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Blaak and Sagan victorious at Gent-Wevelgem

March 27, 2016
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Peter Sagan (Slovakia/Tinkoff) finally broke his world champion curse and beat his great rival Fabian Cancellara in the sprint of Sunday’s Gent-Wevelgem. It was Sagan’s second win in the Belgian classic. In the women’s race Chantal Blaak (The Netherlands) took her second WorldTour race of the season to eclipse Boels-Dolmans teammate Lizzie Armitstead (Great Britain) in the individual rankings.

Earlier in the day, the fourth contest of the women’s WorldTour felt the bite of the wind and the Kemmelberg first, with Blaak soloing to victory from a select group that formed on the course’s fifth climb, the Monteberg. Canadian Leah Kirchmann (Liv-Plantur) was part of that elite group and finished in 7th, 1:24 in arrears.

In the men’s contest, a breakaway of five scuttled away right off the bat and rolled up 8:40 on the peloton after 25-km. The wind would benefit the riders in the first half of the race but work against them in the second half.

The finish was sure to be difficult.

Soon after the first feed zone in Bevoorrading, the peloton split into three pieces as the winds switched to the side. The first group, which contained many of the race favourites, reached the escapees with 113-km remaining. The second group managed to latch on 30-km later.

The riders would go up the Kemmelberg thrice, with the last time on the side with 23% grades. The second passage came with 71-km to go and Trek-Segafredo hurtled the peloton at its foot. Etixx-QuickStep led the way up with no attacks but a few riders tumbled out the back of the pack.

It was on the Monteberg, with the sidewinds increasing, where a strong quintet including early escapee Pavel Brutt (Russia/Tinkoff) and Etixx’s Matteo Trentin (Italy) bounded away. Lotto-Soudal, Trek and BMC were also represented. LottoNL-Jumbo and Dimension Data had to chase. By the next feed in Bevoorrading with 50-km the quintet had returned to the fold.

With Alexander Kristoff (Norway) out of the race through illness and their 2015 Gent-Wevelgem champion Luca Paolini suspended, Katusha decided to send a solo rider, Viacheslav Kuznetsov, up ahead. Trek mobbed the front of the 35-rider-strong pack and let the Russian lead the race towards the final two climbs, the Baneberg and the dreaded Kemmelberg, the latter of which coming 34-km before the finish.

The intrepid Russian topped the Baneberg with a 50-second lead. Sep Vanmarcke (Belgium/LottoNL-Jumbo) wasn’t waiting for the Kemmelberg and attacked. This stretched out the group and eliminated a couple of riders.

Kuznetsov was struggling on the Kemmelberg. Sagan started the fireworks behind and Cancellara was able to follow. Vanmarcke grabbed on and the trio nabbed Kuznetsov. And strong chase of Zdenek Stybar (Czech Republic/Etixx), Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium/BMC) and Luke Rowe (Great Britain/Sky) formed behind but were caught up by the peloton.

Etixx was desperate to bring back the quartet, who were working well together. With 25-km to go the lead was 30-seconds. Tom Boonen insisted on help from the other teams.

With Katusha blocking in the chase, it could make no inroads into the gap. Heads began to sag and the gap increased. Where would a move come from one of the leaders? The flat, straight road awaited and the world’s cycling fans held their breath as the kilometres ticked down.

Cancellara led under the red kite. The foursome started cat-and-mouse as the peloton edged closer. Finally, with 300-metres to go the Russian started the sprint and Sagan finally got it right, coming around him in the final 50-metres. After five runner-up spots in 2016 the curse was broken. Sagan becomes the first rider to win Gent-Wevelgem in the rainbow jersey since Rik Van Looy in 1962.

Canadians Svein Tuft and Hugo Houle were among the legion that did not finish.

2016 Gent-Wevelgem in Flanders Fields Women’s Race
1) Chantal Blaak (The Netherlands/Boels-Dolmans) 2:56:00
2) Lisa Brennauer (Germany/Canyon-SRAM) +1:24
3) Lucinda Brand (The Netherlands/Rabobank-Liv) s.t.
7) Leah Kirchmann (Canada/Liv-Plantur) s.t.
22) Joëlle Numainville (Canada/Cervélo-Bigla) +4:24
57) Alison Jackson (Canada/TWENTY16) +7:02

2016 Gent-Wevelgem in Flanders Fields
1) Peter Sagan (Slovakia/Tinkoff) 5:55:12
2) Sep Vanmarcke (Belgium/LottoNL-Jumbo) s.t.
3) Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Russia/Katusha) s.t.

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