Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) produced a convincing sprint to clinch victory from a select group in a windy, fast-paced Gent-Wevelgem.
The Norwegian punched the air repeatedly after beating John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo) and Oliver Naesen (AG2R La Mondiale) after a small group of one-day specialists caught a late breakaway near the end of the 251km race.
“I got the right wheel in the sprint and my form was good coming into the Flanders season,” said Kristoff. “We took it easy in the second group after the escape but it was a hard day right from the start.”
UAE had been banking on Fernando Gaviria, but had the nous to change tack in the wind.
“I should have been working for Fernando (Gaviria), but he told me a few kilometres from the line he felt rough. I wasn’t sure I had the legs to be honest after an effort to get into the final group. It was a really unexpected win.”
Wout Van Aert made the first move blowing the tight group apart after 50km with Peter Sagan, Matteo Trentin and Luke Rowe part of that breakaway that was caught 20km from home.
For Kristoff the win marks an important return to form after he won Milan-San Remo in 2014 and the Tour of Flanders in 2015 and who now has seven classic wins on his roll of honour.
Gent-Wevelgem 2019 results:
| 1 | Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) | 5:26:08 |
| 2 | John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo) | ,, |
| 3 | Oliver Naesen (AG2R La Mondiale) | ,, |
| 4 | Mathieu Van Der Poel (Corendon-Circus) | ,, |
| 5 | Danny Van Poppel (Jumbo-Visma) | ,, |
| 6 | Adrien Petit (Direct Energie) | ,, |
| 7 | Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott) | ,, |
| 8 | Rüdiger Selig (Bora-hansgrohe) | ,, |
| 9 | Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Merida) | ,, |
| 10 | Jens Debusschere (Katusha-Alpecin) | ,, |
| 11 | Søren Kragh Andersen (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 12 | Carlos Barbero (Movistar) | ,, |
| 13 | Tiesj Benoot (Lotto Soudal) | ,, |
| 14 | Anthony Turgis (Direct Energie) | ,, |
| 15 | Jens Keukeleire (Lotto Soudal) | ,, |
| 16 | Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) | ,, |
| 17 | Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) | ,, |
| 18 | Luke Rowe (Team Sky) | ,, |
| 19 | Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | ,, |
| 20 | Greg Van Avermaet (CCC) | ,, |
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