Live: 2025 Tour of Flanders Women

Mathew Mitchell

Published on April 6, 2025
in Women's Cycling

The 2025 Women’s Tour of Flanders continues to live up to its status as one of the most prestigious one-day races on the calendar. First run in 2004, it’s become a fixture of the Spring Classics—famous for its brutal mix of cobbles, sharp climbs, and unpredictable racing.

Legends like Nicole Cooke, Zulfia Zabirova, Ina-Yoko Teutenberg, Marianne Vos, Anna van der Breggen and Annemiek van Vleuten have all etched their names into the history of the Ronde.

And while repeat winners were rare for a long time—only Judith Arndt and Mirjam Melchers managed it early on—recent years have seen that change. Annemiek van Vleuten finally got her second in 2021, before Lotte Kopecky took back-to-back wins in 2022 and 2023. Her shot at a third in 2024 came undone on the Koppenberg, where slippery conditions forced several favourites off their bikes mid-climb.

That moment proved decisive. Elisa Longo Borghini and Shirin van Anrooij, both for Lidl-Trek, went clear with Kasia Niewiadoma. Van Anrooij worked hard on the front to keep the gap intact, teeing up a reduced sprint into Oudenaarde. Longo Borghini took it—her second win at Flanders, with the first coming almost a decade earlier.

Behind them, the chase was packed with firepower: Puck Pieterse, Vos, Silvia Persico and Kopecky all came in nine seconds down. Vollering, delayed on the Koppenberg, was a further six seconds behind—marking a difficult day for SD Worx.

The modern route no longer finishes atop the Muur and Bosberg in Meerbeke like the early editions. Instead, it’s the Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg pairing that now decides the race, followed by a flat but tactical 10km run to the line in Oudenaarde. That stretch continues to be a launching pad for race-winning moves—or the place where dreams unravel.

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