The Classic Brugge–De Panne is a

road cycling race Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most commo ...

in Belgium in late March. Since 2018 it is raced over two days with a men's race on Wednesday and a women's race on Thursday. Both races start in

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the countr ...

and finish in the seaside resort of

De Panne De Panne (; french: La Panne ) is a town and a municipality located on the North Sea coast of the Belgian province of West Flanders. There it borders France, making it the westernmost town in Belgium. It is one of the most popular resort town dest ...

. The women's event is included in the

UCI Women's World Tour The UCI Women's World Tour is the premier annual female elite road cycling tour. History In order to increase the coverage of Women's cycling the UCI held a summit in December 2014 between the UCI Women’s Working Group and the UCI Women's ...

; the men's race was part of the

UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to expand cycling around the world. The five circuits (representing the continents of Africa, the ...

as a 1.HC event, but was promoted to the

UCI World Tour The UCI WorldTour (2009–2010: ''UCI World Ranking'') is the premier men's elite road cycling tour, sitting above the UCI ProSeries and various regional UCI Continental Circuits. It refers to both the tour of 38 events and, until 2019, an annual ...

as a 1.WT event in 2019. The 2020 edition was rescheduled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

History

Three Days of De Panne

The Three Days of De Panne was created in 1977 as a three-day cycling event in the week leading up to the

Tour of Flanders The Tour of Flanders ( nl, Ronde van Vlaanderen), also known as ''De Ronde'' (''"The Tour"''), is an annual road cycling race held in Belgium every spring. The most important cycling race in Flanders, it is part of the UCI World Tour and organi ...

, in late March or early April. The first day was usually a hilly stage starting in De Panne and finishing in the

Flemish Ardennes The Flemish Ardennes (Dutch: ''Vlaamse Ardennen'') is an informal name given to a hilly region in the south of the province of East Flanders, Belgium. Highest summit is the Hotondberg (145 m). Main characteristics of the region are rural hilly lan ...

. The second day held a long flat stage back to the Flemish coast, with a finish in

Koksijde Koksijde (; french: Coxyde ; vls, Koksyde) is a town and a municipality in Belgium. It is located on the North Sea coast in the southwest of the Flemish province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises apart from Koksijde, the villages of O ...

. The third day consisted of two stages that both started and finished in De Panne, of which the final stage was an individual time trial. Raced from Tuesday to Thursday, it was the last Flemish race ahead of the Tour of Flanders and was considered a desirable preparation for the main event on Sunday.

Eric Vanderaerden Eric Vanderaerden (born 11 February 1962) is a retired road cyclist from the town of Lummen, Belgium. He was a considerable talent, winning the prologue time trial of the Vuelta a España in his debut year of 1983. During the 1983 Tour de France ...

, a strong sprinter and time triallist, won the race five times in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Three Days of Bruges–De Panne

Since 2018, the Three Days of De Panne is raced under a new format following a calendar switch with

Dwars door Vlaanderen Dwars door Vlaanderen ''( en, Across Flanders)'' is a semi-classic road bicycle race in Belgium, held annually since 1945. The race starts in Roeselare and finishes in Waregem, both in West Flanders. Since 2017 the event is included in the UCI W ...

. The race comes one week earlier, in the week following

Milan–San Remo Milan–San Remo (in Italian ''Milano-Sanremo''), also called "''The Spring classic''" or "''La Classicissima''", is an annual road cycling race between Milan and Sanremo, in Northwest Italy. With a distance of 298 km (~185.2 miles) it is t ...

, and the men's event has morphed into a one-day race on Wednesday. The Flemish Ardennes roads and the concluding time trial were abandoned in favour of a route entirely in the province of

West Flanders ) , settlement_type = Province of Belgium , image_flag = Flag of West Flanders.svg , flag_size = , image_shield = Wapen van West-Vlaanderen.svg , shield_size = , image_map ...

. The iconic

Kemmelberg Kemmelberg (, ) is a hill formation in Flanders, Belgium. It is located less than a kilometer from the village of Kemmel, part of the municipality of Heuvelland in West Flanders. History The earliest settlements on the Kemmelberg date back 2.500 y ...

and several cobbled sectors have a more prominent part in the new course. In order to continue the multi-day format, a women's event was inaugurated on the day after the men's race. Both races start in

and have two finishing circuits in and around

. The women's race is part of the

, cycling's top tier professional competition.

Jolien D'Hoore Jolien D'hoore (born 14 March 1990) is a Belgian former track and road cyclist, who rode professionally between 2007 and 2021 for the , , , and teams. D'hoore is a 29-time national track champion as well as a four-time national road champion a ...

won the first running of the women's Three Days in a sprint.

Winners

Men's race

Multiple winners

Wins per country

Women's race

Wins per country

Notes

References

External links

CyclingNews.com coverage
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Three Days Of De Panne Sport in West Flanders Cycle races in Belgium Recurring sporting events established in 1977 1977 establishments in Belgium UCI Europe Tour races De Panne Sport in Koksijde