Le Samyn 2020
51st edition of the Le Samyn takes place on the 3rd March 2020. The professional one-day race is held in Belgium and is part of the UCI Europe Tour. It is the first race of the Wallonia season, held just after the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. The race takes place in the province of Hainaut and features the famous cobbled steps associated with Belgian racing.
The event is steeped in history having been originally named the Grand Prix de Fayt-le-Franc. The race name changed to Le Samyn in 1970 as a tribute to Jose Samyn, the race’s first winner who died in an accident in 1969.
The current champion is Florian Senechal (Team Deceuninck - Quick Step), who beat Aime De Gendt (Team Circus - Wanty Gobert) and Niki Terpstra (Team Total Direct Energie), who won the race in 2018, to top the podium.
The 2020 race
The peloton will include a strong lineup. Niki Terpstra is back to attempt to regain his title, along with defending champion Florian Senechal, while Jasper Stuyven (Team Trek - Segafredo) and Timothy Dupont (Team Circus - Wanty Gobert) will be favourites for the podium.
Elsewhere, Aimé De Gendt will be hoping to go one better than his second place last year, while Bryan Coquard (Team B&B Hotels - Vital Concept p/b KTM), Christophe Noppe (Team Arkéa Samsic), Piotr Havik (Riwal Readynez Cycling Team), Giacomo Nizzolo (Team NTT Pro Cycling), Jonathan Dibben (Team Lotto Soudal) and Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team NTT Pro Cycling) will make it a hard race.