[the_ad id="5357"]
[ad_1]
Christope Laporte took an incredible win at Gent-Wevelgem alongside his teammate Wout van Aert, but their ride up the infamous Kemmelberg was spectacular.
The 260 km race has nine cobbled climbs, and the Kemmelberg is one of the worst. At some portions the gradient gets up to 20 per cent!
It was a cold, rainy day which made for some incredible racing from the hardest of hardmen.
On the second time up the Kemmelberg, van Aert and Laporte attacked. They quickly had a minute’s lead on the pack and that was that. The race was over. The Jumbo-Visma pair would come to the line together, with Laporte taking the win. Although van Aert seemed to be the strongest, he gifted the race to the Frenchmen. Many applauded the Belgian for his sportsmanship–but not everyone was impressed.
Eddy Merckx and Tom Boonen criticize Wout van Aert for gifting Gent-Wevelgem
The great Eddy Merckx said van Aert shouldn’t have given the win away. “I bet with my son for 1,000 euro that Laporte would win. It’s his choice to let a teammate win, but I wouldn’t have done it,” the Cannibal said after the race. “Of course I don’t know what’s going on within the team. Wout van Aert was by far the best, you saw that on the Kemmel. He could make history by winning Harelbeke, Wevelgem and the Tour of Flanders.”
Take a moment to watch the impressive launch up the nasty climb below.
Wout and Christophe taking flight (in slow motion) 🚀
These boys are ready for De Ronde 💪🦿#GentWevelgem #GW23 #jumbovisma pic.twitter.com/J9ee2GbRH6
— Atlanta Rouleur Collection (@AtlantaRouleur) March 26, 2023
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Canadian Cycling Magazine…
[ad_2]