June 10, 2026
The Circuit Franco-Belge holds an odd place in the calendar. It's not a huge race that one would specifically target but it’s also not really leading up to anything; it's more of a gap filler for some of the classics riders to get a hard race in that's not part of a week-long stage race like Suisse or Auvergne - Rhône-Alpes. The course is a puncheur's paradise and will test the riders with around 20 climbs on route including 7 times up the finish climb of the Kluisberg in Mont-de-l'Enclus on the French/Flemish language border. Leaving from Tournai, the riders head North towards Mont-de-l'Enclus for one and a half laps of a mostly flat circuit before entering the finish circuit with 115 km to go. There will be five full laps with the finish coming on the sixth ascent of the Kluisberg, a 1.3 km ramp at 6%. After the Kluisberg comes the Col du Hortilin and the Knokteberg/Côte du Trieu, each with roughly the same metrics as the Kluisberg. The laps are 23 km long with only an 8 or 9 km section of flat after the Knokteberg for riders to catch their breath before hitting the Kluisberg once more.
Highlighted Riders
Jonas Abrahamsen, Arnaud De Lie, Matthew Brennan, Paul Magnier, Anders Foldager, Nils Eekhof, Riley Sheehan, Corbin Strong, Rick Pluimers, Alex Aranburu, Aimé De Gendt, Clément Venturini
Race Summary
The sign-on was held under cloudy skies in Le Grand Place of Tournai which boasted a beautiful cathedral, the oldest Belfry in Belgium, and rows of old guild houses that are so common in all of the squares of main towns in this part of the world. A group of ten broke clear including Artuur Torney of Flanders Baloise, Alexys Brunel of TotalEnergies, Iker Gómez of Equipo Kern Pharma, Axel van der Tuuk of Euskatel-Euskadi Timo Roosen of Picnic-PostNL, Andrea Pietrobon of Polti-VisitMalta, Léandre Huck of Van Rysel Roubaix, Jocelyn Baguelin of Aarco, Camille Caillet of Color Code-Alu Center, and Luca Cretti of MBH Bank CSB Telecom Fort. With 78 km to go, on the approach to the Kruisberg and the finish line for three laps to go, the break had split in half with Torney, Brunel, Gómez, and van der Tuuk out in the lead. The others were about 5 seconds behind but the peloton was charging at just 15 seconds back.
Leading the peloton was NSN Cycling but Unibet Rose Rockets, Tudor Pro Cycling, Lotto Intermarché, and Groupama-FDJ United were all pushing forward to be close to the front. Brunel was the last rider standing from the break and he was just a few seconds ahead as he was called in for three laps to go by the famous voice of Daniel Mangeas. The peloton came through the line 10 seconds later and had the Frenchman in their sights. The road narrowed to no more than a single car width at the base of the Col du Hortilin which added to the technical nature of the circuit and made positioning that much more important. Brunel was absorbed on the climb and counter attacks began over the top. The only two to get clear were Wilco Kelderman of Visma-Lease a Bike and Leander Van Hautegem of Flanders Baloise. They quickly built a lead of 1 minute over the crest of the Knokteberg with Cofidis, Uno-X Mobility, and EF-Education EasyPost sitting shoulder to shoulder blocking the road.
The gap stabilized at around 1 minute on the back half of the course and was 45 seconds when Van Hautegem led through the line up the Kluisberg for two laps to go. On the Col du Hortilin, Van Hautegem was dropped by Kelderman and, at the same time, Javier Serrano of Polti-VisitMalta and Dries De Bondt of Jayco AlUla sprang out of the peloton in a bid to get across to the Dutchman. They picked up Van Hautegem with 37 km to go but they were nullified on the Knokteberg as Uno-X Mobility had accelerated and swept up everyone but Kelderman by the top.
Kelderman continued solo but the flat roads leading back to the Kluisberg and the finish line suited the rolling peloton. With 28 km to go, the gap was down to 15 seconds. Lotto Intermarché put three riders on the front to control attacks but it was not enough to discourage Johan Jacobs of Groupama-FDJ United from going off the front. Jacobs was followed by Colby Simmons of EF-Education EasyPost then De Bondt once more. They were able to catch Kelderman 22.5 km from the finish, near the top of the Kluisberg for the penultimate time. When they took the bell for one lap to go, the peloton were in sight just down the hill and clocked in at 14 seconds.
Simmons was sitting on which bothered the entire group but none more than De Bondt. On the Col du Hortilin, De Bondt gradually let the wheel go to Kelderman and Jacobs with Simmons behind. The gap grew too large and they both were taken out the back in a Kamikaze move by the Belgian. Lotto Intermarché received help from NSN Cycling and they were able to bring Jacobs and Kelderman back with 17 km to go and only 4 km until the final ascent of the Knokteberg.
At the bottom of the Knokteberg, Louis Barré of Visma-Lease a Bike went on the attack but he was swallowed up by the top. Arnaud De Lie of Lotto Intermarché did a lot of the chasing and blew towards the top, putting him out of contention. NSN Cycling carried the pace over the top which split the peloton to fewer than thirty riders but the gaps were sealed back up on the wide highway descent to make one group heading towards the villages of Klijpe and Russeignies.
For the first time all day, Soudal Quickstep came to the front and they joined up with Visma-Lease a Bike to lead the peloton of around 50 riders through the headwind to the bottom of the Kluisberg and the finish. For most riders still in the bunch, their last job was to bring their leader to the front for good position going into the last corner onto the Kluisberg at 1 km to go. It was a frantic battle won by EF-Education EasyPost and Visma-Lease a Bike with NSN Cycling just behind in the second row. Riley Sheehan of NSN Cycling took over the pace when the gradients bumped up to 7%. In the cluster of riders on his wheel was his teammate Corbin Strong, Marijn van den Berg of EF-Education EasyPost, Matthew Brennan of Visma-Lease a Bike, Clément Venturini of Unibet Rose Rockets, Dylan Teuns of Cofidis, and Paul Magnier of Soudal Quickstep. Sheehan did a fantastic turn but pulled off with 400 meters to go leaving a void of pace at the front. Van den Berg, who had been on Sheehan's wheel, was fading which left Venturini no choice but the take on the sprint himself. Jenno Berckmoes of Lotto Intermarché launched from around tenth position and passed them all. He was leading but just inside 200 meters to go, Strong opened his sprint and there was no doubt about the outcome once he got rolling. Strong's 10 second effort was good enough to allow him time to look behind and make a celebration as he came across the line for the win. In his career, Strong has finished second and third and now has a win to round out the trophies. Magnier was closest to the New Zealander when the sprint opened but he let off the power in the last few meters which allowed Anders Foldager of Jayco AlUla to sweep passed for second place, leaving Magnier to settle for third.