Gent-Wevelgem: The Reactions

In a very tight sprint decision, Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx – Protime) won Gent-Wevelgem in Flanders Fields for a first time in her career. Afterwards the dutch rider admitted, that this was a big goal of her since years. Wiebes beat Elisa Balsamo (Lidl – Trek) by just a few centimeters and Chiara Consonni (UAE Team ADQ) sprinted to third place.

After the finish we talked to the winner, as well as Balsamo’s dutch teammate Shirin van Anrooij (Lidl  Trek) and Amalie Dideriksen (Uno-X Mobility) of Denmark. Watch our interviews and also read the comments of some other important riders from Sunday’s race!

Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx – Protime / Winner)

“I was afraid to say it was a goal because now it’s a few years that I say it’s a big goal to win this and it wasn’t successful at all. If the team doesn’t bring you in a good position, you cannot win. And I think we showed as a team again that we are super strong and in shape and it was nice to make the race hard.”

Elisa Balsamo (Lidl – Trek / 2nd Place)

“We just spoke with the team and debriefed. We actually did a really good race. My teammates did a great job. It was a good sprint but I just missed for a little bit. For sure I wanted to win, but also second place is good. I know that next week will be really hard, but we will fight to get revenge.”

Chiara Consonni (UAE Team ADQ / 3rd Place)

“I am very happy with this result. Gent-Wevelgem is a race I like a lot, every year I come here to do well and this year I got a good third place. The podium was my goal and we achieved it. I am happy for my team, my teammates did a great job and I have to thank them. Unfortunately, Silvia Persico had a problem in the final kilometres, but Karlijn Swinkels and Eugenia Bujak did a great job for me.”

Shirin van Anrooij (Lidl – Trek / 32nd Place)

“I was just not really good at the positioning today in the stressful bunch. But, yeah, I survived the last Kemmelberg, which was nice. And then we just waited in the first group for Balsamo to get back and in the end it was super close, but a second place. But it was, again, another super strong race from the team and from Elisa. I think that we’re also just really proud of Elisa to be there again and that we were there with five in the final. Lucinda had some bad luck today with bike changes and everything, so, yeah, we were up there and in the end it was super close and, yeah, better luck next time, I guess, the way the team raced.”

Amalie Dideriksen (Uno-X Mobility / 76th Place)

“It was a tough day for everybody, I think it’s a long day, quite windy, so quite stressful before the climb starts. So, yeah, I guess the pressure is on more or less the whole day. I tried to do my best for the teammates and tried to set them up. Yeah, Top 5 for us. I don’t know how they feel about it, but I think we should be proud. I think today there was wind, but actually not really enough to really split and make the huge difference.”