Lonneke Uneken of VolkerWessels won Midwest Cycling Classic 2026 in the tightest possible fashion on Sunday, edging Martina Alzini of Cofidis by millimetres after a flat 137.6km race from Tielt to Oostrozebeke ended in a bunch sprint. For the second year running, Alzini raised an arm too early at this race and was forced to settle for second, while Hélène Hesters of Liv AlUla Jayco Women’s Continental Team rounded out the podium after launching her sprint from distance.
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Photo Credit: Getty -
Photo Credit: Itzulia Women
A flat race that kept returning to the same conclusion
The second edition of the Midwest Cycling Classic was built in a way that always gave the sprinters real hope. The route from Tielt to Oostrozebeke featured two lap systems and only modest obstacles, with repeated passes of the Poelberg early on and the Ketelberg on the finishing circuit. Neither climb was steep or long enough to frighten the fastest finishers, and that shaped the race from quite a long way out.
There were attacks, as there usually are in these Belgian one-day races when riders sense that waiting for the sprint may not be enough. Most of them came from individuals rather than organised groups, and that made them easier to manage. The race notes suggest the opening half was marked by a few crashes and some attempts to stretch things on the climbs, but none of those moments produced a lasting split.
A full peloton, or something very close to it, remained intact as the race moved into the final local laps. The pace did rise with around 49km to go, enough to cause some brief fractures in the bunch, but the elastic snapped back together again. Aidi Gerde Tuisk was one of the riders to try to force something later on, yet even that move did not last for long. The deeper the race went, the clearer the picture became. Nobody was getting away with enough freedom to avoid the inevitable.
That left the responsibility of control with the teams who believed in their sprint options. Liv AlUla Jayco did a sizeable amount of the work on the final circuit, helping to keep the race together as the bunch prepared for the run-in to Oostrozebeke. VolkerWessels also had reason to stay calm. They had won the inaugural edition in 2025 through Scarlett Souren, and this year they again had one of the quickest riders in the race for a flat finish.
The final sprint comes down to timing and a few millimetres
By the time the peloton reached the last kilometres, everyone had effectively accepted that Midwest Cycling Classic 2026 would be decided in a mass sprint. The real question was no longer whether the bunch would arrive together, but who would judge the finish best after a long day of failed attacks and constant repositioning.
Hesters was the first of the main contenders to open things up, accelerating early on the straight run-in to the line. It was an assertive move and one that briefly put her at the front of the race, but it also gave the riders behind a target. Uneken then came through on the right-hand side with a slight advantage, while Alzini powered up from the middle of the road and drew level in the closing metres.
What followed was the defining image of the race. Alzini, believing she had timed it right, lifted her right arm in celebration before the line had fully settled the argument. Uneken, however, had kept driving all the way through. The result was so close that it had to be confirmed by photo finish, but once the images were reviewed it was Uneken who had put her wheel ahead by the smallest of margins.
It gave the Dutch rider victory in the second edition of the race, improving on her third place from 2025, and it also extended a strange little storyline that is quickly becoming part of this event’s identity. Alzini had already finished runner-up here last year after another photo finish with a VolkerWessels rider, Scarlett Souren, and almost exactly the same sequence played out again in 2026.
For Uneken, the win mattered on several levels. It was her first victory since 2023 and her first in a one-day race as a professional. According to her post-race comments, everything had unfolded as planned and her team had been able to control the race cleanly enough that a sprint became the obvious outcome.
She said afterwards that it took a while before confirmation came through that she had won, adding that she was not fully sure in the immediate aftermath. She also noted that she has now finished on the podium in every edition of Midwest Cycling Classic so far, having been third in 2025 before taking the win this time. Just as importantly for her season, it gives her a timely lift heading towards In Flanders Fields, where she suggested another sprint could again be on the cards.
Midwest Cycling Classic 2026 Result
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Main photo credit: Cor Vos
