Since 1934, Gent-Wevelgem has marked the start of the Flemish Classics week, taking place on the last Sunday before the lead-up to the monument, Tour of Flanders.
We’ve already seen some incredible racing during this year’s classics season, and Sunday’s Gent-Wevelgem will be an exciting next installment of the cobbled battles between a formidable roster of favorites in both the women’s and the men’s races.
How to watch Gent-Wevelgem 2023
Both the men’s and the women’s races will be broadcast live and available for streaming after the fact on FloBikes.
Unfortunately, FloBikes has a pretty disappointing track record for the quality of its women’s racing coverage, and it will be interesting to see if we will actually get to see a meaningful amount of the women’s race instead of just the last 20K, and whether there will actually be an announcer instead of just the ambient noise of a helicopter (yes, the women’s racing coverage on FloBikes has actually been that bad this year).
Gent-Wevelgem is taking place on Sunday, March 26th, with the men’s race starting at 7:00 a.m. EDT. The women’s race begins afterward at 10:15 a.m. EDT.
The riders we’ll be watching
Wout Van Aert (Jumbo Visma) has said that Gent-Wevelgem is one he’s targeting this year, and he will be flying into this race on the wings of his knock-out sprint finish at E3 Saxo Classic.
Another favorite is last year’s winner Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty), who made history as Gent-Wevelgem’s first African winner in its 89-year history.
In the women’s race, Elisa Balsamo (Trek-Segafredo) will be defending her champion’s title with the help of her teammate Shirin van Anrooij, who’s fresh off of winning Trofeo Alfredo Binda.