Between the hills and cobbles, the sprinters have a moment of serenity this week with the newly-named Ronde van Brugge. Set to take place on Wednesday 25th March (men) and Thursday 26th March (women), this Belgian Classic will offer the fast men and women a shot at glory in the WorldTour’s quickest Classic.
Although it may seem like a new kid on the block, the Ronde van Brugge has changed name and format more times than you can shake a stick at it. It started life in 1977 as a three-day race known as the Driedaagse De Panne, then transitioned to a one-day race in 2018 under the Brugge-De Panne guise. In 2026, it’ll be known as the Ronde van Brugge for the first time.
Owing to the new name, the route now focuses on the tourist hotspot of Bruges, mixing the old city centre with the cobblestone roads surrounding urban Bruges. A sprint is likely, but a sprinkling of pavé could animate the race in its new form.
While the parcours is completely different to the seaside finale adopted by Brugge-De Panne, the sprinters are keen to return to Brugge this week, with Jasper Philipsen, Lara Gillespie, Elisa Balsamo and Arnaud De Lie among the starters.
Ronde van Brugge 2026 key information
Date: Men’s – Wednesday 25th March; Women’s – Thursday 26th March
Start: Brugge, Belgium
Finish: Brugge, Belgium
Distance: Men’s – 202.9km; Women’s – 143.8km
Television coverage: TNT Sports, Sporza, Max, FloBikes
Previous winners: Men’s – Juan Sebastián Molano (UAE Team Emirates XRG); Women’s – Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime)
Ronde van Brugge 2026 route
Both races will begin in Bruges’s historic Markt. From there, they’ll make a big detour to the south of Bruges, passing through Torhout and Beernem. As they navigate the eastern outskirts, the peloton will cross the cobbled sector of Brieversweg. This 1.8km-long street looks relatively simple for Classics standards, but it’ll still test the group’s legs.
The final half of both races take place on a smaller circuit covering Bruges’s eastern and northern periphery. The men will cover two laps of the 60km loop, while the women will do one lap. This means the men’s route will include 5.4km of cobbles in comparison to the women’s tamer 3.6km.
The arrival into Bruges is straightforward, with the sprint expected near the Ezelpoort. This takes the men’;s race to a total distance of 202km, with just 400m elevation gain, and 143km for the women.
Ronde van Brugge 2026 favourites
Don’t let the cobbles fool you, the Ronde van Brugge is definitely one for the sprinters. Since we’ve moved slightly inland, the crosswinds will also play less of a role than usual.
Jasper Philipsen will start as the out-and-out favourite in 2026. A two-time winner of this race when it finished in De Panne, Philipsen is one of the fastest finishers in the world and he boasts a well-drilled leadout train at his Alpecin-Premier Tech squad. While the start of the season appeared rocky for the Belgian, he looked strong last week, having bounced back to win Nokere Koerse in a hectic bunch sprint.
Dylan Groenewegen has been smashing the one-day races as of late. Just last week, he claimed two one-day wins at Koksije Classic and the GP Jean-Pierre Monseré, triumphing in a bunch sprint at both. His Unibet-Rose Rockets squad will be highly motivated to keep this momentum going, and maybe even claim a first WorldTour victory.
As for other names, Pavel Bittner of Picnic-PostNL is a reliable finisher, even if his 2026 record lacks a victory. Luke Lamperti was on cracking form a fortnight ago, which suggests he’ll have the legs to contest a podium finish in Belgium on Wednesday. Arnaud De Lie will also be eagre to get a big result ahead of his big Flemish objectives.
Cyclist‘s ratings: Men’s race
- ★★★★★: Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck)
- ★★★★: Dylan Groenewegen (Unibet-Rose Rockets)
- ★★★: Pavel Bittner (Picnic-PostNL), Arnaud De Lie (Lotto)
- ★★: Milan Fretin (Cofidis), Luke Lamperti (EF Education-EasyPost), Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X Mobility), Erlend Blikra (Uno-X Mobility)
- ★: Madis Mihkels (EF Education-EasyPost), Laurenz Rex (Soudal-QuickStep), Tom Crabbe (Flanders-Baloise), Davide Ballerini (XDS-Astana), Jenthe Biermans (Cofidis)
The start list for the women’s race is still to be confirmed. We will update the favourites once we have more information.
Ronde van Brugge 2026: How to watch
The Ronde van Brugge races are only available to watch in the UK and Ireland on TNT Sports 2. If you’re tuning in online, the race will be on HBO Max, the service that has taken over Discovery+.
In North America, the races will be available on FloBikes and HBO Max. For local free-to-air coverage, Flemish channel VRT’s Sporza is your best bet.
If the races aren’t being broadcast in your country, or you are travelling abroad, a VPN will allow you to hide your device’s location to access content that is normally geo-blocked.
Ronde van Brugge 2026: UK TV times
Men’s race: Wednesday 25th March
TNT Sports online: 14:15-16:55 GMT
TNT Sports 2: 14:15-17:00 GMT
Women’s race: Thursday 26th March
TNT Sports online: 14:15-16:45 GMT
TNT Sports 2: 14:00-16:45