Fast finishers Jasper Philipsen and Lorena Wiebes will be among the riders most likely at Sunday's Gent-Wevelgem, as the Classics season continues apace.
At a monstrous 250km for the men's event and 169km for the women's, Gent-Wevelgem is one of the biggest of the Northern Classics that is not a bona fide Monument and one of the final outings before the main dishes of the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix begin the following weekend.
Both men's and women's races are held on the same day and start in not in Gent but in Ypres and after a northerly loop heads for the West Flemish hills on the French border, before heading east to finish in Wevelgem.
Last year's podiums
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Men 1. Mads Pedersen (Den) Lidl-Trek 2. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Deceuninck 3. Jordi Meeus (Bel) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe
For UK viewers all has changed this year with the TNT Sports now the only platform showing Gent-Wevelgem. In North America Flo Bikes will be showing the race, while it will be free to watch on SBS in Australia.
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No one has ever won twice in the 11 editions of the women's Gent-Wevelgem, while you would need to trace the men's event all the way back to 2011-2012 to find a rider who has won two successive editions (Tom Boonen).
If on-form Lorena Wiebes manages to cross the line first on Sunday she will make history and inaugurate a brand new women's 'Club Deux'. She already has six victories this season, including in Milan-San Remo and Thursday's Classic Brugge-De Panne –who would bet against her? If she wins, it will also be her 100th career win... It's written in the stars, surely.
It feels as though Mads Pedersen is not such a clear cut favourite in the men's race but if he does win, he will become not only the second successive men's winner in more than 30 years, but the seventh member of the Club Trois too.
Young guns go for it!
There is a selection of young debutants on the startlists for this year's Gent-Wevelgem, with the women's race featuring British women Cat Ferguson (Movistar) and Imogen Wolff (Visma-Lease a Bike), who are also among the youngest riders across both races. Ferguson is still just 18, while Wolff is 19 but only around a month older than her compatriot.
Ferguson in particular has already made a bold showing this season with some great results.
In the men's Gent-Wevelgem, 21-year-old Brit Josh Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers) is also looking strong this season for a newly revitalised team, while Soudal-Quick Step rider Paul Magnier has already outgunned Philipsen this season at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.
3. In Flanders Fields
Due to its location, the race is closely linked with First World War history. In 2015 it adopted the full name Gent-Wevelgem - In Flanders Fields, named after the poem by John McCrae.
Much of the course traverses some of the most bloody battlefields of the conflict, and there are other nods too. In the men's race, for example, the fifth sector of pavé (of seven in total) takes its name from the Christmas Truce monument that it passes. Both men's and women's races also begin from the Menin Gate war memorial in Ypres.
4. Icons and sprinters
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Gent-Wevelgem features some of the region's toughest climbs in its parcours, including the Kemmelberg – possibly the most iconic non-Tour of Flanders Flandrien climb. However, in both men's and women's races there is a long way between the final climb and the finish line – 30km in the men's race and 35km in the women's race.
This means ample opportunity for punchy sprinters who can hold a wheel on the climbs to recover and contest the win – and even for those who can't. However, with the climbs coming in a flurry, any rider who wins here needs to be someway capable in the hills.
Riders to watch
Lorena Wiebes (Ned) SDWorx-Protime Across the two races it has to be the Dutchwoman who stands out as the rider most likely to take the honours. The prolific SDWorx-Protime rider always has a good season start but this is her best ever. She is very unlikely not to be in the mix at the end, and when a sprinter of her calibre is in the mix, the rest is usually fairly predictable.
Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Deceuninck High placings in the Opening Weekend races – including a win in the Sunday's Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne will have buoyed the 27-year-old Belgian for this outing on home territory. He is well capable of getting over the bergs with the best of them at a push, and that long run-in to the finish will count in his favour too. However, there will be plenty of riders very aware that they need to drop him from the group if they are to take the win, making him a marked man.
Mads Pedersen (Den) Lidl-Trek Last year's winner has left no one in any doubt as to the fact that he means business again this season. So far he has won the Tour de la Provence overall (a race that is by no means flat), won a stage and the points jersey at Paris-Nice and come seventh at Milan-San Remo. With a fast finish to rival that of Philipsen and arguably more all-round ability, he will be a key rider in the men's race.
Elisa Balsamo (Ita) Lidl-Trek Wiebes's fellow fast-finisher is almost on a par with the Dutchwoman when it comes to the impressive way in which she has started her season this year. She has won three races and taken a points jersey (Volta Femenina Valenciana), and in March alone she has won the marquee Trofeo Alfredo Binda Classic race, come seventh in d and third at Thursday's Classic Brugge-De Panne.
Cat Ferguson (GBr) Movistar Ferguson is brand new to the WorldTour peloton (this is her first full season as a senior rider) but the rare talent she displayed as a junior on so many stages continues to shine through. In her first race this year, the Trofeo Alfredo Binda, she was third, while this week she came close to victory in the Classic Brugge-De Panne with a solo escape that betrayed confidence and panache beyond her years.
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After cutting his teeth on local and national newspapers, James began at Cycling Weekly as a sub-editor in 2000 when the current office was literally all fields.
Eventually becoming chief sub-editor, in 2016 he switched to the job of full-time writer, and covers news, racing and features.
A lifelong cyclist and cycling fan, James's racing days (and most of his fitness) are now behind him. But he still rides regularly, both on the road and on the gravelly stuff.
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