on equal responsibility for what occurred. Vermeersch, at the front of the group, didn’t need to start playing cat-and-mouse until Van der Poel was caught. Dewulf, a winner of just one professional bike race, had a career-defining opportunity and seemed frozen by the magnitude of what was at stake. Abrahamsen, now well-established as a Classics strongman, knows how to play these finals, and should have counteracted Vermeersch’s stuttering. And young Hagenes, 22, the most prodigious of the lot and probably Wout van Aert’s long-term heir at Visma-Lease a Bike, seemed startled by the chance of beating his teammate’s eternal rival. It was nothing more than staggering. Regrets will linger for a long, long time.

For Van der Poel, he couldn’t believe his fortune. He attacked from the peloton with 69km to go, alongside Tim van Dijke of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe. Within minutes he was on a one-man mission, eating up those in front of them. With 45km to go, he had joined the breakaway, and a few kilometres later on the Paterberg he sailed to the front and began his solo effort to the line. It was all rather rudimentary: we’ve seen this story before, we know how it ends. It was the perfect pre-Flanders prep, on the course most similar to De Ronde.

Then what happened, happened. It wasn’t as straightforward as he and everyone else assumed. Though he somehow pulled victory off, largely thanks to the aforementioned collective failings of the chasing quartet, Van der Poel had to work a lot harder than he would have liked. “I’m happy with the win but it cost a lot of energy,” he admitted. Don’t be surprised if he pulls out of Sunday’s In Flanders Fields (formerly known as Gent-Wevelgem) with the following week’s Ronde van Vlaanderen a far bigger goal.

There he will take on Pogačar, the pair’s latest battle in their epic tussle. Though Pogačar wasn’t at E3, it was he, it could be argued, who won. For the second time in seven days, Van der Poel ran out of gas when it mattered most. At Milan-Sanremo a week prior, Van der Poel stayed with Pogačar and Tom Pidcock until he blew on the Poggio. At E3, a race he has dominated for three years, his legs also gave away. It was only because of the chasers’ decisions that he held onto the win. That must be a concern to his Van der Poel and Alpecin-Premier Tech team.

Of course, he may go onto win Flanders for a record fourth time. If history is anything to go by, he always wins in even years, so 2026 has a good chance of following on from 2024, 2022 and 2020. Pogačar will be his strongest adversary, as he always is, and the stage is set for their latest showdown. Another big win is in Van der Poel’s sights.

Vermeersch, Dewulf, Abrahamsen and Hagenes, however, might never again get another chance to beat a prime Van der Poel. In fact, they almost certainly won’t. This was probably their one and only chance. They turned a perfectly-timed and well-executed chase into a shambles. Van der Poel will remember this as the finale he was gifted, and they’ll bitterly recall it as the day they demonstrated how not to win a bike race. At least it made great Friday afternoon television for everyone at home. Including Pogačar.

Cover image: Elias Rom/Getty Images.