Results Gooikse Pijl 2026 - Max Kanter holds off charging Frits Biesterbos in photo-finish thriller to claim fourth career win
CyclingSunday, 20 September 2026 at 16:38
Max Kanter claimed victory at the 2026 Gooikse Pijl after a desperately close sprint finish, edging Frits Biesterbos on the line as Jordi Meeus completed the podium.
The late breakaway of Johan Meens and Victor Hannes had kept the peloton working deep into the finale, but their resistance finally ended with 6.5 kilometres remaining. From there, attention turned fully towards the fast men.
Uno-X Mobility tried to take control of the run-in, with Jonas Abrahamsen working on the front and Søren Wærenskjold positioned third with just over two kilometres remaining. The peloton was already heavily stretched by that point as the sprint trains fought for position.
Kanter timed his effort well. The XDS Astana Team rider launched with around 600 metres remaining and carried his speed all the way to the line, although Biesterbos made it desperately close alongside him.
The finish was tight enough to require confirmation, but Kanter was eventually awarded the victory, with Biesterbos settling for an impressive second place for Team Picnic PostNL.
Meeus crossed the line third for Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe, while several of the other pre-race sprint names were unable to make the podium despite the expected bunch finish materialising. The victory was the fourth professional win of Kanter's career and capped a controlled but increasingly aggressive final hour in Gooik.
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Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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Rafionain-Glas20-09-2026 - like I trust anyone on here with my personal information. I don’t assume anything about anyone, other than one shouldn’t watch a movie or see a picture of someone and make a broad characterization about them. To see this video and dismiss all the talent hard work, and effort someone has put into their career, and to chalk it up as “easy” is extremely prejudicial. to spout off about someone without knowing anything about them is prejudicial. I know nothing of anyone here and am not attacking who they are, simply the words they post. and don’t take my word for what a photo shoot is like, research it. we had an annual 110 page product catalog we had to produce. It was about 4 days in the studio, and very, very grueling days. for everyone. I was not and am not a model. I was CEO of the company.mij20-09-2026
- Are you watching stage 5Rafionain-Glas20-09-2026
- Or automated translation. I suspect hub could be hubris though. I don’t know multilingualism is the reason but it’s really not hard at all to understand what is meant. Or perhaps I’ve gotten too used to reading automatic translations imposed by the likes of Google, Airbnb, Tripadvisor etc. for foreign messages and reviewsJumpyjohn20-09-2026
- If it’s hard for him, imagine how it must be for the others.Jumpyjohn20-09-2026
- And yet, without any research or knowledge you quite liberally assume whatever you feel like about the people you argue with (whilst, I notice, spouting off quite a bit about yourself that we have to assume is true for lack of any verification possibilities). Maybe you should reveal your own identity for us to check out your story? On the other hand, if taking part in a photo shoot (or even two) is given prominence by you, is it worth us looking at your CV?Jumpyjohn20-09-2026
- No Tom Dumoulin?
DareDevil20-09-2026 - Indeed, and it doesn’t even seem well correlated to age, some of the older viewers being way more modern than the newer generations.Jumpyjohn20-09-2026
- You are the only one who ever asks, try not to make things too obviousJumpyjohn20-09-2026
- Am surprised we are still discussing what MVDP might do instead of why he did what he did. Is he lacking form or was his approach planned in view of next weekend. He seemed ok on stage 1 and hasn’t seemed interested since. Or has he gotten ill?Jumpyjohn20-09-2026
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