As it happened: In Flanders Fields Women comes down to the most gripping of finishes

What a thrilling final. It looked close but in the end Wiebes won by a wheel ahead of Moors, with Swinkels home in third.
The bunch crossed the line only 17 seconds behind.

Flamme rouge! One kilometre to go and Wiebes is forced to the front in a tactical battle of wills.
It’s between this group!

All together at 2km to go and they’re starting to look at each other as Gasparrini goes again. She’s caught again.
Their lead remains 34 seconds!

Gasparrini is caught at 2.5km to go, but Wiebes is vulnerable!
Is it Swinkels oor Chabbey to attack now?

It’s a full on tailwind now, and it’s over 20k/mh which should help the leading group, but now Fenix-PremierTech are working hard.
Gasparrini goes hard from the leading group, forcing Wiebes to chase!
£km and the lead is 35 seconds.

We’re in the final 7km now and still the gap remains over 40 seconds. Wiebes, Moors, Swinkels, Gasparrini and Chabbey are still working but surely a move will come soon?
Swinkels seems to seems to be getting tired which would leave UAE at a disadvantage.

Another 4km tick by and the leading group still have 53 seconds, the chase in the bunch seems to be disjointed. The four best teams in the women’s peloton are represented in the leading group, it could be they’re happy to let them play the game in the final.

14km to go and the chasers are caught! This is tense as the gap immediately begins to drop, it’s now 50 seconds.
Wiebes is SD Worx’s favourite, their out and out winner, do they have options behind?
Other teams do, will the riders with Wiebes in the group change their tactics and stop working, or are they happy to go head to head with the Dutch champion.

The Menin Gate which lists thousands of soldiers who died around Ypres in World War One with no known grave. It also marks the exit from the town and, with 23km to go the leading five have a gap of 40 seconds.

With Wiebes’ sprinting superiority it would seem like a folly to help her to the finish line with the expectation of being beaten. However, they have options to beat the Dutch champion.
UAE have two riders and while both can sprint Gasparrini is the fastest, Moors has a kick too, while Chabbey could go long. Wiebes will want a sprint, so will have to chase anything that moves.

Wiebes, Moors, Swinkels, Gasparrini and Chabbey are increasing their lead over the chasers, it’s only 25 seconds though. It could be the chasers are waiting for reinforcements from the peloton, though they are now 50 seconds behind them.
This could be a done deal.

Onto the flat road towards Ypres and Wiebes is with Fleur Moors (Lidl-Trek), Karlijn Swinkels and Eleonora Gasparrini (both UAE Team ADQ) Elise Chabbey.
They’re working well, no one missing a turn and have a cross wind here, though it’s relatively sheltered as eight women chase 18 seconds behind with the peloton more than 40 seconds further back.

Is there nothing Lorena Wiebes can’t do?
The fastest sprinter in the world leads up the brutal cobbled slopes of the Kemmelberg, leading only five women over the top.
It’s tarmac all the way home now, it’s tail wind too, but 35km is a long way and anything can happen.

Franziska Koch (FDJ United-SUEZ) on the Kemmelberg before crashing later in the race.

UAE have attacked hard on the Baneberg, splitting the race. At the top Wiebes is still there though, right at the front of a group of about 12 riders who have emerged onto the descent.
The Kemmelberg comes very soon though, this could be a decisive move.

Yet another crash and more misfortune for Coles-Lyster, she’s up but it’s bad timing as we approach the Baneberg.
Also affected was Visma-Lease a Bike’s Nienke Veenhoven, but also Franziska Koch, the German champion FDJ United-Suez’s favourite.

Baker has been busy today, here she is off the front earlier in the day, racing across the Plugstreets.

The Scherpenberg failed to illicit any action, though we’ve had a crash with one of the favourites, Canadian, Maggie Coles-Lyster (Human Powered Health) among those going down. Everyone is quickly up and riding.
The race is in a period of nervous stasis ahead of the final climbs, Baker and Molenaar still ahead, though by only 19 seconds.

Now Georgia Baker has attacked and is bridging across the 12 second gap to Molenaar. The peloton seem happy though, while Baker may well be looking for some sliding room ahead of the climbs, she’s a very capable sprinter with a great engine too.

As the Scherpenberg approaches, one of the VolkerWessels riders, Laura Molenaar has drifted off the front, though her move is gaining very little traction, her lead only 12 seconds with 50km left to race.

With 52km to go a large peloton has come together and the pace is off. Once again teams are refuelling and discussing tactics and their next move.
UAE Team ADQ are at the of the race, with most of the SD Worx squad in clse attendance.

One kilometre later and Eraso is caught and a large bunch is re-forming.
This is a race of attrition, with fewer and fewer riders surviving each of the climbs, the pressure on all the time.

The Kemmelberg has done its thing, a group of around only 10 women are on the tarmac descent chasing Eraso.
Expect this to come back together though, there’s a little while unit the Scherpenberg. There’ll be some rearranging among the peloton before they get there.
56km to go.

Van Dam is caught by Géry as the cobbles start.
The Belvedere side of the Kemmelberg might be the easiest but it’s hard, steep and cobbled and it’s a challenge, dragging on far too long!
Géry is caught on the climb, her team mate Koch riding hard.
Eraso will be the last of the breakaway to be caught.

This is a valiant effort by the break. While Teutenberg and Eraso ride for ProTeams, Van Dam and Antikainen are third division riders. They’ve put in a great day’s work to be out front for so long.
They’re on the Monteberg now, can they survive?

It’s all calm in the peloton now. They’re riding relatively wide roads, though disaster is never too far away in the classics, Nina Berton (EF Education-Oatly) suffers her second crash of the day.
The Luxembourger is up and riding though.
With 61km to go Eraso, Teutenberg, Van Dam and Antikainen lead by 1.38.

British champion, Millie Couzens (Fenix-PremierTech) in the peloton as they ride onto the Plugstreets.

Off The Catacombs with 69km to go and the race is now much more controlled. This is, in essence, the calm before the storm which will come on the climbs.
This easing has caused the breakaway’s lead to go out slightly, it’s threatening the two minute mark again, but don’t expect them to stay away, there’s a lot of racing to come now.

The end of the third Plugstreet, The Catacombs, comes only 13km before the day’s first climb, the Monteberg. Despite the easing in the pace among the peloton the advantage for Eraso, Teutenberg, Van Dam and Antikainen is at 1.51.
The race is very definitely on.

At the end of the Christmas Truce Plugstreet the four leaders have 1.50 and there’s a little regrouping in the the peloton. It seems everyone is taking a breath and a drink ahead of the next bit of action.

Wow, the race is really breaking up now, the peloton is really stretched out, the riders who crashed are way off the back, while Lorena Wiebes, Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) and Franziska Koch (FDJ United-SUEZ) have dragged the peloton across to the chasing group.
With 74km to go the four leaders have only 2 minutes advantage.

In the blink of an eye the leaders’ gap has been slashed down to only 3.25. Only 3km from the Hill 63 Plugstreet.

The peloton aren’t happy though, they don’t want such a large group to form, soo they’ve set off in pursuit. However, a big crash has taken a number of riders out of the bunch.
The Plugstreets are imminent now.

52km down and while the leaders are persevering and working well, a group of 7 has chipped off the front of the peloton. They’re about to be joined by Marta Lach of SD Worx, so this will change the complexion of the race entirely.

With 85km to go Eraso, Teutenberg, Van Dam and Antikainen lead by five minutes.
At Omloop Niewsblad in 2025 the big teams looked to each other to bring the breakaway back aand it didn’t happen, is the same happening again?

The complexion of the race is beginning to change, Picnic-PostNL have come to the front and are putting the pressure on. The team could do with a win as they’ve not had one yet this year.
They have a astinrg group today, with Pfeiffer Georgi likely to lead, though Rachele Barbieri their sprinter.

In the race Eraso, Teutenberg, Van Dam and Antikainen have once again stretched their advantage out to 4.58 with 46km of the race ridden.

While the route doesn’t go to Ploegsteert itself, Hill 63 was so-named as it is 63m above sea level and is part of the Messines ridge which was fiercely fought over.

We’re within 20km of the first of the Plugstreets, Hill 63. The Plugstreets are named after a mispronunciation of Ploegsteert, a village in the area which featured in the repeated battles of Ypres during World War One.

Only Chantal Van den Broek-Blaak and Marlen Reusser (Movistar) have won solo, while Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime), who’s looking for a third consecutive victory today, is the only rider with multiple wins.

35km done and the leaders’ advantage is slightly reduced, it’s down below 4.10 now having been out at 4.50. We’ll soon turn right and into a head wind again, so maybe there’s not major echelon action after all.

Part of the beauty of these spring classics is the chaos and unpredictability. Since Lauren Hall won the first edition in a two-up sprint in 2014, the race final has been contested by a group of more than 20 women more often than not.

They’re certainly honouring organisers’ faith in them as the’ve extended their lead to four minutes with 28km of the day done.
That could change soon though, we’re about to turn left into a cross tail wind of 25k/mh, enough for echelons.

All four of our breakaway riders are from lower level teams .
Eraso and Teutenberg are from second tier ProTeams with Van Dam and Antikainen both from third division Continental teams.
Organisers tend to look to these teams to make the race and create breakaways.

Scrap that! Our leading quartet now have more than three minutes’ lead! They really have been allowed their heads, especially when considering how short the race is.
20km done, so we’re about to head into a stretch of cross head wind, hard for the leaders and tempting chaos in the bunch.

After 20km we reach the northernmost point in the course at Westrozebeke, turning west into a headwind then south. The wind is blowing at about 28k/mh from the west so there may be some crosswind action here.
Positioning ahead of this may be why the breakaway aren’t being allowed too much of a lead.

The first of the Plugstreets comes after 58km and they follow in very quick succession, all within less than six kilometres of each other. They could see some decisive selections among the race favourites, especially as they precede the climbs by only 13km. Expect action!

Eraso, Teutenberg, Van Dam and Antikainen have extended their lead to 1.40 as they head north and west on a first opening loop. We’ve covered 15km.

Including the words ‘In Flanders Fields’ in the race name is homage to the fallen of the Great War. In addition organisers introduced gravel sectors into the race route a few years ago, and this year the women’s race will tackle three of them, Hill 63, Christmas Truce and The Catacombs.

Another small group is now fighting to get away, though it sounds like there’ll be a big fight for the day’s breakaway.

Three riders got a small gap but they’re back in the bunch again. It’s seething at the front!

And no sooner has the flag dropped than we have attacks at the front of the race!

If you don’t recognise the name of the race that’s because this is the race formerly known as Gent-Wevelgem. And it’s not just the name that’s changed, the route has too, but we’ll cover that a bit later!

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the 13th edition of In Flanders Fields – In Wevelgem.