🇧🇪 #GW23 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 📕 Winning Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, E3 Saxo Classic and Gent-Wevelgem in the same season. No one did it before, untill now. 🤩👏🏼
Christophe Laporte: "Wout was much stronger than me today, so I really owe this victory to him"
CyclingMonday, 27 March 2023 at 11:30
Gent-Wevelgem is one of the most prestigious classics in the calendar but Jumbo-Visma have dominated it in a way that resembled teams like Quick-Step and it's antecessor Mapei in the past. Christophe Laporte emerged victorious after a team attack, and he further detailed the plans and communication with Wout van Aert on their hard journey through Flandres.
“The plan was to accelerate on the second passage over the Kemmelberg and we did that. The two of us gave everything to the finish. An adventure of more than fifty kilometers. That was a very long time, especially because I had to give everything to stay with Wout," Laporte said in a press conference following the race. “Wout was much stronger than me today, so I really owe this victory to him. We have been teammates for a little over two years now and I think we have both achieved great things. I would have been just as happy today if he had crossed the finish line first.”
A plan perfectly executed. The Frenchman had already been on the attack earlier as the race split over the first Kemmelberg ascent, however that move was shut down. In traditional fashion, the Dutch team started the second passage in the head of the peloton and moved away. It was a scenario almost exactly identical to last year's E3 Saxo Classic where the same two riders attacked in the same way - only with the opposite result.
Laporte further detailed his talks with Wout van Aert: “If we do a sprint, I definitely wouldn't have won haha. I was totally broken. Along the way he joked that we could also sprint for it. I said: I don't! The way we crossed the finish line was better for me... I'm quite proud of that. Just like on the team, if you see what we achieved again today. For that I want to say a big thank you to Wout.”
The 30-year old started his classics campaign with a third place at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and sixth at Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne, both whilst supporting his team to victory. So far Jumbo has won all four major cobbled classic and in three of them it was a dominant win. Next week at the Tour des Flandres Wout van Aert will likely be the main weapon specially as a reborn Laporte will be willing to help more, but in Paris-Roubaix his chances will be significantly higher.
“It may seem that way on television, but it is difficult every time. Especially today. It was very hard because of the bad weather. To be honest, not that much. The Tour of Flanders is a completely different race. Hopefully the weather conditions will be a bit better," he concluded.
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