World champion van der Poel came out on top in the men's event in a much-anticipated showdown with Wout van Aert and Tom Pidcock.

Pidcock led for much of the race only to be overtaken on the penultimate lap as van der Poel and van Aert battled it out for top spot.

Van der Poel pulled clear in the final lap, winning in 1hr 3min 59sec, three seconds ahead of van Aert while Pidcock was 11 seconds further back in third.

"Today was a really hard battle," said Van der Poel in an interview with Cycling Weekly.

"I was on the limit the whole race and I really had to push myself beyond the limit to take the win."

Brand made it two wins from two in the women's event as she stormed to victory in Namur.

The 31-year-old, who won the season-opener in Tábor in the Czech Republic last month, was in fine form as she came home in 52:47.

Second place went to Clara Honsinger of the United States as she finished 29 seconds behind Brand.

Denise Betsema of The Netherlands was 38 seconds further back in third.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the schedule has been cut from 14 races to just five with the next scheduled to take place in Wachtebeke in Belgium on December 27.

The remaining rounds are due to be held in Perkpolder in The Netherlands on January 3 and Overijse in Belgium on January 24.