August 22, 2026
A reasonably long transfer brought the riders back across Belgium right to the Dutch border for the start of Stage 4 in Riemst, just 50 km from the first Stage in Diest. The 187 km course is entirely on a giant 70 km circuit which they complete part of before reaching the finish line in Bilzen-Hoeselt and doing two full laps. There is nothing severe on the route but the accumulation of fatigue and stress due to the hills and ever-turning nature of the course will have the peloton reduced by the finish. On paper, the hardest climb of the day is the Slingerberg which is 600 meters long at 7.5% but it is situated early in the lap and will likely be too far out to launch a winning move from. The Green Kilometer comes 25 km from the finish, directly after the 400 meter, 4% Gousbeemdstraat. The last categorized rise of the day is on the 500 meter, 5% Letenberg which crests 7 km from the line. Everything points to a reduced sprint, especially since it was the sprinters who were there battling for the win on yesterday's selective course.
Race Summary
Heavy clouds were looming threateningly above Riemst as the riders set off on dry roads and pleasant temperatures of 18C (64F). A lot of attacking early on eventually saw six riders escape from the field. In the move was Lionel Taminiaux of Lotto Intermarché, Axel Huens and Johan Jacobs of Groupama-FDJ United, Toms Skujiņš of Lidl-Trek, Kamil Małecki of Pinarello Q36.5, and Aivaras Mikutis of Tudor Pro Cycling. With 56 km to go, the break was just coming over the top of the serpentine Slingerberg with only 1 minute 5 seconds on the peloton who were being led by Soudal Quickstep in a relatively controlled manner.
The roads were extremely narrow and completely wet after a local shower blew over leaving puddles and glistening pavement under bright sunshine. The peloton was lined out in single file with little gaps forming as the front of the peloton turned on to a wide road and back onto the farm tracts of Limburg. With 45 km to go, Alpecin-Premier Tech, Uno-X Mobility, Decathlon CMA CGM, and Unibet Rose Rockets all started to contribute to the pace to make sure the leaders stayed in check.
As the break powered over all the little lumps and bumps, they found themselves on dry roads once again but with a reduced gap of 50 seconds as they passed through Sluizen on the Jeker river with 35 km to go. The collective might of the peloton seemed content to haul the break back a bit earlier than normal and kept the pressure on even as the gap was down to 30 seconds. On the Gousbeemdstraat with 28 km to go, Lorenzo Milesi of Movistar attacked out the peloton in an attempt to bridge the 24 second gap to the break. Riders were scrambling behind and jumping across the gap in the center of the road that was wide and filled with green grass. XDS-Astana and Decathlon CMA CGM were the primary drivers in the chase and hauled back Milesi but they were not able to catch the break before the Green Kilometer.
In the first sprint, Taminiaux hit out first to take 3 seconds ahead of Huens and Małecki. Taminiaux kept going and scored 3 more seconds, this time ahead of Małecki and Skujiņš. Mikutis went over the top to grab the last sprint for 3 seconds with Małecki and Skujiņš in second and third again. The peloton was so close that once the sprints were over, everyone in the break but Małecki and Mikutis just sat up and filtered back into the bunch.
The race was fully back together with 21 km to go and the peloton went wide and occupied the full width of the road. Teams got themselves in color order with Pinarello Q36.5, NSN Cycling, Tudor Pro Cycling, XDS-Astana, and Soudal Quickstep on the front from right to left side on the road. The pace was not high and with no sprinter left in the race, Lidl-Trek sent Søren Kragh Andersen on the attack and he quickly built a 10 second lead. Netcompany-Ineos took it upon themselves to line out the peloton and chase with the Letenberg just ahead.
UAE-XRG took over through a technical section leading into the bottom of the climb but it was Arnaud De Lie of Lotto Intermarché who ripped up the Letenberg like it was a flat road. De Lie pulled off just near the top as Kragh Andersen was caught and everyone looked around to see the damage. Splits were everywhere but right near the front was Jasper Philipsen of Alpecin-Premier Tech and Olav Kooij of Decathlon CMA CGM who were both attentive and positioned well. Most of the peloton came back together as Kragh Andersen went again.
With 5 km to go, the peloton was still catching their breath from the climb but Kragh Andersen had gone back out to 15 seconds which required a concerted effort to bring back. The chasing field was in disarray with riders chipping off the front instead of working to haul back the Dane. With 1,500 meters to go, the alarm bells were ringing and anyone with legs left in the chasing peloton were doing 5 second pulls before swinging off and dropping away. Under 1 km to go, the gap was reduced to 7 seconds and the road began to grind up to around 2% which would continue to the line.
Kragh Andersen was finally caught with 600 meters go as Unibet Rose Rockets came flying passed with three riders in a line. On the right hip of the Rockets was Decathlon CMA CGM, then Philipsen and Biniam Girmay of NSN Cycling and Tim Merlier of Soudal Quickstep. Dylan Groenewegen of Unibet Rose Rockets opened first just outside of 200 meters to go. Girmay came around the Decathlon CMA CGM train and went to the right side of the road and was followed by Kooij, Philipsen, and Merlier. Girmay faded in the last 100 meters and was passed by Kooij but the Dutchman did not have the gas left to hold off Philipsen who put his nose into the lead in the last possible moment to come around for the victory. Kooij was firmly in second with Alessandro Borgo of Bahrain Victorious in third after having followed Groenewegen up the drag on the opposite side of the road.
The 10 second time bonus on the line moved Philipsen back into the overall lead by 4 seconds over Jenno Berckmoes. Kooij remained steady in third place at 10 seconds. After a big pull on the Letenberg, De Lie sat up and completely dropped out of the GC from fourth. It was a curious tactical decision given the UCI points associated with a top 5 in GC and the unlikely scenario of actually distancing Philipsen and Kooij on the climb.