As it happened: Jumbo-Visma dominant again at Gent-Wevelgem

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Gent-Wevelgem 2023!

We're just a few minutes from the start, where the peloton will roll out into the neutral zone in Ypres.

A few non-starters on the list so far today – Astana's Mark Cavendish and Israel-Premier Tech duo Rick Zabel and Hugo Houle.

A look at the map of today's race. The route swings around south towards Wevelgem early on before heading north for the coast and the winds of De Moeren. Then it's back south for the cobbles, the climbs, the Kemmelberg, before going on through Ypres again on to the finish.

In addition to Cavendish, Houle and Zabel, Benjamin Perry (Human Powered Health) and Andrii Ponomar (Arkéa-Samsic) won't be starting today.

Otto Vergaerde (Trek-Segafredo) is also a DNS today.

The riders have started the race proper now. Attacks flying as they leave Ypres but no break yet.

248km to go

Six riders have a gap of a few seconds.

Lewis Askey (Groupama-FDJ) is in the move. Johan Jacobs (Movistar) also there with several riders from ProTeams Human Powered Health, Flanders-Baloise, and Bingoal WB.

The group only has around 10-15 seconds at the moment on these flat early roads.

Milan Fretin (Flanders-Baloise), Luca Van Boven (Bingoal WB) and Human Powered Health pairing Colin Joyce and Gijs Van Hoecke are also in the move.

243km to go

Van Hoecke drops from the attack.

Still only a small gap for those out front at the moment.

Askey, Jacobs, Fretin, Van Boven, and Joyce aren't being given any leeway by the peloton.

Kasper Asgreen (Soudal-QuickStep) has an early puncture, while Søren Kragh Andersen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) also stopped for some mechanical assistance not long ago.

235km to go

A very quick start here – the average speed so far is 47kph.

A counter-attack from Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) and Damien Touzé (AG2R Citroën) comes to nothing.

The six out front have 20 seconds on the peloton currently.

225km to go

More attacks from behind as the leaders hold on to their slender advantage.

A bike change for Arnaud De Lie, while Wout van Aert visits the team car.

A look back at the start at the Menin Gate in Ypres today.

Askey, Fretin, Van Boven, Jacobs, and Joyce remain out in front 20-25 seconds up on the peloton.

215km to go

Almost an hour of racing done and we don't yet have a solid breakaway out front. Five men out there but the gap is still small.

Now there's another counter-attack from the peloton.

Greg Van Avermaet (AG2R Citroën), Yevgeniy Fedorov (Astana Qazaqstan), and Jelle Wallays (Cofidis) are on the move.

Geoffrey Soupe (TotalEnergies) also on the move.

Soupe now back in the peloton as Van Avermaet, Fedorov and Wallays continue their move.

208km to go

40 seconds between the peloton and the original breakaway five. Van Avermaet's group is right in the middle.

Defending champion Biniam Girmay is back at his team car for some assistance.

Van Avermaet's group are almost with the leaders now.

205km to go

Puncture for Caleb Ewan as Jasper Philipsen heads back to his team car.

Correction – it's Jelle Wallays (Cofidis), not Danny van Poppel (Bora-Hansgrohe) in the group with Van Avermaet and Fedorov.

Race radio had called Van Poppel's number 87 rather than Wallays' 97.

Now another counter-attack is launched from the peloton.

Mike Teunissen (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) leads it along with Jenthe Biermans (Arkéa-Samsic), Sandy Dujardin (TotalEnergies), Elmar Reinders (Jayco-AlUla), Aaron Van Poucke (Flanders Baloise), and Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Bingoal WB).

The situation at the moment...

The leading five have 10 seconds on Van Avermaet's group. Teunissen's move is 40 seconds down, while the peloton is at 50 seconds.

195km to go

And now Van Avermaet, Fedorov and Wallays have caught the leaders.

Eight leaders now.

The peloton has slowed down in recent kilometres. The break now has over three minutes of an advantage.

Teunissen's group chase at around two minutes back.

185km to go

They're closing in, though.

A minute for Teunissen and co.

Four minutes for the leaders now.

Van Avermaet and Jacobs lead the break.

Teunissen's group is still fighting to get across. 40 seconds to the leaders now.

Flat ground here for the riders – we're still some way away from the hills and cobbles of the second half of the race. The riders are currently heading north towards the coast.

165km to go

Teunissen, Biermans, Dujardin, Reinders, Van Poucke, and Van Keirsbulck have finally caught the lead group. Now 14 in the break.

Meanwhile, it's all kicking off on the final stage of the Volta a Catalunya as the riders hit the final 30km of the race. We'll have a full race report coming up as soon as it finishes.

3:15 for the large breakaway group. It's a calm situation at the moment.

A grey day out in Flanders today.

The lead group, clad in their rain gear, are working well together. Still 3:10 back to the peloton.

150km to go

The riders have passed through the marshlands of De Moeren without incident. THe wind wasn't high enough to have a major effect today.

A couple of notable names in the breakaway, including Teunissen, Wallays and Askey.

Van Avermaet is the only previous winner of the race up there, however. He beat Jens Keukeleire in a two-up sprint back in 2017.

Back in the peloton it's Jumbo-Visma and Soudal-QuickStep doing the work with those well-known workhorses Jos Van Emden and Tim Declercq leading the way.

Rain gear all round in the peloton, mostly black. It's still easy to pick out EF Education-EasyPost, though, even if identifying the individual riders is still a little tougher.

137km to go

Bad news for EF, though, as Lukasz Wiśniowski goes down in a crash.

Declercq still plugging away at the front – isn't he always? – as the gap comes down to 2:30.

Wiśniowski abandoned the race after his crash.

Jonathan Milan (Bahrain Victorious) and Jake Stewart (Groupama-FDJ) are among several riders caught in a crash.

125km to go

Michał Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) is also involved. He looks to have gone down hard.

Good news – Kwiatkowski is back on his feet.

117km to go

2:35 for the breakaway at the moment. No major changes in the situation.

Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) has abandoned the race, so one less sprinter for the final.

The Volta a Catalunya has just finished with one final battle between Remco Evenepoel and Primož Roglič.

Check out our stage 7 report here

2022 winner Biniam GIrmay has gone down in a crash. He's quickly back up and running and looks to have narrowly avoided a couple of bollards at the side of the road.

Declercq and Van Emden continue at the head of the peloton. UAE Team Emirates also at the front.

A look at the peloton during this grim day out in Flanders.

Kwiatkowski has abandoned following his earlier crash.

105km to go

The Scherpenberg (2.1km at 2.3%) is the first climb of the day, coming up in a few kilometres.

Girmay is back in the peloton following his crash, by the way.

A 45.7kph average speed so far today.

100km to go

Ineos Grenadiers, Bahrain Victorious, and UAE Team Emirates also up front with Jumbo-Visma and Soudal-QuickStep as we near the hills.

A front wheel change for Classic Brugge-De Panne winner Jasper Philipsen.

A look at the tangled bikes following the crash that took Kwiatkowski out of the race earlier on.

2:20 for the breakaway.

The breakaway reaches the Scherpenberg. The Baneberg, Monteberg, and Kemmelberg come in quick succession after his hill.

No big moves on the first climb of the day, obviously, though the gap to the break has come down to just under two minutes.

The Baneberg coming up now.

The breakaway riders still all together so far.

88km to go

Nils Politt (Bora-Hansgrohe) on the front along with Ineos Grenadiers.

Van Poucke stops from the break to get a bike change.

1:50 back to the peloton as the riders approach the Monteberg and Kemmelberg.

Lotto-Dstny and Trek-Segafredo also towards the head of the peloton.

A small split in the peloton and a long line of riders trails a handful of metres behind the packed main group.

Van Poucke back in the breakaway now as Wallays struggles at the rear.

Daan Hoole (Trek-Segafredo) stops to take a new bike. He was riding a neutral service bike so has already had a mechanical issue.

83km to go

Kemmelberg time!

The first of three ascents of the famous hill.

What is the Kemmelberg? Inside the key climb of Gent-Wevelgem

The war-torn history and brutality of the steep cobbled climb in West Flanders

The riders are heading up the Belvedere side of the climb now. They'll do it again later, before a final ride up the Oussaire side, the longest and toughest road to the top.

A small group takes a few metres over the top in the peloton. Nathan Van Hooydonck (Jumbo-Visma) is up there with Ben Turner (Ineos Grenadiers).

Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo), Christophe Laporte (Jumbo-Visma), and Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) also in the small group.

79km to go

Just 40 seconds to the breakaway now.

Groups all over the road here. The peloton behind is much reduced, too.

So we have the breakaway, then a group made up of Van Hooydonck, Laporte, Theuns, Mohorič, Turner, Florian Vermeersch (Lotto-Dstny), Søren Kragh Andersen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Erik Resell (Uno-X), and Fretin from the break.

Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) has attacked to get across to that group.

Only 30 seconds cover the break, attack group, and peloton, however.

Soudal-QuickStep lead the peloton now, with Yves Lampaert on the front.

The Belgian team have Fabio Jakobsen and Tim Merlier in the squad today.

Pedersen makes it across to the group and now Jakobsen attacks!

73km to go

The riders are racing towards the gravel plugstreets now.

European champion Jakobsen is closing in on the group.

Here's that attack group...

Nathan Van Hooydonck, Christophe Laporte (Jumbo-Visma), Mads Pedersen, Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo), Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious), Ben Turner (Ineos Grenadiers), Florian Vermeersch (Lotto-Dstny), Søren Kragh Andersen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Erik Resell (Uno-X), Milan Fretin (Flanders-Baloise)

20 seconds from the break to the attack group. Another 30 seconds back to the peloton.

The break hits the first section of the plugstreets.

Now Fretin drops from the attack move.

So to recap, Soudal-QuickStep missed the front of the peloton up the Kemmelberg and have now had to send a sprinter on the attack to try and bridge the gap.

With the likes of Pedersen and Laporte already in that group, it wouldn't make much sense to send slower finishers like Lampaert or Asgreen across.

Now the peloton are a minute off the head of the race as the attack group edges closer to the breakaway.

So, there's no option for Jakobsen to drop back because other teams will look to Soudal-QuickStep to do all the work.

Fretin hanging off the rear of the attack group. We haven't seen Jakobsen for a little while.

66km to go

Van Keirsbulck goes solo at the head of the race over these plugstreet sections.

Tim Declercq has abandoned the race.

Van Keirsbulck is still pushing on alone. The chase groups behind him have merged together now.

A group of around 20 chasing Van Keirsbulck.

Jakobsen's effort is over. He got close to the attack group at one point but he's now dropped back to the peloton.

59km to go

A big mechanical problem in the lead group by Florian Vermeersch. The Lotto-Dstny man almost loses control due to a mech/gear problem and takes a neutral service bike.

He's back in the peloton now.

Asgreen leading the peloton along with several from Groupama-FDJ. They've brought the gap to the leaders down to 40 seconds.

And now Jakobsen drops from the peloton.

Vermeersch gets a fresh bike from the team car. Toms Skujins (Trek-Segafredo) also gets a bike change.

55km to go

It's over for the breakaway and that attacking group. The peloton have brought it all back together, so Laporte, Pedersen, Van Hooydonck, Kragh Andersen, Turner, Askey, Turgis, Teunissen and co are back in the peloton.

Turgis immediately tries to attack again, however, as the riders reach the Monteberg for the second time.

Now we're back on the Kemmelberg.

Wout van Aert takes to the front!

Van Aert, Laporte, Turner up front.

52km to go

Van Aert and Laporte pass Turgis on the cobbles.

Behind them, Caleb Ewan is flying up too!

Pascal Ackermann and Mads Pedersen are behind Ewan.

Over the top and Van Aert and Laporte are clear.

A group of seven chasing the two Jumbo-Visma men.

Mohorič attacks from the chase. Only seven seconds up to the two leaders.

The riders wind through the town of Kemmel after the descent.

Mohorič, Ewan, Florian Vermeersch, Trentin, Wellens, Kragh Andersen, Van Hooydonck, Ackermann, Pedersen, Gianni Vermeersch in the chase. A larger group is coming up behind, though.

47km to go

Again, no QuickStep riders in that chase group...

The riders racing towards another ascent of the Scherpenberg.

40 seconds for Van Aert and Laporte!

42km to go

Van Aert on the attack up the Kemmelberg with Laporte in his wheel.

The duo have 50 seconds on the peloton now and the gap only seems to be increasing.

Laporte came second to Girmay here last year. That came just days after Van Aert and Laporte went one-two at the E3 Saxo Bank Classic.

Last month, Laporte was third as Dylan van Baarle won the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. A day later he helped Tiesj Benoot and Nathan Van Hooydonck take a one-two at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne.

And two days ago Van Aert won the E3 Saxo Classic ahead of Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogačar.

40km to go

Who will be able to stop Jumbo-Visma from dominating this race, too?

A minute now separates the leaders and the chasing peloton.

Ben Turner leading the chase for Ineos Grenadiers.

Scherpenberg and Baneberg done, now the Kemmelberg lies ahead.

Laporte seemed to call out to Van Aert on that last climb. The Belgian was leading the way at perhaps too high a pace.

I've just seen some photos of former breakaway rider Jelle Wallays being carried away after a crash. Hopefully the Belgian is OK.

Jumbo-Visma riders are waving away the TV moto ahead of the peloton.

35km to go

Van Aert is still on the front here. He's certainly pulling for Laporte today.

The pair reach the final ascent of the Kemmelberg.

1:05 back to the peloton.

700 metres at 10.5% on this road up the climb.

This is where Van Aert attacked to go clear and win the race last spring.

A few metres open up between Van Aert and Laporte on the cobbles. He slows up a little at the top and Laporte comes back.

Alpecin, Bahrain, UAE all up at the front in the peloton.

Kragh Andersen and Olav Kooij lead the peloton over the top.

Mohorič goes off the front on the way down. Still over a minute up to the Jumbo duo.

32km to go

A headwind of around 25-30kph now as the riders head back towards Ypres.

Around 15 men in the chase group after that final ascent of the Kemmelberg. Smaller groups follow.

Fred Wright on the front of the chase for Bahrain Victorious and now Tim Merlier tries an attack!

Wright, Mohoric, Merlier, Sheffield, Ackermann, Kooij, Kragh Andersen all in there, but now another group is coming across.

28km to go

1:25 for Van Aert and Laporte. This looks like it's over.

The leading duo.

A group of around 20-25 in the chase now with numerous big names in there.

24km to go

1:36, 1:38, 1:40...

Van Aert and Laporte go through Ypres and pass under the Menin Gate where they set off to start the race over five hours ago.

21km to go

1:50 after the Jumbo-Visma pair, the peloton passes through the Menin Gate.

A shot of Van Aert waiting for Laporte on that final ascent of the Kemmelberg.

Arkéa-Samsic, Trek-Segafredo, Lotto-Dstny, Bora-Hansgrohe, UAE Team Emirates all rolling through at the front of the chase.

18km to go

Two minutes for the leaders.

Riders dropping from the chase group after a hard day of racing. Brent Van Moer, Fred Wright, Gianni Vermeersch.

Jasper Philipsen also drops.

15km to go

1:55 for the leaders.

Jumbo-Visma directeur sportif Maarten Wynants has spoken to Sporza...

"This was not the plan, but we have everything under control," he says.

12km to go

Still, the gap remains at around two minutes.

The only questions left to answer are: Who will take the win? (Laporte is seemingly the pick), and Who will take third from the chase?

Ineos Grenadiers have said that Kwiatkowski (skin abrasions, no concussion) and Filippo Ganna (a bang to the knee, some swelling) are doing OK after their crashes earlier.

Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates) puts in an attack from the chase.

The Italian couldn't get clear and now Mohorič takes it up on the front. The chase group is strung out under the high pace.

Trentin's teammate Bjerg also gives it a go. Nothing doing, though.

8km to go

The stop-start nature of the attacks means that the gap to the leaders is up to 2:05.

Around 20 men in the chase including two men from Jumbo-Visma – Nathan Van Hooydonck and Olav Kooij.

Politt and Narváez both trying a move.

5km to go

Mohorič follows Narváez but slides out coming around a roundabout!

4km to go

Narváez brought back. 2:10 to the leaders.

Mohorič back up and running but out of the chase group.

Now Bjerg tries another attack.

Politt leads the chase behind Bjerg.

3km to go

The fight for third is a tense one. Up front there's no drama among the two Jumbo-Visma men.

Bjerg has a few seconds here.

2km to go

Van Aert and Laporte talking to each other ahead of this finish.

Bjerg caught by Frederik Frison (Lotto-Dstny) and Sep Vanmarcke (Israel-Premier Tech).

1km to go

Van Aert back on the front.

It looks like Van Aert will let Laporte have this win today.

Vanmarcke, Bjerg and Frison have a decent gap on the rest of the chasers.

The leaders are chatting, patting each other on the back, waving back at the team car.

Side by side in the final 500 metres.

Holding hands as they reach the finish.

Christophe Laporte wins Gent-Wevelgem alongside Wout van Aert!

Mads Pedersen is trying to get across to Vanmarcke, Bjerg, and Frison.

They're messing about in front and Pedersen is getting across!

Bjerg leads it out.

Pedersen is there and the sprint begins!

Pedersen and Vanmarcke hit the front.

And Sep Vanmarcke comes through to take third place.

Another dominant Classics display by Jumbo-Visma today.

The winning shot.

Our brief report is up – click here for the summary on today's race.

Sep Vanmarcke grabs third place with a solid sprint from the chase group.

"We decided we'd take it to the finish," Laporte said after crossing the line. "Wout asked me if I wanted to win. It's incredible. It's a pleasure. This has happened only once before in my career. I want to thank Wout for everything.

"I've never won a Classic before and now I'm so proud. I think of my family and my little boy – it has taken so much sacrifice to get to this point.

"There was still 50km to go when we attacked. We made a lot of efforts together. We did everything to go to the finish together. It was hard for me to follow Wout. It was just incredible to be with him and I'm so proud to do so much of it with him."

Plenty of space for the top two on the sofa today...

The final podium – Laporte, Van Aert, and Vanmarcke.

Over in the women's race, they're into the final 30km.

Follow all the action live with us here

Gent-Wevelgem: Christophe Laporte and Wout van Aert dominate with a 1-2 finish after 50km attack

Sep Vanmarcke wins chase-group sprint for third in abysmal weather conditions

We'll have news coming in from the ground via our reporters in Belgium Patrick Fletcher and Barry Ryan. Stories incoming later this afternoon and evening.

Check out a video of the race finish here...

Gent-Wevelgem Women has just finished – our race report is live now.

Look away now if you want to avoid spoilers for the women's race...

That's all for our live coverage today. Stay tuned for news stories coming in from Belgium later on.

We'll be back for more live coverage from Dwars door Vlaanderen and the Tour of Flanders next week!