Dwars door Vlaanderen ''( en, Across Flanders)'' is a semi-classic

road bicycle 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 common ...

in Belgium, held annually since 1945. The race starts in

Roeselare Roeselare (; french: Roulers, ; West Flemish: ''Roeseloare'') is a Belgian city and municipality in the Flemish province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Roeselare proper and the towns of Beveren, Oekene and Rumbeke. The ...

and finishes in

Waregem Waregem (; vls, Woaregem), sometimes known as Waereghem, is a municipality and city located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality lies in the valley of the river Leie, between Kortrijk and Ghent. It is part of the arrondiss ...

, both in

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 ...

. Since 2017 the event is included in 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 ...

. Held in late March, the event is part of the ''

Flemish Cycling Week The Flemish Cycling Week (Dutch:''Vlaamse Wielerweek'') or simply Flemish Week, is a series of five road cycling races held in Flanders in late March and early April. The series span in fact two weeks. It begins with Dwars door Vlaanderen (until ...

'', which also includes

E3 Harelbeke E3 Saxo Bank Classic, previously known as E3 BinckBank Classic, E3 Harelbeke, Harelbeke–Antwerp–Harelbeke and E3-Prijs Vlaanderen, is an annual road cycling race in Flanders, Belgium. The race starts and finishes in Harelbeke, covering 203 kil ...

Gent–Wevelgem Gent–Wevelgem, officially Gent–Wevelgem – In Flanders Fields, is a road bicycle racing, road cycling race in Belgium, held annually since 1934. It is one of the classic cycle races, classic races part of the Flemish Cycling Week, run in late ...

and 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 ...

. Traditionally Dwars door Vlaanderen was held four days after

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 a week and a half before the Tour of Flanders. As from 2018 the race moved up one week on the international calendar and is now contested on the Wednesday before the Tour of Flanders, Flanders' foremost cycling classic, held on Sunday. Since 2012, a women's edition of Dwars door Vlaanderen is held on the same day as the men's race, starting and finishing on the same location, of approximately 130 kilometres distance. Both events are organized by

Flanders Classics Flanders Classics is an official cooperation among the organizers of the classic cycle races held in Flanders. It was founded in 2009

. In addition the

Grand Prix de Waregem The Grand Prix Waregem was a cycling race held annually in Belgium. It was part of UCI Europe Tour in category 1.2U from 2005 to 2007. The race was considered to be the Under 23 version of Dwars door Vlaanderen Dwars door Vlaanderen ''( en, Ac ...

was formerly regarded as the Under 23 version of the race.

History

Dwars door België

The race was first run in 1945 from

Sint-Truiden Sint-Truiden (; french: link=no, Saint-Trond ; li, Sintruin ) is a city and municipality located in the province of Limburg, Flemish Region, Belgium, and has over 41,500 inhabitants, which makes it one of the largest cities in Limburg. The muni ...

and was named ''Dwars door België'' ''( en, Across Belgium)'' – a name it kept until 1999. Belgian cycling icon

Rik Van Steenbergen Rik Van Steenbergen (9 September 1924 – 15 May 2003) was a Belgium, Belgian racing cyclist, considered to be one of the best among the great number of successful Belgian cyclists. Early life Van Steenbergen was born in Arendonk into a po ...

won the inaugural race. From 1946 to 1964 the event was run as a

stage race A race stage, leg, or heat is a unit of a race that has been divided in several parts for the reason such as length of the distance to be covered, as in a multi-day event. Usually, such a race consists of "ordinary" stages, but sometimes stages ...

over two days – with the exception of 1948. The first stage started in Waregem and finished in the eastern Belgian provinces of

Limburg Limburg or Limbourg may refer to: Regions * Limburg (Belgium), a province since 1839 in the Flanders region of Belgium * Limburg (Netherlands), a province since 1839 in the south of the Netherlands * Diocese of Limburg, Roman Catholic Diocese in ...

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...

; from which it returned to Waregem the next day. In 1948 and since 1965, it has been held as a one-day race. Two editions have been cancelled, in 1971 and during 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 ...

. Held in late March, the event traditionally marked the start of the ''

'', which also includes

, the

Three Days of De Panne 3 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 3, three, or III may also refer to: * AD 3, the third year of the AD era * 3 BC, the third year before the AD era * March, the third month Books * ''Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 n ...

, and the

. Dwars door Vlaanderen was contested mid-week, four days after Italy's '' monument race''

and a week and a half before the Tour of Flanders.

World Tour race

In 2000 the event was renamed ''Dwars door Vlaanderen'' and

became the new starting place. The race was included in the inaugural

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 ...

in 2005, classified as a UCI 1.1 event, and from 2013 to 2016 as a 1.HC race. The 2016 edition nearly had to be cancelled as it was scheduled one day after the 2016 Brussels bombings, causing security alert to be raised to the highest level in all of Belgium. On the evening of the event, organizers decided to continue as planned and the Belgian authorities gave clearance on the day of the race. The race was won by

Jens Debusschere Jens Debusschere (born 28 August 1989) is a Belgian professional road bicycle racer, who most recently rode for UCI ProTeam . He was named in the start list for the 2015 Tour de France. In May 2018, he was named in the startlist for the 2018 Gi ...

. The 2017 edition was promoted to the

, cycling's highest tier of professional races. In

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Dwars door Vlaanderen was moved one week later on the calendar, from a position mid-week after

to the Wednesday before the Tour of Flanders. At the same time the course was scaled down from 200 km to 180 km in length, and the

Oude Kwaremont The Oude Kwaremont (English: ''Old Kwaremont'') is a road in Kluisbergen, a municipality in the Belgian province of East Flanders. The Oude Kwaremont, contrary to popular belief, is not the name of a hill, but the name of one of the cobbled roads ...

and

Paterberg The Paterberg is a hill in the municipality of Kluisbergen, in the Belgian province of East Flanders. With its top at 80 m, it is one of many hill formations in the Flemish Ardennes, close to Wallonia. The slopes of the hill were unpaved unt ...

climbs were cut from the race.

Route

Dwars door Vlaanderen is one of several cobbled races in Flanders during Spring classics season. The race starts in Roeselare and finishes in Waregem, for a total distance of ca. 180 km. The bulk of the course is set in the hilly

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 first 80 km in

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 ...

are mainly flat, after which the course becomes more selective with a dozen climbs in the hill zone in

East Flanders , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = Province of Belgium , image_flag = Flag of Oost-Vlaanderen.svg , flag_size = , image_shield = Wapen van O ...

. Despite annual changes, some of the regular climbs in the race are the

Taaienberg The Taaienberg is a hill in the municipality of Maarkedal, in the Belgium, Belgian province of East Flanders. With its top at 90 m, it is one of many hill formations in the Flemish Ardennes, in the south of East-Flanders. The slopes of the hi ...

Kruisberg The Kruisberg, also known as Oude Kruisberg or Oude Kruisens, is a hill and road in the city of Ronse, in Flanders, Belgium. With its top at 122 m altitude, it is one of many hill formations in the Flemish Ardennes, in the south of East-Fland ...

and

Côte de Trieu The Côte de Trieu ''(in French)'' or Knokteberg ''(in Dutch)'' is a hill in the municipality of Mont-de-l'Enclus, in the Belgian province of Hainaut. The road of the Côte de Trieu is on the south side of the Kluisberg, one of the hill formati ...

. The top of the last climb, ''Nokereberg'', comes at 11 km from the finish. Additionally, there are several flat stretches of cobbles. Due to its hilly course in the Flemish Ardennes, the race is similar in nature to the Tour of Flanders, and is often used in preparation for the bigger event four days later.

Winners

Source: www.dwarsdoorvlaanderen.be

Multiple winners

Riders in bold are active

Wins per country

Women's race winners

Multiple winners

''Riders in italics are active''

Wins per country

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dwars Door Vlaanderen Classic cycle races UCI World Tour races UCI Europe Tour races Cycle races in Belgium Recurring sporting events established in 1945 1945 establishments in Belgium Annual sporting events in Belgium Spring (season) events in Belgium