Filippo Ganna of Ineos Grenadiers won Dwars door Vlaanderen 2026 on Wednesday, catching Wout van Aert inside the final hundred metres in Waregem after a dramatic finale that swung repeatedly between a solo victory for the Belgian and a reduced sprint from the chase behind. Van Aert had forced the race open with a trademark long-range move and looked close to ending his wait for a major cobbled win, but Ganna timed his effort perfectly in the final kilometre to snatch victory at the last possible moment. Ganna becomes the first Italian to win Dwars Door Vlaanderen since Oscar Gatto in 2013.
An aggressive middle phase blows the race apart
For much of the opening half of Dwars door Vlaanderen, the race followed a tense but controlled pattern. There was no significant wind threat, which removed one of the usual Flemish variables, but the pace was still high and the repeated climbs gradually sharpened the peloton.
The first major split came on the Berg Ten Houte, where Alpecin-Premier Tech and others helped force a front group of 18 riders clear. That move immediately made the race more selective than many of the sprinters would have liked. Big names such as Matthew Brennan, Christophe Laporte, Paul Magnier, Mads Pedersen, Florian Vermeersch, Tobias Lund Andresen and Jonas Abrahamsen were all involved, while Ineos Grenadiers and Alpecin were forced to organise the chase behind because they had initially missed the move.
That situation did not last intact for long. The race kept changing shape, as it often does here. Attacks were reeled in, new ones went, and by 80km to go a front peloton of around 50 riders had formed after the earlier attackers were brought back. Even then, nobody had real control. Per Strand Hagenes was especially active for Team Visma | Lease a Bike, repeatedly helping to split things again and keeping the race uncomfortably hard.
The big point in all of that was simple enough. Van Aert did not want a sprint and did not trust waiting. Every surge from Visma-Lease a Bike suggested the same plan: make the race selective enough that the finishing speed of riders like Philipsen, Milan and Andresen would be blunted by fatigue.
Van Aert goes long and turns the race into a duel
The decisive move began around the final passage of the Eikenberg. Up ahead, Romain Grégoire, Paul Gachignard and Niklas Larsen had slipped clear, but the favourites were holding them on a short leash. Then Van Aert attacked.
That first acceleration hurt Ganna, who was already dealing with mechanical trouble and a bike change at a bad moment, and it quickly changed the race from one of repeated reshuffles into something much cleaner. Van Aert bridged across to the leaders, then powered clear again on the cobbles. For a short period he was alone, chasing the remnants of the attack, before Grégoire and Larsen came with him and the gap began to grow over the bunch.
That trio became the key front group with around 30km to go. Magnus Sheffield tried to bridge solo from behind and later Tim van Dijke joined him, but they remained stuck in the middle while the main peloton hovered further back. In front, Van Aert was the rider doing the real damage. On the cobbled sectors he rode the dirt edge of the road where possible, keeping the speed painfully high and repeatedly forcing Larsen and Grégoire into difficulty.
The biggest move came on the Nokereberg. Van Aert surged again, Grégoire finally cracked, and Larsen was left to cling on. It became clear that Van Aert was not riding to bring company to the finish. He was riding to strip the race down to the barest possible contest and then, ideally, to ride everyone off his wheel.
The chase reorganises and Ganna becomes the danger
For a while, that looked like it might work. With 20km to go Van Aert and Larsen still led, Sheffield and Tim van Dijke were chasing in between, and the peloton was around 45 seconds down. Yet the bunch behind never fully gave up. Soudal-QuickStep, Ineos Grenadiers and Lidl-Trek all had reasons to keep the race alive, while Team Visma | Lease a Bike tried to disrupt rather than contribute, with Hagenes especially important in that role.
Then Ganna began to shape the final. The Italian had already been delayed by a bike change, but once he was back in the race he did what he so often does in these situations, turn raw power into a chase rather than wait for someone else to save him. Each time the gap threatened to settle, Ganna drove again. The peloton started to break up behind him, and the race tilted from a likely Van Aert win towards something far more uncertain.
That uncertainty only grew when Alec Segaert attacked from the chase and bridged across to Van Aert and Larsen inside the final 5km. It was an impressive move, but not necessarily a helpful one for the leaders. Rather than stabilising the front, it complicated it. Segaert did not immediately contribute, Larsen was fading, and Van Aert was already on the limit.
By 4km to go, the gap was only 10 seconds. Suddenly, the race was no longer Van Aert versus the bunch in the abstract. It was Van Aert versus Ganna, with Florian Vermeersch also closing fast and the rest of the chasers carrying enough momentum to believe.
Photo Credit: Jasper Jacobs/BELGA/AFPGanna times it perfectly as Van Aert fades
Inside the final 2km, the race turned into the kind of finish that makes Dwars door Vlaanderen so compelling. Van Aert still had a few seconds. Ganna was chasing hard. Segaert tried to salvage something by attacking under the 1km banner, but he was always going to be caught once the sprint trains behind him formed properly.
For a few seconds in Waregem, it seemed Van Aert might still hold on. The roads were lined with fans urging him towards a victory that would have felt emotionally significant after the injuries and disappointments of recent seasons. But the final metres were against him. He had gone deep too early, and the drag towards the line exposed the fatigue that had accumulated after so many long accelerations.
Ganna judged that moment best. Rather than panic when the gap looked close but not yet closed, he kept driving and came over Van Aert in the final hundred metres before the line. It was a brutally efficient finish. Van Aert had animated the race and nearly carried it all the way to victory, but Ganna had the legs and timing to finish the job when it mattered most.
The wider reduced group then sprinted behind, but the key contest had already been decided. Van Aert’s long-range ambition had almost worked. Ganna’s patience and power made sure it did not.
Dwars door Vlaanderen 2026 Result
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Main photo credit: Getty
