Niki Terpstra rides alone to the finish of Tour of Flanders (Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Quick-Step Floors went into the Tour of Flanders as the favourites with four potential winners on their seven-man roster, and the Belgian super team lived up to expectations on Sunday when Niki Terpstra won with a solo move.
The Dutchman attacked over the Kruisberg, caught the three riders up the road, quickly dispensed with them and soloed to his third win of the spring after taking victories in Le Samyn and E3 Harelbeke.
Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo), the lone survivor from the early three-man move, held on for second in front of the select chase group led home by Terpstra's teammate Philippe Gilbert in third.
World champion Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), who won the race in 2016, was once again frustrated by a lack of riders willing to work with him in the chase. Sagan eventually had to settle for sixth behind BMC's Greg Van Avermaet.
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