World champion Mathieu van der Poel shattered arch-rival Wout van Aert's bid for a third successive E3 Saxo title on Friday as he claimed the first of cycling's cobbled classics.

Van der Poel first opened a gap while van Aert was on the floor after a fall, but his 40km solo run for the line was a powerful marker for the season ahead.

The 29-year-old Dutch rider crossed the line at Harelbeke stood up on his pedals and performing a military salute.

He was 1min 31sec ahead of second placed Jasper Stuyven whose fellow Belgian Van Aert was third, a second behind.

The 207km race over 17 hills is the first of a series of races known to cycling fans as 'Holy Week' leading up to Easter Sunday's Tour of Flanders, run over many of the same roads.

"I even kept a bit back for Sunday," Van der Poel said of the upcoming Gent Wevelgem race in two days.

"This is my first win here so I'm proud, but I haven't won Wevelgem either."

Van der Poel had attacked several times but was reeled in each time by a strained looking Van Aert before the key moment.

Showers early in the race made the cobbles slick, and Van Aert fell at the foot of the Paterberg hill, slipping on an uphill cobble.

Van der Poel was merciless, and set off with blistering pace on his solo bid.

While Van Aert gamely went in hot pursuit, nursing a bloody elbow, Van der Poel raced on past fan-packed roadsides in a relentless and unflinching manner.

Winner last season of the world championship in Glasgow, Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix, Van der Poel has established himself as the man to beat in the big one-day challenges.

Tim Wellens, fourth on the day, hailed Van der Poel's power.

"That was a really hard race. By the time Van der Poel went the final time, we all knew he was the strongest, you could see it," he said.

Van Aert was far from the only rider to fall on the narrow Flanders lanes as Emil Herzog was sent flying head first into one of the ditches that line the lush fields of the region.

"I hit the cobbles hard, I can feel it now," a grim Van Aert said rubbing his hip. "It was a stupid crash and I'll have to check there's no damage."

The E3 was first staged in 1958 and named after one of the major highways which runs through the Flanders region.

Van Aert won the race in 2022 with a long-range attack from 42km out alongside teammate Christophe Laporte and retained the title in 2023 after closing a gap on Tadej Pogacar and Van der Poel before beating them in the sprint.