Latest News from the Race
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NewsRiders who ran level crossing red light during men's Tour of Flanders could face fines and short driving bans, says Flemish prosecutor
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News'I was riding 650 watts and still couldn't follow' – Mathieu van der Poel cracks to finish second again behind 'unbeatable' Tadej Pogačar in Tour of Flanders
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News'Tadej didn't want to let me come back' – Remco Evenepoel bullish on cobbled Classics after taking third in his Tour of Flanders debut
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Date | April 5, 2026 |
Start location | Antwerp, Belgium |
Finish location | Oudenaarde, Belgium |
Distance | 270km |
Start time | 10:20 CET |
Finish time | 16:30 CET |
Category | WorldTour |
Previous edition | |
Previous race winner | Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) |
How to watch |
Tour of Flanders 2026 results
Tadej Pogačar did it again, leaving Mathieu van der Poel behind on the Oude Kwaremont to take his third Tour of Flanders victory. Remco Evenepoel rounded out the podium in third ahead of Wout van Aert and Mads Pedersen.
Tour of Flanders start list
Tour of Flanders information
The 110th edition of the Tour of Flanders, or known as Ronde van Vlaanderen in Flemish, takes place on Sunday, April 5, the traditional calendar spot of the first Sunday of the month.
This cobbled one-day Spring Classic is the second of the five Monuments of the season, following Milan-San Remo.
The Ronde, as the Tour of Flanders is known in Belgium, began in 1919 and covers 270km across Flanders with more than a dozen categorised climbs and a handful of cobbled sectors.
This year's race will play host to past winners Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates- XRG).
Belgium's own Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) will also make his debut at the race following a surprise announcement on Wednesday.
In 2024, Van der Poel attacked 45km from the finish and earned a solo victory. The victory gave Van der Poel his third Ronde title, which put in a select group of six other riders who have won the Monument three times each - Achiel Buysse (1940, 1941, 1943), Fiorenzo Magni (1949, 1950, 1951), Eric Leman (1970, 1072, 1973), Johan Museeuw (1993, 1995, 1998), Tom Boonen (2005, 2006, 2012) and Fabian Cancellara (2010, 2013, 2014).
In 2025, Pogačar soloed to his second Tour of Flanders victory, using the Oude Kwaremont to whittle down the lead group and then drop all his rivals the third time up the cobbled climb.
Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) outsprinted Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) to take second, while Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease A Bike) finished fourth just ahead of Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek).
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2026 Tour of Flanders route
See the full details of the 2026 Tour of Flanders route
Tour of Flanders history
De Ronde, the Tour of Flanders, or simply Vlaanderens Mooiste – the Dutch for "Flanders' Finest" – it doesn't really matter: however you describe it, for over a century the Tour of Flanders has been the key point of Belgium's cycling calendar, developing into its biggest annual bike race and a major goal of many of the true greats of the sport.
Offering a ferociously difficult mixture of cobbles and hills and often held in rough spring weather, Flanders was first held in 1913 and is the second Monument of the season, with its current position in the calendar 15 days after Milan-San Remo and a fortnight before Paris-Roubaix.
Created by Léon van den Haute, co-founder of the sports newspaper Sportwereld, the first race was 330 kilometres long and was won by Belgian Paul Deman, who doubled cycling with work as a carpet maker. The current defending champion is Tadej Pogačar, who soloed away to victory in the 270-kilometre race to win for a second time ahead of Mads Pedersen and Mathieu van der Poel.
Flanders really took off as a race in the 1930s, with crowds of up to half a million lining the route and motorised police needed for the first time in its history to control the fans. The 1930s also saw Romain Gijssels become the first to win two consecutive Rondes. Then, in 1950, its most emblematic climb, the Muur de Geraardsbergen, was included. As the race took on a more recognisable format to modern viewers in the 1960s, by the 1970s, riders like Eddy Merckx, Roger De Vlaeminck and Freddy Maertens regularly made it their target and Flanders' place in cycling history was more than guaranteed.
Seven riders jointly hold the record of three wins in Flanders, ranging from Belgians Achiel Buysse, Eric Leman, Johan Museeuw, and Tom Boonen, together with Dutch rider Mathieu van der Poel and Swiss racer Fabian Cancellara. In 2005, it joined the ProTour and, since 2011, has formed part of the WorldTour.
Races
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Tour of Flanders5 April 2026 | Oudenaarde | WorldTour

Top News on the Race
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2026 Tour of Flanders Men briefly neutralised after over half peloton stopped at level crossing
Incident took place 215 kilometres to go, break of 13 gains nearly two minutes as a result -
'He's one level above all the rest' - Mathieu van der Poel names Tadej Pogačar as top favourite to win 2026 Tour of Flanders
Former triple winner argues Remco Evenepoel could be the rider to beat Slovenian -
'I’m not going to wait for an attack' – Jasper Stuyven hopes to put Soudal-QuickStep’s classics campaign back on course at the Tour of Flanders
The Belgian team have struggled to make a significant impact in the cobbled Classics in recent years, but have a strong squad for Sunday’s Monument.
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'I deliberately got rid of my social media for two weeks' – Remco Evenepoel addresses drama of surprise Tour of Flanders debut and says he wouldn't be starting if victory wasn't possible
Belgian places himself below the favourites Pogačar, Van der Poel and Van Aert, but brims with confidence ahead of Sunday's race -
'He can attack in the most random places' – Tadej Pogačar ponders potential tactical headache of Remco Evenepoel at Tour of Flanders
Road World Champion says 'you can never let him go in front with a couple of seconds, because it's almost impossible to catch him' -
'I don't consider myself in the big four' – Wout van Aert 'older and wiser' but avoids talking himself up for major Tour of Flanders battle
Belgian says rivals like Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogačar will 'have something more than all the others' on Sunday
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Woes continue for Arnaud De Lie as Lotto Intermarché rider ruled out of Tour of Flanders
Belgian Classics star misses De Ronde with illness with hopes to be fit in time for Paris-Roubaix -
'Not a disadvantage for me' – Mathieu van der Poel welcomes addition of Remco Evenepoel to Tour of Flanders but warns against underestimating debutant
Dutchman says 'I’m glad he’s at the start. The more strong riders there are, the faster the race opens up' -
'I heard some rumours' – Tadej Pogačar says he wasn't too surprised by Remco Evenepoel making shock Tour of Flanders debut
World Champion welcomes added challenge from Belgian star as he chases record-equalling third win on Sunday
Related Features
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What can Remco Evenepoel learn from Pogačar, Nibali, and Valverde? 5 memorable Tour of Flanders debuts from big-name cobbles newbies
These riders all made a splash on unfamiliar terrain -
'We lost three experienced riders, and replaced them with really young riders' – Can Lidl-Trek's changed Classics core do enough for Mads Pedersen at the Tour of Flanders?
Look back a year or two ago, and Lidl-Trek men's Classics team was as hard to get into as some squads' Tour de France line-ups. -
Why Remco Evenepoel is right to make his Tour of Flanders debut now, and how he could challenge Pogačar and Van der Poel
How the Belgian superstar could change the nature of the race on Sunday against Pogačar and Van der Poel -
Soft pulls, subtle digs: The Tour of Flanders mind games have already begun – Analysis
Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel's rivalry heats up after In Flanders Fields -
Why Pogačar and Van Aert's teams aren't sensing weakness for the Tour of Flanders despite Mathieu van der Poel's near-miss at E3 Saxo Classic
UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Visma-Lease a Bike remain cautious to underestimate Dutchman after spectacular finale to thrilling race














