Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) came out on top of a bunched sprint to win the Gent-Wevelgem for the third time on Sunday.
The world champion attacked on the left of the group and had enough of a margin to hold off Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors). The Italian rider caught Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) near the line, pushing Demare down to third.
When Viviani’s attempt to catch Sagan came up short, he banged his handlebars in frustration.
”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.”
It was a record-equalling third Gent-Wevelgem win for Sagan, who joins five other men including Eddy Merckx and Mario Cipollini in achieving the feat, after previous victories in 2013 and 2016.
“This was easy,” Sagan told a surprised reporter. “Because of the lack of wind, nothing crazy like three years ago. It was a very fast race.
“There wasn’t much wind so there was a big group of us, otherwise the group would have been smaller.”
Sagan also suggested the steep cobbled climb of the Kemmelberg hill, where John Degenkolb and Alexander Kristoff got left behind, had suited him.
“The hill was okay for me, I felt fine,” said Sagan, whose form had been questioned after the E3, where he looked less sharp then he did Sunday.
Gent-Wevelgem 2018 results:
| 1 | Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) | 5:07:32 |
| 2 | Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors) | ,, |
| 3 | Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) | ,, |
| 4 | Christophe Laporte (Cofidis) | ,, |
| 5 | Jens Debusschere (Lotto Soudal) | ,, |
| 6 | Oliver Naesen (AG2R La Mondiale) | ,, |
| 7 | Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott) | ,, |
| 8 | Zdenek Stybar (Quick-Step Floors) | ,, |
| 9 | Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) | ,, |
| 10 | Wout Van Aert (Veranda’s Willems Crelan) | ,, |
| 11 | Sacha Modolo (EF Education First – Drapac) | ,, |
| 12 | Jan-Willem Van Schip (Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij) | ,, |
| 13 | Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 14 | Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) | ,, |
| 15 | Julien Vermote (Dimension Data) | ,, |
| 16 | Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Katusha-Alpecin) | ,, |
| 17 | Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors) | ,, |
| 18 | Marcus Burghardt (Bora-hansgrohe) | ,, |
| 19 | Brian van Goethem (Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij) | ,, |
| 20 | Yves Lampaert (Quick-Step Floors) | +05” |
