|
Gent - Wevelgem Discussion
|
| jackgibbs |
Posted on 06-11-2026 00:09
|
Free Agent
Posts: 145
Joined: 25-07-2021
PCM$: 300.00
|
 Gent - Wevelgem
One of the great semi-classics, Gent - Wevelgem has a long and storied history in the ManGame, and presents a leading opportunity at the C2 level for many of the one-day specialists of the CT peloton.
The Route:
The parcours takes its traditional form. Flat tarmac cutting through the windswept fields of Flanders make up the majority of the 246.1km course. But then the terrain gets tricky for the last third of the race: cobbles, climbs, and cobbled climbs demand the eventual winner be a versatile and resilient rider able to position themselves near the front for the sprint to the line.
Although not in theory a course immune to a bunch kick, in recent years that sprint has been from within a small leading group: a trio in fact, for both the 2024 and 2025 editions. But whether that pattern will hold is a real uncertainty.
The Favorites:
To begin our favorites analysis, let’s start here: it would be far faster and a fair bit easier (if much less informative) to discuss which riders don't have a chance to score well, rather than to discuss those who do. Our guide below calls out 50 riders, yet still omits a number of a strong rouleurs who have a reasonable claim to contention for a points return. We also have to bend the rules for inclusion to list the defending champion Basso, who returns with the same statline.
But we have to draw the line somewhere, else we might as well just shrug and reproduce the entire startlist.
Roughly speaking, we can split the leaders into four camps: the cobblers, the sprinters, the puncheurs, and the versatile threats that bring strength (73+) in at least two of those three categories. Which style of rider will be favored is hard to discern: it may depend greatly on break formation, the weather, and the dynamics of the peloton and which teams look to take control.
The Versatile Threats
| Rider | Fl | HI | ST | CO | SP |  De Gendt | 76 | 73 | 77 | 75 | 65 |  Mayrhofer | 74 | 73 | 75 | 71 | 76 |  Swift | 75 | 73 | 75 | 73 | 69 |  Niu | 72 | 72 | 76 | 56 | 74 |  Darbinyan | 72 | 66 | 72 | 76 | 76 | | Serrano | 70 | 73 | 76 | 76 | 60 |  Visser | 73 | 73 | 75 | 65 | 74 |  Olei | 69 | 74 | 73 | 51 | 75 |  Stallaert | 73 | 63 | 70 | 77 | 75 |  Marte | 71 | 73 | 73 | 75 | 66 |  Basso* | 72 | 71 | 76 | 72 | 70 |
*included as defending champion
The closest thing the field has to an overall favorite is likely De Gendt of Incaline. He has excellent flat, stamina, and cobble stats, is capable on the hills, and has just enough kick to not be counted out if he reaches the line in a small group. Swift of Grieg, Serrano of Euskotren, and Marte of Bacharu bring a similar distribution of stats. Mayrhofer of DeNA is a little less surefooted on the cobbles, but trades it for a much stronger finishing kick. The rest of the entries on this shortlist will need the cobbled climbs to be taken on the easier side to cover whichever weaknesses is apparent for the parcours.
The Cobblers
| Rider | Fl | HI | ST | CO | SP |  Wisniowski | 76 | 67 | 69 | 79 | 69 |  Neilands | 77 | 69 | 74 | 78 | 71 |  Owen | 73 | 69 | 73 | 78 | 64 | | Vangheluwe | 79 | 65 | 76 | 74 | 62 | | Sanogo | 73 | 71 | 71 | 76 | 69 |  Ulloa | 72 | 70 | 73 | 77 | 68 |  Ariesen | 75 | 68 | 74 | 75 | 70 |  Sommer | 76 | 66 | 75 | 75 | 72 |  Curley | 75 | 70 | 74 | 74 | 67 | | Van Gestel | 74 | 71 | 76 | 74 | 70 | | Yechezkel | 74 | 64 | 71 | 76 | 64 | | Giulietti | 73 | 69 | 75 | 75 | 66 | | Mestric | 73 | 70 | 69 | 76 | 55 | | Berckmoes | 76 | 58 | 75 | 75 | 60 | | Heinrich | 70 | 60 | 70 | 76 | 67 |  Sulimov | 70 | 67 | 72 | 76 | 62 | | Orue | 69 | 64 | 77 | 78 | 53 |  Richardson | 70 | 66 | 66 | 77 | 59 | | Daniel | 69 | 65 | 70 | 76 | 72 | | Ferreira | 70 | 65 | 69 | 76 | 68 |
Of the stronger cobblers, Neilands of Karthago stands out as bringing sufficient stamina, punch, and kick to deliver a possible victory. The Deutsche WindGuard pair of Wisniowski and Sanogo lack ideal stamina but show great domain strength, while Owen of Simba Cement and Ulloa of THE ONE - Fox God also bring particularly promising skillsets.
The Sprinters
| Rider | Fl | HI | ST | CO | SP | | Kamberaj | 75 | 69 | 73 | 68 | 79 | | Silva | 75 | 68 | 69 | 72 | 77 | | Barbier | 72 | 63 | 71 | 69 | 77 | | Baterdene | 74 | 61 | 72 | 67 | 76 | | Kelly | 74 | 69 | 69 | 67 | 75 | | Hennis | 70 | 70 | 71 | 69 | 75 |  Noppe | 75 | 69 | 74 | 73 | 75 | | Salby | 75 | 65 | 75 | 69 | 75 | | Sarreau | 74 | 64 | 72 | 71 | 75 | | | Marin | 74 | 65 | 70 | 67 | 75 | | | Räim | 73 | 66 | 72 | 70 | 75 | | | Consonni | 72 | 69 | 71 | 66 | 75 | | | Skerl | 72 | 66 | 71 | 67 | 75 | |
The sprinters will need an easier day at the office to be in a position for the victory. The pair of Kamberaj and Silva from Deutsche WindGuard are particularly well-suited to managing over the challenging portion of the parcours. Riders like Kelly of Brandt, Hennis of Bacharu, and Noppe of Bianchi also look to have the right distribution of talents to maybe be in the picture.

The Puncheurs
| Rider | Fl | HI | ST | CO | SP | | Stocek | 71 | 79 | 75 | 68 | 70 | | Svab | 70 | 76 | 70 | 66 | 67 | | Gabburo | 74 | 75 | 71 | 54 | 71 | | Lilovski | 68 | 77 | 70 | 54 | 65 | | Laurance | 73 | 76 | 74 | 70 | 66 | | Kelderman | 66 | 78 | 74 | 58 | 63 |
Finally, of the puncheurs Stocek of Euskotren is another race favorite, but to deliver on that promise he will have to manage the cobbles in good enough stead. Laurance of Tafjord - Kraft also stands out as bringing enough versatility to be a serious contender for a strong result.
The Startlist:
We'll see who survives and thrives In Flanders Fields!
Edited by jackgibbs on 06-11-2026 02:37
|
| |
|
|
| Ulrich Ulriksen |
Posted on 06-11-2026 02:26
|
Directeur Sportif
Posts: 4400
Joined: 02-11-2010
PCM$: 300.00
|
First C2 race for us, not one of our favorites, but brought all the attackers in the hope that cobbles doesn't play too strong. Field looks too deep though.
Good luck to all.
Man Game: McCormick Pro Cycling |
| |
|
|
| trekbmc |
Posted on 06-11-2026 05:46
|
Team Leader
Posts: 7430
Joined: 11-07-2014
PCM$: 900.00
|
Shooting myself in the foot by not realising I could do HC races means I really need Neilands to make the most of the chances he actually gets, so kinda aiming for the win here.
That said it's clear from last year that stamina is the most important stat, so might be difficult to compete with De Gendt and Serrano. Was hoping for some depth points from Muhindo too but given he's not even good enough to make the preview maybe got to reconsider that. 
Thanks for the preview Jack!
"What done is, is one." - Benji Naesen
|
| |
|
|
| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 06-11-2026 06:05
|
Tour de France Champion
Posts: 18101
Joined: 12-05-2012
PCM$: 0.00
|
C2 lets goooo!!!! Did we send the Fijian climber here? You bet we did!
|
| |
|
|
| Fabianski |
Posted on 06-11-2026 06:32
|
Team Leader
Posts: 5552
Joined: 29-09-2018
PCM$: 185.00
|
Looking forward to Sommer's first appearance as a team leader 
I think he should actually have some decent chances for a Top 10 here; his good Fl comes in handy in the windy sections, stamina should be good enough - and then there's some decent sprinting as well. Good package.
Not as good as De Gendt obviously, who should indeed be the favourite. But we'll see
Thanks for the preview, good luck to all!
|
| |
|
|
| cunego59 |
Posted on 06-11-2026 07:20
|
Team Manager
Posts: 6809
Joined: 14-09-2008
PCM$: 1290.00
|
Easily the strongest CT cobbles field I can remember, so I'm again quite happy with the decision to pivot away from those for our C2 race days. I'm curious to see how the PCT teams will fare who made the opposite decision.
Fun and thorough preview jack, thank you! Good luck everyone!
|
| |
|
|
| Marcovdw |
Posted on 06-11-2026 07:20
|
Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8018
Joined: 04-07-2012
PCM$: 25745.00
|
C2 cobbles seem more enjoyable, but it might not be the gold mine it was last season
|
| |
|
|
| Laurens147 |
Posted on 06-11-2026 07:53
|
Sprinter
Posts: 1814
Joined: 26-04-2020
PCM$: 900.00
|
All hopes on Ariesen for this one  Thanks jack for the preview!
MG - Lotto - Caloi
[MG] New Manager of the Year - PCM.daily Awards 2022
|
| |
|
|
| Ad Bot |
Posted on 07-11-2026 23:45
|
Bot Agent
Posts: Countless
Joined: 23.11.09
|
|
| IP: None |
|
|
| Imladrik |
Posted on 06-11-2026 15:19
|
Protected Rider
Posts: 1384
Joined: 05-10-2021
PCM$: 700.00
|
We have a good number of competent cobblers for this race, so the goal will be to isolate the other favorites while we can go with Darbynyan and Serrano.
Stocek more here as a support for the hills, even if he's not too bad on the cobbles, and I wouldn't mind a daring attack on the last climb, but I'd focus of my 2 cobblers.
Thanks for the preview, good luck everyone.
“...the secret of the Great Stories is that they have no secrets. The Great Stories are the ones you have heard and want to hear again. The ones you can enter anywhere and inhabit comfortably."
A. Roy
|
| |
|
|
| Caspi |
Posted on 07-11-2026 10:54
|
Protected Rider
Posts: 1159
Joined: 22-09-2022
PCM$: 19800.00
|
Another fantastic preview Jack.
I would mention Medvedev over some of the other 50 riders although his high stamina alone shouldn't be enough for the win.
Goal race for us, and the top 5 looks manageable. With the luck we've had so far this season, we might have to settle for 6th place however.
|
| |
|
|
| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 07-11-2026 12:23
|
Tour de France Champion
Posts: 18101
Joined: 12-05-2012
PCM$: 0.00
|
Is it better or worse that Marte's performance here was roughly equivalent with Spenglers in Le Samyn?
Horrid duo of races for the BMF's...
|
| |
|
|
| Caspi |
Posted on 07-11-2026 12:28
|
Protected Rider
Posts: 1159
Joined: 22-09-2022
PCM$: 19800.00
|
Well, that was disappointing.
Owen missed the decisive move and thereby our sponsor objective. There should have been plenty of support though, with Medvedev even recognized as top 10 favorite by PCM.
Thanks for the report KB.
|
| |
|
|
| trekbmc |
Posted on 07-11-2026 12:37
|
Team Leader
Posts: 7430
Joined: 11-07-2014
PCM$: 900.00
|
Back down to Earth after Tachira.
Guess Neilands caught whatever Cras had. Can't complain at all but would appreciate if anybody has any insight into what happened. It doesn't even look like he was pulling turns so really seems bizarre.
Big race for the PCT teams. Grats to Fabianski for the win - Sommer has a really nice stat profile for C2. And Thanks for the report.
"What done is, is one." - Benji Naesen
|
| |
|
|
| Laurens147 |
Posted on 07-11-2026 12:43
|
Sprinter
Posts: 1814
Joined: 26-04-2020
PCM$: 900.00
|
Great race for us, finishing 5th, 8th and 14th. WVA in the early break with Rangel, who rode an incredible race. Berckmoes being the best of Ariesen, also didn’t expect that to be honest.
Congrats Fabi and thanks KB for the report!
MG - Lotto - Caloi
[MG] New Manager of the Year - PCM.daily Awards 2022
|
| |
|
|
| Ulrich Ulriksen |
Posted on 07-11-2026 16:28
|
Directeur Sportif
Posts: 4400
Joined: 02-11-2010
PCM$: 300.00
|
Got my wish and we put one of our stronger riders in the break and paid off with a few points. Still was not a race we expected to have a big imapct.
Congrats to Fab on a really nice win and thanks for the report.
Man Game: McCormick Pro Cycling |
| |
|
|
| Fabianski |
Posted on 07-11-2026 22:07
|
Team Leader
Posts: 5552
Joined: 29-09-2018
PCM$: 185.00
|
Really feels like a joke - the first classic we win this year is a cobbled one 
Fantastic job by Sommer, he must have had really, really good legs, and also played his cards perfectly well. Of course, the race really suited him - high Fl and good Sta were absolutely needed on this crosswind course - and then he still was able to play his bonus card which is the sprint. He's only our second winner in a cobble classic - after Eddie Theuns... of course, it was just a C2 race, but a win is a win
And of course, I was hoping for a top result this year, just to quote this from the Heine vs. Claude preview:
Negative Surprise
Jan Sommer [...] Dead weight in an otherwise excellent squad.
Well done, "dead weight"
|
| |
|
|
| betancur |
Posted on 07-11-2026 22:59
|
Free Agent
Posts: 100
Joined: 19-07-2026
PCM$: 100.00
|
Terrible race, questionable strategies |
| |
|
