One of Belgium’s oldest ongoing professional bike races, Gent-Wevelgem, has changed its name for the first time since 1934 and moved both race start locations away from the Menin Gate in Ypres, which has played host since 2020.
It will now be called In Flanders Fields – from Middelkerke to Wevelgem, with the former starting a new ten-year partnership to host the start of the men’s one-day Spring Classic, and the women’s race start will be moved to Wevelgem, where both races will finish.
This moves it in line with how Flanders Classics – the race organisers who announced the news on Monday – have Dwars door Vlaanderen and the Tour of Flanders set up, with the men’s race starting in a different location before the women’s race starts and finishes in the same place.
Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) has won the past two editions in a thrilling sprint á deux against Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and in dominant solo fashion this past season, and though the start has changed, laps of the Kemmelberg climb will remain the key point on the race.
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