Male Team 11 Oct
Gent-Wevelgem
141.4 Kilometers
The Northern Classics, over the cobbled roads in Belgium, were cut in half in the calendar due to the pandemic -and Paris-Roubaix has ended up being cancelled outright-. Now, the Movistar Team gets back on track near the end of its 2020 season, with two appearances starting with Gent-Wevelgem, which combines cobblestones and hills with three gravel road sections, called ‘plugstreets’, halfway through the 141km course.
The so-called Hill 63, Christmas Truce and The Catacombs sectors, names inevitably bringing our minds to the battlefields of World War I this race takes place at, are interlayed between the race’s seven climbs. The best known ascents, ridden consecutively in barely 2km, are the Monteberg and the Kemmelberg, the latter on cobblestones and last crested with 35km to go. Strong winds and bad weather usually play an impact on the flat roads before the finish, as attacks and pursuit groups try to avoid the most likely bunch sprint finish.