2007 Gent–Wevelgem


The 2007 Gent–Wevelgem cycling race took place on 11 April 2007. The race had a length of 207 km.
The day began in Deinze with overcast weather and light winds. This gave way to a quick start and it was not until after the first intermediate sprint that the initial break of Florent Brard, Christophe Mengin, and Roger Hammond. The leaders were allowed a substantial lead for a semi-classic, which forced the peloton ride aggressively over the final 100 km.
During the descents of the Kemmelberg, several riders crashed on the wet cobblestones and were severely injured after a rider swerved to avoid a fallen water bottle. Amongst them were Jimmy Casper, Wim De Vocht, James Vanlandschoot, Andy Cappelle, Marco Velo, Wilfried Cretskens, Aart Vierhouten, Tyler Farrar, Luke Roberts, Fabio Sacchi, Mathew Hayman, Matthew Wilson and Heinrich Haussler. This caused splits in the peloton and an elite group of riders were left to chase down the lead trio.
Eventually Marcus Burghardt, Francisco Ventoso, and Óscar Freire joined the leaders with roughly 25 km to go. The six managed to hold off the remaining peloton and, with less than 1 km to go, Burghardt caught Freire by surprise and made the winning move. Burghardt's teammate, Hammond, managed to catch hold of Freire's wheel and overtook the Spaniard in the sprint for a one-two finish.

General Standings

;2007-04-11, Gent–Wevelgem,
CyclistTeamTimeUCI ProTour
Points
14h 52' 14"40
2+ 4"30
3+ 5"25
4+ 6"20
5+ 6"15
6+ 15"11
7+ 15"7
8Unibet.com+ 15"5
9+ 15"3
10+ 15"1