The Classics continued today with Gent-Wevelgem, a race that featured nine hellingen and treacherous cobblestone and gravel sections over nearly 261km. Constant rain, cold temperatures and winds made the race even more difficult. On the first flat 160km, a breakaway went clear, gaining less than a three-minute lead in the first half of the race. Before the Monteberg everything came together again, but it wasn't long before the attacks started to fly, and on the Kemmelberg Van Aert and Laporte attacked. BORA-hansgrohe was represented in the chasing group by Danny van Poppel, Nils Politt and Marco Haller. After the last passage of the Kemmelberg, Nils and Danny were still up there and proceeded to parepare the sprint for third place for Danny. With the victory going to Laporte, the Dutchman took BORA-hansgrohe's first top 10 finish this week in Belgium.
Result
01 C. Laporte 5:49:39
02 W. Van Aert +0:00
03 S. Vanmarcke +1:56
09 D. Van Poppel +2:04
20 N. Politt +2:04
From the Finish Line
"With every crossing of the Kemmelberg I actually felt stronger and today I think I had a good chance of a strong placing. After it became clear that the two Jumbo riders could not be brought back, I definitely wanted to fight for a podium place. So it was a shame that we couldn't counter the last few attacks because a better result was then out of reach. But I'm happy that I was able to get our first top 10 finish of the week." - Danny van Poppel
"It was a very hard day and the weather in particular wasn't great. It was also a big question of morale to be right up there today. As a team we rode relatively well. We got over the Kemmelberg well the first time, as we positioned ourselves well in the lead up there, and on the last ascent of the Kemmelberg we were still represented by Danny and me. Then we decided that Danny would do the sprint because he is the fastest sprinter between us, and with his ninth place, we put in a solid performance and we can be happy with how it went." - Nils Politt
“It was, as we expected, a tough race all day, but nonetheless we were still there in the finale. We fought for a podium and in the end we took a top 10 result. We were always well positioned at important points, such as in the Kemmelberg. So we can't be dissatisfied with our performance. We fought well and will continue to do so here in Belgium" - Jean-Pierre Heynderickx, Sport Director