Our ears are still ringing from the cheers of all the Belgian fans who trekked out into the hills of Flanders to cheer us on.

In the men’s race, Luke Lamperti forced his way into the day’s break, racing clear with a 13-rider group that sped through the Flemish countryside to the roar of hundred of thousands of supporters. In every town and village, they were out, hoping for stray bidons and waving their Lion of Flanders flags. Luke’s group was caught right before Berg ten Hout by a group of favorites that had launched out of the peloton. He hung on over the top and over the Nieuwe Kruisberg and Hotond, but had to relent on the ascent of the Oude Kwaremont, over 220 kilometers in to the race. Luke pushed on and was eventually caught by what was left of the peloton, which included his teammates Michael Valgren and Kasper Asgreen. Michael was EF Education-EasyPost’s top finisher in 18th place.

In the women’s race, Noemi Rüegg animated the finale, making the key selection when the race split over the Koppenberg. She matched the favorites’ attacks over the Taainberg and Oude Kruisberg and Hotond, but had to let them go on the Oude Kwaremont. Noemi ended her race in 12th place. After her Tour Down Under win and second place at Sanremo Women, she is now looking forward to the Ardennes.

Hear our team’s thoughts from the finish line of the 2026 Ronde van Vlaanderen.

I was in the mix until the Oude Kwaremont and then I didn’t really have the legs. The last 10 kilometers were super hard. I felt like I was riding on two flat tires. It was not the best day, but like the girls said, we did a great job. It was super hard to stay together.

There were some highs and some lows. This race is always going to come with all kinds of feelings. 
We went for the win today, so, of course, it's disappointing to be just outside the top 10, but it's a step in the right direction. Noemi keeps growing every race. 
She's super consistent.

Luck was definitely not on our side, but we continue to fight, and next year, we'll be back and ready to go.

Having Luke in the breakaway was nice, but they missed the Molenberg split. 
That was a point we saw as an objective. They missed that, and from that moment on, they’d caught us on the back foot. 
And then the only hope – obviously, with hope you don't win bike races – but the hope was that the bigger group would just split into pieces and we might find legs and pick them up one by one. That also didn't work out. We missed the Molenberg. We knew that it was coming and we knew that was where it was going to happen. And that's that.

It was hard. We actually had a good gap, but when the big guys went, it was always going to be hard to survive. To be honest, I don't think I would have changed much. I'm not disappointed. 
I did what I could do. The fans were incredible. De Ronde is one of the nicest races you can do. Going up the Oude Kwaremont was special. It was super nice.