Classic Brugge-De Panne Women – live coverage

The rain held off, right until the race started!

Sounds like it’s started pouring in Bruges just as the roll-out started. 

And yes, that is SD Worx with just three riders supporting Lorena Wiebes.

Bastianelli, Kool and Balsamo all have full lead-outs here, so it will be a challenge for the Dutchwoman. 

Quite a few names missing this morning: most notably Lotta Henttala, who hasn’t started this morning through sickness.

A lot of teams are here with reduced line-ups too, as injury and illness has already been taking its toll. With big races coming up, some riders are saving themselves for bigger goals.

Here’s the latest startlist as the riders get away for the neutralised start:

It’s a long day out today: 163.1km in total.

We’ll start with a 67km traverse from Bruges to Veurne, and then it’s two laps of the 47.9km loop around Veurne, De Panne and Koksijde. 

It’s a pretty windy morning in Bruges, meaning echelons could be on the cards today.

There’s also a good chance of rain later in the day, though perhaps not quite as much as the rain-soaked men’s edition of this race yesterday.

The riders are just getting ready for the neutral roll-out at 12.30 CET.

There’s 8.6km neutral before the official start.

Hello and welcome to Cyclingnews’ live coverage of Classic Brugge-De Panne!

I’m Matilda and I’m here to take you through the action from Belgium.