Dwars door Vlaanderen Women

Dwars door Vlaanderen is the women's WorldTour cobbled classic, a one-day bike race held each spring in Belgium. First run in 2012, it sits in the narrow window between Gent-Wevelgem and the Tour of Flanders, offering a midweek test across the same Flemish terrain that defines Monument weekend.

Dwars door Vlaanderen Women is a Flemish classic that starts and finishes in Waregem on the Wednesday before the Tour of Flanders. First held in 2012, the race joined the Women’s WorldTour in 2026. Amy Pieters won it three years in a row, and nobody else has won it more than twice.

Amy Pieters and three wins in a row

Monique van de Ree won the first edition in 2012 and Kirsten Wild the second. Pieters then won in 2014, 2015 and 2016. In 2014 she took a sprint of five ahead of Kim de Baat. In 2015 she beat Floortje Mackaij, her teammate at Liv-Plantur. The 2016 race ended in a bunch sprint, and she beat Jolien D’hoore, her teammate at Wiggle High5. She is still the only rider to have won three times.

Tielt, the Oude Kwaremont and Ellen van Dijk

None of the first three winners started in 2017, when the race left from Tielt. The Oude Kwaremont, the first climb of the day, came 36 kilometers from the finish and was followed by the Paterberg. Sixteen riders reached Waregem together, and Lotta Lepistö, the Finnish champion, won the sprint from Gracie Elvin and Lisa Brennauer.

Ellen van Dijk won the next two editions. The 2019 race also started in Tielt and was neutralized for a while after a crash just after the start. Van Dijk rode away from a group of about ten, 16 kilometers from the finish, and reached Waregem alone ahead of Marta Bastianelli and Lucinda Brand. She is the only rider besides Pieters to have won more than once.

The route: Waregem’s racecourse and the Nokereberg

The women now start at the hippodrome in Waregem, the town’s horse racing track. The 2026 route was 129 kilometers long, with eight climbs and six cobbled sectors. It crossed Berg Ten Houte, the Côte de Trieu, the Hotond and the cobbles of the Mariaborrestraat once each. The finale is the same as the men’s: two ascents of the Nokereberg, two passages over the cobbles of the Herlegemstraat and a finish on the Verbindingsweg.

The 2021 race was 122 kilometers long and had ten climbs. “I think they improved the course, and that was the reason that I was here on the start line,” Annemiek van Vleuten said after winning it.

How Van Vleuten beat Niewiadoma in 2021

Van Vleuten, then European champion, accelerated on the Knokteberg about 35 kilometers from the finish, and only Kasia Niewiadoma went with her. Their lead never grew beyond 24 seconds. Trek-Segafredo led the chase, and Van Dijk tried several times to cross to them. Van Vleuten started the sprint from the front with 300 meters to go and held Niewiadoma off. Alexis Ryan, Niewiadoma’s teammate, won the sprint for third a few seconds later. It was Van Vleuten’s first win of the season.

Consonni’s sprint, Vollering’s solo and Vos’s first win

The tenth edition, in 2022, came down to a sprint of about 25 riders, and Chiara Consonni won it from Julie De Wilde and Elise Chabbey. A year later Marlen Reusser, who had just won Gent-Wevelgem, spent the middle of the race in front with Marianne Vos, and they were caught 16 kilometers from the finish. Reusser’s teammate Demi Vollering attacked at the top of the Nokereberg, 10 kilometers from the finish, and won alone. Consonni won the sprint for second.

The 2024 race was stopped for a while after an accident on the course, and the Hotond and the Trieu were taken out of the route. Just before the second ascent of the Nokereberg Shirin van Anrooij attacked and only Vos followed. Vos won the two-rider sprint, her first victory in the race. Letizia Paternoster was third, ahead of Lotte Kopecky, the world champion.

Longo Borghini’s 30-kilometer solo in 2025

In 2025 Reusser and Amber Kraak were in front after the Eikenberg. Elisa Longo Borghini left the chasing group, crossed to them alone and went straight past on the cobbles of the Huisepontweg. She rode the last 30 kilometers alone for the 50th win of her career. Kopecky beat Elisa Balsamo in the sprint for second.

When did the women’s race join the WorldTour?

The 2026 edition was the first in the Women’s WorldTour. The women’s race had been a ProSeries event until then, and the men’s race had been in the WorldTour since 2017. In 2023 Flanders Classics made the prize money equal for women and men in all its spring classics, this race among them.

Reusser won that first WorldTour edition. She went clear near the Nokereberg and was joined by Vollering, her former teammate, and the two built a lead of 25 seconds. In the final kilometer Lieke Nooijen, who had escaped from the peloton, sprinted past them both. Vollering closed the gap, and Reusser used that effort to beat her in the sprint, with Nooijen third.

This race occupies unusual territory on the calendar. It arrives when contenders are sharp but not yet fully committed, which creates space for opportunistic racing and late attacks that would be shut down on Sunday. The field includes Monument favorites confirming form, domestiques given rare freedom, and riders willing to spend energy before the bigger weekend arrives. The winner is usually someone who read the closing moves better than the rest or seized a moment when hesitation cost everyone else.