Binche-Chimay-Binche Women returns on Tuesday 6 October with a very different shape to the race Lorena Wiebes dominated a year ago. The defending champion is absent, as is 2024 winner Cat Ferguson, leaving a field in which Charlotte Kool has the fastest sprint but several rivals have a better record on the awkward cobbled finish in Binche.
Kool starts as the obvious rider to beat if a sizeable group reaches the Grand-Place together. Pfeiffer Georgi has already won this race, Christina Schweinberger has twice finished second here, while Lonneke Uneken, Letizia Borghesi and a group of Belgian and Dutch outsiders all have reasons to make the final circuits harder than Fenix-Premier Tech would like.
The women race 125km from Chimay to Binche, with the first 62km taking them north through the Hainaut countryside before three full laps of a revised 16.4km finishing circuit. The overall profile is rolling rather than severe, but the cobbled rise of Rue de la Pépinière immediately before the Grand-Place repeatedly rewards riders who can still produce power after a long succession of accelerations.
That makes this more complicated than a normal sprint race. Wiebes won from a reduced bunch in 2025, Ferguson did the same in 2024 after Kool suffered a late mechanical, and Georgi won in 2023 with Schweinberger second. The fastest rider has an advantage, but only if her team can keep enough control through the final hour.
Previous winners
2025 – Lorena Wiebes
2024 – Cat Ferguson
2023 – Pfeiffer Georgi
Binche-Chimay-Binche Women 2026 route
The race starts from the Grand-Place in Chimay at 11:30 CEST and heads north towards Binche. The first significant rise comes at the Petit Poggio after 26.1km, but there is no long climb capable of removing the sprinters by itself. The real selection should come from repeated changes of pace, exposed roads and the local circuit once the race reaches Binche.
The peloton enters the finishing circuit after 62.2km. From there the riders pass the Grand-Place three times before the finish, with the final circuit measuring 16.4km. The local route has been redrawn for 2026 because Rue Saint-Roch is no longer used, but the part that matters most remains in place.
Rue de la Pépinière arrives inside the final kilometre. It is cobbled, rises towards the centre of Binche and forces the sprint teams to fight for position before the actual sprint has started. Riders who enter too far back have very little time to recover, while anyone who launches too early risks arriving on the Grand-Place already at the limit.
The repeated passages also make the finish progressively harder. Each lap brings another run through the same short rises and turns, so teams that keep the speed high can thin the peloton without needing a single decisive attack. That is how riders such as Georgi and Schweinberger can make the race less comfortable for Kool.
The 2025 edition ended with Wiebes taking her 25th win of the season after surviving the late cobbled section and finishing the job on the Grand-Place. The full story is in our 2025 Binche-Chimay-Binche Women race report.
Photo Credit: GettyCharlotte Kool has the fastest finish in the race
Charlotte Kool is the clear favourite if Fenix-Premier Tech can deliver her to the final 300 metres in a manageable group. She returned to winning form at GP Lucien Van Impe in August and followed that with second at Konvert Kortrijk Koerse the next day, useful evidence that she remains capable of finishing quickly after a harder Belgian one-day race.
Binche also carries some unfinished business for Kool. In 2024 she entered the finale as one of the strongest sprinters but suffered a mechanical at exactly the wrong moment, leaving Ferguson to take the win. Our 2024 race report showed how quickly the opportunity disappeared once the final circuit began.
Fenix-Premier Tech have enough alternatives to avoid making Kool chase every move herself. Christina Schweinberger can follow attacks and Julie De Wilde offers another fast option, so the team should be able to spend the closing laps protecting Kool rather than simply riding at the front from 50km out.
Pfeiffer Georgi knows exactly how to win in Binche
Pfeiffer Georgi won here in 2023 and remains one of the most natural fits for the finish. She is not as quick as Kool in a straightforward sprint, but the harder the final circuits become, the more the balance shifts towards the former British champion.
Her recent form is also encouraging. Georgi finished 11th in the World Championships road race in Montréal and had fifth-place finishes on the final two stages of the Tour of Britain Women in August. Those are the sort of results that matter more at Binche than a pure sprint ranking.
Team Picnic PostNL do not have to treat Georgi purely as a sprinter. She can attack on the final lap, follow a move over the Pépinière or wait for a small group. That tactical freedom is particularly useful against Fenix, because simply taking Kool to the line is the one outcome Georgi should want to avoid.
Christina Schweinberger has the strongest course record in the field
Christina Schweinberger has finished second at Binche in both 2023 and 2024. Few riders understand the timing of this finish better, and the Austrian again gives Fenix-Premier Tech an option if the final circuit becomes too selective for Kool.
Schweinberger’s 2026 road results have been mixed, although she retained her Austrian time-trial title and still finished 17th in the World Championships time trial. Her value here is less about current sprint form and more about positioning, repeated efforts and the ability to stay close to the front when the race is being pulled apart.
She also changes how rivals can race against Kool. An attack from Schweinberger does not automatically require Fenix to chase, which means Georgi, Uneken and the other aggressive riders may find themselves doing the work for the fastest sprinter behind.
Photo Credit: Tomasso Pelagalli/SCA/Cor VosLonneke Uneken brings strong late-season speed
Lonneke Uneken gives VolkerWessels Cycling Team a realistic podium chance. She won the opening stage of the Giro Toscana at the end of August and then finished sixth at La Choralis Fourmies Féminine in September, following an earlier sixth place at GP Lucien Van Impe.
That form fits Binche well. Uneken is fast enough to win from a reduced group but does not need a completely flat approach to the line. If the repeated circuits remove some of the pure sprinters, she becomes increasingly dangerous.
VolkerWessels also have riders who can make the race active before the sprint, so Uneken should not have to absorb every acceleration herself. Their best scenario is a hard final 30km that reduces the number of riders around Kool without completely breaking the race apart.
Letizia Borghesi can make the race harder than a sprint team wants
Letizia Borghesi is not the obvious name for a flat finish, but she is one of the riders most capable of changing the race before it becomes one. The Italian has already finished second at Paris-Roubaix Femmes and was fifth at Trofeo Alfredo Binda earlier this season, showing again that attritional one-day races suit her.
She also finished third overall at the Bretagne Ladies Tour, with three top-seven stage finishes. AG Insurance-Soudal have no reason to help Fenix keep the race together, so Borghesi should be encouraged to use the repeated circuits rather than wait for a sprint she is unlikely to win against Kool.
Nicole Steigenga gives AG another rider with a history at Binche, having finished third in the first women’s edition in 2021. That gives the team more than one way to use the final laps aggressively.
Kaia Schmid, Julie De Wilde and the wider outsider group
Kaia Schmid has enough speed to feature if the race stays together. The American finished ninth at Veenendaal-Veenendaal earlier in the season and has a strong track background, which can be useful on a finish where positioning and repeated accelerations matter as much as top speed.
Julie De Wilde has not had the same results in 2026 as in some earlier seasons, but her finishing speed keeps her relevant if Fenix choose to race with more than one card. Marthe Truyen is another rider who can survive a hard race and has shown that in stage racing, including fifth overall at the Tour de Pologne Women.
Fauve Bastiaenssen, Lucie Fityus, Lani Wittevrongel and Puck Oudeman are among the riders who could benefit if the favourites spend too much time watching one another. On a 1.1 race with only three WorldTeams, the strongest Continental and club riders should have more freedom than they would normally receive.
How Binche-Chimay-Binche Women 2026 could be won
The race revolves around one question: can the field make the final circuits hard enough to stop Kool arriving at the Grand-Place with a clean sprint?
If Fenix-Premier Tech control the pace and keep a sizeable group together, Kool is the rider everyone else has to beat. The cobbles make the finish more awkward, but they do not remove the basic advantage of having the fastest sprinter.
The alternative is to force Fenix into repeated decisions. Georgi can attack, Borghesi can raise the pace, Uneken can follow moves and Schweinberger gives Fenix a rider they may be happy to leave up the road. That can produce a finale where nobody wants to make the first chase.
The Pépinière then becomes the final filter. A rider who can hit the cobbles near the front without going too deep has a major advantage. That is why the race has repeatedly produced winners who are fast rather than simply being the fastest.
How to watch Binche-Chimay-Binche Women 2026
The race starts in Chimay at 11:30 CEST on Tuesday 6 October, which is 10:30 BST. The finish on the Grand-Place in Binche is expected at around 14:20 CEST, 13:20 BST.
Live coverage in the UK is scheduled on TNT Sports from around 12:35 BST, with HBO Max carrying the race in supported European markets. The broadcast should cover the decisive Binche circuits and the cobbled finish.
Top 3 prediction
1. Charlotte Kool
2. Pfeiffer Georgi
3. Lonneke Uneken
