Olympic Champion Greg Van Avermaet wins DeRonde 2020 Lockdown Edition
The real Tour of Flanders was postponed, nevertheless, RVV found an alternative for the Tour of Flanders with the first virtual edition
13 top professionals led by defending champion Alberto Bettiol and several prominent Belgians including Remco Evenepoel, Greg Van Avermaet, Wout Van Aert, Yves Lampaert, Zdenek Stybar, Tim Wellens, Thomas De Gendt, Wout Van Aert, Mike Teunissen, Oliver Naeson, Michael Matthews and Nicolas Roche raced a BKOOL virtual 32km stretch of the modern Tour of Flanders finale including the Kruisberg, Oude Kwaremont, and Paterberg.
In the race, 5 riders including Evenepoel, De Gendt, Naesen, Van Avermeat and Roche went clear from the rest of the peloton.
Defending champion Alberto Bettiol was dropped on the first climb of the Oude Kwaremont while riders like Naesen were churning out over 500 watts on the climb!
Some minutes later, Michael Matthews abandoned the race.
At the front of the race Evenepoel attacked his breakaway companions with 16 kms to go, but it all came back together with Naesen, Evenepoel, van Avermaet, Roche and De Gendt leading the race.
Naesen put in a small attack in front of Van Avermaet, Roche and De Gendt and Evenepoel as they reached the final climb of the Paterburg at an average of 12.9%.
Evenepoel, who burnt a lot of matches at the start of the race, was dropped leaving Van Avermaet, Roche, De Gendt and Naesen in the lead group.
The olympic champion Van Avermaet put in a devestating attack and quickly opened up an 11 second advantage with 6 kms to go.
Naesen, Roche and De Gendt and chased until Naesen put in a huge 500+ watts counter attack with 2.5 kms to go, but was unable to catch Van Avermaet.
Greg Van Avermaet crossed the line 20 seconds up on Naesen with Roche trailing and De Gendt finishing some 30 seconds behind.
You can relive the whole race from the comfort of your trainer or armchair below.