After looking threatening all Opening Weekend, Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) made the most of his top form with victory in the sprint at the Ename Samyn Classic, as the heart of late attacker Per Strand Hagenes (Visma-Lease a Bike) was broken in the final kilometre.
Hagenes led for much of the final 30km, and despite looking at times like he was going to make it home for a top solo victory as his Visma teammates discouraged the chasers, he ran out of steam on the final uphill drag to the line in Dour and was caught by the peloton.
Meeus launched his sprint up the inside of the barriers and was clearly the strongest after a tough day of cobbled racing in Wallonia, living up to his status as the favourite. Laurenz Rex (Soudal-QuickStep) finished second with a strong sprint, just beating Hugo Hofstetter (NSN), who was third on Tuesday.
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"Well, I'm super happy. I was very motivated to get this win, coming just after Opening Weekend, where I had good results there at Omloop and Kuurne," said Meeus after his first win of 2026.
"It was very rough out there, to be honest, everyone was giving everything they could in the last few technical corners. Thankfully, I still had something to give in the end.
"This weekend, possibly I could've done better, so I was determined to show what I could do. I couldn't have done it without my teammates. I'm very happy to give them this win."
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How it unfolded
As cobbled racing continued at the Ename Samyn Classic on Tuesday in Wallonia, a five-man breakaway escape from the peloton, sparked by Bogdan Zabelinskiy (Aarco), who was joined by Baptiste Vadic (TotalEnergies), Stijn Appel (BEAT CC p/b Saxo), Kévin Avoine (Van Rysel Roubaix) and Lucas Bénéteau (St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93).
On a dry sunny day in the French-speaking part of Belgium, the gap was kept tight as the 203.8km race from Quaregnon to Dour raged on, with the peloton not much further behind than 1:30 for much of the opening 120km.
Entering the final 75km, this gap went out to two minutes, with Ed Uptegrove (EEW-VDK Cyclingteam) and Arnaud Tendon (Van Rysel Roubaix) trying to bridge the gap, and the pace going out of the peloton.
This momentary lull didn't last long, however, as when the race changed direction and back into the open roads, soon there were splits forming and the gap to the break had melted away to just 45 seconds. Visma-Lease a Bike were heavily involved, with 12 riders forming a leading chase group on the road.
Chasing efforts were far from perfect in the peloton, and the original breakaway of five were quickly joined to make it 17 in front, with Visma duo Per Strand Hagenes and Pietro Mattio, Gianni Vermeersch (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Tomáš Kopecký (Unibet Rose Rockets), Alexis Renard, Hugo Page (Cofidis), Alberto Bruttomesso (Bahrain-Victorious) and Matys Grisel (Lotto-Intermarché) being the key names to note.
With 30km to go, and heading towards the start of the final lap, the breakaway knew they were about to be caught, so the last few desperate moves came over the Rue de Belle Vue cobbled sector, as a preview of the finale.
Visma's Hagenes was the clear strongest, and he got away on his own as the others were caught. The Norwegian rider took the bell solo, but with only a 30-second lead over the peloton.
Per Strand Hagenes on the attack (Image credit: Getty Images)
Lotto-Intermarché, Unibet Rose Rockets and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe led the front of the peloton to try and bring it back together for a sprint, but the cobbled sectors meant for an uneven chase and more splits forming behind the lone leader, with Van Aert making moves and trying to discourage.
Unfortunately for Visma, Van Aert had a rear wheel puncture in the final 10km and was required to stop his efforts and change bikes with a teammate. He then stopped and changed again onto his spare, which took him out of the equation for the finale and ended his hopes of a win on season debut in 2026.
Hagenes hit the final Côte de Nonnettes rep with 15 seconds, but Cofidis were launching a huge assault to try and bring him back through Renard and Page, after their efforts in the early break. Soon, the French team, sporting a new jersey for today, led the peloton with four riders.
Taking over, however, was Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, who stormed onto the Rue de Belle Vue and upped the pace with Hagenes just five seconds in front and the final drag to the line still to come.
This is where the Norwegian's time in front came to an end, with 600 metres to go, and as the sprint started, Meeus speared through the left side and emerged at the front. His speed took him away from Rex and Hofstetter, who sprinted well, but not well enough to deny the Belgian, who celebrated with time at the finish in Dour.
The podium in Dour (Image credit: Getty Images)
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James Moultrie is a gold-standard NCTJ journalist who joined Cyclingnews as a News Writer in 2023 after originally contributing as a freelancer for eight months, during which time he also wrote for Eurosport, Rouleur and Cycling Weekly. Prior to joining the team he reported on races such as Paris-Roubaix and the Giro d’Italia Donne for Eurosport and has interviewed some of the sport’s top riders in Chloé Dygert, Lizzie Deignan and Wout van Aert. Outside of cycling, he spends the majority of his time watching other sports – rugby, football, cricket, and American Football to name a few.
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