There was again some action in Belgium on Sunday, in Ghent-Wevelgem. After the race split apart in the first half of the course due to some echelons, Stefan Küng managed to get on the right move and hold on to it until the finish. Unfortunately, he had to contest the win against several sprinters. He then had to settle for a sixth place on the line but still put on a great performance one week before the Tour of Flanders.
“Not a quiet moment”, Stefan Küng
Leaving Ypres on Sunday morning, the peloton first rode quite peacefully. Four men were therefore able to get up front early on, namely Laurenz Rex (Bingoal Pauwels), Stefan Bissegger, Daniel Arroyave (EF Education-Nippo) and Yevgeniy Fedorov (Astana), and their lead even reached ten minutes after the first forty kilometers. However, the race changed dramatically as the riders approached the coast. The tension built up in the peloton and the latter inevitably split into several pieces due to the crosswind. Stefan Küng then managed to enter the first group of around 20 men. “When we left from Ypres, the wind was from the side, or even a bit from the front, but I thought that as soon as a team would go for it, there would be riders all over the place”, said the Swiss champion. “I moved back up front just before a small road and that’s when it went. The echelons formed after seventy kilometers and it was then full gas until the finish. We did not have a quiet moment from that point on. It was a very hard day.”
With about 130 kilometers to go, the first “peloton” caught the breakaway while a second bunch got back together two minutes behind, with Arnaud Démare and Olivier Le Gac in it. Several teams obviously tried to close the gap, and in the first time up to the Kemmelberg, a few attacks reduced the gap to thirty seconds. However, the pace never decreased up front and the leading group always maintained a good cooperation. At the front, the selection was actually made from the back in the various climbs, and Stefan Küng consistently managed to remain amongst the best. After the last time up to the Kemmelberg, with more than 30 kilometers to go, the Swiss then found himself alongside a handful of riders: Sam Bennett, Danny Van Poppel, Wout Van Aert, Nathan Van Hooydonck, Sonny Colbrelli, Michael Matthews, Giacomo Nizzolo and Matteo Trentin. “The peloton, or what was left of it, was never really far,” Stefan added. “We had to continue to work together”.
“We can’t complain”, Frédéric Guesdon
With about fifteen kilometers to go, Bennett and Van Poppel got dropped from the first group, but it did not make it easier to handle the situation though. The Swiss champion tried to attack with two kilometers to go but was unable to surprise his rivals. “Those who were with me are good Classics riders, they are not just sprinters,” Stefan said. “Everyone was cooked at the end but it was difficult to do something, especially against Wout (Van Aert) who still had a teammate. I did my best”. The European time trial champion eventually started the sprint but couldn’t compete against five fast men, thus taking sixth on the line as Van Aert claimed victory. “For Stefan, it’s a good day,” Frédéric summed up. “He was a bit unlucky as they were all faster than him on paper. We hoped that a small attack on the end would work, or that the sprinters would come short at the end in order to win or to get a better place. This being said, we can’t complain either. Sixth place is also good”.
