Brussels Cycling Classic 2026: Girmay vs Meeus Over the Kapelmuur

The Brussels Cycling Classic has become the sprint classic that refuses to be simple.

On paper, 206 kilometres from Brussels through Brabant Wallon and the Geraardsbergen classics territory, finishing on the wide sprint boulevard of the Houba de Strooperlaan, should produce a straightforward fast-man's result. In practice, the triple passage over the Muur-Kapelmuur — the ancient cobbled wall in Geraardsbergen that separates genuine classics sprinters from those who merely have top-end speed — makes Sunday's race a legitimate test of character as much as velocity.

The start list assembled for 2026 sharpens that tension considerably. At its centre: Biniam Girmay.

The Girmay Question

Biniam Girmay of Intermarché-Wanty is, at 24 years old, the race's most magnetic presence and its most complex threat. An Eritrean athlete whose combination of sprint power and genuine climbing capacity has made him one of cycling's most discussed names since his 2022 Gent-Wevelgem win, Girmay is not a pure sprinter in the classic mould. He can go over short, punchy climbs. He can follow accelerations in a reduced group. He can arrive at a sprint from positions that flat-road specialists would never occupy.

The Brussels circuit suits him. Three passages over the Kapelmuur — 360 metres of cobbled gradient at 9.3% average, the steepest section reaching 19% on ancient granite paving — should, in theory, reduce the field to the strongest climbers-who-can-sprint by the time the race resolves into its final kilometre. Girmay is the athlete in Sunday's field who most convincingly fits that description.

His recent form confirms the position. A strong spring season, Giro d'Italia stage victories, and the growing sense among his team that Brussels is a race he was built for — longer, more selective than the northern spring classics, but with enough altitude to dismiss pure finishers — makes him the pre-race favourite by consensus.

Meeus and the Speed Argument

Jordi Meeus (Red Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe) brings the counterargument with the most firepower. The Belgian sprinter from Geel has genuine top-end speed — in an absolute flat sprint against a full peloton, Meeus is among the fastest athletes available to the 2026 field. The Brussels race question is always the same for him: does he arrive at the Houba de Strooperlaan with legs?

Three passages over the Kapelmuur in a day is a power-to-weight test that a sprinter of Meeus's profile — powerful, excellent in absolute watts, less comfortable on steeper gradients — manages through racing intelligence and determination rather than elegance. He knows these roads. He has raced the Belgian Classics circuit repeatedly. Sunday is the result his team has been building toward since the spring.

Laurence Pithie (Groupama-FDJ) has had a consistent 2026 spring season and brings the New Zealander's characteristic racing intelligence to a course that rewards it. His ability to stay active in the final set of climbs and arrive at the sprint with legs has been a theme throughout the year. Brussels would be a significant career step, and the form justifies the confidence his team is projecting.

After 112 kilometres of transition from Brussels through the Walloon countryside, the race enters a 31-kilometre local circuit in the Geraardsbergen region, covered approximately one and a half times. The circuit contains the triple passages over the Muur-Kapelmuur, the Bosberg — which follows the Muur directly and punishes anything left in the tank — and the Congoberg.

The Muur-Kapelmuur (Le Mur de Grammont in French) is the centrepiece. At 360 metres long, with average gradient 9.3% and sections exceeding 19% on irregular cobblestone paving, it has been the decisive point in Belgian classics racing for generations. Eddy Merckx climbed it when it was part of the Tour of Flanders. The Brussels Classic uses it as its selection mechanism — the climb that decides who deserves to sprint for the win.

Teams with lead-out riders who can climb will control the race through this circuit. Those who cannot will watch their sprint trains disappear up the Muur and try to close gaps on the Bosberg descent that, in reality, cannot be closed.

The Supporting Cast

Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) brings the experience of a veteran who has won at the highest level across more than a decade. At 34, his absolute top speed has moderated, but his positioning and racing intelligence remain exceptional — he is never easy to beat in a Brussels-style sprint when he arrives with legs.

Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) is a sprinter whose tactical awareness has extended his competitiveness beyond the years when his speed was dominant. A Brussels Classic win would be the kind of result that his career has been moving toward for several seasons.

Derek Gee (Israel–Premier Tech) represents a different type of danger: a classics rider comfortable in reduced groups, capable of winning from a small selection if the race fragments on the Geraardsbergen circuit's third passage. If the leading group is six or fewer athletes arriving at the final kilometre, Gee is exactly the type of competitor who wins.

Dan McLay (Arkéa–B&B Hotels) and Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) round out a sprint field deep enough that the final result is genuinely uncertain.

What to Watch For

The decisive moments will come on the Kapelmuur's second and third passages, when the accumulated fatigue of 140-plus kilometres separates the field more severely than the first passage ever can. Teams will begin attacking from the base of the Muur in the final circuit — testing Girmay's climbing, Meeus's power-to-weight, and everyone's legs at the moment the race becomes what it actually is.

If the leading group is ten or more over the Bosberg final time, Meeus has to be favoured in the sprint. If the group is six or fewer, Girmay and Gee are the threats. Everything between those numbers is Sunday afternoon judgment.

The start gun fires at noon. By late afternoon, the Houba de Strooperlaan delivers its verdict. For the full route guide — climbing the Kapelmuur yourself, riding the Brussels circuit, Belgian cycling culture — see our Brussels Cycling Classic route guide.