‘Maybe I celebrated a bit too early’ – Lorena Wiebes nearly regrets early celebration as she narrowly wins In Flanders Fields from the breakaway

An emphatic performance saw Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) win In Flanders Fields from the breakaway, as she split the race on the final ascent of the Kemmelberg and drew a small group clear, before sprinting to victory in the final few hundred metres.

Clearly keen to avoid a repeat of the Ronde Van Brugge earlier in the week, where she found herself boxed in and unable to launch her sprint, Wiebes took matters into her own hands and went away with a five-rider group to the finish.

She was forced to close down a late move from Eleonora Gasparrini (UAE Team ADQ) with 4km to go whilst her other breakaway companions sat on her wheel, but she was equal to the challenge. She then led the group into the final sprint and launched with around 300m to go, holding the front all the way to the line to take the win.

“I felt during the race that I had good legs and the last time up the Kemmelberg, I thought why not pace it myself,” said Wiebes in her post-race interview. “I thought ‘I can still go a bit faster’, so why not? We were with a good group away and everybody did their turns. They started to attack with UAE in the last kilometres, but it was a difficult sprint at the end for me.”

Wiebes’ margin of victory was perhaps a bit narrower than she would have anticipated, as she sat up to celebrate before the line, which allowed Fleur Moors (Lidl-Trek) to close in behind her and throw her bike at the line in a desperate attempt to snatch the victory.

It certainly gave Wiebes quite the fright as she looked down to her left with her arms still aloft, with immediate flashbacks to the 2024 Amstel Gold Race, where a similar incident cost her the victory. It was not enough to deny her on this occasion though, as she beat Moors by a wheel length to take her fifth win of the season.

When asked if she could have done anything better in the race, Wiebes jokingly replied, “Maybe not give the DS a heart attack again. Maybe I celebrated a bit too early, but this time it was enough.”

It was certainly a different type of win from her victories at this race in 2024 and 2025, and an atypical display in general from the Dutch national champion, who became the first rider in history to win three-consecutive editions of this race, adding yet another record to her ever-growing list accolades.

“It’s nice to win out of a breakaway, that makes it more special to win it for the third time,” Wiebes concluded.

Getting straight back to winning ways after Thursday’s hiccup will certainly be a relief for the Dutch sprinter, who looks to be in good form ahead of her upcoming races, as she targets the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix and the Amstel Gold Race over the next few weeks.

Results

In Flanders Fields Women 2026: Wevelgem > Wevelgem (135km)

1. Lorena Wiebes (Ned) SD Worx-Protime, in 3:31:21
2. Fleur Moors (Bel) Lidl-Trek
3. Karlijn Swinkels (Ned) UAE Team ADQ
4. Elise Chabbey (Swi) FDJ United-SUEZ, all at same time
5. Eleonora Gasparrini (Ita) UAE Team ADQ, +3s
6. Vittoria Guazzini (Ita) FDJ United-SUEZ, +17s
7. Charlotte Kool (Ned) Fenix-Premier Tech
8. Letizia Paternoster (Ita) Liv AlUla Jayco
9. Femke Markus (Ned) SD Worx-Protime
10. Lara Gillespie (Ire) UAE Team ADQ, all at same time