The one-day race began with news that Bora-Hansgrohe were unable to compete in the one-day race in Belgium after Britain’s Matthew Walls tested positive for COVID-19.

The team said all other team members were tested yesterday and all had come back negative.

The Belgian Cycling Federation determined that the team was not allowed to take part in the race.

Danish national champion Asgreen attacked with around 70 kilometres remaining of the 203.9km event.

Asgreen remained solo for much of the race, but was ultimately caught by a chase group containing Dutch star Mathieu Van der Poel, Olympic gold medallist Greg van Avermaet of Belgium and defending champion Zdenek Stybar of the Czech Republic.

The move, however, missed Belgium’s Wout Van Aert after he was dropped on the Tiegemberg climb and failed to rejoin the front of the race.

Deceuninck-QuickStep benefited from having several riders in the lead group, including France’s Florian Senechal and Stybar.

This allowed Asgreen to launch another attack with five kilometres to go, with his team-mates marking possible counter-attacks.

Asgreen remained clear to secure the race victory in a time of 4 hours, 42min and 56sec.

He was followed across the line by Senechal, who overcame Van der Poel in a sprint finish to end as the runner-up at 32 seconds down.

Van der Poel completed the top three, with Naesen, Stybar, Van Avermaet and the Netherlands’ Dylan Van Baarle rounding off the group.