In this cycling news update, it’s a packed week: Sure, the Giro d’Italia, but also…Jakob Söderqvist (Lidl-Trek) claimed overall victory at the Tour de Hongrie after a dramatic weather-hit stage, while Laurence Pithie sprinted to victory at Rund um Köln for Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe. Mischa Bredewold successfully defended the overall lead at Itzulia Women despite being dropped on the final climb. Lorena Wiebes won the Simac Omloop der Kempen Ladies after a remarkable flat-tire recovery, and Matisse Van Kerckhove defended his title at Flèche du Sud. In the Giro d’Italia, Portuguese rider Afonso Eulálio captured the maglia rosa in a stunning breakaway ride.
And most important of all…YOU weigh in: Which is the best Grand Tour (to see in person)?
TOP STORY
- Reader Poll: Which Grand Tour Would You Most Like to Follow?
RACE NEWS
- Söderqvist Seizes the Tour de Hongrie in a Dramatic Finale
- Wiebes Wins Simac Omloop der Kempen Ladies in Veldhoven Sprint
- Van Kerckhove Defends, Brennan Stars at Flèche du Sud
- Bredewold Holds On to Win Itzulia Women
- Pithie Powers to Victory at Rund um Köln
TEAM, RIDER AND CYCLING NEWS
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Belgian Junior Jilke Michielsen Passes Away at 19
VIDEO
Reader Poll: Which Grand Tour Would You Most Like to Follow?
Ever followed a Grand Tour?
I’ve dropped into stages of the Giro and the Tour de France — but once followed the Tour for a week, as part of a Greg LeMond-led group in…1999. Armstrong’s first year. Up close and personal when Giuseppe Guerini collided with Erik the Photographer — yet went on to win on Alpe d’Huez.
So yeah, I have my preferences.
What about you? With a week of the Giro behind us, do you lean towards Italy in springtime? Or would you reserve a week for cycling’s Super Bowl, the Tour de France? Or could you easily get comfortable with a warm Iberian late summer week in Spain?
Let us know! And as always, send your reasoning — and your stories and photos to mike@pezcyclingnews.com. We’d love to share them with our readers!
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.
RACE NEWS
Söderqvist Seizes the Tour de Hongrie in a Dramatic Finale
The closing three stages of the 2026 Tour de Hongrie delivered sprints, weather chaos, and a commanding breakaway victory to crown a deserving overall winner.
Stage 3, run over 152 kilometers from Kaposvár to Szekszárd, saw a five-man breakaway form early but never gain more than two minutes. Teams UAE, Jayco, and Soudal drove a hard pace to reel them in, with crosswinds creating echelons that shed some well-placed GC riders. In the sprint finish, Lampaert led out before Fernando Gaviria launched his sprint early, but Tim Merlier overpowered him in the final meters to win and reclaim the leader’s jersey.
Stage 4, from Mohács to Pécs, was heavily disrupted by adverse weather. First shortened by 40 kilometers after a loop was removed before the start, it was then cut by a further 20.6 kilometers when crashes and dangerous conditions forced the jury to cancel the final local lap. Eight riders formed the early breakaway, with only Benito and Jakob Söderqvist surviving on the final climb. Entering the last two kilometres with a one-minute lead, Söderqvist dropped Benito to win the stage and seize the overall lead.
On the final Stage 5, a circuit-based 147-kilometer finale from Balatonalmádi to Veszprém, Tim Merlier claimed the stage victory, but it was Söderqvist who held firm to win the overall title. Benoît Cosnefroy and Luke Plapp rounded out the podium in second and third respectively.
It was a superb all-round performance from the Lidl-Trek rider Söderqvist, who combined a stunning breakaway stage win with a steely defense of his lead on the final day to take the 47th edition of the race.
Final GC Top 10 — 47th Tour de Hongrie, courtesy of Pro Cycling Stats
Wiebes Wins Simac Omloop der Kempen Ladies in Veldhoven Sprint
Lorena Wiebes claimed victory at the Simac Omloop der Kempen Ladies (1.1), outsprinting the field in Veldhoven to take the win ahead of Charlotte Kool and Sandrine Tas.
The 130-kilometer race, which featured several cobblestone sections, was always likely to end in a bunch sprint — and so it proved. Early on, Emmy Pordon and Isabella Maria Escalera broke away, building a lead of nearly four minutes before the chasing peloton reeled them in during the closing kilometers.
Drama struck late in the race when Wiebes suffered a flat tire just 9 kilometers from the finish, forcing her to borrow a teammate’s bike to regain contact with the peloton — a feat she accomplished remarkably quickly.
The two escapees made a final bid for glory, briefly extending their lead again, but were caught just before the final kilometer. From there, Wiebes was unstoppable, powering to the line ahead of Kool and Tas.
Notably, third-place finisher Sandrine Tas only recently switched careers from speed skating, having competed at the Winter Olympics earlier this year. The 30-year-old Belgian is now fully committed to professional cycling.
Top Ten — 29th Simac Omloop der Kempen Ladies, courtesy of Pro Cycling Stats
Van Kerckhove Defends, Brennan Stars at Flèche du Sud
Matisse Van Kerckhove claimed overall victory at the Flèche du Sud (2.1), with the 19-year-old Belgian successfully defending his leader’s jersey through a grueling final stage. Teammate Matthew Brennan added further gloss for Visma | Lease a Bike by sprinting to his third stage win of the race.
The final day sent riders around a circuit near Esch-sur-Alzette eight times, each lap featuring the punishing Poteau de Kayl — a 700-meter climb averaging 7.8% — before a nine-kilometer run to the finish. Van Kerckhove had started the day with a slender five-second advantage over Luxembourgers Mats Wenzel and Arno Wallenborn, but despite the repeated climbs the race came down to a mass sprint, and he safely crossed the line in the peloton to seal the title.
Brennan was the fastest man in the bunch, rounding out a dominant tour performance. The young Brit had already taken the first two stages, and his third victory here capped a remarkable week for the Visma | Lease a Bike squad.
Bredewold Holds On to Win Tour of the Basque Country
Mischa Bredewold claimed overall victory at the Tour of the Basque Country after a dramatic final stage in and around San Sebastián, with Dominika Włodarczyk taking her second consecutive stage win.
The queen stage featured three categorized climbs, with the Jaizkibel and the Mendizorrotz proving decisive. Early attacks from the likes of Justine Ghekiere and Loes Adegeest failed to stick, and the race came down to the final climb.
On the Mendizorrotz, FDJ-SUEZ lit up the race from the bottom, quickly neutralizing a late move by Nina Buijsman. The pace shattered the peloton, and Bredewold — who had started the day in yellow — was dropped from the lead group four kilometers from the summit. With Liane Lippert already gone, it looked like her jersey could be under threat.
However, Bredewold dug deep, rejoining a group that included Riejanne Markus, and benefited from Ricarda Bauernfeind’s pacemaking. Despite FDJ-SUEZ having three riders at the front of the race, their cooperation broke down, allowing Bredewold to close the gap and re-enter the lead group in the final kilometer.
Włodarczyk proved strongest in the sprint, but it was Bredewold’s day overall.
Top Ten — 5th Itzulia Women, courtesy of Pro Cycling Stats
Pithie Powers to Victory at Rund um Köln
Laurence Pithie claimed victory at Rund um Köln, outsprinting his two breakaway companions to take the win for Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe. Fred Wright and Aimé De Gendt, both riding for Pinarello Q36.5, completed the podium, while Jordi Meeus led home the peloton to take fourth place.
The 191-kilometer race offered 2,200 meters of elevation gain, with the key terrain coming in the form of two successive climbs — the Sand and the Bensberg — in the closing hilly section, before a flat 23-kilometer run back into Cologne gave sprinter teams a chance to chase down any survivors.
An early five-man breakaway, featuring Dutchman Rik van der Wal, built a lead of nearly three minutes before being caught on the first ascent of the Bensberg. Attacks followed immediately. Louis Barré briefly opened a gap before being reeled in, then Fred Wright launched an attack of his own. Pithie jumped across to join him, and shortly after, Wright’s own teammate De Gendt bridged over — creating a three-man lead group.
The trio held a 30-second advantage over the chasing peloton, with Alpecin-Premier Tech leading the pursuit. Several counter-attacks threatened to complicate matters, but none succeeded in bridging the gap.
In the finale, De Gendt sacrificed his own chances to support Wright, but Pithie proved too strong in the sprint, crossing the line ahead of Wright and De Gendt. The peloton arrived six seconds later.
Top Ten — 108th Rum Um Köln, courtesy of Pro Cycling Stats
TEAM, RIDER AND CYCLING NEWS
The Unlikely Pink: Afonso Eulálio and the Jersey Nobody Saw Coming
It’s practically a Grand Tour tradition: A relatively unknown rider slips into a breakaway; that breakaway is given a long leash by the GC favorites’ teams, and he slips into the leader’s jersey. And then he hangs onto that jersey for a couple of stages, and then another, and soon fans are wondering: Can he last until Rome/Paris/Madrid?
In the case of this Giro’s leader Afonso Eulálio, the answer is almost certainly not. But after every stage — especially Sunday’s, when the Portuguese domestique outclimbed several of the race’s most prominent names — the swell of fans around Eulálio grows.
Born in Figueira da Foz, Portugal on September 30, 2001, the 24-year-old climber weighs just 62 kilograms — a featherweight frame that has served him well in the mountains. His story begins not on tarmac, but on dirt: he came up as a mountain biker before teams convinced him to try the road. He only joined the WorldTour in 2025 with Bahrain Victorious, and this is just his second Grand Tour.
On Stage 5, Eulálio entered the day sitting 31st overall, over a minute behind race leader Giulio Ciccone, with no obvious path to pink. A chaotic, rain-soaked breakaway changed everything — including a late crash that briefly threatened to derail his bid — but he held on. “The plan was initially only to go for the stage victory,” he told reporters afterward. “It’s not a dream come true, it’s crazy. I only made it into the WorldTour last year. I was just enjoying my career in mountain biking, and somebody asked me to try a road bike. I came into the WorldTour in 2025, and now I’m in the pink jersey.”
He is only the third Portuguese rider ever to wear the maglia rosa, following Acácio Da Silva’s two-stage tenure in 1989 and João Almeida’s remarkable 15-stage run in 2020. Comparisons to Almeida — who also seized pink in unlikely circumstances and clung to it far longer than expected — are inevitable, and for Portuguese fans, deeply thrilling.
His advantage has been trimmed to 3:17 over Jonas Vingegaard, and a 42-kilometer time trial looms. For all his proven climbing ability, the race clock will likely eventually catch him. But Eulálio himself seems unbothered. “The team did a perfect job,” he said after surviving Blockhaus. “In the end, we survived and kept the Maglia Rosa, which was our objective for the day.” One more day in pink. Then another. That’s the whole plan.
Belgian Junior Jilke Michielsen Passes Away at 19
The cycling world is mourning the loss of Jilke Michielsen, a young Belgian rider who passed away on Friday at the age of just nineteen after battling bone cancer.
The news was announced on the cyclist’s Instagram account, where she had been sharing updates about her fight against the illness in recent years. Her family’s final words on her behalf were simply: “Don’t complain — just enjoy.”
Three years ago, Michielsen was diagnosed with terminal bone cancer — Ewing’s sarcoma — which forced her to abandon what had been a highly promising career. Earlier this month, she announced she had to stop chemotherapy because her body was no longer producing blood cells, saying “my body can’t take any more.”
Despite her illness, she continued to look forward, enrolling in biomedical sciences at the University of Antwerp while fighting the disease. On the bike, she had won the Belgian road championship in the novice category in 2022, the national time trial title the following year, and a Belgian track jersey in the Omnium in 2022.
PEZ VIDEO
A few weeks ago we showed you Italy’s Hotel Dory. Now we take you deep inside, to the hotel’s bike room. Yes — a hotel with a bike room! This is an altogether different type of hotel experience.
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