Good morning and welcome to the Gent-Wevelgem live blog. We're jumping right into the action, despite still having four hours of racing to come, as we're receiving news of a 20-strong super break that has already opened up a gap on the peloton.

Gent - Wevelgem Men

Men | 31.03.2019

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Road race

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ByThe Editorial Team

Updated 31/03/2019 at 15:37 GMT

Charlie makes a good point... without a Deceuninck jersey in it, is it even a breakaway?

I think we might see Sagan and Trentin start to skip some turns in the lead group. They could both still win this from a bunch sprint, and may not fancy the break's chance of staying away.

61km

We're about to hit a trio of cobbled sections, followed by the final two bergs of the day. It will take a superhuman effort for the leading quartet to stay away.

Do you rate their chances?

The situation:

Sagan, Trentin, Teunissen and Theuns have a gap of 35 seconds on a very reduced peloton, which currently is being led by Deceuninck.

65km

The rest of the lead group has sat up.

It's Edward Theuns and Mike Teunissen who are with Trentin and Sagan.

Elia Viviani is being nursed to the front of the peloton by big Phil Gilbert.

And we have the first serious attack from the front group. Trentin, Sagan and a Trek & Jumbo rider have forged on without their break companions.

What I can tell you for sure is that Matej Mohoric is putting in a dig and it's shredding the other chasing riders.

And as soon as I say that, it halves again to 20 seconds, then bounces back up to 37". Some telemetry issues perhaps.

70km

The gap to the front group, which had been dwindling gradually, seems to have stabilised a bit. It's at 43" as Yves Lampaert takes up the chase behind.

They're over the first ascent of the Kemmelberg now. We have the Monteberg, followed by the Baneberg (again) and the Kemmelberg (again).

75km

This race is unfolding beautifully. We have 75km to go, a disintegrating group of leaders and the promise of more crosswinds.

As Tim Declercq struggles to keep pace with the riders in the front group, his team mates Philippe Gilbert and Zdenek Stybar are joining in the chase effort behind.

And of course it's that man Wout van Aert putting everybody else in the paincave. He's gapped Trentin and the rest of the leaders.

Martin Wynants is also struggling on the lower (cobbled) slopes of the Kemmelberg. Degenkolb, also, looks to be pedalling squares.

Oooh now, Pascal Ackermann is losing touch with the leaders... so too is the third Bora rider, Rudi Selig.

That was a well-timed move from AG2R and Lotto Soudal. They exploited a little bit of wind and really put their rivals to the sword.

The peloton are putting the hammer down now. Oliver Naesen is leading these redoubled chase efforts and immediately the main bunch has splintered into three distinct echelons.

80km

Gap is now down to 40". That's vanishingly small with 80 kilometres still to come.

Lionel Taminiaux, who spent a good chunk of Friday in the break, is dropping like a stone out of the back of the peloton on the Baneberg. At 22 years old, this weekend is something of a baptism of fire for the young Belgian.

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