The favourites for the race included Alexander Kristoff (Team Katusha), Fabian Cancellara (Trek–Segafredo), and Peter Sagan (Tinkoff).

They were joined by Vyacheslav Kuznetsov (Team Katusha), who had been in the day's early breakaway, and the four-man group came to the finish together.

In previous years, the route chosen had a maximum gradient of 17%, but the 2016 edition used a road that had a section at 23%, described by Cycling Weekly as "excruciating".

These included Tom Boonen (Etixx–Quick-Step), who had won the race on three previous occasions, and his teammates Niki Terpstra and Zdeněk Štybar.

Peter Sagan (Tinkoff), the reigning world champion, had won the race in 2013 with a solo attack; he also had the ability to perform strongly in a sprint.

[3][13] The 2015 winner, Luca Paolini, was not present to defend his title due to his suspension following a positive test for cocaine during the 2015 Tour de France.

The first group was a five-rider breakaway, composed of Lieuwe Westra (Astana), Pavel Brutt (Tinkoff), Josef Černý (CCC–Sprandi–Polkowice), Jonas Rickaert (Topsport Vlaanderen–Baloise) and Simon Pellaud (IAM Cycling).

Their lead extended to eleven minutes at one point, but was quickly reduced when the pace of the main peloton increased.

By the halfway stage, there was a chasing group 90 seconds behind that contained many of the race favourites, including Boonen, Boasson Hagen, Cancellara, Sagan, Tiesj Benoot and Jens Debusschere (both Lotto–Soudal), and Van Avermaet.

These were Matteo Trentin, who initiated the move, Brutt, Benoot, Daniel Oss (BMC Racing Team) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek–Segafredo).

They were chased at first by a group of Luke Rowe, Zdeněk Štybar and Greg Van Avermaet, but were able to increase their advantage.

His team released a statement describing his condition as "extremely serious"; several hours later, a spokesman for the local gendarmerie confirmed that he had died.

[18][19] The crash was seen by Julien Jurdie, a directeur sportif for the AG2R La Mondiale team, who said that Demoitié had been part of a group chasing to get back to the peloton, travelling downhill at around 70 kilometres per hour (43 mph).

[20] There was widespread sadness among those involved in professional cycling following Demoitié's death, especially after a second young Belgian cyclist, Roubaix–Métropole Européenne de Lille's Daan Myngheer, died after suffering a heart attack at the Critérium International.

[23] The team's directeur sportif, Hilaire Van der Schueren, paid tribute to his rider, saying that he was "happy because he was a cyclist".

Following his strong performance, he had asked to be allowed to stay in the main peloton in search of a good finish in Wevelgem.

Many riders had been involved with crashes with race motorbikes in the previous few years, including Peter Sagan, Taylor Phinney, Greg Van Avermaet, Sérgio Paulinho, Jakob Fuglsang, Jesse Sergent, Sylvain Chavanel and Stig Broeckx.

[26] The president of cycling's governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), said that there would be an emergency meeting of its Road Commission to discuss the incident; he also said that they needed to wait for the result of the police enquiry and that it was important to make sure that the "right decisions" were made.

It was the end of what Cycling Weekly called a "frustrating run" that had included second place at E3 Harelbeke two days previously.

[31] Following his second place in E3 Harelbeke and his victory in Gent–Wevelgem, Sagan moved into the lead of the season-long UCI World Tour competition, seven points ahead of Richie Porte (BMC).