John Degenkolb (Giant-Shimano) has won the spring classic Gent-Wevelgem. In the sprint he sat ahead of the Frenchman Arnaud Demaré (FDJ.fr) and last year's winner Peter Sagan (Cannondale). This makes him the first German since Marcus Burghardt in 2007 to win the classic.
"I've already won a few big races", so Degenkolb at the finish, “But this classic is something very special and a good revenge for my bad luck with equipment last weekend [near Milan-San Remo]".
The finale of the race could not have been more exciting. After a leading group around the Swiss Marcel Aregger (IAM) dominated events at the top for a long time, the favorites at the Kemmelberg got serious. Fabian Cancellara (Trek) and Sagan were not only at the front, but also caused the field to split. In the leading group of around forty men there were other well-known drivers with Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), André Greipel (Lotto Belisol) and Sep Vanmarcke (Belkin).
But it was none of the three who looked for the offensive. Instead, Sylvain Dillier (BMC), Stijn Devolder (Trek) and Andrey Amador (Movistar) tried to escape. And this seemed to be successful at first. However, under the devil's rag, the trio were caught again. After that, two crashes, in which riders from the NetApp-Endura team were also involved, overshadowed the sprint final. Here Degenkolb came off Sagan's rear wheel late. The right tactic, as he made clear with his punch. André Greipel had a fall together with Tyler Farrar (Garmin Sharp) eight kilometers from the finish.
Result
1. John Degenkolb (Giant Shimano)
2. Arnaud Demaré (FDJ.fr)
3. Peter Sagan (Cannondale)
4 Sep Vanmarcke (Belkin)
5. Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-QuickStep)