Race report: All but dead in the water on the final haul up the Kemmelberg – and there was plenty of it landing across Flanders today – Luca Paolini produced an outstanding and tactically immaculate win in Gent-Wevelgem today.The veteran Italian put a powerhouse six-man escape to the sword and soloed home under leaden skies for a career-best win. Niki Terpstra and Geraint Thomas made the podium on a brutal day. Paolini pointed to his head and heart on the line the two things that get a rider through a day like this, with crashes, chaos, wind and rain. Maybe you’re not the favorite, maybe you’re not the strongest but in bike racing you never give up fighting or thinking, two of the Katusha man’s great attributes.As a six-man lead group entered Wevelgem, with the tactical situation as delicate as a china teacup on a picnic table surrounded by rowdy Flemish fans, Paolini hit his rivals where and when it hurt them most. He opened the gap straight away and while Etixx – Quick-Step coulda/woulda/shoulda shut him down… they couldn’t.How it went downAn utterly miserable looking day, and a lot of utterly miserable looking riders trundled out of Deinze this morning with a farmers’ protest to navigate.It was a day for strong men (and women, too, as the ladies raced Gent-Wevelgem, Liv-Plantur’s Floortje MacKay winning) and the early breakaway had some very serious horsepower: Movistar’s Alex Dowsett, Jesse Sergent for Trek Factory Racing and Tinkoff-Saxo’s Pavel Brutt were the more...
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