The 107th edition of the

Tour of Flanders The Tour of Flanders () may refer to the following cycle races: * Tour of Flanders (men's race) The Tour of Flanders (), also known as ''De Ronde'' (''"The Tour"''), is an annual road bicycle racing, road cycling race held in Belgium every spri ...

one-day cycling classic took place on 2 April 2023, as the 14th event of the

2023 UCI World Tour The 2023 UCI World Tour was a series of races that include thirty-five road bicycle racing, road cycling events throughout the 2023 in men's road cycling, 2023 cycling season. The tour started with the 2023 Tour Down Under, Tour Down Under on 1 ...

. The race began in

Bruges Bruges ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders, in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is in the northwest of the country, and is the sixth most populous city in the country. The area of the whole city amoun ...

and covered on the way to the finish in

Oudenaarde Oudenaarde (; ; in English sometimes ''Oudenarde'') is a Belgium, Belgian City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region, Flemish Provinces of Belgium, province of East Flanders. The municipality ...

. It was the second Monument of the 2023 cycling season. Ronde_van_Vlaanderen_2023_men

The race was won by

Tadej Pogačar Tadej Pogačar (; born 21 September 1998) is a Slovenia, Slovenian professional road bicycle racing, cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . His victories include three Tour de France, Tours de France (2020 Tour de France, 2020, 2021 Tou ...

of , becoming only the third rider in history to win both the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage cycle sport, bicycle race held primarily in France. It is the oldest and most prestigious of the three Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours, which include the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a ...

and the Tour of Flanders. After attacking on the second ascent of

Oude Kwaremont The Oude Kwaremont ( English: ''Old Kwaremont'') is a road in Kluisbergen, a municipality in the Belgian province of East Flanders. The Oude Kwaremont, contrary to popular belief, is not the name of a hill, but the name of one of the cobbled ro ...

and

Koppenberg Koppenberg (literally "Heads Mountain") is a high hill in Oudenaarde, the Flemish Ardennes, Belgium. "Koppen" is an abbreviation for cobblestones which in Dutch slang language are called , or "children's heads". This climb is part of the route of ...

to force a selection, Pogačar attacked on the last ascent of the Oude Kwaremont with around 18 kilometres remaining to drop his rivals, soloing the remainder of the race to win his third different

cycling monument The Monuments are five classic cycle races generally considered to be the oldest, hardest, longest and most prestigious one-day events in men's road cycling, with distances between 240 and 300 km. They each have a long history and specific indiv ...

and fourth overall. Second place went to last year's winner,

Mathieu van der Poel Mathieu van der Poel (born 19 January 1995) is a Belgian-born Dutch professional Cycle sport, cyclist who rides for the UCI WorldTeam . He competes in the cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, mountain biking, Gravel cycling, gravel and road bicyc ...

of , 16 seconds behind the Slovenian. Van der Poel, together with

Wout van Aert Wout van Aert (born 15 September 1994) is a Belgian professional road bicycle racing, road and cyclo-cross Cycle sport, racer who rides for UCI WorldTeam . Van Aert won three consecutive men's races at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in ...

, were the only riders able to go with Pogačar's initial attacks. Van der Poel dropped van Aert with an acceleration on the

Kruisberg The Kruisberg, also known as Oude Kruisberg or Oude Kruisens, is a hill and road in the city of Ronse, in Flanders, Belgium. With its top at 122 m altitude, it is one of many hill formations in the Flemish Ardennes, in the south of East-Flande ...

before getting distanced by the Slovene's race-winning attack. Third place went to Mads Pedersen of after he outsprinted a group of seven to take the final podium spot. Pedersen was part of a group that went just after the Molenberg with around 100 kilometres remaining, holding a lead of three minutes over the main favorites at one point. Pedersen attacked the group with 30 kilometres to go before he was caught and passed by Pogačar and van der Poel on the second ascent of Oude Kwaremont.

Filip Maciejuk Filip Maciejuk (born 3 September 1999) is a Polish cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . On 14 August 2021 Maciejuk signed a two-year-long deal to ride for UCI WorldTeam from 2022. In 2024, he moved to after two seasons with . 2023 ...

of was disqualified during the first half of the race after provoking a "huge accident" when rejoining the road. Many in the peloton were taken down in the crash, with

Peter Sagan Peter Sagan (; born 26 January 1990) is a Slovak former professional cyclist who competed in road bicycle racing and mountain bicycle racing. Sagan had a successful junior cyclo-cross and mountain bike racing career, winning the junior cross-c ...

and

Tim Wellens Tim Wellens (born 10 May 1991) is a Belgium, Belgian professional road bicycle racing, road cyclist, who rides for UCI WorldTeam . Since turning professional in 2012, and coming from a family of professional cyclists, Wellens has taken almost for ...

abandoning the race as a result. Maciejuk subsequently apologised for his actions, stating "This should not happen and was a big error in my judgement."

Teams

All eighteen

UCI WorldTeam A UCI WorldTeam (2015–present), previously UCI ProTeam (2005–2014), is the term used by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to name a cycling team of the highest category in professional road bicycle racing, road cycling, the UCI World Tou ...

s and seven UCI ProTeams took part in the race. UCI WorldTeams * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * UCI ProTeams * * * * * * *

Result

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tour of Flanders, 2023 2023 UCI World Tour 2023 in Belgian sport

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

April 2023 sports events in Belgium