After finishing second behind Marlen Reusser on Wednesday, Demi Vollering (FDJ United-Suez) was not interested in having any company at the finish of the Tour of Flanders in Oudenaarde. The European champion attacked on the Oude Kwaremont with 18 km remaining, and left a group of select favourites behind. Second and third on the day came down to a chasing duo of Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Premier Tech). Ferrand-Prévot was able to out-sprint her old mountain bike rival to take the second step next to Vollering.
A chasing group of five that included the defending champion Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) crossed the line just over a minute after Vollering.
Crashes marred the race, with multiple riders being taken to the hospital, including Brodie Chapman (UAE Team ADQ) and Kim Le Court-Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal), with Reusser also going down in the Mauritian champ's crash. By the evening, it was confirmed that both will be sidelined for several weeks, with a broken wrist for Le Court-Pienaar, and a fractured lumbar vertebra for Reusser.
[race_result id=9049 stage_id=0 count=10 gc=0 year=2026]
How it happened
- A few collections of riders from ProTeams tried to force a breakaway early in the race, and eventually, a four-person move separated itself from the peloton. The quartet held onto a two-minute advantage when splits started occurring in the main bunch. The first significant move came from Marlen Reusser (Movistar) on the Molenberg with 68 km to go.
- Reusser was tracked by Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) and a handful of favourites, but with Kopecky off the back, the group was brought back together.
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