Gent-Wevelgem Women

Gent-Wevelgem Women, which the organizer has called In Flanders Fields since 2026, is a WorldTour one-day bike race held each spring across western Flanders, Belgium. Launched in 2012, it has built a reputation for unpredictable finishes shaped as much by crosswinds and positioning as by the cobbled climbs that punctuate the route.

Gent-Wevelgem Women is the West Flanders classic that climbs the cobbled Kemmelberg twice and finishes on the Vanackerestraat in Wevelgem. First raced in 2012, it has been called In Flanders Fields since 2026. Solo riders, small groups and full bunch sprints have all won it, and Lorena Wiebes has won it three times in a row.

Lizzie Armitstead wins the first edition in 2012

Lizzie Deignan, then racing as Lizzie Armitstead, won the first women’s race in her national champion’s jersey. She broke clear with 25 kilometers to go in a race of 113 and finished alone, ahead of Iris Slappendel and her own teammate Jessie Daams. Kirsten Wild won in 2013.

In 2014, the third edition, the riders climbed the Kemmelberg and the Monteberg twice for the first time. Eight went clear after the second Monteberg, and the 35-year-old American Lauren Hall won from a trio that slipped away from them in the final kilometer. Floortje Mackaij won in 2015.

Women’s WorldTour status and the first Belgian winner

The race was part of the first Women’s WorldTour season in 2016. Chantal Blaak attacked a group of about 20 with 10 kilometers left and won by 1 minute 24 seconds. Lotta Lepistö of Finland won in 2017 and Marta Bastianelli in 2018, both ahead of Jolien D’hoore. In 2019 Wild took her second victory in a mass sprint, with a young Wiebes second.

The 2020 race was moved to October 11 by the pandemic. Eleven riders were left in front after the second climb of the Kemmelberg, and the bunch closed to 12 seconds with 5 kilometers to go without catching them. D’hoore beat Lotte Kopecky in the sprint and became the first Belgian winner.

The Kemmelberg, the Plugstreets and the wind

The Kemmelberg is climbed twice. In 2022 the women first used its steepest side, the Ossuaire, for the second ascent, and it was the last climb again in 2026. On the west flank of the hill is a French mass grave with the remains of almost 5,300 soldiers of the First World War. The Plugstreets are gravel roads near Ploegsteert, whose name British soldiers turned into Plugstreet.

In 2020 the last ascent of the Kemmelberg came with 35 kilometers still to race. Groups that go clear there are often caught on the road to Wevelgem, and Gent-Wevelgem is nicknamed the sprinters’ classic. The distance grew from 113 kilometers in 2012 to 171.2 in 2024, the longest edition up to that point. In the years before 2026 the start was in Ypres, from 2020 under the Menin Gate.

Marianne Vos and Elisa Balsamo: sprints after late attacks

Marianne Vos won the tenth edition in 2021 from the bunch. A group of seven that included her had formed after the second Kemmelberg, but it did not work together and was caught. Elisa Longo Borghini then attacked with Soraya Paladin, and the two were caught within sight of the line. Vos won the sprint ahead of Kopecky and Lisa Brennauer.

A year later Elisa Balsamo won in the world champion’s jersey. Grace Brown attacked in the final kilometers and was caught 2 kilometers from the finish, and Balsamo beat Vos in the bunch sprint.

Marlen Reusser’s 45-kilometer solo in 2023

The 2023 race, 162.5 kilometers long, was cold and wet from start to finish. Marlen Reusser crashed early and had to walk on the first ascent of the Baneberg. On the second ascent, with about 45 kilometers left and the teams still regrouping after a mass crash, she raised the pace and found nobody on her wheel. Her SD Worx team had expected to sprint with Wiebes.

Reusser built a lead of almost three minutes. She took a wrong turn inside the last 5 kilometers and still won by 2 minutes 42 seconds, ahead of Megan Jastrab and Maike van der Duin. “It was the coldest race of my life,” she said while she waited for the podium.

Lorena Wiebes wins a photo finish in 2024

Wiebes won for the first time in 2024, at her sixth attempt. Brown was caught 500 meters from the line, Kopecky led out the sprint, and Balsamo was briefly ahead in the last 100 meters. Wiebes won a photo finish with her bike throw. In 2025 she beat Balsamo again, with Charlotte Kool third, and matched Wild’s two wins.

In Flanders Fields: a new name and a third win for Wiebes

For years the official name was Gent-Wevelgem In Flanders Fields, a reference to the First World War battlefields the race crosses. For 2026 the organizer, Flanders Classics, moved the men’s start to Middelkerke on the coast and renamed the event In Flanders Fields – From Middelkerke to Wevelgem. The women’s race could not start there. “The UCI sets maximum race distances for women’s events, and we are bound by those limits,” said the organization’s chief executive, Tomas Van Den Spiegel.

The women now start and finish in Wevelgem, which has hosted their finish since 2012 and will keep it until at least 2031. The 2026 route was 135 kilometers and left out De Moeren, the exposed wind section used since 2022, but took in all three Plugstreets. Wiebes forced the split herself on the Ossuaire side of the Kemmelberg and took four riders with her. She led out the sprint and beat Fleur Moors by half a wheel, with Karlijn Swinkels third. With three wins she holds the record alone.

Lorena Wiebes won three in a row from 2024 to 2026, but the longer winner list is varied. Lauren Hall and Lizzie Deignan (then Armitstead) won early editions, and the winner list since has included pure sprinters, breakaway opportunists, and all-rounders who thrive in chaos. The Kemmelberg tests power and nerve, but the long, exposed return toward Wevelgem decides who survives to contest the finish. When the wind blows, sprinters vanish and the race belongs to rouleurs with positioning instincts. When it stays calm, the finale becomes a high-speed negotiation into a flat sprint.