D'hoore wins Gent-Wevelgem Women

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Jolien D'hoore (Boels Dolmans) has won the women's edition of Gent-Wevelgem. A strong group of 11 riders formed on the Kemmelberg with 35km to go and just held off the chasing peloton on the road to Wevelgem.

After several attacks on the run-in were reeled in, Belgian champion Lotte Kopecky (Lotto Soudal) launched the sprint but was passed by D'hoore shortly before the finish. Lisa Brennauer (Ceratizit-WNT) rounded out the podium.

"I don't know what to say, it's unbelievable", D'hoore said after her first Gent-Wevelgem victory, following two second places in 2017 and 2018. "I know that the course suits me, I felt good during the race and got over the Kemmelberg with the first group. I had Amy Pieters with me in that front group, she did a perfect job today. I am so happy that I could win in this special season, it is always nice and takes the pressure off."

D'hoore explained how her recent training helped her to victory: "The last month, I did a lot of intervals and climbing, hoping that I can survive the climbs in the Tour of Flanders. That really paid off today. In the final, I tried to save myself for the sprint, I knew I couldn't start the sprint too early, but luckily Amy was there and reminded me to stay calm."

How it unfolded

Defending champion Kirsten Wild did not start the race after testing positive for COVID-19 while the Alé Cipollini team was also absent because of a virus case in their squad.

The race started at the Menin Gate in Ypres, a memorial to the victims of World War I. The peloton had to negotiate seven climbs and three gravel sections known as Plugstreets as well as westerly winds.

There were numerous attempts to establish a breakaway in the opening part of the race. However, none of the groups ever held an advantage of more than 30 seconds, and the first climb of the day, the Scherpenberg, spelled the end of the early breakaways.

On the following climbs of the Vidaigneberg, Baneberg, and Monteberg, the race stayed together, though riders were dropped at the back of the peloton. The first ascent of the Kemmelberg further reduced the size of the peloton.

The unsealed Plugstreets strung out the race even further, with the peloton in single file and gaps appearing, but the pace at the front fell again in the headwind on the way to the last two climbs, and many riders could get back to the front.

Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) put in an acceleration on the Monteberg, but her move was immediately closed down. Brennauer and then Ellen van Dijk (Trek-Segafredo) pushed the pace up the Kemmelberg, splitting the peloton and leading to a small group at the top. A crash by Liane Lippert (Team Sunweb) on the narrow descent split this group in two, but they reunited to form a front group of eleven.

Van Dijk, Longo Borghini, Lizzie Deignan (all Trek-Segafredo), Pieters, D'hoore, Vollering (Parkhotel Valkenburg), Marta Cavalli (Valcar-Travel & Service), Lauren Stephens (Tibco-SVB), Kopecky, Sarah Roy (Mitchelton-Scott), and Brennauer worked well together and built an advantage of over 30 seconds to a chasing group of 23 riders.

Even though Team Sunweb, CCC-Liv, and Canyon-SRAM all worked hard in the chase group, the gap stayed stable for a long time before finally getting smaller to 22 seconds as the race entered the final ten kilometres. In Menin, 7km from the finish, the gap was down to only 15 seconds.

On the run-in to Wevelgem, there were several attacks from the front group, but neither Van Dijk nor Longo Borghini or Pieters could get away and finally, everyone readied themselves for the sprint. The chase group had the leaders in sight on the final kilometre, but it was clear that the winner would come from the front group.

Pieters did an acceleration on the left side of the road, forcing Kopecky to react and start her sprint early. The Belgian champion had a good turn of speed and pulled away from most of the other riders. But D'hoore sat in her wheel and came past Kopecky on the final 100 metres to win.

With an eighth place, Deignan defended her lead in the UCI Women's WorldTour ahead of the Tour of Flanders. Lippert continues to lead the Women's WorldTour U23 ranking.