Dwars door Vlaanderen

Dwars door Vlaanderen is a WorldTour one-day bike race held each spring in Belgium, first run in 1945. The route runs from Roeselare to Waregem on the Wednesday before the Tour of Flanders, linking cobbled sectors and short climbs in the Flemish Ardennes.

Dwars door Vlaanderen is a Flemish one-day race held on the Wednesday before the Tour of Flanders. The men ride from Roeselare through the Flemish Ardennes to a finish on the Verbindingsweg in Waregem. First run in 1945, it has been part of the WorldTour since 2017.

From Dwars door België to the WorldTour

Rik Van Steenbergen won the first edition in 1945, ahead of Briek Schotte and Norbert Callens. The race was then called Dwars door België. André Rosseel became its first two-time winner in 1950, and Raymond Impanis matched him a year later. Schotte, who lived for years in Desselgem, a part of Waregem, won in 1953 and 1955.

Fourteen riders have won twice and nobody has won three times. Niko Eeckhout’s first win, in 2001, came in the rain after an attack of 201 kilometers. He went clear a few kilometers after the start with his teammate Thierry Marichal, who dropped back with more than 50 kilometers to go, and rode into Waregem alone. The peloton called him Rambo after that. The 2026 race was the 80th edition.

The route from Roeselare to the Verbindingsweg in Waregem

Roeselare has hosted the men’s start since 2007, on the Stationsplein beside the KOERS cycling museum. The 2026 route was about 185 kilometers long. In the Flemish Ardennes it climbed Berg Ten Houte, the Côte de Trieu and the Hotond twice and crossed the cobbles of the Mariaborrestraat twice. It then took the Eikenberg, Doorn and the Huisepontweg toward a double loop over the Nokereberg and the cobbles of the Herlegemstraat. The Côte de Trieu is also known as the Knokteberg.

The hills in the middle of the race change from year to year. For 2025 the organizer added a second ascent of Berg Ten Houte, brought in the Eikenberg and dropped the Kanarieberg, and kept the start, the finish and the final loop as they were.

Yves Lampaert and Mathieu van der Poel, two wins each

Yves Lampaert won in 2017 by attacking seven kilometers from the finish. In a very wet 2018 race he slipped away from the leading group and finished alone again. He is the only rider to have won two years in a row.

Mathieu van der Poel‘s win in 2019 was his first in the WorldTour. He attacked on the Knokteberg and won a sprint of five ahead of Anthony Turgis and Bob Jungels. In 2022 he first accelerated with 90 kilometers to go, got away with Tiesj Benoot inside the last two kilometers and beat him in the sprint, with Tom Pidcock third. Tadej Pogačar missed the decisive split on Berg Ten Houte that day, chased alone to within 8 seconds of the front group and was caught by the peloton.

Dylan van Baarle’s 50-kilometer solo in 2021

The 2021 race started under a hot sun, and the peloton covered 50 kilometers in the first hour. Van Baarle attacked on Berg Ten Houte with about 50 kilometers to go. Van der Poel was dropped on the Trieu, 35 kilometers from the finish. A group of eight formed behind Van Baarle on that climb and stayed about 30 seconds back. He won by 25 seconds from Christophe Laporte, the last of those chasers to hold off the bunch, and Tim Merlier was third. It was the 75th edition and his first major one-day win.

Jorgenson wins after Van Aert’s crash in 2024

With 66 kilometers to go in 2024 a crash brought down Wout van Aert, Jasper Stuyven and Biniam Girmay, and all three abandoned. Van Aert’s teammates Matteo Jorgenson and Benoot rode on in a group that caught the early breakaway on the Ladeuze. Jorgenson attacked seven kilometers from the finish and won alone, the first American winner of the race. Jonas Abrahamsen, who had been in the early breakaway, was second and Stefan Küng third. Jorgenson had won Paris-Nice earlier that spring. He heard over the team radio after the finish that Van Aert was in the hospital.

Powless beats three Visma riders in 2025

A year later Van Aert, Benoot and Jorgenson went clear together 55 kilometers from the finish, and Neilson Powless was the only rider from another team who could stay with them. “It was a constant inner struggle, even for my director in the car, he was going back and forth on whether or not I should ride because we had quite a few numbers behind,” Powless said. On the Verbindingsweg Benoot led out the sprint for Van Aert, and Powless beat him to the line. Benoot was third and Jorgenson fourth, and Mads Pedersen won the sprint for fifth place, 45 seconds later.

Ganna catches Van Aert 150 meters from the line

In 2026 Van Aert attacked on the Eikenberg with 40 kilometers to go, crossed alone to the three riders in front and dropped the last of them with 10 kilometers left. Filippo Ganna had changed bikes twice during the race, first with a broken front wheel and then when the handlebars of his replacement bike snapped. He attacked from the bunch in the last three kilometers.

Van Aert began the final kilometer with a lead of 5 seconds. Ganna reached him 150 meters from the line and went past, and Søren Wærenskjold led in the bunch a second later. It was the first one-day win of Ganna’s career, in the fastest edition of the race, run at more than 48 kilometers per hour. Van Aert finished second for the second year in a row.

This race occupies the narrow window when Monument contenders are sharp enough to attack but tired enough to crack. The field mixes Tour of Flanders favorites looking for confirmation, opportunists chasing a result while the big names are still cautious, and domestiques given rare freedom to ride for themselves. The positioning is urgent, the attacks come early, and the finish often belongs to whoever reads the final hour best rather than whoever arrived with the strongest form.