Tadej POGACAR. 10 and honors. He faces his adversaries and climbs head-on, but he has to give his all. He decides to open the throttle 100 kilometers from the finish, taking with him the very best, fifteen riders with elite pedigree. For many he would have won hands down, no ifs or buts, instead he has to work hard and quite a lot. He wins by sheer force, with a race strategy that goes against all tacticism, but this guy, these guys, leave the sports directors where they belong: in the team car. On the bike it's them, and they do as they please, shouting: whoever has more wins. Tactics are dead: talent is pure exaltation, better than grappa. This cycling makes your head spin, but we don't fear surprise breathalyzer tests. This guy should be preserved in the annals and history books. He wins Sanremo and Flanders in the same year, before him only Eddy Merckx: it's not opinion, but statistics. Twelfth Monument, seven behind the Cannibal. Since the World Championships he's won them all. It's not just statistics, but history. The last three Flanders editions, all three won by him. I almost forgot: the last three world champions today on the podium, how boring…

Mathieu VAN DER POEL. 9. Moreno Moser is right (rating 10), tactically he could have even refused to give any help, not to play on the same level as the world champion, but Mathieu is a champion too, an absolute top-tier rider, an equal and as such he moved and raced. For this reason I consider him immense: he tried to win as an equal, not as a clever tactician.

Remco EVENEPOEL. 6.5. He plays hide-and-seek preparing the "Ronde" in secret, but then when Tadej shows himself to the world and opens the throttle, he's the first to give way. He's there, at his side, he turns away so as not to watch Tadej, and hopes that someone else will close the gap. Van der Poel will do it, not him, who from that moment on just does a time trial for third place. He can't even claim to be the first among mortals, because he's second. For Luca Gregorio, much-appreciated Eurosport commentator, he's the moral winner for being in his first participation: frankly, I disagree. Remco Evenepoel is not a debutant, he's a top-tier rider who has won what he's won and places him among the greats of this generation. Rather, I would say that the most prestigious victories obtained in his career by the Belgian have all been achieved without Tadej in the race, and this is worth remembering.

Wout VAN AERT. 5.5. He has legs, he has condition, but he doesn't have position: he gets caught too far back when Tadej opens the throttle. In this collectible Flanders, where the most precious trading cards are all there, he was among the most sought-after, but then he gets a bit lost.

Mads PEDERSEN. 6. He's a fighter, but he's also the one who plays the role of spoiler behind the fantastic four, in fact he arrives fifth.

Jasper STUYVEN. 5. He's the best among those who practice, with a bicycle, another sport. But to see him you have to wait a bit.

Florian VERMEERSCH. 8. He does his job, prepares the ground for Taddeo, then closes his effort in 7th place: since he's there, he stays.

Matej MOHORIC. 6. You don't expect anything particular from him, but he puts in a good race.

Christophe LAPORTE. 7. Even Van Aert's Visma does great work, and in this clash of titans they deserve credit for not getting crushed.

Gianni VERMEERSCH. 7. Faithful squire to Remco, once he stays there with the best he stays there, as does a superb Tim Van Dijke.

Matteo TRENTIN. 7. He's in good form, but it's not his day. He stays there with the group of best chasers, with Mohoric and company, but in the finale he ends up in the dirt. Bad finale.

Michael VALGREN. 4. He gets caught off guard by the UAE acceleration. Never in the race. Collapses completely.

Edoardo ZAMPERINI. 7. The 23-year-old from Veneto with Cofidis enters the breakaway of the day with great timing. With him Silvan Dillier (Alpecin Premier Tech), Kamil Gradek (Bahrain Victorious), Luke Lamperti (Education First), Connor Swift (Ineos), Luca Van Boven (Lotto Intermarchè), Dries De Pooter (Jayco AlUla), Julius Van den Berg (Picnic PostNL), Frederik Frison (Pinarello Q36.5), Victor Vercouillie (Flanders Baloise), Hartthijs De Vries (Unibet Rockets), Eric Fagundez and Jambaljamts Sainbayar (Burgos Burpellet). A leading breakaway, a race facing the wind in the race that exalts the attackers. They go like a train launched at full speed and pass before the barriers come down and block the group behind them. Technical incident, the regulations state. The race jury president leaves everything unchanged: it's Flanders that decides, the riders make the race.