Big finale in continuous rain
Radstars provide goosebumps at the classic
3/26/2023 5:53 p.m
The classic Gent-Wevelgem is one of the monuments of cycling: the race is one of the most important and spectacular apart from the grand tours. This year is special again, there is a big moment at the end of a hard day.
Arm in arm with his teammate Wout van Aert, Frenchman Christophe Laporte won the Belgian cycling classic Gent-Wevelgem for the first time in the pouring rain. The World Championship runner-up won in front of the Belgian escapee van Aert, who after 261 kilometers had given up a sprint in favor of his colleague from the Jumbo Visma team. For Laporte, who won a stage in the Tour de France last year, it is the first victory in a major classic. The Belgian Sep Vanmarcke took third place in the sprint of the first chasing group.
On the second of three crossings of the Kemmelberg, Van Aert and Laporte broke away from the first group with 53 kilometers to go and continued to increase their lead. The Dutch Jumbo Visma racing team again proved to be the dominant team this year. Laporte already ensured the 19th win of the season for the black and yellow.
The German champion Nils Politt achieved a decent placement as a member of the first chasing group. “It was super cold. Everyone is totally tired and empty,” said the man from Cologne, who wants to fight for victory in the spring classic Paris-Roubaix in two weeks. John Degenkolb ensured the last of three German victories at Gent-Wevelgem in 2014.
There were repeated falls on the slippery roads, and prominent names were not spared either. The two former world champions Michal Kwiatkowski (Poland) and Filippo Ganna (Italy) from the Ineos team had to end the race prematurely. Some drivers like sprint star Mark Cavendish (Great Britain) and Rick Zabel decided not to start at short notice.