Magnier keeps winning with incredible sprint at Muur Classic Geraardsbergen

Paul Magnier has won the Muur Classic Geraardsbergen. The Frenchman from Soudal Quick-Step survived the tough Flemish hills and sprinted with overwhelming power to victory at the foot of the feared Muur van Geraardsbergen. Floris Van Tricht of NSN finished second, ahead of Jenno Berckmoes of Lotto-Intermarché.

Only three editions old, the Muur Classic Geraardsbergen is still one of Belgium’s youngest one-day races, but it has already earned a firm place on the calendar as an important event. The route obviously helps with that. The Muur van Geraardsbergen acts as the key judge of the race no fewer than three times, before the finish comes just below the steepest sections in Geraardsbergen.

With Jenno Berckmoes and Jonas Abrahamsen as previous winners, it was clear what kind of race could be expected in Flanders. The Norwegian, who won in 2025, was not on the start line this time, but Lotto-Intermarché’s Belgian rider Berckmoes was. Paul Magnier, fresh from the Giro d’Italia with three stage wins to his name, also lined up in Geraardsbergen.

That meant his rivals had every reason to make the race as hard as possible. An early breakaway formed, with Casper van Uden of Picnic PostNL among the seven riders up the road. He was joined by three compatriots: Niek Voogt of Azerion / Villa Valkenburg, Max Kroonen of BEAT and Roy Hoogendoorn of Metec-SOLARWATT. The Belgians Victor Vercouille of Flanders-Baloise, Kenay De Moyer of Atom 6 Bikes and Robbe Claeys of VolkerWessels were also present.

Soudal Quick-Step rode at full strength for their leader Magnier, which meant the breakaway was never allowed much room. The escapees were still out front on the first and second passages of the Muur, but after that their lead quickly began to shrink. With fifty kilometers to go, the gap was down to thirty seconds. The peloton was still fairly large at that point, but with the Muur, the Parikeberg and the Denderoordberg still to come, more violence was expected.

So it became a matter of waiting for the first real acceleration from the favourites. They waited for the Muur. The final passage, less than thirty kilometers from the finish, had to create the gaps. The breakaway was caught at the foot of the climb: Dylan van Baarle of Soudal Quick-Step began at the front, but Dylan Teuns of Cofidis made the first real move.

Berckmoes and Magnier moved across expertly, while Australian champion Patrick Eddy of Team Brennan and Lukas Kubis of Unibet Rose Rockets also followed well. In the end, a group of around twelve riders remained, including three from Soudal Quick-Step. Even so, they did not push on at full pace, and the differences stayed small. As a result, everything came back together again.

A peloton of around fifty riders remained. Soudal Quick-Step again moved to the front, with only the Parikeberg and Denderoordberg left as the key points in the finale. The first of those was nowhere near hard enough to create real splits, but the Denderoordberg was tougher and came six kilometers from the line. Once again it was Teuns who accelerated, and this time he went away strongly.

On this occasion, Magnier was not able to follow him. Berckmoes bridged across, and the two Belgians did everything they could to stay out of the peloton’s clutches, but Alpecin-Premier Tech moved to the front and kept the gap small. With one kilometer to go, the difference was seven seconds, but the road would still drag awkwardly uphill in Geraardsbergen.

The attackers were caught, which meant the favourites would sprint for the win after all. Mike Teunissen of XDS Astana delivered teammate Davide Toneatti perfectly, but Magnier launched from a long way out and overwhelmed his rivals with a huge acceleration. Second place went to Floris Van Tricht of NSN, with Berckmoes third, but both were put two seconds behind the flying Frenchman.

Author: David Bavin-Hobbs - [email protected]