2021 Gent-Wevelgem – Highlights, Reports, Results
Highlights
Men’s Race
Women’s Race
Report
Men: Van Aert to victory in Wevelgem thanks to Van Hooydonck
Wout van Aert has written the classic Gent-Wevelgem to his name. By being in the right echelon early on with the very strong Nathan Van Hooydonck, the Fleming was able to sprint to the prestigious victory on pure power.
In the opening hours it immediately became clear that the wind was going to play a role. Team Jumbo-Visma rode attentively from the front and had two men in the first echelon with Van Hooydonck and Van Aert. The early breakaway was caught and together with the connected echelon went to the West Flemish hill zone. On the hills and plugstreets, the chasing groups did get closer, but never returned to the front of the race. Van Aert impressed on the Kemmelberg, but his companions and Van Hooydonck kept up with him. Partly due to the great work of the sublime super domestique, Van Aert could sprint to victory in the streets of Wevelgem.
The best one-day rider of 2020 clinched his third triumph of the season in Wevelgem. Earlier, Van Aert won two stages in Tirreno-Adriatico. “This means a lot to me. Of course I have already won many beautiful races, but in the Flemish races it often just didn’t work out. I was waiting for this. I’m super happy with this, of course.”
“As a team we have continuously kept the focus on the wind and the echelons. You know that’s almost always the case in this race”, Van Aert said. “It soon broke open and I was in the right echelon with Nathan. We worked well together and kept control of the race. The confidence in the final sprint was there, of course.”
The Team Jumbo-Visma leader gave his Flemish companion the deserved compliments. “I have been encouraging Nathan all along to also survive the last time on the Kemmelberg. He did. That was really super strong of him. I knew I was going to need him a lot afterwards. In the last kilometre he took the lead. A top notch performance. Hats off to him.”
“Today we proved that we can win a race even without a dominant team”, the outstanding Van Hooydonck said. “This is really a fantastic feeling. We always kept on riding. We had to, because the chasers were never really far. Wout told me to keep up the pace. Sometimes it was a bit of a lynch mob between the many sprinters, but then I quickly caught up to keep the pace. It’s clear that in the end we rode to the finish with the strongest seven riders. Wout can do everything, so I never doubted that he would win the sprint.”
Women: Vos gives Team Jumbo-Visma Women first ever victory with win in Gent-Wevelgem
Marianne Vos has written the tenth edition of Gent-Wevelgem to her name. The Dutch rider sprinted to first place and gave the Team Jumbo-Visma women’s team its first ever victory.
Before the start of the 141 kilometre race it was already clear that the wind would play a major role. Throughout the day several riders tried to break open the peloton, but without success. Only on the second climb of the Kemmelberg the race really broke loose.
With about thirty kilometres to go Anna Henderson went on the attack. She took a lead of more than twenty seconds on the peloton. Eventually she was caught by the chasing group.
In the final Borghini and Paladin escaped from the peloton. It was only in the final kilometre that the Italian duo was caught by the chasing group. Vos then set up the sprint and crossed the line first after an explosive final sprint.
“I have to let it all sink in for a while”, Vos said. “This is a fantastic feeling. The past few races we built up a lot of confidence and we knew we were ready as a team. It was a tough and nervous race where we had to stay alert all the time. We had to fight for our position all day, until the sprint. When we finally managed to catch Longo Borghini and Paladin, I was so eager to finish it for the team. Everyone worked so hard today. There were a lot of good sprinters in the group, so it was definitely not easy to beat them. Fortunately, the team had confidence in me and I knew I had a good chance if I would not make any mistakes. At the 200 metre mark, I went on the attack. It felt like I went too early, but fortunately the tailwind was in my favour. I’m extremely happy that I was able to finish it.”
Results
Men’s Race
| 1 | Wout Van Aert (Bel) Jumbo-Visma | 5:45:11 |
| 2 | Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Team Qhubeka Assos | |
| 3 | Matteo Trentin (Ita) UAE Team Emirates | |
| 4 | Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain Victorious | |
| 5 | Michael Matthews (Aus) Team BikeExchange | |
| 6 | Stefan Küng (Swi) Groupama-FDJ | |
| 7 | Nathan Van Hooydonck (Bel) Jumbo-Visma | 0:00:03 |
| 8 | Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Ineos Grenadiers | 0:00:52 |
| 9 | Anthony Turgis (Fra) Total Direct Energie | 0:00:54 |
| 10 | Gianni Vermeersch (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix | 0:01:25 |
Women’s Race
| 1 | Marianne Vos (Ned) Jumbo-Visma Women Team | 3:45:08 |
| 2 | Lotte Kopecky (Bel) Liv Racing | |
| 3 | Lisa Brennauer (Ger) Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling Team | |
| 4 | Elisa Balsamo (Ita) Valcar-Travel & Service | |
| 5 | Marta Bastianelli (Ita) Ale’ BTC Ljubljana | |
| 6 | Emilia Fahlin (Swe) FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope | |
| 7 | Kristen Faulkner (USA) Team Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank | |
| 8 | Sarah Roy (Aus) Team BikeExchange | |
| 9 | Emma Norsgaard (Den) Movistar Team Women | |
| 10 | Lauren Stephens (USA) Team Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank |