Brussels (AFP)
Irish sprinter Sam Bennett, already victorious five times this season and backed by an impressive Deceuninck team, will be the man to beat at Gand-Wevelgem on Sunday.
Prized by the fastest men in the peloton, the 254-kilometer Flandrian classic smiled at Mads Pedersen last year when he was the fastest of a group of five breakaways.
But the Dane will not be able to achieve the double, his team, Trek-Segafredo, having decided on Saturday evening to withdraw after two positive cases of Covid-19 detected among the members of the training.
The insolent domination of the Deceuninck team since the start of the season (12 wins already) and its sprinter Sam Bennett should influence the race.
The Irishman has already won five bouquets in 2021, including the Classic Bruges-La Panne on Wednesday after stage successes in Paris-Nice and in the Tour of the United Arab Emirates.
Five trophies out of seven massive sprints disputed: it shows if the speedy thirty-something is sharp, especially since he can count on the best team of the peloton to be taken in the best conditions.
- Kristoff, Sagan and Démare in ambush -
Patrick Lefevere's men were impressive on Friday at the E3 Grand Prix, placing the Dane Kasper Asgreen and the French Florian Sénéchal in the first two places after a perfectly controlled race.
In case of arrival in the sprint, Bennett, green jersey of the last Tour de France, will have as main competitors the Belgian Wout Van Aert (revenge after playing bad luck on Friday), the Norwegian Alexander Kristoff, the French Arnaud Démare or the Slovakian. Peter Sagan who was reassured about his condition during Milan-SanRemo (4th).
If they want to prevent a massive sprint, the attackers will have to take advantage of the curbs (even if we do not expect a lot of wind on Sunday), the passages on the dusty sections (the Plugstreets) crossing the Flemish fields and the two climbs of the always feared Mount Kemmel.
On what they have shown in recent days (and given the absence of the Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel), the strongest to try to surprise the sprinters are among a list including the Belgians Greg Van Avermaet and Oliver Naesen, the Dutch Niki Terpstra, the Briton Tom Pidcock or the Czech Zdenek Stybar.
Even if the mission of the latter, who literally flew on the cobblestones of the Grand Prix of E3 on Friday, will be above all to put himself at the service of Sam Bennett.
© 2021 AFP