{"id":567830,"date":"2026-03-27T12:59:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T12:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/567830\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T12:59:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T12:59:14","slug":"e3-saxo-classic-live-mathieu-van-der-poel-back-in-action-on-the-cobbles-of-flanders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/567830\/","title":{"rendered":"E3 Saxo Classic LIVE: Mathieu van der Poel back in action on the cobbles of Flanders"},"content":{"rendered":"

Refresh <\/p>\n

2026-03-27T12:58:24.780Z<\/p>\n

\n

\"HARELBEKE,\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

2026-03-27T12:56:31.662Z<\/p>\n

The powerful duo of Edoardo Affini and Jan Tratnik formed to try and join the leading trio, but the peloton were alert to the danger they posed and brought them back.<\/p>\n

2026-03-27T12:55:15.369Z
\n160KM TO GO<\/p>\n

Bastien Tronchon (Groupama-FDJ), Nickolas Zukowsky (Pinarello Q36.5) and Michiel Lambrecht (Team Flanders – Baloise) have 30 seconds now. The peloton hasn\u2019t sat up yet, but their hoped-for status as break of the day is looking promising.<\/p>\n

2026-03-27T12:48:54.833Z<\/p>\n

The trio’s lead continues to grow, it’s now at nearly 30 seconds.<\/p>\n

2026-03-27T12:48:05.087Z<\/p>\n

\n

\"HARELBEKE,\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

2026-03-27T12:46:27.795Z<\/p>\n

This move is looking promising, with their lead growing. UAE and Picnic-PostNL tried to cover the move with Julius Johansen and Bjorn Koerdt respectively, but both are back in the peloton.<\/p>\n

2026-03-27T12:42:45.525Z
\n170KM TO GO<\/p>\n

Bastien Tronchon, Michiel Lambrecht and Nickolas Zukowsky are the latest to try their luck, and have a lead of about ten seconds.<\/p>\n

2026-03-27T12:40:22.632Z<\/p>\n

\n

\"The\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

2026-03-27T12:38:37.035Z<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the climbs done for a while. There are 16 in total today, but the remaining 15 are all condensed within the final 130km.<\/p>\n

2026-03-27T12:35:03.391Z<\/p>\n

The five riders have been reabsorbed into the peloton.<\/p>\n

2026-03-27T12:34:23.148Z<\/p>\n

\n

\"HARELBEKE,\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

2026-03-27T12:33:21.849Z
\nKATTEBERG<\/p>\n

Time for some cobbles! The riders are climbing the first berg of the day.<\/p>\n

2026-03-27T12:32:23.387Z<\/p>\n

We have a first DNF to report – Fabio Jakobsen, who also had to pull out of Ronde Van Brugges earlier this week.<\/p>\n

2026-03-27T12:30:53.208Z<\/p>\n

Those riders have been joined by a sixth, Henri-Fran\u00e7ois Renard-Haquin, and lead the peloton by a slender margin of just a few seconds.<\/p>\n

2026-03-27T12:26:44.286Z<\/p>\n

Those five riders are: Artem Shmidt, Roel van Sintmaartensdijk, Alexys Brunel, Dylan Vandenstorme and Alexandre Mayer.<\/p>\n

2026-03-27T12:25:36.649Z<\/p>\n

A new group of five has formed, and lead the peloton by a few seconds.<\/p>\n

2026-03-27T12:22:17.778Z<\/p>\n

\n

\"The\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

2026-03-27T12:19:39.381Z<\/p>\n

Five more riders briefly got a gap, but they too have been caught.<\/p>\n

2026-03-27T12:19:16.488Z<\/p>\n

The attempt earlier of the quartet featuring Marco Haller to escape from the peloton.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Polish\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

2026-03-27T12:17:47.833Z
\n190KM TO GO<\/p>\n

So there’s still no breakaway formed at the front of the race. This is the kind of intense day classic that doesn’t allow for simply any old rider to get up the road.<\/p>\n

2026-03-27T12:14:56.301Z<\/p>\n

Affini has been brought back.<\/p>\n

2026-03-27T12:13:22.136Z<\/p>\n

\n

\"HARELBEKE,\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

2026-03-27T12:12:06.282Z<\/p>\n

Visma’s Edoardo Affini is the latest to try an attack.<\/p>\n

2026-03-27T12:10:20.059Z<\/p>\n

The four attackers have been brought back and the race is all together again.<\/p>\n

2026-03-27T12:09:54.934Z<\/p>\n

\n

\"HARELBEKE,\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

2026-03-27T12:08:42.594Z<\/p>\n

Those four riders are Marco Haller, Kamil Ma\u0142ecki, Filip Maciejuk and Milan Lanhove.<\/p>\n

2026-03-27T12:05:40.797Z
\n200KM TO GO<\/p>\n

No breakaway has formed yet, but four riders are trying to get up the road.<\/p>\n

2026-03-27T11:59:18.552Z<\/p>\n

Van der Poel at the start.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Dutch\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

2026-03-27T11:57:25.640Z<\/p>\n

The weather is always a crucial factor in the Belgian classics, and right now the skies are grey – but no rain has materialised. The forecast suggests there\u2019s a chance that might change later in the day.<\/p>\n

2026-03-27T11:55:38.286Z<\/p>\n

There have been some tweaks to the route this year, with extra ascents of both the Oude Kwaremont and Karnemelkbeekstraat (aka the E3 Col) added.<\/p>\n

E3 Saxo Classic 2026 route<\/a><\/p>\n

2026-03-27T11:52:22.174Z
\nOFFICIAL START<\/p>\n

And they’re off!<\/p>\n

2026-03-27T11:52:00.639Z<\/p>\n

There’s one non-starter who was supposed to be taking part today – Lotto’s Luca Van Boven.<\/p>\n

2026-03-27T11:50:58.560Z<\/p>\n

Already underway is stage 5 of Volta a Catalunya, which you can also follow with us.<\/p>\n

Volta a Catalunya stage 5 LIVE: Race falls the pieces on first climb as break looks to establish itself<\/a><\/p>\n

2026-03-27T11:49:52.248Z<\/p>\n

The riders have departed Harelbeke football stadium and begun the neutralised section, which is only 3km today. They\u2019ll be racing imminently!<\/p>\n

2026-03-27T11:46:09.439Z<\/p>\n

Mathieu van der Poel with his Alpecin teammates at the start.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Dutch\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

2026-03-27T11:42:34.935Z<\/p>\n

Before the race gets going, have a read of our full run-down of the main men to keep an eye on today.<\/p>\n

Tadej Poga\u010dar has changed E3 Saxo Classic’s status but it remains the best Flanders form guide \u2013 A closer look at the contenders for Friday’s race<\/a><\/p>\n

2026-03-27T11:37:25.157Z<\/p>\n

At least on paper, Mads Pedersen is the biggest threat to Van der Poel\u2019s title defence. Pedersen is another rider with question marks about his fitness, following the crash that kept him out of action for several weeks. But whereas Van der Poel faded towards the end of Milan-Sanremo, he was resurgent, and managed to sprint for fourth place.<\/p>\n

2026-03-27T11:31:32.743Z<\/p>\n

The headline name on the startlist is Mathieu van der Poel, who\u2019s going for three consecutive E3 titles, following his long-range solo victories in both 2024 and 2025. Victory in a similar way at Omloop Nieuwsblad suggests he\u2019s got the legs to do the same again this year – but how well has he managed to recover from his crash at Milan-Sanremo?<\/p>\n

2026-03-27T11:24:47.986Z<\/p>\n

After Wednesday\u2019s Ronde Van Brugges kicked off the Flemish \u2018Holy Week\u2019, this is where the cobbled classics season starts to get really hard. There are a lot more climbs on the menu today, in a race that\u2019s considered to be the closest in proximity to the Tour of Flanders due to its difficulty.<\/p>\n

2026-03-27T11:19:40.629Z<\/p>\n

Hello and welcome to the 2026 E3 Saxo Classic!<\/p>\n

Please follow our community guidelines<\/a>.” data-join-the-conversation-text=”Join the Conversation”><\/p>\n

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Logout<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Refresh 2026-03-27T12:58:24.780Z (Image credit: Getty Images) 2026-03-27T12:56:31.662Z The powerful duo of Edoardo Affini and Jan Tratnik formed to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":567831,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85],"class_list":["post-567830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=567830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/567831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}