The 2026 Egmont Cycling Race Women takes place on Tuesday 18 August, with 25 teams heading to Zottegem for the fourth edition of the Belgian one-day race.
This year’s race has UCI 1.1 status and features five Women’s WorldTour teams alongside Women’s ProTeams, Continental squads, development teams and Belgian club teams. The organiser’s published start list includes defending champion Martina Alzini alongside riders such as Clara Copponi, Lucinda Brand, Anna Henderson, Anniina Ahtosalo, Wiktoria Pikulik and Alison Jackson.
Selections can still change before Tuesday. The organiser’s downloadable list was produced on 30 July, while subsequent announcements have already affected individual teams, so the live FirstCycling embed below should be the most useful way to follow late replacements and withdrawals.
For some background on how this race tends to unfold, ProCyclingUK’s 2025 Egmont Cycling Race preview looked at the short but increasingly varied history of the Zottegem event.
Egmont Cycling Race Women 2026 at a glance
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Race | Egmont Cycling Race Women 2026 |
| Date | Tuesday 18 August 2026 |
| Classification | UCI 1.1 |
| Start and finish | Zottegem |
| Distance | 128.6km |
| Team presentation | Around 11:55 |
| Start | 13:00 local time |
| Expected finish | Around 16:15 |
| Teams | 25 |
| Defending champion | Martina Alzini |
The route begins with a 29.6km opening loop before the riders complete five local laps of 19.8km around Zottegem. The organiser describes the course as hilly, with enough repeated rolling terrain to encourage attacks even though previous editions have also ended in bunch sprints.
Egmont Cycling Race Women 2026 full start list
The live start list below contains the latest published riders for the 2026 Egmont Cycling Race Women.
Late changes remain possible before Tuesday 18 August, so check the embedded list again on race morning for withdrawals and replacements.
Data powered by FirstCycling.com
Which teams are racing the Egmont Cycling Race Women 2026?
The organiser has confirmed 25 teams for the 2026 edition.
Women’s WorldTour teams
- AG Insurance-Soudal
- EF Education-Oatly
- Human Powered Health
- Lidl-Trek
- Uno-X Mobility
Women’s ProTeams, Continental and other invited teams
- Cofidis Women Team
- Lotto Intermarché Ladies
- St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93
- VolkerWessels Cycling Team
- Canyon SRAM Generation
- Citymesh-Customm Pro Cycling Team
- Fenix-Premier Tech Development Team
- Hitec Products-Fluid Control
- Liv AlUla Jayco Continental Team
- Meridian Bikebug
- Minimax Cycling Team
- O’Shea Red Chilli Bikes
- Rembe RAD-NET Women
- UAE Development Team
- Carbonbike-Giordana
- Cyclingteam Van Eyck-Belco
- De Ceuster-Acrog
- Kasseien Fiets Huis Cycling Team
- KDM-Pack Women Cycling Team
- Keukens Redant Cycling Team
The combination gives Egmont a particularly broad field. WorldTour riders expected to challenge for the victory will share the race with young development riders and Belgian domestic teams, increasing the number of squads willing to attack rather than contribute to controlling the race for a sprint.
Martina Alzini returns as defending champion
Martina Alzini won the 2025 Egmont Cycling Race after an aggressive edition eventually came back together in the final metres.
Sigrid Ytterhus Haugset had survived from the day’s breakaway and then continued alone late in the race, but the Norwegian was caught almost within sight of the finish. Alzini then won the sprint ahead of Lonneke Uneken and Cristina Tonetti.
The full story is in ProCyclingUK’s report on Martina Alzini’s 2025 Egmont Cycling Race victory.
Uneken is also included on the organiser’s 2026 list with VolkerWessels, giving last year’s runner-up another opportunity in Zottegem.
Lieke Nooijen showed that attacks can survive in Zottegem
The race does not always come down to a sprint.
In 2024, Lieke Nooijen attacked from around 40km from the finish and stayed away alone, producing a completely different type of race to Alzini’s victory a year later. Her ride remains one of the clearest examples of why teams cannot simply assume that the rolling circuits will eventually bring every move back.
ProCyclingUK covered that edition in full in Lieke Nooijen’s solo victory at the 2024 Egmont Cycling Race.
The inaugural women’s race in 2023 was won by Heidi Franz, meaning all three editions so far have produced different winners. Franz has since joined St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93 for 2026, a move covered in our piece on Heidi Franz signing for St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93.
Rikke Steen Enstad set for Hitec Products-Fluid Control debut
One late start-list change worth watching concerns Rikke Steen Enstad.
Hitec Products-Fluid Control announced on 12 August that the Norwegian sprinter had joined the team for the remainder of the season, with Egmont scheduled to be her first race in Hitec colours.
That announcement came after the organiser’s 30 July start-list document was produced, which explains why Enstad may not yet appear on every published version of the field.
ProCyclingUK has more on the move in Rikke Steen Enstad joins Hitec Products-Fluid Control for the remainder of 2026.
It is also exactly why the FirstCycling embed above is preferable to reproducing all of the rider names manually. Changes made between the first official list and race day can be reflected there without leaving an outdated static start list in the article.
When is the Egmont Cycling Race Women 2026?
The race takes place on Tuesday 18 August 2026 in Zottegem.
The team presentation is scheduled to begin at approximately 11:55 local time, with the unofficial start from Stationsplein at 13:00. After the opening 29.6km loop and five 19.8km circuits, the winner is expected back at Stationsplein at around 16:15.
The FirstCycling start list above should be checked again before the start for the final confirmed field.
