Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) won the Classic Brugge-De Panne, sprinting to victory ahead of Chiara Consonni (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) and Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek).
A breakaway of two riders had been caught with one lap of the 42.9km finishing circuit to go. Cat Ferguson (Movistar) went solo with 35km to go and kept the peloton at just over ten seconds for a long time but was eventually reeled in 2.5km from the finish.
Lidl-Trek led the sprinters onto the finishing straight, but Wiebes launched her trademark sprint from Balsamo's wheel with 200 metres to go and was a bike length ahead of Consonni and several bike lengths ahead of Balsamo on the line.
“I started my sprint quite early,” said Wiebes after her first sixth victory of the 2025 season. “I had the feeling that I had to go. It was still quite far, also because it’s just a little bit uphill, but I could feel someone coming from behind, a shadow, so I thought, all-out to the line. In this finish, there’s always the danger of someone coming from behind with speed, but it was enough.
“I’m happy with the teamwork. The whole race was quite nervous, the final also, but I had Barbara [Guarischi] in front of me, and she brought me into a good position.”
Wiebes also compared the women’s race to the men’s edition on Wednesday that had been marred by several crashes in the final.
“It was better compared to yesterday that one team really took the lead. Lidl-Trek still had the full lead-out, and then it’s a bit more in one line. On the smaller roads, that’s better,” she said.
How it unfolded
The women's peloton stayed together until the finishing circuits (Image credit: Getty Images)
As only light winds were forecast in the exposed open areas near the Flemish coast, the 152.7km race from Brugge to De Panne was expected to finish in a bunch sprint.
The peloton stayed together on the first part of the race, travelling from the start city to the finishing circuit around De Panne. Only when they had started the first of two laps of the circuit – and with the live broadcast about to begin – did riders try to initiate a breakaway.
Millie Couzens (Fenix-Deceuninck) and Elena Pirrone (Roland) succeeded in getting away, gradually increasing their advantage to 50 seconds, but the peloton never lost control of the race.
Elena Pirrone (Roland) and Millie Couzens (Fenix-Deceuninck) on the attack (Image credit: Getty Images)
Lidl-Trek, SD Worx-Protime, Liv-AlUla-Jayco, FDJ-Suez, and Human Powered Health kept the time gap under a minute and increased the pace through De Moeren, catching Couzens and Pirrone just before passing through the finish with one lap to go.
In the outskirts of De Panne, Floortje Mackaij (Movistar) made a tentative attack that came to nothing, but her teammate Ferguson then followed up with another acceleration that saw her get a gap.
Although the peloton had the 18-year-old in sight almost the whole time and she never had more than 19 seconds in hand, Ferguson kept going. Behind her, there were a few crashes in the peloton, though nothing as serious as in the men's race the day before.
Cat Ferguson on her solo attack (Image credit: Getty Images)
Having been on borrowed time for a while, Ferguson was brought back with 2.5km to go. Lidl-Trek then took charge with three riders ahead of Balsamo, coming onto the finishing straight first. Guarischi had brought Wiebes to the front and did a side-by-side drag race with Ilaria Sanguineti (Lidl-Trek) before peeling off, leaving her sprinter on Balsamo's wheel.
Wiebes was briefly boxed in between Lara Gillespie (UAE Team ADQ) and Nienke Veenhoven (Visma-Lease a Bike) but kept her calm, and when the gap opened for her between Balsamo and Veenhoven, the European champion launched her sprint to win.
Lukas Knöfler started working in cycling communications in 2013 and has seen the inside of the scene from many angles. Having worked as press officer for teams and races and written for several online and print publications, he has been Cyclingnews’ Women’s WorldTour correspondent since 2018.
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