It was won by Dutch rider Adrie van der Poel in a four-man sprint before Ireland's Sean Kelly.

[1][2] A breakaway of ten riders was formed after the Koppenberg, from which Belgian Eddy Planckaert and Canadian Steve Bauer broke clear at 30 km from the finish.

In a four-man sprint, Dutchman van der Poel surprisingly beat Kelly.

[1] The race started in Sint-Niklaas and finished in Meerbeke (Ninove) – totaling 274 km.

The course featured 12 categorized climbs: Video of the 1986 Tour of Flanders Archived 2016-03-15 at the Wayback Machine on Sporza (in Dutch)