Christophe Laporte led his dominant team Jumbo-Visma to a 1-2 at Gent-Wevelgem, ahead of teammate Woot van Aert after the duo struck back after a decisive attack on Kemmelberg 50km away.
After one-two wins at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, a 1-3 at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne and a Van Aert win at the E3 Saxo Classic on Friday, the Dutch team continued their dominance of the cobbled classics in foul weather on Sunday.
After the day’s early break – as well as a group of attackers – had been brought back to 55km, the Jumbo-Visma duo took their chance to conquer the second of three climbs of the race’s main climb.
Despite having a group of elite classic riders making up the chase behind them, Van Aert and Laporte’s advantage only increased with the kilometres, and it soon became clear that they would stay away for victory.
The Belgian worked hard on his teammate’s behalf, even waiting for the final climb of the Kemmelberg and leading the Frenchman into the final kilometres.
If it wasn’t already evident from the work Van Aert put in, talks in the last 10km decided who would win, and so the pair enjoyed the final stage to the line, holding hands and waving to the team car, ahead of Laporte. He eventually pulled ahead to take the win and the first major classic title of his career.
“We decided to take it to the end,” said Laporte after crossing the line. “Wout asked me if I wanted to win. It’s incredible. It gives me pleasure. It’s only happened 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 took huge sacrifices to get to this point.
“There was still 50km to go when he attacked. We put in a lot of effort together. We did our best to go to the finish together. It was hard for me to follow Wout. It was incredible to be with him, and I’m so proud to have done so much of him.” with him.”
Van Aert was more than happy with his second-place finish, pulling off a dominant team display, while Sep Vanmarcke (Israel-Premier Tech) was the fastest scorer from a late group that escaped the chase.
The Belgian beat Frederic Frison (Lotto-Destiny) and Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) to take third place, 1:56 down on Laporte and Van Aert, while the remnants of the chase dropped home at 2:04.
“We rode the whole way until the last 8-10km, maybe,” said Van Aert. “Then we were pretty sure we had the victory. I won on Friday, and my eyes are on the next races. Christophe also had a difficult start to the season with illness, and he is such a team player that it was an easy decision.
“It’s unbelievable. Just a few days ago, we talked about the 2022 E3 Saxo Bank Classic, and we said to each other that we have to realize that it probably won’t happen again. Same thing. Hard to believe it’s possible at such a high level, but I think That all of this hard work comes together, and it’s great doing it together.”
How did it unfold
The 85th edition of Gent-Wevelgem started in inclement weather at Ypres, with wind and rain promising to have a significant impact on the 261km race through De Moeren, through the by-streets, hill area and Kemmelberg, and on to Wevelgem.
The breakaway favorites tried to pull away from the start of the race, and Louis Askey (Groupama-FDJ) was among the first group to get a small gap on the peloton. He will be joined in attack by Johan Jacobs (Movistar), Milan Freyten (Flanders-Baloise), Luca van Boven (Bingoal WB) and Human Powered Health duo Colin Joyce and Gijs Van Hoecke.
Van Hoek was falling behind after 15 kilometres, while after 25 kilometres, Greg van Avermaet (AG2R Citroën), Yevgeny Fedorov (Astana Kazakhstan) and Geli Wallis (Cofidis) made a save from the peloton.
After 60 km of racing the peloton finally slowed as Van Avermaet’s group managed to catch the leaders. On top of that is another counter that includes 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 off the peloton.
They kept chasing until they finally closed the gap after 100 km of racing, leaving them 14 men ahead. In the peloton, Jumbo-Visma and Soudal-QuickStep were in control of the situation, putting workhorses Jos Van Emden and Tim Declercq in charge of the pacemaker duties.
Multiple crashes battered the peloton on the road to the ‘hill zone’ after 160km, with Michał Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers), Jonathan Millan (Victorious Bahrain) and Beniam Jermay (Intermarchy-Cirque-Wanty) among the riders who collided with the ship, with Abandoning Pole later for the race with Bora-Hansgrohe runner Sam Bennett.
In the peloton, Ineos Grenadiers, Bahrain Victorious and UAE Team Emirates also worked up front as the teams sought the best position ahead of the first climb, Scherpenberg.
The breakaway advantage stood at four minutes at one point, but towards the end of the 100km and Scherpenberg it was down to 2:20, while the gloomy weather showed no sign of abating.
The action really started as soon as the riders got to the Kemmelberg for the first time. A group of elite riders climbed to the top and grabbed a few meters of the edge on top, with Nathan van Hooydonk (Jumbo-Visma), Ben Turner (Ineos Grenadiers), Florian Vermeersch (Lotto Destiny) and Matej Mohorek (Victorious Bahrain) among them.
They will be joined by several men, including Laporte, Edouard Theon (Trek Siegfriedo), Anthony Turges (Total Energy) and Søren Krag-Andersen (Alpsin-Dekonink), while Soudal-Kwikstep chased close behind.
Former world champion Pedersen attacked and made his way up the cobblestone streets, while Soudal’s quickstep dispatched sprinter Fabio Jacobsen in an effort to reach the leaders.
The Dutch runner came close, but his efforts were unsuccessful, and he would later have to return to the peloton. At about 60km to run, the attacking group merged with the breakaway, although the move wouldn’t last much longer as the peloton closed in.
Second Kemmelberg Offensive and Jumbo-Visma
55km from the finish, when the riders hit Monteberg again, it was all back together, although Turgess responded with an immediate counter-attack to beat the second climb from the Kemmelberg.
However, the Frenchman would be caught on the main climb, as Jumbo-Visma pair Wott van Aert and Christophe Laporte passed him to breach the summit. Not long ago, runners Caleb Ewan (Lotto Destiny) and Pascal Ackermann (UAE Emirates Team Emirates) were strong in the lead at the back.
But no one can match the over-the-top Jumbo-Visma pair. A group of elites formed behind them, but they were half a minute off the road in the blink of an eye. This gap continued to grow, even as a larger peloton came together in pursuit with Ineos Grenadiers up front.
Scherpenberg’s and Baneberg’s final climb saw the jumbo duo extend their advantage to a minute, while Kemmelberg’s final climb didn’t hold them back either. Laporte lost a few metres, but with Van Aert putting himself at the service of his French teammate, he was never in danger of falling.
Behind them, there were attacks and rallies after the climb and descent split, but even as the UAE team and Soudal-QuickStep forced the men to chase, there was little movement in the time gap.
For the base pair, there was no drama as they blasted into a headwind to Wevelgem, passing the start hosting host Menin Gate, and in the last 10km with a two-minute lead.
By that point, the attacks in the chasing group had begun as the race for third place began. With so many strong sprinters in the group, the likes of Vermeersch, Nils Politt (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates) all gave it a shot.
Mohori slipped from the chase on a 5km roundabout while chasing the attacking Jhonatan Narváez (Ineos Grenadiers), before Mikkel Bjerg (UAE Team) took the opportunity to break wide heading into Wevelgem.
Frederic Frison (Lotto-Dstny) and Sepp Vanmarke (Israel-Premier Tech) joined the Swiss time specialist at the 2km mark, while Van Aert and Laporte were up front in deep talks.
Van Aert was back in front heading into the final kilometre, pulling Laporte back before they sat down to celebrate within the 500 metres. There were pats on the back, waves to the team car, and held hands before Van Aert slowed to let his teammate go ahead just before the line. Laporte celebrated the 27th win of his career and his team’s 18th win of the season.
Almost two minutes later, the chasing group made it to the finish, with Pedersen joining Verizon, Vanmarcke and Berg in the final kilometer to battle for third place. Vanmarcke had the strongest legs in the sprint and despite Pedersen launching first, the Belgian came through to take his first podium in the classics since 2021’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.
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