Jordi Meeus sprints to victory in thrilling opening stage of Ethias Tour de Wallonie

The first stage of the Ethias-Tour de Wallonie 2026 was won by Jordi Meeus. The Belgian proved to be clearly the fastest in the uphill sprint after an exciting finale, during which there were numerous attacks back and forth. Anders Foldager and Kim Heiduk crossed the line second and third respectively.

In recent years, the Ethias-Tour de Wallonie served as a follow-up to the Tour de France, but the lack of (media) attention was a sore point for the organizers, so they decided to move the race forward on the cycling calendar. The stage race now starts the day after another grand tour, the Giro d’Italia, with a challenging opening stage from Manage to Lobbes.

Anyone who glanced at the route might have expected a sprint, but in fact the day featured constant ups and downs on the way to the finish. Once on the local circuit, the riders had to climb the Mur de Thuin multiple times (300 meters at 8.7%) – a well-known punisher in the Tour de Wallonie. Additionally, the last kilometers in Lobbes also had a noticeable uphill gradient.

De Bondt on the attack
The break of the day formed quite quickly. Natural attacker Dries De Bondt (Jayco AlUla) could not hold back and joined forces with Samuel Flórez (Modern Adventure Pro Cycling) and Jarno Bellens (Baloise Verzekeringen-Het Poetsbureau Lions). The peloton quickly let them go, but one rider still hoped to make the bridge. Oscar Schempp made a brave attempt but ended up in the chase group.

In the following hours of racing, there was a vain wait for excitement. Lotto-Intermarché and Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe – the teams of sprinters Arnaud De Lie and Jordi Meeus – kept the leaders in sight but also seemed unwilling to ignite the race. This set the scene for a classic cat-and-mouse game between the attackers and the peloton, and as often happens, it was an uneven contest.

Riders try to avoid the sprint
With about twenty kilometers to go, the inevitable regrouping did take place. At that exact moment, De Lie had a puncture, but the Walloon powerhouse sprinter managed to regain his position in the peloton quite quickly. But would he still get to sprint? Several riders hoped to prevent that, but attacks from Sente Sentjens, Liam Slock, Pim Ronhaar, and Krists Neilands ended up going nowhere.

Jordi Meeus wins the first stage of Tour de Wallonie! #TourdeWallonie pic.twitter.com/Puv5gqNhiX

— Eemeli (@LosBrolin) June 1, 2026

So we ended up sprinting 'as usual' in the finish town of Lobbes and it was Meeus who skillfully converted the earlier work of his teammates. The Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe sprinter proved to be too strong for Anders Foldager (Jayco AlUla) and Kim Heiduk (Netcompany INEOS).