Mathieu van der Poel > Wout van Aert, Tadej Pogacar can win all five Monuments: Blazin’ Saddles on Flanders Week

Forget that it’s actually closer to a fortnight, so-called Flanders Week lived up to its expectation with four races of high-octane action over the cobbles and Belgian bergs played out under a variety of conditions and featuring some humdinging performances as well as some uncharacteristic wobbles. Here are 10 talking points from a sea of potential takeaways… Ad/> Pendulum shifts from Van Aert to Van der Poel /> Ronde van VlaanderenRonde van Vlaanderen Women highlights as Lotte Kopecky beats Annemiek van VleutenA DAY AGO Forced to sit out the Ronde van Vlaanderen after being struck down by Covid, Wout van Aert had the sight of his rival Mathieu van der Poel winning a second crown in his absence further compounded by receiving an alert from Strava shortly afterwards informing him that the Dutchman had taken his KOM for the key Koppenberg-Steenbeekdries-Taaienberg section.

Talk about a double whammy. And to think that everything was going Van Aert’s way at the start of Flanders Week – only for Van der Poel to pull almost singlehandedly the rug from underneath Jumbo-Visma’s feet.

That arm-in-arm one-two with Christophe Laporte at E3 now seems an age away, with Jumbo-Visma following it up with two more second places through Laporte (in Gent-Wevelgem) and Tiesj Benoot (at Dwars door Vlaanderen). Van der Poel wins in Flanders as Pogacar finishes fourth in two-horse race Fifteen days after comeback, Van der Poel proves he is a ‘level above everyone’ /> Opting to keep his powder dry before the Ronde, Van Aert skipped Dwars.

He had good reason: for all his swashbuckling aggression at Gent-Wevelgem, his efforts caught up with him and he faded towards the finish before handing the reins over to teammate Laporte. But a positive