Cycling Monuments 2026

The Monunents are the five most prestigious one-day races in the world of professional road cycling competitions. They are old, they are long, they have been always popular. They carrying the memory how this sport was born more than a century ago. 

During the recent few years I found myself in a bit of a distress when it comes to the Monuments, I'm no longer that enthusiastic about them as I was earlier (as the matter of fact, recently I started seeing this sport through a much more critical lense) - that's why the unusual title of the blog. 

Mathieu van der Poel crossing the finish line of Milano-Sanremo 2025
Finish line of Milano-Sanremo 2025 (source: gazzetta.it)

Anyway, as someone who used to blogg about road cycling in the recent two decades, I know how useful posts like this one intented to be can actually be. 

So, here are the dates of the five Monuments in 2026

Milano-Sanremo 21 March 2026


Ronde van Vlaanderen 5 April 2026

Paris-Roubaix 12 April 2026

Liege-Bastogne-Liege 26 April 2026

Il Lombardia 10 October 2026

Popular posts from this blog

Monument winner of the day: Cyrille Van Hauwaert

Image
Cyrille Van Hauwaert (1883-1974) was one of the most successful Belgian cyclists of the pre-WWI era.  Van Hauwaert’s story reads like a folk legend. A big, strong Flemish farm boy who didn’t speak French, he arrived at the office of La Française cycling team’s directeur sportif, Pierre Pierrard, just two days before the Paris-Roubaix 1907. In his hand was a letter of recommendation from a regional agent of the bicycle manufacturer sponsoring the team.  Despite the late hour and the lack of available pacemakers to support him, Pierrard took a chance, ordering the mechanics to set up a bicycle for the young Belgian. With instructions to keep up with the pack as long as he could, Van Hauwaert exceeded expectations.  In a stunning debut, he finished second, just behind the winner, Georges Passerieu.  Van Hauwaert’s next race was the prestigious Bordeaux-Paris, where he emerged as the top rider, cementing his reputation as a powerful competitor.  The following yea...
Read more

Monument winner of the day: Hippolyte Aucouturier

Image
Who else could be the first cyclist of the series  about Monument winners than the epitome of early day road cycling races, Hippolyte Aucouturier (1876-1944). The image of a French cyclist in a striped shirt may feel like a cliché, but sometimes stereotypes hold a surprising amount of truth. Recognizable for his distinctive outfit, Hippolyte Aucouturier  also found considerable success during his career, active from 1900 to 1908 as an independent rider.   He claimed victory at the 1903 Paris-Roubaix under rather chaotic circumstances. Traditionally, riders switched bikes upon entering the velodrome, but when Aucouturier arrived alongside Claude Chaperon, Chaperon mistakenly grabbed Louis Trousselier's bike. By the time he realized and corrected his mistake, Aucouturier had surged ahead, winning the race.   Following this victory, Aucouturier was one of the favorites for the inaugural Tour de France. He abandoned the first stage due to stomach pains, bu...
Read more

The unpleasant anachronism of the Cycling Monuments

Image
There is a reason, obviously, why they called that. The five most prestigious one-day races, traditionally called Monuments, are carrying history. Sometimes not just road cycling history but they also remind us of pivotal moments from the history of Europe in the 20th century.  In 1981, Bernard Hinault delivered a spectacular Paris-Roubaix victory fuelled rather with anger and frustration. After the race he called Paris-Roubaix a bullshit All the five Monuments was born in the first great era of road cycling competitions ended with the outbreak of Word War I. Liege-Bastogne-Liege , a classic amateur cycling tourist adventure in 1892, Paris-Roubaix , a typical French cycling enterprise in 1896, the two Italian (more precisely, and not coincidently at all, two Lombardian) events, Giro di Lombardia in 1905, Milano-Sanremo 1907, and finally, Ronde van Vlaanderen in 1913, these latter three following the French recipe too, as newspapers were heavily involved in the founding process o...
Read more