Le Samyn is an annual single-day

road bicycle race Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most common ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

, held usually in late February or early March. The event was created in 1968 as ''Grand Prix de Fayt-le-Franc'', named after the former municipality where it started and finished. In 1970 it was renamed ''Grand Prix José Samyn'' as a tribute to José Samyn, the race's first winner who died in a race accident in 1969.

Johan Capiot Johan Capiot (born 12 April 1964 in Rijkhoven, Belgium) is a former professional road racing cyclist. He was a professional rider from 1986 to 2000. Major results ;1986 :1st, Stage 3, Danmark Rundt ;1987 :1st, Veenendaal–Veenendaal :1st, S ...

holds the record with three wins.

History

Since 2005, the race is included in the

UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by the Union Cycliste Internationale The ''Union Cycliste Internationale'' (UCI; ; en, International Cycling Union) is the world gove ...

as a 1.1 event. It is the first race of the season in

Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—al ...

, held on the Tuesday after its Flemish counterpart,

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, previously Omloop Het Volk, is a one-day road cycling race in Belgium, held annually in late February. It is the opening event of the Belgian cycling season, as well as the first race of the year in Northwestern Europe, and ...

. The race is run entirely in the province of Hainaut, starting in

Quaregnon Quaregnon (; pcd, Couargnon; wa, Cargnon) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. On 1 January 2018 Quaregnon had a total population of 19,006. The total area is 11.08 km² which gives a population densit ...

and finishing in Dour. During the course, 16 sectors of cobbled roads are traversed, prompting Belgian media to call it ''The Little

Paris–Roubaix Paris–Roubaix is a one-day professional road bicycle racing, bicycle road race in northern France, starting north of Paris and finishing in Roubaix, at the border with Belgium. It is one of cycling's oldest races, and is one of the 'Cycling m ...

''. The 2005 edition was cancelled because snow had made the roads too dangerous. Since 2012, a women's edition of the race, named ''Le Samyn des Dames'', is held on the same day as the men's race.

Winners

Men's race

Dour - Le Samyn, 4 mars 2015, arrivée (D27)

Multiple winners

Wins by country

Women's race

Source

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Samyn UCI Europe Tour races Recurring sporting events established in 1968 1968 establishments in Belgium Cycle races in Belgium Le Samyn des Dames Women's road bicycle races