April 17, 2026
The Brabantse Pijl, or Flèche Brabançonne, is the perfect transition between the Flemish classics and the hillier Ardennes classics coming in the week ahead. The race straddles the language border with the start in Flemish speaking Beersel and the finish in French speaking Overijse. As with all of the classics, it's death by a thousand paper cuts. There is around 1,700 meters of elevation across the 162 km route but there are no less than 21 punchy climbs that sap the energy and will significantly reduce the peloton. The first half of the race is more about getting in the distance but the finale will start with 73 km to go at the entrance of the local circuit which defines the race. On each lap, after corssing the finish line, there are the cobbled climbs of the Hertstraat and the Moskesstraat. The paved Holstheide quickly follows before the rise up the S-Bocht and back to the finish in Overijse. Each lap is just about 20 km long and taken on three full times. The twisting, turning nature of the course can be as selective as the climbs so positioning will also be crucial.
Highlighted Riders:
Tibor Del Grosso, Jenno Berckmoes, Brady Gilmore, Alex Baudin, Jardi Van Der Lee, Romain Grégoire, Mauro Schmid, Benoît Cosnefroy, Florian Vermeersch, Andreas Leknessund, Anthon Charmig, Bryan Coquard, Quinten Hermans, Clément Venturini, Edoardo Zambanini
Race Summary
A big crowd was out to see the riders off as they clipped in and rolled out of Beersel in beautiful Spring conditions. When a break got established, it was made up of six riders including Vojtěch Kmínek of Burgos-Burpellet BH, Cedrik Bakke Christophersen of Unibet Rose Rockets, Fabrice Lefevre and Jonah Killy of Tartelleto-Isorex, and Michiel Coppens and Bram Dissel of BEAT-Saxo. With 85 km to go, they had 2 minutes 10 seconds on the peloton with UAE-XRG and Jayco AlUla controlling and riding quite hard.
Other teams came forward to position for the entrance of the circuit and the speed went way up. Every turn was contested and it was a drag race coming into the first passage of the Holstheide, halfway through the circuit. After the hard left turn onto the Holstheide, Louis Vervaeke of Soudal Quickstep went on the attack with a reaction from EF-Education EasyPost. The American squad didn't want to pull the whole peloton along for free and decided to sit up. Stefano Oldani of Caja Rural-Seguros RGA got a run out of the slip stream and managed to bridge up to Vervaeke. The bunch completely shut down and by the first crossing of the finish line, the peloton were 1 minute 40 seconds behind the original break with Oldani and Vervaeke in the middle at 1 minute 10 seconds.
The friendly nature in the peloton didn't last long. Bahrain Victorious kicked off hostilities and strung the bunch out on the twisting roads towards the Hertstraat. The gap to Oldani and Vervaeke disintegrated and they were caught as Tim Wellens of UAE-XRG launched a full on attack on the cobbles. The only gaps formed at the very back but the peloton were stretched over hundreds of meters. There was little time to catch a breath because UAE-XRG continued to pile on the pressure over the 5 km stretch to the Moskesstraat. Mikkel Bjerg emptied the tank and dropped off his UAE-XRG teammate, Florian Vermeersch, as the cobbled Moskesstraat began. Vermeersch tried to split the group and managed to fracture the favorites group to around 50 riders.
At the top, the remnants of the peloton looked around to see who was still there. There were a few probing attacks on the Holstheide but the group swelled to over 70 riders as they started to pick up dropped riders from the break. There was no control in the peloton and more moves went on the large road coming into Overijse. The last of the break had been caught and everything was back together up the S-Bocht and through the feed zone coming into 2 laps to go.
Alpecin-Premier Tech and Groupama-FDJ United led into the Hertstraat for the penultimate time but the pace was far less severe than the previous time up. The battle into the Moskesstraat was a different story however with Lotto Intermarché, Soudal Quickstep, and EF-Education EasyPost all fighting to stay at the front. Lotto Intermarché took the sharp left in first position with Alpecin-Premier Tech dive-bombing the inside. Both Wellens and Vermeersch were at the back of the peloton and were caught behind a crash just as Groupama-FDJ United were lighting it up on the cobbles. Kevin Geniets led out Romain Grégoire who got a few meters gap. Ramses Debruyne of Alpecin-Premier Tech came across and the pair went over the top at 29 km to go with a healthy lead.
A counter attack came from the peloton on the Holstheide from Benoît Cosnefroy of UAE-XRG. Cosnefroy had a few riders for company but rode them out of his wheel and the Frenchman was able to close 20 seconds on his own to bridge up to Debruyne and Grégoire. It was a mad scramble behind to fix the situation but no one had the resources to just sit on the front to pull it back. Uno-X Mobility sent Anthon Charmig up the road with Milan Lanhove of Flanders-Baloise but they were marked by Tibor Del Grosso of Alpecin-Premier Tech. Interestingly, Del Grosso decided to pull and three became six at the front of the race with 22 km to go with the S-Bocht and finish line just ahead.
NSN Cycling and EF-Education EasyPost set up a chase and had nearly 20 seconds to close on the lead group. The gap was more than halved as the bell rang out for one lap to go. Coming across the gap was Jelle Johannink of Unibet Rose Rockets who made contact with the front group just as they descended out of Overijse. In another interesting tactical maneuver, Andreas Leknessund of Uno-X Mobility attacked behind and created a chase group of around seven riders that were only 10 seconds behind at the base of the Hertstraat. The Leknessund group was closed down over the top of the Hertstraat by Lotto Intermarché and the chase to the seven leaders was continued by NSN Cycling to get as close as possible by the start of the Moskesstraat.
It was just 12 seconds between the bunch and the lead group at the base of the final ascent of the Moskesstraat. Lanhove proved to be the strongest on the climb but the group was still together, with the exception of Johannink, and they had put in 5 seconds to the chasing peloton by the top. A big surge came from TotalEnergies on the Holstheide by Joris Delbove but he couldn't bridge the gap on his own and completely blew over the top, eventually getting retained by the bunch at the top. At this point, the gap was still 15 seconds with 7 km to go.
There was cohesion in the chasing peloton between NSN Cycling, EF-Education EasyPost, and Jayco AlUla which spread doubt into the minds of the riders up front. Their turns shortened and became less focused which only closed the gap faster. The final maters were stitched together with just 1,200 meters to go and a bunch sprint of at least 50 riders was looking likely. Mathieu Burgaudeau of TotalEnergies didn't want to sit around and get rolled in the sprint so he made a big effort and attacked the group as they went under 1 km to go. A few riders tried to come across but the gaps were closed by Charmig, and Burgaudeau was brought to heel with just a few hundred meters to go. Caja Rural-Seguros RGA showed up at the front with three riders and it was Eduard Prades who launched a long sprint with Anders Foldager of Jayco AlUla following, then Quinten Hermans of Pinarello Q36.5, and Grégoire in the wheel. Prades faded as Foldager came out of the slip stream with 175 meters to go. Foldager charged towards the line with Hermans fighting to get on level terms. The Dane was the strongest however and it was he who crossed the line first for only his second professional victory. Hermans was a close second with Cosnefroy in third, Grégoire in fourth, and Prades in fifth.