Van Aert's near‑miss sparks buzz
Wout van Aert showed form with a 35km solo attack at Dwars door Vlaanderen but was heartbreakingly caught in the final meters — a performance that lit up classics talk ahead of Flanders. Riders and commentators called it a gutsy, almost‑career defining effort despite the bitter finish (cyclingnews.com) (cyclinguptodate.com).
Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers Racing Academy) took the win in Waregem on the 184–185 km Dwars door Vlaanderen course, clocking a winning time of 3:48:27. (cyclingflash.com) Ganna recovered from two mid-race bike changes — a broken front wheel and then a replacement whose handlebars snapped — and said afterwards “I thought the race was done for me.” (cyclinguptodate.com) Race officials imposed a UCI fine of CHF 200 on Ganna and CHF 500 on Ineos Grenadiers for a ‘sticky bottle’ incident after his first mechanical. (cyclingnews.com) On the Nokereberg Wout van Aert dropped Niklas Larsen as the race fractured, a move that left him off the front into the closing kilometres for Team Visma | Lease a Bike. (cyclingstage.com) Video-timing shows Ganna arriving at the finishing straight roughly 20 metres behind Van Aert and overtaking him in the final 50 metres to take the victory. (cyclingstage.com) After the podium Ganna confirmed Paris‑Roubaix is his next target rather than the Tour of Flanders, saying his programme will focus on the Roubaix weekend. (cyclingnews.com)
