The 'Bull of Lescheret' is Belgium's most explosive uphill sprinter, but 2026 has tested him: a winless spring, then a Giro abandoned to gastroenteritis after just four stages. He roared back with a comeback win at the Famenne Ardenne Classic in May and a last-gasp stage win at the Tour de Wallonie in June, and arrives in Barcelona chasing the one thing missing from his palmarès — a Tour de France stage win.
Palmarès
- Belgian national road race champion (2024)
- GP Cycliste de Québec (2023)
- Renewi Tour overall (2025)
- Bretagne Classic (2025)
- Tro-Bro Léon (2024)
- Famenne Ardenne Classic (2023, 2024, 2026)
Cut-out factHe won the 2023 Famenne Ardenne Classic after his cleat snapped mid-race, essentially sprinting with one working pedal — and he grew up on a working farm in Lescheret, a hamlet of barely 100 people.
The squad
Riding the 2026 Tour with Huub Artz, Jenno Berckmoes, Lars Craps, Liam Slock, Lennert Van Eetvelt, Baptiste Veistroffer, Georg Zimmermann — see the full Lotto-Intermarché team page.
Portrait: AI paper-collage render (gpt-image-2) after a reference photograph — source: Wikimedia Commons, author: Joost Pauwels, license: CC0.
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