Bruges-De Panne 2024: The wind as the biggest opponent - all information on the route and TV coverage

>> Click here for the race report of the men's race

>> Click here for the race report of the women's race

One man's joy is another man's sorrow. That's how it is sometimes. Also in the case of the genders at Bruges-De Panne. For a long time, there was no women's race there. That only changed in 2018 - under quite curious circumstances. Until then, there was actually no men's Bruges-De Panne either. But the Three Days of De Panne. For years, the mini-tour had its prominent and permanent place in the week before the Tour of Flanders.

But only until 2017, because from the following year, Quer durch Flandern was moved to the Wednesday before the Monument. As there was no more room for a multi-day event in the tightly scheduled Belgian spring, the organising Royal Cycling Club Panne decided on a one-day race - but also for the women.

Bruges-De Panne 2024: the most important facts in brief

• Date: 20 March 2024 (men), 21 March 2024 (women)
• Distance197 kilometres (men), 154 kilometres (women)
• StartBruges, GoalDe Panne
• Profilecompletely flat
• UCI category: (Women's) World Tour
• Organiser: Koninklijke Veloclub Panne Sportief
• Premiere: 1977 (men), 2018 (women)
• Last year's winnerJasper Philipsen, Pfeiffer Georgi

Bruges-De Panne is the first Belgian race of the World Tour since the Omloop het Nieuwsblad on the opening weekend almost a month ago. It also heralds the start of the most important week and a half in the Flemish sporting year, at the end of which the Tour of Flanders awaits after four more WT races. The situation is similar for the women. However, they won't be competing for the E3 prize and the Tour of Flanders will only be in the .pro category.

The Bruges-De Panne 2024 route

Until 2019, the Classic Bruges-De Panne still featured cobblestones and hills, including a crossing of the Kemmelberg. But since 2020, the wind, weather and the narrow and winding, mostly poor concrete roads have been the only remaining difficulties in the race.

However, a bunch sprint is not the rule at Bruges-De Panne. Because it is always windy on the Belgian North Sea. And as a circuit around the coastal town of De Panne means that crosswinds will prevail at some point in the finale, windy stretches are almost unavoidable.

From the market in Bruges, the route leads via Zedelgem, Aartrijke and Koekelare first in a south-westerly direction, then in a westerly direction to Nieuwport. From there it is not far to Veurne, where the route crosses the final circuit for the first time. At Adinkerke, the 43.9 kilometre long finishing circuit will be ridden - three times by the men and twice by the women. This means a total of 197 and 154 kilometres respectively.

From Adinkerke, there are still five kilometres to the first passage of the finish in De Panne. The route continues to Koksijde, where the roads of the already completed Bredene-Koksijde race (1.Pro, winner 2024 Lucca Mozzato) are used. The route continues through Veurne, where it gets a little more winding, to Houtem, the southernmost point of the route, and then back to De Panne via Adinkerke. There are small bumps on the route, mainly around the finish area, but they are hardly worth mentioning.

Bruges-De Panne 2024: TV broadcast and live stream

Both the men's and women's races will be shown live on German television and via live stream. In each case from 16:35 Eurosport 1 broadcasts on TV for around an hour of live pictures from the men's (20 March) and women's (21 March) events. The respective live streams at discovery+ each start at 3 pm.