Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) won the Classic Lorient Agglomération - Ceratizit in the sprint of a reduced peloton, passing Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx-Protime) on the final metres to take the victory. Franziska Koch (FDJ United-Suez) completed the podium with third place.

After an early breakaway was reeled in on the finishing circuit around Plouay, there were numerous attacks on the last two laps. Maëva Squiban (UAE Team L'Imad) got away with 12.5km to go and began the Côte de Ty Marrec 15 seconds ahead of the peloton but was passed on the climb when Célia Gery (FDJ United-Suez) and Eleonora Gasparrini (UAE Team L'Imad) attacked.

Gery and Gasparrini were only a few seconds ahead, though, and when they were caught with 3.6km to go, the race was bound for a sprint finish. Bredewold tried to anticipate by using the downhill into the finishing straight to get up to speed and launch a long sprint, but Balsamo went into Bredewold's slipstream, pulled alongside on the last 100 metres, and just pipped Bredewold to the line.

“I need to say a big, big thank you to my team. They did an amazing job. When I saw that I could survive the last climb, we went all in for the sprint. I’m super happy,” Balsamo thanked her teammates for setting up her victory.

“On the last climb I was just watching the wheel in front of me because it was so hard. But I was still in the first group, and I fully trusted my teammates. I knew they could close everything,” she looked back on the final time up the Côte de Ty Marrec.

Bredewold, winner of the previous three editions, tried to go long in the sprint, but Balsamo just managed to pass her.

“She started a really long sprint on the left and I was on the right, but I know this is a super hard finish, so I kept believing until the end because I know it’s super hard, especially the last 50 metres,” said Balsamo.

More to come ...

Results

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Tour de France Femmes director Marion Rousse has said that she has had discussions with broadcaster France Télévisions about increasing the number of stages given start-to-finish live coverage.

Rousse told Cycling Weekly, Le Parisien and other media in an interview on Wednesday that she felt that both the racers and the viewing figures justified the extra TV coverage.

For the 2026 edition, just three of the nine stages will have end-to-end live coverage, a situation which contrasts sharply with the men's Tour de France, which began full coverage of all stages in 2017. That allows viewers to see, amongst other things, how day-long breaks are formed after complex, tactical battles, which often turn out to be some of the most interesting parts of any stage.

"What’s certain is that I’ve discussed this at length with France Télévisions], and we’re giving serious consideration to broadcasting all the stages in full in the future because the women deserve it, and because it works well in terms of audience figures," Rousse said.

"We’re currently giving it real consideration, which is a step forward. Things are moving in the right direction."

In its report, Cycling Weekly pointed out that fans, riders, and team staff had been particularly disappointed when they were unable to see the start of stage 3's winning long-distance solo move by Sigrid Haugset (Uno-X Mobility), which began five kilometres before the coverage began.
"The best way to get more public is to show it properly," Paula Blasi (UAE Team L’IMAD) told Cycling Weekly. "It’s quite sad that we cannot really watch it."

Rousse pointed out that factors such as the relative newness of the Tour de France Femmes, which only restarted in its current full-length format in 2022. She also said she had received a large number of messages from fans asking for coverage to be extended. She added that the question of the economic costs of more hours of TV time was always going to be a factor to take into account by the broadcaster.

Contacted by French publication Le Parisien about future live coverage of the Tour de France Femmes, France Télévisions did not immediately reply. Le Parisien also claimed that on three days, France Télévisions had offered viewers reports about the British Royal Family during the early, unbroadcast part of the stage.

Globally speaking, Rousse herself underlined the positive side of the increasing interest in showing more of the race and that the debate, if ongoing, was moving in the right direction.

"There’s a real discussion to be had," she said. "The starts, middles and ends of stages are spectacular to watch. Let’s hope we can pull it off."

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Zoe Bäckstedt (Canyon//SRAM) completed a stunning double in the elite women's road race at the British Road Championships in Aberystwyth on Sunday. After successfully defending her individual time trial title on Thursday, Bäckstedt added the road race to her palmares, her first elite title on the road won on home soil in Wales.

DAS-Hutchinson's Josie Knight finished second, a fantastic reward following a brave solo ride in the breakaway for the track specialist, and last year's champion Millie Couzens (Fenix-Premier Tech) won the sprint from a reduced bunch to round out the podium.

Knight attacked early in the race, ahead of the finishing circuit in Aberystwyth, and led the race alone for over 90 kilometres, enjoying a gap of around 8 minutes at one point.

A chase group of three riders - Bäckstedt, Matilda McKibben (O'Shea Red Chilli Bikes) and Jo Tindley (Smurfit Westrock Cycling Team) - attempted to make an impact on Knight's advantage and cut it down to four minutes with three laps of the local circuit remaining, when Bäckstedt launched an attack to leave the trio and set off in pursuit of Knight.

It was a breathtaking chase, with Bäckstedt taking off half of the deficit in the first lap of her solo pursuit. She continued to chip away steadily at the gap and with Knight visibly tiring, Bäckstedt's power and time trialling acumen saw her make the catch with 14km to go.

Behind the leaders, Picnic-PostNL spearheaded an attack from the peloton to try and split the bunch, and defending champion Couzens was among the group to make the split.

The chase group put pressure on the leaders, closing to within two minutes of Bäckstedt as she took the lead. However, they were no match for the endurance of the Welsh rider, and were unable to make any further impression on Bäckstedt's lead over the remainder of the race.

The 21-year-old proved her mettle, holding on to become the first British woman to complete the time-trial-road race double since Alice Wood in 2019. Speaking after the race, Backstedt said: “It was a really interesting race with the break getting almost seven minutes, I think. I didn't have the best feeling in my legs at the beginning of the day, and then going over the long climb, I felt okay, so I decided to try and follow some stuff, and yeah, 50k-55k solo, then to the finish, so was a really hard day."

On whether or not she enjoyed the race, Bäckstedt had this to say. “Enjoyed is an interesting word. I pushed myself to the limit. I just wanted to control a little bit of my power, so I knew what I could do for such a long period of time, and just needed to keep eating, keep drinking, and stay focused until the end, and keep pushing to try and catch back Josie. That happened, and then still had a lot to go, so one of the hardest laps was that last one. Just also mentally knowing that I was so close to the finish.

"It means a lot, really. I had a good week on the bike last week in Tour de Suisse, and I knew coming into this week that it was going to be a good course for me, and the climbs were super good for me as well. So yeah, I was really hoping for that."

Results

Urška Žigart has undoubtedly evolved into an able challenger in the mountains, with her top ten results at the Vuelta Femenina and Giro d'Italia ample evidence, but while her climbing held her in good stead during stage 1 of the Tour de Suisse Women, the ghost of a hard-to-forget crash emerged to haunt her on the largely downhill run to the line.

It was on the final day of the Giro d'Italia Women, which delivered an unexpectedly charged GC battle after the previous day's Queen stage was cut short, that Žigart fell while descending. She managed to get back up, remount and forge on to take 12th on the stage and eighth overall, but there was a price.

The fall, which was simply described by the AG Insurance-Soudal rider in the post-race release as a crash in the corner on the descent, was a little more intense than may have been initially apparent to readers, with Žigart sharing further details on the sidelines of the Tour de Suisse on Wednesday.

"I knew it was going to be a bit sketchy because [of the crash] in the Giro," Žigart told Cycling Pro Net after stage 1.

"It wasn't on TV," she said of the Giro fall ten days ago, "but it was pretty scary. I was hanging over the barrier and, yeah, I'm still feeling a bit scared of that moment."

In fact, that was part of the reason the 29-year-old leapt out into the break of around a dozen riders, which formed after the Buglio in Monte climb, and then she attacked once again to slim the group down even further on the opening stage in Italy.

"It was a bit of a risky move, a bit of racing on instinct," said Žigart. "I lost a bit of that confidence on the descent, because I worked a lot on it and I improved, but since then" – she said, referring to the Giro crash – "I'm feeling not as confident again, so we just thought 'ok, why not go in the front and have a bit of a gap to make it through?'"

At 27km to go, as the group headed to the top of the Triangia climb, Žigart was out front with Femke de Vries (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Lauren Dickson (FDJ United-SUEZ) and the trio were stretching the gap, though as the downhill skewed run toward the line in Sondrio began the Slovenian rider drifted, first away from the leading trio and then also through the chase groups.

Žigart, who explained she wasn't able to push it and risk making a mistake, ultimately finished 17th as she crossed the line 1:42 behind stage winner and race leader De Vries.

"Of course, it's a shame because I felt really strong and the break made it to the finish, but we still have four interesting days to come and Kim is also feeling really good," said Žigart of her teammate Kim Le Court-Pienaar, who has come back to racing at the Tour de Suisse after fracturing her wrist at the Tour of Flanders.

Le Court-Pienaar caught her teammate on the road and managed to secure fourth place in the stage after sprinting from the first chase group of six, which crossed the line 38 seconds after the Visma-Lease a Bike rider claimed her first professional road victory. That group also included key pre-race favourites Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ), defending champion Marlen Reusser (Movistar) and Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM).

"It wasn’t the easiest race to come back to, but I needed a demanding day to open up the legs again. This week won’t be easy either, but I’m ready to suffer and keep on building the form," said Le Court-Pienaar in a team release.

"Also very proud of Urška for the ride she put in today. She showed what she’s capable of and had the courage to take her chance and step outside her comfort zone."

There will soon be plenty more chances to push those boundaries, with the five-day Tour de Suisse continuing on Thursday with a stage that has two category 3 climbs in the final 20km. The race also finishes with a testing loop centred on the Col de la Croix, with barely a metre of flat road to be seen en route to Villars-sur-Ollon as the terrain is pretty much heading up or down.

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This year for the first time since the Tour de France Femmes was revived in 2022, it will have no overlap date-wise with the men's equivalent event, and that's mainly due to the ongoing growth of the women's race, says director Marion Rousse.

This summer, the Tour de France Femmes will begin in Lausanne on Saturday August 1, six days after the men's race has ended in Paris, and it will finish in Nice on Sunday August 9.

That's in stark contrast to last July, when – just like there had been since 2022 – there was an overlap between the two, with the 2025 Tour de France Femmes starting on the Saturday of the final weekend of the mens race.

But as Rousse told MARCA, the ongoing growth of the Tour de France Femmes in terms of infrastructure and interest led the organisers to move the race to a later slot in the calendar.

"After several years' experience and with eight million TV viewers on [national race broadcaster] France Télévisions last year, when Pauline [Ferrand-Prévot, 2025 winner] crossed the line in Châtel, we said that yes, we could afford the luxury of starting a week later," Rousse said.

"Above all, the main reason is that the race has now grown so much that we" – the organisers – "couldn't run the two big events on our calendar the same weekend. It's evolved so much that we want exactly the same infrastructure as the men, so we needed some days so that all the race organisation vehicles could do the transfer."

The whole infrastructure operation would head from the finish of the men's Tour in Paris on July 26 to the start of the women's race in Switzerland six days later.

Previously, Rousse said the overlap had been to ensure that "people continued to follow us", but now spectators had grown used to seeing the Tour de France Femmes as its own separate entity.

That was despite the two races being all part of the same whole, she said, or as she put it: "We talk about the men's Tour and the Tour de France Femmes, but the truth is that it is one Tour de France."

It's not just the Tour de France Femmes that's evolving, either. Rousse also insisted to MARCA that the inclusion of climbs as tough as the Angliru in La Vuelta Femenina this year showed that "there are no challenges that are too tough for women. The level is more homogeneous, and constantly getting higher.

"I'm happy because women's cycling is evolving, from the start of the season, practically every weekend we have a different winner, and that creates a lot of suspense.

"Maybe even more than in men's cycling, because when [Tadej] Pogačar attacks right at the start of a race, very often you already know the name of the winner."

Regarding the Mont Ventoux, and its inclusion for the first time in the 2026 Tour de France Femmes on stage 7, Rousse argued that the innate toughness of the relentlessly rising 15.7 kilometre HC climb made it the critical point of this year's race.

"From the very start of the climb, you go into the wood where it's very steep. Then there isn't a single kilometre where you can catch your breath. If you have a bad day, you don't come back."

Dutch sprinter Charlotte Kool navigated an awkward and unpredictable finale to win the GP Mazda Schelkens, taking her fourth win of the 2026 season.

Human Powered Health looked to have the best lead out heading into the final kilometre before being overhauled by Fenix-Premier Tech in the last few hundred metres. Kool launched an electrifying sprint to take the win in Borsbeek.

Maggie Coles-Lyster (Human Powered Health) was second and Kool's teammate Evy Kuijpers third in Borsbeek.

With a flat but technical course through the outskirts of Antwerp, there was little appetite to see attackers head up the road despite multiple attempts, with teams focused on setting up their sprinters. The first successful move came with 23km to go as Helena Bieber (Carbonbike Giordana Sofré) broke clear of the peloton’s clutches.

The sprint teams feared that they had made a mistake in chasing back the lone attacker in the closing stages, as Bieber held a 30-second lead heading into the final 4km.

A large crash taking out the back-half of the peloton didn't help matters, but an acceleration on the final short cobbled sector with 2.5km left brought Bieber back to set up the expected sprint finish.

Human Powered Health moved to the front in the final kilometre and looked in control as they looked to position Coles-Lyster for the final sweeping bend.

However, Kuijpers unleashed an impressive acceleration with Kool in her wheel, allowing the two-time Tour de France Femmes stage winner to sprint to victory.

Results

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Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Premier Tech) has swept to overall victory in the Vuelta a Burgos Fèminas after taking the final stage win at the summit finish of Lagunas de Neila.

15 seconds later, Évita Muzic (FDJ United-Suez) finished second on the stage and with it the overall. Usoa Ostolaza (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi) crossed the line 24 seconds back to take both third place on the stage and on GC.

Muzic had set a hard pace on the steepest part of the climb, riding everyone but Kastelijn off her wheel. Kastelijn then attacked 1.3km from the finish to leave Muzic behind and solo away to victory.

“Muzic set a really high pace and I just tried to follow. I did the same last week in Itzulia with Niedermaier. I waited until two to go, it was not flat, but it was a bit less steep. Then I could go with more speed. When I had a gap, it was just full gas to the finish,” said Kastelijn.

Winless since a stage victory in the 2023 Tour de France Femmes, this is Kastelijn’s first Women’s WorldTour GC victory.

“I felt really strong already last week and also yesterday and today. It was a long time ago that I won a race, so I really, really wanted it. I was super close last week, that was extra motivation to take the win today. I really love to be in Spain, luckily, the weather is a bit better than the last weeks. I’m happy to take the victory home,” Kastelijn said.

How it unfolded

Ending in a 6km climb at an average 9.9%, the final stage of 120km was always going to decide the general classification.

Sara Martín (Movistar) attacked 12km after the start in Gumiel de Mercado and quickly built an advantage of several minutes. Federica Venturelli (UAE Team ADQ) started a solo chase after 20km, reaching Martín with 83km to go. Their gap went up to a maximum of 6:40 minutes 70km from the finish before the peloton slowly stepped up the chase.

At the intermediate sprint in Huerta de Abajo with 27.5km to go, Martín and Venturelli were still 2:46 minutes ahead. Martín then dropped Venturelli on the Alto de Tolbaños climb where Rosita Reijnhout (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Titia Ryo (Human Powered Health) attacked from the peloton.

Martín crested the climb 43 seconds up on Ryo and Reijnhout who then caught Venturelli on the descent. The peloton was still 1:15 minutes behind. On the unclassified Collado de Huerta, Venturelli was caught by the peloton who also reeled in Ryo, Reijnhout, and finally Martín on the descent, resetting the race with 7.2km to go.

Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) led the peloton on the climb, then Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) did one last turn before Millie Couzens (Fenix-Premier Tech) and Maëva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ) took over.

Amber Kraak (FDJ United-Suez) came to the front at the 5km mark to set the pace; when she swung off 4.3km from the finish, only Muzic, Kastelijn, Ostolaza, Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio, Mireia Benito (both AG Insurance-Soudal), Amanda Spratt, Shirin van Anrooij (both Lidl-Trek), Cédrine Kerbaol, Alice Towers (both EF Education-Oatly), Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx-Protime), Maud Oudeman, Katharina Sadnik (both Visma-Lease a Bike), and Squiban were left in the first group.

With 4.2km to go, Moolman-Pasio led the group into the steepest part of the climb, 2.2km at an average 12.2%, but Muzic quickly took the front, and her pace blew the group apart, with only Kastelijn able to keep up with the Frenchwoman.

Muzic continued to lead Kastelijn up the climb while the riders behind them slowly came together to form a second group that included Moolman-Pasio, Van Anrooij, Kerbaol, Oudeman, Bredewold and Spratt. Ostolaza, Benito, and Towers made their way back to this second group that steadily lost time to Muzic and Kastelijn, being 40 seconds behind at the 2km mark.

Kastelijn’s move on the penultimate kilometre left Muzic behind, and Ostolaza attacked in the group behind. Benito went with her but lost contact in the final kilometre, finishing fourth on the day and in the GC.

With the summit finish stage win, Kastelijn also took the red mountain jersey while Wiebes won the green points jersey courtesy of her two stage wins. Van Anrooij won the U25 white jersey with a sixth place overall.

Results

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Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx-Protime) won stage 3 of the Vuelta a Burgos Féminas, beating Mireia Benito (AG Insurance-Soudal) in a sprint of two riders after an exciting final around Medina de Pomar. Bredewold's teammate Lorena Wiebes completed the podium for what is the 400th victory of the team's history.

Benito had attacked 27km from the finish and quickly got a gap of 1:24 At the top of the Alto de Bocos with 14km to go, Benito was still 40 seconds up on a select group that had formed on the climb.

Bredewold attacked from that group, taking Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek) and Silke Smulders (Liv AlUla Jayco) with her on the chase and steadily getting closer to Benito. When the gap was down to 12 seconds, Bredewold attacked again to chase down Benito on her own, reaching the Spaniard with six kilometres to go.

Benito continued to take turns with Bredewold to keep the other chasers behind, but Bredewold easily won the sprint. Having caught Spratt and Smulders on the finishing straight, Wiebes clinched the sprint of a chase group of 14 riders for third place.

“It was a perfect day. Before the race, I aimed for this stage, and the whole team supported me. Lorena was really supportive to give me the opportunity, even in the sprint. I felt so much confidence that I could do it, I could make the right decisions and the right attacks. I’m really happy with this one,” said Bredewold.

Finishing 11 seconds behind Bredewold, Wiebes kept the overall lead due to the four-second bonification for third place.

“It’s a give and take. Lorena really is a team player, and the whole team goes with that energy. The support is just amazing, and having Lorena [in the group] behind is a really big advantage, of course. I’m very grateful to the whole team, the staff and the girls,” Bredewold concluded.

How it unfolded

The 126km stage from Busto de Bureba to Medina de Pomar featured three classified climbs, including two ascents of the Alto de Bocos in the final. It took over 40km for the break of the day to get established, but eventually Alicia González (St Michel-Preference Home-Auber 93), Kaja Rysz (Hitec Products-Fluid Control), Constance Valentin (Mayenne-Monbana-My Pie), Fariba Hashimi (Vini Fantini-BePink), Sharon Spimi (Top Girls Fassa Bortolo), and Nicole Steigenga (AG Insurance-Soudal) formed a front group of six.

Their advantage went up and down between 30 seconds and 1:30 minutes, and Hashimi made two attempts to go solo from the group but was brought back each time. Hashimi then set the pace the first time up the Alto de Bocos, quickly dropping Valentin, Rysz, and González before paying the prize for her effort and losing contact with Spimi and Steigenga halfway up the climb.

Although Hashimi returned to the two leaders, a reduced peloton was close behind and caught the breakaway just before the top of the climb, with Caroline Andersson (Liv AlUla Jayco) winning the mountain sprint.

After a fast descent that saw some splits in the peloton, Agnieszka Skalniak-Sójka tried to get away but was closed down by Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) and Bredewold. Benito launched a counter-attack, and the Spanish time trial champion quickly gained time as nobody seemed interested in keeping her under control.

25km from the finish, Oda Aune Gissinger (Hitec Products-Fluid Control) attacked, and Claire Steels (Movistar) bridged to the young Norwegian mountains leader. In the peloton, UAE Team ADQ now took up the chase until Dominika Włodarczyk and Megan Jastrab crashed, then Lidl-Trek took over.

Gissinger and Steels never had more than 20 seconds in hand on the peloton and were caught at the bottom of the Alto de Bocos. Andersson attacked but could not get a gap.

Instead, a counter-attack by Bredewold disintegrated the peloton, and a group of 11 riders managed to go clear.

Apart from Bredewold, the move included Évita Muzic (FDJ United-Suez), Shirin van Anrooij, Amanda Spratt (both Lidl-Trek), Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Premier Tech), Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (AG Insurance-Soudal), Kerbaol, Usoa Ostolaza (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi), Maud Oudeman (Visma-Lease a Bike), Andersson, and Smulders.

As Kerbaol started to set the pace, Lotte Claes (Fenix-Premier Tech), Wiebes, Amber Kraak (FDJ United-Suez), and Nadia Gontova (Liv AlUla Jayco) bridged across to the group just before Bredewold upped the pace halfway up the climb. Oudeman and Kraak took over from her, then Andersson attacked for the mountain points, cresting the climb 40 seconds behind Benito.

Bredewold attacked on the descent, taking Smulders and Spratt with her on the chase, and then launched another attack to bridge to Benito alone before outsprinting the Spaniard to win the stage.

Results

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The route for the fifth edition of Itzulia Women was presented in Zarautz on April 22, with the Women's WorldTour peloton set to face three days of challenging racing in the Basque Country between May 15-17.

The trio of stages are focussed in the north of the region, starting in Zarautz and running for 372.4km before concluding in Donostia (San Sebastián).

14 major climbs fill the route, with the toughest day coming on stage 3, which begins and ends in the capital of Gipuzkoa. The race will feature a total of 1,729 metres of climbing, with each day set to provoke aggressive racing in the hills of the Basque Country.

Stage 1: Zarautz - Zarautz, 121.3km

The opening stage of the race starts and finishes in the town of Zarautz, which hosts a stage of the women's race for the first time.

There will be little respite from climbing and descending on the day, with six major climbs and 2,239 metres of elevation filling the 121.3km route, and the GC action is expected to begin right away.

Third-category climbs, including Kalbario (2.2km at 8%), Alkarate (4.2km at 7.3%), and Etumeta (4.5km at 7.5%), will pose major challenges, as will the day's only second-category test, Santa Ageda (8km at 6.8%).

The stage finishes with a flat run to the line following a descent off the sixth and final hill of the day, Garate (4.6km at 4.7%).

Stage 2: Abadiño - Amorebieta-Etxano, 131.7km

Stage 2 brings with it another five classified climbs and the most climbing of the race at 2,474 metres. The 131.7km stage runs from Abadiño to Amorebieta-Etxano with a cluster of three climbs early in the day.

Natxitua (2.5km at 8%) is the sharpest of the trio, but it lies a long way from the finish at just 43.1km into the stage. Instead, the final two climbs of the day should have more impact on the final result.

San Pelaio (5.6km at 4.4%) lies 47.2km from the line, while the final classified climb of the stage is Aretxabalgane (4.6km at 5.4%) comes 16.1km out. There's a further sting in the tail later on, too, with an unclassified hill lying in the dying kilometres.

Stage 3: Donostia - Donostia, 113.1km

Donostia, capital of Gipuzkoa, one of the eight constituent provinces of the Basque Country, hosts both the start and finish of the final stage of the race, as it has with every edition to date.

A trio of climbs lie in wait on this closing day, with 1,729 metres of elevation in the shortest stage of the race at 113.1km. The stage is similar to the finale of the past three editions of Itzulia Women, with all three climbs of previous stages remaining on the route.

The famous Jaizkibel (7.9km at 5.6%) is the biggest challenge of the day, though the first-category climb lies just 42.4km into the stage. It's followed up by Gurutze (2.7km at 5.2%), 18.4km later.

The final challenge of the three-day race lies just 10.1km from the finish line. Mendizorrotz (6.4km at 5.2%) could prove to be a launchpad for the race-winning move, ensuring the drama lasts to the very end of the race.

With the cobbled Classics season behind us, the men's and women's pelotons have decamped to the hills of the Ardennes to take on the Ardennes triple – the recent Amstel Gold Race in the Dutch province of Limburg, and the Walloon double of La Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

Each race has a different character, and very different parcours, though all feature a host of hills suited to the climbers and puncheurs of the peloton.

La Flèche Wallonne, based around the town of Huy, features one of the most fearsome hills on the calendar in the form of the Mur de Huy. The ascent, included three times in the men's race and twice in the women's, measures in at a scary 1.3km at 9.6%, including a maximum gradient of 18%.

A host of big names will be taking on the famous climb on Wednesday afternoon, and here we take a look at the favourites for the men's La Flèche Wallonne and La Flèche Wallonne Femmes.

Paul Seixas (Decathlon-CMA CGM)

French youngster Paul Seixas is the new hot young thing in the men's peloton, the 19-year-old ascending to levels of hype unseen by a teenager in this sport.

Seixas has enjoyed a stunning start to 2026, winning a stage en route to finishing second at the Volta ao Algarve, soloing for 42km to win the Faun-Ardèche Classic, and briefly matching Tadej Pogačar before finishing second at Strade Bianche.

And that was all before his dominant ride at Itzulia Basque Country, where Seixas won three stages and all four jerseys as he won the overall title by the largest margin since Aitor Osa in 2002 – four years before he was even born.

Seixas comes into La Flèche Wallonne looking in unstoppable form. He'll face off against Pogačar once again in Liège, the race he won as a junior two years ago, but in the meantime, he'll line up as one of the top favourites on the Mur de Huy.

Demi Vollering (FDJ United-SUEZ)

Demi Vollering has been the rider of the spring so far, racking up five wins, including the Tour of Flanders and Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, both first-time victories for the Dutchwoman.

The European champion started her season with two stages and the overall at the Volta Femenina de la Comunitat Valenciana in a dominant overall victory. She then switched her attention to the Classics, beating Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney in a two-woman sprint at Omloop.

A wrong turn at Strade Bianche left her and several other favourites out of contention for victory, while at Dwars door Vlaanderen, she was second in the sprint behind Marlen Reusser.

Vollering recently soloed home from the Oude Kwaremont to score the biggest win of her year to date at De Ronde. She was third at Amstel Gold Race at the weekend, too. A third win at Liège-Bastogne-Liège is her main goal this week, but before then, she lines up among the top favourites at La Flèche Wallonne, where she's won before.

Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Premier Tech)

Dutch youngster Puck Pieterse returns to defend her title on Wednesday, the 23-year-old leading Fenix-Premier Tech as she looks to finish the quickest atop the Mur de Huy for the second year in a row.

Last spring, she scored a huge win by beating a host of more experienced and decorated names, including Vollering, Elisa Longo Borghini, and Niewiadoma-Phinney, to the line. She looks in good form to be up there once again this week.

Pieterse has raced six days so far in 2026, all one-day outings. She hasn't taken a win yet, but highlights include a podium at the Tour of Flanders, fourth at Milan-San Remo, and sixth at Strade Bianche. Last year, she enjoyed a similar run of strong results heading into Ardennes week, so be sure to look out for Pieterse once again.

Kévin Vauquelin (Ineos Grenadiers)

Ineos Grenadiers newcomer Kévin Vauquelin is another rising star from France on our list. The 24-year-old has twice finished second at La Flèche Wallonne, so he's logically a favourite to score a similar result once again.

Vauquelin was – like everyone else – handily beaten by Tadej Pogačar last year, and narrowly missed out to Stephen Williams in 2024. This Wednesday, there'll be no Pogačar, thankfully for him, though Seixas's participation will provide some cause for alarm.

Vauquelin heads into the race with a good start to the season behind him, though his most recent outings include being comprehensively beaten by Seixas at Itzulia Basque Country and crashing out of the lead group at Amstel Gold Race. Highlights of Vauquelin's stage race-heavy spring to date include fifth at the Volta ao Algarve and fourth at Paris-Nice.

Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM Zondacrypto)

Polish road champion Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney heads into the Ardennes Classics as a rider aiming to finish off the Ardennes triple, becoming only the third woman to do so after Vollering and Anna van der Breggen.

She already has a win at La Flèche Wallonne to her name, of course, having beaten Vollering to the top of the Mur de Huy two years ago. Instead, this week, she'll be prioritising Liège-Bastogne-Liège and a first win at La Doyenne.

Before Sunday, she figures to be in the mix for Flèche once again, though. At Amstel Gold Race, she returned to racing following a horrible race-ending crash at Milan-San Remo – she led the chase home for second behind winner Paula Blasi. Before that outing, she showed her class with second places at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Strade Bianche, but she'll be hoping to take her first win of 2026 in Huy.

Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek)

A year ago, Danish rider Mattias Skjelmose scored his biggest one-day victory to date, becoming one of the very few riders to get the better of Tadej Pogačar in recent seasons, beating him and Remco Evenepoel to the line at Amstel Gold Race.

Now, he returns to the Ardennes as a top favourite, having also finished second at La Flèche Wallonne back in 2023. Back then, he lost out to Pogačar, though the Slovenian won't stand in his way this Wednesday.

Skjelmose hadn't had the best season start before last Sunday, with seventh at the Volta a Catalunya his standout result to date. He put in some promising results at the recent Itzulia Basque Country, taking second on stage 2, albeit 1:25 down on stage winner Seixas, and taking the combativity award on the final day, and followed that up with his best performance so far in 2026, taking second at Amstel Gold Race behind Evenepoel in a two-up sprint.

Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike)

Following her triumphs at Paris-Roubaix and the Tour de France Femmes last season, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot said that she'd be prioritising the Tour of Flanders and Liège-Bastogne-Liège this spring.

The Frenchwoman has raced three days so far in 2026, taking second in Flanders behind Vollering and third in Paris-Roubaix Femmes. Now, the Ardennes are in her sights, and she returns to La Flèche Wallonne as one of several former winners of the race.

Ferrand-Prévot hasn't raced Flèche since 2018, but she won the race four years earlier, beating Lizzie Deignan to the top of the Mur de Huy. Liège, where she finished seventh in 2018, will be her main goal, but she's certainly among the top favourites to win here.

Benoît Cosnefroy (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)

Benoit Cosnefroy replaces Remco Evenepoel on our list after the Belgian confirmed he wouldn't be taking part as he instead turns his focus to Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

The Frenchman has both history and form on his side in Huy. Back in 2020, he finished second, while two years ago he took fourth place, showing he knows how to tackle the fearsome closing ascent.

Recent results have included a pair of podium finishes at Brabantse Pijl and Amstel Gold Race. At the former, he sprinted to third as part of the large front group, while at the latter, he led home the chase behind Evenepoel and Mattias Skjelmose. He's another French rider to keep an eye on on Wednesday.

Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime)

In any conversation about La Flèche Wallonne, it's impossible to ignore Anna van der Breggen. Once upon a time, the Dutchwoman was unbeatable on the Mur de Huy, racking up seven wins in a row between 2015 and 2021.

Her most recent triumph, though, did come five years ago now, with a three-year retirement lying between that win and her return to racing last year. There's been plenty to celebrate since she came back, including podiums at Strade Bianche, the Vuelta España Femenina, and the Worlds time trial.

Van der Breggen isn't quite back to her dominant best, however, and at the age of 35, it's unlikely she'll ever return to those commanding displays of 2015-2021. A second place at the Trofeo Binda stands out as her top result in 2026, and, if she's up there among the favourites on the Mur, she'll be a watched woman.

Others to watch

Maëva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ) is firmly a climber to watch this year following last summer. Her standout result in 2026 is a second place at the Volta Valenciana.

Second at the Volta a Catalunya, Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) is well-suited to this race, finishing fourth on his debut last spring.

Juliette Berthet (FDJ United-Suez) will likely start as a luxury domestique for Vollering on Wednesday, but he previous best results of two seventh-place finishes and a sixth place make her a top contender.

Liane Lippert (Movistar) was fifth last year after a podium at the Tour of Flanders, though she hasn't quite hit those heights during this year's spring Classics.

Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ United) is yet another French rider on our list. He was fourth at the recent Amstel Gold Race.

Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek) was in the mix during last year's Ardennes Classics, and the 23-year-old heads up her team selection in Wallonia.

Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility), sixth here two years ago, is in good form after finishing third at the recent Itzulia Basque Country.

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Even before 2026 had begun, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot made her desires for the season clear: to defend her Tour de France Femmes title, and to try to win the Tour of Flanders and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

Second in Flanders last year in her first time taking part in the Classics since 2018, winning Sunday's race with 12 months more racing in her legs certainly seemed possible, and Visma-Lease a Bike were clear they were here to go for the victory.

But in the end, it was the same result again in Oudenaarde: second, this time in a two-up sprint behind solo winner Demi Vollering (FDJ United-Suez).

Despite runner-up clearly not being the result she wanted, Ferrand-Prévot was accepting of the fact that she just didn't have what it took on Sunday.

"To be honest, I did my best, the team did the best. I have nothing to regret, I was just not strong enough today to follow Demi on the Oude Kwaremont," she said. "I can only be happy with that, because I was on the limit and I was just not good enough to follow her.

"I feel quite happy to be second today but it was just impossible to do better."

Both Ferrand-Prévot and Vollering opted to train at altitude in preparation for Flanders, but the Dutchwoman opted to come back one race earlier, riding Dwars door Vlaanderen – which she nearly won – whereas Ferrand-Prévot dropped directly into the Ronde.

As a result, she did admit that she was perhaps missing a little bit of the top level needed for a race like Sunday's.

"I feel OK," she said about her post-altitude form. "For sure I missed maybe a bit of race rhythm, but I felt quite OK. I probably also missed a little bit of power on the cobblestone sections, I could feel [that], but otherwise, on the asphalt, when I had to push, I was feeling quite OK."

Despite her own possible lack of rhythm, Ferrand-Prévot praised her team's efforts in the hectic race, with riders like Lieke Nooijen in particular continuing to impress.

"It's just about staying calm and trying to enjoy the chaos. For sure also being in good position helps a lot, so for that the team did a really good job," she said.

"It's really good to be able to come back to these races and to be able to race at the front, so I'm really happy and I hope there's much more to come."

What will likely be next for the Visma leader is Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, where the pressure and ambition will probably be back on for the second one-day race she circled at the start of the season.

The Tour winner will be hoping that she may react better to the longer efforts of the Ardennes, compared to the power climbs of Flanders.

"Because I've been training in altitude quite a lot now, also on the longer climbs, so I can feel that I'm a bit less explosive at the moment," she said. "Maybe better in the threshold power than really in the VO2 max. I'm really looking forward to this block of racing in the Ardennes. I think it will be good."

Before that, though, there is a small question mark over whether Ferrand-Prévot might be drafted into Paris-Roubaix at the last minute, the race she won last year. That win was a surprise in itself, given she did not even originally plan to race Roubaix, and nearly didn't start in the morning.

This year, she was due to skip the race and cede leadership back to Marianne Vos, but with Vos currently away from racing after the death of her father, it could be that the defending champion gets a late call-up.

Asked directly about the possibility of racing Roubaix, Ferrand-Prévot seemed to leave the door open to a start.

"We have to see how Marianne is feeling. For now it's just really sad, and we miss her a lot today," she said. "We have to see how she feels and make a decision."

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After 19-year-old Carys Lloyd's shock win at the Ronde van Brugge last Thursday, fellow Movistar teenager Cat Ferguson has said that teams and riders need to remember that Lorena Wiebes is human and can be beaten, "or it's never going to happen."

Lloyd shocked both herself and the entire women's peloton at the end of a gruelling 143-kilometre race in Brugge, when she launched an extended sprint away from Wiebes, who was boxed in, and other star fast riders such as Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek), Nienke Veenhoven (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Chiara Consonni (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto).

Ferguson returned to racing with Lloyd on Sunday at In Flanders Fields, but recalled pre-race at the complete disbelief she had reacted with to her teammate's first professional victory.

"It was incredible, because you watch a race like that, and honestly, everyone, even me, a teammate of Carys', expects that Wiebes is going to win, and she didn't," Ferguson told Cyclingnews in Wevelgem.

"Carys won, and I was watching it in a pottery shop with Imogen Wolff; it was her birthday, and we were painting a pot together, and we were screaming, because it was just something out of this world, almost.

"The notifications started coming through because we were a bit behind on the live stream, and it didn't say that she had won or anything, so I thought that she'd done very well, and then I saw her cross the line first. I was honestly in disbelief for a while, because what she has done is really just historic, to be honest."

Of course, Wiebes didn't take long to take her revenge after missing out on a chance even to sprint three days before. In Flanders Fields, she dominated both the climbs and the five-rider group sprint to win for the fifth time already in 2026.

She's coming off the back of her best season yet with SD Worx-Protime, having claimed 25 wins in 2025 and with her overall tally now sitting at 123 at the professional level. Ferguson's point of belief being key does still stand, though. That's because what the Ronde van Brugge did expose is how Wiebes is not immune to getting boxed in or following the wrong wheel in a sprint, despite her clear superiority against anyone when it comes to pure speed.

"Wiebes is an absolute animal, but I think it shows that she can be beaten. She is only human, and she does make mistakes, which, as a whole, probably makes cycling more interesting," said Ferguson.

"Because if the riders don't believe that we can beat Wiebes, then, of course, it's never going to happen. So if we can start believing that, then hopefully teams stop riding with SD Worx and things like that, to make a change and allow things to happen again.

"Of course, I respect Wiebes and I also enjoy when she wins; she's an incredible athlete, but it's always nice to see an underdog win like Carys did, especially as she's my teammate."

2026 and beyond

Ferguson wasn't quite able to challenge on Sunday as she did at Opening Weekend, where she took fourth in the chasing sprint just behind Wiebes, who was third. Even so, as she moves into her second year as a WorldTour racer with Movistar, she already feels a jump has been made from 2025, both in terms of confidence and strength.

"I feel physically much stronger than last year. I think more in a sense of I sort of fatigue less, and that's probably just due to the fact I did no cyclocross over the winter, and I just committed to training," said Ferguson.

"As well as the fact I'm a year older and experienced as well. But I think I'm just enjoying each race a lot more now than last year. It's not quite as nerve-racking going into a race, and I feel a bit more confident with positioning and understanding how professional racing is going."

Ferguson is racing again on Wednesday is Dwars door Vlaanderen, before she turns her focus to a second Tour of Flanders appearance – having finished 19th on debut last year – on Sunday, April 5.

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A team update reports that Italian racer Debora Silvestri is recovering well after getting badly caught up in the mass crash on the Cipressa descent during Milan-San Remo. However, Silvestri will have to remain in the hospital for a few more days due to the thoracic trauma caused by the impact.

The Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi rider was one of the worst affected in the crash, falling over the guardrail, and after being taken to hospital, it was later revealed that she had suffered five fractured ribs and a fractured shoulder.

In the latest team update on their rider, the statement says that the 28-year-old is recovering well but still requires respiratory assistance.

As a result, the team doctors and Italian health service medics have decided that it would be best if she remains in hospital for at least a few more days.

"Debora Silvestri continues showing a favourable clinical evolution, in line with the seriousness of the injuries suffered," reads the statement.

"As a consequence of the heavy thoracic trauma, she still requires respiratory assistance, for which reason the team's medical department and the medical professionals of the centre where she is being attended have considered it best to prolong her stay in hospital for some more days.

"This decision aims to guarantee her recovery progresses in the best conditions possible, and she can receive a full all-clear," the statement concluded.

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Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ) won Giro dell'Appennino Donne from a six-rider breakaway group on Sunday for her first victory of the season.

Lucinda Brand (Lidl-Trek) grabbed second just ahead of Sarah Van Dam (Visma-Lease a Bike) on the flat streets of Genova on the Ligurian coast.

Célia Gery (FDJ United-SUEZ), Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek) and Viktória Chladoňová (Visma-Lease a Bike) rolled across the line in fourth to sixth from the breakaway group.

Persico and Gery created the break of the day with 20km to go, Persico allowing the Visma and Lidl-Trek riders to do much of the work once they joined.

Seven WorldTour teams were among the field of 25 teams lining up for the 111km one-day Italian Classic that started in Novi Ligure and snaked its way to the coast and Genova.

The opening 70km presented few enticements or challenging terrain for riders to slip away from the peloton. Once on the Passo dei Giovi (2.2km at 4.7%), Anneke Dijkstra (VolkerWessels Cycling) made a move to win the first of two mountain points available and created separation from the field with Top Girls Fassa Bortolo duo Sara Luccon and Marta Pavesi.

Across the next 5km, the trio gained a full minute on the peloton. Monica Trinca Colonel (Liv AlUla Jayco) then struck out with a solo attack to try to bridge to the front, followed on the approach to the second climb, Livellato, by riders from the WorldTour squads.

The second climb was double the length of Giovi at 5.3km at an average of 3.6%, giving enough real estate for the complexion at the front of the race to change dramatically, with a group of 11 now in charge once on a false flat, with 22km remaining.

On a final rise before the 20km, Persico accelerated with Gery to move away from the group. Giving chase were Trinca Colonel, Lucinda Brand (Lidl-Trek), Urška Žigart (AG Insurance-Soudal), Laura Dickson (FDJ United-SUEZ) and a trio from Visma-Lease a Bike – Femke De Vries, Maud Oudeman, and Sarah Van Dam.

Close behind was a second group of Marion Bunel and Viktória Chladoňová from Visma-Lease a Bike, Kim Le Court-Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal) and Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek).

Brand joined the lead duo of Persico and Gery once off the Livellato descent, pushing the gap to 36 seconds with 15km to go.

But the trio were just the bait that another three riders needed, and across the next 5km Fisher-Black joined her teammate Brand, along with the Visma duo Van Dam and Chladoňová, for six riders at the front. Trinca Colonel used a solo effort to try to make the catch, but had 25 seconds to close, and other chasers just 10 seconds behind her.

Once on the city streets of Genoa, Fisher-Black and Chladoňová took long pulls at the front, with Brand and Van Dam tucked in the back of the group. No one seemed to admire the palm trees and giant ship over their right shoulders as the run-in approached.

After a roundabout, the final 200-metre sign was the signal for Persico to take the advantage away from the two-rider teams, and she held off Brand and Van Dam for the victory.

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Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) won the women's Milano-San Remo, beating Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly) and Eleonora Gasparrini (UAE Team ADQ) in a sprint of five.

Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Premier Tech) had attacked on the Poggio with Rüegg and Kopecky on her wheel, and Gasparrini as well as with her teammate Dominika Włodarczyk bridging to them. Włodarczyk kept going and opened a gap, but Kopecky had almost closed that down going into the descent.

Włodarczyk led the group down most of the descent before Pieterse took over, but the five riders entered the final 2.3km together, about 10 seconds ahead of the next group.

Włodarczyk worked to keep the pace up for Gasparrini, but the Italian was positioned at the back of the group and thus too far behind when Kopecky launched her sprint at the 200-metre mark, holding off Rüegg and Gasparrini to win. Pieterse finished fourth in the small group at the front, while Włodarczyk was four seconds back in fifth.

Eight seconds later, Wiebes won the sprint for sixth place, raising her arm in celebration of her teammate's victory as she crossed the line.

“It’s amazing. I had the full support from the team today and I was really confident after the win on Wednesday [in Nokere Koerse]. For us, the whole race just fell into place," Kopecky said after the finish.

"Our team took the responsibility when we had to, everyone did a really great job to bring us in the right place towards the climb, and I was really happy that I could finally answer an attack on the climb. Going into the descent with the five of us, I knew that I just had to be patient, and I also knew that Lorena was still behind. I think I started my sprint on the perfect moment, and I’m super happy that I finished it off.

“I was very attentive for a late attack from the one who was behind [Gasparrini]. I knew that I could not let that happen, But I think we were all fast in the sprint, so we gambled on the sprint. And I also know that I have fast legs,” the 30-year-old Belgian described the final.

How it unfolded

The women’s race started in Genoa, mainly following the coastal Via Aurelia for a 156-kilometre race to San Remo.

It took over an hour for a break to get away, but eventually a front group of nine riders was formed when Eleonora La Bella (Aromitalia-Vaiano), Constance Valentin (Mayenne-Monbana-My Pie) and Sofia Arici (Vini Fantini-BePink) were joined by Katia Ragusa (Human Powered Health), Lara Crestanello (Isolmant-Premac-Vittoria), Heidi Franz (St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93), Sara Luccon (Top Girls Fassa Bortolo), Bodine Vollering (VolkerWessels), and Eleonora Deotto (Mendelspeck E-Work).

This breakaway built a gap of up to four minutes while Fariba Hashimi (Vini Fantini-BePink) and Victoire Berteau (Cofidis) tried to bridge the gap but never made it and were reeled in about 75km from the finish.

SD Worx-Protime led the peloton in the chase, steadily reducing the gap to only 1:19 minutes atop the Capo Mele where Maya Kingma (Aromitalia-Vaiano) attacked to go on a solo chase. She kept going for some time but was caught again on the Capo Berta.

The front group fell apart there as well, and only Arici, Franz, and Vollering remained ahead, with the peloton now only 13 seconds behind and reeling them in with 31.4km to go, in time for the Cipressa.

After a hard pace on the lower half, Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) attacked twice to force a selection but could not get a real gap. Instead, Lieke Nooijen (Visma-Lease a Bike) went away on her own on the last kilometre before the top and was 19 seconds ahead as she started the descent.

Niewiadoma-Phinney led the chasing group down the descent but carried too much speed through a corner and crashed into the barriers. Kim Le Court-Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal) and several other riders were unable to avoid the crash while Margaux Vigié (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Debora Silvestri (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi) somersaulted over the barrier and down several metres onto a side road below.

Vigié and Le Court-Pienaar could continue the race while Niewiadoma-Phinney and Silvestri had to abandon.

Nooijen had held onto her advantage of a few seconds on the flat between the Cipressa and Poggio, but with the peloton behind her regrouping and swelling to about 50 riders as well as Blanka Vas (SD Worx-Protime) leading the chase, her move was always going to be short-lived.

Nikola Nosková (Cofidis) attacked from the bottom of the Poggio, quickly passing Nooijen. The Czech rider was still ahead when Pieterse jumped from the peloton a kilometre from the top of the climb, taking Rüegg and Kopecky with her and blasting by Nosková.

Gasparrini and Włodarczyk bridged across the gap, and Włodarczyk even got a gap on the other four but was closed down by Kopecky as she rounded the phone booth at the top of the climb. The quintet stayed together on the descent. The Polish rider then took the lead to ensure the group would stay away, and Kopecky was the strongest in the sprint.

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Chiara Consonni (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) won stage 2 of Vuelta a Extremadura Femenina in a bunch sprint, holding off Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) and Ally Wollaston (FDJ United-SUEZ).

Consonni launched her sprint after teammate Zoe Bäckstedt gave her the leadout in the final kilometre. Bäckstedt was able to hold her position and retained the leader's jersey for a second day.

Stage 2 provided a relatively flat day with 132.8km from Pueblonuevo del Guadiana to Fuente del Maestre, with just one category 3 climb, Fuente del Maestre (4.1km at 2.7%) with 33km to go.

Sheyla Gutiérrez (Movistar) was the first rider across the climb, and continued on a solo breakaway with aspirations of a victory. She had pushed away from the peloton by just over three minutes with 60km to go.

With just 8km to go, Claire Steels joined her teammate at the front of the race, but the peloton soon swarmed the pair. Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto took over at the front and set up the win for Consonni, her first victory of the season.

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Lucinda Brand (Netherlands) clinched her second rainbow jersey following a determined performance in the elite women’s UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in Hulst.

Brand was pushed all the way for victory as Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado finished second, 27 seconds behind, while Puck Pieterse completed a Netherlands podium sweep with third.

A four-time cyclo-cross World Championships silver medallist, Brand finally repeated her success from Oostende in 2021 following a dominant season.

Pieterse and Alvarado both posed questions of their countrywoman in the early stages, before Brand showed her power to force a gap. The pressure resulted in Pieterse crashing heavily on a descent, only for Brand to crash herself as Alvarado pulled level.

However, Brand was not to be denied a second world title and had time to lift her bike in triumph at taking the victory. Alvarado was able to enjoy second, while Pieterse came out of a large group to clinch third.

The win was made even sweeter as Brand’s world championships build-up had been far from perfect after suffering a minor calf injury last weekend.

It was Brand’s 19th win of the season from 24 starts during an impressive campaign. Brand said the victory was made more special as her last cyclo-cross World Championship victory came when no spectators were allowed due to covid-19 restrictions in 2021.

“It feels amazing,” said Brand. “It’s really good after such a great season to win on the most important day, some people call it.

“It’s fantastic in front of a home crowd. If it goes so well, you also dream to win this race of cause. I previously won the title already, the relief might be bigger if you didn’t have it yet.

“It’s fantastic to win it here in front of the crowd in my home country. What makes it way more special is that there were way more people to cheer me on instead of five people, staff (covd-19 restrictions).”

How it unfolded

The fortress city of Hulst, on the Dutch-Belgium border, provided a spectacular backdrop with the 3.3-kilometre course containing 150 metres of elevation gain, including steep climbs and descents to test riders’ technical abilities.

There was no defending champion on the start line as 23-year-old Fem Van Empel (Netherlands), winner of the last three rainbow jerseys, put her career on hold earlier this winter.

The orange jerseys of the Netherlands dominated the front row of the starting grid, a sign of their superiority in the elite women’s ranks.

Following back-to-back wins last weekend, Pieterse had the quickest start, ahead of fellow countrywomen Alvarado and Brand. Blanka Kata Vas (Hungary) was aware of the danger of a Dutch sweep and after a quick start slotted herself among the podium positions.

Pieterse was relentless in her early pace resulting in a group of six riders pulling clear of their opponents – including three Dutch women.

Amongst the early medal contention was mountain bike specialist Jolanda Neff (Switzerland), who was aiming for her first Cyclo-cross World Championship medal.

After finishing runner-up at Maasmechelen last weekend, Alvarado came into the event in fine form and maintained a high pace in the second lap.

The relentless pace of Pieterse and Alvarado became too much for Neff who was gapped after losing time through a steep running section.

Despite looking on the back foot cyclo-cross World Cup overall winner Brand remained a presence as the front trio started to ride away. The pace of in-form Pieterse eventually told on her rivals as she pulled out several seconds on her rivals.

After sitting back and watching the early exchanges Brand responded by quickly pulling back Pieterse before running clear up a steep bank.

Under pressure the technically-gifted Pieterse crashed heavily on the slick surface at the bottom of a big descent and quickly lost 20 seconds after a bike change. The Dutch youngster fell back to a second group of Vas, Neff and Kristyna Zemanová (Czech Republic), resulting in a tense bronze medal battle.

Meanwhile, at the front Alvarado kept pressure on Brand, with a gap of just six seconds separating the Dutch competitors at the mid-race distance.

Further down the field pre-race podium favourite Sara Casasola (Italy) looked in severe pain as she pulled out.

The dramatic race continued and this time Brand went over the handlebars after losing her front wheel on a steep uphill section, resulting in Alvarado pulling level.

After an impressive season, Amandine Fouquenet (France) also pulled herself into the large group battling for bronze, and was another rider to crash on the slippery surface.

Heading into the penultimate lap Alvarado was putting pressure on her countrywoman Brand as the pair sat 31 seconds ahead of the chasing group.

Tensions were boiling over in the bronze medal group as Marion Norbert-Riberolle (Belgium) and Zemanová crashed into each other following a descent. The Belgian was less than impressed after her opponent’s inside move and pushed her after regaining her feet, resulting in a disqualification.

Brand was in a determined mood and a mistake by Alvarado going into the run-up climb resulted in the Lidl-Trek road rider forcing a small advantage.

Taking the last lap bell Brand had grown her lead to 10 seconds ahead of Alvarado, while the bronze battle remained a close one. The leader’s gap grew to 27 seconds on the final lap as Alvarado had no response to her experienced rival.

An exciting battle for bronze was eventually claimed by Pieterse, after she fought off Vas and Fouquenet in the final stages.

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Barbora Bukovská (Czechia) soloed to victory at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships, winning by 15 seconds in the 45-minute race to take the junior women's world title.

The 18-year-old beat Lise Revol (France) to the line, while Lucie Grohová (Czechia) took the bronze medal at 35 seconds back.

Three-time World Cup winner Revol lined up as the top favourite for glory on Saturday morning and duly attacked from the start in Hulst. She was joined up front by Nynke Jochems (Netherlands) and Franco Pellizzotti (Italy), while Bukovská missed out in the early running.

Revol, who won the junior race last year on home ground in Liévin, was the strongest rider of the early stages, pulling away at the front. Behind her, a chase group formed, with Czech racers Bukovská and Grohová making it into the chase.

Bukovská finished second behind Revol last year and once again led the way behind the Frenchwoman this year. On lap four, she pushed on alone in pursuit of her rival, gradually closing the gap.

In 2025, Revol held on to win by 11 seconds at the finish, but this time around, Bukovská managed to bridge across, making it two out front on the penultimate lap of the race. She continued to put the pressure on, too, and managed to break Revol to lead solo heading into the final lap.

Behind, Grohová had moved into third place, setting up the final medal places well before the finish line. A hard crash into the barriers for the Czech racer looked to throw that bronze medal into jeopardy, however.

She fell on the finishing straight starting the final lap, damaging a shifter in the process. But, despite the spill, she carried on in third place, improving on last year's eighth to hold off Pellizzotti by nine seconds at the finish.

Up front, Bukovská had gone clear and wouldn't be caught again by Revol, leaving her to race home on her own and savour the gold medal.

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The route for the 2026 Strade Bianche Women has been revealed, with two fewer gravel sectors than last year, but still with a brutally challenging route on offer over some of Tuscany's idyllic white roads.

The 6.4km La Piana and 9.3km Serravalle sectors have been removed for the March 7 race, just as they have been for the men's race, meaning for a larger section of road between the first three sectors and the remaining eight in the latter half of the course.

Siena's iconic Piazza del Campo finish line remains, with the final loop and double lap up the Colle Pinzuto and Le Tolfe sectors still providing the approach into the steep city-centre Via Santa Caterina climb.

Despite the reduction in distance and in the number of gravel sectors, it's not as dramatic a change as the men's race has experienced for 2026, with the legacy of the 2024 transformation – when four gravel sectors were added – still shining through.

S. Martino in Grania remains the only five-star sector on the 131-kilometre women's route, with the Monte Sante Marie still not featuring, with Colle Pinzuto and Le Tolfe being the next hardest as both are four-star sectors.

Demi Vollering (FDJ-United Suez) and Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) have traded victory at the past four editions of Strade Bianche, but the former will enter as defending champion after her solo win ahead of the latter's teammate, Anna van der Breggen.

Van der Breggen will return to Tuscany in 2026 and look to repeat her victory from the 2018 edition, but both of the Dutch stars and the Belgian will have the added threat of Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike) taking the start.

Ferrand-Prévot finished third in last year's race, but this was only her third appearance after returning to road racing and joining Visma-Lease a Bike. With the confidence gained by winning both Paris-Roubaix and the Tour de France Femmes, expect the multi-discipline expert to excel on the gravel roads.

Strade Bianche Women 2026 gravel sectors

• Vidritta (2.4km)
• Bagnaia (4.8km)
• Radi (4.4km)
• S.Martino in Grania (9.4km)
• Monteaperti (0.6km)
• Colle Pinzuto (2.4km)
• Le Tolfe (1.1km)
• Strada del Castagno (0.7km)
• Montechiaro (3.3 km)
• Colle Pinzuto (2.4km)
• Le Tolfe (1.1km)

Lucinda Brand (Baloise Glowi) continued to be indomitable in the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup, taking her seventh straight series win in Dendermonde and her 11th victory in a row. She's won so many, Brand couldn't compare this win to her others.

"There have been always good days that you're flying around. It's really hard to compare day by day," she said in a brief post-races interview.

After Brand's escape on lap 3, the battle for second place ended with Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) getting away from the ever-impressive Amandine Fouquenet (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) on the final lap.

"My start was not super," Pieterse said. "I got boxed in a bit, and that made me lose quite some time. And then in the second or third lap, when I was about to make the gap to the to the leaders, Lucina looked back and she went for it, unfortunately.

"On this loop, five seconds is a big gap, and I already knew that before the race. So yeah, at one point, Lucinda had like, 12 seconds, I think."

The Dutch champion went on to explain how such a seemingly small gap could be unclosable.

"On TV, you think when you're watching, 'Oh, why doesn't she sprint towards her?' But 12 seconds on such a fast race course is so much.

"I just decided to play it for second place, so I stayed in the wheel a bit, trying to recover, and then place an attack in the last lap."

Brand has been so impressive in any weather this year; she has only lost two races this season, coming second in the European Championships early last month and the Superprestige in Overijse in October, but will not sweep the series after not competing in Flamanville. It has meant most days her rivals are fighting for second place.

After a brilliant start to the race, Fouquenet was content to focus on the attainable, saying, "I'm really happy - it was a great battle with Puck but I wanted to keep the podium. It's a great season for me and I wanted to prove it was possible again."

How it unfolded

The conditions continued to be sunny and dry in an unusual streak of fine weather for the kerstperiode races, and in sharp contrast to the last Dendermonde World Cup last January, where Brand also emerged victorious.

The race got off to a fast start, with Fouquenet leading from the hole shot, followed by up-and-coming riders Leonie Bentveld and Célia Gery (FDJ-SUEZ) and Brand.

But a crash on the sandy downhill by Bentveld opened up a gap behind the other three leaders, forcing Pieterse to chase along with teammate Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado.

"I was very surprised - passing sand pit on the first lap, there was a big gap. Maybe something happened behind. So I got the queue from the side - 'Just keep going'," Brand said.

As Gery faded, it was Fouquenet who was closest to matching Brand, but by lap three, it was game over.

As Fouquenet faded, she was joined by Pieterse at the start of lap 4 and the pair took turns chasing Brand to no avail.

Having briefly distanced Fouquenet on the next lap, Pieterse was caught with three of nine laps remaining.

It came down to the final lap, during which Pieterse attacked on the run-up and opened a gap in the technical section that followed to finish second at 11 seconds.

Fouquenet relented and came through 12 seconds later, well ahead of Alvarado in fourth.

Further down the rankings, Marion Norbert Riberolle (Crelan-Corendon) made an impressive surge to finish fifth.

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The 10th edition of the Women's Tour Down Under will take place from January 17-19, 2026 with another visit to Willunga Hill and double trips over the Corkscrew Road ascent set to shake up the overall classification.

The course totals 394.6 kilometres, starting in Willunga and finishing in Campbelltown with visits to Magill, Paracombe and Norwood.

Read on for more details of the 2026 Women's Tour Down Under route.

Stage 1 - Willunga to Willunga, 137.4km

The Women's Tour Down Under starts in Willunga, but it won't feature the hill that has made the race famous.

Instead, the 134.7-kilometre stage begins by descending from High Street in Willunga, then features two mid-stage ascents of a 475-metre-long climb at kilometres 53.5 and 95.4, along with the final climb to the finish line.

Rather than cater to the climbers, this stage is for punchy sprinters who can power up the modest climb and its 20 metres of elevation (5.6% gradient). There are also two intermediate sprints along the coast, both at Snapper Point in Aldinga at kilometres 17.2 and 114, to spice up the action.

Stage 2 - Magill to Paracombe, 130.7km

Magill makes its debut as a Tour Down Under host for a 130.7km stage that has very little flat terrain. The course rolls up and down the whole way, ending in the Adelaide Hills for three kickers near the end of the stage.

The first climb comes at kilometre 10, with sprints at kilometres 43.6 and 79.2. The race enters the finishing circuits around kilometre 94 in Paracombe. The riders will tackle three circuits, each with a climb averaging only 2.2%.

"This is a fantastic stage focused on showcasing all the Adelaide Hills has to offer," Race Director Stuart O'Grady said. "It features an aggressive Paracombe circuit which has a rich history in South Australian cycling, and the finish is a difficult uphill run, so there will be lots of opportunities for attacks and entertaining racing.”

Stage 3 - Norwood to Campbelltown, 126.5km

The Women's Tour Down Under concludes with a testing 126.5km stage from Norwood to Campbelltown which will finally bring the climbers to the fore.

The main feature is the 434-metre of elevation gained on Corkscrew Road which riders will take on twice, and a technical five-kilometre descent that will test riders' nerves.

The first climb at Kangaroo Creek Reservoir is at kilometre 10.9, but the real meat comes after the sprints (km. 35 and 59.4) on the Corkscrew climb and sprint in Campbelltown on each of the two closing circuits.

Women’s One-Day Race

Following the end of the Women's Tour Down Under on January 19, the Women's One-Day Race, a ProSeries event, will take place in Tanunda on January 21.

The 94.2-kilometre race is held on a fast 8km circuit and begins after the men's Tour Down Under heads out of town. There are six intermediate sprints but the real goal is the finish line in historic Tanunda.

Cyclingnews is on the ground for the season-opening 2026 Tour Down Under, and a subscription gives you unlimited access to our unrivalled coverage. From breaking news and analysis to exclusive interviews and tech, we've got you covered as the new season gets underway in Australia. Find out more.

Cannondale Factory Racing teammates Jolanda Neff of Switzerland and Cole Punchard of Canada pulled out victories from last-lap drama in their respective UCI C2 elite races on Sunday at North Carolina Grand Prix.

Lizzy Gunsalus (Marian University) and Lauren Zoerner (Competitive Edge Racing) repeated their second-place and third-place podium spots from the day before in the women's race. Neff rode solo both days for a sweep of C2 events, her first 'cross wins with a new Cannondale team. She began her MTB comeback this season after several years with an ongoing respiratory illness.

Like Neff, the 22-year-old Punchard has focused on mountain biking, winning silver in the men's U23 XCO and bronze in the U23 XCC races at Worlds this year.

He went straight to the win at his first 'cross event of the season, leaving compatriot Tyler Orschel (Pan American Union Racing) in second place from a final head-to-head sprint. 18-year-old Tofik Bashir (CXD Trek Bikes) replicated Saturday's third place for his seventh elite podium of the season.

Another sunny, dry day in western North Carolina produced fast conditions at Jackson Park, with reversal of an off-camber section and a 180-turn into the barriers. This year marked the 20th edition of the NCGP, presented by Hunter Subaru, which organisers said was now the longest-running elite-level cycling event in the state.

A group of four riders formed the lead group of the elite women's group after two laps - Neff, Gunsalus, Zoerner and Ella Brenneman (CXD Trek Bikes). The podium trio then dropped the 20-year-old Brenneman to forge ahead for the middle laps.

Near the finish line approaching the signal for three laps to go, Gunsalus clipped a course-marking stake that caused her to get tangled in the tape which allowed Neff to sail away and Zoerner to move into second. However, Gunsalus quickly passed Zoerner to retake second and she rejoined the Swiss leader.

On the final circuit it was a head-to-head battle for Neff and Gunsalus across The Wall, a paved approach to a steep grass ascent. Through a series of corners near the finish, the US rider dropped her chain when she touched wheels with Neff, allowing the six-time mountain bike World Champion to solo for the victory.

The 22-year-old Pan-American Cyclocross Champion rolled across the line for another second place on the weekend, while Zoerner also replicated Saturday's finish in third, this time just 20 seconds behind Gunsalus.

Canadian duo Elli Clark and Nicole Bradbury, both riding for local Brevard College, finished fourth and sixth, respectively, with Amelia Shea (Feedback Sports) sandwiched between to earn a final spot on the wide-angle podium.

Orschel rode with Tyler Clark (Caledon Hills Armada) and Jules Van Kempen (Team Winston-Salem) as the initial lead trio on the opening laps, joined mid-way by Bashir and then Punchard, leaving day one winner Kerry Werner (Velo Mafia Racing p/b Bikeflights) to find for himself in the chase.

Canadian veteran Orschel launched a solo attack with five laps to go. It took Punchard two more circuits to catch the lone leader, bringing Van Kempen and Bashir along. Van Kempen then lost the group when he slipped out.

By the bell lap it looked like Bashir was headed for his second elite win of the season as he struck out over the barriers from the lap before. But he crashed in the S turns after the tight off-camber section, which allowed Punchard and Orschel to reconnect.

Across the final pass of The Wall, the two Canadians attacked. Punchard held off Orschel for the victory and Bashir took third just eight seconds back. Van Kempen rode solo for fourth while Werner out-sprinted Clark for fifth.

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