Greg Van Avermaet Wins Gent - Wevelgem

26 March 2017 09:06
BMC's Greg Van Avermaet has won the Gent - Wevelgem classic race in Belgium.

A 249km race from Denize to Wevelgem atracted many who rode in Friday's E3 Harelbeke and it was nine riders in  Preben Van Hecke, Dennis van Winden, Elmar Reinders, Hugo Houle Jay Thomson, Loïc Chetout and Christophe Masson, British rider Mark McNally and Irishman Ryan Mullen who were able to get clear with a lead of two minutes in a race of eleven climbs. 

The first of those was the Catsberg and the gap had gone out 7.45 but started to drop after the climb with less than one hundred kilometres to go.

It was down to two minutes when it started to fracture and only Van Hecke was out front following riders jumping out of the peloton and forming their own groups with a lead of 31 seconds with 46km to go.

Van Hecke was caught six kilometres later and Greg Van Avermaet attacked with John Degenkolb, followed by the World Champion Peter Sagan with Edvald Boasson Hagen, Stybar  and Terpstra joining them as did Jens Keukeleire (Orica-Scott).

They had a lead of 35 seconds with 23km to go and six kilometres later, the break had changed again to consist of Søren Kragh Andersen, Keukeleire, Sagan, Van Avermaet and Terpstra.

Only Greg Van Avermaet and Keukeleire were willing to work and they went away with a 22 second lead going into the final kilometre. The BMC rider lead out the sprint and was able to hold it to take the win ahead of Keukeleire and Peter Sagan who won the sprint of the peloton for third place.

Greg Van Avermaet, the Olympic Champion told his team's press office:  “I was not expecting to win Gent-Wevelgem, but I’m really happy. It’s definitely the best start of the season that I’ve ever had. I’ve won three Classics already so it’s an amazing feeling. It’s never easy to win these races and normally Gent-Wevelgem isn’t so much of a race for me. I tried so many times to win here and now I’ve won three all in one season. It’s a wonderful feeling and it gives me extra confidence for Ronde van Vlaanderen. 

“The guys, like Stefan Küng and Loïc Vliegen, did a great job to bring Quickstep-Floors back when they went away on the gravel roads. Daniel Oss was strong too the whole day. It was a really hard race for sure and you need a strong team in these races. 

“The Kemmelberg is always a point when everyone wants to go and I felt really strong there. I hoped to get a good group with me and that’s what happened. Then we went way with strong guys. I was riding really hard the whole time because sometimes when you do a small pull you lose less energy than when you have to close gaps. In a race like this you can’t say we are not going to ride with 20km to go. You have to keep going the whole time. That’s what happened with Jens Keukeleire and I when it was just the two of us. The whole last 10km we weren’t speaking, it was just head down and going as fast as we could. It was a great win and the race was really perfect.” 

“For sure. I don’t think I can say anymore that I’m not the favourite. These wins give me extra confidence before next Sunday. I said on Friday that I can beat anyone in the sprint on a hard race. Now we look to Ronde van Vlaanderen and I’m going to give it everything I have.”



By Kev Monks for Digital Sports Group
  





Source: DSG