Dwars door Vlaanderen 2026

Dwars door Vlaanderen history

Dwars door Vlaanderen returns on April 1, 2026 for its 80th edition, and its seventh as the penultimate stop of 'Flemish Holy Week’ on the Wednesday before the mighty Tour of Flanders.

First held in 1945, Dwars door Vlaanderen has been part of the WorldTour since 2017, and the following year moved forward a week to take the coveted pre-Flanders slot from the Three Days of De Panne.

Dwars door Vlaanderen was once known as something of a sprinter's race, but followed the trend of increasingly aggressive and selective racing in the Spring Classics in recent years.

In 2023, Christophe Laporte (Jumbo-Visma) soloed to victory after attacking out of a much-reduced leading group once the early breakaway was caught.

in 2024, Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) escaped solo from a select group in the final 10 kilometres to claim a solo victory. Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) sprinted to second ahead of Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ).

Last year Neilson Powless scored a major coup, turning a major disadvantage of being in a breakaway with three Visma-Lease a Bike riders, including favourite Wout van Aert, into a tactical victory.

Powless and his EF Education-EasyPost team knew that Van Aert wanted to win to shake off criticism in the Belgian media, and used that to form their winning strategy.

Powless saved enough energy in the break to then out-sprint Van Aert and score the biggest win in his career.

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