No more De Panne; Classic Brugge-De Panne rebrands to Ronde van Brugge

Classic Brugge-De Panne becomes Ronde van Brugge from next year. The WorldTour classic that is part of the Belgian spring campaign will therefore run from and to the city of Brugge with sprinters still in the spotlight. The change applies to both; male and female version of the race.

The race will be on the cycling calendar until at least 2031. "With the Ronde van Brugge, we are going for a strong and safe project," Christophe Impens from the organizing party Golazo told Sporza. "We are offering the best sprinters in the world the opportunity to compete in a top race at WorldTour level for the next six years."

The mayor of Brugge, Dirk De Fauw, is also excited that his city will host one of the few "sprinter championships" over the next few sprints. "We are not only maintaining a prominent place on the international cycling map, but we are also strengthening our image as a cycling city."

One of the lesser consequences of this shift of focus towards the WorldTour classic in Brugge is that another race previously held in the city - the 1.1 Elfstedenronde will no longer be hosted by Brugge from 2026 onwards. At the very least, the race shall not cease to exist because of this change.