Lesser known races 2026 edition

[Cycling111]

Costiou would like a word.

Teuns, Decomble and Larsen should be good, too. Maybe even Kubiš.

Costiou could be, but stage 3 and the time trial with those percentages rule out the rest.

 

[Squire]

Costiou could be, but stage 3 and the time trial with those percentages rule out the rest.

It rules out Teuns (3rd in this exact time trial last year) and Decomble (5th last year) but not Lapeira who has done one single not sucky TT in his life (27th in Itzulia)?

 

[Cycling111]

It rules out Teuns (3rd in this exact time trial last year) and Decomble (5th last year) but not Lapeira who has done one single not sucky TT in his life (27th in Itzulia)?

OK.

I don't know Decomble very well yet.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Stage one in France is live with streams. 4 riders with 2:30. 32kms to go.
Cloudy conditions, but the road seems dry.

 

[Tim Cahill]

If my memory serves this race does have the tendency to blow up a bit in past years but I don't think the composition of riders is right for anyone to try, you need a few willing tters to split it.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Jaakko with an old style gearing.

 

[RedheadDane]

They don't want to play with Abersold?

 

[Dazed and Confused]

yep, the other two thinks he is weaker.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

They still have a chance, but they will probably lose too much time on the climb. I haven't spotted any wild cars or kangaroos yet, so that's good.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Hill to the line:

5kms to go.

 

[Tim Cahill]

What a strong attack from Vercouille

 

[Tim Cahill]

Kubis underestimated Crabbe and it looked like he misjudged the finish

 

[Berniece]

Still a win for Team Flanders Baloise. Would've been nicer if Vercouille would've won for the story

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Nice finale. Great win for Crabbe.

 

[Samamba]

Crabbe!

Underrated kid, already insanely impressive in the 6 days of Ghent this winter. He wont be at Flanders for long.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Topsport at its finest!

 

[RedheadDane]

Congrats to Crabbe.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Stage:

1	Crabbe Tom	Team Flanders - Baloise	14	20	10″	3:16:04
2	Kubiš Lukáš	Unibet Rose Rockets	5	12	6″	,,
3	Izquierdo Clément	Cofidis	3	7	4″	0:02
4	Decomble Maxime	Groupama - FDJ United		5		,,
5	Lapeira Paul	Decathlon CMA CGM Team		4		,,
6	Dujardin Sandy	TotalEnergies		3		,,
7	Lozouet Léandre	CIC Pro Cycling Academy		2		,,
8	Hardouin Louis	Van Rysel Roubaix		1		,,
9	Grisel Matys	Lotto Intermarché				,,
10	Heremans Joppe	Van Rysel Roubaix				,,

Edit: Updated with the final stage standings.

 

[Berniece]

Nice win from Crabbe looking from above. Nice cornering.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Crabbe!

Underrated kid, already insanely impressive in the 6 days of Ghent this winter. He wont be at Flanders for long.

Proof that there is still a place in the peloton for Flanders-Baloise, however uncertain their future is.

Although tbf Crabbe had already shown enough at the end of last season to make me think he was ready for a bigger team.

 

[RedheadDane]

Okay, that's... almost impressive.

96

Vercouillie Victor

Team Flanders - Baloise

5:13

Do he stop and watch Crabbe win?

 

[Netserk]

larsen even greater favourite for the overall now

 

[Samamba]

Although tbf Crabbe had already shown enough at the end of last season to make me think he was ready for a bigger team.

But this mindset is exactly why that team is in trouble imo. The team should be for development of Flemish talent, but they should still be good enough to keep riders as long as they wouldn't be a leader in a WT team. If Crabbe left (without merger between the 2 other struggling Belgian teams he would've probably) he would've been put in a domestique role first, I don't think that's always good. Let him be a leader for 2 or 3 years, at Flanders before going over.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

But this mindset is exactly why that team is in trouble imo. The team should be for development of Flemish talent, but they should still be good enough to keep riders as long as they wouldn't be a leader in a WT team. If Crabbe left (without merger between the 2 other struggling Belgian teams he would've probably) he would've been put in a domestique role first, I don't think that's always good. Let him be a leader for 2 or 3 years, at Flanders before going over.

I think Crabbe was already good enough to do sprints for a bigger team. Didn't necessarily have to be one of the Belgian ones - the first one that came to mind for me is Q36, who I think could really have done with a rider of his profile.

But yes, if the choice is doing the sprints at Flanders, doing donkey work for the likes of Thijssen at Alpecin or getting thrown into a big pool of young sprinters at Lotto, then the former is usually the better option and it isn't always treated as such. And the likes of Kockelmann (who tbf I rate less highly anyway) and Sentjens might learn that the hard way.

 

[tobydawq]

That's only Team Flanders' second win since 2022.