Results Tour de Luxembourg 2026 Stage 1 - Mathieu van der Poel attacks from 11km out, gets caught and still powers to opening victory
CyclingWednesday, 16 September 2026 at 18:42
Mathieu van der Poel opened the 2026 Tour de Luxembourg with victory on Stage 1 after an aggressive finale in which the Dutchman attacked with 11 kilometres remaining, was caught inside the final four kilometres and still came back to win in Luxembourg.
The Alpecin-Premier Tech leader eventually headed Pierre Gautherat and Marijn van den Berg across the line after 157.5 kilometres from Luxembourg-Knuedler to Luxembourg-Feschmaart.
Per Strand Hagenes finished fourth at two seconds, with Jasper Stuyven completing the top five ahead of Axel Mariault, Andrea Raccagni Noviero, Matteo Vercher, Nicolas Breuillard and Davide Piganzoli.
An early six-rider break had shaped much of the stage, with Fabio Costa, Malte Hellerup, Cole Kessler, Ruud Junior Nagengast, Jonathan Malte Rottmann and Noe Ury escaping the peloton.
Hellerup proved the most persistent of the group, taking maximum points over both the Cote de Bourscheid and Cote de Eschdorf. By the final 20 kilometres, however, only Hellerup remained ahead after Costa was caught.
On the attack! 🚀
— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) September 16, 2026
First race back, Mathieu van der Poel attacks off the front at the Tour de Luxembourg! pic.twitter.com/6xqQtK1Ant
Van der Poel lights up the finale
Hellerup was finally reeled in with around 12 kilometres remaining, just as the race entered its decisive phase. Van der Poel attacked one kilometre later and quickly opened a small gap as riders began to lose contact behind. Pepijn Reinderink attempted to counter, while Eike Behrens bridged across to Van der Poel with approximately 10 kilometres to go.
The pair managed to establish an advantage of around 12 seconds, but Behrens began struggling to hold Van der Poel's wheel before the chase eventually brought the move back.
Behrens was caught with just over four kilometres remaining and the race came back together shortly afterwards, seemingly setting up a reduced sprint.
Soudal - Quick-Step and Lidl-Trek were among the teams driving the approach to the finish before Andrea Bagioli attacked inside the final kilometre. Van der Poel responded once again, countering with around 500 metres remaining and powering through to the stage victory. Gautherat and Van den Berg finished on the same time in second and third, while Van der Poel also took the first leader's jersey of the five-stage race.
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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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