It was heartbreak for Wout van Aert and glory for Filippo Ganna as the Italian swept by him in the final metres of Dwars door Vlaanderen. Van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) had attacked with around 30km to go and, while he had company initially, had held off the chase behind almost singlehandedly until 50 metres to go.
Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) had made more than one concerted attempt to bridge what had been reduced to a 12-second gap in the final kilometres. But he only finally succeeded in the finishing straight with the chequered flag in sight.
Run off at an average of 48.48kph, it was the fastest ever edition of the race.
Amazingly, it was Ganna's first pro victory in a one-day race – all the rest have been in stage races and, his favoured discipline, time trials. As well as stealing Van Aert's thunder, the Italian's victory extended the Belgian duck in the race for another year. It has now been eight editions.
"Wout made an impressive effort - to catch him was not easy," Ganna said afterwards. "All day we were a bit unlucky. In the first part, after the first hill I broke my front wheel and had to change my bike for the first time. And then I broke my handlebar" – the latter requiring a second bike change.
"I was feeling good in Gent [In Flanders Fields] and I tried to help my team-mates, and today they did an amazing job for me and gave me massive support. In the end I tried to give back all their support with an amazing victory.
He did not allow himself to believe he could win until "maybe the final corner", he said, pointing out that the bunch had brought his efforts back previously.
"I think it's one of the most important, especially in 'the University' of cycling," he smiled, holding up the air quotes. "It's really nice for me."
Results: Dwars door Vlaanderen 2026
1. Filippo Ganna (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers, 184.6km in 3:48:27
2. Wout van Aert (Bel) Visma-Lease a Bike
3. Søren Wærenskjold (Nor) Uno-X Mobility
4. Biniam Girmay (Eri) NSN Cycling
5. Laurence Pithie (Nzl) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe
6. Orluis Aular (Ven) Movistar
7. Christophe Laport (Fra) Visma-Lease a Bike
8. Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Premier Tech
9. Vito Braet (Bel) Lotto-Intermarché
10. Mads Pedersen (Den) Lidl-Trek, all at same time
