Fabian Cancellara has successfully defended his crown at the Tour of Flanders.
The Trek Factory Racing rider won his third title overall after coming out on top in a four-man sprint for the finish.
Cancellara broke costless of the main group on the race’s penultimate climb and chased down the race leaders before sprinting to victory in the final metres.
The Swiss rider began the race as the favourite, having come out on top in 2013, and he did not disappoint with a stunning tactical display.
Although Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quick-Step) and Peter Sagan (Cannondale) were also heavily fancied prior to the race, neither could match the man nicknamed ‘Spartacus’ as he attacked the leaders.
Together with Belkin’s Sep Vanmarcke, Cancellara chased down Stijn Vandenbergh (Omega Pharma-Quick-Step) and Greg Van Avermaet (BMC), and the quartet took turns on the front in the run-in to the finish.
Although Vanmarcke, Vandenbergh and Van Avermaet tried to hold off Cancellara in the final kilometre, the Trek rider was too powerful and came out on top in a final dash for the line.
Cancellara’s victory means that he has now finished on the podium in his last 11 consecutive ‘monuments’, and he is a good bet to do so again next weekend, when he defends his title at Paris-Roubaix.