{"id":4254,"date":"2026-03-27T12:16:05","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T11:16:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lastcobble.com\/gent-wevelgem-our-favorite-flemish-classic\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T11:18:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T09:18:31","slug":"gent-wevelgem-our-favorite-flemish-classic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lastcobble.com\/en\/gent-wevelgem-our-favorite-flemish-classic\/","title":{"rendered":"Gent\u2013Wevelgem, our favorite Flemish classic."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p>\n\n

This race embodies the pure philosophy of Flemish cycling.<\/p>\n\n

Look at its record and the podiums to truly understand how tough this race is. Wedged between the Tour of Flanders and Paris\u2013Roubaix, it used to be held on Wednesday, allowing teams to keep the pressure on between the two Sunday Monuments.<\/p>\n\n

In 2011, the UCI reshaped its calendar to give it even greater prestige. Thank you. <\/p>\n\n

Around 250 km; it\u2019s now called \u201cIn Flanders Fields,\u201d and for the next 10 years the start will be in Middelkerke on the Belgian coast.<\/p>\n\n

The route is Franco-Belgian, crossing the wind-battered farming plains of Flanders, with false flats and March squalls.<\/p>\n\n

Tackling a dozen ‘bergs’ truly makes this an explosive race of attrition. (Cassel, Catsberg, Monteberg, Kemmelberg,…) The cobblestones themselves account for less than 6 km, but they are all uphill, including the famous Kemmelberg with its 22% gradient! <\/p>\n\n

If you can withstand the early crosswind splits and the thinning-out over the first 100 kilometers, then maybe you\u2019ll be well placed to make the right move in the finale.<\/p>\n\n

It\u2019s never about luck here\u2014it\u2019s about knowing how to ride in a bunch, sensing the right move, reading the weather, positioning, and scanning faces to gauge your rivals.<\/p>\n\n

Cycling schools absolutely must show this race and the positioning techniques for crosswinds, headwinds, or tailwinds\u2026 The pre-race briefing is crucial to know where teams will turn the screw. <\/p>\n\n

A split opened by your rivals\u2014if you\u2019re poorly positioned\u2014means the effort just to avoid getting dropped will send the acid soaring, and chasing back to the bunch will burn matches you\u2019ll need for the finale. Helicopter shots show these dynamics with an incredible TV effect. <\/p>\n\n

Here, it\u2019s all about the strongmen\u2014no room for improvisation.<\/p>\n\n

Likewise, by analogy with World War I (WW1), whose front line you\u2019re constantly crossing, this is a splendid, colorful region, rich in centuries-old farms\u2014but with bad weather (wind, rain, hail), that beauty turns once again into hostile, uncertain territory.<\/p>\n\n

Add roads with sometimes unpredictable surfaces, and you\u2019re guaranteed a great spectacle of cycling warriors. The finale often lets you \u201ctake out\u201d your rivals for a sprint from a reduced group. <\/p>\n\n

It\u2019s war\u2014but it\u2019s the kind we love. Chapeau, gentlemen. <\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This race embodies the pure philosophy of Flemish cycling. Look at its record and the podiums to truly understand how tough this race is. Wedged between the Tour of Flanders and Paris\u2013Roubaix, it used to be held on Wednesday, allowing teams to keep the pressure on between the two Sunday Monuments. In 2011, the UCI […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4257,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[27,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-non-categorise"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lastcobble.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lastcobble.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lastcobble.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lastcobble.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lastcobble.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4254"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lastcobble.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4260,"href":"https:\/\/www.lastcobble.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4254\/revisions\/4260"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lastcobble.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lastcobble.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lastcobble.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lastcobble.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}