{"id":1860587,"date":"2026-04-01T08:37:01","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T05:37:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1860587"},"modified":"2026-04-01T08:37:01","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T05:37:01","slug":"van-aert-denied-at-the-line-by-ganna-in-full-gas-flanders-tuneup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1860587","title":{"rendered":"Van Aert Denied at the Line by Ganna in Full-Gas Flanders Tuneup"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2268779732.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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Andrew Hood<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Updated April 1, 2026 09:07AM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Dwars door Vlaanderen ended in heartbreak for Wout van Aert and exultation for Filippo Ganna.<\/p>\n

Van Aert was hanging on by a thread after a long solo attack with 400 meters to go when Ganna pounced out of the chasing group in the fastest edition ever in the mid-week Tour of Flanders tune-up.<\/p>\n

Ganna surged past the Belgian star to snatch a stunning victory at the line in a brutal and wild finale, with an average speed of 48.5kph in an attack-riddled, out-of-control race.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll day I was unlucky, I broke my front wheel and had to change my bike, and then I broke my handlebars. In the end, I tried to give all,\u201d Ganna said. \u201cWout made an impressive performance, and it was only in the last corner that I could believe. I am really happy, and it could be good morale for the coming races.\u201d<\/p>\n

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With Tadej Poga\u010dar and Mathieu van der Poel sitting this one out, all eyes were on Van Aert.<\/p>\n

The big Belgian didn\u2019t disappoint, and launched a bunch-busting attack on the Eikenberg to put the hurt on everyone.<\/p>\n

Early chaos saw Dylan Teuns and Jenno Berckmoes abandon after a crash, with Berckmoes taken to the hospital. Arnaud De Lie also abandoned on the climbs as the bunch split.<\/p>\n

Chasing redemption and revenge<\/h2>\n

With 25km to go, Van Aert led with Niklas Larsen, holding 25 seconds over a four-man chase of Magnus Sheffield, Florian Vermeersch, Tim van Dijke and Romain Gr\u00e9goire, with the peloton at 43 seconds.<\/p>\n

The peloton smelled a bunch sprint, with Soudal Quick-Step driving the chase.<\/p>\n

Van Aert wasn\u2019t having it, and, digging deep to seal\u00a0his first win of the season, dropped Larsen to attack over the final climb with a vengeance.<\/p>\n

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It was a drag race to the wire, with the Belgian giving everything he had to carry a slim, 17-second lead over the final cobbled sector at 6km to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would have been nice if the line was 150 meters earlier,\u201d Van Aert said. \u201cI tried everything to win. My final started when I hit the front after the Eikenberg. I thought I had just enough to make it, but after the last corner, Ganna was there. Suddenly I saw a wheel next to me and it was over.\u201d<\/p>\n

The gap was down to a fistful of seconds at the red kite when Ganna bolted clear to fly past Van Aert.<\/p>\n

It was a brutal disappointment for Van Aert, who narrowly lost last year\u2019s edition to Neilson Powless, and a cobbled confirmation for Ganna.<\/p>\n

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Dwars door Vlaanderen results<\/h2>\n\n<\/div>\n
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Andrew Hood<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Updated April 1, 2026 09:07AM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/dwars-door-vlaanderen-report-results-2026-van-aert-ganna\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2268779732.jpg”] Andrew Hood Updated April 1, 2026 09:07AM Dwars door Vlaanderen ended in heartbreak for Wout van Aert and exultation for Filippo Ganna. Van Aert was hanging on by a thread after a long solo attack with 400 meters to go when Ganna pounced out of the chasing group in the fastest edition […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-1860587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1860587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1860587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1860587\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1860587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1860587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1860587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}