Gent-Wevelgem Preview

Mar 24
cyclical

OK, so the fifth round of the 2018 Women’s World Tour does actually finish in Wevelgem, even if the start is nowhere near Gent. For the women this year, the event rolls out of Ieper. It’s a quintessential Belgian Classic; the landscape fits the history of the race, and the race pays homage to the brutal history of this part of the world.

Lotta Lepistö won for Cervélo-Bigla in 2017, while Chantal Blaak took the title in 2016. Before those two, it was Floortje Mackaij, Lauren Hall, Kirsten Wild and Lizzie Deignan (then Armitstead, in 2012). The roll of honour is stacked with talent, and most of those names will be in contention this time around.

The route

The riders will roll out of the Grote Markt in the center of Ieper (or Ypres), and out along the Boterstraat to the official start point of Poperingesweg in Vlamertinge. There’s a 120-kilometer loop counter-clockwise around Poperinge, and twisting through the countryside south of Ieper.

There are climbs are the Baneberg on 52 kilometers, the first ascent of the Kemmelberg at the 60-kilometer point and the Monteberg almost immediately afterwards.

We climb the Baneberg, the Kemmelberg and the Monteberg again (96, 104 and 108 kilometers, before heading back to Ieper at the 120-kilometer mark. The race then basically rockets south-east through the Menen Gate (138 kilometers) and the the finish in Wevelgem’s Vanakerestraat.

Not exactly pan-flat, certainly when compared to the recent Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde won by Jolien D’Hoore, the race’s high point is slap bang in the middle – the brutal Kemmelberg. While it will weed out the weaker riders, the descent is not as terrifying as it used to be. As the women’s field becomes deeper, it becomes harder to make big differences – teams have more strength and horsepower to close gaps.

There’s a little series of bumps between Zonnebeke and Wervik, but the closing stages are very fast, very flat and essentially on dead-straight roads.

We have cobbles, climbs with cobbles, and three sectors of the so-called Plugstreets, dirt roads which call to mind the sacrifices made by soldiers from across the globe in World War I.

The contenders

After a frustrating start to the season, where she almost came close but lacked the finishing spark, Jolien D’Hoore has hit form at exactly the right moment. With a powerful and committed Michelton-Scott team behind her, the Belgian champion knows that Gent-Wevelgem and the Tour of Flanders are perfectly within reach. She was second last year, can easily handle the climbs and has the power to deliver a sprint at the end.

In theory, it’s supposed to be a sprinters’ race, but it hasn’t worked like that for the women’ event. Wild and Lepistö are terrific finishers but could hardly be classed as ‘pure sprinters’ given their skill sets.

Likely starters that could also be in the reckoning who’ve been on the podium before here include Lucinda Brand (Sunweb), Lisa Brennauer (Wiggle-High5), Coryn Rivera (Sunweb) and Alé-Cipollini duo Janneke Ensing and Chloe Hosking.