Mighty Mathieu van der Poel powers to victory in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

The Dutch cyclist Mathieu van der Poel broke away 16km from the finish line and soloed to victory at the season-opening cobbled classic Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday.

The former road race world champion entered the classic on the back of a record eighth cyclo-cross world title where he was unbeaten all winter.

The 31-year-old Alpecin rider finished in 4hr 53min 55sec, over 20 seconds ahead of fellow Dutchman Tim van Dijke and the Belgian Florian Vermeersch.

The 207km route contains much of the Tour of Flanders roads, and the riders took on 12 hills and eight cobbled sections.

On one of those cobbled climbs, the Muur of Geraardsbergen, Van Der Poel dropped the whittled-down main pack and set off in pursuit of an early breakaway around a minute up the road.

Mathieu van der Poel makes his decisive move on the Muur-Kapelmuur cobblestones. Photograph: Tim de Waele/Getty Images

He caught them within 4km and rode confidently away from them. After he crossed the line, Van Dijke outsprinted Vermeersch for second place.

Omloop is the first race of the season in cycling’s heartland of north-western Europe and is often raced in freezing conditions.