Benoît Cosnefroy rides to fourth place at the Grand Prix de Wallonie

Benoît Cosnefroy rode to fourth place at the Grand Prix de Wallonie on Wednesday afternoon, with the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider finishing as part of the front group in Belgium.

The result follows up Cosnefroy’s recent fine spell in Italy, which saw the Frenchman pick up his first victory on Italian soil. After his win at Coppa Sabatini and his podium place at Trofeo Matteotti on Sunday, Cosnefroy only narrowly missed out on another podium on Belgian soil.

It was an afternoon that saw UAE Team Emirates-XRG regularly on the front foot, with the Emirati squad looking to make the race as difficult as possible before the finale.

As such, the likes of Tim Wellens and Rui Oliveira were particularly active before Cosnefroy shone inside the final kilometres. It was here that the race roared to its conclusion in Namur, with an uphill sprint to the line won by Aubin Sparfel of Decathlon CMA CGM. The Frenchman was the strongest in Wallonie, and got the result he deserved.

Behind Sparfel, Cosnefroy produced a valiant effort behind to take fourth place across the line. It was a good start in Belgium for the 30-year-old, with the Flandrien 0.0% Classic to come later in the week.

Cosnefroy: “It was a good start in Belgium today. I had a good feeling in the final but my positioning was too far back. The team worked for me today and we had a big breakaway, but in the end, today it was not possible to try something special. I gave my all in the final and perhaps with better positioning, I might have achieved the result I wanted. These are lessons to learn!

“I am not happy but today it is like this, so I try for better on Saturday. I hope we can get a better result on Saturday, and we try again.”

Grand Prix de Wallonie 2026 results:

1. Aubin Sparfel (Decathlon CMA CGM) 4:32:14

2. Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ United) s.t

3. Milan Fretin (Cofidis) s.t

4. Benoît Cosnefroy (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) s.t