{"id":7084,"date":"2026-03-19T08:06:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T08:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/7084\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T08:06:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T08:06:08","slug":"can-bahrain-victorious-unleash-belgiums-big-spring-surprise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/7084\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Bahrain Victorious unleash Belgium\u2019s big spring surprise?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Belgium, the spotlight naturally falls on Remco Evenepoel, Jasper Philipsen, Tim Merlier and Wout van Aert. But there are plenty more top-class riders who almost slip off the radar because of the sheer depth of talent. Alec Segaert<\/a> is undoubtedly one of them, and after his bold move from Lotto-Intermarch\u00e9 to Bahrain Victorious<\/a>, the 23-year-old powerhouse looks ready to play a leading role this spring.<\/p>\n

Lotto-Intermarch\u00e9 have developed a huge number of talents in recent years. The Belgian team still has Arnaud De Lie, Lennert Van Eetvelt and Jarno Widar in its ranks, but Segaert opted for a new adventure over the winter. His contract with Lotto expired and he chose to sign a three-year deal with Bahrain Victorious.<\/p>\n

The Bahraini squad have shown for some time that they have a sharp eye for talent. In the early Bahrain-Merida years, the focus was on established stars such as Vincenzo Nibali and Mikel Landa, but in recent seasons the strategy has shifted more towards young riders with serious engine power. Lenny Martinez, Santiago Buitrago and Jakob Omrzel fit that profile, and this winter Segaert was added to that list.<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the photo<\/p>\n

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Alec Segaert in his time at Lotto-Intermarch\u00e9, then Lotto-Dstny<\/p>\n

Segaert was already a powerhouse as a junior and U23 rider<\/p>\n

As a young rider, Segaert was already making waves at club level as a time trial specialist. He had a huge engine, as shown by victories in the Internationale Juniorenrundfahrt, the European junior time trial championships and the Chrono des Nations. He also finished second in Paris-Roubaix Juniors in 2021. Once he stepped into Lotto\u2019s U23 setup, he continued to impress, especially against the clock.<\/p>\n

In 2023, he made the move to Lotto\u2019s top team and immediately finished second at the Belgian national elite time trial championships, only behind Van Aert. At the European Championships he won the U23 time trial, while he was second at the World Championships. In 2024, he successfully defended his European U23 time trial title, and in his first Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a he rode to a top-10 finish in the final time trial deep into the third week.<\/p>\n

But there is more to Segaert than just time trials. In 2024, he won the Grand Prix Criquielion from a sprint in a small group, won the time trial and finished second overall in the Renewi Tour, and then took third at the U23 World Championships. His Vuelta debut in 2025 was one of the key steps in his development, and after gaining the endurance of a first Grand Tour in his legs, he then chose to join Bahrain.<\/p>\n

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Segaert finished third at the 2024 World Promises Championships<\/p>\n

Segaert sticks with a familiar programme at his new team<\/p>\n

The first few months at Bahrain Victorious have gone smoothly, Segaert recently told IDLProCycling.com. \u201cThings are going well. The integration has actually gone smoothly and the motivation was there straight away anyway. I want to be there immediately for my new team in the Classics, and although we had quite a bit of bad luck during Opening Weekend, we still managed a fine fourth place with Matevz Govekar in Kuurne.\u201d<\/p>\n

His new team are immediately giving Segaert a prominent role throughout the spring Classics campaign, much like in 2024 and 2025 when he also rode an almost full Classics programme. \u201cAnd just like in the previous two years, I\u2019ve been at altitude on Teide. I\u2019ve also always chosen to do some preparation races in France or Spain before moving on to the Classics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the photo<\/p>\n

Segaert wants results alongside Mohori\u010d<\/p>\n

Where Segaert\u2019s approach over the past two seasons \u2014 especially in the biggest Classics \u2014 may have been more about gaining experience than truly racing for victory, in 2026 he wants to start delivering results. \u201cI\u2019ll try to go for a result everywhere if the opportunity is there. Gent-Wevelgem, Dwars door Vlaanderen and GP Denain are races that should suit me well, and of course Paris-Roubaix.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those are serious ambitions, but why not? In Le Samyn and Nokere Koerse<\/a>, we saw Segaert going all-in on the attack, even if it still did not quite fall his way. In Nokere, he was only caught right before the line<\/a>. \u201cOn days like that, everything has to fall into place,\u201d Segaert said of his qualities as a big-engine rider.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really do believe it\u2019s possible. Last year I already rode top 10 in Denain and Dwars door Vlaanderen, so I was already pretty consistent. A top result is possible if things go a little my way,\u201d said the Belgian, who forms a dangerous tandem at Bahrain Victorious with Matej Mohori\u010d, also for the big Classics that are coming up. \u201cHe might be a bit stronger uphill, but together we are a strong block.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now it is time to show it. After Nokere came GP Denain, followed by E3 Saxo Classic, Gent-Wevelgem, Dwars door Vlaanderen, the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. \u201cRacing with Matej is really enjoyable. I had expected he would be an ideal teammate and ally, and we are indeed complementary riders. Hopefully that will allow us to take results together.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In Belgium, the spotlight naturally falls on Remco Evenepoel, Jasper Philipsen, Tim Merlier and Wout van Aert. But…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7085,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[5175,5172,7,1682,5174,3057,5173],"class_list":{"0":"post-7084","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-belgium","8":"tag-alec-segaert","9":"tag-bahrain-victorious","10":"tag-belgium","11":"tag-cycling","12":"tag-grand-prix-of-denain","13":"tag-idl-productions","14":"tag-nokere-koerse"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/116254814121480686","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7084","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=7084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}