Race Thread: Flèche Brabançonne/Brabantse Pijl 2026
It's the Arrow in Brabant - the link between the cobbled classic and the Ardennes, and a damn good race.
It might even be enjoyable, given the absence of the big 4 or 5 or however many we're counting on to attack with 80 km to go in this terrain.
The route, usually, is on narrow hilly roads through the landscape in Wallonie, from Beersel to Overijse. Along the way, the riders will pass a number of sharp short climbs - the bergs and straats - until they reach Overijse and ride three laps and a winner is declared.
It is an open field, this year, with no clear favourite - but according to PCS we should look out for:
- Gregoire
- Schmid
- Del Grosso
- Vermeersch
- Venturini
- Wellens
- Zambanini
- Menten
- Leknessund
- Baudin
Ah, thanks; I made a post in French 3 days ago, but then completely forgot about making an English version here 😃
What had I said... hum, not much. At that point in time, Pidcock🇬🇧 was still expected to race, but not any more, so I can scratch his line. The pedigrees of the rest was:
J. Narvaez 🇪🇨 UAE: was supposed to finally restart after his crash in Australia, but is now removed from the startlist too;Since then, F. Vermeersch (🇧🇪 UAE) appeared, perhaps replacing Narvaez. I would have put him favourite together with Grégoire🇫🇷 if I didn't fear he was in the end of his cycle. A pity this race didn't come before he was (or may have been) worn out by major WT classics.
Baudin (🇫🇷 EF) was great in Basque Country (until the last day anyway). It might be his day, before Healy comes back on Amstel.
So... none of the favourites won, as it ended in a (sort of) mass finish, and they had expended their strengths earlier, either at the front of the race or the front of the peloton.
In the climb/sprint, we could believe at some point that Total would score its second victory in a day, as Burgaudeau🇫🇷 had created a small gap and was maintaining it, but there are still those several hundred straight metres to go after the curves. Then we saw a group of at least 3 Caja Rural appear from nowhere, but finally several stronger men fought for the actual victory.
Grégoire (🇫🇷 FDJ) is 'only' 4^th^, but he had been in the breakaway for a long time. Had he stayed in the peloton, he could have won. One may say the same thing about Cosnefroy (🇫🇷 UAE): same bet/option, same result. The peloton never gave up today, even when that meant using guys like Baudin (🇫🇷 EF) and Schmid (🇨🇭 Jayco) to pull the bunch. I read that both Wellens (🇧🇪 UAE) and F. Vermeersch (🇧🇪 UAE) also pulled the peloton in a part I missed, so most of my list of favourites acted as domestiques 😆
Caja Rural scores a great many points, with the 5^th^, 8^th^, 10^th^ and 12^th^ places!
Venturini (🇫🇷 Unibet) refused to relay, once he was in a trio who detached from the front of the peloton in a climb, forcing his teammate who had just been dropped from the breakaway to pull the peloton instead. Perhaps not the best choice, as he finished only 20^th^.
The surprise winner of the day is Anders Foldager (🇩🇰 Jayco). A surprise for me anyway; but it is certainly the best result in his young career.
Uh... Healy (🇮🇪 EF) has since been removed from all the upcoming races, as a late consequence of his assault of an old lady just before the TT of the Basque Country Tour. Old lady >>> pro cyclist.