Pedersen Dominates Gent-Wevelgem With 56km Solo Breakaway

With about 72km left to ride in the 250.3km race from Ypres to Wevelgem, the 29-year-old Dane took off after the peloton had come together following a serious split caused by the strong headwinds that are always a feature of this race. He was briefly accompanied by Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Olav Kooij (Visma–Lease a Bike), two very fast sprinters who would have been hard to beat if they’d stayed with him to the finish. But Philipsen had a puncture, and Kooij crashed, injuring his shoulder, and had to abandon. His team said on its website that the 23-year-old Dutchman had broken his collarbone.

Accompanied only by Arjen Livyns (Lotto), Pedersen raced to catch up with a nine-rider breakaway consisting of Victor Campenaerts (Visma–Lease a Bike), Sam Maignan (Cofidis), Jasha Sütterlin (Jayco-AlUla), Marco Haller (Tudor Pro), Emīls Liepiņš (Q36.5), Max Walker (EF Education–EasyPost), Samuel Leroux (Total Energies), Alexys Brunel (Total Energies), and Rui Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates–XRG). The pair caught up, and Pedersen drove the pace until the riders hit the iconic Kemmelberg (0.5km @ 10.4% with slopes of up to 21%).

Halfway to the top of the cobbled climb, the 29-year-old Dane made his decisive break, pursued by Campenaerts, Haller, and Livyns. With 48km left to ride, he had a lead of 28 seconds over the three pursuers and 1:03 over the peloton, where teams and riders seemed unsure about how to react. All except Lidl-Trek. It had brought a very strong contingent, which included the superior sprinter Jonathan Milan and Jasper Stuyven, and they did their best to disrupt the chase.

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With 30km to go, a sort-of chase was kind of undertaken, but the peloton now trailed Pedersen by 1:40. The gap reached 2:00 with about 25km left to ride, then dropped to 1:36 at 19km and shrunk by only 16 seconds with 12km left to race. The race was as good as over as Pedersen was pushed toward the line by a strong tailwind. The peloton finally reduced its gap to Pedersen to 0:49, but that was at the finish line.

The victory was the 50th of Pedersen’s career and put him in elite company with riders who had won the race three times: Robert Van Eenaeme, Rik Van Looy, Eddy Merckx, Mario Cipollini, Tom Boonen, and Peter Sagan. “I was told this morning that if I won today, I would join the record-holders on this, so of course, that’s nice to be there now,” Pedersen said after the race. “But then, winning is just nice, and I’m happy.” Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) won the bunch sprint for second place over Milan.

“It’s crazy,” Pedersen said on TNT Sports. “I never expected to be able to do something like this, but to win here again is super nice. I knew the tailwind would favor being alone in the last 20km, and on the Plugstreets [gravel sections], I had really good legs, so I decided to open the race. At some point, it’s the point of no return. This could have ended [badly], but it went well, so luckily, it was a good decision.”

Pedersen went on to say that he was able to ride the E3 Saxo against Van der Poel and this race on only one day’s rest because he is in the form of his life. “I haven’t been in better shape than now,” he said. “Friday and today confirm it, so I’m super happy.”

Philipsen, who finished in 44th place, could only regret his bad luck and the peloton’s lack of resolve. “It is a pity that Quick-Step did not add an extra man [to the chase] because I saw that they did a lead-out with three men,” Philipsen told Sporza after Merlier won the sprint for second. “I got a flat tire at an unfortunate moment, but if you see how far out Pedersen went… Really, hats off. It was still super far, with a lot of headwind. That he did it all by himself is a crazy achievement.”