Place Name: Route De France
Address: Route De France 9, 7370 Dour, Hainaut, Belgium
Details: March 3, 2026
The cobbled classics continue today, the third in just four days, with the Ename Samyn Classic, or Le Samyn. Unlike the circuitous nature of some of the other races we'll see this Spring on the cobbles, Le Samyn is relatively simple. The first 94KM are comprised of a flat 24KM roll out after the start in Quaregnon then two laps of a long circuit around the finish in Dour which is 35KM per lap. The riders will then do four laps of a shorter 27.5KM circuit which is just a slightly abbreviated version of the first circuit with all of the same obstacles as well as a passage of the finish line. On each of the laps, there are five sections to be aware of. The first two are the cobbled Rue de Pres Belem and Rue Chasse de la Motte, then the Côte de la Roquette, followed by the Côte des Nonettes. The final obstacle is the rough cobbles of the Rue de Belle Vue which is not as nice as it sounds. It comes just 3KM from the finish line and has a function of spreading riders into a long line right before the uphill drag to the finish, making position at the front as critical as ever. We have a had a reduced sprint in the last few years and could expect that as the most likely outcome this time around.
Riders to watch: Wout van Aert, Laurenz Rex, Jason Tesson, Hugo Hofstetter, Thibaud Gruel, Jordi Meeus, Danny van Poppel, Steffen De Schuyteneer, Lukáš Kubiš, Alexis Renard, Joppe Heremans, Matevž Govekar
As bad as the weather has been in Europe this Spring, it was an absolute gem of a day at the start in Quaregnon. It was a fight to be in the break and in the end, a group of five got away including Stijn Appel of BEAT Saxo, Baptiste Vadic of TotalEnergies, Kévin Avoine of Van Rysel Roubaix, Lucas Bénéteau of St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93, and Bogdan Zabelinskiy of Aarco. As the riders were coming up to the finish line with 3 laps and 81.5KM to go, attacks were kicking off with aggressive riding by Soudal Quickstep and Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe. The gap was just 1 minute 15 seconds when Arnaud Tendon of Van Rysel Roubaix chipped off the front of the peloton and was followed by Ed Uptegrove of EEW-VDK. The bigger teams settled back and relaxed with the bright sunshine warming their backs and sharp shadows on the concrete road.
Lotto Intermarché, Visma-Lease a Bike, and Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe sat on the front blocking the road. The gap to the original five leaders expanded out to 2 minutes as they reached the Côte de la Roquette with 69KM to go. The bunch picked up the speed on an open stretch of road over the top, on the approach to the Côte des Nonettes, which dissolved the gap. Tendon and Uptegrove were just about caught as Visma-Lease a Bike were sending attacks behind. A group of 13 split off the main bunch with 61KM to go and started the Rue de Belle Vue 4KM later with a 15 second advantage over the peloton.
Up the rise to the finish in Dour for 2 laps and 57KM to go, the break was about to be caught by the advancing attack group which was far from cohesive. Visma-Lease a Bike stacked two riders in the group but neither were working, nor was the member of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe. As a result, two riders from Cofidis decided to sit on as well. It was hard to know why, but the group got themselves together and started to swap turns in a tight double paceline after heading out of Dour and back into the countryside. The attackers caught the break with 53KM to go to form a large 17 rider group. Alpecin-Premier Tech, Soudal Quickstep, and NSN Cycling all missed the move and set up a chase. More teams massed towards the front to position but the break managed to hold a steady gap between 20-30 seconds.
When the front group reached the Côte des Nonettes for the penultimate time, they had extended the gap to 35 seconds. Soudal Quickstep were the primary team chasing and they were forced to spend much of their firepower to bring it back themselves. The gap was just 12 seconds when they hit the Rue de Belle Vue with 30KM to go. Per Strand Hagenes of Visma-Lease a Bike was the strongest in the front group and distanced everyone else on the bone rattling cobbles. Matys Grisel of Lotto Intermarché went in pursuit of Hagenes who took the bell at the finish line with a 15 second advantage on Grisel with the rest of the attackers just behind and the peloton a further 100M beyond.
With 24KM to go, only Hagenes remained out front. Soudal Quickstep had no more men to chase which forced the hand of Bahrain Victorious and NSN Cycling to do more. A few kilometers later, teams were organizing at the front to chase but also to stay in position. A sprint was the most probable outcome at this point and it was imperative that the fast men be kept near the front and out of trouble. Through the narrow streets leading up to and passed the Côte de la Roquette, the bunch strung out which gave attacking riders a chance to get a gap but there was always a Visma-Lease a Bike rider present to sit on and kill the move. Attacks kept coming but the gap to Hagenes remained around 20 seconds.
For the first time in a long time, Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe showed interest in chasing as it was becoming necessary. Hagenes was still holding strong at 20 seconds and the kilometers were ticking down quickly, now under 10 to go. Cofidis came into the base of the Côte des Nonettes and made a full effort. The gap to Hagenes was cut in half and a split formed in the peloton around 25 wheels back. Gaps were stitched up but there was hesitation on who would commit to lifting the pace. The answer came in the form of Unibet Rose Rockets, Groupama-FDJ United, Soudal Quickstep, and Cofidis.
It was a mad dash to the right turn on to the Rue de Belle Vue with 3KM to go. The pace from the peloton had cut the gap to just 7 seconds. Hagenes squeezed out everything he had and still was not caught with 1,500M to go. Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe were leading the peloton but it just wasn't quick enough. Hugo Page of Cofidis launched an attack and got halfway to Hagenes but a surge came from the bunch when Bahrain Victorious took over and Page was caught. Cruelly, the finish line was 300M too far for Hagenes and his head dropped in disappointment and in fatigue as the peloton flew by. Inside the barriers, the first to launch their sprint was Jordi Meeus of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe. Hugo Hofstetter of NSN Cycling tried to get on the wheel but didn't have the acceleration required as the Belgian stormed towards the line. Laurenz Rex of Soudal Quickstep came off of Hofstetter and around but it was too late to catch Meeus who took the win. For all of the activity and work done by Cofidis, they managed to get Jenthe Biermans into fourth place.
Tags: Le Samyn, 2026, March, Quaregnon, Dour, Stijn Appel, Baptiste Vadic, Kévin Avoine, Lucas Bénéteau, Bogdan Zabelinskiy, Arnaud Tendon, Ed Uptegrove, Per Strand Hagenes, Matys Grisel, Hugo Page, Jordi Meeus, Hugo Hofstetter, Laurenz Rex