Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon-Circus) proved strongest in the final sprint between his breakaway companions to win Brabantse Pijl on Wednesday. The Dutch champion led the race onto the final section of the Schavei climb and then launched an unmatched early sprint to take the win ahead of Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) in second, Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) third and Michael Matthews (Sunweb) fourth. "I'm very happy and also proud to be there with three big names in front, and to finish it off like this is kind of like a dream," Van der Poel said in a post-race flash interview. "I'm really happy and I said before this Classics season that this race suits me the best and I'm glad I could prove that." Van der Poel, who had been one of the most active during the race, formed part of the winning breakaway when he, along with Alaphilippe, Wellens and Matthews, bridged across to lone escapee Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott) on the final lap of three finishing circuits in Overijse that include climbs over Hagaard, Hertstraat, Holstheide, Ijskelderlaan and finally Schavei.ADVERTISEMENT Wellens attacked the five-man breakaway over the Holstheide, and even though he was quickly followed by Alaphilippe, Van der Poel and Matthews, the move distanced Impey with just over 10km to go. The quartet held a mere 20 seconds on the peloton but they managed to work well enough together to keep the speeds high and the chasing field at bay. As they approached the final two climbs, however, Alaphilippe jumped over the top of the Ijskelderlaan but it wasn't enough to drop Van der Poel, and Wellens and Matthews clawed their way back up.
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