Belgian star Wout van Aert continued his supreme return from the coronavirus pandemic by taking victory in a thrilling Milan-San Remo.

The 25-year-old escaped the peloton over the Poggio with Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe for company just 6.5 kilometres from the finish.

The main bunch began to reel them in as the pair approached the finish line, but they managed to hold them off in nail-biting fashion to go one-on-one for the win.

And it was Van Aert who showed his incredible strength to lead out the sprint and hold off Alaphilippe for another memorable triumph in this re-scheduled 2020 season.

The Flanders-born rider, who is a three-time world cyclo-cross champion, adds to his victory at Strade Bianche last week.

After the race, he said: "Julian played it really well, he put me on the front, and I needed to keep a bit of speed because the bunch was coming back.

"It was hard to do the right pace and still keep something for the sprint but in the end it was enough, because it was only half a wheel.

"I'm super happy. I can't believe I've taken these two victories in a row. I don't have words actually. I know everyone says that when they win a Monument but to start the second part of the season like this... it's crazy."

Van Aert also took the time to speak about his teammate Dylan Groenwegen who has been receiving a great deal of criticism following a crash at the Tour of Poland earlier this week which left Dutch rider Fabio Jakobsen in a coma.

Groenewegen edged Jakobsen into the barriers during a sprint finish on Wednesday and has subsequently been suspended by his Jumbo-Visma team pending disciplinary proceedings from cycling’s governing body the UCI.

Jakobsen has since come out of his coma but remains in a severe condition as he has broken facial bones and is missing all his teeth.

And while Van Aert recognises his teammate made a ‘big mistake’, he also admits it has been hard to watch him suffer so much abuse.

He told Cycling Weekly: We all know Dylan personally and we felt bad for him because we know he is a good guy.

“He made a big mistake but of course it was painful to see what the reaction was, and at the start we were just worried about Fabio and I was quite surprised the focus wasn’t on the fact he was in danger.

"All the rest had to wait in my opinion and it was quite strange to already be talking about who is guilty. We were more following the news of Fabio, he’s one of the cycling family and we know this job has a lot of risk and we all know that one day we all have the chance to have a hard crash like that.

"We were relieved when there was some positive news, so that was more what we were focused on."