Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) took her second WorldTour win of the season at Classic Brugge-De Panne. The Italian was fastest in the sprint against Charlotte Kool (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL), and Daria Pikulik (Human Powered Health) rounded out the podium in third place.
While Team dsm-firmenich PostNL offered Kool a near-perfect lead-out into the final, Balsamo, clearly the faster sprinter of the two on the day, jumped off her wheel in the closing few metres to take the day's win.
2024 Classic Brugge-De Panne information
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The Classic Brugge-De Panne returns for a sixth edition in 2024 and is among the big showdowns among the cobbled Classic for the top sprinters in the women's peloton. The Women’s WorldTour race is on March 21, which follows a day after the men’s race.
It's a race that takes the Women's WorldTour back to Belgium after a pair of spring Classics in Italy, Strade Bianche and Trofeo Alfredo Binda, and one in the Netherlands, Ronde van Drenthe. Classic Brugge-De Panne Women launches a series of three consecutive one-day races in Belgium, leading to Gent-Wevelgem and Tour of Flanders.
The Belgian event took root in 1977 as a three-day stage race for men. It then added the Women’s WorldTour race in 2018, the same year transforming the men’s contest to a one-day race as well. The men race a day before the women.
In a big step for the women’s race, organisers increased the prize money in 2022 to be equal with the men’s, offering the women’s field a total purse of €40,000.
Last year Pfeiffer Georgi (Team DSM) used a late attack from a small breakaway group to ride solo across the line for her first Women’s WorldTour victory. It was a powerful surge across the final 7km that saw her distance 2022 winner Elisa Balsamo and 2020 winner Lorena Wiebes by 1:10.
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Classic Brugge-De Panne Women route
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2023 route(Image credit: Classic Brugge-De Panne Women 2023)
This is a race characterised by flat roads which are a playground for sprinters. Also a factor are the roads around De Moeren which are open to the elements and the wind can disrupt fast riders. It is also traditionally one of the longest races, with the 2023 route reaching 163km.
The Classic Brugge-De Panne route begins in Brugge and passes through Leeuw, Koekelare and Schoorbakke, and leads to a local circuit of 43.9km that the women completed twice for the finish in De Panne. In 2023 the circuit was reversed and the finish line moved from Veurnestraat to Zeelaan.
Classic Brugge-De Panne Contenders
Pfeiffer Georgi of Team DSM competes in the breakaway with teammate Megan Jastrab (Image credit: Getty Images)
Four of the last six previous editions of Classic Brugge-De Panne, four have been won in a bunch sprint. In 2021, Grace Brown stayed ahead of a charging field from a hard-fought breakaway to take a solo victory. Last year, Pfeiffer Georgi used a late attack from a breakaway group of six to earn the win, more than a minute ahead of the chasers.
Lidl-Trek’s Elisa Balsamo won in Brugge in 2022 and finished as runner-up last year to Brown. The Italian had a dazzling string of success the year she won Classic Brugge-De Panne as she took titles at Trofeo Alfredo Binda and Gent-Wevelgem on the surrounding weekends.
Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) won the race in 2020 and has been on the podium three other times, including a third place last year. The course seems designed for her abilities as a pure sprinter but Nokere Koerse crashes took a heavy toll on the team and SD Worx-Protime withdrew from the event as a result, leaving the door wide open for other contenders.
Other sprinters to watch include Charlotte Kool (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL), Lotta Henttala (EF Education-Cannondale) and Chiara Consonni, who leads UAE Team ADQ in the one-day races with the retirement of Marta Bastianelli.
