Van der Poel spectacularly holds off chase group to complete E3 Saxo Classic hat-trick

Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) completed his hat-trick by winning the 2026 edition of the E3 Saxo Classic, but it was the hardest fought of the Dutchman’s victories at the race as he was almost caught inside the final kilometre.

The Dutchman had accelerated from the peloton on the Taaienberg with 70km and soloed his way across those who had attacked earlier in the race. The Dutchman would catch the breakaway with 45km remaining and went clear on the Paterberg shortly after. 

It looked set to be another procession for the Dutchman as he built an advantage of over a minute on the peloton. 

A chase group featuring Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility), Stan Dewulf (Decathlon CMA CGM), Per Strand Hagenes (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Florian Vermeersch (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), formed behind and inside the final 20km, the Dutchman’s advantage of around a minute began to dwindle. 

Just under the flamme rouge, the catch was all but made to the fading Dutchman, but a game of bluff from the chasers meant that nobody closed the final metres to Van der Poel, who was able to build enough of an advantage to power to his hat-trick victory in Harelbeke, becoming just the fourth rider to win three consecutive editions. 

In the end, Strand Hagenes won the sprint for 2nd, while Vermeersch took 3rd on the day. 

This edition of E3 Harelbeke followed the modern trend at the Classics, with a rapid early pace ensuring that it took some time for the early break to gain any real traction. 

The bunch covered some 48km in a breathless opening hour of racing, with Stan Dewulf (Decathlon-CMA CGM), Bastien Tronchon (Groupama-FDJ United), Luke Durbridge (Jayco-AlUla), Sven Erik Bystrom (Uno-X Mobility), Nickolas Zukowsky (Pinarello-Q36.5) and Michiel Lambrecht (Flanders Baloise) eventually forging clear.

The sextet was kept on a relatively tight leash, with Van der Poel’s head of crowd control Silvan Dillier, springing into action at the head of the bunch once the gap had extended beyond three minutes.

The six leaders had 3:30 over La Houppe with 125km to go, and that was about as much leeway as they would get, with the speed ratcheting upwards in the peloton thereafter on the approach to the first ascent of the Karnemelkbeekstraat.

With 90km still to race, the first ascent of the ‘E3 Col’ was never likely to see a move from the main contenders, but Timo Kielich (Visma | Lease a Bike) accelerated to bring a raiding party clear that also included Daan Hoole (Decathlon), Edward Theuns (Lidl-Trek), Edward Planckaert (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Antony Turgis (TotalEnergies), Connor Swift (Ineos) and Pepijn Reinderink (Soudal Quick-Step).

They had half a minute in hand on the peloton over the first ascent of the Kwaremont and that would stretch out to 45 seconds by the time they hit the base of the Taaienberg with 70km to go.

Almost inevitably, the Taaienberg would serve as Van der Poel’s cue to spring into action. When Tim van Dijke (Red Bull) accelerated, Van der Poel followed with ease, while the peloton splintered into shards behind them.

Van der Poel came through over the top, and the pair would cruise across to the counter-attackers ahead of the Boigneberg. Behind, Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) belatedly looked to marshal a pursuit, but the moment had already long since passed. 

Van der Poel accelerated with intent on the Boigneberg, splitting the counterattacking group and cruising clear alone with 63km to go.

The Dutchman closed to within 50 seconds of the leaders over the summit, while his lead on Pedersen et al was now up to a minute. The direction of travel was inevitable from here, and Van der Poel piled on the pressure over the Eikenberg, showing no ill effects from the hand injury sustained at Milan-Sanremo.

Van der Poel caught the early break after the Kapelberg with 45km to go, and he would dispatch them as soon as the road began to climb on the Paterberg. Dewulf was the last man to resist, but Van der Poel burned him off midway up the climb.

With 42km to race, Van der Poel had almost a minute in hand on the peloton, and he would extend that advantage on the Oude Kwaremont and the second ascent of the Karnemelkbeekstraat. Like a year ago, E3 Harelbeke had morphed into a very public training ride ahead of the Tour of Flanders.

On the final ascent of the Tiegemberg with 18km to go, however, the gap dropped to 35 seconds, with the chasing group of Dewulf, Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X), Per Strand Hagenes (Visma) and Florian Vermeersch (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) gaining momentum. 

But it wasn’t immediately clear if Van der Poel was betraying signs of suffering or simply flitting into energy-saving mode.

Over the remaining kilometres, the gap continued to dwindle to the point where the chase group were within 10 seconds of the Dutchman with 4km remaining, meanwhile Red Bull led the peloton at 30 seconds behind Van der Poel. 

The catch was all but made inside the final kilometre, but nobody was willing to close the final metres, and Van der Poel reestablished enough of an advantage to hold on and take the victory.