It was won by Eddy Planckaert in a two-man sprint with Australian Phil Anderson.

[1][2] On the Berendries, 30 km from the finish, Marc Sergeant, Rudy Dhaenens and Phil Anderson broke clear, but Sean Kelly made his team work in pursuit.

Van der Poel was dropped on the Bosberg and Anderson made several frantic efforts to distance the fast Planckaert on the final run-in towards Meerbeke.

Planckaert, relying on his strong sprint finish, easily beat Anderson at the line.

Van der Poel won the sprint for third place, 18 seconds behind Planckaert.