OPENINGOver the 135.2 km loop from Wevelgem out to the hills of West Flanders and back, an early break of four — Lourdes Oyarbide / Eraso, Lana Teutenberg, Sarah van Dam and Pia Antikainen — went clear and built a lead that swelled to around five minutes by roughly 85 km to go. The Plugstreets gravel sectors arrived in quick succession from about 58 km out, less than six kilometres apart, and the gap to the leaders had already been pulled back to roughly two minutes by the time the race hit the decisive climbing zone.
UNFOLDSAround 52 km to go a strong seven-rider chase group jumped clear of the peloton, featuring UAE Team ADQ's Lara Gillespie and Febe Jooris, SD Worx's Marta Lach, Picnic-PostNL's Josie Nelson, Lidl-Trek's Lauretta Hanson, Liv-AlUla-Jayco's riders and Lotto-Intermarché's Sterre Vervloet. The catacombs/gravel section around 69 km to go briefly settled the race before the climbs took over: the Monteberg, then the Belvedere side of the Kemmelberg, the Scherpenberg, the Baneberg, and finally the Ossuaire side of the Kemmelberg compressed the front of the race repeatedly.
DECIDEDThe race was made on the last passage of the Kemmelberg. Rather than wait and gamble on the sprint, Wiebes herself accelerated on the climb, and only four riders could go with the world's fastest finisher: Fleur Moors, Karlijn Swinkels, Elise Chabbey and Eleonora Gasparrini. That group of five crested clear with about 19 km to go and held its advantage to the line, the chase coming home seventeen seconds down.
FINALEOn the run-in to Wevelgem the five played cat-and-mouse, and Wiebes was forced to the front inside the final kilometre. She opened a very long sprint on the Vanackerestraat and, despite easing to celebrate early, held on by a wheel from the 20-year-old Moors, with Swinkels third and Chabbey fourth all credited the same time; Gasparrini was the fifth rider at +0:03. Guazzini led the chase group home for sixth at +0:17.