Team Sky 's Geraint Thomas had to settle for 14th place in an incident-packed Tour of Flanders as Norwegian Alexander Kristoff took victory in a sprint finish with Holland 's Niki Terpstra . With Tom Boonen and Fabian Cancellara - winners of six of the last 10 races here - missing through injury , Thomas was one of the favourites to claim the title following his recent victory in E3 Harelbeke and third-place finish at the Gent-Wevelgem sprint classic . He was in contention for much of Sunday 's race as Team Sky set the pace in the peloton for lengthy periods , but the Welshman was unable to recover ground as Kristoff ( Team Katusha ) and Terpstra ( Etixx - Quick-Step ) launched a late breakaway . Alexander Kristoff celebrates by spraying champagne after winning the Tour of Flanders . Norway 's Kristoff poses after beating off competition from Niki Terpstra to win the Tour of Flanders race . The highly-fancied Kristoff came home in a time of six hours , 26 minutes and 38 seconds , with Terpstra just behind and local hope Greg van Avermaet of Belgium ( BMC ) seven seconds back in third . Thomas , looking to become only the second Briton to win the event after Tom Simpson in 1961 , finished in the chasing pack almost a minute back . It was not to be for Team Sky , who had pushed hard throughout as they sought their first win in one of cycling 's big five classic one-day races - and one that was not short of incident . Sir Bradley Wiggins , in one of his last rides for Team Sky , was one of a number of riders to hit the deck during the race when he crashed in the middle of the peloton while trying to negotiate a tight left-hand turn . Team Sky 's Geraint Thomas finished in 14th position after struggling to close the gap on the likes of Kristoff . Although he needed a spare bike , Wiggins was able to continue but other riders suffered worse with New Zealander Jesse Sergent - who was part of a seven-man breakaway group - suffering what was feared to be a fractured collarbone after being hit by a neutral service car as it tried to overtake him . Incredibly , there was another incident involving a support car later on which saw Sebastien Chavanel also knocked off his bike and out of the race . The Frenchman was hit by his team car after it had been rear-ended by another vehicle . Other riders were also involved in spills on the testing surfaces while there was a near moment of farce when one of the inflatable markers straddling the road started to deflate , leaving the riders with barely enough room to get underneath without having to break stride . The late drama was created by Kristoff and Terpstra , though . They escaped the pack with around 30 kilometres left and , with no one able to catch them , it was down to one of them to take the crown . Terpstra bided his time on the final straight as he sat on Kristoff 's wheel waiting for the right moment to attack , but when he did the Norwegian reacted and left his rival trailing as he claimed his second 'Monument ' title after his Milan-San Remo triumph in 2014 .
Norway 's Alexander Kristoff won race after sprint finish with Niki Terpstra . The Norwegian was the first to cross the line in a time of 1 hour and 42 minutes, but it took him just over an hour for his rival to catch up.