Profile & Route Le Samyn 2026

On the 3rd of March the peloton takes on Le Samyn. Following the 'Opening Weekend', we continue here an extensive schedule of Belgian one-day races that are highly prestigious, even those outside the World Tour. This one is set to start and finish at 12:35 and 17:25CET.

The event was first held in 1968 and has been a benchmark for classics specialists for decades, serving the Belgian crowd favourites many times. Since the start of the 21st century a lot of meaningful names have won here such as Magnus Bäckstedt, Robbie McEwen, Philippe Gilbert, Arnaud Démare, Niki Terpstra... It is a race that both suits the sprinters and classics specialists, an interesting dynamic, and so we have both types of riders in the palmarès.

This decade, every single edition has been won in a sprint - two of them from small groups however. Hugo Hofstetter, Tim Merlier, Matteo Trentin, Milan Menten and Laurenz Rex were all winners; whilst last year it was last-minute addition Mathieu van der Poel who opened his season here and took a victory over Paul Magnier.

The 203.5-kilometer is going to almost fully be a circuit race this year, more difficult as the riders are going to be racing in the rolling hills and cobbled sectors around the town of Dour. There will be six laps of a 35-kilometer long circuit that feratures four cobbled sectors and a slight uphill finish.

It is a race that can be very tactical due to its nature, and this year we have 29 cobbled sectors on the menu which can make mishaps and mechanicals a bigger factor in the race. Nevertheless, we are likely to see an uphill sprint decide the race, regardless of it being in a peloton or attacking group - every option is possible.