Mathieu van der Poel spent the weekend doing everyone’s work for them — winning E3 solo on Friday, then towing Wout van Aert around Flanders on Sunday — only to hand the victory gift-wrapped to his own teammate. Jasper Philipsen, who had the good sense to stay in the bunch and save his legs, duly obliged. Wout’s radio was broken, which is either a convenient excuse or a metaphor for the whole afternoon. Meanwhile, Lorena Wiebes won Gent-Wevelgem for the third year running, nearly celebrated too early, and still won. Jonas Vingegaard quietly dominated Catalunya while everyone was watching the cobbles. And somewhere in Belgium, a race that used to start in Ghent changed its name for financial reasons, which went down about as well as you’d expect.
TOP STORY
- Riders’ Reflections on Historic Gent-Wevelgem
RACE NEWS
- Vingegaard Storms to Catalunya Glory with Mountain Masterclass
- Van der Poel Foils a Surprise Ending at E3
Wiebes Makes History with Third Straight Gent-Wevelgem Title
- The Winner of the PEZ “Weekend Omnium” Is…
- “That centimeter makes all the difference in the world” — Steve Bauer Reflects on Paris-Roubaix
TEAM AND RIDER NEWS
- Venturini Sprints to Victory at La Roue Tourangelle as Unibet Rose Rockets Continue Brilliant Run
Riders’ Reflections on Historic Gent-Wevelgem
Gent-Wevelgem; “In Flanders Fields”. Call it what you will; we call it a palate cleanser between monuments, but always an exciting race by its own rights.
Here’s what some of the featured riders — and others — had to say about Sunday’s Belgian thriller:
- Winner Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech): “This race has been one I’ve been wanting to win for many years but never had the legs in the end. Everything came together…With Mathieu in the front it was the ideal situation for the team. A few kilometres before the final he said he didn’t have the best legs because of Friday but if you can still ride away with two they can’t have been too bad. “
- Philipsen’s teammate Mathieu van der Poel: “We were both also keeping something for the sprint as well. If we had gone all out, not thinking about it, we could have made it to the finish. Without Jasper in the back, it would have been a different story…[Wout van Aert’s] radio wasn’t working, he was just asking what the time gap was.” Oh Wout…
- Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease A Bike): “It was somewhat inevitable in the final, because the peloton was closing in quickly. The collaboration with Mathieu was good, but he had the luxury of Philipsen still being behind him, which allowed him to race a bit more defensively at the end.”
- Arthur van Dongen (Visma Sports Director): “It was clear that Mathieu was not pulling full gas. But I think that was a good tactic for them.”
- Florian Vermeersch (UAE-Team Emirates XRG; dropped on final trip up the Kemmelberg): Described van der Poel and van Aert as “trying to hurt each other.”
- Tomas van den Spiegel (Flanders Classics CEO, on the name change): “The race has not started in Ghent for years, so at some point it is only logical that the investing cities want to see their investment reflected. Now that we have signed a ten-year contract with Middelkerke, it was time to make the change.”
- Mike Fee (EuroTrash Editor and All-Around Loose Cannon): “That’s a pretty dumb quote. Cycling fans are traditionalists. Making this explicit that this is all about the euros won’t get any purchase with us aficionados; better to mention the fact that the race passes along hallowed ground — and even invoke the famous poem after which the race is now named.”
RACE NEWS
Vingegaard Storms to Catalunya Glory with Mountain Masterclass
Jonas Vingegaard delivered one of the most dominant performances of his career to claim overall victory at the 2026 Volta a Catalunya, sealing his second major stage race title of the season.
Stage 4, from Mataró to Camprodon, was won by Ethan Vernon, with strong winds forcing organizers to shorten the route, removing the original summit finish. Vernon timed his sprint to perfection, edging Dorian Godon and Tom Pidcock, as Vingegaard sat fourth overall — quietly biding his time.
The race changed dramatically on Stage 5. Vingegaard dominated the mountaintop finish to Coll de Pal, seizing the race lead with a commanding solo victory. The stage was also marred by a frightening incident involving Tom Pidcock, who crashed into a ravine during a descent, out of sight of the race. The Briton escaped serious injury but his GC hopes were dashed.
Stage 6 saw Vingegaard tighten his grip further, attacking on the final climb to Queralt to distance all rivals and take a major step toward overall victory. Lenny Martinez and Florian Lipowitz finished second and third on the stage — and those positions were also reflected in the general classification.
The final stage in Barcelona was won by Australian rider Brady Gilmore, who sprinted to victory on the Montjuïc circuit, edging Dorian Godon and Remco Evenepoel.
But the day belonged to Vingegaard. The two-time Tour de France champion, who also won Paris-Nice earlier in March, is now building toward an ambitious Giro d’Italia and Tour de France double.
Top Ten in GC — 105th Volta Ciclista a Catalunya — courtesy of Pro Cycling Stats
Van der Poel Foils a Surprise Ending at E3
If you scripted it, they’d say it was too far-fetched. Mathieu van der Poel, creaking on empty, a four-man chase breathing down his neck under the flamme rouge, gaps measured in heartbeats — and somehow, the Dutchman finds one last match to strike, just as the chasers waver. That’s what we got in Harelbeke on Friday, and it was glorious.
Van der Poel (Alpecin–Premier Tech) claimed the hat-trick, but this was no cruise. He attacked on the Paterberg as tradition demands, crested the Kwaremont alone, and looked comfortable enough — until the race decided to get interesting. Behind, Hagenes, Vermeersch, Dewulf — a last remnant of the day’s breakaway — and Abrahamsen clicked into gear and began eating into his lead with terrifying efficiency. Forty-five seconds became twenty. Twenty became five. Under the flamme rouge, the win was genuinely there for the taking. No one thought he wasn’t going to get caught.
But in a frozen second of tactical hesitation — Vermeersch sat up, Hagenes sat on, everyone waited for someone else to pull through — van der Poel kicked one final time. It wasn’t pretty, but it was enough. He crossed the line four seconds clear, arms raised, then collapsed over his bars looking like a man who’d spent every last euro. (And as we know, he has euros to spend.)
Hagenes nipped Vermeersch for second. Dewulf rolled in fourth after a heroic day in the break and the chase. Pre-race co-favorite Mads Pedersen hadn’t kept pace through the ‘bergs, and finished 9th.
Three E3 titles. A week out from De Ronde and a week after sputtering at MSR, the MVDP machine continues to roll — even when it’s running on fumes. We fans are better for it!
Top Ten — 68th E3 Saxo Classic (courtesy of Pro Cycling Stats)
Wiebes Makes History with Third Straight Gent-Wevelgem Title
Lorena Wiebes delivered one of the most complete performances of her career on Sunday, claiming a record third consecutive victory at In Flanders Fields — the race formerly known as Gent-Wevelgem — finishing ahead of Fleur Moors (Lidl-Trek) and Karlijn Swinkels (UAE Team ADQ) in Wevelgem.
The Dutch rider had been marked as the clear favorite for a bunch sprint, but instead took control on the final climb, forcing a decisive selection that ultimately shaped the outcome of the 135.2km race.
An attack by Silvia Persico on the Baneberg had led to a group of 14 riders getting away, and from that group, Wiebes pushed hard on the Kemmelberg. Only Elise Chabbey, Eleonora Gasparrini, Moors, and Swinkels could follow her over the top, setting up a tense 35-kilometer run to the line.
Helped by a cross-tailwind, the five frontrunners steadily increased their advantage over the chasers, who were eventually swept up by the peloton with around 15km remaining.
The finale was not without drama. Wiebes closed down attacks before initiating a very early sprint — from the front — and holding on for victory. She even began celebrating early — a near-costly moment as Moors challenged hard. She ultimately won by a wheel length.
Wiebes acknowledged that the win gives her confidence ahead of the Tour of Flanders next Sunday, a race she is now widely tipped to challenge for. With her ability to survive the hardest climbs and still outsprint her rivals, she is looking increasingly dangerous across the full spectrum of spring Classics.
Top Ten — 13th In Flanders Fields — In Wevelgem (courtesy of Pro Cycling Stats)
The Winner of the PEZ “Weekend Omnium” Is…
…not Mathieu van der Poel.
The winner of E3, MVDP appeared to be on his way to at least a podium finish at Gent-Wevelgem — until his mini-break with Wout van Aert was swallowed by a dramatically reduced peloton. Had he stayed away, he’d have been a shoo-in.
(Here at Pez, we start our weekend on Fridays — and we’re in awe of anyone who can race 2 classics in 3 days. So the Weekend Omnium Award counts if it’s a Friday-Sunday pairing.)
Instead, our second-ever Weekend Omnium Award goes to…Tobias Lund Andresen of Decathlon. He pulled off a 6th-place finish at E3 Friday, and then followed that with a podium finish — second place — at Gent-Wevelgem, very nearly pipping Jasper Philipsen at the line.
Congratulations, Tobias! We’re in awe of your recovery ability.
“That centimeter makes all the difference in the world” — Steve Bauer Reflects on Paris-Roubaix
The legend of Paris-Roubaix is defined by more than its victors. Few stories capture this better than Steve Bauer’s heartbreaking 1990 finish, still considered the closest in the race’s history.
After 265 kilometres and over 55 km of cobblestones, Bauer, Eddy Planckaert, and Edwig Van Hooydonck arrived at the Roubaix velodrome together. The Canadian felt he had ridden a near-perfect race, patiently biding his time before attacking at Cysoing and believing himself the strongest rider at the Carrefour de l’Arbre. But he couldn’t shake his rivals, and it came down to a sprint.
Nobody raised their arms after the finish. Ten agonising minutes later, officials declared Planckaert the winner — by less than a centimetre.
“I made the right decisions all the way to the final metre,” Bauer recalls. “The only way I lost the race was I didn’t time the bike throw. And neither did Planckaert. But that centimetre he was in front makes all the difference in the world.”
His track background gave him confidence on the velodrome, and he rates the sprint itself highly despite the outcome. “I still did quite a fantastic sprint,” he says. “You’re pushing so hard, you just see black.”
Despite eleven starts between 1985 and 1995, Bauer never claimed the cobblestone trophy. Yet he carries no bitterness. “I was really going to win the race — which is something nice to remember.”
Now a sporting manager, Bauer still chases Roubaix glory, this time from the team car.
Thanks to the organizers of Paris-Roubaix — now known as Paris-Roubaix Hauts-de France — for another bit of historical perspective (and the European spellings).
TEAM AND RIDER NEWS
Venturini Sprints to Victory at La Roue Tourangelle as Unibet Rose Rockets Continue Brilliant Run
(Note: I’m putting this in the “Team and Rider News” section because it’s really about Unibet Rose Rockets, everyone’s oddly-named upstart team.)
Clément Venturini delivered Unibet Rose Rockets their fifth victory of the season on Sunday, claiming a well-timed sprint win at La Roue Tourangelle in France’s Centre-Val de Loire region.
The 24th edition of the 201-kilometre one-day race, run from Château Renault to Tours, had been billed as a chance for in-form Dylan Groenewegen to add a French triumph to his three consecutive Belgian victories. However, the Dutch sprinter was unable to impose himself on a demanding, undulating course against rivals including Bryan Coquard and Milan Menten.
The race was shaped by an early breakaway featuring Kenny Molly, Théo Delacroix, and Joeri Schaper, who led for much of the day before being overtaken by events. With 16 kilometres remaining, a new group bridged across on the Côte de l’Epan, bringing Venturini, Coquard, Mathis Le Berre, Aubin Sparfel, Stan Van Tricht, and Martin Marcellusi to the front.
That lead group successfully held off the peloton in the closing kilometres, setting up a sprint finish that Venturini controlled with authority. Marcellusi and Matys Grisel completed the podium behind the triumphant Frenchman.
Top Ten – 24th La Roue Tourangelle – Courtesy of Pro Cycling Stats
Gent-Wevelgem — In Flanders Fields — passes right through the Menin Gate, a place of real reverence that Richard visited last fall. His video is worth a watch.
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