Wout van Aert and Christophe Laporte repeated their two-man attack that won the E3 Classic in 2022 to win Gent-Wevelgem 2023 (Image credit: Chris Auld)
In a near-repeat of last year's E3 Saxo Bank Classic, Jumbo-Visma duo Wout van Aert and Christophe Laporte escaped from the peloton and rode away to victory in the 2023 Gent-Wevelgem.
In the E3 Classic in 2022, it was the Paterberg with 40km to go where Van Aert instigated the attack and waited for Laporte to join him. In 2023's Gent-Wevelgem, it was the Kemmelberg with 50km to go.
It was the same tactic but with a slightly different result, with Van Aert crossing the line to win E3 last year and then gifting Laporte the Gent-Wevelgem victory this season.
Gent-Wevelgem held its 75th instalment as a historic Flandrien Classic on March 26, 2023. The WorldTour event is the second stop for 'Flemish Holy Week’ part of the Spring Classics, which begins at E3 Saxo Bank Classic two days before and is followed by Dwars door Vlaanderen and then Tour of Flanders.
Gent-Wevelgem rolls through Flanders Fields for the peloton, an area forever entwined with the First World War, to which the race pays homage to the victims of the ‘Great War’ each year.
Often harsh weather conditions, especially wind and rain, create havoc with the peloton before the finish, which culminates just beyond the final climb of the lung-busting cobbled Kemmelberg. Recent modifications to the course have added more climbs and made the race more closely resemble the Tour of Flanders.
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The race finishes in Wevelgem but does not start in Gent. It used to start on the outskirts, in Deinze, but now starts west in the centre of Ypres. The race takes riders north through windswept De Moeren and over to the North Sea coast, rather than through the main Flemish Ardennes. It also includes some climbs in the very west of Flanders, the iconic and decisive one being the Kemmelberg. Reduced bunch sprints or small breakaways tend to contest for the victory.
The men’s race was first held in 1934, while a women’s race has been added to the calendar in 2012. Six riders share the prestige of having won the race three times, the most recent addition to the list was in 2018 when Peter Sagan took his third title, which was also a record with a sixth podium.
Also in the three-time victory club are Belgians Robert Van Eenaeme, Rik Van Looy, Eddy Merckx and Tom Boonen, Italian Mario Cipollini. In recent years, strong sprinters like Alexander Kristoff (2019), Mads Pedersen (2020) and Wout van Aert (2021) have emerged from front selections to score victories.
Last year, Eritrean rider Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) outsprinted Christophe Laporte (Jumbo-Visma) in the final 250 metres on Vanackerestraat for the biggest win of his young career. The 21-year-old was part of a four-rider lead group that formed across the final ascent of the Kemmelberg, with Dries van Gestel (TotalEnergies) taking third ahead of Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo).
Girmay’s achievement gave him a place in the record books as the first African champion of the cobbled Classic.
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