Ghent-Wevelgem

A race report from 1981 that includes Bernard Hinault's victory at Paris-Roubaix.

We unpack all the action from a tactical thriller at Gent-Wevelgem. Why does Sagan hate Quick-Step? Is dirt good for the Belgian classic?

The 19-year-old finishes second in the under-23 version of Gent-Wevelgem, the Nations Cup.

The Belgian has won Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, E3 Harelbeke, and Gent-Wevelgem ahead of next Sunday's Tour of Flanders.

Reactions from riders and sport directors were mixed regarding the inclusion of dirt sections in Sunday's race.

Belgian Greg van Avermaet rules the day in Belgium with a Gent-Wevelgem win just two days removed from taking E3 Harelbeke.

Young American Ian Garrison’s star shined brightly with a solid second-place outing in his under-23 debut at Gent-Wevelgem on Sunday.

Peter Sagan's Bora-Hansgrohe team says that rivals ride more against its ace than they for victory itself.

Olympic champion Greg Van Avermaet outsprinted fellow escapee Jens Keukeleire to claim Gent-Wevelgem in Belgium on Sunday.

Gent-Wevelgem offers up a unique tug-of-war between sprint stars and breakaway artists in one of Belgium's biggest WorldTour races.

Gent-Wevelgem has potential to favor the sprinters, but could a breakaway succeed, as it did in 2016 when Peter Sagan won?

Gent-Wevelgem organizers add new sectors of dirt farm roads to the 2017 course, a tribute to World War I heritage.

Sep Vanmarcke comes close to a big win at Gent-Wevelgem — if all goes well at Tour of Flanders, he'll be a threat for the win.

Antoine Demoitié crashed during Gent-Wevelgem and was then struck by a moto driver. Demoitié died Sunday night.

The 25-year-old Belgian died following a crash and subsequent collision with a race moto during Gent-Wevelgem.

Peter Sagan gets it right at Gent-Wevelgem, taking his second career win at the Flemish classic

Peter Sagan and Chantal Blaak nab wins at Sunday's Gent-Wevelgem

Tsatevich wins the Volta a Catalunya's final stage, while Quintana wraps up his first career GC win in the race

Peter Sagan plays it to perfection at Gent-Wevelgem, getting clear with a four-man group and leaving enough in the tank to sprint for the victory

Belgian Antoine Demoitié dies at age 25 after crashing during Sunday's Gent-Wevelgem and then being hit by a race moto.

Peter Sagan takes a second career Gent-Wevelgem title, besting fellow escapees Sep Vanmarcke and Viacheslav Kuznetsov in a cagey sprint

Chantal Blaak delivers yet another WorldTour win for Boels – Dolmans

Gent-Wevelgem packs a double punch with both men's and women's WorldTour races. Here are our picks to win.

With Volta a Catalunya, Critérium International, and Gent-Wevelgem on the calendar, this weekend offers nearly every flavor of racing.

Will Sunday's cobbled race end with a mad dash to the line thanks to a long run into Wevelgem, or will an opportunist take over?

Friday's E3 Harelbeke will go on as planned, despite Tuesday's attacks in Brussels, and Belgian Greg Van Avermaet is an outright favorite.

Cannondale standout will race in the Amgen Tour of California, and later the USA Pro Challenge

Belgian rider has battled injuries and setbacks all season, including a crash in Sunday's Ghent-Wevelgem

GCN's Daniel Lloyd checks in with Ian Stannard, Daniel Martin, Richie Porte, and Kirsten Wild

German-Australian goes back to old school training methods and finally gets reward after sparking Wevelgem breakaway

Brakethrough Media goes behind the scenes at the 2013 Ghent-Wevelgem

Photos from a rough day at the office during the 2013 Ghent-Wevelgem

Sagan checks one item off his to-do list with victory in a cobbled classic

The two riders are not exactly killing it, but the weather hasn't been helping, says team management

Boonen crashed and later abandoned, while Cancellara pulled out in the feed zone without explanation

Results from the 2013 Ghent-Wevelgem

Ghent-Wevelgem organizers plan route changes and consider cancellation as snow threatens another cobbled classic

Starters list for Sunday's Ghent-Wevelgem classic

Slovak third at Ghent-Wevelgem, sets eyes toward De Ronde

The 2012 Ghent-Wevelgem, through the lens of Graham Watson

1. Tom BOONEN, Omega Pharma-Quick Step in 5:32:44 2. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale at s.t. 3. Matti BRESCHEL, Rabobank at s.t. 4. Oscar FREIRE GOMEZ, Katusha at s.t. 5. Edvald BOASSON HAGEN, Sky at s.t.

Startlist for the 2012 Ghent-Wevelgem

Course profile for the 2012 Ghent-Wevelgem

Winners of Ghent-Wevelgem

It's been a roller-coaster seven years since Tom Boonen last won in Wevelgem.

1. Tom Boonen (Bel), Quick Step, 4:35:00 2. Daniele Bennati (Ita), Leopard-Trek, s.t. 3. Tyler Farrar (USA), Garmin-Cervelo, s.t. 4. André Greipel (Ger), Omega Pharma-Lotto, s.t. 5. Lloyd Mondory (Fra), Ag2r La Mondiale, s.t.

Tom Boonen (Quick Step) wins Ghent-Wevelgem.

Team RadioShack on Thursday announced its teams for two weekend races, the Criterium International (March 26-27) and Ghent-Wevelgem (March 27).

Results from the 2010 edition of Ghent-Wevelgem

Bernard Eisel (HTC-Columbia) takes Ghent-Wevelgem.

Will Ghent-Wevelgem gain prestige with its new position on the international calendar that puts the Belgian semi-classic in the spotlight this weekend? Race organizers sure are hoping so.

Fresh off a victory at the Belgian semi-classic Dwars door Vlaanderen, Danish road champion Matti Breschel is eager for more success at the upcoming classics. A key Saxo Bank teammate of Fabian Cancellara, Breschel proved his own ability last year, placing sixth at the Tour of Flanders and 10th at Paris-Roubaix. He will take the start Sunday at Ghent-Wevelgem.

Andrew Hood takes a look at what's sure to be one of the busiest weeks of the year.

For 2010, Ghent-Wevelgem moves from its traditional Wednesday spot to the more prestigious Sunday slot.

Edvald Boasson Hagen. His name doesn’t exactly roll off your tongue, but it’s a name you’d better remember because the young Norwegian is only 21 and he has just won his first spring classic. Ghent-Wevelgem may not be the biggest of the classics, and a lot of young riders have won it and not gone on to bigger and better results. But it seems that Boasson Hagen is a little different, a little more special.

Just two and a half weeks after scoring a brilliant sprint victory in the longest of the European single-day races, Milan-San Remo, Mark Cavendish of the Columbia-Highroad team looks all set to add another classic to his burgeoning list of wins.

Rabobank 1 Brown, Graeme 2 Flecha Giannoni, Juan... 3 Hayman, Mathew 4 Horrillo Mun?oz, Pedro 5 Leezer, Tom 6 Nuyens, Nick 7 Stamsnijder, Tom 8 Van Emden, Jos Quick Step 11 Boonen, Tom 12 Devolder, Stijn 13 Hovelijnck, Kurt 14 Hulsmans, Kevin 15 Tosatto, Matteo 16 Van Impe, Kevin 17 Velo, Marco 18 Weylandt, Wouter Silence - Lotto 21 Cretskens, Wilfried 22 Elijzen, Michiel 23 Hoste, Leif 24 Kaisen, Olivier 25 Lang, Sebastian 26 Ljungblad, Jonas 27 Roelandts, Jurgen 28 Scheirlinckx, Staf

Ghent-Wevelgem is one of Belgium's classic April races, held every year on the Wednesday between the bookending weekends of The Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. The first race, held in 1934, was brutal, taking riders over rough cobblestone roads. It hasn't gotten any easier. Long called "the sprinter's classic," because of its relatively flat run-in, today riders must twice climb the very steep, narrow and cobbled Kemmelberg climb. It is here the race is often decided.

Oscar Freire’s knack for winning chaotic sprints made him a favorite to win the 70th edition of Ghent-Wevelgem as a huge 77-rider pack thundered toward the finish line in this small Belgian town. And while the cagey 32-year-old did emerge victorious to become the event’s first Spanish champion, Freire and his Rabobank teammates earned the win the old-fashioned way.

German rider Marcus Burghardt outfoxed one of the savviest riders in the peloton to win a crash-marred Ghent-Wevelgem ahead of three-time world champion Oscar Freire. The T-Mobile prospect scored the first win of his career in impressive manner after powering away from Freire and three other escapees with 1.3km to go in the 220km march across western Flanders.

It was a day for the sprinters at Wednesday’s Ghent-Wevelgem, and Norwegian Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole) proved that Italian speedster Alessandro Petacchi (Milram) can indeed be beat in a dead-flat drag race. Of course, if you’re Hushovd, it helps if that drag race comes at the end of a gritty, 210km Belgian slugfest. Hushovd, the green jersey points winner at the 2005 Tour de France, edged out the fast-improving German David Kopp (Gerolsteiner), who took second, and Petacchi, who was third, to become the first Norwegian to win Ghent-Wevelgem in the race’s 72-year history.

It would have been a shame, really, if it had ended any other way. After treating the local fans to a display of power in the 66th running of Ghent-Wevelgem in Belgium on Wednesday, the Quick Step-Davitamon team turned to its young gun Tom Boonen to close the deal. The 23-year-old did so magnificently, continuing his rise to stardom by outfoxing a group of seasoned sprinters including Magnus Backstedt (Alessio-Bianchi) and Jaan Kirsipuu (AG2R), who finished second and third respectively.

Andreas Klier was in no hurry to leave on Wednesday afternoon. Perched in a dirty brown chair in a smoke-filled room of reporters in Wevelgem, Belgium — the finishing town of the 65th running of the midweek classic known as Ghent-Wevelgem — the blond-haired, blue-eyed German was soaking it all in.

Outrageous. That's the only way to describe the "new" Mario Cipollini. Dressed in his zebra-stripe tights, he engaged the media in a light-hearted post-race press conference Wednesday evening, discussing his, yes, outrageous, victory in the 64th edition of Ghent-Wevelgem. He has won this Belgian classic twice before, in 1992 and ’93, beating out first Johan Capiot and then Eric Vanderaerden, both in massive field sprints. Wednesday was different.

American George Hincapie of the U.S. Postal Service joined a prestigious list of winners that includes Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault on Wednesday. Hincapie outsprinted Leon Van Bon (Mercury Viatel) to win the 63rd edition of Ghent-Wevelgem in Belgium. Hincapie was part of a five-man group that escaped without about 30km to go in the 214km race. A complete report will be posted shortly.

At last! American George Hincapie can finally breathe a big sigh of relief, after taking home a major classics win for the first time in his career. The U.S. Postal Service rider made it look almost easy as he won the 63rd edition of Ghent-Wevelgem on Wednesday afternoon in Wevelgem, Belgium. And while it was close at the finish -- the tall New York native just barely edged Mercury-Viatel's Leon Van Bon at the line -- Hincapie had all the right moves throughout the 215km ride through western Belgium.