Laporte finished the course in the Flanders region of Belgium in 5hrs 49min 39sec, with Van Aert less than a second behind him as the pair dominated the race.

Taking third was Belgium's Sep Vanmarcke, who was representing Israel-Premier Tech, finishing 1min 56sec behind the leading pair.

On a wet and windy day, Laporte was able to secure a first win of the season and a second podium finish in five races.

"We decided we'd take it to the finish," said Laporte, according to Eurosport.

"Wout asked me if I wanted to win. It's incredible. 

"It's a pleasure. 

"This has happened only once before in my career. 

"I want to thank Wout for everything.

"I've never won a Classic before, and now I'm so proud. 

"I think of my family and my little boy - it has taken so much sacrifice to get to this point.

"There was still 50 kilometres to go when we attacked.

"We made a lot of efforts together. 

"We did everything to go to the finish together. 

"It was hard for me to follow Wout. It was just incredible to be with him, and I'm so proud to do so much of it with him."

In the women's event, Switzerland's Marlen Reusser claimed her first victory of the season, finishing in 4:16:47 doing Team SD Worx proud.

The Swiss cyclist took a wrong turn within the final five kilometres but still managed to stay well ahead of the rest.

The rest of the top 10 cyclists were within a second and 2:42 behind Reusser, but it was Megan Jastrab of the United States who took second place.

In third was Maike Van Der Duin of the Netherlands, who claimed her first podium finish since 2021.

The next scheduled event on the UCI World Tour calendar is the one-day Dwars door Vlaanderen race, set for Wednesday (March 29).