UAE Team Emirates-XRG gear up for In Flanders Fields – From Middelkerke to Wevelgem

To round out a week of cobbled Classics action in Belgium, the race formerly known as Gent-Wevelgem will take place on Sunday, 29 March. Now called In Flanders Fields – From Middelkerke to Wevelgem, the one-day race will see UAE Team Emirates-XRG look to regain the title the team claimed in 2019.

Back then, it was Alexander Kristoff who triumphed for the Emirati squad, with the team taking another podium place through Matteo Trentin in 2021. Looking to direct another positive performance on Sunday, experienced Sports Directors Fabio Baldato and Marco Marcato will be in the team car for UAE Team Emirates-XRG.

From there, they will watch Sebastián Molano, Nils Politt and Florian Vermeersch lead a seven-man squad that looks ready to compete on all fronts.

Together, the trio will be joined on the start line by teammates Mikkel Bjerg, Luca Giaimi, Julius Johansen and Rui Oliveira. For Bjerg, it is the Dane’s second race since returning to competition earlier this week.

In Flanders Fields – From Middelkerke to Wevelgem should bring back good memories for the rouleur, with Bjerg having ridden to sixth here in 2023. On that day, the race was blown to pieces in inclement conditions, and Bjerg battled hard to take an impressive top-10 finish across the line.

That edition was indicative of how attritional the 1.UWT race has become in recent years.

Indeed, once an annual target for many of the peloton’s sprinters, Gent-Wevelgem last finished in a sprint of more than ten riders when Kristoff claimed the win in 2019. Since then, the honours have often been decided amongst groups of twos, threes, and fours, with Mads Pedersen of Lidl-Trek putting on a solo exhibition this time last year.

Despite the name change, In Flanders Fields – From Middelkerke to Wevelgem will serve up the usual route for the peloton. That means three gravel sectors, nine climbs and the chance for crosswinds to cause chaos around De Moeren. Sunday’s forecast is for a cross-tailwind of up to 20km/h, before a tailwind takes the riders to Wevelgem in the finale.

Such wind conditions should create favourable moments for opportunists in the finale, with the last 35km raced on flat, straight roads to the finish, after the last ascent of the Kemmelberg (700m at 10%). Also on the route will be the Monteberg, Scherpenberg, and the Baneberg.

Raced across many of the battlefields of the World Wars, In Flanders Fields – From Middelkerke to Wevelgem pays homage to the fallen, and it is on the gravel plugstreets that this is most poignant.

The 88th edition of this race will run, as has been made obvious by the name change, from Middelkerke to Wevelgem, with another chapter to be written into the history of this 92-year-old Classic.