The Koppenberg has not always smiled on Mathieu van der Pol: In November 2018, the Dutchman, who was still months away from transferring his cyclocross talents to top-level road racing, endured a painful afternoon on the slopes of the Koppenberg Cross.

Van der Pol, who finished in 21st place, four minutes behind the day's winner, simply looked resigned. Even though he had won the previous year, his relationship with the steep cobblestone climb at the heart of this race had always been uneasy. 'That afternoon,' Van der Pol said. 'This is not my climb.'

By contrast, in Sunday's Tour de Flanders, the Koppenberg was as much Van der Poel's as the race itself. The combination of steep gradients and rain-soaked cobblestones forced almost all riders to walk unclipped, but Van der Poel inevitably made light work of the climb and the conditions, recording his third Ronde win on these slopes.

With just over 44km to go, the world champion sat down and accelerated on the steep Koppenberg slope to make his winning attack. Behind him, only Matteo Jorgenson (Vimaris A-Bike) and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) made it up the climb without missing a clipping, but they were already fighting in another race against Van der Pol.

"As soon as it started raining, we knew that the Koppenberg was going to be chaotic," said Pedersen. 'When the other teams started attacking, I asked the teams to make things controllable all the way to Koppenberg. I think they did a great job."

According to him, Van der Pol did not even plan to attack in Koppenberg. However, in these days of road imperialism, the Dutch rider gives the disturbing impression that he is pulling away from his rivals without even realizing it. When the Alpecin-Desseuninck rider glanced over his shoulder at the summit and saw that he was 10 seconds ahead of Jorgenson, he decided it was better to take the win on the spot.

"We've all seen footage of Koppenberg in the past and know how chaotic it can be in the rain. And we knew when it was muddy there in cyclocross, so we knew this would be an important point," van der Pol said.

"On the steepest part of the Koppenberg, I started from the front to avoid trouble. It was very slippery and difficult to get traction. I didn't intend to go it alone from there, but there was no turning back now."

As if his raw strength to attack from afar had been a detriment, Van der Pol quickly built an insurmountable lead over the rest of the field. By the time he crossed the Steenbeek Drees, he had built up a 24-second lead, which he extended to a minute at Teyenberg. At this point, Van der Pol was no longer racing against his contemporaries, but against history itself.

But for Van der Poel, his efforts finally began to pay off after the final climb up the Quaremont and Paterberg. For a moment, he even feared a hangar puncture as his attempt at the 2019 Yorkshire World Championships collapsed in the rain, but he regrouped under heavy water and reached Oudenaarde with a margin of over a minute.

"I felt like I was crawling towards the finish, and at the end I wasn't even close to the power I usually ride," van der Pol said.

"It reminded me a little bit of Harrogate, to be honest. Honestly, it reminded me a little bit of Harrogate. Honestly, it kind of reminds me of Harrogate.

"There were attacks from far away, the first hour was pretty fast, it was rainy conditions, and we had to go full on on all the climbs. ...... It was a really hard race. I have never been so happy to see the last kilometer," he said.

Not only did the threat of the flinger remain, but Van der Pol also had to negotiate with an unruly home crowd at Quaremont. When asked after the race about the incident, he replied. I was too busy trying to win the race."

Van der Pol was the overwhelming favorite to win this Tour de Flanders, but with the absence of the injured Wout Van Aert, his Alpecin-Desseuninck team had the heavy burden of controlling the peloton.

Jorgenson and Pedersen were already in contention with 110 km to go. His flex was already admonishing his rivals as he pulled the race back in Valkenberg with a solo run.

"I knew the other teams were going to attack from a very long distance," he said. My team controlled it well." At some point, I knew that the stronger teams would have to battle it out."

Van der Pol's third Tour of Flanders victory tied the record held by Achille Buysse, Fiorenzo Magni, Eric Leman, Johan Museeuw, Tom Boonen, and Fabian Cancellara. The man who has been on the podium at the Ronde for five consecutive years and has never finished lower than fourth seems to have this record firmly in hand. Meanwhile, next Sunday, Van der Pol has a chance to complete the Ronde-Roubaix double in the rainbow jersey, just like Rick Van Roy did in 1962.

"Records don't drive me crazy, and my career has already exceeded my expectations," Van der Pol said. "I'm really fucked right now, so it will take me a while to understand what I've been through. I never dreamed that I would win the Ronde as World Champion. It's very special."

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