John Degenkolb (Giant-Shimano) took the biggest classics win of his short career when he won today's hectic and crash-marred Gent-Wevelgem. The German showed his strength when he was one of the strongest riders on the Kemmelberg and finally unleashed his powerful sprint when the race was decided from a reduced bunch, narrowly holding off a fast-finishing Arnaud Demare (FDJ).

 

Last year John Degenkolb clocked up two big classics wins when he won the Vattenfall Cyclassics and the Paris-Tours during a fantastic run of late-season form. Today he took what is arguably and even bigger win to make his list of sprint classics almost complete with the addition of the Gent-Wevelgem.

 

Degenkolb had already shown excellent condition when he animated the finale of Friday's E3 Harelbeke and so was a natural favourite for today's race. He again showed his strength when Sep Vanmarcke (Belkin) tried to rip the peloton to pieces the final time up the decisive Kemmelberg climb where he was one of 7 riders to crest the summit in a select front group.

 

More riders quickly joined from behind and as no team had an interest in riding hard on the front, a rather big field gathered on the flat 35km run-in to Wevelgem. Degenkolb was well-placed, surrounded by several teammates, and had luxury support from an in-form Dries Devenyns who had been one of the strongest on the Kemmelberg as well.

 

All was set for a big bunch sprint but the classics are always unpredictable. Suddenly, Silvan Dillier (BMC) attacked and when he was joined by the brutally strong Stijn Devolder (Trek) and Andrey Amador (Movistar), a very strong trio had been assembled.

 

The trio managed to stretch their lead to 40 seconds inside the final 10km and despite the concerted effort from Cannondale, Lotto Belisol, Giant-Shimano, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, Garmin-Sharp, Tinkoff-Saxo, and Astana, they didn't lose any ground.

 

Their prospects got even better when a crash took out Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Sharp) and big favourite André Greipel (Lotto Belisol) but the tables turned when Omega Pharma-Quick Step committed four riders ro the chase. Suddenly, the gap started to drop quickly and at the passage of the flamme rouge, it was back together.

 

Cannondale and Lampre-Merida both tried to lead out Sagan and Sacha Modolo respectively but it was Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) who opened the sprint. Sagan was quick to respond but the duo were easily passed by Degenkolb and Arnaud Demare who went head-to-head in a very close battle.

 

Demare came fast at the end but ran out of metres and had to settle for 2nd behind Degenkolb. Defending champion Sagan completed the podium.

 

The holy period of Belgian cycling continues on Tuesday when the Driedaagse van de Panne offers the final warm-up for the Tour of Flanders next Sunday.

 

A true classic

The 76th Gent-Wevelgem was set to take place on a very classic course that brought the riders over 233km from Deinze to Wevelgem. In the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I, the route was slightly changed to visit some of the famous sites of the great war which meant that the course had become a bit easier compared to recent years. From the start the riders went along flat road to the North Sea before heading to the hill zone close to the French-Belgian border. Within 90km the riders went up 9 hellingen, with the famous duo of the Kemmelberg and Monteberg set to be tackled twice. From the top of the final climb up the Monteberg, 36 flat kilometres back to Wevelgem remained.

 

Last year's race had been blown to pieces right from the beginning due to a very strong wind that often wreaks havoc on the peloton in the Gent-Wevelgem. This year, however, the riders took off in summerlike conditions, with almost no wind and 22-degree tempreatures. Having become a father overnight, Stijn Vandenbergh (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) was replaced by Guillaume Van Keirsbulck on a team that included the injured Tom Boonen but was without the sick Marck Cavendish. Svein Tuft (Orica-GreenEDGE) was the other non-starter, the Australian having suffered a concussion in his crash at E3 Harelbeke.

 

An easy start

In the first two Belgian classics of the week, it had been a war right from the beginning and it had taken more than an hour for the break to finally be established. Probably due to the nice conditions that made a bunch sprint much more likely, things were completely different in Gent-Wevelgem. Right from the beginning, Sebastian Lander (BMC), Frederik Veuchelen (Wanty), Manuele Boaro (Tinkoff-Saxo), Marcel Aregger (IAM), and Jaco Venter (MTN-Qhubeka) took off and they were immediately allowed to open up a big gap.

 

After 20km of racing, the quintet were already 4 minutes ahead but as there was no one taking responsibility in the pack, the gap reached a massive 10.25 at the 35km mark. That was as much as they would get though as the peloton gradually set into motion and at the 44.5km mark - which was reached after an hour of racing - the situation had been stabilized.

 

The gap comes down

While Yves Lampaert (Topsport) became the first rider to leave the race, the gap started to come down and at one point it was down to 7.40. However, that was a bit too fast for the peloton which allowed the advantage to go back up to 9 minutes.

 

It was FDJ who took on the responsibility to organize a chase and they kept the gap rather stable. When they hit the day's first climb, the Catsberg, 119km from the finish, it was again down to 7.40.

 

Wheel change for Greipel

The battle for position now started for real as all the big teams wanted to be well-placed for the climbs and the many narrow roads. Greipel had a wheel change but was quickly back on the front.

 

FDJ took control on the climb with David Boucher and Matthieu Ladagnous and they got a bit of assistance from a single Lotto rider. However, they were not really riding full gas yet but the second time up the ascent, Matthieu Ladagnous tried to tighten the screws for the French team.

 

Aggressive Sky

Murilo Fischer led the group on the first part of the descent but now Sky showed their intentions of making the race hard. Ian Stannard tried to take off and when he was reeled in, the next to give it a go was Bernhard Eisel.

 

Katusha' Vladimir ISaychev brought the Sky rider back and instead Andriy Grivko (Astana) tried. He was joined by Ladagnous, however, and as he refused to cooperate, things came back together.

 

FDJ attentive

When the peloton hit the Baneberg for the first time, it was again the ever-attentive FDJ team that took control with Ladagnous who led Demare onto the slopes. While a crash brought down Francisco Ventoso (Movistar), Luke Drubridge (Orica-GreenEDGE) and Murilo Fischer (FDJ), the battle for position was fierce and the gap had come down to just 3.10.

 

On the run-in to the Kemmelberg, OPQS took control and when they hit the famed climb, Tom Boonen tested his legs as he strung things out. Over the top, he was joined by Fabian Cancellara (Trek) and Demare but a big group came back together on the descent. Matthew Goss (Orica-GreenEDGE) had a disastrous puncture that forced to spend a lot of energy to chase back on.

 

Lander falls off the pace

Lander had been dropped from the break on the climb but he rejoined the leaders before the Monteberg. Meanwhile, no team took control in the peloton and this opened the door for attacks to be launched.

 

Steve Chainel (Ag2r) and Amador opened the game and started off a very hectic phase. Gregory Rast (Trek), Bram Tankink (Belkin), Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (OPQS), Nicki Sørensen (Tinkoff-Saxo), Sebastien Turgot (Ag2r), Andriy Grivko (Astana), Enrique Sanz (Movistar), Matteo Trentin (OPQS), Damien Gaudin (Ag2r), Johnny Hoogerland (Androni) were just some of several riders to try their hand but it was the ever-attentive Katusha team with Vladimir Isaychev and Rudiger Selig that shut it all down.

 

Dillier gets clear

The only rider to get away was Dillier who used a moment of hesitation to take off. In the front group, Boaro had attacked but Veuchelen quickly joined him. Venter and Aregger also made it back to the front while Lander was left behind for good.

 

The Dane fell back to Dillier and tried to assist is teammate for a little while before dropping back. Meanwhile, Grivko, Antonino Parrinello (Androni), and Lloyd Mondory (Ag2r) managed to get clear from the peloton and they joined Dillier to form a strong chase quartet while the peloton slowed down to refuel.

 

Lotto lead the chase

Lotto started to chase in the peloton which was now just one minute behind the front quartet. Again the battle for position heated up and this naturally upped the pace.

 

Just before the second passage of the Baneberg, Boaro attacked again and this time, his companions had no response. Goss had more bad luck as he dropped his chain and even though he briefly made it back to the peloton, his race was over.

 

A big crash

On the run-in to the Kemmelberg, Belkin took control with Maarten Tjallingii who strung things out to prepare an attack from Vanmarcke. Boaro managed to reopen his gap to 1.10 but as Belkin upped the pace, he started to lose ground again.

 

A big crash brought down Haussler, Sørensen, Geslin, Dowsett, Gene, Paolini, Koren,Isaycev but the only rider to be badly hurt was one from Sky who had already lost Stannard in a bad crash a little earlier. Meanwhile, Belkin brought back all escapees except Boaro who hit the Kemmelberg as the lone leader.

 

The stars come to the fore

Vanmarcke accelerated hard on the climb and when he looked back at the top, he had drawn clear a amall group with Greg Van Avermaet (BMC), Zdenek Stybar (OPQS), Cancellara, Sagan, Degenkolb and Devenyns. Tom Boonen (OPQS) and Tony Gallopin (Lotto Belisol) were the first to join them on the descent and gradually a bigger group assembled, with Breschel, Rast, Bennati, Bennati, Ciolek, Mørkøv, Leukemans, Thomas, and Greipel being some of the first to maje the junction.

 

OPQS were keen to keep the move going and so Stybar rode hard on the front but more riders gradually got back until around 40 riders had gathered at the bottom of the Monteberg. Due to Stybar's hard tempo, they brought Boaro back in the fold and a little later Dillier also started to contribute to the pace-setting.

 

Things get organized

However, there wasn't much cohesion and so Yoann Offredo (FDJ) made two attacks. Each time, however, OPQS shut it down and a little later BMC tried to stabilize the situation when Dillier and Klaas Loderyck upped the pace. They got assistance from Lars Bak (Lotto) and Jack Bauer (Garmin) and all seemed to be set for a big bunch sprint.

 

While working on the front, however, Dillier attacked 22km from the finish and he was joined by Devolder and Amador. Despite an immediate reaction from Lotto, they opened up a big gap as more attacks were launched from the peloton.

 

The chase starts

Maciej Bodnar (Cannondale) tried to bridge across but when he was brought back, Van Keirsbulck gave it a try. The OPQS rider got very close to the front but died in the end and when Devenyns started to chase for Giant, he was brought back.

 

Cannondale put Alan Marangoni on the front and with Van Keirsbulck back, OPQS also added Martin Velits to the team of chasers. Lotto Belisol put Bak back on the front but despite their hard work, the gap continued to grow, reaching 30 seconds 14km from the line.

 

The gap grows

Van Keirsbulck, Bauer, Juul Jensen and Breschel (Tinkoff-Saxo) also started to chase while Gallopin started to work for Lotto. Nonetheless, the gap reached 40 seconds with 8km to go.

 

A big crash brought down the likes of Farrar, Greipel, Geraint Thomas, Paul Voss and Daniel Schorn and so Garmin stopped chasing. Instead, Cannondale added both Paolo Longo and Maciej Bodnar to the hard-working crew whil Grivko took turns for Astana.

 

OPQS make the difference

Teh situation changed with 4km to go when OPQS put Nikolas Maes, Van Keisbulck, Iljo Keisse and Velits on the front. Those four riders combined forces with Gallopin, Bodnar and Devenyns to bring the gap down to 10 seconds with 2.5km t go.

 

The chase seemed to lose momentum but when the Giant train took control, it changed the situation. At the passage of flamme rouge, it was back together and Amador's attempt to go again was shut down by Oscar Gatto for Cannondale.

 

Gatto made his lead-out inside the final kilometres but was passed by the Lampre duo of Davide Cimolai and Sacha Modolo. However, it was Kristoff who launched the sprint but there was no more glory for the Norwegian who faded back while Degenkolb took the spoils.