Startlist Baloise Belgium Tour 2026 - Riders: Tim Merlier, Jasper Philipsen, Olav Kooij, Biniam Girmay and more

The 2026 Baloise Belgium Tour offers a feast for sprinters with at least three of the five stages set to be contested by the fast men. As a result, some of the world's best sprinters are in Belgium to fine tune their preparations for the Tour de France.

Download the startlist in A4. Kicking off on Thursday, June 17th, sprint teams will fancy their chances to control for a bunch sprint - only Friday's third stage features over 2000 meters of climbing. Tim Merlier and Soudal-Quickstep arrive with a strong team as Dylan van Baarle and Jasper Stuyven come in support of the Belgian.

Jasper Philipsen comes with form after his Copenhagen Sprint victory on Sunday. His Alpecin-Premier Tech line-up also features Tibor Del Grosso and Jonas Rickaert.

Olav Kooij will hope to turn some heads at Decathlon CMA CGM, and knows that a stage win here could go a long way towards a potential Tour de France selection. He successfully returned to racing late last month with two stage victories at Boucles de la Mayenne.

Biniam Girmay and NSN are also strong contenders. The Eritrean's versatility is sure to help on a demanding parcours. Lewis Askey will also arrive with general classification ambitions. As will Lidl-Trek's Jakob after winning Tour de Hongrie last month.

Florian Vermeesch is the highlight of a UAE Team Emirates - XRG line-up. Pinarello - Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team veteran Sam Bennett will be hoping to change his fortunes in Belgium, while Lukáš Kubiš could prove a rider to watch for Unibet Rose Rockets. Other riders to watch over the course of what is sure to be an exciting week include Søren Wærenskjold, Riley Sheehan, Milan Fretin, Alex Aranburu, Anthony Turgis and Max Kanter.