Race Breakdown: Gent-Wevelgem was yet another great race for the fans: Mathieu van der Poel showed again that he is on top form after his win in the E3 Saxo Classic, he finished second, due to a very strong Mads Pedersen. On the other hand, Visma | Lease a Bike and Lotto Dstny were practically invisible.
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Mads Pedersen must now be a favourite for De Ronde
Mads Pedersen’s 2024 season, so far, has been phenomenal. The Dane won Etoile de Bessèges – Tour du Gard (overall, 1 stage and points), Tour de la Provence (overall, points and 3 stages), two second stage places in Paris-Nice, 4th in Milano-Sanremo and now the win in Gent-Wevelgem. The only disappointment could be finishing 11th in the E3 Saxo Classic. The thought that this was ‘early season’ form, while other riders were still building their fitness, was dispelled in Gent-Wevelgem. Pedersen was as strong as Van der Poel and put on the pain on a couple of occasions and then beat him in the sprint. With his victory in Wevelgem, Pedersen must now be a favourite in the Tour of Flanders along with Van der Poel and Wout van Aert.
Did the World champion do too much?
Mathieu van der Poel has a problem: he wants to race and maybe that enthusiasm worked against him on Sunday. “He should perhaps have been a little less generous with his efforts,” Alpecin-Deceuninck team manager Philip Roodhooft pointed out. Due to his acceleration the first time up the Kemmelberg, the attacks on the ‘gravel’ and the chase of Jonathan Milan, Van der Poel used up most of his reserves. Would he have won the sprint if he had tempered his earlier efforts? Pedersen went for a long hard sprint which was too much for the World champion, possibly mentally as well as physically and Van der Poel cracked in sight of the line. Van der Poel is in the form of his life and wants that Ronde win, can he do anything in a week? His problem is obviously not physical.
Laurence Pithie is the man to watch
Laurence Pithie has been the revelation of the 2024 spring so far. Pithie’s season started in the Tour Down Under and took his first WorldTour victory. Then back in Europe he was at the front of the battle in Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, where he was shoulder-to-shoulder with Wout van Aert, Tim Wellens and Oier Lazkano, but he cracked in the hills. A similar thing happened in Gent-Wevelgem, he was with Mads Pedersen and Mathieu van der Poel, but the second climb of the Kemmel was just too much. Pithie is the man to watch, in each Classic he has got nearer to the finish line with the top riders. At 21 years-old, Pithie has time and he has shown what he can do, he just needs a bit of luck and a little bit more experience.
Visma | Lease a Bike were seen early in the race
Visma | Lease a Bike was at the start in Gent-Wevelgem without a true leader. No Van Aert, Laporte, Van Baarle and Jorgenson. The Dutch team was at the start without any plans to control the race and take advantage of any chance that comes their way; Remember Jan Tratnik in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. But luck was not on the side of the Dutch super-team. Jan Tratnik replaced the injured Per Strand Hagenes, but he crashed and hit his head. Then Tosh Van der Sande had to abandon. It should be a different story in the Tour of Flanders for Visma | Lease a Bike, they will have Wout van Aert looking to win one of his big goals for the season. But will they have the foot soldiers to back up the Belgian? Christoph Laporte has been sick and won’t be at the start and the team has many injuries, where does this leave Wout?
Where was Arnaud De Lie?
Much was expected from Arnaud De Lie this spring, but he finished 90th in Gent-Wevelgem. Lotto Dstny DS, Nikolas Maes, spoke of the team’s dilemma: “This is not the normal Arnaud. We will have to discuss with various parties how to proceed. This was a very bad day. We are going to have various tests done. That boy just needs to reset. We have to make decisions that are more drastic than a program change and a little rest.” So is the spring over for De Lie?
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