In the first laps of the very technical circuit of Zonhoven, Mathieu van der Poel made several errors which benefited the Belgian champion. A small fall from the Dutch allowed van Aert to isolate himself at the end of the third of the eight laps on the circuit. The latter quickly widened the gap to have a 14-second lead over his rival who found himself in the company of Michael Vanthourenhout and Laurens Sweeck. A lap later, the gap had more than doubled as van Aert was 36 seconds ahead of his three pursuers still grouped together.
In the second half of the race, van Aert managed his advantage, clawing back lap following lap some time on Van der Poel, rid of his chasing companions.
