Champ wins third cobbled classic of ’17

OLYMPIC champion Greg Van Avermaet completed a 48-hour cobbled classic double by winning Gent-Wevelgem on Sunday.

The 31-year-old edged out Belgian compatriot Jens Keukeleire in a two-up sprint finish to the 249km 79th edition of the race, just two days after also winning E3 Harelbeke for the second time.

It was Van Avermaet’s third win on the cobbles in the last month having also won February’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.

It sets up the BMC rider as clear favourite for next weekend’s Tour of Flanders, the second high-profile Monument race of the season where he has already finished second in 2014 and third a year later.

“I can’t hide it any longer: I will without a doubt be the man to beat – the favourite,” boasted Van Avermaet.

Van Avermaet has never won a Monument race despite being one of his generation’s best cobbled one-day classics specialists.

But he comes into the two major objectives of his season over the next two weekends – Flanders and then ParisRoubaix – brimming with confidence and in the form of his life.