In the men's 263.7-kilometre race starting in Antwerp, Asgreen shocked the reigning champion, Dutch rider Mathieu van der Poel of Alpecin-Fenix, holding off the favourite in a sprint finish.

Both riders were 32 seconds ahead of third place and home favourite, Belgium's Greg van Avermaet of AG2R Citroen Team, leading home five Belgians in a row.

Fourth was Jasper Stuyven of Trek-Segafredo, just a second behind Van Avermaet, while Sep Vanmarcke of Israel Start-Up Nation was fifth and Wout van Aert of Jumbo-Visma finished sixth.

Asgreen made an attack with 27km to go, pulling away from Van der Poel and Van Aert, who were one and two last year.

Not long after the Oude Kwaremont climb, Van Aert was dropped, making it a front two that would last until the finish.

Asgreen opened up the sprint, having enough strength to hold off the Dutch rider.

The race was not without its controversy, starting with Kazakhstan's Yevgeniy Fedorov of Astana and Germany's Otto Vergaerde of Alpecin-Fenix being disqualified for dangerous riding. 

Fedorov had initially broken away from the pack before slamming his brakes on, to which Vergaerde retaliated, barging the Kazakh.

Swiss rider Michael Schär of AG2R Citroen was then disqualified after he threw a bottle towards a group of fans.

Off the back of the peloton, he tossed the bottle towards the side of the road, but International Cycling Union officials deemed it to have broken protocols related to littering.

This rule came into effect at the start of April and means that riders can only dispose of litter at designated points in races or if they drop back towards their team cars and hand items over directly.

In the women's race, contested over 152km, Van Vleuten won her second Tour of Flanders title, last winning a decade ago.

The European champion attacked from a small group on the final climb with 14km to go, before extending her gap from seven seconds at the top of the Paterberg to 25 seconds at the finish.

Closest to her was German Lisa Brennauer of Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling, who finished second after a late sprint with Australia's Grace Brown of Team BikeExchange.

Italian Elisa Longo Borghini of Trek-Segafredo was fourth ahead of Dutch rider Demi Vollering of Team SD Worx in fifth.

Dutch rider Anna van der Breggen, also of SD Worx, only finished eighth.

The 2020 Giro Rosa winner and Rio 2016 Olympic road race champion notably sat up instead of participating in the sprint to the line.