2026 Dwars door Vlaanderen Results & Recap
2026 Dwars door Vlaanderen is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
Filippo Ganna (IGD) took what has been a long overdue debut victory in the Classics in a nail-biting finish to Dwars door Vlaanderen in the Belgian town of Waregem. The Italian spent the closing kilometers trying to close down the gap to lone leader Wout van Aert (TVL) and finally powered past the fading Belgian star just 100 meters from the line. Søren Wærenskjold (UXM) led in the bunch right on their coat-tails, just ahead of Biniam Girmay (NSN).
Several riders described it as a strange race, and it was also fast and very hard. More than 70km were covered before a significant breakaway formed, 18 riders going clear after the climb of Ten Houte. Their lead didn't reach much more than 30 seconds, Ineos one of the teams that were prominent in closing it down.
The attacks kept going and being brought back, Van Aert joining one the second time over Ten Houte. With 50km to go, Romain Grégoire (GFC), Thomas Gachignard (TEN) and Niklas Larsen (URR) went away, opening a gap of 30-odd seconds. Back in the bunch, meanwhile, Ganna stopped to change bikes, chased back to the bunch alone, then needed another bike change at the foot of the crucial climb of the Eikenberg and had to chase back again.
Up at the front of the peloton, Van Aert took off, bridging quickly to Grégoire and Larsen, who'd dropped Gachignard. The trio pushed their lead out to 45 seconds with 30km left. Climbing the Nokereberg, Grégoire was unable to follow Van Aert's pace.
Coming around to the same climb the second time, with 10km remaining, the two leaders had a cushion of 22 seconds. Just beyond it, the plucky Larsen yielded to Van Aert's pace, although the Belgian's lead on the peloton was just a dozen seconds.
He pushed it up to 20 on the final cobbled section of Herlegemstraat, where Ganna attacked, Florian Vermeersch (UAD) joining him. With 1500m left and with the peloton bearing down on the chasers, Vermeersch sat up. Ganna, though, powered on.
As Van Aert cornered sharply to the right into the final straight, Ganna was gaining fast, too fast for the Belgian to be able to stay clear to the line. The Italian flashed by to seize victory, while Van Aert was beaten into second place for the second consecutive year. It was hard on him, but quite an hors d'oeuvre for spectators four days before the Tour of Flanders.
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