Lotto Grand Prix de Wallonie Dames 2026: Karlijn Swinkels wins for second time on Citadelle de Namur

Karlijn Swinkels won the 2026 Lotto Grand Prix de Wallonie Dames, returning to the top step on the Citadelle de Namur two years after taking her first victory in the Belgian one-day race.

The UAE Team L’IMAD rider completed a superb three-year sequence at the event. She won the 2024 edition, finished second to Shari Bossuyt last September and has now reclaimed the title in 2026.

It is also Swinkels’ third road victory of the season following the Trofeo Binissalem-Andratx in January and her breakthrough Women’s WorldTour success at Trofeo Alfredo Binda in March.

New start in Seraing but the Citadel remains decisive

The fifth women’s Grand Prix de Wallonie covered 127.35km from Val Saint-Lambert in Seraing to the traditional finish on the Citadelle de Namur.

The change of start brought the race into the Liège region before a rolling route across Wallonia gradually became more selective towards Namur. There was no single major mountain to shape the race, but the repeated changes of gradient and the uphill finish again favoured riders capable of combining climbing strength with a fast finish.

That profile had attracted a strong field. Elisa Balsamo headed Lidl-Trek’s options alongside Loes Adegeest, Fleur Moors and Shirin van Anrooij, while defending champion Bossuyt returned with AG Insurance-Soudal. Liane Lippert, Célia Gery, Usoa Ostolaza and Swinkels’ UAE teammate Eleonora Gasparrini added further depth.

Swinkels nevertheless arrived with the clearest evidence that the finish suited her. Few riders have built a better record on the Citadel since the women’s race was introduced in 2022.

Swinkels returns to the top after last year’s second place

Swinkels’ first victory in Namur came in 2024, when she beat Elisa Longo Borghini and Anouska Koster after the race was reduced to a select group on the final climb.

She came within metres of repeating that result in 2025.

UAE had worked aggressively throughout the finale, with Dominika Włodarczyk attacking and Silvia Persico helping to make the selection on the Citadel. Swinkels entered the last corner well positioned and committed to the sprint, only for Bossuyt to come past in the closing metres.

Bossuyt’s victory left Swinkels second and Balsamo third in what became one of the closest finishes of the 2025 race.

Returning in 2026 therefore gave Swinkels the unusual record of having finished first and second in the two previous editions. This time she converted another strong ride on the Namur finish into victory.

A third victory in one of Swinkels’ strongest seasons

The result adds to a 2026 campaign in which Swinkels has taken a clear step forward as a one-day racer.

Her January victory at the Trofeo Binissalem-Andratx came on a steep uphill finish in Mallorca, a useful early indication of the form that would follow during the spring.

The bigger result arrived at Trofeo Alfredo Binda. Swinkels survived the selective final circuits with Anna van der Breggen and Mie Bjørndal Ottestad before beating both in Cittiglio to claim the first Women’s WorldTour victory of her career.

She then finished third at In Flanders Fields, sixth at both the Tour of Flanders and Amstel Gold Race and ninth at Dwars door Vlaanderen. That consistency carried into the second half of the season, including sixth overall at the Tour of Britain Women.

The common thread has been her ability to remain competitive when a one-day race becomes selective without losing the finishing speed required once the front group reaches the line.

Grand Prix de Wallonie has repeatedly rewarded exactly that combination.

Swinkels becomes the race’s first two-time winner

The women’s Grand Prix de Wallonie is still a young event, but Swinkels has now established the best record in its short history.

Julie De Wilde won the inaugural edition in 2022 before Marta Lach succeeded her in 2023. Swinkels became the third different winner in 2024 and Bossuyt continued that sequence last year.

Swinkels’ 2026 victory makes her the first rider to win the race twice.

Her three consecutive podium finishes are just as telling. The start location and parts of the route have changed during that period, but the race has retained its defining finish at the Citadelle de Namur. Swinkels has finished first, second and first there since 2024.

The result also gives UAE Team L’IMAD another late-season victory only three days after Dominika Włodarczyk won the Women’s Cycling GP Stuttgart & Region.

For Swinkels, Namur provides another result on the sort of rolling, selective terrain that has produced most of her best performances in 2026, ten days before the road race at the World Championships in Montréal.

Lotto Grand Prix de Wallonie Dames 2026 result

Main photo credit: Getty