When Caspar Asgreen suddenly stopped near the top of the Koppenberg, dismounted, and fiddled with his chain, the defending champion's title challenge and Quick Step's spring hopes seemed to have gone up in smoke.

But Asgreen made no such excuses.

The Koppenberg was the decisive moment that ended the race in the Tour of Flanders (open in new tab), but Asgreen (open in new tab) was not to be outdone as Tadej Pogachar launched the first big attack in Oude Quaremont, and later Mathieu Van der Pol (open in new Open in new tab) followed him and revealed that he had read the writing on the wall much earlier.

Asgreen could not keep up with the large group formed by the Tour de France champion and soon realized that he would not be hoisting the winner's trophy for the second time. By the time they approached the Koppenberg, the group was back together, but Pogachar was again on fire, and Asgreen was in terminal trouble even before he was forced to stop.

"My chain came off," he said.

"As far as I know, they got away in Kwaremont and I wouldn't have been able to keep up [in Koppenberg]. I would have been in the group behind and anyway I came back to that group with 2km to go."

Asgreen was Quick Step's best finisher in another bitter encounter for the Belgian team, which has been plagued by illness, injury, and poor results this spring.

Tim De Clercq controlled the early breakaway, with Zdenek Stibal and Jannik Steimle joining an early group at Berendries with 90km to go. However, once Pogachar made his move, they were never seen again.

"We had a very good race as a team," claimed Asgreen. 'We were in control until the end of the race. When the first move was made, Zdenek and Jannik were right there and it was perfect."

"Then at Ude Kwaremont, I tried to go after Taddei, but he was too strong. I exploded."

"I was in a great position.

In Koppenberg, the point was underscored.

"In the end he completely butchered me."