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The TV replays replay Van Aert’s agony. Ganna caught him and sprint past him to win with his arms in the air.
Ganna drinks and gaps for air, as Van Aert can’t beleive he went so close to victory. What a race!
Heart break for Wout Van Aert but glory for Ganna! The Italian went deep in pursuit mode and caught Van Aert inside the final 100 metres!
Wout Van Aert is caught by Ganna with 100m to go!
INside the last km. Ganna is chasing WVA!
Van Aert is in the streets of Waregem but Ganna and Vermeersch are closing the gap on him.
Ganna sparks another chase.
Per Strand Hagenes is the perfect Visma teammate and sits on Ganna. Meanwhile the Flemish fans go crazy, cheering WVA to a possible victory.
WVA hits the cobbles once again. Ganna launches an attack-chase. This is the moment to go!
Van Aert is hurting himself but also hurting the sprinters and their domestiques. His rivals will think twice about their chances now.
As the road climbs gradually, Van Aert goes deeper and drops Larsen. WVA is going all-in! S**t or bust!
The peloton is lined out and the gap is down to 18 seconds as Van Aert and Larsen work together to try to stay away. Whatever the final result, both are ‘winners’ or sorts today.
Ganna’s surge has closed down the Sheffield chase, with Soudal now riding on the front for Paul Magnier.
Like so often, Ganna has decided to use his power and speed to chase the attack.
The peloton is at 45 seconds, with Mads Pedersen upping the pace, with Ganna on his wheel. The chase is still alive.
Florian Vermeersch (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) joined Sheffield and van Dijke in a clever counter-attack but they are 23 second back, with 20km to race.
WVA goes hard on the pave’ after Romain Grégoire did a turn. The Frenchman is gapped and has blown his chances.
The riders hit the Nokereberg, cobbled climb and Wout Van Aert goes full gas once again.
There are few finer things in life than seeing Wout Van Aert race hard on the Wednesday before the Tour of Flanders
Magnus Sheffield (Ineos Grenadiers) and Tim van Dijke (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) keep swapping turns but they are 25 seconds down on the WVA attack. The peloton is at 45 seconds but seem to lack the power and unity to form a chase.
Niklas Larsen (Unibet Rose Rockets) suffered on the cobbles but gets back on and is even doing a turn.
Here is Wout putting down the hurt.
The peloton can see the WVA attack across the open Flemish fields but the gap is up to 35 seconds.
The trio cross the Schelde river and we time them with a lead of 20 seconds. Magnus Sheffield is trying to bridge the gap but is fading.
WVA is up front with Grégoire and Larsen, while Gachignard was dropped on the climb. Perhaps this time he will want to finish alone, rather than risk anything in the sprint.
Ganna has to change bikes after his cockpit loosened. His race is probably over.
WVA powers over the pave and is away alone, chasing the attackers.
Another problem for Ganna at the back of the group as Wout Van Aert goes on the attack.
Grégoire, Gachignard, and Larsen are off the front but the big-names are cruelly letting them hang and suffer.
Filippo Ganna needs a bike change and chases as the riders hit the cobbles.
Wout Van Aert clearly does not want to and cannot wait for a sprint finish. He makes another surge to hurt the group.
Alpecin are leading the chase and setting a fast pace to protect Jasper Philipsen. As the kilometres and climbs tick down, he has more and more chance of success.
The eight-rider Bettiol group has a 10-second lead but the peloton of 50 or so riders is keeping them under control.
The Rockets view from the roadside.
🫨 Attack after attack, after attack, after attack.We’re right in the mix! 🫡🇧🇪 #DDV26 pic.twitter.com/w4SiwBys7oApril 1, 2026
60km to go
The attacks are hurting the sprinters, who had hopes of a controlled race and fast finish. Arnaud De Lie was dropped earlier and both Tobias Lund Andresen and Jonathan Milan are in the chase group.
Former Australian rider and now a consultant with Red Bull, Allan Peiper was spotted on the climb of the Berg Ten Houte. G’day Allan!
The racing is ever-changing, with attacks, chasing and more attacks.
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The race is back together but Per Strand Hagenes (Visma-Lease a Bike) blows the peloton apart yet again. He is strong and a vital asset for Van Aert.
The riders will soon return to the Berg Ten Houte climb that split the peloton earlier. Van Aert’s surge sparked a 14.rider move but the gap is down to 10 seconds. This is pure Flemish racing.
The chase group is at 30 seconds. They may be losing contact for good.
Sam Watson of Ineos makes a surge and so Wout Van Aert also hits out.
After a section of cobbles, riders grab bidons, throw their gillet to team staff and keep racing hard in the lanes of the Flemish Ardennes.
Some riders are dropping out of the back, including Arnaud De Lie (Lotto).
The peloton is lined out, in a race of pain, as the 18 attackers look at each other, then decide to push on. The gap is only 20 seconds.
Josh Tarling is doing the work for Ineos now. He was a late selection for the race but is in the action.
The riders hit the Knokteberg-Trieu (it climbs 1.1km à 7.9%), we can expect it to hurt and change the race.
Ineos has five riders up front, with some help from Lotto and now Red Bull. The Visma riders are carefully following the moves. Brennan and Laporte are in the attack, with Van Aert in the peloton.
Ineos and Alpecin does not have any riders in the attack and so are leading the chase at high speed.
The 18-rider attack includes sone big-name riders, including Brennan, Laporte, Magnier, Pedersen, Florian Vermeersch, Lund Andresen, and Abrahamsen. This is interesting.
Alpecin-Premier Tech are also aggressive and the peloton has split on the Berg Ten Houte climb. There is a front group of 18 riders. Race on!
Lidl-Trek took control of the peloton and quickly closed down the two-rider attack. They have Mads Pedersen and Jonathan Milan in the team today and are keen to take a big result after a difficult early-season.
This was the moment and place where Benoît Cosnefroy (UAE) made his attack.
115km to go
Now Benoît Cosnefroy (UAE) and Alessandro Borgo (Bahrain-Victorious) try a move but the peloton is only ten or so seconds behind them.
Four riders got away but a quick chase from the peloton brought them to heel. Gruppo compatto once again.
The Volkegemberg climb and the first taste of cobbles has awoken the peloton. We have an attack!
The crash has raised the tension in the peloton. Jasper Philipsen and Wout van Aert need mechanical assistance from their team cars, while Jon Barrenetxea was the Movistar rider who went down.
The peloton is lined out at speed.
We’re hearing that Dylan Teuns has also abandoned the race. That’s blow for the Cofidis rider.
Chute in the peloton. Several riders went down and Jenno Berkcmoes (Lotto Intermarché) has abandoned the race.
There is only a light, 10km/h breeze from the south-east today and so the wind is unlikely to be a factor.
This the official map of today’s men’s race.
“Is it an April Fool’s joke? Jasper Philipsen asked.
As expected, the news that Remco Evenepoel will ride the Tour of Flanders has sparked reaction from his rivals as they were about to start Dwars door Vlaanderen.
“It is a surprise for all of us. But it is good news.” Van Aert told VTM.
“If Remco starts, I assume he does so with a big goal. He is super strong in one-day races, so certainly a rider to watch out for. The Tour of Flanders deserves to have as many big names at the start as possible.”
No Belgian cobbled Classic worth its salt is lacking in climbs to pepper the route as well of course, and the first of the 12 in this year’s edition of Dwars door Vlaanderen is the Hellestraat (1.3 km à 3.7%) at km 47.8 of the 184.6 kilometres that make up this year’s race.
We’re 15 kilometres into DDV 2026 and as yet nobody is getting out of the peloton’s clutches…when will the break of the day form?
Meantime announcement of one DNS: Pinarello-Q36.5’s Frederik Frison, never too far out of the action in the Belgian Classics, although in DDF he’s not got a great track record, with his best placing of five 40th overall last year
Possibly a trending topic in Belgium right now…
And wherever that particular break goes and whoever wins Dwars door Vlaanderen in five hours time, here’s the big news of the day so far…
Remco Evenepoel will ride the Tour of Flanders in shock debut
As soon as the flag drops, Spanish Pro Conti squad Burgos Burpellet BH, doing honour to their debut in Dwars Door Vlaanderen, launch the first attack of the day.
And racing in the 80th Dwars door Vlaanderen – A travers la Flandre ME (1.UWT) to give its full title and category is now officially underway
To read a full analysis of what went wrong last time round and how Visma plan to put it right in 2025, here’s my colleague James Moultrie’s deep dive into it all.
‘We’ll certainly not make that same mistake again’ – Can Wout van Aert and Visma take revenge at Dwars door Vlaanderen a year on from three-against-one tactical blunder?
Van Aert’s past history with Dwars door Vlaanderen is a chequered one, to say the least, with the massive crash and injuries back in 2024 followed by a second place last year after Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) managed to beat no less than three Visma-Lease a Bike riders to snatch the victory. So there’s plenty of unfinished business there.
Some bike changes needed in the neutralised section, including one for Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike)
Meantime here’s another very atmospheric shot of the sign-on, with Soudal-QuickStep waving to the crowd. West Flanders is the heartland for this team, so expectations will be high to see if 2017 and 2018 winner and local hero Yves Lampaert can roll back the years one more time.
The DDV start was buzzing with the will-he/won’t he news about one potential starter in another, rather bigger, Belgian cobbled Classic, by the way, Remco Evenepoel’s strongly rumoured start in the Tour of Flanders next Sunday. More on that particular story very soon.
The riders are now underway in the neutralised section of Dwars door Vlaanderen. Kick-off for real is in about 10 minutes’ time.
For a full analysis of the men’s and women’s top contenders, look no further than colleague Laura Weislo’s analysis here:
More than a Tour of Flanders warm-up – Analysing the contenders at Dwars door Vlaanderen
Quite apart from Wout van Aert and Visma-Lease a Bike, keen to set the record straight after their debacle in last year’s race, there’s plenty of interest in what Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech), the winner of In Flanders Field last Sunday, can do, along with Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), back after skipping Sunday’s race with a cold, while sprinter Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Intermarché) is still on the hunt for a win of any kind this spring…
Meantime, too, here’s a shot of a certain rider at the sign-on who’s generating a fair bit of media interest for some reason…
The race starts in Roeselare in West Flanders, home each eyar to the Grote Prijs Jean-Pierre Monseré one-day race, which was won by Dylan Groenewegen earlier this spring. While we’re waiting for the start, you can read the full report here:
GP Jean-Pierre Monseré: Dylan Groenewegen blasts through final metres and denies breakaway for victory
Racing will start with the roll-out at 1155 CET
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