Lesser known races 2026 edition

[RedheadDane]

EF withdrawing two riders on the eve of the race and not drafting in any replacements, not even from the development team. That sounds like an injury situation that's worse than is being made public.

All I know is that Agostinacchio and Carstensen got the stomach flu.

 

[search]

not sure this really needed a .pro level upgrade

 

[Dazed and Confused]

10km to go, all together.

 

[Squire]

Where are the live pictures supposed to be found? It's not on Max.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

View: https://youtu.be/KNJ4mhOHNyw

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Verner.

 

[Squire]

View: https://youtu.be/KNJ4mhOHNyw

Yeah, found that one myself. Not very official-looking. But thanks!

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Good opportunity for points with the race now being a .pro . Not sure that's really warranted as there are far better stage races that deserve an upgrade.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

British invasion:

1	Vernon Ethan	NSN Cycling Team	25	30	10″	3:56:40
2	Blikra Erlend	Uno-X Mobility	15	18	6″	,,
3	Hobbs Noah	EF Education - EasyPost	10	12	4″	,,
4	Penhoët Paul	Groupama - FDJ United	5	7		,,
5	Oosterlinck Joes	Van Rysel Roubaix	3	4		,,
6	Strong Corbin	NSN Cycling Team		3		,,
7	Peñalver Manuel	Team Polti VisitMalta		2		,,
8	Tesson Jason	TotalEnergies		1		,,
9	Huysmans Nolan	Team Flanders - Baloise				,,
10	Venturini Clément	Unibet Rose Rockets				,,

 

[search]

Yeah, found that one myself. Not very official-looking. But thanks!

official broadcast is on l'Equipe, Proximus and Flobikes. Don't think there's much else.

 

[Squire]

Top 4 pretty much exactly in order of perceived sprint strength. Least surprising result imaginable. Good to see Hobbs up there. He got a bit muscled out of prime position (i.e. Blikra's wheel) by Vernon, which pretty much decided the victory.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Top 4 pretty much exactly in order of perceived sprint strength. Least surprising result imaginable. Good to see Hobbs up there. He got a bit muscled out of prime position (i.e. Blikra's wheel) by Vernon, which pretty much decided the victory.

Coquard not even managing a top-10 in this field is definitely a surprise.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

27th is a massive season best for Sam Bennett.

 

[Squire]

Coquard not even managing a top-10 in this field is definitely a surprise.

11th is not that far off.

But yeah, behind the top 4 there were a couple of guys missing.

Pollefliet must be the most disappointing U23 graduate in a long time. From his U23 results, it looked like he'd become a semi-decent sprinter at least in French/Belgian races, but he's done nothing since turning pro.

 

[search]

We are also five days into the 4th GT, by the way, with Kulikov, Tran, Patterson and 2x Marchuk taking the stage wins of the 25-day HTV Cup so far. All from sprints, by the look of it.

The only former pro-level riders on the start list this year are Roman Maikin and Robinson Chalapud, who just turned 42 at the beginning of March. It's his first race back in Asia since winning Qinghai Lake in 2019.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Région Pays de la Loire Tour, stage 2:

Another free for all bunch sprint most likely. Again eta at 16:00.

 

[Panda Claws]

Where Scheldeprijs thread?

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Where Scheldeprijs thread?

Right here

 

[Panda Claws]

Reported

 

[Dazed and Confused]

And of course the most anticipated cobble race of the season will start today: 114th Scheldeprijs (1.Pro).

Startlist: https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/scheldeprijs/2026/startlist

Top end sprinters involved:
Philipsen
Merlier
Meeus (well I'm doing the post ffs)
Groenewegen

But there are many others who like a piece of the action:
Bauhaus
Ackermann
Kogut
3T
Fretin
Moschetti
and perhaps several others that are escaping my knowledgebase.

The race is scheduled to finish a 17:15 local.

May luck and force be with all the riders.

 

[tobydawq]

Thankfully a beautiful, sunny day with no wind so we can get a fair measure of the competitors in ideal conditions.