The surprise winner of the Tour of Flanders, Alberto Bettiol ©Getty Images

Italy’s Alberto Bettiol earned the first professional win of his career at the Tour of Flanders today – a result which came as at least as much a surprise to him as it did his rivals.

"I still can't believe it," said Bettiol after making good his attack on the final climb of the Oude Kwarement with 17 kilometres of the 267km route from Antwerp to Oudenaarde remaining.

"I still don't believe what I did.

“My first win… I don't believe it…"

It marked an Italian double on the day as Marta Bastianelli won the women’s race after beating Annemiek van Vleuten of the Netherlands and Cecelie Ludwig to the line following a sprint at the end of the 159.2km course.

The 25-year-old Tuscan, riding for EF Education First, told cyclngnews he had to dig deep over the final few kilometres to hold off the chasing pack before finishing alone in 6hr 18min 49sec.

“I don’t know how I did it,” he said after the conclusion of this International Cycling Union (UCI) WorldTour event, the second monument classic of the season.

Defending champion Niki Terpstra is attended to after crashing out of contention early on from the Tour of Flanders – his team later issued a reassuring message that he had recovered his spirits in hospital ©Getty Images
Defending champion Niki Terpstra is attended to after crashing out of contention early on from the Tour of Flanders – his team later issued a reassuring message that he had recovered his spirits in hospital ©Getty Images

“I felt really good on the Kwaremont and Andreas [Klier] from the car said: “If you can, just go.'

“I closed my eyes and went.

“I looked down at the top and had a really good gap.

“They said 'keep pushing, keep pushing'.

“On the Paterberg, I don’t think I lost a lot and then it was the longest 14km of my life.”

Dane Kasper Asgreen, of Deceuninck-QuickStep, stayed clear after launching a late chase to finish 14 seconds down on Bettiol, with Norway’s Alexander Kristoff winning the sprint for third at 17 seconds for UAE Team Emirates.

Dutch rider Niki Terpstra, defending the title, crashed out of contention early on and was taken to hospital, although his new team, Direct Energie, said he had soon recovered his spirits.

Fellow Dutch rider Mathieu van der Poel, of Corendon-Circus, worked his way back up to fourth after crashing at speed following a puncture.

Slovakia’s triple world road race champion Peter Sagan, riding for Bora-Hansgrohe, finished 11th.

Bastianelli made her decisive move after becoming part of the trio that pulled away from the main group near the finish.

Van Vleuten, who has earned two world time trial titles since recovering from the crash at the Rio 2016 Games while leading the road race that left her with severe concussion and three mumbar spinal fractures, was the first to move.

But the Italian overhauled her in the final 50 metres to claim victory.