New-look Ronde van Brugge to replace Classic Brugge-De Panne for 2026

The Belgian one-day WorldTour and Women's WorldTour races, the Classic Brugge-De Panne and Classic Brugge-De Panne Women, will disappear next year, with a new-look two days of racing taking their places on the calendar.

The Ronde van Brugge will be held for the first time in March 2026, with a men's race held on Wednesday, March 25, while a women's race will be held on Thursday, March 26 – the same scheduling as the current Brugge-De Panne races.

The two races will slot in the same calendar spot as the now-defunct Classic Brugge-De Panne. Meanwhile, the men's Elfstedenronde race, which runs this Sunday, June 15 and starts and finishes in Bruges, will not be held in the city next season.

Announced in a press conference on Wednesday morning, the new Ronde van Brugge will be a collaboration between the city of Bruges, race organisers Golazo, and local cycling club KVC Panne Sportief.

The new race's start and finish will both come in Bruges, with the race waving goodbye to its previous finish on the coast in De Panne.

Speaking at the press conference, Christophe Impens of Golazo said that the race will be confirmed on the calendar through the 2031 season.

"With the Ronde van Brugge, we are going for a strong a safe project," Impens told Sporza. "We are offering the best sprinters in the world the chance in a top race of WorldTour level for the next six years."

Bruno Dequeecker, chairman of the KVC Panne Sportief, thanked De Panne for "years of collaboration" but said that consolidating the race around the city of Bruges was a logical step.

"We are grateful to De Panne for the years of collaboration," Dequeecker said. "But the Ronde van Brugge is the logical next step. We will continue to organise [in] the WorldTour, but more centrally, in our own city."

Confirmation of the new races sees the event keep its spot in the middle of the hectic spring Classics calendar for years going forward.

The race retains its place in the lead-up to the men's and women's Tour of Flanders, also slotting in ahead of the E3 Saxo Classic, Gent-Wevelgem, and Dwars door Vlaanderen.

Juan Sebastián Molano (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) are the final champions of the Classic Brugge-De Panne, a race which often attracted criticism for the numerous mass crashes which marked its final kilometres in De Panne.