March 27, 2026
The peloton will roll out from Harelbeke for the 68th E3 Saxo Classic in what is a warm-up for De Ronde in just over 1 week's time. The course twists and turns through the farm tracts of Flanders to take on the most famous bergs of the Flemish Ardennes. The first 115 kilometers will soften up the legs with the Katteberg, La Houppe, Ben ten Stene, Oude Kruisberg, and Karnemelkbeekstraat. The finale should begin however on the approach to a never-before used side of the Oude Kwaremont via the Keuzelingstraat. Once over the Oude Kwaremont, the riders will have the Hotond, Kortekeer, and Taaienberg all within 12 kilometers. The sequence of the finale differs from the Tour of Flanders in that the Paterberg precedes the second passage of the Oude Kwaremont, this time up the traditional side with the top coming 36 kilometers from the finish. The Karnemelkbeekstraat, Varentstraat, and Tiegemberg are all that will remain of the obstacles before a flat final 15 kilometers into Harelbeke for the finish.
Highlighted Riders
Mathieu van der Poel, Matej Mohorič, Alec Segaert, Tobias Lund Andresen, Michael Valgren, Romain Grégoire, Ben Turner, Mads Pedersen, Biniam Girmay, Dylan van Baarle, Jasper Stuyven, Laurence Pithie, Christophe Laporte, Florian Vermeersch, Jonas Abrahamsen, Alberto Bettiol, Matteo Trentin, Anthony Turgis
Race Summary
Wind, hail, and snow pelted the women's peloton yesterday as they raced through Flanders in awful conditions. The poor weather has fortunately cleared but the cool conditions remained and many were bundled in full winter gear at the sign-on. Attacks came straight from KM0 and the first hour covered 48 kilometers. A group of six got away after 30 kilometers of racing but they were pulled back. Counter attacks kept flying and with 156 kilometers to go, a new group of six had formed but the peloton weren't 100% happy with the composition. Picnic-PostNL were desperate to get a rider in the move and they finally were able to get Sean Flynn clear of the peloton. Vojtěch Kmínek of Burgos-Burpellet and Henri-François Renard-Haquin of Picnic-PostNL joined up with Flynn but they had over 1 minute to bridge to connect with the front group. The six leaders consisted of Luke Durbridge of Jayco AlUla, Nickolas Zukowsky of Pinarello Q36.5, Stan Dewulf of Decathlon CMA CGM, Sven Erik Bystrøm of Uno-X Mobility, Michiel Lambrecht of Flanders-Baloise, and Bastien Tronchon of Groupama-FDJ United.
With 140 kilometers to go, the Flynn group was stuck in the middle at 1 minute 10 seconds as the peloton started riding behind at 3 minutes from the front group. Silvan Dillier of Alpecin-Premier Tech was the one setting the pace and kept the leaders pegged at 3 minutes 30 seconds. Over the Varentstraat, the Flynn group was stuck in a chasse potate and dangling 1 minute behind the lead group.
The riders thumped over the concrete betonweg and cut through little villages to arrive on the fast downhill into Ronse for the start of the Oude Kruisberg. It was a big fight to lead into the right turn. Soudal Quickstep won the front position and started the cobbled Oude Kruisberg up through the terraced houses. The bunch backed off and rode more conservatively to the base of Karnemelkbeekstraat at 93.5 kilometers to go. It looked like the big teams like Soudal Quickstep, Lidl-Trek, and Alpecin-Premier Tech would have the road blocked but Timo Kielich of Visma-Lease a Bike snuck through and attacked. The move was followed by Daan Hoole of Decathlon CMA CGM, Anthony Turgis TotalEnergies, Connor Swift of Ineos, Pepijn Reinderink of Soudal Quickstep, Edward Planckaert of Alpecin-Premier Tech, and Edward Theuns of Lidl-Trek. They caught the Flynn group to make a group of ten and the race was on.
Lotto Intermarché, NSN Cycling, and Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe all missed the move and set up a chase leading into the first passage of the Oude Kwaremont. By the top, the original six leaders were 2 minutes 30 seconds ahead of the newly formed chase group, minus Flynn, Renard-Haquin, and Kmínek who were dropped, with the peloton at just under 3 minutes. The speed was rapid coming off the main road to make the right turn onto the narrow Kortekeer. Florian Vermeersch of UAE-XRG flatted right before the turn and was pounding his handle bars in frustration, knowing that the key moments of the race were straight ahead.
The peloton went quick over the Kortekeer and was strung out through the tight corners on the downhill. They never slowed down however because the all-important Taaienberg was just ahead and positioning here was imperative. Soudal Quickstep powered on the front of the peloton and kept Jasper Stuyven in prime position as they started the Taaienberg. Stuyven hit the cobbles first with gritted teeth but it was Tim van Dijke of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe that came from behind with speed and got a gap. Mathieu van der Poel of Alpecin-Premier Tech jumped on the wheel and the pair were together over the top. At the top, the main body of the peloton was 2 minutes 20 seconds behind the leaders, the van der Poel group at 2 minutes, and the Kielich/Hoole group at 1 minute 35 seconds.
At 65.5 kilometers to go, van der Poel and Van Dijke reached group two but the peloton were just a further 20 seconds back. The problem for those stuck in the peloton was that it was full of teammates of those in advanced groups who were disrupting the chase and blocking at every opportunity. The tactics completely changed on the Boigneberg however as van der Poel attacked and went solo over the top, still with 64.5 kilometers to go. At the top of the Eikenberg at 59 kilometers to go, van der Poel was 45 seconds behind the original break, 25 seconds ahead of the chase group which contained Kielich, Hoole, Turgis, van Dijke, Theuns, Reinderink, and Planckaert, and the UAE-XRG led peloton at 1 minute 10 seconds behind van der Poel.
The entire race was closing in on the 10 kilometer stretch of road between the Eikenberg and the Kapelberg. Florian Vermeersch had forced a group out of the peloton and they caught the Hoole group at 53.5 kilometers go to make a new chase of around a dozen riders. The newly formed Vermeersch group was reabsorbed by the peloton which numbered around 60 riders with 50 kilometers to go. It took until the the top of the Kapelberg at 45.5 kilometers to go before van der Poel made contact with the original break. Jan Tratnik of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe had attacked from the peloton was at 50 seconds with the peloton a further 20 seconds adrift.
Van der Poel led the front group into the sharp right turn onto the Paterberg. Dewulf was the last to hang with the flying Dutchman but he was dispatched on the steepest gradients and van der Poel was left alone in the lead at 42 kilometers to the finish.
Up next was the second and final ascent of the Oude Kwaremont and the gaps were going out. Van der Poel raced passed the hospitality tents and through throngs of fans to reach smooth pavement, 25 seconds ahead of Dewulf and still 1 minute 10 seconds to the peloton. Unfortunately for Dewulf, he was caught over the top of the Karnemelkbeekstraat on the Ronde van Vlaanderenstraat by Vermeersch, Per Strand Hagenes of Visma-Lease a Bike, and Jonas Abrahamsen of Uno-X Mobility who had gotten separation from the peloton. The kilometers ticked by as van der Poel sailed across the Varentstraat and passed the mushroom on the Tiegemberg. At the top with 19 kilometers to go, the group of four chasers were closing at 40 seconds with Vermeersch as the driving force in the group.
The win looked to be a foregone conclusion for van der Poel but it was suddenly thrown into jeopardy as the chasers were making progress. At 15 kilometers to go, the gap hit 30 seconds for the first time and 7 kilometers later, it was down to 19 seconds. The Vermeersch group wasn't the only group in play however because Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe and Groupama-FDJ United formed a coalition and were driving hard in the peloton. With 8 kilometers remaining, they were at 40 seconds and a reduced bunch sprint wasn't out of the equation. At 4 kilometers to go, the gap was 10 seconds to the chase and 30 seconds to the peloton. At 2 kilometers to go, the Vermeersch group was just 7 seconds behind and they could just about reach out to grab van der Poel. Under the red kite, it was no more than 3 second but no one wanted to make that final effort to close the gap. Vermeersch was stuck on the front with Hagenes, Abrahamsen, and Dewulf refusing to pull through. The decision to not pull was costly and they threw away their chance at victory. Van der Poel saw the game and made one last push. He took the final corner into the finish straight and, with a grimace of pain and fatigue, crossed the line to take his third win in E3. Hagenes won the sprint for second just 3 seconds down with Vermeersch in third who let out his frustrations with yell of disappointment. Dewulf took an impressive fourth after having been in the break, and Abrahamsen rounded out the group in fifth. Tobias Lund Andresen of Decathlon CMA CGM won the group sprint for sixth place, 24 seconds down on van der Poel.