Seven riders spent a good part of the day in the lead, including the Belgians Brent Van Moer (Lotto Soudal) and Jelle Wallays (Cofidis).
The teams of the favorites started to increase the pace 90 kilometers from the finish before approaching the Kortekeer, just to place their leaders ideally.
Very unlucky since the start of the season, Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Soudal) had to change bikes and lost a lot of time… Too much to claim anything on E3.
The Jumbo Visma team rode very hard to deposit ideally Wout van Aert at the foot of the Taaienberg, which he tackled in the lead. The Belgian Champion placed an acceleration and created a good selection.
His teammates Tiesj Benoot and Christopher Laporte managed to accompany him, as did the defending champion Kasper Asgreen, Stefan Küng and the last two winners of Milan-Sanremo, Jasper Stuyven and Matej Mohoric.
This group of Fantastic Seven joined the breakaway of the day 75 kilometers from the finish.
A few hectometres further, Tiesj Benoot went on the offensive and blew up all first-hour fumbles except Daniel Oss (Team TotalEnergies).
Now eight in the lead, the strong men of the day saw the peloton, led by the Ineos Grenadiers team, come back to around twenty seconds. The leader of the British, Jonathan Narvaezwas the first to make the leap up the Eikenberg, followed by runners of the caliber of Florian Senechal (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl), or Biniam Girmay (Intermarché – Wanty – Gobert).
In the following climbs, several men were forced to let go of the strongest. 50 kilometers from the finish, there were only 16 in the lead, including four riders from the Jumbo Visma formation!
Florian Senechal had to drop the leading men just before the Paterberg due to a puncture. In this short but steep ascent, Wout van Aert went on the offensive and only his teammate Christopher Laporte managed to follow him. No one has managed to come back to this shock duo!
