News

Rund um Köln 2026 preview: Kooij, Girmay, and De Lie headline Germany’s biggest spring one-day sprint

Rund um Köln 2026 should again balance climbs and sprint power, with Olav Kooij, Biniam Girmay, and Arnaud De Lie among the strongest contenders.

Favorites
Olav Kooij
Kooij is the fastest finisher if he survives the harder middle section in good position.
Biniam Girmay
Girmay is especially dangerous if the climbs remove some of the pure sprint trains.
Arnaud De Lie
De Lie has the power to survive the climbs and still deliver a winning sprint.
Mads Pedersen
Pedersen becomes a bigger factor the harder and more selective the race turns.
Milan Fretin
Fretin is a strong option if the race returns to a reduced but still fast finish.
Rund um Köln 2026

Rund um Köln is never a pure flat sprint, but it is often still fast enough that the best resilient sprinters hold the advantage. The key question is whether the climbs do enough damage to remove the pure speed specialists before the line.

Olav Kooij, Biniam Girmay, and Arnaud De Lie all fit that middle ground well, while Mads Pedersen and Milan Fretin become more dangerous as the race gets harder and more chaotic. The winning rider will probably need both climbing survival and a clean final burst.