From the AP:
Peter Sagan came out on top of a bunched sprint to win the Gent-Wevelgem classic for the third time on Sunday.
The Slovakian rider attacked on the left of the group and had enough of a margin to hold off Elia Viviani. The Italian rider caught Frenchman Arnaud Demare near the line, pushing Demare down to third.
When Viviani’s attempt to catch Sagan came up short, he banged his handlebars in frustration.
Sagan, a five-time winner of the Tour de France’s green jersey for best sprinter, also won the race in 2013 and 2016.
”I’m very happy and glad to win this race, the team did a great job,” Sagan said. ”A sprint’s always a bit like a lottery. I started a little bit early but in the end it was good.”
Sagan, a multiple stage winner on the Tour, felt this year’s Gent-Wevelgem was not as hard as in previous years.
”This was the easiest one, (in terms of) the weather conditions,” he said. ”It was not crazy like last year, or two years ago.”
Viviani, riding for the Belgian Quick-Step team, sat on the ground and buried his head in his hands as he sobbed.
”When it’s such a big opportunity of course it’s disappointing,” Viviani said. ”I hope I get another chance.”
Demare narrowly missed out again after finishing third at the Milan-San Remo classic last weekend.
From the Finish Line
“I’m very happy and I’m glad to win this race again. My team did a great job. In the finale, there were two of us remaining in the front group and I’m really happy with our performance. Sprints are always like a lottery and I was wondering what was going to happen. In the end, I started my sprint early and it worked out – I had the legs to keep going. I felt good the second time we climbed the Kemmelberg. It wasn’t too stressful and there wasn’t a lot of wind to make things difficult, which is why we came to the finish in a bigger group. It was a different race today from all of the Gent-Wevelgems I’ve ridden and the lack of stress and the better weather conditions made it easier. It wasn’t anywhere near as crazy as the race has been over the last few years, but it was still really fast.” – Peter Sagan, UCI World Champion
“Today’s great victory at the Gent-Wevelgem is the result of the exceptional effort of every single rider, from start to finish. Rüdiger Selig and Andreas Schillinger pulled hard in the first 50km to control the race and make sure we didn’t have a breakaway attempt by one of the stronger teams. Then, our strategy was for the squad to stay together, as long as possible, protecting Peter and avoiding any crashes. There were at least 5-6 strong sprinter teams today, so we had to keep a close eye on all the moves. Juraj Sagan, Maciej Bodnar and Daniel Oss were brilliant in keeping Peter safe and worked so hard throughout the race. In the final 50km Marcus Burghardt played a crucial role in helping Peter, launching attacks and counter-attacks to neutralise the efforts of the other teams. We wanted to see what the situation would be after the final climb on the Kemmelberg and Burgi stayed with Peter who, in the finale, launched a perfectly-timed sprint to take this well-deserved win.” – Jan Valach, Sport Director
2018 Gent-Wevelgem Results:
- Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe at 5:53:37
- Elia Viviani (Ita) Quick-Step Floors s.t.
- Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ s.t.
- Christophe Laporte (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits s.t.
- Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto Soudal s.t.
- Oliver Naesen (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale s.t.
- Matteo Trentin (Ita) Mitchelton-Scott s.t.
- Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Quick-Step Floors s.t.
- Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo s.t.
- Wout Van Aert (Bel) Veranda’s Willems Crelan s.t.