Results Tour de Luxembourg 2026 Stage 4 - Davide Piganzoli on fire again as he takes narrowest time trial win; Mathieu van der Poel finishes 61st
CyclingSaturday, 19 September 2026 at 18:33
Davide Piganzoli has reinforced his lead at the Tour de Luxembourg, taking a narrow victory on Saturday's stage 4 time trial. The Visma | Lease a Bike leader put in a strong first half against the clock that proved decisive as he extended his lead over his general classification rivals.
Starting and finishing in Ettelbruck, the route was 20 kilometers long. In its first third, there is a climb that is 900 meters long at 10%. There was no recovery from the climb, instead a plateau section leading to the race's intermediate point. A small climb will follow, whilst the final 3 kilometers will be fully downhill all the way to the finish line.
UAE Team Emirates - XRG rider Julius Johansen set the early benchmark as expected. The Danish time trial specialist - one of the few at the race - took the hot seat early as he set a time of 27:08 - ahead of Emiel Verstrynge and Miguel Heidemann.
However, as riders closer in the general classification came later in the day, Leo Hayter was the first to threaten his lead as well as Dylan van Baarle, with both setting times faster than him at the intermediate checkpoint. Andrea Raccagni soon followed as second faster than Hayter as it became clear Johansen's time may be beaten.
Mathieu van der Poel
All eyes on Mathieu van der Poel as he kicks off time trial
All eyes were on Mathieu van der Poel as the Dutchman started his time trial soon after, but any speculation as to whether he would target a stage win seemed shut down quickly at the intermediate checkpoint as he posted a 14th fastest provisional time, already 46 seconds down on the front of affairs. He ultimately came in 61st and 2:44 off the winning pace.
Hayter would in fact dethrone Johansen in the meantime - besting him by as little as 0.27 seconds as van Baarle missed out on the lead. But Raccagni soon arrived, overshadowing Hayter's time as he put 16 seconds into the British rider.
With The general classification top ten all on the road in the final 30 minutes, Raccagni's time was no GC threat. Another noteworthy finisher was Soren kragh Andersen, who impressed with a time close to Johansen and 16 seconds down on Raccagni provisionally.
GC riders do battle in race against the clock
Aurelien Paret-Peintre was the first of the final riders to threaten Raccagni's lead, posting a time just 0.6 seconds faster at the intermediate. The Decathlon rider faded slightly in the flatter finale, drifting to finish 6th on the stage.
Of the final four, Igor Arrieta struggled to keep the pace, finishing 16th on the stage. Total Energies dueo Matteo Vercher and Thomas Gachignard came into the day third and second respectively while Davide Piganzoli was out last in the leader's jersey by just a few seconds.
Vercher, bested Arrieta to finish 11th on the stage, while Gachignard faired not much better as he set a respectable time to finish 12th on the stage. Meanwhile, concluding the day, Piganzoli was setting the course ablaze - eclipsing Paret-Peintre's provisional best time and seemingly on his way to victory and control of GC with over 14 seconds of a lead at the intermediate point.
In the battle for the stage win, Piganzoli was clearly the best until last as he beat but held on by the samllest of margins as he had 0.02 seconds to spare on Raccagni in second place. Meanwhile, Hayter's earlier time was good enough for third place on the day.
The general classification picture is now clear going into the final day. Davide Piganzoli has a comfortable grip on the lead of the race, boasting a gap of 47 and 49 seconds on Vercher and Gachignard respectively. Paret-Peintre's strong time trial puts him in fourth place at 54 seconds off the lead.
Results Tour de Luxembourg 2026 Stage 4
Gavin QuinnCycling Journalist
Gavin Quinn is a cycling journalist and ultra-distance cyclist with a BA in Journalism from Dublin City University. Formerly the Press & Communications Officer for Cycling Ireland, Gavin has worked inside the national team at the World Championships and has reported for the Irish Mirror, Mirror UK, and The42.
His expertise is backed by elite-level access, having interviewed stars like Sam Bennett and Ben Healy, as well as immense personal endurance. In 2025, he completed a 12,000km solo cycle from Ireland to Vietnam, following a 4,600km tour across Europe. From the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix to the gradients of the Tourmalet, Gavin’s writing focuses on the "romance and brutality" of the sport. Having visited 50+ countries, he brings a global, cultural perspective to his coverage of the pro peloton for CyclingUpToDate.
claps 2visitors 2
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- 80 huh? I don’t know how many are in the all- time list and I don’t even know what this list actually represents because it doesn’t correspond to well-labelled ones that include a description of what is or is not included (which would be a more interesting discussion than this one) but I can tell you on the modern list of SENIOR (ie no U23 or other categories) road racing champs there are already 38 different current countries (I specify specifically because if you start considering East/West Germany, Soviet Union, Che/Slo, Balkanisation, etc. things get messy).Mistermaumau19-09-2026
- Sydney Sweeney’s viral nude sports advert is good for womens sport overall. The “Just Sports” campaign, which features Sweeney nude while covering herself with various pieces of sporting equipment could also be good for cycling if Sweeney was naked on a road racing bike. There are quite a few women cyclists thar are just beautiful. Demi said: “For a long time, women have fought to be seen for what they can do, not for how they look.” ... Women should be saying: "We will fight for what we can do, and for how we look." There is nothing nicer than a high class professional female athlete with a beautiful body and a beautiful face. Just take a look at womens beach volleyball... or 100-meter and 200-meter runners... or womens long-jump... or womens gymnastics. I never watch men in these sports. Ad acta.PogiSloFans19-09-2026
- Racing road bikes is a dangerous sport, I've almost lost my life twice doing it. This was a complete tragedy, it shouldn't have happened. The driver of the van was told by spectators the race had passed, which it hadn't at that point as the broom wagon was still behind. For the UCI's part, they are about to implement a gps tracking system so every rider is accounted for within a given race, it probably won't happen until next year or maybe even the year after but it's coming.awp19-09-2026
- Why should I check? If you stoop to such a level with intact intellect you need a bloody good reason. Even Walter White didn’t have good enough reasons for selling out. Comparing and equating someone who uses their body to reach the peak of athleticism with someone who (with a lot of photographic work) shows off their body in order to make easy money? Sorry, you may have good intentions but that’s really warped. Next you’ll be telling women (and girls) they’re lucky they can earn money (and far more than men , for once) this way because there’s a demand, either real or supposed, from a mainly male audience.Mistermaumau19-09-2026
- When you have a talent like Remco, Tadej, Jonas or even one of the young guns like Paul Seixas, when these guys swap teams they will always rock the boat. It happens and we can't blame them, they only have a limited time to make as much as they can and stack they're palmares. I never believed for a second that the Visma merger would happen, the culture was too different between teams.awp19-09-2026
- Lots of incels on here, led by the ever bloviating maumau, lol
ScottG19-09-2026 - oh, and one more thing - BTW I’m not a guy that is demeaning towards women. I have a wife, same woman for 23 years, 2 daughters in college. all are beautiful, and that is not just my eyes. they really are. and accomplished. studying for medicine, 2nd aerospace engineering, and my wife has an MBA from University of Chicago. look that up, it is legit. so I showed this to my wife thread to my wife and she rolled her eyes at the comments of men on here. she said Sweeney also created a lingerie line, VERY AFFORDABLE, and she did it because too many curvy women have a hard time finding good fitting undergarments at a fair price. she wanted something for these body types. which, is a body type 2 of the 3 women in my life have. so, this lady is being criticized by women for not being empowering, while she takes her own risk to create something for women that have nothing, or less than ideal. and she is doing it at an affordable price point rather than taking advantage of her fame. the line is called SYRN I think, and it is designed so curvy women can be comfortable and not have to spend an arm and a leg. seems fairly empowering towards women to me.mij19-09-2026
- so maybe before looking at someone and criticizing them based on looks alone, do some research and understand the human. She was considered a favorite for wakeboarding in the X games. She was a high school athlete, not necessarily a stand out, but she was considered athletic. early in her time in hollywood she also fought MMA, winning events, and even beat mean. I am not an MMA fan, but it is a tough sport. you don’t compete in this and win, and not be athletic.mij19-09-2026
- if it was written about the UK, I would still question it. if you are showing 14 rankings, and someone is at 10, then how is that a powerhouse? granted there are 80 or so countries on the planet. so 10/80 is really good. but most of the other countries don’t field a team. so I again question how 10/14 makes them a “powerhouse”mij19-09-2026
- did you see my other post? does anyone that looks at this video, and formed an opinion on looks alone realize: 1 - she was an athlete. she was considered a front runner for the wakeboard in the X games. wakeboarding is super tough actually, takes a lot of athleticism. 2 - she gave it up to become an actress, an award winning actress. you do not get that on looks alone. hollywood is littered with beautiful failures. she gave up being perhaps tops in one area to rise to the top of another. 3 - she was valedictorian of her high school class, #1. she taught herself russian, was on the math and robotics club. 4 - she wanted to be an actress by the age of 13. how many 13 year olds have accomplished their life long goal, with such success? you don’t do that with looks alone. 5 - she is worth $50 million. again, the internet is filled with more beautiful people that are worth $50. you don’t get to be worth this kinda money being stupid, or on looks alone. I have never seen a sydney sweeney movie or tv show. I am not a super fan of her. but, before posting something critical, and making that post based on LOOKS ALONE IN A VIDEO - I do some research. as for Demi, she uses her body to make money. and says women should be empowered and be seen as more than just a hottie. well if Sydney was ugly and did 1 - 5 above, what would Demi write about her??? she would be a hero. her comment is ignorant and pugnacious. Sydney can’t help she looks the way she does. if we are not supposed to hold someone’s looks against them based on skin color, “ugliness”, weight (lol PFP), etc, why is she doing so because she is beautiful???mij19-09-2026
Loading
Write a comment