How Alpecin-Deceuninck mastered the Tour of Flanders: GCN Racing News Show

Sitting down in the studio to reflect on one of his favourite races of the season, Dan Lloyd could barely contain his excitement when tasked with looking back at this weekend's Tour of Flanders. Between the women's and men's races, we were treated to some of the most thrilling bike racing of the season — even if some of it was undertaken on foot.

That's right, the Koppenberg played its part when the rain cascaded down on the peloton, with all but three of the leading riders in the men's race forced to tackle the cobbled climb on foot. It was a classic Flandrien racing spectacle.

Out of the chaos emerged Mathieu van der Poel of Alpecin-Deceuninck in the men's race, whilst in the women's race, Elisa Longo Borghini's (Lidl-Trek) winning move came a little later. Of all the things we saw at the Tour of Flanders, it was the performance of Alpecin-Deceuninck which caught the eye of Dan.

Handed the oft-ill-fated tag of race favourites, Van der Poel and his teammates had a lot of pressure on their shoulders heading into the weekend, which made their performance all the more impressive.

Whether it be the selection of a suitable breakaway, Silvan Dillier's tenacious pacing of the peloton for hours on end or how Gianni Vermeersch was able to pull a number on Lidl-Trek's Mads Pedersen, Alpecin-Deceuninck got pretty much everything right on Sunday, and it's without even mentioning Van der Poel's own performance.

In this week's GCN Racing News Show, Dan breaks down the team's display and reveals how Van der Poel won his third Tour of Flanders title.

Longo Borghini's longevity

From one fantastic team performance to another, it is safe to say that few expected SD Worx-Protime to be missing from the podium of the women's Tour of Flanders, but that is what Lidl-Trek were able to negotiate on behalf of Longo Borghini.

The American team got the better of Lotte Kopecky and Demi Vollering on the Koppenberg before manoeuvring themselves into a favourable three-woman attack alongside Canyon-SRAM's Kasia Niewiadoma. Earlier in the week, Shirin van Anrooij had been left alone in a futile two-woman sprint against Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) at Dwars door Vlaanderen, a situation that Longo Borghini would not allow on Sunday.

Looking beyond the accusations that the Italian chased down her own teammate, Dan applauds the effort of Lidl-Trek to place two of their riders on the podium, with Longo Borghini remarkably taking her second Tour of Flanders title some nine years after her first.

Between both races, there was enough to make a blockbuster, but of course, Flanders was not the only bike race taking place over the past week and in fact, some of the Tour de France's main contenders have gone head to head in Itzulia Basque Country.

Dan takes a look at a farcical opening stage that saw the stage decided before live coverage had even begun. For all that and more, check out the GCN Racing News Show above.

For the latest news, interviews and analysis from the world of professional cycling, be sure to check out the Racing tab on the GCN website and visit our essential guide to The Spring Classics to stay up to date with all of the action from cycling's most exciting season.