Before this anticlimax, the two runners had given a real recital on the vertiginous slopes of the skiberg, going blow for blow without ever yielding the slightest centimeter.
From the start, the two tenors had escaped in the company of the surprising Jens Adams. After two laps, the latter finally had to let go of van Aert and van der Poel to explain themselves to two in the last 40 minutes of the race.
Van der Poel at the same time put an end to the series of three consecutive successes (Zolder, Diegem and Loenhout) of the Belgian champion, who had also been unbeaten at Herentals since the creation of the race in 2020.
