Sebastián Molano sprints to impressive third place at Danilith Nokere Koerse

Kicking off another week of one-day action across northern Europe, Sebastián Molano sprinted to third place for UAE Team Emirates-XRG at Danilith Nokere Koerse. The result marks a strong return to racing for the Colombian.

Already a winner of a stage at the Tour of Oman in 2026, Molano has enjoyed a few productive weeks of training and made his return to Belgium with a fine turn of speed. That acceleration almost brought the day’s victory for the 31-year-old, but Molano was pipped to the spoils by Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech), with Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) in second.

The sprinters were almost denied their shot at glory on Wednesday afternoon, when Alec Segaert of Bahrain Victorious took a flyer inside the closing 10km.

Taking a 20-second lead into the final kilometre, the youngster looked ready to upset the applecart, but as the road reared upwards towards the line, it became clear that all of his bullets had been spent.

Instead, it was Rui Oliveira of UAE Team Emirates-XRG who burst to the front of the race, ready to reel back Segaert and launch his teammate Molano towards the line. The Portuguese whipper-snapper darted into the final 300m of the race and pulled off to the right, allowing Molano to come over his left-hand shoulder and unleash his sprint.

Briefly pushed towards the barriers, the Colombian showed his resilience to make not one, but two kicks towards the finish line in Nokere. Into the last 50m of racing, Molano was leading the peloton to the line, but at the very last, he was usurped by Philipsen and Meeus, both of whom had launched their sprints a few moments after Molano.

In the end, it wasn’t to be the victory for Molano, but the strong performance of both him and the UAE Team Emirates-XRG will offer the team plenty of confidence for the rest of the week.

Fabio Baldato (Sports Director): “We are happy to have Sebas back in good condition and with good legs. Of course, the sprint was a little bit strange. It was uphill and with a little bit of headwind. Rui had to start a little early to bring back the rider from ahead, but they did great.

“Before, it was Julius [Johansen] who was working well all day, and then [António] Morgado in the end, he was there.

“It was a great race, Sebas is there behind [Jasper] Philipsen and [Jordi] Meeus, they are two very strong sprinters. This gives us motivation for Denain tomorrow, and then Friday at the Bredene Koksijde Classic.”

Danilith Nokere Koerse 2026 results

1. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) 4:16:19

2. Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) s.t

3. Sebastián Molano (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) s.t

10. António Morgado (UAE Team Emirates-XRG