EF Pro Cycling’s men’s and women’s teams will wear a green jersey bearing a giant alien’s head at the Giro d’Italia, as part of their tradition of swapping kits at the race.

The two WorldTour teams, EF Education-EasyPost and EF Education-Oatly, typically wear pink kit, but are unable to at the Giro due to a colour clash with the leader’s jersey.

Starting with the men’s race on 8 May, the riders will wear a design called ‘Ride in Peace’, created by Swiss clothing brand Assos, who took over supplying to the squads at the start of this season, and are continuing a trend of bold kits set by their predecessors at Rapha.

“Every year, EF Pro Cycling famously departs from its traditional pink to avoid clashing with the Giro’s iconic leader’s jersey. This year, that exchange has been replaced by a signal from beyond, hovering between space and time,” Assos wrote in a press release.

According to the brand, the launch comes at the intersection of “where interstellar design meets podium-proven performance”. The “cosmic narrative” of the kit – which also features crop-circle-like shapes and a black-and-white cow hovering upside down – is said to “transcend the earth” and “redefine what a professional cycling kit can represent”.

“We believe innovation happens when you challenge conventions,” said Assos CEO Edwin Navez, “both in how products perform and how they are expressed. Too often in this sport, performance and identity are treated separately. We don’t see it that way.”

EF made headlines in 2020 when they turned up to the Giro team presentation in a kit with a cartoon duck on the front, a collaboration between then sponsor Rapha and skateboard brand Palace. The team was subsequently fined £3,700 by the UCI for “non-compliant” clothing, which proved a small price to pay for the popularity of the limited-edition kit, which sold out in minutes.

In 2021, 2022 and 2024, the team wore predominantly black jerseys, swapping to a patchwork of colourful panels in 2023 to highlight Rapha’s ‘excess collection’ sustainability scheme. Last year, both teams wore white jerseys studded with a diamond pattern.

The men’s Giro d’Italia starts in Bulgaria on 8 May and closes on 31 May. The nine-stage women’s race will run from 31 May to 7 June.

EF’s alien-themed kit is available to buy now as part of a limited release on Assos’s website.

Soudal Quick-Step and Ineos Grenadiers will also wear different kits at the Italian Grand Tour. The former will wear a vintage cream jersey in tribute to the 150th anniversary of its kit supplier Castelli. Ineos, meanwhile, will debut a grey kit in the launch of their new identity as Netcompany-Ineos, announced last week.

Olympic road champion Kristen Faulkner says she has hit a new 20-minute power personal best thanks to her own AI research.

The EF Education-Oatly rider wrote on LinkedIn that she has been coding with her own personal data for more than 10 hours a day over the last two months.

As a result, she has built a system that processes her information – such as heart rate, sleep, weight, power, and menstrual cycle phases – and runs it against 4,400 hours of her training history, giving her “actionable” ideas.

“The research I needed about my own body did not exist. So I built it with AI,” Faulkner wrote.

“So little performance research is done on women, particularly regarding the needs of elite female athletes. So I took matters into my own hands, and I started writing the research myself. I did not want to keep waiting for someone else to study the questions that matter to my body.

“For nine years, I collected biometric data that I struggled to synthesize. Heart rate. HRV. Sleep. Weight. Power. Temperature. Training load. Menstrual cycle phases. Bloodwork. DEXA scans.

“Every app gave me one piece of the story, but the answer was never in one app.”

Faulkner explained the AI models she has built for herself are “trained on my body” and “specific to my history”.

The research has been so valuable, she added, that she credits it with helping her to win three gold medals at the recent Pan American Championships: the individual pursuit and team pursuit on the track, and the time trial on the road.

“Sometimes I'd get back from my ride and jump onto my laptop in kit before putting my bike away. I'd start a coding session and let it run while I showered,” she wrote.

Faulkner became a pro cyclist for the first time in 2021, aged 28, following a career in venture capital. She holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Harvard University, one of the top universities in the world, and invests in AI companies.

“AI is going to change women’s performance research from the bottom up, and I want to be a part of it,” she said.

“I came into cycling late. I did not win because I had the deepest race history or the most experience. I won because I used my brain as much as I could. Before my first European race, I made flashcards of the riders, I studied every corner of every course, and I analyzed my data rigorously. I am doing the same thing now, with AI.”

The number of AI training platforms has multiplied in recent years. Already, cyclists can subscribe to a virtual coach with HumanGo, receive AI-powered plans through apps like Spoked, Vekta and Garmin Coach, and speak with an AI chatbot version of Sir Bradley Wiggins with The Coachsters.

“While AI offers valuable guidance, a balance is crucial,” David Bailey, head of sport science at NSN Cycling Team told Cycling Weekly earlier this year. “Recreational cyclists risk becoming too reliant on AI, potentially ignoring their body’s feelings.”

The 2026 season is well underway, with two Women's WorldTour races already completed, the Tour Down Under and the UAE Tour.

As the racing switches to Europe, it's time to look at the teams, the key riders, and the races to watch across an engrossing season. Everything is building up to a fifth Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift in August, but there is so much more before then.

Here is our team-by-team guide to the Women's WorldTour, and the moments of the season to anticipate.

This feature originally appeared in Cycling Weekly magazine on 5 February 2026. Subscribe now and never miss an issue.

Teams

AG Insurance-Soudal
Belgium
2025 WorldTour wins: 5
Team leaders: Kim Le Court and Sarah Gigante
Team boss: Jurgen Foré
Raison d’être: Providing a solid platform for Le Court and Gigante to fly from

This was a winter of continuity for AG Insurance-Soudal, with two riders leaving and only one, Letizia Borghesi, joining. It means 2026 looks very similar to 2025, but with the hindsight of what happened last season, we can expect them to deliver more regularly.

Kim Le Court was far from an unknown, having won a stage of the Giro d’Italia Women in 2024, but last year was her breakout, with wins at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the Tour of Britain Women and, the biggest, the Tour de France Femmes. Her teammate Sarah Gigante finished on the podium at the Giro and sixth at the Tour.

This pair will continue to lead the team, alongside Urška Žigart and Justine Ghekiere, both of whom have big results in them.

Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto
Germany
2025 WorldTour wins: 2
Team leader: Kasia Niewiadoma Phinney
Team boss: Ronny Lauke
Raison d’etre: Challenge again for the top step of the Tour de France Femmes

It was always going to be a big ask for Kasia Niewiadoma to defend her Tour de France Femmes title in 2025, especially with the return of Pauline Ferrand-Prévot at Visma-Lease a Bike and renewed hunger of Demi Vollering at FDJ-SUEZ, so to hold on to the final podium place in the end felt like a job well done. Never one to settle, the Polish rider and her team will be hoping to win back the yellow jersey this summer, but also pick up a few more victories along the way.

Although Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto won 15 times last season – their highest tally since 2019, and a marked improvement from six in 2024 – only two of those victories came on the WorldTour: one thanks to Chloé Dygert at the Tour Down Under, and the other signed by Zoe Bäckstedt at the Simac Ladies Tour.

The team will no doubt call on the two time trial sensations again in 2026. Already, Dygert has come out with fighting talk. “I’m sick of losing,” she said ahead of January’s Tour Down Under, “so this year, I’m really focusing on making sure it doesn’t happen much.” Unfortunately for the American, she left Australia with 12 stitches in her leg, and is now eyeing a period of recovery before the Classics.

There have been no new signings at Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto over the winter, and only two outgoings: Tour stage winner Ricarda Bauernfiend has found a new home at Lidl-Trek, while former British champion Alice Towers has moved to EF Education-Oatly. The effervescent Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig and budding climber Neve Bradbury remain among the most exciting riders in the team. Italian sprinter Chiara Consonni will be there for the flatter days.

EF Education-Oatly
USA
2025 WorldTour wins: 2
Team leader: Noemi Rüegg and Cédrine Kerbaol
Team boss: Esra Tromp
Raison d’être: Keeping the good vibes going at a young team full of talent

New to the Women’s WorldTour, EF Education-Oatly had the perfect start to their season, by winning the Tour Down Under for the second year in a row through Noemi Rüegg.

However, those were the team’s last WorldTour victories in 2025, so it is a low bar to clear for this season. In Rüegg and Cédrine Kerbaol they have two riders who were often at the front of races last year. The team stand out in pink, and also because they have the rainbow jersey, through Magdeleine Vallieres.

Kristen Faulkner, Olympic champion, will want more than her one win last year, while there has been an injection of youth to keep the American squad ticking over. No more Alison Jackson.

FDJ United-Suez
France
2025 WorldTour wins: 11
Team leader: Demi Vollering
Team boss: Stephen Delcourt
Raison d’être: To win the Tour de France Femmes and remain the world's top-ranked team

When the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift was first announced, team manager Stephen Delcourt dreamed of winning it, building the team with that ambition in the front of his mind. Only six years ago the team was one of the also-ran squads, but since Évita Muzic won the closing stage of the 2020 Giro Rosa, their first WorldTour win, they’ve been on the rise. Last season they brought in defending Tour champion Demi Vollering hoping the yellow jersey ambition might be realised but, while she came close, second place was all the team could manage.

FDJ dominated the first half of last season. Vollering quickly repaid Delcourt's faith, blossoming into a fine leader, starting the year with victory in the four-day Comunitat Velenciana, then winning Strade Bianche, the Vuelta Femenina, Itzulia Women and the Volta Catalunya. They were far from a one-woman band; fellow new recruit Elise Chabbey and Ally Wollaston contributed multiple victories, helping the French team to top spot in the UCI rankings.

That said, they have fewer riders this year, but have recruited well, with German champion Frazinska Koch the pick of the new additions. A hugely versatile Classics rider and domestique, she will contribute widely, while Eva van Agt is a proven helper and Sofia Bertizzolo has been a target for the team for years now. It will be interesting to see how Scotswoman Lauren Dickson fares in only her third year in the sport. The signs are promising: she finished 17th on GC at the recent Tour Down Under, helping Wollaston to two stage wins and brilliant team performance.

Fenix-Premier Tech
Belgium
2025 WorldTour wins: 1
Team leader: Puck Pieterse
Team boss: Philip Roodhooft
Raison d'être: Big Classics victories

Fenix-Premier Tech are among the minority of Women's WorldTour teams to have more riders this year than last, starting 2026 with 19 of the permitted 22 riders. An interesting mix of cyclo-cross and Classics riders, they have never been prolific winners. Last season they took only five, though three of those were national championships.

When they do win, they win big, with stages in the Tour de France Femmes on the team palmarès. The hugely talented and versatile Puck Pieterse is always among the action, finishing in the top 10 in every one of last year's spring Classics and winning La Flèche Wallonne. Charlotte Kool joined the squad mid-season last year and should she regain her mojo will provide genuine winning potential in the sprints.

Lidl-Trek
Germany
2025 WorldTour wins: 5
Team leader: Elisa Balsamo and Niamh Fisher-Black
Team boss: Luca Guercilena
Raison d’être: Getting the big signings to deliver

There’s a lot of talent stockpiled at Lidl-Trek, and getting it to fire is the main goal of the team for 2026. Ellen van Dijk and Lizzie Deignan retiring could have unbalanced another team, but this one was prepared for this eventuality already, making the big changes ahead of 2025. As it is, the German squad’s signings this winter have largely been dealing with domestique reorganisation, and providing some experience to a developing roster.

Last season saw success through the year, although perhaps not quite at the level that was expected, with fewer WorldTour wins than 2024. However, there were stage victories at the Vuelta España Femenina and the Giro d’Italia Women, with Anna Henderson’s result in the latter perhaps spurring her on to more consistent success, and Elisa Balsamo won the Trofeo Alfredo Binda.

Niamh Fisher-Black and Riejanne Markus, both signed as general classification options, performed impressively at stage races, with Fisher-Black fifth at the Tour de France Femmes and sixth at the Vuelta. This year, they will aim to cement their places in the top five at WorldTour stage events, especially the Grand Tours. Fisher-Black has a lot of promise, and is still only 25, so one feels that there is a breakout performance still to come.

In the Classics, Balsamo has the abilities to overcome almost anyone, therefore just needs the race to fall in her favour, while she will be ably backed up by Clara Copponi, Emma Norsgaard, Shirin van Anrooij and Henderson, which has the makings of a pretty good collection of leaders for the chaos of one-day racing. The team still has four 20-year-olds, too, including Isabella Holmgren, who finished eight at last year’s Giro, so there is a lot of hope for the future.

Movistar
Spain
2025 WorldTour wins: 10
Team leader: Marlen Reusser
Team boss: Sebastián Unzué
Raison d’etre: Win regularly and develop young talent

Only four teams won more races than Movistar in 2025 – SD Worx-Protime, UAE Team ADQ, FDJ-SUEZ and Visma-Lease a Bike – putting the Spanish squad just outside of the realm of the super-teams. Of Movistar’s 10 victories at WorldTour level, seven came courtesy of the world time trial champion Marlen Reusser. And that doesn’t account for the Swiss rider’s status as one of the peloton’s best GC contenders; she finished runner-up at both the Vuelta Femenina and the Giro last year.

Movistar will also look to British prodigy Cat Ferguson for wins in 2026, one of a handful of talented teenagers in the squad. The youngest is Spaniard Paula Ostiz, the junior world and European road champion, who turned pro this year.

Picnic PostNL
Netherlands
2025 WorldTour wins: 1
Team leader: Pfeiffer Georgi
Team boss: Iwan Spekenbrink
Raison d’etre: A team in transition, with a host of young riders on board

Nine riders left Picnic PostNL over the winter, and eight came in, underlining how in transition this team is. Some of those who left will be missed badly: Charlotte Kool, Francesca Barale, Franzi Koch, Megan Jastrab and Nienke Vinke. It leaves a young, callow squad, which will hope to outperform low expectations.

They hit the ground running at the Tour Down Under, with two podiums and 12th place overall for Josie Nelson, but the Classics will be the place where the squad can really show their mettle. Pfeiffer Georgi had a quiet 2025, as she worked her way back from the concussion she suffered at the Tour de France Femmes a couple of years ago, and will be looking to show that she is still a contender.

SD Worx-Protime
Netherlands
2025 WorldTour wins: 27
Team leaders: Lotte Kopecky, Anna van der Breggen and Lorena Wiebes
Team boss: Erwin Janssen
Raison d’être: Retaking their number one ranking after a slight dip

This year represents a new challenge for the previously all-conquering SD Worx-Protime. Instead of coming into the season as the number one team, the one everyone wanted to beat, they are now number two, chasing FDJ United-SUEZ, and their former charge Vollering.

That’s not to say 2025 was a fallow year for the Dutch squad, with 48 wins across the year, including 25 wins for Lorena Wiebes, who appears unbeatable in sprints. Wiebes won through the year, from the UAE Tour onwards, taking two stage wins at both the Giro d’Italia Women and the Tour de France Femmes. Meanwhile, Lotte Kopecky won the Tour of Flanders, again, and Anna van der Breggen and Mischa Bredewold showed themselves in flashes.

However, Kopecky did have an off-year, due to knee and lower-back issues, and her tilt at Tour GC failed to materialise. Also, in the absence of Vollering, they only won one general classification title. This might be a continued trend, with a group of developing riders not quite there yet, although Van der Breggen did finish third at last year’s Vuelta España Femenina.

Expect Wiebes to keep winning, wherever she races, and Kopecky to go all in for the Classics, from Omloop Nieuwsblad onwards. Ultimately, SD Worx want to be the team that everyone watches in the peloton again, and be back to the space where they can bend races to their will. They do not have the same number of dominant riders as before, but they do have the right pieces for the right races. New signing Nienke Vinke could be the future for GC challenges, and Bredewold can continue to do her very good Vollering impression in hillier one-day races.

UAE Team ADQ
UAE
2025 WorldTour wins: 7
Team leader: Elisa Longo Borghini
Team boss: Yana Seel
Raison d'être: Defence of Elisa Longo Borghini's Giro title and a Tour de France Femmes podium finish

Building year on year, UAE Team ADQ are now among the most dangerous teams in the peloton. The addition of Elisa Longo Borghini last year has proved pivotal. Though they've only existed in their current form since 2022, the team dates all the way back to Nicole Cooke's Mcipollini-Giordana team of 2011. Last year's crop of 28 wins represented their most successful season, the winning shared among a remarkable 13 of their 19-woman roster.

2025 Tour de France Femmes revelation Maeva Squiban, along with Karlijn Swinkels, have already opened the team's account, winning in Mallorca last week. While they're one of the few teams to have increased the size of their roster, we can expect Longo Borghini to be most influential again.

Visma-Lease a Bike
Netherlands
2025 WorldTour wins: 7
Team leader: Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Marianne Vos
Team boss: Rutger Tijssen
Raison d'être: Another Tour de France title for Pauline Ferrand Prévot and big Classics wins for Marianne Vos

Even without Pauline Ferrand-Prévot's Tour de France Femmes victory, Visma-Lease a Bike had a great 2025, winning more races than in any of their four previous seasons while relying less on their big names. Martina Fidanza stepped up with three wins, and Ninke Veenhoven bagged two. The future lies with two young riders: the hugely talented Brit Imogen Wolff, who began winning before her 19th birthday, and Marion Bunel, who is already among the best climbers in the bunch aged only 21.

Ferrand-Prévot has a freakish ability to successfully target races, so another Tour de France win is possible. Meanwhile, Marianne Vos always bags at least one big win a year. Add in Canadian all-rounder Sarah Van Dam and Dutch rouleur Daniek Hengeveld and Visma have a recipe for success.

Uno-X Mobility, Liv AlUla Jayco and Human Powered Health

Uno-X Mobility won just one WorldTour race last year, a stage of the Vuelta a Burgos Feminas through Mie Bjørndal Ottestad, who won four more races for the team. This year, they are likely to continue their aggressive underdog strategy, which has brought them success in the past. In Katrine Aalerud, they have an experienced GC leader.

2025 ended well for Liv AlUla Jayco, who won two stages at the Tour of Chongming Island; they also won stage two of the Tour de France Femmes through Mavi García. This year, they will hope that they can return to the front of races more often, through Letizia Paternoster and Ruby Roseman-Gannon, among others.

Human Powered Health will aim to be more than just the 14th WorldTour team, with a ProTour or WorldTour victory surely among their plans. In Thalita de Jong and Kathrin Schweinberger, they have experienced riders who could surprise.

Races

Spring Classics

From Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (28 Feb) until Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes (26 April), the women's Spring Classics season follows an almost identical rhythm to that of the men's, with female 'siblings' having been introduced for nearly all of the original major men's races. The inauguration of Milan-San Remo Donne (21 March) last season – won by Lorena Wiebes – leaves E3 Saxo Classic as the only men's WorldTour race with no equivalent. Omloop and Opening Weekend is followed in March by Italy's Strade Bianche, San Remo, and a pair of new names: In Flanders Fields. From Middelkerke to Wevelgem (formerly the more succinct Gent-Wevelgem) and the Tour of Bruges (formerly Brugge-De Panne).

There is also the Trofeo Alfredo Binda (15 March), one of the oldest Classics on the women's calendar with more than 50 years of history.

As with the men, the women's Classics tends to centre around the Tour of Flanders (5 April) and Paris-Roubaix (12 April), but some of the stronger climbers will target the hilly Ardennes races – Amstel Gold (19 April), Flèche Wallonne (22 April) and Liège.

Vuelta España Femenina by carrefour.es – 3-10 May

With the women's season rejigged to free the Giro d'Italia Women from its annual clash with the men's Tour de France, there is now a decent gap between the three Grand Tours, opening up the possibility of seeing all of the world's best riders in all three. The season is packed, though, especially in May when the Vuelta is the first of three Spanish WorldTour stage races, and with teams having such small rosters it's more likely teams will need to be very choosy when selecting their squads.

In its short history as a stage race, the Vuelta Femenina has always attracted the pick of the stage racing bunch, and that is unlikely to change this season. Not many riders have confirmed their programmes beyond the Classics and the Tour de France Femmes so far, but last year's runner-up Marlen Reusser is down to ride, and don't be surprised defending champion Demi Vollering here either.

Tour de France Femmes – 1-9 August

The 2026 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift begins slowly with two flattish stages, before the temperature gradually rises. A series of hilly stages are punctuated by an individual time trial, before the pièce de resistance, Mont Ventoux. After Planche des Belles Filles, the Tourmalet, Alpe d’Huez and the Madeleine comes the Giant of Provence. The bald mountain will surely hint at the direction of the fifth yellow jersey, but there is still a hectic stage around Nice to come, like a turbo-charged final day of Paris-Nice. Four ascents of the Col d’Eze will sort out the wheat from the chaff.

Demi Vollering will be itching to take back the crown she lost in 2024, and prove that she really is the best rider in the world; FDJ United-SUEZ will also demand better from their star signing. However, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot has proved that she will go to huge lengths to win, and will have the French public on her side. It should be a clash for the ages. From Switzerland to the Mediterranean, the action will not stop.

EF Pro Cycling is searching for a new title partner to help achieve their aim of winning the Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift in the next decade, the team announced on Friday.

The American squad made the relatively novel step of going public with their search for a new sponsor, which they described as an "unprecedented and unique opportunity". The outfit consists of the men's WorldTour team EF Education-EasyPost, and Women's WorldTour team EF Education-Oatly.

Both teams will still be owned by EF Education First but "first naming rights" are on offer, with the aim to bring on a new partner to help the team compete with their wealthiest rivals.

In a press release, EF stated three bold aims: to win the Tour de France Femmes in the next three years; to continue building "the world leading development pathway in professional cycling"; and to win both the men's and women's Tours within the next decade through riders produced through their own system.

"It’s rare in professional sport, and nearly unheard of in cycling, for an owner and anchor partner to commit long-term at EF’s current level and still invite an additional title partner to invest purely to make the team stronger," Jonathan Vaughters, EF Pro Cycling's CEO, said in a statement.

"We owe a great deal to EF. They recognize the incredible opportunity we have to keep building something truly special.

"Our sport has changed dramatically over the past two decades. WorldTour budgets have risen at an unprecedented pace, and we see this as an opportunity to partner with a brand that shares our vision of winning at the highest level while staying true to who we are."

The team has a history of over two decades, with the men's squad being on the WorldTour since 2009. They became EF in 2018, after what was then Cannondale-Drapac turned to crowdfunding to try and secure their future. Riders were free to sign elsewhere as doubts magnified over the team's viability, but it was secured with investment from EF, an international education company.

The Women's WorldTour team was founded in 2023, but was a phoenix team from EF Education–Tibco–SVB. They became a Women's WorldTour outfit this season.

"This is a unique opportunity for an organization to partner with a global team and organization such as EF," EF Education First global chief of staff and president Maria Norrman said.

"Together, we can build a team that extends far beyond traditional sponsorship, creating lasting value and impact for years to come."

"Title sponsorship amplifies the reach to the cycling audience, and EF Pro Cycling is well positioned to benefit from the trends and growth in the cycling audience and viewership," Nielsen Sports Commercial director and head of cycling Jerome Bouchat added.

"This team cultivates its own image to stand out and understands that to attract brands, it must be as visible as possible and offer powerful storytelling."

If you're interested in partnering with the team, you're invited to email hello@efprocycling.com.

Last summer, as many as 15 Tour de France teams were looking for new sponsors; EF's public bid is the team putting themselves on the market.

If it ain't broke, don’t fix it, right? Well, that’s exactly the approach Cannondale seems to have taken in what appears to be the fifth-generation SuperSix Evo Lab71. The bike was raced by EF Education-Oatly at the Tour Down Under and has already notched up its first victory of the season, following Noemi Ruegg's sprint finish to win stage three and secure the overall title for a second time.

While Cannondale has been tight-lipped in sharing any details around the bike, a new SuperSix Evo wouldn't come as a shock based on the 3-4 year model lifecycle most brands employ, and the fact that at the 2023 product launch, Cannondale's senior design engineer, Dr Nathan Barry told me the design team was already making plans to start work on the fifth-generation SuperSix Evo.

From the pictures, the new model looks very much like the fourth-generation SuperSix Evo launched in 2023, with subtle nuances in the tube profiling, particularly around the headtube and the fork, the former of which looks slightly deeper and shorter than before. This is nothing particularly groundbreaking and falls within the current push towards enhanced aerodynamics.

It's hard to tell from the pictures if there are any other frame tweaks; if so, the alterations are very small. The seat tube, however, looks a lot like what we've seen on the new SuperX and Synapse models, tapering towards the bottom bracket junction, which could suggest improved tyre clearance. For contrast, the fourth-generation SuperSix Evo has space at the rear to clear 30mm tyres. A closer examination of the dropout assembly reveals a UDH dropout - ensuring the new model plays nicely with most modern groupsets and futureproofs the setup, too.

What I have noticed is what appears to be a new cockpit configuration, eschewing the Vision and MomoDesign SystemBar R-One bar configurations of the fourth-generation Lab71 team bikes, but I can't tell if it's sponsor-specific or from the manufacturer.

Given that both the men's and women's EF Education teams are racing the bike in the public eye, the official launch is imminent, so keep an eye on our website and social channels for when that news breaks.

In the final kilometre of stage three of the 2026 Tour Down Under, everything was still on the line. Noemi Rüegg of EF Education-Oatly, the defending champion, was present, but vastly outnumbered. She had fought to stay with three UAE Team ADQ riders – Mavi García, Dominika Włodarczyk, and Paula Blasi – over the final ascent of the Corkscrew climb, but there was still an imbalance.

Rüegg, thanks to bonus seconds, only needed to finish with the group to win the race overall, but it was not an easy assignment, especially after a testing time in the kilometres leading up to this point.

She had been distanced on the first time up the climb after Garcia and Włodarczyk went clear, along with Sarah Van Dam (Visma-Lease a Bike), but thanks to the work of her team, especially world champion Magdeleine Vallieres, Rüegg got back to the front of the race. Now it was just a question of timing.

With the three UAE riders looking spent after their afternoon of attacking riding, Rüegg was able to sprint to a clear victory in Campbelltown, looking every inch the deserving winner.

That was the climax, but there was more that occurred on the other side of the world this weekend that you should know about.

Rüegg and EF Education-Oatly mean business

There isn't much of a better way to announce your arrival as a Women's WorldTour team as winning a race at the first opportunity, but that's what EF Education-Oatly did, through Noemi Rüegg.

The Swiss rider timed her sprint to perfection in the end to defend the ochre jersey, but her being there was thanks to the stellar work of her teammates in Australia: Henrietta Christie, Magdeleine Vallieres, Stina Kagevi and Alice Towers. Vallieres, the world champion, put the team in front of any ambitions she had to star on stage three, and it paid off handsomely.

The American team is young, and full of talent, and their year is off to a flyer. Expect them to continue with their aggressive riding through the season, and keep your eyes on them – they're hard to miss anyway, in that pink.

Canadian cycling is in rude health

Vallieres is world champion and helped her teammate to victory, but there was another Canadian who impressed on stage three: Visma-Lease a Bike's Sarah Van Dam, who, in her first race for her new Dutch team, finished fifth overall after briefly looking like a potential winner.

The 24-year-old raced for CERATIZIT last year, and hardly went beneath the radar, finishing third overall at Itzulia Women and fifth at the Tour of Britain Women. However, Van Dam showed how she is one to watch in 2026 Down Under, at the front of the race on the Corkscrew.

While Visma remain led by Marianne Vos and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, Van Dam will offer another option for the Dutch squad this season.

Wollaston continues to be more than a pure sprinter

Stage one played out exactly how FDJ United-SUEZ wanted it, with Ally Wollaston dominantly sprinting to victory after a flat day. However, the Kiwi's win on stage two reminded all that she is more than a pure sprinter, with a stage win after 2,000m of climbing.

The 25-year-old has form, winning the Tour of Britain Women last year, but with two victories to kickstart her 2026, expect her to challenge at a variety of races this season. Wollaston seems strong on tough days, so could well be an option when the Classics come around.

FDJ United-SUEZ, meanwhile, look to have real strength in depth across the team.

Australia left empty-handed again

For the second successive year, there was no Australian winner at the Tour Down Under. In fact, the second successive year that there was no Australian in the top-three on any stage either.

Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek), in her retirement year, finished seventh overall, but the next best Australian was Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Liv AlUla Jayco) in 20th.

For Liv AlUla Jayco in particular, the lack of success at their home race must sting. Australian riders should have the advantage, given the TDU comes in their summer, on their roads, and after their National Championships.

The nation that produced Spratt, Grace Brown and Chloe Hosking, and more recently Neve Bradbury and Sarah Gigante, will have to wait another year for a win.

Josie Nelson points way forward for Picnic

Picnic PostNL had a major reshuffle ahead of 2026, losing Marta Cavalli to retirement, and Charlotte Kool, Franzi Koch, Megan Jastrab, Francesco Barale and Nienke Vinke to other teams.

However, they left their first race of the season reasonably happy, with two podium finishes through Josie Nelson, and 12th overall too. The 23-year-old is already into her third season with the Dutch team, but showed signs last year that she was close to a big result, which has continued this year.

The rider from Lichfield is something of an all-rounder, and will work well alongside fellow Brit Pfeiffer Georgi. As a relatively inexperienced team, Picnic PostNL will use the early-season success to keep them rolling on, and hope that Nelson will break through to victory.

World champion Magdeleine Vallieres will continue to chase her cycling dreams with the EF Education-Oatly squad, having signed a contract extension that will keep her in the pink team through 2028.

Before the world championships in Kigali last September, few outside Canadian cycling circles had even heard of the 24-year-old Québécoise. She lined up for the race ranked 149th in the world, but by the finish, she had delivered one of the season’s biggest upsets, out-riding the favourites to claim the rainbow jersey.

Teammate and Olympic champion Kristen Faulkner explained that Vallieres’ relative anonymity stemmed from her selfless role within the team. "Although she is incredibly strong and tactical, she is almost always supporting her teammates," Faulkner said.

That is set to change.

Going forward, Vallieres will take on more of a leadership role within the squad, EF Education-Oatly General Manager Esra Tromp revealed, calling the championship win a “just reward for her work ethic and dedication and her courage to back herself”.

"Mags has big ambitions for the coming years. Her heart is set on trying to win one of the Ardennes classics, testing her limits as a GC racer, and defending her rainbow jersey at her home world championships this fall in Montréal," the team stated in a press release.

A graduate of the UCI’s World Cycling Centre programme, Vallieres joined the WorldTour in 2022 with Linda Jackson’s EF Education–Tibco–SVB team. She calls the squad “her family” and credits the programme with nurturing her talent.

"I grew up on this team and I think I can continue to develop here. Signing a long-term contract felt like the right move for me and for the next steps in my career. I get along really well with the girls, and I think we're in a place where we can keep growing together," Vallieres said.

"I am looking forward to taking a different approach and trying to bring everything I learned to race more as a leader. I also know that I still have a lot to learn to be consistent at the top and I'm looking forward to taking this as an opportunity to continue learning in this new role and learn together with my teammates."

Tromp echoed that sentiment, hoping that having the rainbow stripes among them will give a boost to the team as a whole and see them contest more race wins.

"Mags leads by example," she said."For the other girls now, seeing her rainbow jersey there in the group when they are out training or at dinner will make them think, 'Okay, now we need to step up, because we have the world champion in our team and we need to show that in the races. We need to be able to help her.'"

Vallieres will make her 2026 debut in her fresh rainbow jersey at the Tour Down Under. From there, she will shift her focus to the Ardennes classics, the Giro d’Italia, and the Tour de France, before travelling home to Québec to defend her world title.

"Racing such events in the rainbow jersey will be a huge honour. Mags is still getting used to all of the attention that comes from being world champion, but is confident that she can handle the pressure," the team stated. "She has already beaten the best bike racers in the world once and knows exactly what she will need to do to ride into the form that will give her opportunities to beat them again and again."

Learn more about the new world champion here: "7 things you didn’t know about Magdeleine Vallieres, Canada’s first-ever Elite Road Race World Champion."

'I’ve not had my period since 2014. My bones are weak. My gastrointestinal function is sh$'t' - with those candid words, American climber Veronica Ewers, who emerged as one of the nation’s brightest talents in 2022, announced that she will step away from professional racing in 2026 to pursue full medical recovery.

The 31-year-old Idaho-native disclosed that a recent blood test showed that her hormone levels "were still nearly non-existent," after years of severe hormone suppression and the long-term effects of an eating disorder. RED-S, or Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport, has been cited as part of the issue.

Ewers said the results were devastating. Ewers took half of the 2024 season off to focus on healing, and returned in 2025 hoping to “continue my recovery journey whilst training and racing.”

But the dual focus proved impossible. "Trying to perform, which I physically couldn’t do until my hormones recover (stabilise), while trying to recover, which I couldn’t do until I stop trying to perform at the top level, was like beating my head against the wall," she wrote.

She's found herself at a crossroads, one that's making her choose between continuing as is or focus on a full recovery and performance later. Ultimately, she chose the latter. She will not race, nor train in 2026.

“I’ve put myself into a hole by abusing my body for too long… My body needs a full reset before it can be at its best. I’m tired of being mediocre," she said.

And beyond performance, she emphasised long-term wellbeing: “Most importantly, I want to go hiking, cycling, running, etc, when I’m older.”

A decade-long struggle with disordered eating

Ewers' rise in the sport was meteoric. She attended her first-ever group road ride in 2018, showing up on a too-big, hand-me-down Kona Jake the Snake cyclocross bike in leggings and tennis shoes. By the summer of 2021, she stood on the U.S. Pro Nationals podium with a bronze medal around her neck, and the following year she finished fourth at her first Grand Tour, the Giro d’Italia Donne, and ninth at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.

But behind her ascent was a decade-long struggle with disordered eating and its physiological consequences, something she's outlined at length in her own writing on Substack. She describes childhood anxiety dismissed as mere nerves, the pressures of collegiate athletics, and the gradual evolution of a restrictive-then-bulimic eating disorder that shadowed much of her twenties. She recounts not having had a period since 2014, accumulating weak bones, poor gastrointestinal function and, eventually, pushing her body to the brink of kidney failure during a dehydrated training ride in 2023.

While cycling initially provided stability and community, the transition to the European peloton reignited old habits. “The competition didn’t end at the bike race,” she wrote. “It kept going in the kitchen and at the dinner table.” Her “demon,” as she calls it, resurfaced in moments of injury, isolation, and the relentless need to prove herself.

After hitting "rock bottom" in 2023, she attempted to rebuild in 2024, taking months away from racing before returning for a fourth professional season with the EF Education-Oatly team. She remained optimistic yet the underlying hormonal damage did not resolve.

Now working with medical specialists, Ewers is focused on what she terms “restoring body weight” and navigating the identity shift that comes with stepping back from elite sport.

“I don’t know who I am when not an athlete,” she admitted, though she frames the future with resolve: she refuses to let the “demon” regain its hold and hopes to rebuild toward a healthier version of herself, one capable of returning to racing when she is ready.

“My goal is to come back eventually and show the world what I’m capable of in a functional body," she writes.

EF Education–Oatly released a statement in support of Ewers, acknowledging that Ewers had been "managing RED-S throughout her career" and received guidance and support from the team's medical and nutritional staff.

"The health and long-term well-being of our riders is always our top concern, and that is what guided this difficult decision [to release Ewers from her contract],” said EF Education–Oatly general manager Esra Tromp.

The team praised Ewers for "doing everything within her power to support her recovery while remaining a committed teammate both on and off the bike," and that the team's medical staff, therapists and dietitians will remain available to her.

“Veronica has shown immense courage and dedication, and we are committed to supporting her as she focuses on her health. We hope to see Veronica healthy again very soon," said Tromp.