The five best editions of Gent-Wevelgem in the 21st century

This is maybe the most epic edition of Gent-Wevelgem ever. You could even say it was over the top. Riders had to sit sideways on their bikes due to the immense crosswinds, while others were literally blown off the road. Nowadays, the race would most likely not have gone ahead under current protocols.

Maarten Tjallingii seemingly did not feel the wind and went solo, reaching the Kemmelberg first. Jurgen Roelandts bridged across to him, forming a leading duo. A couple of kilometres later, Roelandts dropped Tjallingii and continued alone.

Behind him, Stijn Vandenbergh attacked, bringing Sep Vanmarcke, Geraint Thomas, Daniel Oss and Jens Debusschere with him. Luca Paolini then bridged solo to the group with an incredible effort. Not long after, Thomas was blown off his bike into a ditch, but managed to fight his way back.

Just after that, Niki Terpstra also made his way to the chasing group. The solo Roelandts and the seven riders behind him would fight for victory, with the peloton far behind. Roelandts started the final ascent of the Kemmelberg with a two minute lead. There, Oss and Paolini were dropped, although Paolini managed to return, while Oss was out of contention.

Due to his long solo effort, Roelandts began to struggle. With 18 km to go, he was caught and clearly spent, just as Terpstra suffered a flat tire. As soon as the Dutchman returned, he immediately attacked, with only Paolini able to follow. A few kilometres later, Thomas rejoined, followed shortly after by Vandenbergh, a teammate of Terpstra. However, Vandenbergh then suffered a mechanical at the exact moment Jens Debusschere and Sep Vanmarcke also fought their way back. Not much later, he too rejoined.

The ever alert Paolini launched a decisive attack with just over 6 km to go. He clearly had the most left in his legs, as the others could not close the gap. Paolini won Gent-Wevelgem in the final season of his professional career.

Strangely enough, riders not only had to climb the Kemmelberg in this edition, but also descend it on the steep cobbled side. Unsurprisingly, that did not go well.

The first descent, with 53 km to go, resulted in heavy crashes, with several riders badly injured. For example, Jimmy Casper was left covered in blood.

The early break, containing Hammond, Mengin and Brard, still held a two minute lead over the peloton when they reached the final ascent of the Kemmelberg. On the descent, another serious crash occurred. This section was removed from the race after this edition.

Meanwhile, Marcus Burghardt and Francisco Ventoso had attacked on the final ascent and were chasing the break. Burghardt had a teammate up the road in Hammond, so he did not need to contribute. Ventoso, however, refused to do all the work, and they were quickly caught.

Shortly after, Óscar Freire attacked, with Ventoso and Burghardt following. This trio did manage to bridge to the break, merging the groups. Not long after, Brard was dropped, which was no surprise given his earlier efforts.

The group worked together well and proved extremely strong, holding off a chasing peloton. They would contest the victory among themselves. With 1 km to go, Burghardt launched a perfectly timed attack and got clear. Ventoso tried to respond but could not close the gap. Freire then attempted to bridge across, but Roger Hammond was strong enough to follow his move, despite having been in the break all day.

Burghardt took the win, with Hammond completing a one two for T Mobile. Robbie McEwen won the sprint from the peloton for sixth place.

On the first ascent of the Kemmelberg, with almost 90 km still to go, Mads Pedersen already showed his strength by splitting the peloton.

Later, on the plugstreets, he attacked again. With more than 70 km remaining, only Philipsen, Kooij and Livyns could follow. However, Jasper Philipsen suffered a flat tire and Olav Kooij crashed, leaving Livyns as the only rider still with him. Together, they bridged to the early break.

On the next ascent of the Kemmelberg, with 56 km to go, Pedersen dropped everyone once again. With the Baneberg and the steepest side of the Kemmelberg still to come, he simply did not hesitate. He continued solo and never looked back.

Pedersen went on to win the race, taking his third Gent-Wevelgem victory and becoming a joint record holder.

Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert were the main favourites for this edition. They began racing aggressively with more than 80 km to go.

On the plugstreets, both riders used their cyclocross background to make the race even harder. After that, the pace in the front group dropped slightly, allowing a group of nine riders to go clear, including Mads Pedersen and teammates of both favourites, putting them in a difficult position.

In response, Van Aert launched a strong move on the second ascent of the Kemmelberg, forming a chasing group with the strongest riders. On the final ascent, on the toughest side, he once again set the pace and brought the race back together.

After that, 30 flat kilometres remained. As expected, the attacks kept coming, largely because Van Aert was the fastest sprinter in the group, having just won two bunch sprints in the Tour de France. As a result, he was constantly forced to close gaps.

Eventually, he stopped chasing. He looked around, but no one was willing to work with him. That allowed Matteo Trentin to get away with Alberto Bettiol and Florian Sénéchal with 1.8 km to go. With 1.3 km to go, Pedersen timed his move perfectly and bridged across. The four riders sprinted for the win, with Pedersen comfortably taking victory despite his earlier effort.

After the finish, Van Aert was clearly frustrated with Van der Poel’s tactics, stating that he would rather see him lose than win himself. Van der Poel, who had already completed his initial interview, returned to respond, calling the remark unnecessary. One week later, they would meet again in the Tour of Flanders, where Van der Poel won a photo finish sprint.

With 40 km to go, Juan Antonio Flecha attacked on the Monteberg. Behind him, a group of seven riders went on the attack, including Nico Mattan, Magnus Bäckstedt, Fabian Cancellara, Thor Hushovd, Filippo Pozzato and Baden Cooke.

This group would make it to the final and contest the victory.

With 10 km to go, Mattan attacked. With 5 km to go, Flecha bridged across solo and dropped him. The race appeared decided.

However, inside the final 500 metres, Mattan closed the gap again. Benefiting from the slipstream of race vehicles behind Flecha, he came past him and took the win in controversial fashion.