Jorrit Bergsma, who raced in his fourth Olympic Games, won his first Olympic gold medal 12 years ago in Sochi and had won two medals in between, both at the 10,000m.
The gold medal was the Netherlands' ninth gold of the Milan-Cortina Games, making these the country's most successful Olympic Games in history.
Bergsma and Denmark's Viktor Hald Thorup staged an early first escape in the final and soon raced out to a half-lap lead over the pack, led by reigning Olympic champion Bart Swings but held up by Dutchman Stijn van de Bunt, and kept their lead intact at the halfway point.
Thorup and Bergsma, who exchanged the lead several times, joined the back of the pack with three laps to go, making the final a two-man race until Bergsma went for it with two laps to go.
The 40-year-old Dutchman, who won bronze on the 10km, pulled off the great escape ahead of Thorup, who won Denmark's first medal of the Games, and world champion Andrea Giovannini, who beat golden boy Jordan Stolz on the finish line.
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