The founders of Gent-Wevelgem will be turning in their graves, suggested Quick-Step Floors manager Patrick Lefevere on Friday, when asked what he thought of the decision to introduce four kilometres of gravel roads for Sunday's 79th edition of the race.
The so-called 'Plugstreets' have been labeled a tribute to the lives lost in the First World War, with the tracks winding through some of the battlefields and sites of trench warfare below Ypres near the French border. In fact the race will pass by the the site where British and German soldiers were said to have played football together in no-man's land during the Christmas Truce of 1914.
Gent-Wevelgem, which carries the tag 'In Flanders Fields' has sought to align itself with the First World War, especially in the last few centenary years, but Lefevere and others believe changing the course in such a way is a step too far.
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"The riders must rebel, otherwise it will never end. This has nothing to do with road racing," Lefevere told Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad, echoing the words of Jan Bakelants, who had said on television: "One Strade Bianche is enough.
"Suppose the peloton stays together and a group of 150 riders has to fit through the narrow roads of a car's width," added Lefevere. "Is that what the organisers want to see? I think [co-founder] Georges Matthys will be turning in his grave. This is completely ridiculous."
Herman Frison, directeur sportif at fellow Belgian team Lotto Soudal, feels the move represents an unnecessary assault on the identity of the race. "It is characterised by the wind, the passage to De Moeren, and of course the Kemmelberg," he said. "That is what Gent-Wevelgem is all about."
Sector 1: 2100m
Sector 2: Christmas Truce – 1300m
Sector 3: Catacombs – 600m
Conclusion
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