So Dwars Door Vlaanderen provided thrills and spills aplenty. We saw the Paterberg for the first time this year and a number of Monument contenders got some idea of where they are heading into their big goal. Tomorrow’s E3 Harelbeke will give those team leaders who elected to rest up a similar chance to test themselves over some of the cobbled climbs that DDV missed out. Then, on Sunday, all eyes turn West to the Westhoek and Gent Wevelgem where... well, what exactly?
Gent-Wevelgem is a race that suffers from a decades long identity crisis. The organisers have tried the Flemish Ardennes, they’ve tried midweek slots, longer races, shorter races everything and still Gent-Wevelgem remains precisely nobody’s favourite race. However, it is a race that can be won in any number of ways and the last few years have seen solo wins, wins from a select group either by attacking or sprinting and the bunch gallops that everybody seems to associate with the race.
In recent years, Flanders Classics have tried to link the race to the history of the area . Taking it past the memorials and cemeteries that commemorate the fierce fighting around the Westhoek during World War One. A move to a Sunday Slot and World Tour status have also helped.
The Route
First things first. The race doesn’t start in Gent. The local taxi drivers must love this weekend as they get a whole Sunday morning worth of work ferrying bemused British bike fans 15km west to Deinze.
From there, the riders make a long trek across West Flanders, almost to the sea, enjoying a tailwind and a chat as the inevitable break of 8 sails off into the distance. Once the race crosses the border into France after about 100km, things change. That tailwind is now a cross or a headwind. The roads shrink into narrow country lanes linking nowhere to nowhere with huge drainage ditches either side. Just ask Jens Keukelere who had to go fishing for his steed after a crash last year.
Traditionally, the race takes in five climbs on it’s way back into the Westhoek. The first of these, the Cassellberg, is omitted this year however, as the early Easter means the Lent fair is still occupying the pretty square at the top of the cobbled climb. So the first real piece of three dimensional geography to be conquered is the Catsberg after 144km. This is a nice little climb, never steeper than 10% and about 2 km long. A big ring climb for the pro peloton. After this there are two climbs listed on the map, but we won’t let them detain us as they are not really worthy of the name.
The roads narrow ever further now, as the Peloton enters the last 100km and a rollercoaster ride of twisting, singletrack country lanes make the fight for position crucial. The second climb, the Baneberg, is reached by a sharp right hander off a main road and is little better than a rutted gravelly track carved into the bank at the side of the road. It’s only 300m long but features one bend above 15%. Again, not selective, but enough that those caught out of position will have to fight to get back up to the front afterwards.
A long downhill along the same main road you turned off to climb that hill then brings you to the village of Kemmel and Gent-Wevelgem’s main event, the Kemmelberg. As far as cobbled climbs in Belgium go, it’s pretty evenly surfaced. Nice big stones, well maintained. It’s not viciously steep either, but it is long at 1.5km. The race climbs this twice and it’s the only truly tough climb of the race. Usually at this point we see who in the break is genuinely good, who in the bunch wants to chance their arm from long range and which of the favourites aren’t going to figure. The descent now takes in a looping road that skirts along the contours of the hill before depositing you at the foot of the last climb the Monteberg. Of course, in days gone by it used to send a peloton of professional riders in the finale of a semi-classic down the 20% gradient, cobbled descent. Then this happened...
After the gentle Monteberg, the race loops back along the dirt encrusted farm tracks to take in the Baneberg and the Kemmelberg a second time. After this the hills are completed and we’re left with a drag race into a headwind for 30km. This will entail the remnants of the break being reeled in by either a peloton now being controlled by the sprinters teams or by the select group that has assembled somewhere over the last four climbs. This chase will take place over some of the least inspiring scenery known to man, broken up only by the walled town of Ypres and a lovely touch as the race exits the town through the Menin Gate, a memorial to the British and Empire soldiers killed in the fighting in the area in WW1 who have no marked resting place. The race finishes in a 300m long flat high street in Wevelgem. An unlovely suburb of Kortrijk with rather more shop front brothels than a town of its size ought to have.
What happened last year?
Bad things. Biblical weather, riders blown off their bikes, riders quitting after less than 100KM, Jurgen Roelandts putting in a doomed solo attack for the ages, Geraint Thomas getting blown off his bike in the finale and regaining the group, Ettix racing against each other and Luca Paolini being almost literally the last man standing to take the biggest win of his career.
Who’s gonna win?
As stated, this race can be won in a number of ways but only one rider fits the bill of being able to win from any of them: Peter Sagan. He already has one Gent Wevelgem to his name and this is the race that his otherwise ordinary classics back up has the best chance of being able to assist him with. The top favourite. The only other guy in the race who meets those criteria is Alexander Kristoff.
Trek have such a strong classics squad this year that I would hesitate to count them out ofanything and they have Edward Theuns and Stijn Devolder capable of the small group win and Giacomo Nizzolo capable of the sprinting role. That’s before we even mention Fabian Cancellara.
There are a host of tough sprinters riding who can survive the climbs and the disruption to their leadouts that the wind will bring. Elia Viviani of Sky, Andre Greipel on the comeback trail leads Lotto-Soudal and Etixx work experience boy Fernando Gaviria. Mark Cavendish could do with a result too.
As to the "elite-group" contenders, Ian Stannard and Sep Vanmarcke are both sparing themselves for the monuments this year and have shown glimpses of form. Now would be the perfect time to test it ahead of their busy time of year. Of the second string contenders, Matti Breshcel leads Cannondale and Edvald Boassen Hagan will line up for Dimension Data.