2026 La Flèche Wallonne (World Tour), Belgium

90th edition: Wednesday, April 22, 2026

La Flèche Wallonne podium history | 2025 edition | Course map & profile | Photos | Start list

Herstal- Huy, 200 km

Paul Seixas wins atop the Mur de Huy. Sirotti photo

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Notable ascents:

• Km 31.4: Côte de Trasenster, 3.3 km @ 8.4%
• Km 40: Côte des Forges, 1.3 km @ 7.8%
• Km 107.2: Côte d'Ereffe, 2.1 km @ 5%
• Km 120: Côte de Cherave, 1.5 km @ 8.1%
• Km 125.6: Mur de Huy, 1.3 km @ 9.6%
• Km 144.4: Côte d'Ereffe, 2.1 km @ 5%
• Km 157.2: Côte de Cherave, 1.5 km @ 8.1%
• Km 162.8: Mur de Huy, 1.3 km @ 9.6%
• Km 181.6: Côte d'Ereffe, 2.1 km @ 5%
• Km 194.4: Côte de Cherave, 1.5 km @ 8.1%
• Km 200: Muy de Huy, 1.3 km @ 10%

Weather at the finish city of Huy at 2:40 PM local time: 17C (63F), sunny, with the wind from the northeast at 19 km/hr (12 mph). No rain is forecast.

The race: Alexey Lutsenko (NSN Cycling Team) did not start.

Here's the organizer's race report:

He was participating in the 90th edition of La Flèche Wallonne to “find his place” in this race, and it turned out he was due to be the first across the finish line in his very debut. Paul Seixas already was the sensation of the season, and his dominating performance up the Mur de Huy just added one more reason for the French fans to believe he is bound to mark a new era in road cycling.

The Decathlon-CMA CGM rider proved to be head and shoulders above his many rivals, powering away with about 250 meters to go and leaving Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) and Ben Tulett (Visma-Lease a Bike) far behind, fighting to round out the podium. At just 19 years and 210 days old, Seixas became the youngest-ever rider to win La Flèche Wallonne, defeating a record that was set 90 years ago in the first edition of the race by Philémon De Meersman (who won being 21y, 150d). If he keeps thriving at this pace, this achievement should be just one footnote in a long, prolific career that is seemingly just getting started.

174 riders took the start in the 90th edition of La Flèche Wallonne, held over a 200-kilometre course between Herstal and the Mur de Huy, at 11:49. There was one non-starter: Alexey Lutsenko (NSN Cycling Team). The sun was shining and the sky was blue as six riders went clear after 11 kilometres: Sjoerd Bax (Pinarello-Q36.5), Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X), Jardi Van Der Lee (EF Education-EasyPost), Alan Jousseaume (TotalEnergies), Vincent Van Hemelen (Flanders-Baloise) and Jakub Otruba (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA).

They quickly built a sizable advantage, clocked at 2’45” atop the Côte de Trasenster (km 31,4). The wide range of favorites in the field meant many teams contributed to the chase, namely Tudor Pro Cycling (backing former winners Julian Alaphilippe and Marc Hirschi), Ineos Grenadiers (for Kévin Vauquelin), Lidl-Trek (for Mattias Skjelmose), UAE Team Emirates (for Benoît Cosnefroy) and Decathlon-CMA CGM (for Paul Seixas). The gap remained steady through the first half of the race, reaching 3’00” at kilometre 76.

Julian Alaphilippe falls out of contention early on
Decathlon-CMA CGM sped things up in the approach to the final circuit, which was to be tackled three times and featured the climbs to the Côte d’Ereffe, the Côte de Cherave and the Mur de Huy. At kilometre 100, with 100km to go, the advantage of the break was down to 1’55” - and it was reduced even further in the first climb to Huy (km 125,6), where it was clocked at 1’10” as Van Hemelen was dropped from the front group and Alaphilippe was distanced by the bunch. Movistar’s Raúl García Pierna and Iván Romeo launched a number of attacks after the first ascent of the Mur, but were unable to create a new breakaway group.

Andreas Leknessund, last man standing at the front
The gap remained steady through the second lap of the final circuit. Uno-X’s Tobias Halland Johannessen crashed on the descent of the Côte de Cherave (km 157,2), yet managed to bridge back to the peloton shortly after. Leknessund and Van Der Lee powered away in the second climb to the Mur de Huy (km 162,8), which they crested with a 40” lead over the bunch, but were rejoined at the front by Bax and Otruba with 31 kilometers to go. The Norwegian national champion would go clear for good in the last climb up the Côte d’Ereffe (km 181,6) as the rest of the escapees were reeled back in by the bunch, where many teams fought for position but no squad was really at the helm. Vauquelin quickly solved a mechanical issue, while Hirschi suffered a crash that erased his name from the list of candidates for the win.

Dominating performance by Seixas up the Mur de Huy
Leknessund was caught at the foot of the Côte de Cherave (km 194,4) by a peloton where many teams fought for position yet nobody was daring or strong enough to actually launch an attack. Decathlon’s Jordan Labrosse led the decimated bunch into the Mur de Huy, with Paul Seixas hitting the front with 800 meters to go. The young Frenchman bid his time with great poise, keeping men like Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla), Benoît Cosnefroy (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Ben Tulett (Visma-Lease a Bike) firmly at bay.

Those three were the sole riders remaining in his wheel when he unleashed his final acceleration 250 meters from the finish. Schmid (2nd) and Tulett (3rd) were quicker than Cosnefroy (4th) and secured a podium spot as the talented Decathlon cyclist scored what arguably is his biggest victory to date.

 

Complete results:

Photos

200 kilometers raced at an average speed of 43.560 km/hr

1	Paul Seixas	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	4hr 35min 29sec
2	Mauro Schmid	Team Jayco-AlUla	@ 3sec
3	Ben Tulett	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	s.t.
4	Benoît Cosnefroy	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	s.t.
5	Mattias Skjelmose	Lidl-Trek	0:08
6	Alex Baudin	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
7	Ion Izagirre	Cofidis	0:10
8	Lenny Martinez	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
9	Romain Grégoire	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
10	Andreas Kron	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
11	Christian Scaroni	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
12	Filippo Zana	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
13	Kévin Vauquelin	INEOS Grenadiers	0:19
14	Alex Aranburu	Cofidis	0:21
15	Léo Bisiaux	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	s.t.
16	Clément Champoussin	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
17	Adrien Maire	Unibet Rose Rockets	s.t.
18	Pello Bilbao	Bahrain Victorious	0:24
19	Fernando Barceló	Caja Rural-Seguros RGA	0:26
20	Steff Cras	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
21	Dylan Teuns	Cofidis	s.t.
22	Lennert Van Eetvelt	Lotto-Intermarché	s.t.
23	Mauri Vansevenant	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
24	Alexandre Delettre	Team TotalEnergies	s.t.
25	Ramses Debruyne	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
26	Quinten Hermans	Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
27	Andrea Vendrame	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
28	Alex Molenaar	Caja Rural-Seguros RGA	s.t.
29	Killian Verschuren	Unibet Rose Rockets	s.t.
30	Bjoern Koerdt	Team Picnic PostNL	s.t.
31	Cian Uijtdebroeks	Movistar Team	0:37
32	Senne Thonnon	Team Flanders-Baloise	s.t.
33	Jai Hindley	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
34	Gal Glivar	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
35	Davide Toneatti	XDS Astana Team	s.t.
36	George Bennett	NSN Cycling Team	s.t.
37	Marcel Camprubí	Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
38	Junior Lecerf	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
39	Milan Lanhove	Team Flanders-Baloise	0:43
40	Jack Haig	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
41	Haimar Etxeberria	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	0:47
42	Simone Velasco	XDS Astana Team	0:49
43	Joan Bou	Caja Rural-Seguros RGA	s.t.
44	Tobias Halland Johannessen	Uno-X Mobility	s.t.
45	Alexy Faure-Prost	Team Picnic PostNL	0:52
46	Rudy Molard	Groupama-FDJ United	0:54
47	Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet	Groupama-FDJ United	0:58
48	Sam Maisonobe	Cofidis	s.t.
49	Pau Martí	NSN Cycling Team	1:02
50	Menno Huising	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	1:05
51	Daniel Martinez	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	1:07
52	Diego Ulissi	XDS Astana Team	1:10
53	Francesco Busatto	Alpecin-Premier Tech	s.t.
54	Krists Neilands	NSN Cycling Team	1:14
55	Mikkel Honore	EF Education-EasyPost	1:20
56	Lorenzo Rota	Lotto-Intermarché	s.t.
57	Odd Christian Eiking	Unibet Rose Rockets	1:23
58	Ewen Costiou	Groupama-FDJ United	1:25
59	Raúl García	Movistar Team	1:33
60	Dorian Godon	INEOS Grenadiers	1:35
61	Lorenzo Germani	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
62	Marco Frigo	NSN Cycling Team	1:40
63	Jordan Labrosse	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	1:42
64	Paul Lapeira	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	s.t.
65	Pavel Sivakov	UAE Team Emirates-XRG	s.t.
66	Matej Mohoric	Bahrain Victorious	2:01
67	Edoardo Zambanini	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
68	Albert Withen Philipsen	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
69	Bob Jungels	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
70	Joel Nicolau	Caja Rural-Seguros RGA	2:08
71	Jan Tratnik	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	2:18
72	Michiel Lambrecht	Team Flanders-Baloise	2:27
73	Joseba Lopez	Caja Rural-Seguros RGA	2:33
74	Quentin Pacher	Groupama-FDJ United	s.t.
75	Eduard Prades	Caja Rural-Seguros RGA	2:41
76	Natnael Tesfazion	Movistar Team	s.t.
77	Iván Romeo	Movistar Team	s.t.
78	Michael Leonard	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
79	Mattéo Vercher	Team TotalEnergies	s.t.
80	Alan Hatherly	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
81	Carlos Verona	Lidl-Trek	2:50
82	Andreas Leknessund	Uno-X Mobility	2:58
83	Brady Gilmore	NSN Cycling Team	3:03
84	Georg Zimmermann	Lotto-Intermarché	3:07
85	Fabian Weiss	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	3:13
86	Asbjørn Hellemose	Team Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
87	Jan Maas	Cofidis	s.t.
88	Mathis Le Berre	Team TotalEnergies	s.t.
89	Owen Geleijn	Unibet Rose Rockets	s.t.
90	Alessandro Covi	Team Jayco-AlUla	3:19
91	Siebe Deweirdt	Team Flanders-Baloise	3:22
92	Pavel Novak	Movistar Team	s.t.
93	Frank van den Broek	Team Picnic PostNL	3:28
94	Nicola Conci	XDS Astana Team	3:38
95	Paul Ourselin	Cofidis	3:41
96	Filippo Fiorelli	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	3:45
97	Louis Vervaeke	Soudal Quick-Step	3:48
98	Anthon Charmig	Uno-X Mobility	3:57
99	Matthew Dinham	Team Picnic PostNL	4:03
100	Jakub Otruba	Caja Rural-Seguros RGA	4:12
101	Bauke Mollema	Lidl-Trek	4:14
102	Valentin Paret-Peintre	Soudal Quick-Step	4:16
103	Lennert Belmans	Alpecin-Premier Tech	4:20
104	Anders Foldager	Team Jayco-AlUla	4:39
105	Sjoerd Bax	Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team	4:56
106	Julien Bernard	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
107	Harm Vanhoucke	Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
108	Lukas Nerurkar	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
109	Jørgen Nordhagen	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	5:08
110	Antoine L'Hote	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	5:17
111	Anton Schiffer	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	5:31
112	Robin Donzé	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	5:40
113	Jacopo Mosca	Lidl-Trek	7:07
114	Sergio Meris	Unibet Rose Rockets	s.t.
115	Roland Thalmann	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	7:15
116	Robin Orins	Lotto-Intermarché	7:22
117	Anders Halland Johannessen	Uno-X Mobility	7:44
118	Jardi Van Der Lee	EF Education-EasyPost	8:13
119	Warren Barguil	Team Picnic PostNL	8:48
120	Juan Martinez	Team Picnic PostNL	8:54
121	Yaël Joalland	Cofidis	8:58
122	Fran Miholjevic	Bahrain Victorious	9:20
123	Alan Jousseaume	Team TotalEnergies	9:23
124	Yannis Voisard	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
125	Gil Gelders	Soudal Quick-Step	9:27
126	Luca Van Boven	Lotto-Intermarché	10:03
127	Patrick Konrad	Lidl-Trek	10:10
128	James Shaw	EF Education-EasyPost	12:06
129	Axel Laurance	INEOS Grenadiers	12:06
130	Leander Van Hautegem	Team Flanders-Baloise	12:56
131	Clément Venturini	Unibet Rose Rockets	13:41

 

Course map and profile:

2026 Flèche Wallonne map

2026 Flèche Wallonne profile

2026 Flèche Wallonne photos by Fotoreporter Sirotti:

Team Groupama-FDJ United before the race.

Two-time world road champion (2020, 2021) Julian Alaphilippe. Note he gets to wear rainbow bands on his sleeves because of that accomplishment.

Belgian champion Tim Wellens

It's about time to go race bicycles in Belgium.

The peloton climbs the Mur de Huy

Another shot of the peloton on the Mur de Huy

George Bennet on the Mur de Huy

The leaders are about to crest the Mur de Huy.

Here they come up the hill to the finish. Paul Seixas has got the jump on the others.

Paul Seixas wins a big one.

Ben Tulett was third.

Benoît Cosnefroy finishes fourth

The podium, from left: Mauro Schmid (2nd), Paul Seixas (1st), & Ben Tulett (3rd)

2026 La Flèche Wallonne winner Paul Seixas

Winner Paul Seixas after the awards ceremony.

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Start list with back numbers, April 21, 2026:

	Tudor Pro Cycling Team
1	Julian Alaphilippe
2	Robin Donzé
3	Jacob Eriksson
4	Marc Hirschi
5	Roland Thalmann
6	Yannis Voisard
7	Fabian Weiss
	INEOS Grenadiers
11	Kévin Vauquelin
12	Dorian Godon
13	Jack Haig
14	Bob Jungels
15	Axel Laurance
16	Brandon Rivera
17	Artem Shmidt
	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe
21	Jai Hindley
22	Nico Denz
23	Haimar Etxeberria
24	Finn Fisher-Black
25	Daniel Martinez
26	Callum Thornley
27	Jan Tratnik
	Lidl-Trek
31	Mattias Skjelmose
32	Julien Bernard
33	Patrick Konrad
34	Bauke Mollema
35	Jacopo Mosca
36	Albert Withen Philipsen
37	Carlos Verona
	UAE Team Emirates-XRG
41	Benoît Cosnefroy
42	Mikkel Bjerg
43	Luca Giaimi
44	Rune Herregodts
45	Vegard Stake Laengen
46	Pavel Sivakov
47	Tim Wellens
	Groupama-FDJ United
51	Romain Grégoire
52	Ewen Costiou
53	Kevin Geniets
54	Lorenzo Germani
55	Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet
56	Rudy Molard
57	Quentin Pacher
	Decathlon CMA CGM Team
61	Paul Seixas
62	Léo Bisiaux
63	Stan Dewulf
64	Noa Isidore
65	Antoine L'Hote
66	Jordan Labrosse
67	Paul Lapeira
	Bahrain Victorious
71	Lenny Martinez
72	Pello Bilbao
73	Fran Miholjevic
74	Pau Miquel Delgado
75	Matej Mohoric
76	Vlad Van Mechelen
77	Edoardo Zambanini
	Team Jayco-AlUla
81	Mauro Schmid
82	Alessandro Covi
83	Davide De Pretto
84	Anders Foldager
85	Alan Hatherly
86	Asbjørn Hellemose
87	Andrea Vendrame
	Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team
91	Quinten Hermans
92	Xabier Azparren
93	Sjoerd Bax
94	Marcel Camprubí
95	Emils Liepins
96	Xandro Meurisse
97	Harm Vanhoucke
	Uno-X Mobility
101	Tobias Halland Johannessen
102	Anthon Charmig
103	Fredrik Dversnes
104	Anders Halland Johannessen
105	Alexander Kamp
106	Andreas Kron
107	Andreas Leknessund
	EF Education-EasyPost
111	Alex Baudin
112	Mikkel Honore
113	Michael Leonard
114	Lukas Nerurkar
115	James Shaw
116	Jardi Van Der Lee
117	Max Walker
	Cofidis
121	Alex Aranburu
122	Ion Izagirre
123	Yaël Joalland
124	Jan Maas
125	Sam Maisonobe
126	Paul Ourselin
127	Dylan Teuns
	Movistar Team
131	Cian Uijtdebroeks
132	Roger Adrià
133	Davide Formolo
134	Raúl García
135	Pavel Novak
136	Iván Romeo
137	Natnael Tesfazion
	XDS Astana Team
141	Clément Champoussin
142	Nicola Conci
143	Anton Kuzmin
144	Christian Scaroni
145	Davide Toneatti
146	Diego Ulissi
147	Simone Velasco
	Team Visma | Lease a Bike
151	Jørgen Nordhagen
152	Owain Doull
153	Filippo Fiorelli
154	Menno Huising
155	Anton Schiffer
156	Ben Tulett
157	Axel Zingle
	Soudal Quick-Step
161	Valentin Paret-Peintre
162	Steff Cras
163	Gil Gelders
164	Junior Lecerf
165	Mauri Vansevenant
166	Louis Vervaeke
167	Filippo Zana
	NSN Cycling Team
171	George Bennett
172	Pier-André Côté
173	Marco Frigo
174	Brady Gilmore
175	Alexey Lutsenko
176	Pau Martí
177	Krists Neilands
	Team TotalEnergies
181	Alexandre Delettre
182	Thomas Bonnet
183	Thibault Guernalec
184	Alan Jousseaume
185	Mathis Le Berre
186	Valentin Retailleau
187	Mattéo Vercher
	Lotto-Intermarché
191	Lennert Van Eetvelt
192	Jasper De Buyst
193	Robin Orins
194	Lorenzo Rota
195	Reuben Thompson
196	Luca Van Boven
197	Georg Zimmermann
	Team Picnic PostNL
201	Frank van den Broek
202	Warren Barguil
203	Matthew Dinham
204	Alexy Faure-Prost
205	Bjoern Koerdt
206	Juan Martinez
207	Oliver Peace
	Alpecin-Premier Tech
211	Gal Glivar
212	Tobias Bayer
213	Lennert Belmans
214	Francesco Busatto
215	Ramses Debruyne
216	Aaron Dockx
217	Senna Remijn
	Unibet Rose Rockets
221	Clément Venturini
222	Odd Christian Eiking
223	Owen Geleijn
224	Adrien Maire
225	Sergio Meris
226	Adam Toupalik
227	Killian Verschuren
	Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
231	Fernando Barceló
232	Joan Bou
233	Joseba Lopez
234	Alex Molenaar
235	Joel Nicolau
236	Jakub Otruba
237	Eduard Prades
	Team Flanders-Baloise
241	Siebe Deweirdt
242	Michiel Lambrecht
243	Milan Lanhove
244	Elias Maris
245	Senne Thonnon
246	Leander Van Hautegem
247	Vincen Van Hemelen