Many doctors' notes were submitted to the Belgian Cycling Federation, including from one Mr R Evenepoel

The 2026 Belgian National Cycling Championships in Brasschaat will take place on Sunday with a reduced starting list. Ahead of the national championships in Belgium, the organizers had warned about the mandatory start requirement, but many teams still submitted a much-needed doctor’s note.

Remco Evenepoel, in particular, was held up as a prime example when the Belgian Cycling Championships were approaching. The Belgian rider from Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe skipped the event once in both the time trial and the road race, and the organizers were not at all pleased with that.

It was pointed out that all Belgian professionals are required to compete, because the start and finish locations for the Belgian National Championships pay a lot of money to host the event, thereby creating a certain condition to put Belgian cycling on the map. That certainly won’t be entirely successful this Sunday.

Evenepoel won't be there. He and Red Bull have likely already submitted the much-needed official statement with a valid excuse for his withdrawal. The so-called doctor's note also applies to Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike), who is actually injured.

Aside from Evenepoel and Van Aert, there are quite a few more riders who have ultimately scratched the Belgian National Championship from their calendars. Het Nieuwsblad checked the official start list and noticed that Cian Uijtdebroeks (Movistar), Tiesj Benoot (Decathlon CMA CGM), and Maxim Van Gils (Red Bull), among others, were no longer listed.

We are specifically mentioning these three because Van Gils—just like Evenepoel—has already been announced for the Tour de France. Uijtdebroeks and Benoot are also expected to compete in the Tour de France, which begins on July 4 in Barcelona, Spain.

Many other Belgians who have the Tour on their schedule will be there on Sunday. These include Tim Wellens and Florian Vermeersch riding for UAE Emirates-XRG, Victor Campenaerts with Visma | Lease a Bike, and Quinten Hermans for Pinarello-Q36.5.

It makes sense that sprinters Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step), and Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Intermarché)—all potential Tour de France sprinters—wouldn’t skip the Belgian National Championships. There’s a very good chance that Sunday’s race will come down to a sprint for the Belgian tricolor.