June 5, 2026
Everything is still to play for in the final stage of the Tour de Wallonie. The race will start in Bassenge, just North of Liège, and cross the River Meuse heading East before turning South to find the hills. There are six categorized climbs on the route with the first four near Sprimont and Ayewaille, familiar places we visit every April in Liège-Bastogne-Liège. The Côte des Forges, Côte de Fraiture, Côte de la Redoute, and the Côte de Cornesse are all packed into 48 km of racing but are completed by the halfway mark. The bunch return North for two and a half 30 km laps around Aubel. On the first two laps, there is an intermediate sprint at the base of 2 km, 3.5% rise which leads to a short downhill and the finish line. Halfway through the circuit is the Côte de Stockis, a 900 meter ramp at around 7%. The last time up the Stockis is 18 km from the finish with the 2 km climb then the downhill to the finish line. As expected, the GC is packed tightly and bonus seconds at the intermediate sprints and the on the finish line will be decisive in crowning the overall winner.
Race Summary
The bunch rolled out of Bassenge under beautiful sunshine and puffy white cumulus clouds. After a bit of drama in the opening kilometers with the riders splitting into three large groups, the race settled into a more predictable pattern and a break managed to get away. When live coverage began with 96 km remaining, the break of eleven riders had just gone through the intermediate sprint after the Côte de la Redoute and had 1 minute 10 seconds on the peloton as rain started to fall. In the break was George Wood of Mg.K Vis Costruzioni e Ambiente, Dries De Bondt of Jayco AlUla, Noah Ramsay of Alpecin-Premier Tech, Siebe Deweirdt and Michiel Lambrecht of Flanders Baloise, Pelayo Sánchez of Movistar, Jonah Killy and Gianni Marchand of Tarteletto-Isorex, Kay De Bruyckere of Pauwels Sauzen-Altez Industriebouw, Arthur Van den Boer of Baloise Verzekeringen-Het Poetsbureau Lions, and Kenny Molly of Van Rysel Roubaix.
NSN Cycling did the majority of the work in the peloton in the first 70 km but Netcompany-Ineos came forward with the full team heading into the steep and narrow Côte de Cornesse. Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe ripped up the climb and continued over the top. The peloton split with only about 70 riders remaining and the break was within 15 seconds. The catch was made with 77 km to go and Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe kept charging towards the intermediate sprint in Aubel about 10 km down the road. At 68 km to go, NSN Cycling started their lead out to protect Riley Sheehan's GC lead from others trying to poach bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint. Sheehan sat on Laurence Pithie's wheel but when the Kiwi from Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe opened up, Sheehan couldn't come around and the GC gap between Sheehan and Pithie was reduced from 10 seconds to 9 seconds. Sheehan put 1 second into Arnaud De Lie who took third in the sprint and was provisionally at 4 seconds from Sheehan in the GC.
Counter attacks came immediately after the sprint on the 2 km climb coming into Aubel and the peloton was shredded to pieces. About 35 riders descended into town and crossed the finish line together. Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe set a more controlling pace over the next few kilometers, up and over the Côte de Stockis, which allowed the peloton to swell but there were many riders who looked to be on their hands and knees and would be in trouble when the aggression kicked off again.
The riders ran into a heavy rain shower through the lovely village of Charneux with 44 km to go. Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe were still in charge and holding the pace coming into the third and final intermediate sprint. 2 km from the sprint, De Bondt tried to spring a surprise attack by hitting out early for the sprint points but Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe were attentive and slowly dragged the Belgian back into the fold. NSN Cycling came forward to position Riley Sheehan for the sprint but the lead out was a little messy. Pithie tried to come on the inside of the last NSN Cycling rider while Sheehan went on the outside of a sweeping right corner. Pithie didn't have enough space to pass cleanly and went into the gravel on the side of the road. By the time he got sprinting again, Sheehan was too far ahead to challenge and Sheehan received the 3 bonus seconds. Pithie gave Sheehan a word after the sprint but there was nothing wrong with NSN Cycling's lead out or sprint.
On the rise after the sprint and before the finish line, Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe sent Adrien Boichis up the road which caused a reaction. The young Frenchman was hauled back but no team had control of the race and attacking continued with Natnael Tesfatsion of Movistar. The peloton was stretched over the top but it was only Pim Ronhaar of Baloise Verzekeringen-Het Poetsbureau Lions who was off the front as they came through the finish line with 30 km remaining. The move by Ronhaar teased out Alvaro Sagrado of Storck-MRW Bau with De Bondt and Molly chasing behind.
With 22 km remaining, Ronhaar and Sagrado were 33 seconds clear of the peloton with De Bondt and Molly stuck exactly halfway in between. The clouds cleared up and the sun was beating down once more as the race approached the Côte de Stockis and the climb to Aubel for the final time. Modern Adventure, Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe, and Lotto Intermarché were the three teams chasing but Ronhaar and Sagrado were still at 35 seconds at the bottom of the Côte de Stockis at 19.5 km to go. De Bondt and Molly didn't have the firepower to cross the gap and they were pulled back into the peloton by this point. NSN Cycling were more than happy for a break to take the bonus seconds on the line and they disrupted the chase by sitting in the rotation and soft pedaling through.
Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe and Lotto Intermarché committed to the chase and brought the gap down to around 15 seconds with 10 km to go. Ronhaar pinned it on a 1 km descent after the village of Charneux which distanced Sagrado but the bunch were charging with fresh legs from Netcompany-Ineos fueling the chase. The catch was made with 7 km to go and the speed only went up coming into the last time up the 2 km rise coming into Aubel.
Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe and Netcompany-Ineos took turns hammering the pace on the climb. Tesfatsion hit the group around the same point that he did on the last lap and got a nice gap but Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe still had manpower and brought the Eritrean back over the top with 1,700 meters to go. With no more attack points left on course, the stage and the GC were going to be decided at the finish line in a bunch sprint. Lotto Intermarché and Jayco AlUla were the only teams left in the final kilometer that had resources to pull and they kept the speed rapid until the sprint opened up with 300 meters to go. It was Kim Heiduk of Netcompany-Ineos who launched first but yesterday's winner, Arnaud De Lie of Lotto Intermarché, had more of punch and quickly surpassed the German. Heiduk realized he was getting swarmed and tried to tuck in behind De Lie but Ben Oliver of Modern Adventure owned that space. There was a bumping of shoulders and Heiduk went down along with many others and only five riders made it through the melee. Oliver never lost his momentum and was able to come out of De Lie's slipstream. De Lie ran out of legs in the last 50 meters and it was Oliver who took his second stage of the week. Killian Théot of Van Rysel Roubaix pipped De Lie on the line for second and there was a chasm back to Anders Foldager of Jayco AlUla in fourth.
With the stage win came bonus seconds for Oliver. Unfortunately for the race, De Lie was the only other GC contender present at the finish to contest the stage due to the crash which catapulted Oliver over Sheehan, crowning the Kiwi as the overall winner. Sheehan held on to second overall at 2 seconds with De Lie finishing the week in third, 5 seconds down.