{"id":22824,"date":"2026-06-21T16:05:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T16:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/22824\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T16:05:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T16:05:11","slug":"baloise-belgium-tour-2026-preview-sprinters-set-for-tdf-warm-up-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/22824\/","title":{"rendered":"Baloise Belgium Tour 2026 Preview: Sprinters set for TdF warm up"},"content":{"rendered":"

After the Tour Auvergne-Rh\u00f4ne-Alpes<\/a>, it’s time for the second round of Tour de France warm-up races, made up of the Tour de Suisse<\/a>, the Tour of Slovenia and the Baloise Belgium Tour<\/a>. IDL Pro Cycling previews<\/a> the five-day race in Belgium, which features no individual time trial for the first time in several years.The Baloise Belgium Tour<\/a> has an impressive roll of honour, featuring big names such as Mathieu van der Poel<\/a> and Remco Evenepoel. Last year, victory went to UAE rider Filippo Baroncini<\/a>, who edged out stage winners Ethan Hayter and Jenno Berckmoes. Tim Merlier (twice) and Jasper Philipsen<\/a> (once) also took stage victories in the sprint stages.Recent winners of the Baloise Belgium Tour<\/p>\n

2025 Filippo Baroncini
2024 Soren Waerenskjold
2023 Mathieu van der Poel
2022 Mauro Schmid
2021 Remco Evenepoel
2020 CANCELLED
2019 Remco Evenepoel
2018 Jens Keukeleire
2017 Jens Keukeleire
2016 Dries Devenyns
2015 Greg Van Avermaet<\/p>\n

Baloise Belgium Tour 2026: Route, stage favorites, and race timingStage 1, Wednesday, June 17: Scherpenheuvel-Zichem \u2013 Scherpenheuvel-Zichem (188.4 km)\"bbt-1\"\/<\/p>\n

The Baloise Belgium Tour kicks off with a flat stage in and around Scherpenheuvel-Zichem, where we also finished in 2024 and 2023. Biniam Girmay overcame Merlier to win stage 1<\/p>\n

Winner:
Biniam Girmay<\/a> (NSN)Stage 2, Thursday, June 18: Merelbeke-Melle \u2013 Knokke-Heist (197.5 km)\"bbt-2\"\/<\/p>\n

In stage two, we headed down to the Belgian coast, where the traditional finish was located on the slightly uphill Wandelaar in Knokke-Heist. There, it came down to a three-way battle between the favorites Tim Merlier, Olav Kooij, and Jasper Philipsen: Merlier won that battle.<\/p>\n

Winner:
Tim Merlier<\/a> (Soudal Quick-Step)Stage 3, Friday, June 19: Durbuy\u2013Durbuy (173 km)\"bbt-3\"\/<\/p>\n

The queen stage was scheduled for Friday this time, but the recipe in the Ardennes remained the same. The riders still had to conquer the hills in and around Durbuy. Experience came in handy there, as Alex Aranburu (Cofidis) used his experience from two years ago and won again. He also took the lead.<\/p>\n

Winner:
Alex Aranburu<\/a> (Cofidis)Stage 4, Saturday, June 20: Begijnendijk \u2013 Aarschot (182.8 km)\"bbt-4\"\/<\/p>\n

The fourth stage takes the peloton from Begijnendijk to Aarschot, where the sprinters will typically get a third chance. There are a few hills along the way, but none steep enough to drop the sprinters.<\/p>\n

Winner:
Olav Kooij<\/a> (Decathlon CMA CGM)Stage 5, Sunday, June 21: Gingelom \u2013 Hoeilaart (182.6 km)\"bbt-5\"\/<\/p>\n

In the final stage, a new option was chosen, with a ride through the Grape Region. Several short, fierce climbs were on the program in the local circuit, where we also saw cobblestones. In a thrilling battle of seconds, Jasper Philipsen ultimately managed to win the stage, and in doing so, the Belgian also claimed the overall victory.<\/p>\n

Winner:
Jasper Philipsen<\/a> (Alpecin Premier-Tech)GC Favorites, 2026 Baloise Belgium Tour<\/p>\n

The Baloise Belgium Tour has a different format than in previous years, with the main change being that there is no longer an individual time trial. Instead, an extra stage has been added for the punchers in the Druivenstreek, which automatically gives them a slight advantage.<\/p>\n

Or does it? The truth is, the overall winner will likely come down to who performs best in the hilly stage around Durbuy. And don’t underestimate the impact of the Golden Kilometer either. For that first check, we can mark Jenno Berckmoes (Lotto-Intermarch\u00e9) and Alex Aranburu (Cofidis), a former winners in Durbuy.<\/p>\n

Other than that, we mainly see riders we also encounter during the Flemish spring classics. Florian Vermeersch<\/a> (UAE Emirates-XRG), Jasper Stuyven, Dylan van Baarle (Soudal Quick-Step), Rasmus Tiller, Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X), Tibor Del Grosso (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Riley Sheehan (NSN), Alex Aranburu ( Cofidis), Jakob Soderqvist, Soren Kragh Andersen (Lidl-Trek), Carlos Canal (Movistar), Quinten Hermans (Pinarello-Q36.5), and Rick Pluimers (Tudor) are all in the mix.<\/p>\n

Given the importance of the bonus points and the absence of a time trial, we also believe the sprinters have a chance this year, provided they don\u2019t lose too much time in Durbuy. Classic riders like Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM), Soren Waerenskjold (Uno-X), Frits Biesterbos (Picnic PostNL), Biniam Girmay (NSN), and Lukas Kubis (Unibet Rose Rockets) are certainly not ones to be overlooked.<\/p>\n

IDL Pro Cycling top GC picks, Baloise Belgium Tour 2026\u00a0<\/p>\n

Top favorites: Jenno Berckmoes (Lotto-Intermarch\u00e9) and Florian Vermeersch (UAE Emirates-XRG)
Outsiders: Jasper Stuyven (Soudal Quick-Step), Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X), Jasper Philipsen and Tibor Del Grosso (Alpecin-Premier Tech)
Long shots: Biniam Girmay, Riley Sheehan (NSN), Alex Aranburu (Cofidis), Soren Kragh Andersen (Lidl-Trek), Carlos Canal (Movistar), Quinten Hermans (Pinarello-Q36.5), Rick Pluimers (Tudor), and Lukas Kubis (Unibet Rose Rockets)<\/p>\n

2026 Baloise Belgium Tour start listHow to watch the Baloise Belgium Tour 2026 on TV<\/p>\n

As every year, the Baloise Belgium Tour will be broadcast on TV internationally:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After the Tour Auvergne-Rh\u00f4ne-Alpes, it’s time for the second round of Tour de France warm-up races, made up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22825,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[3334,12896,7,1682,13399,3330,3056],"class_list":["post-22824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-belgium","tag-alpecin-premier-tech","tag-baloise-belgium-tour","tag-belgium","tag-cycling","tag-florian-vermeersch","tag-jasper-philipsen","tag-previews"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/116788954858610693","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22824\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}