Published on : 06/06/2026
A successful return to racing for Milan Fretin at Heylen Vastgoed Heistse Pijl. Our Belgian sprinter claimed a podium finish after nearly two months away from racing. Stanislaw Aniolkowski took 6th place.
A successful return to racing for our Belgian sprinter, Milan Fretin, at the Heylen Vastgoed Heistse Pijl. After a day in which it took until the 120-kilometer mark for a breakaway to form, on Saturday, June 6, 2026, the fast men of the peloton battled it out in a sprint finish. Nearly two months after his last race, the Scheldeprijs, Milan Fretin secured a strong third-place finish. Also in the final sprint, Stanislaw Aniolkowski took sixth place to cap off a day that saw “a very strong team effort” from Cofidis, according to our sports director, Sébastien Demarbaix.
The reaction
Sébastien Demarbaix, sports director:
"There wasn't really a breakaway until around the 120- to 130-kilometer mark, as is often the case these days. At that point, two riders broke away: Louis Chaleil and Michel Coppens. They built up a maximum lead of two minutes. Everything settled down 6–7 kilometers from the finish, and we ended up in a sprint. Milan Fretin finished third; it’s true that he might have been able to finish second or even better. But I think we can be happy—it’s his return to competition.
We had a very good team today. I’m not going to name names because we really worked as a team. Everyone did what was asked of them before the start. Winning is always better, but I think third place for Milan isn’t a bad result today. After so many weeks without competition for him, I think he’s gained a lot of confidence, and so has the whole team. We also have Stanislaw Aniolkowski, who put in a strong sprint as well. We were asked to have two guys sprint, so we ended up with three and six.
I’m not going to say it’s a bit of a poker game with the last two kilometers being a bit of a kamikaze run, but I think we can be happy with the day and especially with a very strong team effort. We hope to do the same tomorrow at the Brussels Cycling Classic, which is a completely different race. In any case, we’ll head into it with a positive mindset and the good work we put in at the Heylan Vastgoed Heiste Pijl. "