Gent-Wevelgem 2023 [FULL RACE]

March 26, 2023

Gent-Wevelgem 2023 – Ypres – Wevelgem : 260,9 km

Gent-Wevelgem may often be referred to as a ‘Sprinters Classic’, due to its predominantly flat parcours, but it’s not uncommon to see this race totally explode on the roads towards the finish, with the eventual winner emerging from a small group of exhausted escapees.Gent-Wevelgem offers the Spring Classics specialists one final opportunity to hone their form ahead of the biggest one-day race in Belgium. Outside of the Monuments, this race is one of the longest on the calendar and often exceeds 250km in length. This, along with the fact that it has been a mainstay on the calendar since 1934, has led many to suggest that it should be a Monument itself. Taking place in late March in Flanders, it’s not uncommon to see the race ravaged by crosswinds and sleeting rain. Add to these grim weather conditions a handful of gruelling cobblestone sectors and multiple ascents of the infamous Kemmelberg and you’re left with one of the most attritional races on the entire calendar. The Kemmelberg is a brutal climb covered in bone-rattling cobblestones and it often acts as king-maker in this race. In 2015 the race renamed itself to ‘Gent-Wevelgem – In Flanders Fields’ to mark the 100-year anniversary of John McCrae’s famous World War I poem. The race has done a lot over the years to remember those who lost their lives in this war. In 2017, the route builders added three ‘Plugstreets’ gravel sectors to pay homage to the Christmas Truce of 1914. These sectors have been included in each edition since and have proven pivotal in deciding the outcome of the race, largely by dishing out punctures to a lot of the main favourites.

Christophe Laporte led home a dominant Jumbo-Visma one-two at Gent-Wevelgem, taking the win ahead of teammate Wout van Aert after the pair soloed home following a decisive attack on the Kemmelberg at 50km out.

Following a one-two at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, a one-three at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, and Van Aert’s win at the E3 Saxo Classic on Friday, the Dutch squad continued their cobbled Classics domination in abysmal weather on Sunday.

After the day’s early break – plus a group of attackers – was brought back at 55km out, the Jumbo-Visma pairing seized their chance to go clear on the second of three ascents of the race’s key climb.

Despite a cluster of elite Classics riders making up the chase behind, the advantage of Van Aert and Laporte only increased as the kilometres ticked by, and it quickly became clear that they would stay away for the victory.

The Belgian worked hard on behalf of his teammate, even waiting on the last ascent of the Kemmelberg and leading the Frenchman into the final kilometres.

If it wasn’t already obvious from the work Van Aert had put in, conversations in the final 10km decided who would win, and so the pair enjoyed the final run to the line, holding hands and waving back to the team car, before Laporte edged ahead at the finish to take the win and with it the first major Classic title of his career.

“We decided we’d take it to the finish,” Laporte said after crossing the line. “Wout asked me if I wanted to win. It’s incredible. It’s a pleasure. This has happened only once before in my career. I want to thank Wout for everything.

“I’ve never won a Classic before, and now I’m so proud. I think of my family and my little boy – it has taken so much sacrifice to get to this point.

“There was still 50km to go when we attacked. We made a lot of efforts together. We did everything to go to the finish together. It was hard for me to follow Wout. It was just incredible to be with him, and I’m so proud to do so much of it with him.”

Van Aert was more than happy to take second place, rounding out a dominant team display, while Sep Vanmarcke (Israel-Premier Tech) was the quickest finisher from a late group escaping from the chase.

The Belgian got the better of Frederik Frison (Lotto-Dstny) and Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) to grab third, 1:56 down on Laporte and Van Aert, while the remains of the chase trailed home at 2:04.

“We just rode full on until the last 8-10km, maybe,” Van Aert said. “Then we were quite sure we had the victory. I won on Friday, and my eyes are on the races that are coming. Christophe also had a difficult start to the season with a sickness, and he’s such a team player that it was an easy decision.

“It’s incredible. Only a few days ago, we talked about the 2022 E3 Saxo Bank Classic, and we said to each other that we should realise it’ll probably never happen again. Only a few days later, we’ve done exactly the same thing. It’s hard to believe that it’s possible at this high level, but I think it’s all the hard work coming together, and it’s such a nice feeling to do this together.”

How it unfolded
The 85th edition of Gent-Wevelgem began in rough weather in Ypres, with wind and rain promising to have a major effect on the 261km race through De Moeren, across the plugstreets, the hill zone and Kemmelberg, and on to Wevelgem.

Breakaway hopefuls attempted to move clear from the very start of the race, with Lewis Askey (Groupama-FDJ) among the first group to get a small gap on the peloton. He’d be joined on the attack by Johan Jacobs (Movistar), Milan Fretin (Flanders-Baloise), Luca Van Boven (Bingoal WB), and Human Powered Health duo Colin Joyce and Gijs Van Hoecke.

Van Hoecke would drop back after 15km, while 25km later, a move including Greg Van Avermaet (AG2R Citroën), Yevgeniy Fedorov (Astana Qazaqstan), and Jelle Wallays (Cofidis) countered from the peloton.

After 60km of racing, the peloton finally slowed as Van Avermaet’s group caught the leaders. Further back, another counter featuring Mike Teunissen (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty), Jenthe Biermans (Arkéa-Samsic), Elmar Reinders (Jayco-AlUla), Sandy Dujardin (TotalEnergies), Aaron Van Poucke (Flanders-Baloise), and Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Bingoal WB) jumped from the peloton.

They would continue to chase until they finally bridged the gap after 100km of racing, making it 14 men up front. In the peloton, Jumbo-Visma and Soudal-QuickStep had control of the situation, placing workhorses Jos Van Emden and Tim Declercq in charge of the pacemaking duties.

Multiple crashes hit the peloton on the road to the ‘hill zone’ beginning after 160km, with Michał Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers), Jonathan Milan (Bahrain Victorious), and Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) among the riders hitting the deck, with the Pole later abandoning the race along with Bora-Hansgrohe sprinter Sam Bennett.

In the peloton, Ineos Grenadiers, Bahrain Victorious, and UAE Team Emirates also put in work at the front as teams looked to get the best position ahead of the first climb, the Scherpenberg.

The breakaway’s advantage had hit four minutes at one point, but heading into the final 100km and the Scherpenberg, it was down to 2:20, while the grim weather showed no sign of abating.

The action really started once the riders hit the Kemmelberg for the first time. A group of elite riders led the way up and grabbed a few metres of advantage over the top, with Nathan Van Hooydonck (Jumbo-Visma), Ben Turner (Ineos Grenadiers), Florian Vermeersch (Lotto-Dstny) and Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) among them.

They would be joined by several more men, including Laporte, Edward Theuns (Trek-Segfredo), Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies), Søren Kragh Andersen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), while Soudal-Quickstep mounted a chase behind.

Former world champion Pedersen launched an attack and bridged across ahead of the gravelly plugstreets, while Soudal-Quickstep also sent sprinter Fabio Jakobsen on a quest to make it to the leaders.

The Dutch sprinter came close, but his efforts would come to naught, and he’d later be forced to drop back to the peloton. At around 60km to run, the attack group merged with the breakaway, though the move wouldn’t last much longer as the peloton closed in.

The second Kemmelberg and Jumbo-Visma’s attack
At 55km to go, as the riders hit the Monteberg once more, it was all back together, though Turgis responded with an immediate counter-attack to go clear ahead of the second ascent of the Kemmelberg.

The Frenchman would be caught on that key climb, however, as Jumbo-Visma pair Wout van Aert and Christophe Laporte ripped past him to go clear over the top. Not far back, sprinters Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Dstny) and Pascal Ackermann (UAE Team Emirates) were strong in leading the way behind.

But nobody could match the Jumbo-Visma pair over the top. An elite group formed behind them, but they were half a minute up the road almost in the blink of an eye. That gap only kept increasing, even as a larger peloton came together in the chase with Ineos Grenadiers taking to the front.

Final ascents of the Scherpenberg and Baneberg saw the Jumbo duo extend their advantage to a minute, while the final ascent of the Kemmelberg didn’t hinder them, either. Laporte lost a few metres, but with Van Aert putting himself at the service of his French teammate, he was never in any danger of dropping away.

Behind them, there were attacks and regroupings following the fracturing of the climb and descent, but even with UAE Team Emirates and Soudal-QuickStep committing men to the chase there was little movement in the time gap.

For the lead pair there was no drama as they raced into the headwind to Wevelgem, passing through the Menin Gate which hosted the start, and into the final 10km with a two-minute gap.

By that point, the attacks in the chase group had started as the race for third began. With several strong sprinters present in the group, the likes of Vermeersch, Nils Politt (Bora-Hansgrohe), and Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates) all giving it a shot.

Mohorič slid out of the chase on a roundabout at 5km out while chasing a Jhonatan Narváez (Ineos Grenadiers) attack, before Mikkel Bjerg (UAE Team Emirates) took the chance to power away heading into Wevelgem.

The Swiss time trial specialist was joined by Frederik Frison (Lotto-Dstny) and Sep Vanmarcke (Israel-Premier Tech) at the 2km mark, while up front Van Aert and Laporte were deep in conversation.

Van Aert was back on the front heading into the final kilometre, pulling Laporte once more before they sat up to celebrate during the closing 500 metres. There were pats on the back, waves to the team car, and hands held before Van Aert slowed to let his teammate get ahead just before the line, Laporte celebrating the 27th win of his career and his team’s 18th of the season.

Almost two minutes later, the chase group come to the finish, with Pedersen joining Frison, Vanmarcke and Bjerg in the final kilometre for the battle over third. It was Vanmarcke who had the strongest legs in the sprint despite Pedersen launching first, the Belgian coming through to take his first Classics podium since the 2021 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.

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