Welcome to the live blog of the Gent-Wevelgem edition 2024! In this blog, In the leader’s jersey will keep you informed of all the important moments during the ‘In Flanders Fields’ race and you can enjoy a small preview below.
Anyone who takes a look at the honors list of Gent-Wevelgem will only encounter the same characteristic driver: broad and made for Flemish work, but also certainly fast. Calling it a purely Flemish race goes too far, but labeling it as a sprinters’ race certainly does too. Last year, Ghent-Wevelgem resulted in a true masterpiece by the then Jumbo-Visma. Wout van Aert and Christophe Laporte rode away from the competition more than fifty kilometers from the finish, only to see them again after the finish. It was the Frenchman who was able to take victory. The current European champion is not present this time due to illness.
Who then has a chance of winning? Well, Alpecin-Deceuninck has all the cards on paper. With top sprinter Jasper Philipsen and all-rounder Mathieu van der Poel, they can control the course in every possible way and without an ultra-strong Visma | This may soon become clear to Lease a Bike. Lidl-Trek also has two strong draft horses with ex-world champion Mads Pedersen and Jasper Stuyven, second in the E3 Saxo Classic, and if it turns out to be a (mass) sprint, there are Tim Merlier, Dylan Groenewegen, Jonathan Milan and Olav Still a few privateers on the coast.
Will 2015’s apocalyptic edition repeat itself?
The route of this edition of Ghent-Wevelgem is seven kilometers shorter than last year (253 instead of 260 kilometers) and the race can be divided into three phases. After the start (where you pass many First World War monuments), a flat ‘opening phase’ of approximately 150 kilometers follows. In that section, De Moeren – an area known for the frequent fan formations there – must also be conquered.
“The wind is west-northwest and blowing moderately to quite strong, we expect 4 to 5 Beaufort,” says weather woman Sabine Hagedoren at Sporza. “Sometimes you have gusts of wind. On the coast it can go up to 60 km/h, during the showers there are possible peaks of up to 70 km/h. The riders will certainly feel the wind, but I don’t think they will be blown away. The weather can certainly be nice, but suddenly there can be showers and even hail. But you cannot say where. It is extremely changeable.’
It only seems to get really exciting in phase two, when a number of hills and plug streets have to be overcome over just over sixty kilometers. The executioner here is traditionally the Kemmelberg, which must be climbed three times. The Baneberg and Monteberg can also cause some damage, as can the three plug streets. The last time ‘Kemmel’ is about 35 kilometers from the finish.
Phase three is a flat phase, with the 35 kilometers towards the finish in Wevelgem. We may see a fierce battle here between a number of escapees and a larger peloton, just as has been the case more than once in recent years.
