In medias res, we begin “in the middle of things,” today. With around 50km to go in the 250km Gent-Wevelgem race, the leading group of nine riders had crested the Kemmelberg cobbled climb for the second time of asking from the easier Belvedere side. The crosswinds in Flanders Fields had already divided the peloton, the gravel plugstreets had been assaulted, the spot of the Christmas Truce had been passed. Only one more loop of some 15km with another short steep berg or two before the last time up the Kemmelberg’s hardest side. From there it would be only about a 35km flat run-in to Wevelgem, though perhaps the winds would be fierce. So who was in this leading group of nine riders, you are wondering? The only of the Two Mighty Aces to start the day, Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) was here with Jumbo teammate Nathan Van Hooydonck. Intermarche were represented by Danny Van Poppel. Three “Vans” in this group of nine, truly that was no surprise here in Belgium. But the three Italians in the group made some eyebrows rise: Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain Victorious), Matteo Trentin (UAE), and Giacomo Nizzolo (Qhubeka Assos) wearing the European Champion’s Jersey. And the nonet was rounded out by Groupama-FDJ’s Stefan Kung wearing the Swiss Champion’s Jersey, Aussie Michael “Bling” Matthews (Team Bike Exchange), and Deceuninck-Quickstep’s premier sprinter Irishman Sam Bennett. Yes, I have now said the word, but all astute cycling fans were already seeing the trend: seven out of these nine men are surely considered sprinters in some capacity. Sam Bennett is currently the finest pure sprinter in the world on the team with the finest sprint lead-out in the world; Danny Van Poppel and Giacomo Nizzolo have both won some hard flat sprints on their days before; Matthews, Colbrelli, and Trentin surely cannot be considered pure sprinters but are always amongst the favorites on an uphill dragging finish or on a stage where there are some tricky lumps in the final kilometers that are often too hard for the pure sprinters to get over in contention; and though Wout Van Aert is not known as a pure sprinter, he has won multiple World Tour full-bunch flat sprint stages before and even just recently ahead of the likes of Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal), reiterating that he still holds the title for The Swiss Army Knife of the peloton. Only Stefan Kung, a renown world class Time Trialist, and Nathan Van Hooydonck, who would certainly be working for teammate Van Aert, have no sprint results to speak of. For those who did not see this race, to hear this was the leading nine with 50km to go should come as shock. Where were the other proper Classics men who vied for E3 and shall contest Flanders? Where was the rest of the Wolfpack? How can pure sprinter Bennett be Quickstep’s only front group representative in a prestigious and difficult Cobbled Classic like Gent-Wevelgem? As stated, the crosswinds did their damage, and after this second ascent of the Kemmelberg all these fastmen’s domestiques had been shed except Van Aert’s Van Hooydonck wearing his matching Yellow and Black Jumbo Wasp jersey.
Ah! Truly, it was just another day in what is becoming a special era of cycling. Already this season we have seen a small Ecuadorian accomplice a Mighty Ace on a Madman mission across the cobbles, we have seen Tour de France champions go toe-to-toe with the top Cyclocross brass on the White Gravel Roads, we have seen Van Aert win a bunch sprint and a time trial against the top men in both disciplines while simultaneously riding to second place on GC at Tirreno-Adriatico, and now today we saw the top sprinters at this Cobbled Classic forming a breakaway group ahead of a peloton of Classics men. Yes, another novel round, another day of unexpected sights to report, another proof that the cycling-world is upside down, and O! how I surely speak for all when I say: we are absolutely loving and soaking up every moment of this new un-understandable era.
After a small loop of a corner of West Flanders, it was time for the final assault up the Kemmelberg: with teammate Van Hooydonck pacing the group into the base The Swiss Army Knife Wout Van Aert was whetting his title-blade to shell out some of these sprinters on this mighty Cobbled Berg. Who would be able to stay with The Swiss Army Knife Van Aert? Colbrelli? He is known to get over a hill in a pinch. Matthews? He has shown fine form at Paris-Nice and E3 already this season. Kung? Surely he—time trialist as he is—wants to leave nothing to a sprint in such company! But before we could even finish musing they were on the hardest side of the Kemmelberg: 800 meters, proper Flandrien Cobbles, and a maximum gradient of 25%. O! How sadistic cycling can be, and yet how we all love it. Van Hooydonck was fading before the cobbles even started. Trentin in the white UAE jersey and Stefan Kung with his Swiss Champ’s jersey were on the front. Sam Bennett was struggling to hold his own—surely, on paper he is the worst climber of the lot. Van Aert was nestled, but revealed himself on that steepest of pitches and continued to lay down the power even as the climb began to flatten towards its crest. It was Van Aert first over the climb who led the group all the way down the sinuous narrow descent, so familiar in this race. Glued to Van Aert’s wheel was Sonny Colbrelli in second position, Trentin in contact in third, Matthews in fourth, Nizzolo in the Euro Champ’s Jersey next, Stefan Kung after him with the Red Jersey and White Swiss Cross, even Sam Bennett and Danny Van Poppel were still well in contact at the back of the group. And in what was the most valuable ride of the day, Jumbo’s Nathan Van Hooydonck fought tooth-and-nail to latch back onto this group of sprinters as well to work once more for Wout Van Aert, his team leader.
Thus yes, we scratched our heads once more saying: “The final time up the mighty Kemmelberg did not dwindle the leading group comprised mostly of sprinters—truly, this is a strange race. They say Gent-Wevelgem is the Sprinters’ Cobbled Classic, but still this plot has me perplexed.” And though we scratched our heads at not a single man getting dropped on the Kemmelberg, we knew in our hearts that did not mean the climb had not played its part—had not done its damage. Yes, within minutes it became clear that the pure sprinter Sam Bennett had gone to some dark place to make it over that mean Kemmelberg climb. My, my, surely, he was doing more than just coughing and hacking as he trailed at the back of the group of nine. Wayne and Garth surely would have been able to rattle off a choice list of vomit-al sketches to accompany Sam Bennett’s sorry state after that climb and descent; let me simply say: it was the closest I have yet to see someone literally cough up a lung. But like the hero he is, soon Sam Bennett began evenly sharing the rotation with the other eight men of the group despite his massive discomfort. The wind was blowing across, us viewers could see the bikes were a little tilted into it for balance, and shelter was sought slightly from the side. In such situations, it is actually just easiest and for the best to do a fair share of the rotation instead of trying to just nestle into the back. But perhaps because the nine were evenly matched or it was just so deep in the race, things stayed relatively subdued for about the next fifteen kilometers. But with 16km to go, The Swiss Army Knife Wout Van Aert allowed a little trickery to ensue. Van Aert had just swung over in the paceline with his turn finished, next came teammate Van Hooydonck to do his turn….but behind? Attentive Van Aert recognized no one was following Van Hooydonck to take the next pull. Thus Van Aert ever so slyly eased up allowing Van Hooydonck to drift off out front and lay down the power. Yes, suddenly Van Hooydonck had a gap and it was Time Trialist Stefan Kung with the Swiss Cross who as on the attack to latch on—surely he wanted to be an escapee selection at this point. But European Champion Nizzolo was glued to Kung’s wheel, and Trentin was dragging up most of the others behind. But at last, this effort proved to much for Intermarche’s Danny Van Poppel and the man already clearly most on the limit Quickstep’s Sam Bennett. Not only were the legs fried, the lights were going out as well. Van Poppel tried to stay with Bennett to work as a pair, but he had nothing left. Bennett was having a true and proper bonk. Yes, it is one of the sad sights of cycling to see someone bonk—crack of exhaustion and be completely physically and mentally spent—but it is also a sign that that rider gave it everything and the competition was just too stiff. Clearly today, despite being dropped by other sprinters, it was obvious for all to see once more Sam Bennett had rode with extreme heart and bravery to give the Sprinters’ Cobbled Classic his all.
And with that, only seven men were left. All continued to rotate well together, were all simply resigned to leave it to a sprint? Were they all just so spent they had not the physical or mental energy left to launch a daring attack themselves? Or after such a hard race where all content to chance it in a 7-up sprint finish? What must be bared in mind on a sprint finish such as this: whoever is the fastest on paper is relatively meaningless after such a difficult 250km race. All snappy sprinting speed shall be dulled from the legs, the ones with the best endurance and power shall be the slighter favorites now! And yet, another thing to be bared in mind was that for this run-in from the Kemmelberg to Wevelgem, the riders were accompanied by a solid tailwind, and that would make this final sprint a degree or two faster. All kept an even rotation past 5km to go. With 4km to go, Michael Matthews skipped a couple turns and sat at the back of the group trying to massage his quad. With 3km to go, both Nizzolo and Van Hooydonck were on their radios discussing final sprint tactics with their Directors in the cars behind. It was the last bit of quiet before the storm, it was the last nursing of energy before the big finish. With 1.8km to go, time trialist Stefan Kung rolled his dice and took a flyer attack hoping none would latch onto the wheel and the tailwind would bring him home. But Nizzolo and Matthews were on him instantly and the attack came to naught. With that last move tried, all surely knew we were about to see a sprint finish now. Jumbo’s Nathan Van Hooydonck as the only domestique was almost obligated to churn the pace out for the finale, but such tactics were to the advantage of teammate Van Aert anyways. Whereas snappy track-sprinting breakneck accelerations are the bread-and-butter of archrival Mighty Ace Mathieu Van Der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix), this Mighty Ace Wout Van Aert has proved better suited to a faster and more grueling sprint where he can come out of a slipstream already at high speed and hold his massive power for a gruelingly long-enduring sprint at such top speeds. And thus, at the end of this grueling long affair in the last kilometer teammate Van Hooydonck on the front ratcheted up the pace as high as he possibly could. Behind Van Hooydonck was Stefan Kung with the Swiss Cross, then Aussie Bling Matthews, Van Aert next in fourth, Trentin queuing off Wout’s wheel, Colbrelli behind him, and Nizzolo the European Champ bringing up the rear. Into the barriers, with 300m to go Kung launched a last ditch sprint hoping against hope it could at least land him a place on the podium. Matthews was in Kung’s wheel, but Van Aert was launching as well and it was handedly already decided. Behind, job done, most valuable teammate Van Hooydonck was already cheering before Wout Van Aert posted up crossing the line for the win. Nizzolo had a wickedly good acceleration, but had to come from too far back. The sprint played out the way Wout Van Aert wanted. And it was no surprise after almost six hours of racing, The Swiss Army Knife Wout Van Aert proved the strongest and most enduring to take the victory.
It was a great win for Wout Van Aert, Nathan Van Hooydonck, and the Jumbo-Visma team. Theirs and Wout’s first big Classic of the year. The first big Belgian Classic of Wout’s career as well, believe it or not. Though he has already placed well in a number of races and notched two wins already, with this Wevelgem Classic win it feels like Van Aert’s Road Season is now finally properly begun. Additionally, this win sets him up well for next week’s Tour of Flanders where he shall be the headline favorite with his archrival and other Mighty Ace Mathieu Van Der Poel. Subconsciously, we have already begun playing the psychological game that “A rider is only as good as his last race.” Though Van Der Poel rocket-launched twice to dominate Strade Bianche, neither of these Aces won Sanremo, and both were outplayed by the Wolfpack two days ago at E3. But this grueling Wevelgem victory gives Wout Van Aert the momentum and erases his Tiegemberg-crack from 48 hours ago; meanwhile Strade Bianche sits only on the edge of our memories, and the last we saw of Van Der Poel was him being ravaged by three tactically savage Wolves in blue at E3. Yes, this Gent-Wevelgem Classic win both strengthens Wout’s palmares in his career-long rivalry with Mathieu, and even now may appear to give him a slight edge heading into the big stage Monument to transpire in one weeks’ time: the Ronde Van Vlaanderen, the Tour of Flanders.
Cycling Odysseys 