Some races earn their hyperbolic language, and Gent-Wevelgem is one of them. While the weather wasn't as gritty as anticipated, the wind certainly had its say, and with Mathieu van der Poel eager to add a history-making win to Friday's E3 Saxo Classic title, it was race of attrition over the Flandrian plugstreets (gravel/grit) and cobbled climbs.
As was almost inevitable, Van der Poel was one of the first to set off fireworks with a decisive acceleration on the Kemmelberg, which split up the race and formed a select lead group. Lidl-Trek's strength in numbers helped to reduce the leaders to a trio of Mads Pedersen, Van der Poel and Groupama-FDJ's superb youngster Laurence Pithie. The 21-year-old Kiwi was dropped on the final climb of the Kemmelberg – the tougher Ossuaire side – and though there was a determined chase, Pedersen and Van der Poel stayed clear to the finish, and the Dane was able to outlast the world champion in the sprint.
- As always, the first major battle took place on the run-in to the first climb of the day, the speed incredibly high as the Scherpenberg beckoned. With the appetisers dealt with, Van der Poel made what would ultimately represent the decisive acceleration on the first time up the Kemmelberg (Belvedere side), which created a small lead group of seven.
- With two teammates also in the group, Jonathan Milan was the first Lidl-Trek rider to throw a cat amongst the pigeons and surge off the front to force the others into chasing. Further accelerations from Van der Poel in the second group saw off Rasmus Tiller (Uno-X Mobility) and Tim van Dijke (Visma-Lease a Bike), then a flat tire for Jasper Stuyven – second behind the world champion on Friday – reduced Lidl-Trek's supremacy, and before long, Milan had been joined by teammate Pedersen, Van der Poel and Pithie.
- There were still over 60 km to go as Pedersen and Milan kept the pressure on their two lonely rivals, Pedersen attacking almost as soon as Milan had been caught, with the Italian doing the same once Pedersen had sat up. They continued to land blows, Pithie more than any of them content to sit on, until a tiring Milan put in one last-ditch effort to lead the race back onto the Kemmelberg.
- With Milan's day done, the lead group was down to three by the top of the cobbled climb, Pedersen's acceleration finally seeming to show signs of weakness in Van der Poel who was slow to regain contact, and the still large peloton looked ominously close as the trio took the crest, their lead hovering close to 20 seconds.
- Ben Turner (Ineos Grenadiers) and Hugo Page jumped out of the peloton and into the gap on the paved climbs that led to the final ascent of the Kemmelberg – the Intermarché-Wanty rider at first unwilling to help with his teammate Biniam Girmay in the chasing pack – and it was the infamous cobbled climb which again caused a change of key in the unfolding race.
- The steeper Ossuaire side of the Kemmelberg finally ended Pithie's day at the front, the two favourites determined not to let the unpredictable young rider back onboard, and having looked touch and go on the penultimate ascent, the gap between the leaders and the peloton now looked healthier at almost 90 seconds.
- Soudal-QuickStep was one of the teams eager to take up the chase with the climbs done, but it was too little, too late. The gap fell slowly and Pedersen and Van der Poel still had around a minute with 10 km to go, while the bunch's momentum seemed less consistent, Kasper Asgreen and Marco Haller doing most of the work.
- By 3 km to go, only cat and mouse would spoil the game for Pedersen and Van der Poel, so they would have to rely on their sprints. The Dane showed real belief in choosing to lead it out, and he didn't even look back to assess the face of his rival before plunging into his sprint. Van der Poel came up alongside him as they surged down the finishing straight, but the world champion ran out of gas and sagged agonisingly close to the line. Pedersen sensed it but kept pedalling until it was absolutely safe to punch the air in victory – his second Gent-Wevelgem title after winning in 2020.
- The bunch came home 16 seconds after the leaders, a somewhat recovered Milan coming up just short of Bora-Hansgrohe's Jordi Meeus who edged out Jasper Philipsen in the race for the podium.
Brief results:
[race_result id=7 stage_id=0 count=10 gc=0]Quote of the day:
"I had to believe in my sprint because we couldn't start to attack each other [or] the bunch would pick us up. So, I had to believe that the sprint was good enough to beat Mathieu. And with the shape he showed lately, it was hard to believe.
Mads Pedersen after winning Gent-Wevelgem
Brief analysis:
- Look out for Kasper Asgreen in the coming Classics. While Pedersen and Van der Poel were charging into the last few kilometres, Asgreen and Bora-Hansgrohe's Marco Haller seemed most busy on the front of the sizeable chasing bunch which still contained some of the sport's best sprinters. They had their work cut out, but Asgreen seemed up for it more than anyone; just inside the last five kilometres, with the gap dipping under 50 seconds, the Dane found himself off the front with one look over the shoulder revealing that he'd left everyone but Tiesj Benoot behind. The Soudal-QuickStep rider won E3 Harelbeke and the Tour of Flanders in 2021, and since that stellar spring, Asgreen has risen to the first echelon of his team's Classics squad as they undergo a slight evolution in identity. It looks like he's coming into some mighty form at just the right time.
- This is not the first time Van der Poel has struggled with a fierce finishing sprint, especially where the effort is long after a heavy day out – against Asgreen, for instance, in 2021 – and it's even something he acknowledged himself after the finish, "I had very little confidence in my sprint, if I'm honest." If he has a weakness, it's this, but when one of his strengths is the lightning fast punch used to great effect on cobbled climbs, and indeed cyclocross, it's hard to mark it down as a true deficit. And what if he'd been up against someone who isn't a proven hard man who can weather the best sprinters? The question: is there something to work on here?
- A relative lack of resistance and stamina might also be working against the world champion, who confirmed after the race that he will not be at the mid-week Dwars Door Vlaanderen that precedes next weekend's Tour of Flanders, which will be only his fourth race day on the road this year – his 14-race cyclocross programme ended at the World Champs in early February. Pedersen, meanwhile, has 19 race days in the bag, including Friday's E3, and will be at the start in Roeselare on Wednesday, but the pair's comparative freshness will put neither at any significant disadvantage come Sunday. In fact, the nature of the Tour of Flanders is likely to work more in Van der Poel's favour, and after this weekend, we might imagine he'll do everything he can to try and go solo. Again.
Did we do a good job with this story?
