Asgreen overpowers Van der Poel in epic two-man Flanders fight | Video | Sticky Bottle

*Kasper Asgreen is motoring at the moment and though he arrived at the finish line today with the prolific Mathieu van der Poel, he was too strong for him*

Kasper Asgreen tore up the script at the Tour of Flanders today when he arrived at the finish with just Mathieu van der Poel for company and overpowered him in the final sprint to the line.

While Van der Poel (Alpecin Fenix) is by far the better sprinter of the two, Asgreen (Deceuninck-QuickStep) is so strong at present he out-muscled his rival after 254km of racing and six hours in the saddle.

When the two exhausted riders sprinted the final couple of hundred metres to one of the most iconic finish lines in world cycling, the moment Asgreen drew level with Van der Poel, who had led it out, the Dutch champion sat up.

He clearly had nothing left in the tank, leaving Asgreen to power to the line and put his hands in the air and shout in delight as he took the biggest win of his career. Afterwards, Van der Poel was quick to congratulate the winner, saying Asgreen hadn't been afraid to race and deserved to win.

The 26-year-old Dane had won E3 Saxo Bank Classic (1.UWT) the week before last with an epic performance; leading solo for a long time only to be caught by the favourites' group in the finale before attacking again to win alone.

Today Van der Poel made his move for glory on the Oude Kwaremont after getting clear with Asgreen and Wout Van Aert (Jumbo Visma) on the Kruisberg, when Asgreen pushed the pace with just under 30km remaining.

Later in the finale Van de Poel attacked hard up the Oude Kwaremont, powering clear and on the undulating main road that followed Van Aert was unable to close the gap.

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However, while Van der Poel's acceleration initially distanced Asgreen, the eventual winner stayed calm and rode his way up to him; Asgreen looking in supreme shape and holding his form brilliantly through the race.

As the finish neared the two leaders had a little over 30 seconds on a quality chasing group, with Asgreen approaching the final sprint with great confidence; sticking Van der Poel on the front and simply getting the better of him in the two-man fight for victory.

Back in the chase group, Greg Van Avermaet (AG2R Citroën) and Milan-Sanremo winner Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) attacked in pursuit of 3rd place, with Van Avermaet winning that battle for the final place on the podium some 32 seconds after Asgreen crossed the line in victory.

The only Irish rider in the race, Ryan Mullen, was a non-finisher having ridden in support of team mate and eventual 4th place finisher Stuyven.