Gent - Wevelgem in Flanders Field 2023 March 26, 260.9 km (1.WT)

[Ilmaestro99]

Barf.

What's wrong mate

 

[Riek s]

I don't see how this is good for anyone.

surely for Laporte? a classic on his palmares. and at worst it is remembered as 2 jumbos riding the peleton in crumbles and he got the win on his name.

Ofcourse it would have been nicer if they sprinted, but even then we would say Wout didn't fully commit to his sprint if he lost.

 

[Aimar16]

Van Baarle - Omloop
Benoot - Kuurne
WVA - E3
Laporte - Gent
Van Hooydonck - Dwars?
Tratnik - Ronde?
Kooij - Scheldeprijs?

Roglic - Giro

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

Lots of tears here today, and more stupid comments about Wout. He is so inside your heads.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

An aged Vanmarcke who missed a race four days ago due to illness has now had a far better cobbled campaign than all of Soudal combined.

And it's beautiful.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Laporte is brought in to help Wout win races, not blatantly steal a race he would've won anyways. He better be good next Sunday..

 

[jmdirt]

WTH?!

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

This aged well.

You think that changed anything? lol

 

[Jagartrott]

Not gifting big races to inferior riders to keep them happy (does Laporte not get paid?) is not being a good DS? You think big champions generally give away races of this calibre to keep their domestiques happy? looool

Van Aert is both a champion and a nice guy. I think what he did was great. Kudos to him, he will have made new fans today.

 

[tobydawq]

I made the cash out... gained 20 euros when I could win 72 euros

Sorry.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Van Aert is both a champion and a nice guy. I think what he did was great. Kudos to him, he will have made new fans today.

And lost old ones.

 

[Didinho]

Once again WVA loses the sprint in a 260k race.

He gifted him because he didn't want the humiliation of losing the sprint.

 

[fmk_RoI]

1-2-8.

Lousy day for TJV, they should be ashamed with themselves. Must try harder.

 

[search]

a gifted victory never looks great indeed, but it's not like a win for van Aert would have been a given in a sprint between those two. Laporte is fast as well after a hard race. Would actually have liked to see that

 

[tobydawq]

What's wrong mate

I can relate. I can imagine my fury if Sagan had ever done this. 2013 Strade was bad enough but at least it wasn't like this.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Van Aert also gifted the Tour to a teammate last year. He's a gracious guy.

But it might hurt his palmares, if he can't follow Van der Poel and/or Pogačar in the bigger races.

 

[Valv.Piti]

a gifted victory never looks great indeed, but it's not like a win for van Aert would have been a given in a sprint between those two. Laporte is fast as well after a hard race. Would actually have liked to see that

Laporte would have had a chance only because Wout rode at the front for 80% of the time. Come on

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

a gifted victory never looks great indeed, but it's not like a win for van Aert would have been a given in a sprint between those two. Laporte is fast as well after a hard race. Would actually have liked to see that

What sprint? He could have dropped him 50k ago.

 

[Red Rick]

The biggest loser today is Selfish Van Aert memes.

 

[BR2]

a gifted victory never looks great indeed, but it's not like a win for van Aert would have been a given in a sprint between those two. Laporte is fast as well after a hard race. Would actually have liked to see that

And it would be more respectful to the viewers and cycling.
It would be different if Laporte would always work his ass off for van Wout, so that Wout won races above his personal quality. That's not the situation here.

 

[DoYouEvenRideBruh]

Tbh Wout doesn't win enough of the big races to afford giving away something like GW.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

QS?

 

[Mayomaniac]

a gifted victory never looks great indeed, but it's not like a win for van Aert would have been a given in a sprint between those two. Laporte is fast as well after a hard race. Would actually have liked to see that

Yeah, an actual sprint between the 2 to settle things would have been interesting . Not a fan of the team car deciding who wins or teammates holding hands in one day races (gifting a stage win in a gt after dropping your main rivals is something else).

 

[tobydawq]

Alexis Renard beating Olav Kooij in the sprint for 7th.

Didn't see that coming.

 

[search]

What sprint? He could have dropped him 50k ago.

could, yes, but the gap wasn't big enough at that point. They would have stayed together even if they were riding for different teams.