It has changed names many times since 1977 and now, in the name of safety, for its 50th edition it definitively leaves De Panne and the coast to be called Tour of Bruges: it is the new WorldTour classic for sprinters that takes place today in Belgium, two days before the E3 Harelbeke and four days before the former Gent-Wevelgem, now "In Flanders Fields".

Organizer Golazo has given the race a completely new look and aims to make it much safer. During the 2025 edition, there were so many crashes in the finale that only a handful of riders remained in contention for victory. Riders and sporting directors were particularly critical: because of the numerous speed bumps and road narrowings, the center of De Panne was too dangerous. So the organizers had to break with a strong tradition. No more De Panne and North Sea, but Bruges.

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«Our contract with the municipality of De Panne had expired, and this was the ideal opportunity to seriously reconsider whether it was still safe to organize a race there - explained race director Jan Nys to WielerFlits -. We had to conclude that it is no longer absolutely straightforward to organize a top-level race on the Belgian coast. There are too many tram and train tracks, traffic dividers, bus stops and road narrowings. It was no longer appropriate to have a group of riders cross the road under current racing conditions».

Hence the choice to return to Bruges, capital of West Flanders, already a finish location in the past. «This way we can still organize the WorldTour race for the world's best sprinters in a city, a sort of urban sprint - Nys continues -. There will be 202 km without major difficulties: a straight section and then a long 59.5 km circuit to be repeated three times. There are already many grueling routes, I think it's clear to everyone that this will be a true sprinters' race. Perhaps there are still too few at this level».

On the safety front he adds: «In the section leading up to the sprint, we will pedal exclusively on wide roads. I believe we will encounter a traffic divider once or twice in the last five to ten kilometers. Furthermore, all roads leading to the sprint are dual carriageway. On the ring road, there is a very gentle curve in the last 500 meters before the finish line. Personally, I think it's a very beautiful finish. And then the choice of circuit contributes to having a safer sprint, no one has excuses for not knowing the finish».

As for participation, 22 teams and 154 riders at the start. The best sprinters are there with the exception of Jonathan Milan (it wasn't in his schedule) and Tim Merlier (he withdrew at the last minute): here are Philipsen, Molano, Groenewegen, Bauhaus, Jakobsen, De Kleijn and Mezgec. On the Italian front, Consonni, Mozzato, Ballerini, Albanese, Borgo, Bruttomesso and Matteo Milan, Johnny's brother.

THE STARTERS

UAE Team Emirates - XRG
1. MOLANO Juan Sebastian
2. VERMEERSCH Florian
3. GIAIMI Luca
4. HERREGODTS Rune
5. LAENGEN Vegard Stake
6. JOHANSEN Julius
7. OLIVEIRA Rui

Alpecin-Premier Tech
11. PHILIPSEN Jasper
12. THIJSSEN Gerben
13. DEHAIRS Simon
14. GEENS Jonas
15. MARSMAN Tim
16. RICKAERT Jonas
17. SENECHAL Florian

Bahrain - Victorious
21. BAUHAUS Phil
22. GRADEK Kamil
23. BRUTTOMESSO Alberto
24. ERZEN Zak
25. SKERL Daniel
26. STOCKWELL Oliver
27. VALTER Attila

Decathlon CMA CGM Team
31. BOL Cees
32. GHYS Robbe
33. DE PESTEL Sander
34. DEWULF Stan
35. GAUTHERAT Pierre
36. GUDMESTAD Tord
37. POLLEFLIET Gianluca

EF Education - EasyPost
41. LAMPERTI Luke
42. ALBANESE Vincenzo
43. MIHKELS Madis
44. SCHWARZBACHER Matthias
45. SIMMONS Colby
46. HONORE Mikkel Frolich
47. VAN DEN BERG Marijn

Groupama - FDJ United
51. MILAN Matteo
52. BOWER Lewis
53. FONTAINE Titouan
54. HUENS Axel
55. JACOBS Johan
56. BARTHE Cyril
57. PENHOET Paul

INEOS Grenadiers
61. SWIFT Connor
62. HEIDUK Kim
63. SHMIDT Artem
64. WELSFORD Sam
65. HAMILTON Lucas
66. TURNER Ben
67. WATSON Samuel

Lidl - Trek
71. CONSONNI Simone
72. SUNEKAER NORSGAARD Mathias
73. SODERQVIST Jakob
74. TEUTENBERG Tim Torn
75. THEUNS Edward
76. VERGAERDE Otto
77. WALSCHEID Max

Lotto Intermarché
81. BEULLENS Cedric
82. BRAET Vito
83. DE SCHUYTENEER Steffen
84. GIDDINGS Joshua
85. ORINS Robin
86. TAMINIAUX Lionel
87. VAN SINTMAARTENSDIJK Roel

Movistar Team
91. CANAL Carlos
92. AULAR Orluis
93. MACIEJUK Filip
94. SERRANO Gonzalo
95. GARCIA CORTINA Ivan
96. MILESI Lorenzo
97. TORRES Albert

NSN Cycling Team
101. HOFSTETTER Hugo
102. EINHORN Itamar
103. KOGUT Oded
104. MULLEN Ryan
105. RAISBERG Nadav
106. TENE Rotem
107. VAN TRICHT Floris

Soudal Quick-Step
111. REX Laurenz
112. LAMPAERT Yves
113. VERVENNE Jonathan
114. VAN GESTEL Dries
115. VAN DEN BOSSCHE Fabio
116. VAN LERBERGHE Bert
117. VANGHELUWE Warre

Team Jayco AlUla
121. MEZGEC Luka
122. DURBRIDGE Luke
123. DONALDSON Robert
124. DE POOTER Dries
125. KRIJNSEN Jelte
126. CAPIOT Amaury
127. O'BRIEN Kelland

Team Picnic PostNL
131. JAKOBSEN Fabio
132. RENARD-HAQUIN Henri-Francois
133. BITTNER Pavel
134. MARKL Niklas
135. NABERMAN Tim
136. FLYNN Sean
137. VAN DEN BERG Julius

Uno-X Mobility
141. WAERENSKJOLD Soren
142. BEVORT Carl-Frederik
143. BLIKRA Erlend
144. FREDHEIM Stian
145. INGEBRIGTSEN Storm
146. PEDERSEN Henrik
147. RESELL Erik Nordsaeter

XDS Astana Team
151. BALLERINI Davide
152. FEDOROV Yevgeniy
153. GATE Aaron
154. LIVYNS Arjen
155. KANTER Max
156. SYRITSA Gleb
157. TONEATTI Davide

Cofidis
161. ANIOLKOWSKI Stanislaw
162. BIERMANS Jenthe
163. CHARRET Camille
164. FRETIN Milan
165. KIRSCH Alex
166. MAAS Jan
167. RENARD Alexis

Tudor Pro Cycling Team
171. LIENHARD Fabian
172. FROIDEVAUX Robin
173. KELEMEN Petr
174. MOZZATO Luca
175. KOLZE CHANGIZI Sebastian
176. MIKUTIS Aivaras
177. SUTER Joel

Burgos Burpellet BH
181. KOYAMA Tomoya
182. ALVAREZ Rodrigo
183. BOUGLAS Georgios
184. CAVIA Daniel
185. KMINEK Vojtech
186. MACIAS Cesar
187. MAYER Alexandre

Team Flanders - Baloise
191. HESTERS Jules
192. CRABBE Tom
193. GEERAERTS Ferre
194. HUYSMANS Nolan
195. TORNEY Artuur
196. VAN DEN HAUTE Milan
197. VANDENBRANDEN Noah

TotalEnergies
201. JEANNIERE Emilien
202. DAUPHIN Florian
203. LEROUX Samuel
204. MANZIN Lorrenzo
205. MARCEROU Nicola
206. TESSON Jason
207. THIERRY Pierre

Unibet Rose Rockets
211. GROENEWEGEN Dylan
212. FELDMANN Karsten Larsen
213. LARSEN Niklas
214. MOURIS Wessel
215. MULLER Tobias
216. REINDERS Elmar
217. STOCKMAN Abram