Description
April 8, 2026
6th Scheldeprijs WE 2026 🇧🇪 (1.Pro) WE – Schoten – Schoten : 130,3 km
Classified as a 1.Pro event by the UCI, the Scheldeprijs WE is a prestigious one-day race often regarded as the unofficial world championship for sprinters on the women’s professional calendar.
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April 8, 2026
6th Scheldeprijs WE 2026 🇧🇪 (1.Pro) WE – Schoten – Schoten : 130,3 km
Classified as a 1.Pro event by the UCI, the Scheldeprijs WE is a prestigious one-day race often regarded as the unofficial world championship for sprinters on the women’s professional calendar. The event is characterized by a predominantly flat course that navigates through open, wind-exposed plains before concluding with several technical local circuits. A key feature of the race is a significant sector of traditional cobblestones that tests the riders’ positioning and bike-handling skills shortly before the finale. Due to the high speeds and lack of significant elevation, the competition typically culminates in a high-intensity bunch sprint, demanding exceptional lead-out coordination and explosive power. As a definitive test for the fastest finishers in the sport, the race serves as a critical bridge between the major cobbled monuments and the transition toward the hillier classics later in the spring season.
Charlotte Kool (Fenix-Premier Tech) sprinted to glory at Scheldeprijs Women, winning the race to break her run of three second places in the last three editions.
The Dutchwoman took advantage of the best lead-out among the leading group of riders, with Millie Couzens and Mylène De Zoete hitting the front before she launched in the final 150 metres.
Kool beat out Nienke Veenhoven (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) to the finish line. The pair were unable to match her finishing speed at the head of the lead group, which was reduced by a massive crash inside the final 2km.
Further back, Lara Gillespie (UAE Team ADQ) took fourth place ahead of Chiara Consonni (Canyon-SRAM-Zondacrypto), but up front it was Kool who celebrated, the 26-year-old taking her 23rd professional victory.
“It was about time to win here after all the second places. I’m really happy with it and we had a really good team effort to win,” Kool said after her win.
“It was a really big crash. I hope everyone is OK because it sounded really nasty. We were out front and in a perfect moment with the whole team there. Then we did the lead-out as we did in training.”
How it unfolded
The sixth edition of Scheldeprijs Women was run on a 130.3km course, beginning and ending in Schoten. Local laps of 17km length at the finish would fill the latter half of the route, with four passages of a cobbled sector, Broekestraat, the main difficulty of the flat race.
A breakaway of seven riders got away early in the stage, run in dry and sunny conditions. Ilken Seynave (Lotto-Intermarché), Yonna van Dam (Citymesh-Customm), Mari Porton (Handsling Alba), Clara Jäger (LKT Team), Lea Huber (Nexetis), Lucy Gadd, and Leila Gshwentner (Smurfit Westbrook) all made the move.
They’d race on to an advantage of three minutes over the peloton, while two other riders behind – Oda Aune Gissinger (Hitec Products-Fluid Control) and Fariba Hashimi (Vini Fantini-BePink) – attempted to bridge across behind.
The pair didn’t make it across, however, and so it wasback to seven attackers vs the peloton with 80km left to run.
At 65km to go, a major crash hit the peloton, with Quinty Ton (Liv-AlUla-Jayco, Daniek Hangeveld (Visma-Lease a Bike), and Febe Jooris (UAE Team ADQ) among those hitting the deck. All riders involved were able to get going again without too much trouble, though.
Shortly afterwards, several attacks went at the head of the peloton, with Barbara Guarischi (SD Worx-Protime) among those involved in stretching out the group. The result was an early end for the breakaway, which was brought back with 50km to go.
Afterwards, several teams, including Lidl-Trek, SD Worx-Protime, UAE Team ADQ, and AG Insurance-Soudal, took to the front to control the race going forward.
The next major move came with 24km to go, with Marina Garau (Vini Fantini-BePink) going off the front. The Spaniard was caught just before the start of the final lap, though, leaving a full peloton to contest the last 17km.
Lidl-Trek, SD Worx-Protime, Visma-Lease a Bike, Canyon-SRAM-Zondacrpto and Human Powered Health were among the teams battling to position their contenders on the final lap. The jostling for space in the peloton brought with it several crashes, though no major contenders were involved.
The final run over Broekestraat saw SD Worx launch a move as Guarischi launched Femke Gerritse with 8km to go. The Dutchwoman battled on alone for a brief spell, but her effort amounted to nothing with the peloton bringing her back 5.2km from the finish.
From there, it was up to the sprint squads, with Visma-Lease a Bike, Lidl-Trek, and Fenix-Premier Tech taking control heading into the closing 4km.
A huge crash took a large chunk of the peloton out of the running 1.8km from the line, though a group of around 20 – including the top contenders – avoided the carnage at the front and pushed on towards the sprint.
Fenix-Premier Tech had enough riders left to run their lead-out for Kool, and their setup proved the strongest on the final run to the line. Kool launched her sprint from the front, and despite the best efforts of Veenhoven and Balsamo, she wasn’t to be denied.
Results :
 WE </strong> - Schoten - Schoten : 130,3 km
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Classified as a 1.Pro event by the UCI, the Scheldeprijs WE is a prestigious one-day race often regarded as the unofficial world championship for sprinters on the women's professional calendar. The event is characterized by a predominantly flat course that navigates through open, wind-exposed plains before concluding with several technical local circuits. A key feature of the race is a significant sector of traditional cobblestones that tests the riders' positioning and bike-handling skills shortly before the finale. Due to the high speeds and lack of significant elevation, the competition typically culminates in a high-intensity bunch sprint, demanding exceptional lead-out coordination and explosive power. As a definitive test for the fastest finishers in the sport, the race serves as a critical bridge between the major cobbled monuments and the transition toward the hillier classics later in the spring season.
Charlotte Kool (Fenix-Premier Tech) sprinted to glory at Scheldeprijs Women, winning the race to break her run of three second places in the last three editions.
The Dutchwoman took advantage of the best lead-out among the leading group of riders, with Millie Couzens and Mylène De Zoete hitting the front before she launched in the final 150 metres.
Kool beat out Nienke Veenhoven (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) to the finish line. The pair were unable to match her finishing speed at the head of the lead group, which was reduced by a massive crash inside the final 2km.
Further back, Lara Gillespie (UAE Team ADQ) took fourth place ahead of Chiara Consonni (Canyon-SRAM-Zondacrypto), but up front it was Kool who celebrated, the 26-year-old taking her 23rd professional victory.
"It was about time to win here after all the second places. I'm really happy with it and we had a really good team effort to win," Kool said after her win.
"It was a really big crash. I hope everyone is OK because it sounded really nasty. We were out front and in a perfect moment with the whole team there. Then we did the lead-out as we did in training."
<strong>How it unfolded</strong>
The sixth edition of Scheldeprijs Women was run on a 130.3km course, beginning and ending in Schoten. Local laps of 17km length at the finish would fill the latter half of the route, with four passages of a cobbled sector, Broekestraat, the main difficulty of the flat race.
A breakaway of seven riders got away early in the stage, run in dry and sunny conditions. Ilken Seynave (Lotto-Intermarché), Yonna van Dam (Citymesh-Customm), Mari Porton (Handsling Alba), Clara Jäger (LKT Team), Lea Huber (Nexetis), Lucy Gadd, and Leila Gshwentner (Smurfit Westbrook) all made the move.
They'd race on to an advantage of three minutes over the peloton, while two other riders behind – Oda Aune Gissinger (Hitec Products-Fluid Control) and Fariba Hashimi (Vini Fantini-BePink) – attempted to bridge across behind.
The pair didn't make it across, however, and so it wasback to seven attackers vs the peloton with 80km left to run.
At 65km to go, a major crash hit the peloton, with Quinty Ton (Liv-AlUla-Jayco, Daniek Hangeveld (Visma-Lease a Bike), and Febe Jooris (UAE Team ADQ) among those hitting the deck. All riders involved were able to get going again without too much trouble, though.
Shortly afterwards, several attacks went at the head of the peloton, with Barbara Guarischi (SD Worx-Protime) among those involved in stretching out the group. The result was an early end for the breakaway, which was brought back with 50km to go.
Afterwards, several teams, including Lidl-Trek, SD Worx-Protime, UAE Team ADQ, and AG Insurance-Soudal, took to the front to control the race going forward.
The next major move came with 24km to go, with Marina Garau (Vini Fantini-BePink) going off the front. The Spaniard was caught just before the start of the final lap, though, leaving a full peloton to contest the last 17km.
Lidl-Trek, SD Worx-Protime, Visma-Lease a Bike, Canyon-SRAM-Zondacrpto and Human Powered Health were among the teams battling to position their contenders on the final lap. The jostling for space in the peloton brought with it several crashes, though no major contenders were involved.
The final run over Broekestraat saw SD Worx launch a move as Guarischi launched Femke Gerritse with 8km to go. The Dutchwoman battled on alone for a brief spell, but her effort amounted to nothing with the peloton bringing her back 5.2km from the finish.
From there, it was up to the sprint squads, with Visma-Lease a Bike, Lidl-Trek, and Fenix-Premier Tech taking control heading into the closing 4km.
A huge crash took a large chunk of the peloton out of the running 1.8km from the line, though a group of around 20 – including the top contenders – avoided the carnage at the front and pushed on towards the sprint.
Fenix-Premier Tech had enough riders left to run their lead-out for Kool, and their setup proved the strongest on the final run to the line. Kool launched her sprint from the front, and despite the best efforts of Veenhoven and Balsamo, she wasn't to be denied.
<strong>Results : </strong>
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