Visma-Lease a Bike have named the seven riders that will join Jonas Vingegaard in the team at the Tour de France next week.

Victor Campenaerts, Edoardo Affini, Per Strand Hagenes, Matteo Jorgenson, Sepp Kuss, Bruno Armirail and Davide Piganzoli will all support the Dane as he starts his bid for a third yellow jersey in Barcelona on 4 July.

Wout van Aert, the 10-time Tour stage winner, will be absent from the race for the first time in eight years due to an elbow injury. The Belgian crashed in training earlier this month and, despite racing and winning a stage at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, has since developed an infection in his elbow wound, the team announced last week.

Visma-Lease a Bike presented their eight-rider Tour squad on Tuesday with a YouTube live stream from their performance centre in Den Bosch, the Netherlands. None of the riders were present, as most are on a training camp in the French Alps.

Asked about the team's goal for the Tour, lead race coach Marc Reef said: "It's very obvious, I think, especially when you have Jonas: we want to win the Tour de France."

Vingegaard is expected to be the main challenger to defending champion Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) at this year's Tour. The two riders have shared the last six yellow jerseys between them; Vingegaard won in 2022 and 2023, and placed second in 2021, 2024 and 2025 to Pogačar, who also won in 2020.

"I have a lot of belief in myself, and that also gives the other guys belief," Vingegaard said. "They really believe in the plan we have and believe that it's possible to win the Tour de France again. It's now three years ago I won it the last time, and ever since it's been a big goal for me."

Earlier this year, Vingegaard completed the Grand Tour trilogy when he won the Giro d'Italia by a convincing margin of more than five minutes.

The 29-year-old also won five stages at the race, adding to previous victories at Paris-Nice and the Volta a Catalunya, in what has been his most prolific season start to date.

As their usual yellow clashes with the leader's jersey, Visma-Lease a Bike will wear a limited edition black kit called 'The Architect' at the Tour, inspired by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí.

The Tour de France starts with a team time trial in Barcelona on 4 July, and runs to its Paris finale on 26 July.

Just like that, in a whir of freewheels and a flash of pink, the Giro d'Italia is over for another year. It crowned new champions in various classifications, some more unexpected than others, and yielded some hard-fought, heart-in-mouth stages in the beguiling scenery that the race has become known for.

Ushered in for the first time via a Bulgarian grande partenza, the 'firsts' began straight away, and only continued as the race made its way up the boot of Italy, pinballing from coast to coast before taking riders over the mountains in the north.

In Rome, after the dust had settled on the final stage, there was one brand new champion and at least one new star. And then there were the hopefuls for whom the race had not worked out as it might have – including one who joked that he'd be burning his race numbers and jerseys in an attempt to erase it from memory.

For a multitude of teams it was also a race to forget – or at least move on from: only nine came away with stage wins.

Let's take a look at the hits and misses of the Giro d'italia 2026.

THE HITS

Jonas Vingegaard (overall winner)

Few fans were in any doubt of Jonas Vingegaard's credentials as one of the best bike racers in the world, and he certainly didn't need the Giro d'Italia to validate that. But that status has, for around two-and-a-half seasons now, come with a Tadej-Pogačar-shaped caveat: the Slovenian, goes the narrative, is another level up from the diminutive Dane.

With his Giro d'Italia victory though, not to mention an already-impressive start to 2026, Visma-Lease a Bike's Vingegaard is starting to edit that story in his favour. He won the Vuelta a España last August, but the Giro d'Italia is more prestigious and the win has the added and well publicised bonus of making Vingegaard only the eighth male rider to have won all three Grand Tours. Before Pogačar too, who has yet to win the Vuelta.

Vingegaard's Italian expedition appeared lukewarm to begin with. The absolute favourite, he began taking solo victories in the mountains as soon as they began, on stage seven to Blockhaus. But he wasn't quite as far ahead of his closest rival (Felix Gall of Decathlon CMA CGM, who finished second in Rome), as onlookers might have expected.

But Vingegaard's condition seemed to hone itself to a sharper edge as the race continued, while his rivals found theirs became blunted or fell away entirely (he was only 13 seconds ahead of Gall at Blockhaus, but a full 1:15 ahead on his final summit win on stage 20 to Piancavallo).

At the final count in Rome, the Dane had won five stages (all summit finishes) and the overall by a healthy 5:22.

Post-stage in the Italian capital Vingegaard said the win had left him "lost for words", so team boss Richard Plugge took up the baton, sending an ominous message to Pogačar et al: "… Jonas is getting even stronger after this," the Dutchman said. "We planned it so that he’ll be at his peak at the Tour de France. We are looking forward to that fight.”

Paul Magnier (points jersey winner)

In a race with so few obvious sprinting opportunities, it was perhaps a surprise to find such an intriguing narrative to emerge from the fast-finishing stages.

France's Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step), still just 22, is hardly an unknown, but he hasn't been considered on quite the same level as Grand Tour success stories like Jasper Philipsen, Biniam Girmay and Jonathan Milan. Until now, that is, because now Magnier has his own Grand Tour success story to tell.

Going into this Giro d'Italia, all eyes were on home rider Milan (Lidl-Trek), a previous winner of the ciclamino points jersey on two previous occasions.

However, he found many of his sprinting intentions thwarted by the upstart Magnier, who won not only the first stage but also pulled on the first maglia rosa of the race.

He became the sprinting sensation of the race, winning a further two stages and wearing the points jersey nearly every day. An unfamiliar 11th place in Rome after he found himself boxed in – with Milan finally getting his stage – won't take the sheen off a Giro that has well and truly announced Magnier to the world.

Afonso Eulálio (best young rider)

Every Grand Tour has the potential to make a star of a hitherto little known rider. Recent editions of the Giro d'Italia have selected Derek Gee, João Almeida and Ben Healy – this year it was the Bahrain Victorious rider Afonso Eulálio.

The story was a familiar one: rider finds himself in the race leader's jersey; rider thrives in the spotlight and finds abilities he didn't realise he had in the struggle to hang on to the jersey, and in doing so wins fans over.

Eulálio, 24, might have previously flitted across the consciousness of British fans thanks to his sixth overall at last year's Tour of Britain. But for most, their first encounter with the Portuguese rider would have been his memorable second place behind Igor Arrieta (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) on stage five in the Giro – a day that was marked by crashes and wrong turns of almost farcical proportions.

The maglia rosa was the consolation prize, but one that few expected him to wear beyond the Blockhaus stage two days later.

However, Eulálio held on to it that day. And the next, and the next. In fact, he ultimately grimaced and ground his way through a further eight stages resplendent in pink. But once Vingegaard had inevitably lifted it from his shoulders, there was no dramatic capitulation. Instead Eulálio kept riding with the front runners like he had always belonged there, only ceding time in dribs and drabs, and even attacking spontaneously when he sensed there was an advantage to be had.

By the time the race reached Rome, Eulálio was still sixth overall and had won the young rider's jersey – and fans' hearts.

...AND THE MISSES

Giulio Pellizzari (21st overall)

A week before the Giro d'Italia began in Bulgaria (remember that?) Giulio Pellizzari won the Tour of the Alps, at a canter, with aplomb. The young Italian hotshot was ready, his Red Bell-Bora-hansgrohe team said at the time, to challenge for the podium at the Giro d'Italia.

However, it became clear early on that Pellizzari was no longer on sparkling form. What was happening, we wondered. Were his Alpine exertions exactly a toll? The answer, it transpired, was that he'd been struck by a bug – one ended up plaguing him for much of the race.

He slipped slowly out of GC contention and finished, ultimately, in 21st place. His participation was hardly a wasted one though – as well as gaining great experience in what it is like to keep fighting when the cause is lost, he turned in some valuable domestique duty in the final mountain days.

All the same, speaking afterwards, he said he was glad the "ordeal" was over. "I don’t want to keep a single memory of this Giro. I’m going to burn all the race numbers and all the jerseys," he joked. "After that, we’ll think about the next race.”

Egan Bernal (10th overall)

Another rider who had shown promise during the Tour of the Alps in late April, the former Tour de France winner was to form part of a two-pronged GC approach at the Giro d'Italia, alongside Netcompany-Ineos teammate Thymen Arensman.

At the Tour of the Alps, there was even talk of Bernal finally refinding his Tour-winning form from seven years ago, after a long road back from a training crash in early 2022. Perhaps he has, but if that is the case, it would appear cycling has moved on: a promising start at the Giro d'Italia gave way to a gradual time bleed that saw him drop into the mid-teens on GC.

Late in the race the Colombian looked to have discovered a second wind, and his distinctive blue, yellow and red national champion's jersey could often be seen marshalling Arensman in and around the favourites' group on various mountain stages.

He managed creditable seventh and sixth place finishes on stage 16 and 20 respectively, boosting him to a final 10th on GC in Rome.

As misses go, it was far less wide of the mark than it could have been, but Bernal's lack of mid-race form cost him dear.

The often-understated Jonas Vingegaard showed his insatiable desire for victory as he won the his fifth stage of the 2026 Giro d’Italia to cap off his pink jersey winning ride.

After victory on the final mountain test of the Giro on stage 20, the Dane now just has to negotiate the final flat stage into Rome tomorrow to be crowned Giro d’Italia champion.

Vingegaard will have won all three grand tours following his Vuelta a España win last year and his Tour de France wins in 2022 and 2023. He will be the first rider to do it since Chris Froome in 2018.

Speaking after the race Vingegaard confirmed that despite his often laid-back demeanour he’s as competitive as any pro. “I’m a cyclist I like to win I want to win as many races as possible. So, we decided to go for it again today,” he told TNT Sports.

“The boys did amazing again today and I had an amazing day also. To have won five stages here and to go into tomorrow with a solid lead is special to me.”

Though it didn’t go all entirely according to plan. Vingegaard attacked the GC group on the lower slopes of the Piancavallo climb to the finish, an ascent dedicated to the memory of Italian legend Marco Pantani.

But he revealed he had planned to go a bit later in the climb but key mountain domestique and yesterday’s stage winner Sepp Kuss was having a bad day and wasn’t able to set the pace. “We had to improvise,” Vingegaard said. “Bart Lemmen was amazing he did such a high pace form the bottom.”

Initially Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) was able to respond to the Visma-Lease a Bike leader’s attack but soon he was distanced and steadily losing time.

Behind third place GC rider Jai Hindley (Red Bul-Bora-hansgrohe) continued to tap out a steady pace with fifth place Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek).

With 5km to go Hindley and Gee-West regained contact with Gall and the three came into the finish together with fourth place GC rider Thymen Arensman. The Netcompany Ineos rider had been paced back onto the back of the group by team-mate Egan Bernal and so averting any danger that Gee-West might jump Arensman in the GC.

Further back down the mountain, Vingegaard’s team-mate Davide Piganzoli tried to overhaul young rider classification leader Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious) who had started the day 1.03 up on his young Visma-Lease a Bike rival but to no avail.

Eulálio wasn’t the only one who had secured a jersey today, Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) claimed the blue king of the mountains classification thanks to the break taking most of the points on the first of two ascents of Piancavallo.

But the day was ultimately all about Vingegaard who’s team had controlled the stage for much of the day through the first of the two ascents of the first category Piancavallo climb.

Just past the finish line Vingegaard made his customary phone call home to his wife to celebrate.

His team manager Richard Plugge told TNT Sports: “It’s incredible how the team rode again today. Everyone is paying the price for three weeks and Jonas is still the strongest.”

Plugge confirmed that Vingegaard will turn his attention to the Tour de France following the Giro d’Italia celebrations.

ResultGiro d’Italia 2026, Stage 20: Gemona del Friuli 1976-2026 > Piancavallo (200km)

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 5:03.55
2. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +1.15
3. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe,
4. Derek Gee-West (Can) Lidl-Trek, all at same time
5. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Netcompany-Ineos, +1.19
6. Egan Bernal (Col) Netcompany-Ineos, +1.25
7. Afonso Eulálio (Por) Bahrain Victorious, +2.03
8. Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +2.13
9. Michale Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling
10. Davide Piganzoli (Ita) Visma-Lease a Bike, all at same time

General classification after stage 20

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 80:17.01
2. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +5.22
3. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +6.25
4. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Netcompany-Ineos, +7.02
5. Derek Gee-West (Can) Lidl-Trek, +7.56
5. Alfonso Eulálio (Por) Bahrain Victorious, +9.39
7. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, +10.13
8. Davide Piganzoli (Ita) Visma-Lease a Bike, +10.52
9. Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +11.24
10. Egan Bernal (Col) Netcompany-Ineos, +12.54

Jonas Vingegaard soared to a fourth stage victory at this year's Giro d'Italia on stage 16 of the race, cementing his lead in the pink jersey in the process.

The Visma-Lease a Bike rider has triumphed on every mountain-top finish at this year's Giro, and it was no different on Tuesday, as he put decisive time into his rivals. He now leads second-placed Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) by just over four minutes, who finished second, ahead of Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe).

Vingegaard's team had softened up the peloton on the mountainous day in Switzerland, with former race leader Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious) dropping early on the final climb to Carì, before the man in pink launched his move with 6.6km to go. No-one could follow, with Gall briefly trying, before giving up his chase. By the finish, the Dane had put over a minute into his challengers.

With five stages to go, Vingegaard now has a bigger margin over second place than every edition of the Giro in the last 10 years, aside from Tadej Pogačar's triumphant ride in 2024. Eulálio losing time meant the top 10 was mildly reshuffled, with Gall moving to second, Thymen Arensman (Netcompany-Ineos) now in third place, and Hindley into fourth, while the Portuguese rider is in in fifth.

"My teammates and I were very motivated for it," the stage winner and race leader said. "We wanted to try and win in the pink jersey, and it can also go wrong, so we chose the first option to do it. If we failed, then we’d have another one too.

"I think it was a very nice, very hard climb. It’s a long climb, it took around half an hour I guess. My teammates again did an amazing job, they pulled from the start, and they didn’t give the breakaway any chances today, and on the last climb then they reduced the bunch. Then I had to do the rest, and I’m happy once again that I can pay off my teammates."

Asked if his eyes were now on six stage wins, as Pogačar did in 2024, Vingegaard replied: "No. I take it day by day. Now I have four stages and we will see what we’ll do for the rest of the week."

"They showed again who is in charge again, as a team," Gall said. "He's just doing his thing."

The short day was animated by an early break which included Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Chris Harper (Pinarello-Q36.5) and Einer Rubio (Movistar), with Ciccone in particular seeming to hunt for mountains points. However, the escape never got enough leeway to challenge for the stage win, with Visma-Lease a Bike in control of the day.

One team did briefly appear on the front on the final climb – Red Bull – but this appeared to only achieve harm to their own aspirations, with Giulio Pellizzari dropping back almost immediately as the team began to pull.

There are two more key general classification days to come at this Giro, in the Dolomites and Julian Alps on stages 19 and 20, and it is very much Vingegaard's race to lose.

Results

Giro d'Italia stage 16: Bellinzona > Carì (113km)

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, 113km in 2:57:40
2. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +1:09
3. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +1:11
4. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Netcompany-Ineos, +1:14
5. Derek Gee-West (Can) Lidl-Trek, +1:18
6. Davide Piganzoli (Ita) Visma-Lease a Bike, +1:34
7. Egan Bernal (Col) Netcompany-Ineos, +2:04
8. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, +2:18
9. Mathys Rondel (Fra) Tudor Pro Cycling, +2:55
10. Wout Poels (Ned) Unibet Rose Rockets, +3:04

General classification after stage 16

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 62:10:26
2. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +4:03
3. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Netcompany-Ineos, +4:27
4. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +5:00
5. Afonso Eulálio (Por) Bahrain Victorious, +5:40
6. Derek Gee-West (Can) Lidl-Trek, +7:09
7. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, +7:14
8. Davide Piganzoli (Ita) Visma-Lease a Bike, +7:57
9. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Jayco AlUla, +9:20
10. Egan Bernal (Col) Netcompany-Ineos, +9:44

Jonas Vingegaard has said he will remain at Visma-Lease a Bike for the remainder of his career, adding that he will likely retire before he is 35.

The Dane, currently 29, was speaking during a rest day press conference at the Giro d'Italia, in which he is wearing the leader's maglia rosa.

After speculation over a possible future move to Netcompany-Ineos, whose new title sponsor is a Danish company, Vingegaard was asked whether he could imagine spending the rest of his career with his current team. He has a deal with Visma which runs until 2028 at the moment.

“This year is my eighth year as a pro,” Vingegaard said. “I also don’t see myself riding until I’m 35. I’m turning 30, so that’s actually not in so many years. I would also say that I don’t see myself changing team. To add to that, I see myself finishing my career in this team.”

“I’ve said in the last few years that I’ll take it year by year,” he said. “That’s what I’ve done at least since my [Itzulia Basque Country] crash in 2024, and at this moment I don’t see myself retiring. If I still enjoy it, then I will keep riding."

If Vingegaard does win the current Giro d'Italia, and few would bet against that at this point, his victory roll will include many of the biggest races in the sport – or at least those he could feasibly win without becoming a different kind of rider.

But there are a number of stage races the Dane would still like to tick off, he says.

“Obviously this would be a big goal for me, winning here in the Giro,” he said. “But I also haven’t won all the one-week stage races, which would be nice to win. I’ve won a few of them, so that’s also nice, but there are still some big races for me to try to win.”

He has won most of the current smaller WorldTour stage races, but the Tour de Suisse and Tour de Romandie have both so far eluded him – something he may wish to address. Of the biggest one-day races that could suit him, there are also the World Championships; he was also asked about his intentions there yesterday, but was non-committal.

“It’s still four months on the horizon, so I have no answer whether I’m doing it or not," he said. "I’ve said all the time that now I’m doing the Giro and the Tour. That’s my priority now. After the Tour I will see how I feel, and then I will make a decision on what to do.”

Vingegaard will be called upon to defend his pink jersey once again at today's Giro stage 16, which takes place Switzerland with the finish contested on the cat-one climb to Carì – 11.6km at 8%.

Jonas Vingegaard took the Giro d'Italia general classification by the scruff of the neck on Saturday, with a decisive win on stage 14.

On one of the toughest stages of the 21 of this year's event, the Visma-Lease a Bike rider attacked a group of favourites with 4.8km of the stage to go, riding to the final alone and taking the overall lead with seven stages to go.

Vingegaard's attack instantly distanced Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM), though, even with Davide Piganzzoli (Visma-Lease a Bike) initially on his wheel. The Austrian managed his effort, dropping the Italian and finishing in second place, 49 seconds down.

Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) was third a further nine seconds behind.

Always touted as a decisive stage, it saw Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious) cede the race leader's maglia rosa, after the Portuguese rider took it on stage five. Eulálio spent much of the final climb close to the back of the favourites' group and was dropped with 9km remaining, he battled on though, eventually finishing 115th, though he remains second overall. He's now 2.26 behind Vingegaard, with Gall third, a further 245 seconds back.

The day also saw Thymen Arensman (Netcompany-Ineos) slip one spot down the GC to fourth place, just ahead of Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe).

Vingegaard's victory came on the back of a dominant performance from his Visma-Lease a Bike team. They were dominant throughout the stage, which began with a first category climb and ascended more than 4,000m over the 133km. They monitored the breakaway from the neutral zone until the last of a huge bunch of escapees was finally brought to heel just over 5km from the line.

"I think this one is the one I will remember the most today," Vingegaard said after the stage. "We made a plan from the start with the team and we wanted to control the race and that's what my team mates did. They did an incredible job all day, it was really impressive how they rode, I'm so proud of my team mates and I'm so proud that I can pay them back, it's a super nice win.

"It's always a bit of improvisation, we said when it got steep in the end we wanted to try, then Piganzoli, I almost didn't have to attack today, he rode everyone out of my wheel almost, so that was really impressive," he said of the winning attack.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Giro d'Italia's third weekend began with its third mountain top finish, the peloton heading into the Alps for the first time for a short but incredibly sharp stage. The entire 133km stage was held around Aosta, in Italy's far north west, starting in the city and climbing almost 4,200m over five classified climbs before reaching the finish at the ski resort in Pila.

It was uphill from the gun, the race heading straight up the first category Saint Barthélémy climb, a 16km ascent at an average 6% gradient. Visma-Lease a Bike were among those warming up on the rollers before the stage, and their controlling strategy was clear from the start, their yellow jerseys across the front as the flag dropped.

They initially allowed three riders up the road, but as the climb progressed a huge number of others escaped, Enric Mas one of four Movistar riders among the 29-man group, with triple stage winner Jhonatan Narváez among three from UAE Team Emirates-XRG.

From that group Narváez's team mate, Jan Christen escaped, taking Jardi van der Lee (EF Education-EasyPost) with him, the pair building a lead of 20 seconds on the group. While Visma initially did a good job of holding the leading within 20 seconds, they allowed it to grow, the two leaders cresting the climb leading the other breakaway group by 30 seconds, the peloton a further minute down.

That did not last long though, Christen and Van der Lee were both caught on the descent, while the peloton, with Vingegaard's team still intact on the front, drifted out to 1.30.

The leading group comprised 23 riders when it reached the 10km flat after the descent, and they worked to expand their lead, which had grown to three minutes when they reached the intermediate sprint. There Narváez took maximum points, wresting the maglia ciclamino from points classification leader Paul Magnier, despite the attentions of the Frenchman's Soudal Quick-Step team mate, Gianmarco Garofoli.

The sprint heralded the start of the second climb, the third category Doues. On the climb riders began to drop from the leading group, while others upped the pace. Stage 5 winner, Igor Arietta (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) took maximum points on the climb, briefly drifting off the front of a reduced group on the descent, while the peloton had dropped back further, their deficit 3.45.

Averaging 7.8% over its 7.5km, the Lin Noir climb came next and it was here that Visma-Lease a Bike went to work, Vingegaard's five remaining domestiques beginning to erode a gap which had maxed out at 3.50. They didn't do the work on their own though, the Bahrain Victorious team of race leader, Afonso Eulálio providing some assistance. Over the top, with 50km of the stage remaining, the leading group had lost some 30 seconds, Visma's Tim Rex turning himself inside out to make the difference.

After only the briefest of descents, Rex led onto the day's penultimate climb, to Verrogne. Though it was less challenging than its predecessor, Visma took more time out of the breakaway, whose advantage was only 2.36 as the race entered its final 40km.

The ascent of the climb to the ski station to Pila climb consisted of a relatively consistent gradient, but at 7% over its 16.6km, it was challenging enough. Of the 27 riders remaining in the peloton, five of them were from Visma-Lease a Bike, though their deficit was still over two minutes at the bottom. However, as soon as they began winding their way though the vineyards on the lower slopes, that began to drop, and with 13.9km left, it was less than two minutes.

With 10km to Einar Rubio (Movistar) instigated a number of moves from the diminished breakaway group, but, though each attack saw one more rider dropped, nothing stuck and behind them, their advantage dropped below 50 seconds, 8km from the line.

Rubio and Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) were the final two breakaway riders to be caught, just over 5km of the day remaining, Davide Piganzoli the last of Vingegaard's team mates to to take his turn. His final effort saw to Thymen Arensman (Netcompnay Ineos), before his Danish leader's attack saw to the rest of his rivals with 4.8km to go.

RESULTS

GIRO D'ITALIA, STAGE 14, AOSTA > PILA (133KM)

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 3:53:01
2. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +49s
3. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +58s
4. Davide Piganzoli (Ita) Visma-Lease a Bike, +1:03
5. Giulio Pellizzari (Ita) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, s.t.
6. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Netcompany-Ineos, +1:23
7. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, +1:35
8. Wout Poels (Ned) Unibet-Rose Rockets, +2:08
9. January Hirt (Cze) NSN Cycling, s.t.
10. Egan Bernal (Col) Netcompany-Ineos, s.t.

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE 14

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 56:08:41
2. Afonso Eulálio (Por) Bahrain Victorious, +2:26
3. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +2:50
4. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Netcompany-Ineos, +3:03
5. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +3:43
6. Giulio Pellizzari (Ita) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +4:22
7. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, +4:46
8. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Jayco AlUla, +5:22
9. Derek Gee-West (Can) Lidl-Trek, +5:41
10. Davide Piganzoli (Ita) Visma-Lease a Bike, 6:13

Jonas Vingegaard has been suffering with some degree of sickness while cycling the Giro d'Italia, it was revealed by Visma Lease-a-Bike’s sports director yesterday.

Talking to the Dutch media, Jesper Mørkøv admitted that several of his team had not been in perfect fitness for much of the preceding week, and that Vingegaard was among those affected.

“Yes, we have had a bit of coughing and tickling in the throat among some of the boys," he told TV2 Sport, before qualifying that the situation was relatively minor, and mostly resolved. Pressed on whether Vingegaard was among the riders showing symptoms of sickness, Mørkøv said: “He has also been one of them, but everything seems to be fine.”

The Danish rider has also been labouring under a heavy weight of expectation, due to being widely considered the overwhelming favourite for this year's Giro. He has won two stages so far, but failed to perform at his best on the TT bike during stage 10, losing time to race rivals Thymen Arensman (Netcompany-Ineos), Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek) and Ben O'Connor (Jayco AlUla) during the time trial stage that was convincingly won by Filippo Ganna (Netcompany-Ineos).

The under par performance in the time trial led to some people, including Geraint Thomas, questioning whether the Danish rider was currently firing on all cylinders.

Vingegaard remains in second position in the general classification, but he did lose another six seconds to race leader Afonso Eulalio (Bahrain Victorious) during stage 12 and now trails Portuguese rider by 33 seconds, a margin the current maglia rosa wearer secured by taking the bonus seconds at the Red Bull KM on Thursday.

The 2026 Giro has been a battle of attrition so far, with riders succumbing to illness and injury and myriad crashes, the worst of which was on stage two, and the list of abandonees growing daily. However, there is no suggestion that Vingegaard is seriously ill, or that he won’t be able to continue, and the Dane remains the favourite.

Netcompany-Ineos director of racing Geraint Thomas questioned the condition of Giro d'Italia favourite Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), following the Dane's slightly disappointing performance in the stage 10 time trial.

Speaking on his Watts Occurring podcast after the stage, he said: "Jonas, I expected more from him. Maybe he's been a bit sick or something."

On a stage where he was counted among the favourites, Vingegaard finished 13th, 2:59 behind winner Filippo Ganna (Netcompany-Ineos), and losing time to GC rivals Thymen Arensman (Netcompany-Ineos), Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek) and Ben O'Connor (Jayco AlUla).

Thomas added: "Even on the mountains – don't get me wrong, he smashed everyone he won two stages – but the standards he's set, along with Pog [Tadej Pogačar]... if he was at his best, the gap to [GC rival Felix] Gall would be bigger. It just feels like that gap between Jonas and the rest is a lot closer [than you'd expect] on those mountain stages and today. He's not pinging.

"But, saying that," said the Welsh former Tour de France winner, "he's still leading out of the GC guys, still in a really strong position. Part of me thinks he's not been 100%."

Conversely, the stage was a superb one for Thomas's team, who fielded both the stage winner and the runner-up in Ganna and Arensman – the latter boosting his hopes for the GC, now lying in third place.

"Obviously Pippo absolutely smashed it, almost two minutes to second place who was Thymen. Which was good for us as he gained time on all the GC boys," Thomas said.

Assessing the rides of GC players, he praised the fifth-place ride Gee-West, and also the battling performance by maglia rosa Alfonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious).

"Just off the top of my head I think Derek Gee, he did a good ride," Thomas said. "If you're thinking expectations, above or below, I think he was solid.

"Fair play to Eulálio," he added. "They [Bahrain Victorious] should keep it for three days or so now really."

Missing out on claiming the jersey on the stage would have bothered Vingegaard less than his below-par performance and time lost to other GC players, judged Thomas: "I think he'll be like, ah it's fine, Bahrain can control for another three days."

While Thomas drove a Netcompany-Ineos team car behind Magnus Sheffield during the stage, Thomas had a very good idea of what the US rider was going through, he said, because he'd suffered through a recon ride with the team's big guns himself that morning.

Riding with Ganna, Arensman and others, who were all in aero finery, Thomas was on a road bike. He'd been promised a steady ride, he said, but it didn't quite turn out that way.

"Mate, it was the longest 42km of my life," he told Watts Occurring co-host Luke Rowe. "I was swinging the whole way round. Just riding to the start I felt like an imposter, like a big fan boy you know?"

Next time, perhaps Thomas will take the advice of fellow Netcompany-Ineos staffer Elia Viviani, who warned him that it would be hard going.

There has been speculation that Jonas Vingegaard is deliberately holding himself back at this Giro d'Italia, conscious of the fact that the Tour de France is also on his radar.

Judging by the Visma-Lease a Bike rider's two stage wins to date, where he put time into his general classification rivals without blowing them out of the water, perhaps that is the case. There is also the small matter of more mountains to come at this Giro. Also, it is perhaps in his interests not to take the pink jersey too early, and get Afonso Eulálio and Bahrain Victorious to do more of the work.

However, it did not seem to the plan to hold back on Tuesday, when the Dane simply had a relatively bad day on the TT bike on stage 10. Being Vingegaard, his bad day was not catastrophic, but it was not the good day that many expected; he is still waiting to take over pink when Eulálio fades, as expected.

"Terrible. It was terrible. It was very long and not my specialty to do a flat time trial like this. I've never been super good at it, and to be honest, I came through pretty well today," Vingegaard said in his post-race interview.

He almost three minutes behind stage winner Filippo Ganna (Netcompany-Ineos), which can be allowed, but he lost over a minute to Ganna's teammate Thymen Arensman, a GC threat, 45 seconds to Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek), and 15 seconds to Ben O'Connor (Jayco AlUla). None of this is groundbreaking, but it is time lost that Vingegaard would rather still have.

"I think that a completely flat time trial like this benefits the bigger guys a bit more. The more power you have," he said.

Vingegaard still has to do podium duties, as the leader of the mountains classification, but he's dreaming of bigger things. Arensman is now his nearest threat, 1:30 behind, with Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) just under 30 seconds further back.

"I think I'm in a good spot at the moment," he said. "Of course, I am close to the pink jersey now. It would have been nice to have the pink jersey already, but I think every day in the jersey would be a pleasure and something you have to be happy about. Of course, I'm also happy with the blue jersey; it's not a problem. In the end, I'm in a good spot."

His next outright GC opportunity comes on stage 14, with a day of back-to-back mountains in the Aosta Valley, before the showdown in the Dolomites on stage 19, and a final mountain day on stage 20.

The first full week at the Giro d'Italia has been a treat for bike racing fans, with thrills, spills, skills and, of course, a whole bunch of hills. The GC battle has ignited, spearheaded by a certain Dane, but other players have stepped forward from the wings and proved themselves to be far greater than bit-parts in what could turn out to be an epic Italian saga.

The race moved back from Bulgaria to its homeland last Monday, and the rest of the week ran the whole gamut between hills and mountains, with predictably exciting results. Read on for our take on what's gone on.

Jonas Vingegaard looks good, but he's not the only one

Stalking the maglia rosa like a wiry beast of prey, Jonas Vingegaard already has two stages in the bag and is currently eyeing the GC leader's spot menacingly from second place.

Right now, there isn't anything to suggest that the Visma-Lease a Bike rider isn't well capable of pushing onwards into the later part of the race and fulfilling his dream of winning all three Grand Tours.

And yet, with two surging mountain wins – one on the Blockhaus on stage seven, and one on Corno alle Scale on Sunday's stage nine, fans might have expected him to be sitting pretty in pink with a significant gap to second. It will be interesting to see how the battle plays out.

Alfonso Eulálio's impressively tight grip on pink

The rider that currently has what Vingegaard wants is Portugal's Alfonso Eulálio. He slipped into the maglia rosa almost by accident thanks to his endeavours in the breakaway on a slapstick stage five (remember that one?) and has clung on tenaciously ever since.

The Bahrain Victorious rider only moved up from the third-tier ranks at the start of last season, and his time trial previous suggests he might be lucky to hang on to pink in tomorrow's long ITT – but the extra watts a Grand Tour leader's jersey can bestow upon its wearer can often surprise. He will lose pink at some point, but this race will be cemented in his memory – and his name in fans' minds – for the rest of his career.

Italy's big hope scuppered by stomach issues

After his win at the Tour of the Alps in April, Italian fans had placed a lot of eggs in the Giulio Pellizzari basket this Giro. The hosts have not fielded a home winner since Vincenzo Nibali back in 2016 and are eager for another.

While only the most fervent optimists would have been backing the 22-year-old Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe rider to wear pink in Rome, a final podium finish did not seem out of reach. Unfortunately for Pellizzari and the tifosi, that may have been rendered far more difficult by the stomach issues that saw him cede 1.28 on stage nine to winner Vingegaard.

He now sits ninth on GC, nearly three minutes back on the Dane, and a minute-and-a-half behind fellow maglia rosa hopefuls Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Jai Hindley, his teammate.

Welcome back, Jhonatan Narváez

While one South American rider has had a disappointing Giro d'Italia so far, another has done an impressive job of making up for it.

Netcompany-Ineos's Egan Bernal will definitely have hoped to have been sitting somewhere above the 17th on GC that he currently occupies, although the second half of the team's two-pronged attempt on pink, Thymen Arensman, is not out of the running yet, sixth on GC and 2.36 behind Vingegaard.

UAE Team Emirates-XRG's Ecuadorian puncheur Jhonatan Narvaez, however, won two well-taken stage wins last week, on stage four and stage eight, both on uphill finishes. In what is his first race back since crashing out of the Tour Down Under in January, Narváez is clearly on fine form. Could we see another?

Felix Gall takes the fight to Vingegaard

With Portugal's Joāo Almeida out of the picture, ducking out of participation ahead of the race due to illness, many were wondering who would be able to stop Vingegaard pulling off a win in the style of his Tour de France nemesis Tadej Pogačar and simply waltzing away with it. In Decathlon CMA CGM's Felix Gall, we appear to have found the answer. Despite all-in uphill attacks on two stages by Vingegaard, Gall remains only 35 seconds behind the big favourite.

Fifth in last year's Tour de France, Gall's tenacious riding this week have marked him out as Vingegaard's biggest rival, for now. His sports director Luke Roberts reckons he will only get better as the race continues. Great for Gall, great for fans, not quite so good for Vingegaard.

It was easy to assume that Jonas Vingegaard would walk this Giro d'Italia. After all, he is a man who has won two Tours de France and a Vuelta a España, while his biggest general classification rivals are largely considered to not have the same top level; there is no other GC hopeful present within the top-15 of the UCI rankings.

Cycling is not that simple. On the first summit finish of this year's race, on Blockhaus on stage seven, Vingegaard of Visma-Lease a Bike might have won, but there was no knockout blow, no decisive time gap. Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) rode his race, limited his losses after the inevitable attack by the Dane, and finished just 13 seconds behind.

After bonus seconds, he is 17 seconds in arrears to Vingegaard, while the Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe pair of Jai Hindley and Giulio Pellizzari sit 1:08 and 1:11 back from Vingegaard. The stage winner is also not in control of the pink jersey, with that belonging to Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain-Victorious), 3:17 ahead.

"It was a really hard pace from the bottom from Visma," Gall said in a flash TV interview post-stage. "At first I was a bit annoyed that I couldn't follow Pellizzari and Jonas, but in the end it was good that I did my own pace."

Perhaps fittingly, the Austrian played a clever game on Blockhaus, the climb named after an emplacement built by Austrian Empire troops in the 19th century, when their country controlled parts of the Italian peninsula.

While Pellizzari tried to stick to Vingegaard's wheel immediately after he attacked with 5.5km to go, Gall rode at his own tempo, at a speed he knew he could keep up. Pellizzari, the young Italian, suffered as a result of trying to match Vingegaard, while Gall was able to close the gap somewhat, and keep the stage winner in sight at the finish.

"Felix is a very strong rider, so we knew he'd be up there close," Vingegaard, for his part, said. "He's a big rival and so he is a guy we have to worry about."

In truth, the 29-year-old Dane remains the overwhelming favourite for the Giro, despite not being decisively ahead in the race, as many expected him to be already at the race.

There are many big moments to come, including two particularly mountainous days on stages 19 and 20, in the Dolomites and Julian Alps. There is another summit finish on Sunday, and then also the small matter of the long time trial on Tuesday, a discipline that normally favours Vingegaard over his rivals. Things could look more as expected very quickly.

Gall is a solid GC rider, but has never finished higher than fifth at a Grand Tour, last year's Tour de France his best result to date. He remains the underdog, while Hindley and Pellizzari, Ben O'Connor (Jayco AlUla), Thymen Arensman (Netcompany-Ineos) are not out of it completely, but have lost significant time Vingegaard that it might be race-losing.

"I'd say he's, for example, a much better time trialist than me for a start," Gall said of his rival.

"He's the best Grand Tour rider we currently have next to Tadej [Pogačar], so, for sure, I'm not thinking about how to beat him for now, I'm just happy with my performance."

However, Friday's stage offered a glimmer of hope that we might have a race on our hands, and that this Giro won't be a one-horse affair after all. That knockout blow hasn't landed, meaning we will go on for at least another couple of rounds.

Giro d'Italia favourite Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) lived up to his billing on the first summit finish of the race, attacking to ride solo to the finish on the Blockhaus climb on stage seven.

He was still some way off taking the overall lead from Alfonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious), but the Dane opened up significant gaps on some of his main contenders, including Egan Bernal (Netcompany-Ineos) and Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek).

The race was far from sewn up though, after this longest day of the race – a mammoth 244km. Closest competitor Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) finished a surprisingly close 13 seconds behind, and Giulio Pellizzari and his Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe teammate Jai Hindley around a minute back.

Afterwards Vingegaard said: "Today we just wanted to go for the win... my team-mates did an amazing job today and I'm just happy I could pay it off."

Asked whether attacking at 5.5km to go was the plan, he replied: "We kept it a bit more open to see when the moment was there. There was a lot of wind, and at moments a lot of headwind. It was a very tough climb.

"I'm definitely happy I could take back some time. And take some time on my opponents, that was a good day for us."

He described Gall as a big rival who needed watching: "For sure Felix Gall is a big rival to me," he said. "I knew it already before the race, he's a very strong guy that we really have to take into account."

Visma-Lease a Bike had been vocal about their desire to win today's stage, with ran from Vingegaard, and the team made its intentions clear almost as soon as the race hit the slopes of the Blockhaus, massing at the front alongside the Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe team.

Having dispatched the last of the day's break and after a brief Sepp Kuss turn, Vingegaard launched with 5.5km remaining. Young Italian talent Pellizzari managed to follow but a few digs from the Dane dispatched him a kilometre later. Meanwhile Gall was quietly following at a distance and actually managed to gain a handful of seconds on Vingegaard on the line, announcing himself as a key opponent.

How it happened

Today's stage was always going to be about the climbs in its second half and, more specifically, the summit finish on the Blockhaus. Measuring 13.6km long at a fiendish 8.4% average and with super-tough 14% ramps, it loomed over the rest of the stage, all the more ominous for the heavy skies above.

The race has already featured some tough climbing stages, but today felt like the flag-drop on the GC battle proper.

The Blockhaus was not the only climb on the stage – there were at least four solid ascents before the final mountain was reached. Only one of these, Roccaraso, was classified. A category-two. But there was very little flat across the entire second half.

The first half, though, was comparatively flat and, as expected, was characterised by an early break taking the lead. Less predictable was the presence within of sprinter Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), alongside four other breakaways: Nikolas Zukowsky (Pinarello Q36.5), Jardi Van Der Lee (EF Education-EasyPost), Diego Pablo Sevilla (Polti VisitMalta) and Tim Naberman (Picnic PostNL).

After missing out on a chance to contest the win after being baulked by a crash in yesterday's final, Milan was no doubt there for the 12 points he gained by winning the intermediate sprint at Venafro, which saw him close the gap just a little to classification leader Paul Magnier.

As the race's second-heaviest rider at 84kg, there was no chance that Milan was going to be contesting in the hills and he was duly tailed off once the road began to rise.

The remaining quartet held on to a very healthy lead of at times more than six minutes, which only began to fall as the Blockhaus loomed.

Once on its slopes the distance took its toll in the break, which began to fracture, while behind the urgency in the bunch saw its advantage rapidly reduced as both Visma-Lease a Bike and Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe massed on the front. A huge turn by Visma-Lease a Bike's Davide Piganzoli dispatched GC hopefuls Enric Mas (Movistar), Bernal and Gee-West.

At 6.5km to go, everything began to happen at once. The last of the breakaway was caught, Kuss hit the front, maglia rosa Eulalio was dropped and, in short order Vingegaard attacked.

Once he was alone the stage looked done and dusted, but a strong ride from Gall meant Vingegaard won't rest easy on the GC just yet.

Results

Giro d'Italia, stage 7: Formia > Blockhaus, 244km

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, 244km in 6:09:15
2. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +13s
3. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, 1:02
4. Giulio Pellizzari (Ita) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, 1:05
5. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Jayco-AlUla, at s.t.
6. Mathys Rondel (Fra) Tudor Pro Cycling, +1:29
7. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +1:40
8. Derek Gee-West (Can) Lidl-Trek, +1:42
9. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, +1:44
10. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Netcompany-Ineos, at s.t.

General Classification after stage 7

1. Alfonso Eulálio (Por) Bahrain Victorious, in 30:59:23
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +3:17
3. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +3:34
4. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +4:25
5. Giulio Pellizzari (Ita) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +4:28
6. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Jayco-AlUla, +4:32
7. Mathys Rondel (Fra) Tudor Pro Cycling, +4:56
8. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +4:57
9. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Netcompany-Ineos, +5:07.
10. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, +5:11

The first Grand Tour of the year has been a long time coming and now it is finally here it has been as eventful as ever. The Giro d'Italia has arrived. New stars have been crowned. Hot favourites have bared their teeth and their rivals have responded. And, unfortunately, there have also been incidents that both fans and riders would rather forget.

So far we have enjoyed the three stages of the Bulgarian Grande Partenza, with a Monday rest day followed by the resumption of proceedings back in Italy on Tuesday.

We take a look back at some of the race's most memorable moments and people from this first few days.

Magnier: a new French 'Paul' to conjure with

With the hype and the wins produced by Paul Seixas this year have come countless headlines referencing the success of a 'young French rider'. Seixas's countryman and namesake Paul Magnier must have been biding his time until the Giro, waiting to get a piece of the action. And he has done so with aplomb, having worn the first maglia rosa of the race and taking a brace of stages with it. He now leads the pints classification, ahead of some of the luminaries of the sprinting world, like Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek).

Magnier has won races before, but never at this level. After his second stage victory in Sofia, on Sunday's third stage, Magnier seemed bemused and happy in equal measure. "I have to say I feel really good and I beat the best sprinters in the world, so I will try to enjoy this moment and keep going like this with the team," he said.

It's unlikely we've seen the last of him in this race.

Adam Yates out as UAE Team Emirates-XRG woes continue

With the loss of Joāo Almeida and Richard Carapaz from the start list even before the race had begun, the roll of serious contenders for Jonas Vingegaard had been decimated before the action had started.

Following a devastating crash involving multiple riders on stage two, the list has been reduced even further with the retirement of Almeida's stablemate, Adam Yates. The Briton, who had taken over from Almeida as UAE Team Emirates-XRG's main GC hope, limped to the finish but showed "delayed concussive symptoms" according to the team, and did not start the next day.

Yates's retirement wasn't the last of UAE Team Emirates-XRG's woes – Jay Vine also retired with a broken elbow following the same crash, and Marc Soler suffered a pelvic fracture.

Jonas Vingegaard bares his teeth

Lacking any major climbs or time trials, the Grande Partenza in Bulgaria was not one for the GC contenders. Nevertheless that did not stop hot favourite Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) from showing off some fine condition and asserting his dominance on stage two.

His attack on the final climb of the day – a cat-three up to Lyaskovets Monastery, not far from the finish – may have been at least in part an exercise in self-preservation on damp roads that had already claimed multiple crash victims and were clearly slippery. Riding out front alone on a descent is, after all, safer than being caught up in the wheels.

However, Vingegaard ended up taking his main rival Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) with him, as well as on-form Lennert van Eetvelt (Lotto-Intermarche), on near-race-winning move that was only caught in sight of the line. The Dane is clearly in form and ready to race.

Historic victory for Thomas Silva

The modern Giro d'Italia has diligently made itself one of the most cosmopolitan of stage races, with starts in Hungary, Albania and even Israel in recent years, as well as this season's Bulgaria. So the race will surely be pleased to add a brand new nationality to the list of riders who have won one of its stages.

Twenty-four-year-old Thomas Silva of Uruguay declared himself "speechless" after winning stage two. The XDS-Astana rider won the uphill sprint in Veliko Tarnovo at the end of what was probably the most memorable day so far – for both positive and negative reasons.

Team staff's 1,000km challenge

Giro d'Italia organiser RCS did rather well out of the Bulgaria Grande Partenza, having charged a reported €12.5 million fee, according to our colleagues at Cyclingnews. Likewise, Bulgaria tourism is probably set to enjoy a boost too. But what of riders and, especially, staff, as they make a major transfer back to Italy to continue the race.

The riders will fly, as you might expect. But most of the staff will be driving 1,000km from Sofia back to Cantanzaro in readiness for stage four on Tuesday. Not just that though. As reported in Cyclingnews, the riders will be expecting to go for their usual rest day spin and will require their bikes and equipment to be available for that at some point on Monday. That's 1,000km of driving in 24 hours – a feat that rivals what the riders do on their bikes each day.

Jonas Vingegaard has said he is "really not the only favourite" at the Giro d'Italia, two days before the Italian Grand Tour starts.

The Visma-Lease a Bike rider is the overwhelming favourite for the race, especially in the absence of both João Almeida and Richard Carapaz. Vingegaard is the only GC rider in the top-15 of the UCI's ranking to be taking part in the Giro, and is the reigning Vuelta a España champion; he has won both stage races he has taken part in this season.

His rivals, including Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM), Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe), and Egan Bernal (Netcompany-Ineos), have not got the better of him in recent years.

However, speaking to to Cycling Pro Net at the Giro's presentation on Wednesday, the Dane was keen to not appear complacent: "I don't think I'm the only favourite. I think there are a lot of other strong guys here, who also have a chance. I don't think that quote is correct."

The Giro begins in Nessebar, Bulgaria, on Friday, before it moves back to Italy after an early rest day on Tuesday.

This will be Vingegaard's first appearance at the race, and also an opportunity to complete the set of Grand Tour victories, alongside the Tour de France and Vuelta. The last person to win all three was Chris Froome, who completed the trilogy in 2018.

"I'm extremely happy to be here," Vingegaard said. "It is a dream come true. Hopefully, I can do a good race for the next three weeks, and then we’ll see in Rome what the result will be. At least I have now done everything to be as good as possible, and I I think I’ve had a pretty good preparation for this Giro."

"I've always dreamt of doing the Giro. I remember watching it on the television as a kid. It's a special race, and Italy is a special country for me. Actually, I've really been looking forward to doing it and now to have the opportunity to win all three Grand Tours."

Asked if there was anything different to look out for at the Giro, he said: "There are a lot of hard stages here, obviously, a little bit here in Bulgaria. There are a lot of hard stages coming throughout the Giro, so you have to be focused every day."

"The Giro is more unpredictable," he said in a separate interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport this week. "You've got to be ready for anything every day because there can be surprises everywhere."

Despite last-minute drop-outs from GC contenders João Almeida and Richard Carapaz, there are still plenty of strong riders lining up for the start of the Giro d'Italia in Bulgaria this Friday. Three weeks of riding through the Italian countryside (after starting in Bulgaria) will see the general classification battle shape up day-by-day; is Jonas Vingegaard's title as safe as it seems from the outset?

This is our list of the top contenders vying for the maglia rosa in 2026.

Read more: Giro d'Italia 2026 route | Giro d'Italia 2026 start list | Abandons

Jonas Vingegaard
29 | Den | Visma-Lease a Bike
Previous Giro starts: 0
Best GC result: N/A
Best stage result: N/A

This will be Jonas Vingegaard’s first participation in the Giro d’Italia. Having won the Vuelta and the Tour de France, he has made no secret of the fact he’d love to complete the full set of Grand Tours.

“I chose the Giro because it’s one of the most prestigious competitions in the world, and because I’ve never raced it before,” he said following the announcement. He also suggested that the course is not “excessively hard”, so would allow him to recover in time for the Tour de France in July.

The Dane will start as the clear favourite. Some of his most potent rivals include rising Italian star Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), and Thymen Arensman (Netcompany-Ineos), a double mountains stage winner at last year’s Tour de France and a fine time triallist.

But few have been able to get close to Vingegaard in the past two Tours de France, despite a huge crash at Itzulia Basque Country in 2024 that left the Dane below par for a long, long time – possibly until right now.

“I feel like I’ve spent the last two years fighting my way back to that level – back to the Jonas I was before my crash,” he said in a recent interview. His performances so far this season have suggested he could be there. His 4.23 winning margin on GC at Paris-Nice in March was the biggest since 1939, and he took an impressive win at the more recent Volta a Catalunya.

Giulio Pellizzari
22 | Ita | Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe
Previous Giro starts: 2
Best GC result: 6th (2025)
Best stage result: 2nd (2024)

While the cycling world is currently being wooed by French teen sensation Paul Seixas, another youngster with impressive chops has slipped in almost under the radar.

Despite his tender 22 years, Giulio Pellizzari already has a solid Giro d’Italia record that he will hope to build on this month. He performed well at the Vuelta a España last year too, matching his sixth overall from the Giro and winning a first Grand Tour stage.

Most recently, the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe rider has indicated his excellent current condition by winning two stages on the way to overall victory at the Tour of the Alps in Austria and Italy.

Speaking after the final stage, Pellizzari’s DS Christian Pömer, said: “We can be confident now to have a chance to fight for the podium at the Giro.” The Tour of the Alps result “scares me a little”, he said, because of the superstition that the winner there rarely does well at the Giro, adding, “But with [Tadej] Pogačar we’ve seen the curse of the rainbow jersey doesn't exist anymore, and we hope for the same for Tour of the Alps and the Giro.”

Hailing from Camerino in central Italy, Pellizzari is the home nation’s greatest hope of ending a 10-year GC-winners’ drought at the Giro. Pellizzari’s ability to fulfil those hopes has been further boosted by his improved time trialling, which he can now call a strength alongside his natural climbing ability. In 2024 he was gifted a maglia rosa by his idol Tadej Pogačar; it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that this year he could wear it for real.

Jai Hindley
29 | Aus | Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe
Previous Giro starts: 5
Best GC result: 1st (2022)
Best stage result: 1st (x2) in 2020, ‘22

One of two former winners of the Giro d’Italia on the start list, Jai Hindley comes into the race as a co-leader for Red Bull alongside Italian hope Giulio Pellizzari. The 29-year-old has not had a 2026 to shout about, with 17th place overall at the Volta a Catalunya following 22nd place at Tirreno-Adriatico, but he has the experience to make things count over the three weeks.

Last year, Hindley crashed out of the Giro on stage six, leaving Pellizzari clear to finish sixth overall; Red Bull will hope that the pair can work together more effectively over the three weeks this time around, presenting two viable GC options for Jonas Vingegaard to worry about.

While he hasn’t won a Grand Tour since his sole Giro win in 2022, Hindley has finished in the top-10 three times since, twice at the Vuelta a España and once at the Tour de France, including fourth overall at last summer’s Vuelta. A win would be a surprise, as it was in 2022 when the Australian overcame Richard Carapaz and Mikel Landa to pull on the pink jersey, but it should not be ruled out. This Giro’s relative lack of attritional climbing should open up the race a bit more, and the inclusion of just one time trial won’t be too detrimental to his chances.

His 2022 win was built on solid consistency before a penultimate-day triumph, a lot like Simon Yates’s glory last year. There’s no reason why Hindley could not do it again. After all, shocks seem to happen more at the Giro than other Grand Tours. In a race short on top GC talent, the canny Australian might just have the ability to sneak through the pack while all eyes are on Pellizzari and Vingegaard.

Ben O’Connor
30 | Aus | Jayco-AlUla
Previous Giro starts: 4
Best GC result: 4th (2024)
Best stage result: 1st (2020)

A bold and brilliant climber, capable of winning stages solo from the break, O’Connor starts his fifth Giro with an impressive palmarès, having taken stage victories in all the Grand Tours.

The Australian took his first Grand Tour stage win at the Giro in 2020, following it up in 2021 with a stage win at the Tour de France and an impressive fourth on GC. O’Connor also finished fourth on GC at the Corsa Rosa in 2024, during his final year with Decathlon, when he later nailed a stage win and second place overall at the Vuelta a España. Last year, riding for Jayco-AlUla, he scored a stunning mountains stage win at the Tour, beating Pogačar over Col de la Loze. He has had a steady 2026 so far, but expect him to peak for the Giro and vie for a high GC placing.

Thymen Arensman
26 | Ned | Netcompany-Ineos
Previous Giro starts: 4
Best GC result: 6th (2023, 24)
Best stage result: 2nd (2022)

With a new jersey on his back and a capable co-pilot in team-mate Egan Bernal, in-form Dutchman Thymen Arensman should be gunning for a top-five place in what will be his fifth participation in the Italian tour. He has finished sixth here twice before, in 2023 and 2024, and last year won a brace of major mountains stages at the Tour de France, holding off both Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) on both occasions.

Tall, slender, and built for climbing, Arensman also has a strong time trial, which will be helpful but not crucial in this year’s single, flat TT on stage 10. Both Arensman and Bernal rode strongly at last month’s Tour of the Alps, filling out the podium behind winner Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), whom they’ll also face here at the Giro. As to which Netcompany rider will ultimately take the lead, their DS, Leonardo Basso insisted the “road will decide”.

Egan Bernal
29 | Col | Netcompany-Ineos
Previous Giro starts: 2
Best GC result: 1st (2021)
Best stage result: 1st (x2) in 2021

After years spent fighting back from a devastating training crash, Egan Bernal appears to be closing in on his former, Tour de France-winning self. This year’s Giro will see him form one half of a two-pronged GC assault alongside team-mate Thymen Arensman.

Decked out in the red, yellow and blue Colombian national champion’s jersey, with a bike to match, Bernal is slowly amassing a series of results that do ample justice to his sharp looks. Last year’s seventh overall at the Giro d’Italia was by far his best Grand Tour GC ride since his 2022 crash, and he looks capable of building on that this year judging by his recent fifth at Liège-Bastogne-Liège and second overall at the mountainous Tour of the Alps. What’s more, Netcompany DS Leonardo Basso says he has the “mentality” to match his pre-crash results too.

Felix Gall
28 | Aut | Decathlon CMA CGM
Previous Giro starts: 1
Best GC result: 50th (2022)
Best stage result: 11th (2022)

The 2026 edition is only the second time Gall has raced the Giro d’Italia. His first appearance at the race, in 2022, was a Grand Tour initiation for the young AG2R rider. Now, four years later, at 28 years old and as Decathlon’s team leader, Gall will be returning to Italy with a roster of near-podium placings under his belt: fifth overall at the UAE Tour (with a third-place finish on the queen stage) and sixth at the Volta a Catalunya (finishing second on the key mountain stage).

A good climber and growing GC threat, the Austrian won a stage at the 2023 Tour de France and is now targeting a podium position at either the Giro or the Vuelta a España. The Italian race is his first major goal of the season.

Derek Gee-West
28 | Can | Lidl-Trek
Previous Giro starts: 2
Best GC result: 4th (2025)
Best stage result: 2nd (2023)

Despite an impressive overall fourth place at last year’s Giro and a series of second-place stage finishes in his 2023 debut, Gee-West was, until February, without a team for the 2026 season. Since signing with his new team, Lidl-Trek, the Canadian has made no secret of his Giro d’Italia hopes.

But Gee-West’s Giro preparation was interrupted by an illness that saw him abandon last month’s Volta a Catalunya, missing out on important pre-Giro practice stages after a solid seventh place finish at the UAE Tour just before.

The 28-year-old’s Volta disappointment seems to have been a blip in his otherwise stacked pre-Giro calendar: the Canadian prefers to work the legs right up to his favourite race of the year. At April’s Tour of the Alps, he finished a solid 12th overall. Bolstered by a new team, Gee-West looks to be in a strong position heading into the race.

OUTSIDE OPTIONS FOR GIRO GLORY

Of all the possible remaining wildcard options for the GC, there is a former Grand Tour winner in Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike). The American won the Vuelta a España in 2023 and will work for Vingegaard, but is an able deputy. Tudor Pro Cycling rider Michael Storer is a fine climber who has placed 10th on GC at the previous two Giri d’Italia and, this season, fourth overall at the recent Tour of the Alps stage race. Expect to see the 29-year-old Aussie hunting down another high GC placing this month.

Movistar’s Enric Mas has ridden 14 Grand Tours already, but never the Giro – until now. With four Vuelta GC podiums and a brace of Tour top-sixes, expect to see him in the GC hunt. Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe’s Aleksandr Vlasov has two team-mates to ride for this year, but is easily capable of finishing in the top 10 as well. Fourth in 2021, he will take over leadership duties should injury or illness beset the other two mentioned in these pages.

Abandons

Adam Yates
33 | GBr | UAE Team Emirates-XRG
Previous Giro starts: 3
Best GC result: 9th (2017)
Best stage result: 4th (2015)

The UAE leader crashed heavily on stage two, and after showing delayed concussive symptoms was prevented from starting the next day.

Volta a Catalunya winner Jonas Vingegaard has spent two years fighting to regain his pre-crash form – and now might be even better than before. That is the view of Danish former pro and cycling pundit Nicki Sørensen, who was speaking after the Vingegaard's impressive ride to GC victory in the Spanish stage race last week.

Vingegaard echoed Sørensen's sentiments when they were put to him, saying he felt as though he'd spent two years fighting – without necessarily even knowing it.

"I feel like I've spent the last two years fighting my way back to that level – and in some way the Jonas I was before my crash," he told Danish outlet TV2. "I feel, without consciously knowing it, that it has had a greater influence than I thought."

The double Tour de France winner was involved in a brutal pile-up in the 2024 edition of Itzulia Basque Country. He suffered a punctured lung and broke a collarbone and several ribs. So bad were his injuries that the Dane said afterwards that he thought he was going to die. Incredibly, he managed to return to the Tour de France that year and finish second, but now both Vingegaard and Sørensen are convinced the effects were more lasting than they'd initially supposed.

"After the crash [he] had in the Basque Country... I don't think we saw the same Vingegaard until last year," said TV2 expert Sørensen, a former pro with CSC-Tiscali, among others. "He was missing something, and I don't know what it was. But it wasn't a Vingegaard at the same level as before the crash. But now he's maybe back there – or even better.

Vingegaard won back-to-back stages, both summit finishes, and the general classification in the seven-day race around northern Spain. In doing so he bested a host of high-finishing riders from last year's Tour de France, including Oscar Onley (Ineos Grenadiers), Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe), Ben O'Connor (Jayco-AlUla) and Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) – it was no soft victory.

Lipowitz's team-mate Remco Evenepoel, who placed fifth, was also among those beaten by Vingegaard, but the Belgian's stage three crash left him below par.

It all bodes well for Vingegaard as he approaches his first big target of the season – the Giro d'Italia, which he is riding for the first time. He will then go on to ride the Tour de France in July, where he will take on Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), who is likely to present him with a significantly bigger challenge than any one he met last week.

Brady Gilmore (NSN Cycling) took the victory on the final stage of the Volta a Catalunya around the traditional Montjuïc circuit, beating Dorian Godon (Ineos Grenadiers) on the bike throw in the final sprint to prevent the Frenchman from taking his third stage win of the race.

Attacks from the GC contenders had animated the stage, but none of them were able to stay away, meaning that a reduced peloton came to the finish in Barcelona. Coming off the descent of the final climb, the Australian rider put himself into a good position on the wheel of Godon and was able to emerge from the slipstream to snatch the win on the line.

“I’ve been thinking about it since yesterday,” said Gilmore in his post-race interview. “If there was a small group over the top and I could be there, knowing exactly where to open my sprint from watching the previous years, really studying it. I think about winning every day and that’s all I want to do, so to finally get a WorldTour win feels amazing.”

The race ignited after the early breakaway of five riders was caught on the third of seven ascents of the Alt del Castell de Montjuïc, with Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) twice attempting to go off the front, whilst overall leader Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) was attentive in marking moves.

In the end though, none of the attacks were able to gain enough cooperation to go clear, with Vingegaard finishing safely in the front group along with all of the other GC contenders to secure the overall victory, with no changes in the top ten of the general classification.

“My main focus today was the GC,” said Vingegaard after the race. “I think the Red Bull guys did a very good job today, they made me be there alone and they tried to attack me on shifts, so they did a good job. Luckily I was able to defend myself and the GC. From there it was more thinking about the GC rather than trying to win the stage.”

On the week as a whole the Danish rider said, “It’s been a really nice week, together with a really nice team. We had a lot of fun. We won two stages and now the GC, so it’s been a really good week and I’m super happy with it. It’s been an amazing start to the year for me and I hope I can keep it going.”

“I feel very good at the moment,” he continued. “My shape is very good, but not the very best yet. We made a plan this year to progressively get better over the year, so I’m pretty sure I still have more in me.”

After his overall victory at Paris-Nice earlier this month, Vingegaard backed up that performance in Catalunya and now looks to be in imperious form, with his first major objective of the Giro d’Italia just over two months away.

Results

Volta a Catalunya 2026: Stage Seven, Barcelona > Barcelona (95km)

1. Brady Gilmore (Aus) NSN Cycling, in 2:06:44
2. Dorian Godon (Fra) Ineos Grenadiers
3. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe
4. David González (Esp) Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling
5. Antoine L'Hote (Fra) Decathlon CMA CGM
6. Senna Remijn (Ned) Alpecin-Premier Tech
7. Luca Vergallito (Ita) Alpecin-Premier Tech
8. Simone Gualdi (Ita) Lotto Intermarché
9. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain Victorious
10. Henok Mulubrhan (Eri) XDS Astana, all at same time

General Classification after Stage Seven

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 25:56:36
2. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain Victorious, +1:22
3. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +1:30
4. Valentin Paret-Peintre (Fra) Soudal Quick-Step, +1:43
5. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +2:13
6. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +3:17
7. Matthias Skelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +4:11
8. Cian Uijtdebroeks (Bel) Movistar, +5:20
9. Matthew Riccitello (USA) Decathlon CMA CGM, +5:25
10. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, +5:36

Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) rode all of his rivals off his wheel to take an imperious summit victory on stage five of the Volta a Cataluyna.

On what was a big day in the mountains, with 4,500m of vertical ascent, Vingegaard attacked with 6.5km of the final climb – the Col de Pall. Initially he dragged a handful of GC contenders with him, but they were distanced 500m later when the Dane turned on the afterburners.

Big loser of the day was Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe), who was distanced by Vingegaard and those who followed him. He fell from third to sixth overall. Things were even worse for Tom Pidcock, who crashed into a ravine on the penultimate descent, and dropped from third to 74rd overall.

Speaking to the media afterwards, Vingegaard said: "It was quite a hard stage. We had a plan from the morning. I didn't feel the very very best in the beginning but on the last climb I felt very very good. My team did incredible. We had Davide [Piganzoli] in the breakaway so we didn't have to follow all day and then Sepp [Kuss] took over, and he made the difference for me in the end."

He said he was not expecting to make such a difference over his rivals, but because he felt so strong on the Col de Pall it allowed him to. "I'm really happy with the gap I made today," he said.

Asked whether Cataluyna would serve chiefly as preparation for other events later in the season – presumably such as the Giro d'Italia or the Tour de France, he said: "No… it's a big race. I like to do big races, I like to win big races, and that's why I'm here also. And of course it's good preparation for what's coming up later in the season.

As for stage six, another mountain day, he said: "I'll not rule it out that we go for another stage. But we have to recover and see how we feel tomorrow. Of course, there are a lot of other riders in the bunch."

It was the first stage win of the race for Vingegaard, who began the day in fourth place overall at 24 seconds. Erstwhile leader Dorian Godon (Ineos Grenadiers) was dropped early on the final climb and finished well down, tumbling to 67th place on GC.

The 153km stage, from Le Seu d'Urgell to Col de Pall, was characterised by the early break that Vingegaard alluded to. As well as his team-mate Piganzoli it contained Einer Rubio (Movistar), Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) and Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).

Impressively it survived until the lower reaches of the final climb, around which point Soler, Rubio and Piganzoli returned to help their teams and Ciccone forged on ahead. He initially maintained a useful gap on the chasing peloton but it began to fall and Vingegaard's attack at 6.5km was the final straw. After that there was little doubt who the winner would be.

Results

Volta a Catalunya 2026, stage 5: Le Seu d'Urgell > Col de Pall, 153km

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, 153km in 4:13:44
2. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +51s
3. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain Victorious, +1:01
4. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, at s.t.
5. Valentin Paret-Peintre (Fra) Soudal Quick-Step, +1:03
6. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +1:38
7. Matthias Skelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +1:39
8. Lorenzo Fortunato (Ita) XDS Astana
9. Cian Uijtdebroeks (Bel) Movistar
10. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Jayco AlUla, all at same time

General Classification after stage 5

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 19:44:45
2. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +57s
3. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain Victorious, +1:09
4. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +1:13
5. Valentin Paret-Peintre (Fra) Soudal Quick-Step, +1:15
6. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +1:38
7. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Jayco AlUla, +1:51
8. Matthias Skelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek
9. Cian Uijtdebroeks (Bel) Movistar
10. Lorenzo Fortunato (Ita) XDS Astana, all at same time

Thursday 26 March marked exactly 100 days until the 2026 Tour de France, with teams setting off down the start ramp of the team time trial in Barcelona on stage one on the afternoon of Saturday 4 July.

That might seem like a world away now, in cold March, but in just a few months we will be tracking the world's best cyclists around l'Hexagone.

Therefore, we thought this would be the perfect time to assess the runners and riders that will likely take to the start line of the 113th edition of the race, all of whom will harbour some hope of pulling on the yellow jersey 23 days later in Paris. This is the Cycling Weekly power list.

There are two former winners on this list, and a Tour de France debutant, who is also the next great hope of French cycling.

Of course, what no one can ignore is the fact Tadej Pogačar currently appears to be unbeatable. He won the last two Tours in such dominant fashion most people probably assume he's nailed on to win. But he isn't. A loss of form, injury or tactical miscalculation are never more than one bad decision away.

Here are riders assumed to be riding the Tour at this stage, but we will update this in the months leading up to the biggest race of all as form becomes clear, and start lists too.

1. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)

Age: 27
Nationality: Slovenian
Tour de France appearances: 6
Tour de France overall wins: 4
Tour de France stage wins: 21
Best GC position: 1st

Indisputably the best male bike rider in the world, Tadej Pogačar has dominated the last two Tours de France, and there is little evidence that this is going to end soon. Last year he only won four stages on his way to overall victory by four minutes, despite suffering from a back injury during the races latter stages.

This season, it has gone pretty well so far: two one-day races, two victories. An expected masterclass at Strade Bianche was followed by an epic sprint win at Milan-San Remo, edging the Slovenian closer to completing the set of Monuments. It does mean, however, that we don't have any idea of his stage racing form due to his Classics-oriented schedule.

His first stage race won't come until the end of next month, at the Tour de Romandie, followed by the Tour de Suisse in June, and then the Tour. That said, it's a similar pattern to the one he followed last season, with only the UAE Tour missing; in 2026 he didn't race between Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Critérium du Dauphiné, and he'll be away from racing for over a month in May-June this year.

It's hard to see where the cracks in Pogačar's armour are, although the route this year does not necessarily allow for him to crush all in his customary manner, although I'm sure he will try.

The only other minor thing to think about is Pogačar's decision to target the Classics too, which brings with it a slightly higher risk of accident and injury, especially with Paris-Roubaix thrown into the mix. The supremely-skilled bike handler will probably be fine, though, and crashes can happen anywhere.

It's hard to bet against him.

2. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike)

Age: 29
Nationality: Danish
Tour de France appearances: 5
Tour de France overall wins: 2
Tour de France stage wins: 4
Best GC position: 1st

Jonas Vingegaard's season couldn't be more different to Tadej Pogačar's. There is no one-day racing, instead a total focus on stage races, and the Giro d'Italia is the priority before we even begin to think about the Tour. That's just 43 days away.

The Dane, the reigning Vuelta a España champion, is looking to complete the set of Grand Tours with a Giro title in May, and will hope to then carry that form into the Tour in July. Pogačar completed the Giro-Tour double in 2024, so could Vingegaard do the same? It will be tricky, although he won the second Grand Tour he took part in last year.

His 2026 was slow to start, but seems to be going to plan now. Vingegaard did not race before Paris-Nice this year, due to illness, but his performance there certainly would have made many take notice.

He won by over four minutes, a crushing performance across eight stages; his biggest rivals might have been absent, but you can only beat what’s in front of you, and Vingegaard did it on an almost unmatched scale, with the largest winning margin since the Second World War. It was a Pogačar-esque performance.

The 29-year-old is currently at the Volta a Catalunya, where a solid performance would continue to build confidence, and hype. As for the Tour, though, the Giro comes first.

3. Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe)

Age: 26
Nationality: Belgian
Tour de France appearances: 2
Tour de France overall wins: 0
Tour de France stage wins: 2
Best GC position: 3rd

After the first few races of 2026, there was a lot of talk around Remco Evenepoel, including from myself. The Belgian won seven of his first 11 races this season, including Valenciana overall, and looked to have truly hit the ground running at his new team.

However, a disappointing end to the UAE Tour saw those expectations cooled slightly, and there remains a lot to learn about Evenepoel before the Tour. He is currently riding Catalunya against Vingegaard, and if a serious blow is landed either way, it could change the direction of either rider's season.

Evenepoel is racing the Ardennes Classics and then the renamed Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes before the Tour, so there is time to build his form for the big goal. He will head to Spain and then France with a solid team, including last year's third-place, Florian Lipowitz, so will have more backing than he ever did at Soudal Quick-Step. That said, though, it is still a bit of an unknown if he can deliver on the same level as Vingegaard over three weeks and over the high mountains, let alone Pogačar.

4. Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)

Age: 22
Nationality: Mexican
Tour de France appearances: 0
Tour de France overall wins: 0
Tour de France stage wins: 0
Best GC position: n/a

The only reason Isaac del Toro is this low down the list is because he is Pogačar's teammate, and therefore not Plan A for UAE. If anything happens to the Slovenian, though, Del Toro might even be thought of as a contender above Vingegaard.

Denied a maiden Grand Tour victory at the Giro d'Italia last year due to Simon Yates and Visma-Lease a Bike brilliance, and some odd tactics, the 22-year-old is clearly a rider who could win a Grand Tour, the question is just when.

So far in 2026, Del Toro has won both the UAE Tour and Tirreno-Adriatico, and he will surely be the favourite at Itzulia Basque Country in just over a week too. He seems to be able to do it all, like his starrier teammate, it just remains to be seen whether he will be allowed to ride his own race or work fully in support of Pogačar. There could easily be a UAE one-two in Paris at the end of July.

5. Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek)

Age: 23
Nationality: Spanish
Tour de France appearances: 1
Tour de France overall wins: 0
Tour de France stage wins: 0
Best GC position: n/a

Juan Ayuso hit the ground running at Lidl-Trek, winning the Volta ao Algarve in his first race at his new team, before an untimely crash took him out of Paris-Nice while he was in the race lead.

The Spaniard, free of super-domestique duties at UAE Team Emirates, can now show his old team what they're missing, although he is yet to thread together a complete performance at a Grand Tour. That said, he has finished third and fourth overall at the Vuelta.

His 2026 will get back on track at Itzulia, where he will lock horns with Del Toro, before the La Flèche Wallonne, Liège, and the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Lidl have been building a solid GC team, and with Ayuso at the point of the spear, are serious contenders.

6. Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM)

Age: 19
Nationality: French
Tour de France appearances: 0
Tour de France overall wins: 0
Tour de France stage wins: 0
Best GC position: n/a

The breakout star of 2026 so far is Paul Seixas, who isn't definitely going to the Tour yet, but will surely be on the start line in Barcelona. There's a lot of pressure from France on the teenager's shoulders, but it doesn't appear to have affected him too much yet, with impressive performances at Algarve, the Faun-Ardèche Classic and Strade Bianche.

What is unknown, however, is how he will fare in a Grand Tour, considering he's never raced one before, let alone the behemoth which is the Tour. We'll know more about his stage racing form at Itzulia, but Decathlon definitely have a star on their hands.

7. Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5)

Age: 26
Nationality: British
Tour de France appearances: 3
Tour de France overall wins: 0
Tour de France stage wins: 1
Best GC position: 13th

Third at the Vuelta a España last year, second at Milan-San Remo, a winner twice this year already, Tom Pidcock is clearly a star of the peloton. The only reason he isn't higher up these power rankings is because, well, he's on the record as not going for GC at the Tour, instead aiming for a stage win.

This will be Pinarello Q36.5's aim at their debut at the biggest race of them all, but there's also no reason why Pidcock couldn't aim at the top 10, if not higher, at the Tour. He proved last summer that he can ride Grand Tours, after years of promise, and this Tour could suit him.

He's currently riding the Volta a Catalunya, which could be his last stage race before July, although the Tour de Suisse or Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes would not look amiss on his schedule. Will ride the Ardennes Classics, too.

Best of the rest

The Ineos Grenadiers duo of Oscar Onley and Kévin Vaquelin both finished in the top 10 last season, but for different teams. The latter finished in the top five of both the Volta ao Algarve and Paris-Nice so far this year, while Onley finished fourth at Algarve before getting ill at Paris-Nice. Together, they offer a new thrust for the British team, and could dovetail to a solid result. Toppling Pogačar, Vingegaard, and Evenepoel seems like a tall order, though.

Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) was sixth at the Tour last year, and could easily repeat that again in July. He was fourth at the recent Tirreno-Adriatico. Fellow top-10 finisher Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) will surely be aiming for stage wins over GC, but he could defy expectations again.

Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) was third last year, but has moved out of the limelight with the arrival of Evenepoel to his team, but is a fantastic option for his squad, and it would not be a surprise were he to shine brighter than his starrier teammate. Other teammates of riders of the list to watch out for include Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike), Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trej), although one would think these are secondary or tertiary chocies.

Finally, Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious) had a disappointing Tirreno, but looked almost equal to Del Toro at the UAE Tour, so is very much a solid bet for top 10 at the Tour.

Remco Evenepoel has said he is "good" to continue at the Volta a Catalunya despite his pothole crash on Wednesday.

The Belgian crashed at the end of stage three of the Volta a Catalunya due to an unmarked hole, he claimed.

However, despite saying he had "pain everywhere", on Thursday morning he said: "Good news all is good. It stopped me yesterday, but not for the week."

The Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe rider was ahead of the peloton with Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) on stage three, when he fell on the approach to a roundabout.

The incident was initially inexplicable, with Vingegaard telling reporters that he didn't know what happened: "He just went over the handlebars."

Vingegaard sat up, allowing the peloton to catch him, which meant the stage finished in a sprint, won by Dorian Godon of Ineos Grenadiers. Evenepoel lost no time overall due to the incident being within the final 5km of the race.

"I wanted to move to the drops and at that moment there was a hole in the road that I didn’t see, and it wasn’t marked. Then I lost my handlebars," Evenepoel told Sporza later on Wednesday.

Potholes, then, are an issue beyond the UK. The Olympic champion crashed hard, which could have an impact beyond taking him out of the race on Wednesday.

"I have pain everywhere," Evenepoel explained of his injuries. "My elbow is open [cut or grazed], my back is open and my hips are open," he said. "My elbow is quite badly hit, so we have to see what is possible and what is not."

The Belgian received immediate attention following the fall, and managed to remount his bike and finish the stage, and is still second on general classification.

"Now I need to let my body recover a bit and then we will see this evening and especially tomorrow morning what it says," Evenepoel added. Stage four finishes up an hors categorie climb to Vallter, 11.4km at 7.5%.

Evenepoel and Vingegaard escaped in crosswinds with just under 30km to go on stage three, with the former escaping first, and the latter following. However, cooperation did not always seem smooth between the pair, with Evenepoel visibly remonstrating with his break companion.

"What others do tactically is not my concern," Evenepoel said. "That’s their problem. It was clear who wanted to ride for the win and who didn’t."

For his part, Vingegaard explained: "At some points he wasn't really happy with me, but that's how it is, it's cycling, we have our tactics."

Remco Evenepoel clutched defeat from the jaws of victory on stage three of the Volta a Catalunya as he crashed in a chaotic finale.

The Belgian Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe rider came down around 500m from the finish line while out front with Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), ahead of the on-rushing peloton, as the pair approached a roundabout.

It was not immediately apparent what caused the crash, which might have been a touch of wheels, but it took all the impetus from the attack, with Vingegaard sitting up as a result.

Evenepoel was checked by his team and the race doctor before remounting to ride on and cross the finish line, seemingly escaping serious injury.

Dorian Godon (Ineos Grenadiers) took his second stage win of the race, sprinting to victory ahead of Ethan Vernon (NSN Cycling) and Noah Hobbs (EF Education-EasyPost).

"To be honest I don't know, he just went over the handlebars and I just hope he's ok," Vingegaard said when asked what happened post-race on TNT Sports. "It looked really crazy, and I hope he's ok.

"I didn't want to take advantage of a situation like that so I decided at that moment to just wait for the bunch. I hope he's ok, and he can continue tomorrow."

Evenepoel and Vingegaard had escaped in crosswinds with just under 30km to go on stage three, with the former escaping first, and the latter following. Their advantage went over 25 seconds at times, before coming down below 10 inside the final 5km. However, inside the final kilometre, the pair still had a few seconds advantage, and victory looked to be on the cards. The roundabout crash put paid to that.

"I didn't expect it like this, I expected it more to be a bigger group," Vingegaard continued. "He went, I jumped across to him, and he was very strong on the flat, he's very aero obviously. Very strong at the moment. I'm happy I could jump across and work a bit with him.

Asked about the cooperation between the pair the Dane added: "At some points he wasn't really happy with me, but that's how it is, it's cycling, we have our tactics."

It was Godon's second stage win of the race, and third WorldTour victory of the year for Ineos Grenadiers, who he signed for this season.

"Today I wanted to win again, it was not so hard at the beginning..." the French champion said. "Then it was a lot of stress and tension, then I saw Remco full alone with Vingegaard. All the riders on the team did an amazing job to catch them, Oscar and Bob did a leadout for me, so it was amazing.

"I was fully concentrating on the sprint, that's it," he said of Evenepoel's crash. "For me, we caught them and I went for the win."

Godon remains in the race lead, 11 seconds ahead of Evenepoel, with Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5) in third. Vingegaard moved up to fourth overall due to bonus seconds gained.

Around 10km from where Jonas Vingegaard is from, in northern Denmark, is the town of Nykøbing Mors, where the writer Aksel Sandemose was born. The writer lives on, half a century after his death, through the Law of Jante, or Janteloven in Danish.

The ten rules, which were written satirically, have taken on a more sincere meaning now, and essentially boil down to the following: you should not think you're anything special, or that you’re better than anyone else. When you think of the reserved, quiet, family-oriented Vingegaard, it does not seem a giant leap to think of Janteloven.

The Vimsa-Lease a Bike rider has always been unflashy, someone who lets his legs do the talking.Already a two-time Tour de France winner, it's unfortunate, perhaps, that Vingegaard's heyday has coincided with that of Tadej Pogačar, a rider who makes even cycling's greats look like mere mortals.

In the era of Pogačar, this year to date even, there have been a few other riders touted as alternatives to UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s domination. We’ve had the hype around Remco Evenepoel at Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, the breakthrough of the teenage Paul Seixas, and the new start for Juan Ayuso at Lidl-Trek.

However, the one true alternative has always been Vingegaard. It was he and Visma-Lease a Bike who toppled Pogačar at the Tour de France in 2022 and 2023, and we could hardly rule out this happening again. Of course, living with Janteloven, it’s hardly something he is going to crow about, but the signs are good, at least for the first part of his Giro d’Italia-Tour de France plan this year.

The Dane had not raced before Paris-Nice this year, due to illness, but his performances last week certainly would have made many take notice. He won by over four minutes, a crushing performance across eight stages; his biggest rivals might have been absent, but you can only beat what’s in front of you, and Vingegaard did it on an almost unmatched scale, with the largest winning margin since the Second World War. It was a Pogačar-esque performance.

Not that it was designed as a message. Vingegaard said post-race: “I think for me, it's just about racing, trying to win the races that I'm doing and this was my first race of the year. And, I'm just extremely happy with how everything went here.”

To all accounts Vingegaard currently presents a relaxed figure; perhaps knowing that all he can do is perform his best and hope things fall into place. If you know that you are racing against possibly the best-ever in Pogačar, there might just be some freedom in knowing that you’re not really expected to match him – so it is your job to prove people wrong, and just ride your own race.

Next on the list for 2026 is the Volta a Catalunya next week, where he will face off against Evenepoel and Pogačar’s team-mate João Almeida; a solid performance will boost confidence to their heights, ahead of the Giro d’Italia in May. The Italian Grand Tour could be a useful distraction, something to focus on before the Tour de France rolls around. He can say in interview that his aim is the Giro, and that nothing else matters – if he wins there, and completes the set, then the Tour is kind of a free hit. It seems like an enlightened plan. The Giro is clearly not a done deal, but Vingegaard has the ability to win it, and then anything can happen.

Cycling needs a strong alternative to Pogačar and UAE in stage races, just as Mathieu van der Poel offers a counterpoint in the Classics. Vingegaard might shun the limelight, understandably so, but he’s the person fans need to challenge the hegemony.

This piece is part of The Leadout, the offering of newsletters from Cycling Weekly and Cyclingnews. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here.

If you want to get in touch with Adam, email adam.becket@futurenet.com.

Last week saw an exciting week of racing in the men's WorldTour, with some of the best riders in the peloton split across two decent-sized early-season stage races: Tirreno-Adriatico in Italy and Paris-Nice in France.

Much of the action was gratifyingly mountainous – or at the very least, hilly – resulting in some engaging battles. There were plenty of thrills and no lack of spills – one of which put Grand Tour star Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek) out of action. Some of the results were more predictable than others, and not everyone will be going home with a smile on their faces. Here's a snapshot of what cycling showed us last week.

1. UAE has a wunderkind

Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) may have experienced a certain reluctance about beating his friend Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) in the latter's home town of Camerino on Saturday's Tirreno-Adriatico stage, but the fact he did it anyway speaks volumes.

The Mexican is, not unlike his more famous Slovenian team-mate, clearly a born winner and that victory at the end of a lumpy, 188km stage dotted the i's and crossed the t's on his overall victory the following day.

Del Toro made the short journey back to his San Marino base with the GC, points and youth classifications under his belt and, at just 22 years old, is clearly destined for great things. Not that we didn't know that already, but every victory amplifies it.

2. Jonas Vingegaard is back on top

After a bumpy start to the season involving run-ins with fans, crashes and illness, it was gratifying to see Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) looking back to something like his best at Paris-Nice.

The Dane won two lumpy mid-race stages as well as all the classifications available to him – general, mountains and points. He came very close to winning the final stage in Nice too, but was pipped on the line by Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious).

Vingegaard's performance in France won't exactly have Grand Tour nemesis Tadej Pogačar quaking in his DMTs, but it won't have gone entirely unnoticed by the Slovenian either.

3. Félicitations to the French

Paris-Nice saw another branch negotiated in the slow but sure climb of French cycling back to the top of the tree – and that was without a Paul Seixas in sight.

Gallic riders from a variety of teams helped make the race throughout, filling out five of the top-12 on stage two for example and half the top-10 on Saturday's stage six. Among them, Kévin Vauquelin (Ineos Grenadiers) was the most successful on GC with fourth place, but he was followed by Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) in fifth – who also rounded out the race with a win on the final stage that saw him outsprint Jonas Vingegaard one-on-one. Also contributing to the Gallic glow of success was Vaquelin's team-mate Dorian Godon, who won a truncated stage six.

4. Ineos Grenadiers "on the way back"

The British-registered team have come in for a fair bit of flak in recent seasons, but their rides across both races last week gave them much to be confident about going into the next part of this season.

Their stage three team time trial victory at Paris-Nice will likely be among the team's biggest celebrations, as it was such a collaborative effort, and the scaffolding for Kévin Vauquelin's high GC finish. Afterwards new DS Geraint Thomas himself said: "We've had a rough couple of years but we're on the way back now," showing that the previous paucity of results and what now looks like a bit of a turnaround has not been lost on the team.

Its riders also claimed a one-two in the the Tirreno-Adriatico stage one ITT via Filippo Ganna and Thymen Arensman, while dogged prodding by Dorian Godon and Vauqelin throughout Paris-Nice ultimately resulted in a late stage win for Godon and that GC fourth for his team-mate.

5. Picnic PostNL yet to deliver

Not all teams have as much to celebrate as Ineos Grenadiers and others. Only eight of the 18 WorldTour teams registered stage or GC wins across Tirreno and Paris-Nice combined, leaving plenty going without. However, one team has still to hit the mark at all this year and would have been less than pleased to miss out – Picnic PostNL.

Neither the men's nor the women's squads of the Dutch-registered team have won so far, with the men in the unenviable position of having lost 75% of their four winners from last season with Oscar Onley and Tobias Lund Andresen having changed teams, and Nils Eeckhoff out after having an operation on his iliac artery.

The men's team has registered two podium finishes, although compared with UAE Team Emirates-XRG's 10 wins and 37 podiums, it's quite the contrast. The season is young though. No doubt Picnic PostNL will deliver the goods in due course.

Forget Tirreno-Adriatico, forget Strade Bianche post-race hot takes, all everyone is talking about online this week is Jonas Vingegaard. In a rain-soaked fourth stage of Paris-Nice, the Visma-Lease a Bike rider’s unique bib-over-jersey combination has shaken the internet. From the bemused to the horrified, the reactions have been epic.

Plus, this fashion scandal has revealed a cornerstone of the cycling world that had hitherto gone unnoticed by me: the Velominati rules. 95 guidelines for road cyclists, from road rules to the importance of bike maintenance and cleanliness.

Jonas Vingegaard has, by the sounds of it, broken one of the manual's most sacrosanct: know what to wear. On the other hand, does a wardrobe shake-up always have to be headline news? Kudos to him, I say.

1. Potholes are everywhere. They are inescapable.

2. "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels." We've all grown up hearing it, but Lorena Wiebes and the women of the peloton are proving that strength blasts that old saying out of the water.

3. Out with the old, in with the new: “squats for watts” is the mantra we’ll be taking into training this year.

4. Two dopamine triggers collide: good old fashioned slow-release endorphins and that deliciously *bad* doom scroll bliss. Not sure I’ve felt this personally attacked for a while - respect the ingenuity though.

5. Bit of gravel, bit of track, bit of cobbles - and pastries. This is two days with UAE Team Emirates-XRG riders Tadej Pogačar and Florian Vermeersch. Paris-Roubaix incoming...

6. Hard, dusty work at Strade Bianche last week. Bjorn Koerdt, a 21-year-old rider for Picnic PostNL finished 37th in the race

7. It was disco ball turbo training sessions for cross-country athlete, Evie Richards this week as she celebrated her 29th birthday.

8. Now for the reaction we’ve all been waiting for: Jonas Vingegaard’s fashion faux pas. This one made me laugh out loud. Vingegaard arrested for breaking rule 18 of the Veluminati code: know what to wear.

9. An outfit so bad, even us amateurs could replicate it. All we need are a pair of finishing trousers and a yellow bike - easy?

10. This content creator has taken a harder-line approach. “In case we’re confused, this is a no.”

Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) soloed to back-to-back stage wins at Paris-Nice and extended his general classification lead on stage five.

The Dane attacked with 21km to go en route to Colombier-le-Vieux, kicking away from the peloton on a 13% gradient as he approached the summit of the second of three finishing climbs.

His victory photo, taken only a few hundred kilometres south of his win on Wednesday, seemed a world away. This time there were no grey skies, freezing rain or faux pas bib tight straps over his jersey, but rather a sun-dappled scene, lighting up his yellow leader’s jersey.

Having started the day with a GC advantage of 52 seconds, Vingegaard now leads the race by 3:22 ahead of Dani Martínez (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe).

"It's been an amazing day for me and for the team," Vingegaard said afterwards.

"We wanted to win and take as much time as possible. Now I took a good amount of time. Once again, I want to thank my team-mates a lot for today. They deserve the champagne tonight."

As the two-time Tour de France winner approached the finish line, he leant forward and kissed his handlebars, where he had placed a sticker of his wife and two children.

He then celebrated by stretching his arms out wide, toasting his second victory in as many days – an impressive haul for a rider who only decided to race Paris-Nice after a crash forced him to skip the UAE Tour.

Speaking to TNT Sports after the line, Vingegaard's team-mate Victor Campenaerts said the Dane is in "extremely good shape".

"Killer Jonas destroyed everybody," Campenaerts smiled. "He’s been very relaxed from December training camp and feeling very ready for it. Clearly when we came to Paris-Nice, already beforehand, [the goal] wasn’t to do race miles or whatever. It was to come here and smash it."

The Belgian helped set up Vingegaard's winning attack on stage five. After spending the day embedded in the breakaway, Campenaerts dropped back into the peloton and towed Vingegaard up to speed, catapulting him up the double-figure slope, before grinding to a near halt himself.

The race leader then ploughed alone through the hills of the Ardèche. By the time he reached the final climb, his advantage stood at around 40 seconds, which he doubled over the summit to hold off the chasing Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) by 2:02.

Though he now leads by a comfortable three-minute cushion, Vingegaard assured that the race is "not over".

"There are still three stages left, where a lot of things can happen," he said. "We just have to keep the focus until Nice."

Friday's sixth stage will take the peloton 179.2km from Barbentane to Apt, ahead of the weekend's finale.

Results

Paris-Nice, stage five: Cormoranche-sur-Saône > Colombier-le-Vieux (206km)

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 4:29:01
2. Valentin Paret-Peintre (Fra) Soudal Quick-Step, +2:20
3. Harold Tejada (Col) XDS Astana, +2:20
4. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain Victorious
5. Ion Izagirre (Esp) Cofidis
6. Dani Martínez (Col) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe
7. Kévin Vauquelin (Fra) Ineos Grenadiers
8. Georg Steinhauser (Ger) EF Education-EasyPost
9. Mathys Rondel (Fra) Tudor Pro Cycling
10. Marc Soler (Esp) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, all at same time

General classification after stage five

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 17:22:06
2. Dani Martínez (Col) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +3:22
3. Georg Steinhauser (Ger) EF Education-EasyPost, +5:50
4. Kévin Vauquelin (Fra) Ineos Grenadiers, +6:09
5. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain Victorious, +7:37
6. Marc Soler (Spa) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +8:15
7. Ion Izagirre (Esp) Cofidis, +9:02
8. Mathys Rondel (Fra) Tudor Pro Cycling, +10:06
9. Alex Baudin (Fra) EF Education-EasyPost, +10:16
10. Oscar Onley (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, +11:23

What a kerfuffle. Jonas Vingegaard's sartorial faux pas yesterday appears to have grown wings of epic proportions and morphed into memes, stories and more memes that we will probably still be talking about in this December's Season Review pieces.

I could imagine less fuss being made if Leonardo DiCaprio arrived at the Oscars with his underpants on the outside, but hey, welcome to cycling.

For those who missed the fun, the Dane took his first win of the season at Paris-Nice yesterday, and marked the occasion by soloing across the line sporting his bib tights on the outside.

Smiling sheepishly afterwards, he explained that it wasn't part of any bold new look – more the fact that the racing had been so full-on that he hadn't had a chance to remove them. Too late. The internet was already on fire.

On the one hand, it is understandable. After all, if one of the world's top racers, with access to an almost unlimited wardrobe of Hollywood proportions, can't get it right, who can? But on the other hand, is it time cycling toned down its obsession with the perfect look?

What does it say that, from one of the most memorable day's racing of the season, where the weather was disgusting, major riders decking it like skittles and Tadej Pogačar's biggest rival showing a touch of brilliant, our biggest takeaway is his wardrobe malfunction.

There's no hand-wringing involved in taking this viewpoint. After all, Vingegaard's Steptoe & Son turn was pretty funny and he thought so too. But I find the whole 'style above all' obsession is so alien. (My friends and family, familiar with my extensive collection of ageing garments, will be nodding sagely at this point).

But… take the whole Velominati thing. Tongue in cheek or not, a lot of people swore by that book of cycling rules (many of which were style-related), and some probably still do. But the last time I wore my cycling shades on the outside of my helmet straps they fell off and nearly got run over by a car. Sock length, perfectly matched kit all the time, every time... the list is extensive. Life, I feel, is way too short for such trivialities.

It is no doubt all added to by the sumptuous kit launches we see each year by the pro teams, which have become a major and multi-layered branding exercise. The hastily-grabbed snapshot of a rider looking slightly awkward and entirely unprepared is no longer the way of introducing new team attire to the world.

Perhaps my own attitude stems from my earliest forays into cycling with the local CTC group (yes, I realise they do get mentioned here a fair bit): today in wet weather everyone wears the Gabba uniform – back then it was capes that stretched all the way over the handlebars and were perfectly matched to... not a damn thing. And no one was any less happy or fulfilled for it.

Of course, Vingegaard isn't the first pro whose attire has missed the mark. Mario Cipollini had the sort of provocative wardrobe that would have made a Milan catwalk designer blanche and while it was occasionally worked it usually left people either scratching their heads or pulling the sort of face usually reserved for very bad smells.

What about AG2R La Mondiale's brown shorts? They ploughed a brave and questionable furrow through the peloton for more than 10 years. Even back in the 1980s when racing bikes were universally beautiful with lithe steel frames dripping with polished alloy components, the French Castorama team had the temerity to dress its riders in workman's dungarees – or at least a kit designed to look like them.

We should definitely all keep having fun with this stuff – cycling would be an awfully serious sport without it. But equally, let's remember it's not just style – as Vingegaard showed us yesterday it's substance too, dodgy bibs or not.

Jonas Vingegaard had a very successful day on stage four of Paris-Nice, winning by 41 seconds, moving into the race lead, and surely securing at least a top-two position overall.

However, the Visma-Lease a Bike rider went viral not for his performances on the bike, but his attire, which was unorthodox to say the least.

On a torrid day of inclement weather in the centre of France on Wednesday, riders were dressed in waterproof jackets, gloves, bib tights and overshoes; the kind of kit you might wear in deep winter, rather than in a WorldTour race.

However, as the race was full-on, and various layers were taken off, it became apparent that Vingegaard had gone a step further, and put his bib tights over his jersey.

The Tour de France winner was in fact wearing a second pair of bib tights over his normal ones, but with the chamois pad removed and the waist cut in order to make them fit over his, well, base bib tights. According to Sporza, the bib tight-surgery was done by Victor Campenaerts, Vingegaard's teammate, piece-by-piece, in order that the Dane's saddle height wouldn't have to be adjusted due to the extra padding.

"I think a lot of guys were freezing today. I personally didn't freeze because I had a lot of clothes on, that was also maybe the reason I couldn't take it off," Vingegaard said post-stage.

He added: "It was just full gas racing, there was not even time to take clothes off. So maybe you can call me a trendsetter with the long pants, but there was just no time to take them off."

"To keep me warm in the beginning, I wore the extra-long pants," the Dane explained further on Thursday. "We prepared the bibs so that two teammates could easily rip them off.

"After that, I could just take the parts on my legs off like leg warmers. In the end, the race was so hard that there were never two teammates around to tear the bibs off," he explained.

It was not only the bib tights which were novel, but Vingegaard was also wearing an extra jacket backwards underneath his outer one. One could speculate that this was to introduce an extra barrier, a move done out of a desire to just be a bit more warm and dry.

In the chaos of stage four, it appeared there was no time for Vingegaard to take all of his innovative clothing options off – not that it mattered in the end, given he won the stage and is now the overwhelming favourite to win the race overall.

Whether Nimbl, Visma-Lease a Bike's kit sponsors, will now introduce the Vingegaard hacks for deep winter, time will tell.

Paris-Nice
8-15 March
1,206km
France

The first major European stage race of the year is Paris-Nice, the opening step on the road to the Tour de France in July. Run by the same organisers, ASO, the 'Race to the Sun' takes places over eight stages from the Île-de-France, just outside Paris, to Nice and the Mediterranean coast.

Winners haven't always gone on to win the biggest events of the year, but in the last 10 years Tadej Pogačar, Primož Roglič and Egan Bernal have all won. There have been 84 editions, the last two of which have been won by Matteo Jorgenson.

Here's the things you should be looking out for at this year's race.

Jonas Vingegaard is back

The Dane has delayed his season start after illness, but he will be back in action at Paris-Nice, where he will be looking to have a better time than last year, when he suffered concussion. A lack of a GC title here feels like a gap in the Visma-Lease a Bike career, that he will be keen to fill in.

Wind at the Race to the Sun

When one thinks of Paris-Nice, crosswinds loom large. As the race crosses central France, the corners and the famous named winds of the country come into play - the Mistral, the Tramontane and others. GC riders will have to be alert to not miss out on splits in the peloton, because it might ruin a race early on, before the big climbs even come into the picture.

A race to the sun?

The Race to The Sun might be its nickname, but given this is early March, weather is a bit changeable. As things stand, it looks like the eight-stage race will be the Race of the Sun rather than to the sun, as it looks fair across France across all of the week this far out. Previous editions have been rather wetter.

No room for sprints

Traditionally, Paris-Nice has been a solid warm-up race for the Classics, offering the hard men the chance to fine tune their form ahead of the key cobbled races. This year is no different, but there is only one nailed-on sprint stage, so there isn’t much on offer for the out-and-out fast men. Tirreno isn’t much kinder, either.

Tirreno-Adriatico is on too

Run concurrently, Tirreno-Adriatico is the other option for riders looking to get some kilometres in their legs in early March. There isn’t quite as much climbing in Italy, but the lineup is still good, with Mathieu van der Poel, Isaac del Toro and Wout van Aert all taking part in the seven-stage race on the other side of the Alps.

Focus on the TTT

All three big ASO-run stage races this year feature a team time trial, culminating in the big one at the Tour de France on stage one. They have been present in the last few editions of Paris-Nice, with the new-ish system where riders are given individual times at the finish, rather than as a team. This one looks relatively flat over 23.5km, with just 213 metres of climbing, so it is best tackled with as many riders as possible. Expect teams testing things out before the Tour.

There has already been one TTT this season, at the Challenge Mallorca, where Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe powered to victory with a team including Remco Evenepoel. In the past three editions of Paris-Nice, it has been won by Visma-Lease a Bike and UAE Team Emirates, so expect the super-teams to be on the podium.

The route

How to watch

It is on TNT Sports in the UK and Ireland, accessible via a TV package or a Discovery+ subscription. Find out more in our how to watch Paris-Nice guide.

Last year’s podium

1. Matteo Jorgenson
2. Florian Lipowitz
3. Thymen Arensman

Riders to watch

Jonas Vingegaard (Visma–Lease a Bike) ****

The Dane is yet to race this season, so his form is a bit of a mystery. The only things we know about his 2026 are that he crashed in training and he was ill, but things have to turn around at some point… Targeting the Giro-Tour double.

João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) ****

Another man who will be at the Giro is Almeida, who is yet to quite replicate his stunning stage racing form from last year, when he won three WorldTour stage races. Second at Valenciana and third at Algarve hint at someone working towards his best.

Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek) *****

The man who beat Almeida at the Volta ao Algarve was Juan Ayuso, who therefore is the GC favourite with a GC win to his name this season. The Spaniard is still finding his feet at Lidl-Trek, but given the backing of a whole team, will hope to deliver the promise that he showed at UAE. His goal is the Tour.

Oscar Onley (Ineos Grenadiers) ****

Also targeting the Tour not the Giro is Onley, who impressed on his first outing in Ineos Grenadiers colours in Portugal last month. A win here would cement the Scot as one to watch this season, and prove that the British team were right to sign him, breaking him out of his previous contract.

Biniam Girmay (NSN Cycling) ****

There are not many opportunities for sprinters, but given the Eritrean is a bit more of a puncheur, he could well thrive in this lumpy edition of Paris-Nice. His only appearance at the race came in 2022, when he had three top 10s, but he has won twice already this season, so it is time for that to change.

Jonas Vingegaard is to make a surprise return to racing next week at Paris-Nice, after delaying his season due to illness.

The Visma-Lease a Bike rider was due to start his season at the UAE Tour, but decided to skip it after crashing during training and subsequently falling ill. It will be the Dane's third Paris-Nice, after finishing third overall behind Tadej Pogačar in 2023, and last year, when he left the race partway through after crashing and suffering concussion.

Matteo Jorgenson, also of Visma-Lease a Bike, has won the last two editions, although the American is not racing Paris-Nice in 2026. The race runs from Saturday 8 March to Sunday 15 March.

Vingegaard, who won the Tour de France in 2022 and 2023, was victorious at the Vuelta a España last year, and is now targeting the Grand Tour treble in the Giro d’Italia, which he will ride for the first time this spring.

After his UAE Tour withdrawal, the Giro and the Volta a Catalunya were the only races on his calendar before July’s Tour, but that has now been rejigged. It is not known whether Vingegaard will still race Catalunya, which begins on the 23 March. The Giro begins on the 8 May in Bulgaria.

"I am excited to be at the start of Paris-Nice once again. It is a prestigious race with a lot of history. As a team, we have a title to defend here," he said in a team statement. Matteo Jorgenson has won the race for Visma for the past two years, but is skipping the race for a more Classics-focused spring.

"After crashing and falling ill, I took the necessary time to recover. Now I feel ready to start racing again and am looking forward to it after a long winter of training."

Vingegaard crashed his bike last month after being followed by an amateur cyclist on a descent near Malaga, Spain.

Tadej Pogačar's UAE Team Emirates-XRG team has taken to shielding him using motorcycle outriders, after a recent string of fan-related incidents.

Fans were looking for social media exposure, UAE team boss Matxin Joxean Fernández told Spanish media outlet AS, but sometimes the consequences could be negative for the pro cyclist involved.

“This is about moments and getting more views, something that's very fashionable these days," Fernández said. "I've seen some very complicated situations where many cyclists, caught up in the excitement, start recording in the middle of the road. If at that moment a cyclist gives you a rude response because you see a car coming towards you when you're encroaching on the opposite lane, the one who probably comes out looking bad is the one who gives that response, when the context is completely different.

"What we see is what we perceive as right or wrong. Sometimes we don't consider the full context of the situation.'

A recent Spanish training camp saw the team post a motorcycle outrider to protect the popular Slovenian and to stop the situation becoming unsafe.

"An example of situations we've had during our training camp in Alicante: we had a motorcycle to protect Tadej, because we ride in small groups," said Fernández. "If you have groups of 20, the cars behind can't overtake them. So we ride in groups of eight, but if cyclists join in, they become too large.

"Now, what we do is put a motorcycle behind Tadej to ensure that the small group is respected and that cars can pass without creating a traffic jam.”

The Tour de France champion posted a ride on his Strava account last week imploring fans to be more respectful, after he was sworn at by a fan who became impatient to have his picture taken with the star. And Pogačar is not the only rider to have fallen foul of fan attention lately – Jonas Vingegaard crashed last month on a training ride while attempting to drop an unwelcome fan on a descent. The Dane then had to miss the UAE Tour.

Finally, Fernández struck what felt like a conciliatory note in an attempt to foster empathy between both sides, saying "we have to put ourselves in each other's shoes".

"If we make a mistake at any point, we apologise," he said. "If, as Tadej said, you're talking and someone asks you for a photo while we're doing this interview, you ask them to wait and they get angry... Who's right? The one who gets angry or the one who asks for two minutes of patience?

"We all have to put ourselves in each other's shoes, as they say in Italian. We have to be willing to apologise and be respectful.”

As if the surprise loss of his mountain super-domestique Simon Yates wasn't enough, Jonas Vingegaard and his Visma-Lease a Bike team are now facing the departure of his coach Tim Heemskerk, it was announced yesterday.

Just like Yates's retirement, the loss of Heemskerk – who has been at the team for eight years – has a very 'last-minute' air, coming as it does at the very outset of the new season.

Heemskerk, 50, had been in charge of Visma's GC riders under the leadership of head of performance Mathieu Heijboer, but said that he had found it hard to apply "creativity and passion" at the Dutch team in recent times.

"Over the past period, I have noticed that I was struggling to continue applying my creativity and passion, which are important to me in my work as a coach," he said. "That was the moment for me to be honest with myself and with the team.

"I look back with pride on the growth of the team, myself, and the riders, including of course Jonas. In the coming period, I will take some time for myself and reflect on my future."

Beyond the loss of Yates, Vingegaard's season has already been compromised by illness and injury. He crashed in training two weeks ago, apparently trying to drop an amateur rider who had been tailing him on a downhill near Malaga in southern Spain.

Vingegaard was reported by the team as being "okay" and sustaining no serious injury, but he went on to fall ill and was ultimately ruled out of the UAE Tour, which starts next week.

That leaves only two races between now and the Tour de France for the Dane – the Volta a Catalunya at the end of March and his much-talked about Giro d'Italia participation.

That leaves an awful lot of time in which his training will have to do the heavy lifting, and it will have to happen under a new coach too. Visma-Lease a Bike says Vingegaard – along with Heemskerk's other riders – will be transferred to another team coach, although they have not confirmed who yet.

"We are extremely grateful to Tim for the contribution he has made to the team over the past years," Heijboer said in a team statement. "He has played a major role in the development of the training philosophy we apply within the team and in achieving our sporting results. Over the past period, I have had many conversations with Tim, and I believe this is the best outcome. I wish him all the best in the next stage of his career."

Jonas Vingegaard will not make his season debut at this month’s UAE Tour as planned, choosing instead to recover after crashing during training and subsequently falling ill.

The two-time Tour de France winner fell off his bike last week after being followed by an amateur cyclist on a descent near Malaga, Spain.

Vingegaard was due to open his 2026 season at the UAE Tour on 16 February, but now may not race until his next confirmed event: the Volta a Catalunya at the end of March.

“I was really looking forward to returning to the UAE Tour and am therefore disappointed that we have had to make this decision,” the Dane said in a statement shared by his team, Visma-Lease a Bike.

“However, the combination of the crash and subsequent illness made it necessary. It is better to fully recover first so that I can then focus on my next goals.”

Following his crash last week, Visma-Lease a Bike released a statement saying Vingegaard was “okay” and did not sustain any “serious injuries”.

The team also urged restraint from the public towards their riders. “For both your own and others’ wellbeing, please allow riders to train and give them as much space and peace as possible,” the statement read.

Vingegaard, who won the Tour de France in 2022 and 2023, earned his first Vuelta a España title last year, and is now targeting the Grand Tour treble in the Giro d’Italia, which he will ride for the first time this spring.

After his UAE Tour withdrawal, the Giro and the Volta a Catalunya are the only races on his calendar before July’s Tour de France.

“Having the Tour de France in mind, if you do too much in the spring, you will pay for it in the Tour,” the Dane told Wielerflits last month. “After the Tour, we’re going to see where I am, how I feel, and then we decide if that’s season [finished] or if we plan some more [races].”

I can barely open my laptop these days without someone spotting me. Wherever I am, but especially when I'm in my usual workplaces, like my flat or at my local cafe, it's hard to get on with my work without being mobbed. I'll just be there, typing away, when someone shoves their phone in my face for a selfie, or perhaps they'll just sit behind me, aping me, in order they can tell their friends or post on social media about how close they got to Adam Becket.

Sure, I'm a bit of a giveaway, when I'm wearing my full Cycling Weekly kit head to toe, and I am working in public spaces, but that's my prerogative.

This is obviously a flight of fancy, but it appears to be the life that some professional cyclists have to live at the moment. In this age of Instagram Reels, TikTok and Strava, riders, especially if they're better known, face constant bothering.

If you're Tadej Pogačar, Jonas Vingegaard or Mathieu van der Poel, and you're on a training ride, especially in the Spanish hotspots of Calpe or the Sierra Nevada, you will be subject to regular, seemingly endless, attention. In recent weeks, I've seen videos of all sorts of pro cyclists doing their job while fans or regular riders try to get close with their cameras.

Unlike us normal people, and most athletes too, riders have to do their training in the real world, on real roads. It's part of what we love about cycling, that it happens in places we can all access, but it also allows for behaviour which gets in the way, disrupts, or perhaps makes pros feel uncomfortable.

This all came to a head this week when Jonas Vingegaard crashed on a training ride, purportedly after he attempted to get away from an amateur cyclist. In the aftermath, his Visma-Lease a Bike team urged fans and other riders to "give them [their pro cyclists] as much space and peace as possible".

There is nothing to suggest that the other cyclist involved in the Vingegaard incident did anything to provoke the Dane, other than cycling near him.

Pedro García Fernández, who posted on Strava about the incident, wrote: "You can be professional, but you can also be humble. Jonas fell while trying to leave me behind... When I stopped to ask how he was, he got angry with me for following him down. He was going down fast just to leave me behind and ended up on the ground."

However, it does not take much of a reach to understand why Vingegaard might have been trying to ride off, and then his anger when he crashed. The 29-year-old will face attention all the time, people riding on his wheel, trying to get close to the two-time Tour de France winner.

It's nothing new, but it's amplified in the social media age, with people chasing views. It isn't a huge leap to thinking it would be a stressful situation, something Vingegaard would want to get away from. Even if it was just someone riding on his wheel, it could be uncomfortable.

Last year I wrote about my strong dislike of people riding on my wheel when I don't know them, especially when they make no effort to be polite or introduce themselves. "If you’re the kind of person who drafts, maybe it’s time to take a look in a mirror," I wrote. That applies to pro cyclists too.

The roads are free for everyone to use, of course, but why not have a bit of respect and thought and give a pro cyclist space? This is not confined to riders, obviously, but there is more potential danger to getting in someone's space while cycling as opposed to bothering a celebrity you've spotted at a local restaurant. Incidentally, I would still advocate disturbing a famous person anywhere with the utmost of politeness and respect, but that's just my manners.

It seems rude, frankly, and also weird, to expect a level of candour and time from someone just trying to get on with their job and train. I can understand why riders hide their Strava activities, or travel further afield, as Tom Pidcock and Pinarello-Q36.5 have done in heading to Chile.

While the top male pro cyclists are better known, and therefore must receive more attention, female pro cyclists, training in their kit, must face a tiring barrage of amateur riders attempting to prove their speed. That's not even to speak of the low-level harassment all female cyclists often endure.

I understand why Vingegaard would try to escape from a rider following him, especially approaching a descent, where he would want space to take the corners in safety and not have to worry about a rider too close behind. It's weird, and as one of the most famous cyclists in the world, it must be tiring. Avoiding crashes, ironically, is probably one reason to try and ride alone, and keep everything within your control.

I don’t like someone I don’t know riding on my wheel, and I’m not a Tour de France winner trying to train alone. Think about your actions, be polite. Feel free to say hi to someone, to ask for a photo, if it's possible, but don't be annoying, and definitely don’t put another rider, pro or amateur in danger. That's all that's needed.

Anyway, I'm about to leave my house. Please respect my space.

This piece is part of The Leadout, the offering of newsletters from Cycling Weekly and Cyclingnews. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here.

If you want to get in touch with Adam, email adam.becket@futurenet.com.

Jonas Vingegaard crashed on a training ride on Monday after reportedly being tailed by a amateur cyclist.

The Dane came off his bike near Malaga in Spain after he attempted to drop the rider on a descent.

The incident was confirmed by his team, Visma-Lease a Bike, who urged restraint from the public towards their riders. The roads around Malaga in Andalusia are popular training roads for professional cyclists, with easy access to the Sierra Nevada mountains.

A cyclist from the region, Pedro García Fernández, wrote with a Strava activity that the Dane "was going down fast just to leave me behind and ended up on the ground".

Another Strava user, S-enduro, commented on the activity, saying that he saw Vingegaard with a bloodied face post-crash.

"Jonas Vingegaard crashed during training on Monday," a Visma-Lease a Bike spokesperson said. "Fortunately, he is okay and did not sustain any serious injuries. In general, as a team we would like to urge fans on bikes to always put safety first.

"For both your own and others’ wellbeing, please allow riders to train and give them as much space and peace as possible."

In his activity post on Strava, Fernández wrote: "You can be professional, but you can also be humble. Jonas fell while trying to leave me behind as we were going down the Queen’s Fountain [a well-known cycling route in the mountains outside Malaga]. When I stopped to ask how he was, he got angry with me for following him down. He was going down fast just to leave me behind and ended up on the ground.

"I don’t do this for a living; I’m an amateur like most people, so I don’t understand his anger as a professional about it."

S-enduro commented: "You both passed me coming down, and as I was almost at the last bend, I found Jonas by the guardrail, his face bleeding in two places. He must have hit it hard to drag his face along the ground. I stopped and asked him if he needed help, and he told me no, to go away, very angry.

"Now I understand. It’s clear he’s the professional and responsible for how he rides, but I also think that people like him, who are professionals and have so much at stake, should be given their space and respected.

"They risk their lives, their salaries, and the livelihoods of many people around them. It seems to me he felt a bit pressured and went down faster than he should have on a road he doesn’t know well."

Vingegaard has good reason to be wary of crashes; last year, he tumbled off his bike at Paris-Nice, and suffered concussion, which interrupted his season build-up. In 2024, he crashed at Itzulia Basque Country and broke his collarbone, several ribs, and punctured his lung.

The 29-year-old is scheduled to begin his 2026 season at the UAE Tour in just over a fortnight, before building up to a tilt at both the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France.

"We changed the programme and it’s something I’m really motivated by,” he said earlier this month. "Personally, I really needed the change."

"By repeating what you do every year, you get into the same roll and do the same every year. It’s not like I’m not motivated, but it’s more like sometimes you also need something new to increase your motivation again. I feel myself that I have a new energy I haven’t had for a few years."

SRAM has officially launched 150mm and 155mm crank arms to the public, bringing some of the shortest cranks from the WorldTour into bike shops for the first time.

The release follows their use by Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) last season, satisfying UCI rules that require professional riders to race only on commercially available equipment. It was not just an experiment, and the industry now seems happy to stand behind the shorter options.

In one sense, the launch simply underlines what we all know, that shorter cranks are no longer a novelty in the pro peloton. What once felt radical – 165mm cranks on a road bike – now feels comparatively long in this context, giving riders a much broader range to choose from or experiment with.

Many WorldTour riders have already migrated away from 175mm cranks. However, based on our own investigations in the hotel car parks of Lille last summer, 172.5mm cranks were still widely in use and common on many riders' bikes.

The news that these shorter lengths are now available from SRAM isn't just about shorter cranks; it's about how short they are, as they are well outside the observable norms now.

In the never-ending hunt for watts and marginal gains, it's no surprise to see 'chasing' teams like Visma-Lease a Bike willing to explore the lower limits of crank length in search of those elusive gains.

Vingegaard's use of them, and now SRAM's decision to sell them, shifts the debate. The question is no longer whether shorter cranks work in elite cycling – that has been answered – but rather where the practical limit lies.

Riders are not interchangeable, a truth few brands like to admit given the restrictions implicit in kit supplied in fixed sizes. Leg length, hip mobility, muscle recruitment, and cadence all influence how a crank length feels.

A compact climber with huge cadence and good control might find a short crank transformative. A taller rider with a naturally lower cadence may find the same setup awkward, even if the power numbers look good.

While pros can experiment with these changes more freely, consumers are navigating these changes with their wallets, and crank length also has an impact on other areas of bike fit.

Therefore, before you rush out and buy a set of tiny cranks, you might want to consider a bike fit first, where a professional fitter can observe your pedal stroke and point you toward a crank length that might work for you, or check out our guides to dig into the subject in a little more detail.

It’s a New Year, a new dawn, a new Giro d’Italia and Tour de France double bid – and Jonas Vingegaard is feeling good.

“We changed the programme and it’s something I’m really motivated by,” he says. “Personally, I really needed the change.”

“By repeating what you do every year, you get into the same roll and do the same every year. It’s not like I’m not motivated, but it’s more like sometimes you also need something new to increase your motivation again. I feel myself that I have a new energy I haven’t had for a few years.”

Playing with his wedding ring at times as he spoke, Vingegaard repeated that buzz phrase “new energy” three times in the first five minutes of his press conference at Visma-Lease a Bike’s media day on Tuesday in the hills north of Benidorm.

The runner-up in the last two editions of the Tour de France does not feel that he is sacrificing his chances in the sport’s blue riband race by chasing Giro glory first.

“The Tour is the big goal as well. I think you can also have both of them pretty equal as goals,” Vingegaard says. “I also want to win the Giro and I still believe that it’s possible for me to do both.” Tadej Pogačar showed as much in 2024, winning both the Giro and the Tour.

Finishing second in the 2023 Vuelta a España after Tour victory first made him realise that the Giro-Tour double was possible and he says he wanted to do it from the moment he won the Vuelta last year.

The data, run by the team, backed up his feeling: “The two times I’ve done the Vuelta after the Tour, I haven’t been worse, I’ve even been a bit better power-wise. We don’t believe it’s a disadvantage for me.”

UAE Team Emirates-XRG star João Almeida and former winner Jai Hindley (Red Bull-bora-hansgrohe) are anticipated rivals for the race which begins in Bulgaria. Vingegaard knows he is flirting with both cycling immortality and burnout.

“Two Grand Tours will be very demanding,” he said, another reason for a “light” calendar which sees the 29-year-old only racing the UAE Tour and Volta a Catalunya alongside the first two grand tours.

Yates retirement is ‘big loss’

Burnout was on Vingegaard’s mind in light of last week’s shock retirement announcement from defending Giro d’Italia champion Simon Yates a week ago.

“It’s a very big loss for us, it’s very unfortunate we lose him now,” Vingegaard says. “He was going to play a very important role in the Tour. But I also have a lot of respect for his decision. I think it doesn’t come from nothing: he lost his motivation and the sport is very hard to be in, very demanding.

“Sometimes I’ve also been close to burning out. It is tough with all the altitude camps and everything, I know his programme from last year so I understand that it was very hard for him. That he makes this decision, I have a lot of respect for him when he feels it’s enough and he’s going to stop.”

Asked by Cycling Weekly when he had come closest to burnout and who stopped him from that state, the reigning Vuelta a España champion said: “We push ourselves to the limit with all the altitude camps, with everything. You always need to be ready for a race and go there to win it. It’s not like in the past, you come there to get in shape.”

“Obviously, there’s more pressure on all the riders. For me, it’s just about listening to who I am as a person and what I need. And I’ve said it many times, but it’s something my wife really helps me with: to get me to feel what I need and how I feel about it.”

Vingegaard is aware that the World Championships road race in Montreal could be pushing the envelope, even though the hilly route suits and motivates him.

“I just hope that if I’m completely done after the Tour that people will actually accept it now, instead of saying that I had to go to the Worlds,” he said, an apparent reference to the criticism he received in September 2025 for opting out of last year’s event in Rwanda.

“The times I’ve said no to the Worlds are for a reason, not because I don’t want to … I showed in the Europeans last year when enough is enough,” alluding to his DNF there.

On the cusp of history

Vingegaard has never raced the Giro d’Italia in his career. If he achieves the grand tour holy trinity, he would follow Chris Froome, Vincenzo Nibali and his “big idol” Alberto Contador into the sport’s annals.

“I really liked watching Contador, especially the way he raced: he was not afraid of attacking and cracking,” he reflects.

However, the Dane is not motivated by being the first in his generation to achieve the full house.

“I think we all know Tadej [Pogačar] will do it sooner or later, I guess,” he says. “It’s more about being able to win all three of them. It would be a dream for me, an incredible achievement,” he says. Only seven men in history have done it.

It is all change for the Visma-Lease a Bike squad too, not just their figurehead. They have made nine winter signings ahead of the 2026 season, including French national time-trial champion Bruno Armirail, Briton Owain Doull and Italian youngster Davide Piganzoli. Dylan van Baarle, Cian Uijtdebroeks,Tiesj Benoot and Olav Kooij are among the departures.

“I know there’s been a lot of writing in the media that we haven’t done well in the transfers, but I was also not the biggest talent [or] the first in line to get a WorldTour contract,” Vingegaard says.

“I think the signings they made are pretty good. It’s some of the [sport’s] big talents. I think Davide will be a very good climber and the same with Louis [Barré]. We will have some good climbing power.”

Jonas Vingegaard will ride the 2026 Giro d'Italia, it was confirmed on Tuesday afternoon.

The Visma-Lease a Bike rider will be aiming to complete the Grand Tour set, having won the Tour de France in 2022 and 2023 and the Vuelta a España last year. He would be the first rider to do so since Chris Froome in 2018.

Vingegaard will target pink at the Giro in May before switching his attention to the Tour in July; there has only been rider to complete the double in the 21st century, Tadej Pogačar.

"I have been thinking about riding the Giro for a while now. It’s one of the biggest races on the calendar, and it’s also one I have never done before. I really want to experience it, and now feels like the perfect moment," Vingegaard said at the team's press day.

"Winning the Vuelta last fall only gives me more motivation to go all-in for victory in Italy as well. I would love to add the pink jersey to my collection."

"Apart from the fact that he has always wanted to do the Giro, we are convinced that racing the Giro will benefit his level in the Tour," Visma's Head of Racing, Grischa Niermann, added. "Of course, we are aiming to win the Giro, but the Tour remains our main objective."

The decision had long been rumoured, with Vingegaard previously saying that "if I could win only one more race, I'd choose the Giro".

The 29-year-old has been beaten comprehensively by Pogačar of UAE Team Emirates-XRG at the past two Tours, and therefore a different approach will be taken this season. The Giro's organisers have not been quiet about their desire to attract big names to their race this year, and the route appears set up for a GC rider targeting both their event and then the Tour.

Vingegaard will come up against João Almeida of UAE at the Italian Grand Tour, although there are question marks over the rest of the start list. However, there will be no Pogačar, and no Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe), either. The Giro begins in Bulgaria on 8 July. Vingegaard will start his season at the UAE Tour next month, before heading to the Volta a Catalunya starting in March pre-Giro.

The chances of Jonas Vingegaard taking part in the Giro d'Italia seem to have increased, following reports that he now has an agreement in place to ride.

According to Spanish media outlet Marca, Vingegaard now has a deal in place with RCS, the organiser of the Italian Grand Tour. The Dane – a two-time Tour de France winner – has previously said that "if I could win only one more race, I'd choose the Giro".

"According to sources close to this publication, the current Vuelta a España champion has a deal in place to compete in the next edition of the Giro d'Italia," reads the article. "The final decision will be announced in the coming weeks."

The past few months have seen rumours of a Jonas Vingegaard participation at the bella corsa, following his comments at the Saitama Criterium intimating that, at this stage of his career, he would rather win the Giro than another Tour de France. This would see him add the only missing Grand Tour victory to his palmarès, something that Vingegaard has also expressed enthusiasm for.

"Win three Grand Tours or the Tour de France in 2026? I think I'd prefer to win the three Grand Tours. And after the Tour de France and the Vuelta, I only have the Giro left," he said at Saitama.

Vingegaard won his first Vuelta a España back in August, beating João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) into second and third place respectively over the course of what was three weeks hit by pro-Palestinian protestors. Indeed Vingegaard never got to stand on the official podium, with the final stage of the race cut short and no stage winner recorded.

It served as a consolation prize of sorts following a third runner-up place at the Tour de France behind his nemesis Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), who looked tired but imperious at the French race.

It would appear that Vingegaard is also planning to ride the Tour de France this season, paving the way for a potential Giro-Tour double of his own. However, while Pogačar will not compete in the 2026 Giro, he will be at the Tour de France, presenting a major hurdle in any such plan for his Danish rival.

The Olympic motto is pretty straightforward: “Faster, Higher, Stronger”. Well, technically, it’s had “Together” added to the end of it, but it doesn’t really change the meaning of the phrase, inaugurated at the first modern event, in 1894. It sounds a bit like an early version of Radiohead’s Fitter Happier, but it was supposed to encapsulate the Olympic ideal.

Often, it feels like the route designers of the men’s Grand Tours are trying to live up to Pierre de Coubertin’s motto, and somehow make their race harder every year. There’s something almost masochistic about how routes are designed, announced and marketed, as if what fans want is for riders to break themselves over three weeks.

Next year’s Tour de France, for example, might build slowly, but has the brutal final week culminating in two Alpe d’Huez finishes; its over 54,000m of elevation is there as a badge of honour. We don’t know the route of the 2026 Vuelta a España yet, but this year’s race counted 12 stages out of 21 with over 3,000 metres of climbing, and nine summit finishes.

It would not be strange to expect, then, that the 2026 Giro d’Italia would follow this format. The Italian race is often the most predictable of the three Grand Tours, with its back-loaded trip around the Alps and Dolomites setting up a grandstand finish. The 2025 edition had four mountain stages in five days in the final week, all part of 53,250 metres of climbing.

It turns out that this is not the menu that RCS and Giro director Mauro Vegni has for everyone in May. To call the route easy would be laughable, obtuse, but it certainly has been designed to look easier. There is 8% less elevation gain, from 53,250 metres to 49,150, and while there are seven summit finishes, only two of them are ranked as five-out-of-five difficulty by the organisers. Stage 19 in the Dolomites is a sop to those who demand masochism, with 5,000m of elevation in 152km, and six classified climbs including the Passo Giau, but it’s surrounded by relatively kinder days. 2026 will be just the third edition in the last 10 with less than 50,000m of elevation.

This is obviously not how the Giro has been sold, or will be marketed. The elevation has been rounded up and trumpeted, and the soundbites are all about how exciting and emotional the race will be. However, a slightly easier course is no bad thing.

The truth is, the Giro knows that it is secondary to the Tour in terms of stage race objectives, and it has to play into that. To attract the biggest names, those that will likely be in France in July, they have to make a race that doesn’t break riders, that makes it more plausible for a tilt at both. That’s why it’s a route which doesn’t have a traditional final week of just going up mountains, and things are more spaced out. It’s not something the organisers have been quiet about, either, with Mauro Vegni telling Cyclingnews that he hoped Jonas Vingegaard would come.

There is the trio of difficult GC stages in the opening week, and a 40km-long time trial, but there are also potentially eight sprint stages. Sometimes, moderation is needed. This is not a route which Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) would balk at, and neither is it a turn-off for Remco Evenepoel (soon to be Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe).

What RCS and the Giro really needs, is a clash of the big names, not just dominance from a single rider, as Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) so ably demonstrated in 2024. With a route acting as a lure, perhaps they’ll get their wish. That said, often the best racing is when a collection of similar-matched riders lock horns, as happened this season with Simon Yates vs Isaac del Toro vs Richard Carapaz. It’s not all about the biggest names.

It is refreshing to see a route which isn’t just about how much torture the riders can be put through – it is up to the riders themselves to create the torture through how they race the roads. There is variety here, from short, sharp mountain days to a stage, which at 246km, is 42km longer than the longest Tour stage in 2026. There’s a mix.

The Giro benefits from not having to attempt to Pogačar-proof its course, as the Tour has done – the Slovenian is unlikely to do both again in 2026 – but it still has to be clever, play the game. I’m looking forward to May already, and a Giro which is dynamic, not one which waits for final week fireworks. Let’s hope RCS get their dream of a start list.

Faster, higher, stronger isn’t always possible, but that doesn’t mean the race will be any less exciting.

This piece is part of The Leadout, the offering of newsletters from Cycling Weekly and Cyclingnews. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here.

If you want to get in touch with Adam, email adam.becket@futurenet.com.

If at first you don't succeed, try and try again – or at least go to the Giro d'Italia instead.

That appears to be the tactic that Jonas Vingegaard intends to adopt for 2026, having hinted strongly that he would prefer to win the Italian Grand Tour over the Tour de France next year.

To be fair to the Danish Visma-Lease a Bike rider, as a two-time winner he has very much succeeded already at the Tour. He added victory in the Vuelta a España to those titles in September this year, too.

But it would seem as though the dominance of Tadej Pogačar – who has won the Tour de France on both the two most recent occasions – has encouraged Vingegaard to look elsewhere for glory.

Vingegaard was talking to La Dernière Heure at ASO's recent annual Saitama Criterium in Japan, an exhibition race which he won ahead of Lidl-Trek's Jonathan Milan.

He said: "Win three Grand Tours or the Tour de France in 2026? I think I'd prefer to win the three Grand Tours. And after the Tour de France and the Vuelta, I only have the Giro left."

However, he insisted that the French race would remain on his calendar and would still be the priority.

"We haven't decided where I'll race next season," he said. "The Tour de France obviously remains the big objective."

It's all rather cryptic, but it sounds like Vingegaard is keeping his options open at the very least.

Vingegaard and his team have talked previously about a Giro debut for the Dane, but have yet to pull the trigger. Earlier this year team sports director Grischa Niermann said: "We were thinking about taking the Giro as a kind of preparation [for the Tour], but there are so many factors when you go to the Giro. How is the Giro [route]? How is the weather? How hard do you have to go every day? There are a lot of things you can’t control yourself.

“Then we realised that if you go on a training camp you can control every training session you do and that’s probably better.”

More recently Niermann said they were considering next year's Giro but would be in a better position to make a decision on it once the route had been announced in detail.

A quick glance at the European Championships elite men’s road race results might tell a rather unnoteworthy story. Tadej Pogačar, the recently renewed world champion, won by a healthy margin. While Remco Evenepoel, the bookies’ second favourite, finished runner-up. So far, so unsurprising.

But scroll a bit further down the list, and you’ll find it abruptly stops – after 17 names, to be exact.

This is no admin error. Only 17 riders finished the race in France’s southeast on Sunday. There were no big crashes, the weather was mild and dry, and those on the start list made up the best riders from across the continent. So why did so many – 80 out of the 97 who started – fail to make it to the end?

First, let’s look at the course. This year’s championships brought one of the most challenging routes in recent years, with 3,306m of elevation stretched out over 202km. This volume of climbing alone no doubt contributed to the DNFs. All three of the last three editions had far less elevation, and far more finishers: 2024 – 1,200m, 79 finishers; 2023 – 700m, 87 finishers; 2022 – 1,300m, 125 finishers. Go back to 2021, however, when there was 3,400m of climbing, and the results list drops to only 31 names.

That said, a one-day race with 3,000m elevation is not usually enough to scare riders away. Take Strade Bianche, for example, which is hillier but had almost 100 finishers this year. Part of the difference might lie in the circuit nature of the Euros course, of which around 150km took place on finishing loops, making it easy, and perhaps more tempting, for those on a bad day, out of medal contention, or done with their domestique duties to abandon and rejoin their team buses.

The second factor to consider is the event’s timing in the calendar. In previous years, the Euros have fallen in mid-August or September, almost always as a precursor to the UCI Road World Championships. This year, they followed in the week immediately after, and almost 6,000km, as the crow flies, apart.

The outcome between the two races may have been the same – Pogačar first, Evenepoel second – but the tricky logistics meant there were few other commonalities between them. In total, 34 riders took on the travel commitments of competing in both events. Of those 34, only six finished both: Pogačar, Evenepoel, Paul Seixas, Pavel Sivakov, Juan Ayuso and Toms Skujiņš. For most it was too big of a challenge.

But what about the other 60-odd riders, the domestiques who skipped the Worlds and set out to help their team-mates in France? Why didn’t they finish? As is often the case in championship events, where riders compete in national teams, only the leaders tend to make it to the line. Most domestiques finish their jobs before the fireworks start – why then pootle 100km to the end? It was the same case in Kigali, where only 30 out of 164 starters placed, an almost identical percentage to the European Championships. These numbers become more stark the tougher the course is.

This leads us to factor three: there’s little incentive to finish. With tiring legs at the end of the season, no medal hopes, and the climbs still totting up before them, often the only thing spurring those at the back of the race to the line is a sense of pride.

After all, the number of UCI points on offer were unlikely to inspire. If someone had finished 18th at the European Championships on Sunday, that rider would have earned a meagre five UCI points – the same prize they’d get for placing 51st on a stage of the Tour Down Under. At the World Championships, 18th scores 45 points – nine times as much. Pogačar hauled 250 on Sunday for winning.

It’s no surprise, then, that riders chose not to hack around for scraps. Sometimes it’s better to swallow your pride, drop out, and start the recovery process for next season. After all, the minor places are quickly forgotten.

Recent Vuelta a España winner Jonas Vingegaard can therefore take comfort in the fact few will remember he abandoned the Euros road race with 80km to go. “I had hoped for more,” he told Feltek.dk afterwards, “but sometimes it’s not your day.” It's on to the next one for him and the other 79 DNFs.

You’ve probably heard of the phrase ‘once in a blue moon’. It refers to a lunar phenomenon, one that happens rarely and unpredictably, where the moon appears extra full, and it leaves astronomers giddy with joy. Every two to three years, they’ll look up at the sky and marvel at the sight. They’ll then go to bed, close their eyes, and wonder how long it will be before they feel the excitement again.

Well, if any of those astronomers are cycling fans, they’re in for an even rarer treat this Sunday. Not since 20 April 2022 have they seen the planets align in this way. Tadej Pogačar, Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel, for the first time since Flèche Wallonne three and a half years ago, will start a one-day race together. Statistically speaking, it’s a happening more uncommon than a blue moon.

The European Road Championships road races tend to pass by unnoticed in the post-World Championships hangover, but this year only a fool would miss them. Taking place in the southeast of France, this year's edition brings bonafide Classics; on Sunday, the men will tackle 202km with 3,306m elevation set over punchy climbs, while the women on Saturday face 116km with over 1,500m of climbing.

Both, too, have the start lists to match. Demi Vollering (Netherlands), Marlen Reusser (Switzerland), Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy) and Kasia Niewiadoma (Poland) headline the women’s race. While the men’s equivalent, the championships' curtain closer, brings a triple threat for the ages. And there’s still plenty at stake.

Take Evenepoel, for example. At 25 years old, the Belgian has won almost every major title in cycling. He did the Olympic double last year, has four rainbow jerseys split across the road race and time trial, and has won in both disciplines across his National Championships, too.

This past Tuesday, Evenepoel claimed his first elite European title in the time trial, leaving him with just one more accolade to complete the set: the European Championships road race. It's no wonder, then, that last week he said this Sunday's race is his “biggest goal of the year after the Tour”.

If Evenepoel is to win, he’ll have to beat Pogačar, the man he finished runner-up to a week prior in Rwanda. The last time the Belgian won a road race that both he and Pogačar finished was the World Championships in Australia in 2022. In the three years since, Evenepoel has dominated against the clock, while Pogačar has won at will on the road. Still, this will be only Pogačar’s second appearance at the European Championships, having placed 5th in 2021.

And then there’s the mystifying presence of Vingegaard. The Dane is one of the greatest Grand Tour racers of his generation, but he’s an unproven enigma in single day events. The fact he’s racing the European Championships at all is a surprise in itself; over the last three seasons, he’s only done one – yes, one – one-day race, and that was last year’s Clásica San Sebastián, which he abandoned before the finish. Prior to that, his one-day results read: 16th, Il Lombardia (2022); DNF, Liège-Bastogne-Liège (2022); DNF, Flèche Wallonne (2022); 1st, Drôme Classic (2022). It’s a patchy record to say the least.

There's a big question mark over what to expect from Vingegaard on Sunday, and that’s part of the intrigue. Will he lead Denmark, in the absence of the unwell Mads Pedersen, or will Mattias Skjelmose take the reins? I’m sure Pogačar and Evenepoel don’t need to be reminded of the last time they came to a finish with the Lidl-Trek rider (psst, Amstel Gold Race).

So whatever you’re doing this weekend, cancel your plans. A blue moon is coming, and it’s bound to be an awe-inspiring sight.

The improvised Vuelta a España podium after this year's race was inspired by Tom Pidcock's mum, Jonas Vingegaard revealed this week.

Speaking at a presentation at Visma-Lease a Bike's headquarters, the Dane said that the moment was one of the "best moments of his career", according to Dutch outlet Wielerflits.

Protests cancelled the final stage of the Vuelta in Madrid on Sunday, with the official podium ceremony also cut as a result. However, thanks to an idea from Pidcock's mum, and the help of Visma-Lease a Bike, an impromptu presentation took place on top of some cool boxes in a hotel car park.

It was a special moment, the first Vuelta win of two-time Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard's career, and the first Grand Tour podium for Pidcock.

"I think the idea came from Tom Pidcock’s mum," Vingegaard said, according to Domestique. “And then they grabbed it and said: 'Okay, then we arrange it.' They were in different hotels, and then they all came to our hotel, like schoolboys. We had to keep it a bit of a secret, otherwise the protestors would come. And also Matthew [Riccitello from Israel-Premier Tech] had to get the white jersey, of course, so I guess we had to keep it a bit of a secret.

"I was just very disappointed that we couldn’t go to Madrid and do the celebration there," he continued. "But actually it was a super nice way of celebrating it. It was way smaller and way more intimate in some kind of ways. So it was really a nice celebration. Actually it was a lot nicer than I thought it would be.

"It shows that in cycling we can actually stand together and get something like: 'Okay, we want to do something together.' And maybe not only there, but actually in the whole race with all these protests, for once as riders and teams we were standing more together, which we haven’t been able to do in recent years."

Vingegaard also expressed hope that protests wouldn't disrupt races as much in the future, but it also put a new perspective on cycling. Stage 11 in Bilbao was shortened, with no result, before stages 16 and 18 were also changed, and then the final stage was cancelled.

"It’s very easy to do a protest and stand on the road there," he said. "This is not the first time it has happened, though. But now it seemed like they realised, especially after the Bilbao stage, how vulnerable cycling is. They can really get into the media when they stop the race. I just hope the UCI or the organisers can do something about it, and that it won’t be a major problem in the future.

"I guess I just realised that cycling is not everything. Even if I don’t win, the world is still turning and there’s still a day tomorrow. Before this, I thought about it too much. I got really nervous a lot, but then I just worked my way through it. Now I’m even more relaxed than I’ve ever been. Before the Bola del Mundo [on stage 20, which he won] I realised if I do my best, I cannot do any more than that."

As for what is next, one thing looms above all, despite speculation of Vingegaard tackling the Giro d'Italia next year.

"Of course there’s still the Tour de France," he said. "The Tour is the Tour. It’s a very special race. I still dream of winning the Tour again. I would be lying if I said otherwise. And all these one-week stage races on the WorldTour, like the ones I haven’t won yet, those are also races that I kind of dream of winning."

So that’s it - the 2025 Grand Tour season is officially over.

I think it’s fair to say that this year, even with Tadej Pogačar’s absurdly dominant Tour de France performance, has been one to remember when it comes to three-week stage races for a whole host of reasons. Redemption arcs from Yates and Vingegaard, breakthrough rides from the likes of Onley and Del Toro, and of course, the large-scale protests in Spain which ultimately brought the Vuelta’s final stage to a premature halt. Yesterday, though, despite the disruption, belonged to Jonas Vingegaard and Team Visma Lease-a-Bike.

After a stellar performance on the final mountain stage on Saturday, Vingegaard rolled out for Sunday's final stage aboard his Cervélo, which was now a vibrant gloss red.

For most of the 2025 Vuelta, Vingegaard rode his team-issue Cervélo S5. This was a change from previous years, when Visma Lease-a-Bike frequently alternated between the lightweight Cervélo R5 and the more aerodynamic S5. In all likelihood, that’s because with Cervélo’s new frameset, the team no longer has to compromise between weight and aerodynamics. A 124-gram saving over the outgoing model might not sound dramatic, but combined with Vingegaard’s relatively small 51cm frame, it allows him to spend more time on an aero bike without hauling unnecessary weight uphill. It was only on Sunday that he switched out the team colours for this striking red frameset, once overall victory had been secured. As well as the usual team issue decals, there was a nice touch at the seat stay junction, reading ‘Uno Jonas Uno’.

As has been the case for some time, Vingegaard’s machine was kitted out with SRAM’s range topping RED AXS groupset. For what should have been a celebratory ride into Madrid, his bike was set up with a single chainring, with subtle red SRAM detailing on the crank arm and brake levers tying the look together.

Reserve also played its part in the customisation. Vingegaard was given a special edition of the brand’s 57/64 Turbulent Aero wheels, finished with bold red decals on the rims.

Modern bike racing is often compared to Formula One - whether in terms of aero frame design or the ever-advancing race communications technology. But Vingegaard’s Sunday special really did echo an F1 car, especially with the red-walled tyres provided by Vittoria. Are they a touch over the top? Absolutely. Do I love them for it? Even more so.

The final red accents came courtesy of Prologo’s finishing kit. Up front, Vingegaard opted for the traditional victory-red bar tape, while on top sat a custom red Prologo saddle - a fitting detail to round off both the bike and the Grand Tour season.

The Vuelta a España ended in a mild farce on Sunday, as stage 21 of the Spanish Grand Tour was cancelled amid overwhelming pro-Palestine protests in Madrid.

It meant not only no winner of stage 21, the second time there was no stage result at this year's race after Bilbao, but no official podium presentation too. There was, however, a makeshift podium presentation later.

The Vuelta was dogged by protest throughout, with Israel-Premier Tech's involvement the main point of contention, while Israel's invasion of Gaza continues; Spain's prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has previously called Israel's actions genocide. More than 64,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's invasion of Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, in response to the Hamas-led October 7 terrorist attacks, in which more than 1,200 people died.

The protests came to a head in Madrid, with thousands of activists disrupting the race after invading the circuit in the Spanish capital, despite extra police resources being called on in an attempt to secure the viability of the final stage.

"It’s a pity that such a moment of eternity was taken from us," race winner Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) said after the stage was abandoned. "I was looking forward to celebrating this overall win with my team and the fans. Everyone has the right to protest, but it’s a shame that it has to happen here and prevents us from finishing the race."

His team boss, Richard Plugge, stressed that the riders must be protected; there were multiple incidents of protestors putting themselves and athletes in danger, with high-speed near misses and a couple of crashes.

"Nowadays, sport is increasingly being used as a platform to address social issues," Plugge said. “We must realise that sport is essentially about connection. It can build bridges and foster mutual understanding. But the participants must be protected: they cannot become victims of this societal debate.

"That debate must always remain outside the athletes’ arena. Athletes should be free to fight their battles on the field of play, in our case, on the road. Otherwise, the very essence of sport as a unifying force is at risk."

Ineos Grenadiers rider Michał Kwiatkowski warned that the protests had set a dangerous precedent, after multiple stages were shortened, changed, or cancelled due to direct action. Cycling is a vulnerable sport when it comes to interruption – not every metre of road can be policed.

"If the UCI and the responsible bodies couldn’t make the right decisions early enough, then long-term it’s very bad for cycling that the protesters managed to get what they wanted," he wrote on social media. "You can’t just pretend nothing is happening."

"From now on, it’s clear for everyone that a cycling race can be used as an effective stage for protests and next time it will only get worse, because someone allowed it to happen and looked the other way. It’s a shame for the fans who came here to watch a great event. Personally, I would have preferred to know in advance that the race was cancelled rather than being led to believe everything was going to be fine."

There had been calls for Israel-Premier Tech to leave the race. The team continued, but in a changed kit with the word 'Israel' removed.

Protestors had support from Spain's prime minister. "Today the Vuelta a España finishes and we show our absolute respect and recognition for the athletes," Sánchez told a crowd in Málaga on Sunday. “But [we also show] our admiration for the Spanish people who mobilise for just causes such as Palestine. Today Spain shines as an example and as a source of pride. It’s [giving] an example to the international community by taking a step forward in defence of human rights."

While Israel-Premier Tech finished the race, and their young American Matthew Riccitello finished fifth overall and best young rider, the protests clearly impacted the race, and might influence the future branding of the team, and how big cycling events are planned in the future. The 2026 Tour de France begins in Barcelona, a race Israel-Premier Tech will aim to start.

Away from the protests, the 2025 race ended with no stage winner, but there was an impromptu podium ceremony in a car park, with Vingegaard crowned next to second-placed João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and third-placed Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) on Visma-Lease a Bike cool boxes.

The 17th stage of the Vuelta a España turned into a battle between white jersey hopefuls, as Giulio Pellizzari romped to an impressive solo victory at the Alto de El Morredero summit finish in north-west Spain.

As well as being Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe's first stage win of the race, it was also the 21-year-old's first career win – and what a way to take it.

Behind him Matthew Riccitello (IPT), second on the youth classification, had also hung with the small group of elite favourites from which Pellizzari attacked, and he attempted again and again to chase the Italian down – to no avail.

At the finish line, 16 seconds behind Pellizzari, Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) sprinted away from the group to take the four bonus seconds for second place as well as two seconds on closest GC chasing rival Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).

Holding on to his GC lead Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) came in close behind, followed by Joāo Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Riccitello.

After the stage both Vingegaard and Almeida confessed to not feeling at their very best, with the Dane conceding he was happy to have survived without losing time.

"I think the five or six of us were equal today," he said of the final selection. "I didn't have the very best day for me but I survived. That's the days you need to survive – the days you don't feel 100%. If you can get through those without losing any time, that's a good day."

Almeida said of Vingegaard: "He was not looking super. But I didn't as well. I think we're all a little bit in the same boat."

Asked about the fact he was distanced in the early part of the climb he said it was a strategic move that he knew would work out: "They were attacking quite hard, and I knew it was not a sustainable pace for them," he said. "So I just did my pace, and I knew I would get them back."

Vingegaard was also asked about tomorrow's 27km time trial at Valladolid, which mimics the one there in the 2023 race. That day saw him lose half a minute to Almeida.

The Dane said: "To be honest that was an awful time trial for me back then, so hopefully I can make it right this time. It's a flat time trial. Hopefully I can do well tomorrow."

How it happened

This upside-down horseshoe-shaped parcours around the hills and mountains of north-west Spain was all about the final climb.

There were plenty of lumps and bumps along the 143.2km stage between O Barco de Valdeorras and Alto de El Morredero, including the cat-three climb of the Passo de Traviesas at 75km.

But the final climb to the summit finish at El Morredero, with its vast, fire-blackened slopes only adding to the intimidation factor, towered over the stage and always looked like it would decide the winner.

Any early breakaway was always going to struggle to survive on its steep slopes – the 8.8km distance at 9.5% gradient tells the story.

All the same, a sizeable group went clear early on in the stage, determined to be the one that got away.

An initial eight-man break, including Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) and Harold Tejada (XDS-Astana) clipped away with around 20km gone, and was soon joined by four more riders to make up enough firepower to last all the way to the El Morredero.

But the group never got more than around two minutes, and a last-ditch attempt to go free by Tiberi and Tejada in the final stages only lasted 11km.

With Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and Visma-Lease a Bike pulling hard at the bottom of the final climb, even Almeida was distanced for a short while. But its steep gradients quickly sorted the wheat from the chaff, with only the top six on GC left – Vingegaard, Almeida, Pidcock, Hindley, Pellizzari and Riccitello.

Hindley tried to escape, but Pidcock was more than a match for the Aussie, and in the end he could only watch as his young team-mate Pellizzari disappeared up the road with 3.5km to go and, impressively, held on for the win.

Results

Vuelta a España 2025, stage 17: O Barco de Valdeorras > Alto de El Morredero, 143.2km

1. Giulio Pellizzari (Ita) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, in 3:37:00
2. Tom Pidcock (GBr) Q36.5 Pro Cycling, +16s
3. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hangrohe, +18s
4. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +20s
5. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +22s
6. Matthew Riccitello (USA) Israel-Premier Tech, +26s
7. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, +53s
8. Torstein Træen (Nor) Bahrain Victorious, at same time
9. Sepp Kuss (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +58s
10. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +1:44

General classification after stage 17

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 64:54:55
2. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +50s
3. Tom Pidcock (GBr) Q36.5 Pro Cycling, +2:28
4. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +3:04
5. Giulio Pellizzari (Ita) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +3:51
6. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, +4:57
7. Matthew Riccitello (USA) Israel-Premier Tech, +4:59
8. Sepp Kuss (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +6:24
9. Torstein Træen (Nor) Bahrain Victorious, +7:06
10. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +10:16

A typically unrelenting second week in the Vuelta a España 2025 has seen the general classification crystallise as the favourites come to the fore and the hopefuls fall by the wayside.

There have been surprises though, including the way UAE Team Emirates-XRG continues to keep pulling winning card after winning card out of the deck, despite controversy over their team spirit.

And then there is Tom Pidcock's continued success in the general classification, with the Yorkshireman remaining on course for a Grand Tour best-ever.

In terms of the parcours, the Alto de L'Angliru was the stand out moment of the week, forcing everyone to dig deep as they pit man and machine against terrain. Impressive moments.

Let's take a look back over what we've seen in the Vuelta a España week two.

1. Jonas Vingegaard is not running away with this race

Jonas Vingegaard goes into the rest day with a 48-second cushion over next best rider Joāo Almeida. As far as cushions go, it is not the most comfortable. Think tatty bar stool rather than plush lounge armchair.

There's no doubt he would have preferred the plushness of, say, a two-minute gap, especially with the Portuguese rider looking as dangerous as he does.

After Vingegaard's PB-busting performances in the Tour de France, where he professed to have seen some of his best numbers and stood head and shoulders ahead of everyone in the race bar Tadej Pogačar, it might have been easy to assume that the Visma-Lease a Bike rider would walk the Vuelta a España.

But Almeida of UAE Team Emirates-XRG, who has won three week-long stage races this year, is clearly on fine form and determined to push him till the end.

With an extremely tough week ahead that includes three summit finishes, two high mountain stages and a time trial, that 48-seconds could disappear rapidly down the plughole of one bad day. The GC still hangs in the balance.

2. The Angliru is still tough – but so are the riders

Much of the talk last week was of the fearsome Alto de L'Angiru on stage 13 – one of the toughest climbs not just in this race but in the entire repertoire of pro cycling. There's no doubt that its ultra-steep slopes, which surpass 20% in places and feature a six-kilometre section that averages between 10 and 16%, inspire fear in those tasked with racing up it.

And just in case the riders had forgotten what a 10%-plus slope looked like, the Angliru was preceded on the stage in short order by a pair of category-one climbs that featured plenty of them.

But for all the talk, the day itself was a thrilling masterclass in the power and grace of the professional bike rider (as well as the importance of choosing the right gear ratios).

The GC riders, led by Joāo Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) seized the climb by the scruff of the neck and powered from bottom to top without missing a beat.

It was clearly extremely hard going, but the panache with which it was ridden, not just by the top riders but pretty much all comers, reduced it to something far more palatable.

As someone who remembers riders crawling up steep climbs, zig-zagging across the road on corn-cob blocks, this modern taming of the terrain takes a touch of the spectacle away from it.

Nevertheless, it's an impressive watch.

3. Mads Pedersen's wait for a stage win is over

A classification leader's jersey is all about consistency rather than highs and lows. On occasion, for example, a rider will win a Grand Tour without actually winning a stage. It's never the preferred way, but the raison d'être of a GC rider is to win overall – everything else is secondary.

The raison d'être of the sprinter, on the other hand, is to cross the line first. That's why Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) was sporting an expression of almost pathological relief when he won stage 15 to Monforte de Lemos on Sunday.

Barring incident, the green points jersey looks as though it will almost certainly be his on Sunday in Madrid – he currently leads second-placed Jonas Vingegaard by 98 points – but that all-important stage win had so far eluded him.

He came close in Ceres with second on stage three, losing out to David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), and he was fifth on the hilly stage 12, unable to bring back breakaway pair Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) and Javier Romo (Movistar).

Pedersen is not a pure sprinter. One of his strengths is his ability on lumpier, classics-style terrain. But all the same, he will now consider his green jersey campaign complete with the addition of a stage victory.

4. Tom Pidcock's GC campaign shows no sign of faltering

As the race closed out at Monforte de Lemos on Sunday evening, Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) was still there in third place on GC, a useful (though far from decisive) 32 seconds ahead of fourth placed Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).

This is uncharted territory for the Yorkshire rider. Never before this race has he ventured higher than fifth place on the overall, and that was for a single day in week one of the 2022 Tour de France.

This is very different. He's been ensconced in third place on the Vuelta for five days now, having spent the previous two days in fourth.

Week three does, of course, have a way of finding a rider out, as the distance and the mountains take their toll.

But the 26-year-old continues to look solid. If he can take this all the way to Madrid it will be a career high for him.

5. UAE Team Emirates-XRG appears to be an unstoppable juggernaut

When Juan Ayuso appeared to fall apart in week one, losing more than 10 minutes on GC on stage six to Andorra, it seemed as though one key weapon in the UAE Team Emirates-XRG armoury had been comprehensively decommissioned – at least for this race.

Their other GC contender, Joāo Almeida, may have remained, but the team looked severely weakened. (Ayuso's tirade against his employer in week two over his early contract termination didn't seem as though it would help either, but that's another story).

But few would have predicted that the team would continue to thrive, only appearing to become stronger and stronger as its riders inspired each to greater feats.

The situation as it stands, is that UAE Team Emirates has won seven of 15 stages. What makes this even more impressive is that this isn't down to one stand-out individual. Rather, these wins have been taken by four separate riders – Jay Vine (stages 6, 10) Ayuso (stages 7, 12), Almeida (stage 13), and Marc Soler (stage 14). Plus of course there is the cherry on the cake – their team time trial win.

The only question for UAE Team Emirates-XRG right now is who will win next.

João Almeida won atop the Alto de L'Angliru on stage 13 of the Vuelta a España as Jonas Vingegaard hung onto the red jersey.

Almeida won UAE Team Emirates-XRG's sixth stage win of this Vuelta atop the legendary Asturian climb, taking seconds on his main rival, Vingeggard of Visma-Lease a Bike.

The Portuguese rider stormed to victory from seemingly the bottom of the climb; while he was unable to shake Vingegaard from his wheel, the Dane could never come round.

The climb, 12.4km at 9.7%, rarely disappoints, and the race split apart, although there was not a knockout blow for one rider over another. It was also a very fast day, with the 202.7km, with 3,958m of climbing, completed at 41.3km/h.

The lead pair gained time on the other general classification rivals, with Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) moving up, and Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) and Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) among those losing out. However, Pidcock remains on the overall podium.

Vingegaard leads the race by 46 seconds from Almeida, with Pidcock 2:18 behind the leader. Hindley is now in fourth, 42 seconds behind Pidcock, with Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) 15 seconds further back. Pellizzari and Matthew Riccitello (Israel-Premier Tech) both moved up the top 10 despite losing time to some of those above them on GC.

"This is a special one. I still don’t believe it," Almeida said on TV post-stage. "Thanks to my teammates, they were key today. They did an amazing stage. I just put my pace from the bottom, and I just did the best I could.

"Jonas was always on my wheel, the last kilometre I was on the limit, I guess we were both on the limit. I was waiting for his attack any time. I thought he was going to pass me at the finish line, I knew it quite well from two years ago and I took the first corner first and then it’s hard to pass. It was an amazing day. I think it’s the hardest climb in the world, it’s crazy. Oof, I’m very sore."

Asked if this gave him confidence in aiming for the win, Almeida said: "I have a lot of time to make up to Jonas, he’s looking phenomenal, it’s going to be hard, but we’ll never give up."

The early part of the day was dominated by a large break, which featured Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), as the Dane continued for hunt for intermediate sprint points, which he duly did.

The last remnants of that break, Bob Jungels (Ineos Grenadiers), Nicolas Vinokourov (XDS Astana) and Jefferson Cepada (Movistar), were all caught halfway up the Angliru, after they had been briefly held up by a protest.

While Vingegaard remains in red, and the top three remain the same overall, with four mountain top stages to come, including one tomorrow, there remains a lot up for grabs at this Vuelta. The battle for red seems tight between Vingegaard and Almeida, while that for the podium and the top fives counts a few more among it.

Almeida's victory was also the 79th for UAE this season, as the team approaches the record for most wins in a year; currently held by Columbia-HTC with 85 in 2009.

Results

Vuelta a España 2025 stage 13: Cabezón de la Sal > L'Angliru (202.7km)

1. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 4:54:15
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, at same time
3. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +28s
4. Sepp Kuss (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +30s
5. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, +52s
6. Giulio Pellizzari (Ita) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +1:22
7. Tom Pidcock (GBr) Q36.5 Pro Cycling, +1:16
8. Matthew Riccitello (USA) Israel-Premier Tech, at same time
9. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +2:15
10. Abel Balderstone (Esp) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA, +3:06

Vuelta a España 2025 general classification after stage 11

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 49:30:54
2. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +46s
3. Tom Pidcock (GBr) Q36.5 Pro Cycling, +2:18
4. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +3:00
5. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, +3:15
6. Giulio Pellizzari (Ita) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +4:01
7. Matthew Riccitello (USA) Israel-Premier Tech, +4:33
8. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +4:54
9. Torstein Træen (Nor) Bahrain Victorious, +5:21
10. Sepp Kuss (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +5:26

Jonas Vingegaard and Tom Pidcock took time on their general classification rivals as stage 11 of the Vuelta a España ended with no stage winner.

The pair escaped on the final climb of the day, the Alto de Pike, with Q36.5 Pro Cycling's Pidcock briefly dropping Vingegaard of Visma-Lease a Bike. They then descended to an improvised finish with 3km to go, appearing to take around 10 seconds on other riders.

The stage was shortened and neutralised due to pro-Palestine protests at the finish line, with no-one awarded the victory in Bilbao.

Pidcock took the bonus seconds atop the Pike, too, to gain time on everyone else in the race, including Vingegaard and João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)

"It’s hard to describe the disappointment to be honest," Pidcock said. "I felt like today was my day. I feel like there should always be a finish line, we’re not riding a sportive are we?"

"I was a bit disappointed and I didn’t want to do anything, but then Tom went for it, he went really fast on the climb, I had to let him go there," Vingegaard said post-stage. "Then I could come back over the top and then actually we had a good cooperation. We wanted to take as much time as possible. I’m not sure Tom actually knew that there was no stage winner, because he wanted to keep going afterwards. I knew already, so I just went as fast as possible to the 3km [to go] and I stopped.

"The team did super, super well today. Already in the start, I think it was really impressive that on a day where everyone wanted to be in the break, they managed to only let three guys up the road. I think that says it all really. Then we controlled it, and from there they just did super well."

How it happened

With seven classified climbs on stage 11, including one within the first 10km, it was set to be a day of breakneck speed racing around the Basque Country.

The neutralised start was briefly held up by a pro-Palestine protest, before the riders got away.

There were almost immediate attacks from Eddie Dunbar (Jayco AlUla) and Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), setting the tone for the day.

The first KoM point, the Alto de Laukiz, was crossed first by Joel Nicolau (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), followed by Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) and Guillermo Thomas Silva (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA).

There were seemingly endless attacks over the next 30km, but the Visma-Lease a Bike controlled peloton, riding for red jersey Jonas Vingegaard, remained in control.

The first significant break came with 133km to go, with Pedersen joined by Orluis Aular (Movistar) and Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).

Pedersen won the sprint atop the Alto de Sollube, but the attacks from the peloton did not end there, with Ben Tulett (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Lukas Nerurkar (EF Education-EasyPost) among those attempting to escape, although this was shut down.

The leading trio – Pedersen, Soler and Aular – were not allowed much leeway by the peloton. On the Balcón de Bizkaia, Soler took the points.

With 79km to go, Pedersen and Aular were caught, with Soler going alone. On the Alto de Morga, Soler again claimed the points, followed by Louis Vervaeke (Soudal Quick-Step) and Nicolau.

The attacks didn’t end, although Soler was caught. Mikel Landa (Soudal Quick-Step) and Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) were away with 52km to go, with Landa taking the points on the Alto de Vivero.

Landa and Buitrago were still away as they crossed the finish line for the first time, followed by a chasing group which once again contained Pedersen. The latter achieved his goal of taking points in the intermediate sprint, despite his effort being disrupted by a protest.

Landa was then dropped, appearing to be in pain. Buitrago was still away on the penultimate climb, the Alto del Vivero, as attacks started coming from the group of favourites. João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) led as the race passed Buitrago, with Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) also putting in a dig.

As the race passed the top of the Vivero, what was left of the peloton was a group of general classification favourites, including Vingegaard, Almeida, Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling), Pellizzari and Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe). Vingegaard was aided by Ben Tulett (Visma-Lease a Bike).

The group swelled again at the bottom of the descent, before it was announced that there would be no stage winner due to protests at the finish. GC times would be taken with 3km to go.

However, the race appeared to be back on on the final climb of the Alto de Pike, with riders pushing on. Pidcock attacked with 8.4km to go, followed by Vingegaard and Hindley. The 26-year-old managed to drop Vingegaard briefly, as the pair rode away. As the climb reached 16%, Pidcock kept digging in, and put distance into Vingegaard, and sailed towards the six bonus seconds at the top. Four seconds went to Vingegaard, with two for Almeida.

On the descent, Pidcock and Vingegaard worked together, followed by Almeida, Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Hindley. While there would be no stage winner, the pair could still take time on their rivals, around 10 seconds in the end.

Results

Vuelta a España 2025 stage 11: Bilbao > Bilbao (157.4km)

No stage win awarded

Vuelta a España 2025 general classification after stage 11

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 41:14:02
2. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +50s
3. Tom Pidcock (GBr) Q36.5 Pro Cycling, +56s
4. Torstein Træen (Nor) Bahrain Victorious, +1:06
5. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, +2:17
6. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +2:26
7. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +2:30
8. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +2:33
9. Giulio Pellizzari (Ita) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +2:44
10. Matthew Riccitello (USA) Israel-Premier Tech, +3:11

Jay Vine mastered the breakaway on stage 10 of the Vuelta a España to climb to his second victory of this race, as Jonas Vingegaard took over the red jersey.

After a 100km-long fight to get into the day's escape, UAE Team Emirates-XRG's Vine attacked from it on El Ferial Larra Belagua to take his fourth Vuelta stage, and UAE's fourth of this race. Pablo Castrillo (Movistar) finished second, with his teammate Javier Romo in third.

Meanwhile, Torstein Træen (Bahrain Victorious) ended his three-day stint in the race lead, losing enough to mean Vingegaard of Visma-Lease a Bike claimed back the top spot on general classification.

Vine's victory for UAE followed a 24 hours dominated by more mixed stories about the team, after the announcement that Juan Ayuso would leave at the end of 2025.

The Australian navigated the 26-rider break expertly, waiting until almost 5km to go to power on alone, and was never seen again.

His teammate João Almeida, third overall, attempted to force splits on the final climb in the group of general classification contenders, but gaps weren't coming. In the end, Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) led the men aiming for the red jersey in, including Vingegaard and Almeida.

"Winning is so, so hard, and it’s such an incredible feeling when it happens," Vine said post-stage on TV. "I don’t think I’ll ever get used to winning, because it’s just unbelievably hard.

"I think I made my move for two and a half hours at the start of the race, trying to follow the big moves. The guys would help me where they could. At the two hour mark I just said it wasn’t happening, then there was a crash and I got stuck behind that, and we were jumping for another 45 minutes. Mikkel [Bjerg] helped me get across, and I thought that was the hardest part of the race until the final climb turned into that.

"I didn’t want to drag everyone up the climb, so I tried playing a bit of possum at the bottom, and was able to attack my way across to the other riders. Then I got rid of Archie, and then got to Pablo and was able to drop him through the last s-bend, and then it was just gritting my teeth to the end."

How it happened

The Vuelta a España resumed after the first rest day in much the same way as before, with a mountain stage, another summit finish.

The flat start to stage 10, however, meant that it was very difficult for a breakaway to establish itself. In fact, despite the efforts of many, including the man in the lead of the mountains competition, Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), the day’s escape wasn’t set until well over 100km into the day. The average speed after two hours of racing was 49.9km/h, which shows how full-on everyone was.

Finally, with around 68km to go, a group established itself in front of the peloton. The 26 were: Mikkel Bjerg and Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Julien Bernard (Lidl-Trek), Orluis Aular, Pablo Castrillo and Javier Romo (Movistar), Matteo Sobrero and Ben Zwiehoff (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) Louis Vervaeke and Junior Lecerf (Soudal Quick-Step), Michał Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers), Bruno Armirail and Johannes Staune-Mittet (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Xabier Mikel Azparren and David González (Q36.5 Pro Cycling), Harold Tejada, Nicola Conci and Fausto Masnada (XDS Astana), Rudy Molard (Groupama FDJ), Abel Balderstone, Joel Nicolau, and Jakub Ortuba (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Paul Thierry (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Gijs Leemreize and Kevin Vermaerke (Picnic PostNL), Lars Craps and Alec Segaert (Lotto), Sean Quinn and Archie Ryan (EF Education-EasyPost) and Pier-André Côté (Israel-Premier Tech).

This big group was allowed some leeway from the peloton, taking three minutes into the closing section of the day.

On the Alto de Las Coronas, the first classified climb of the day, Romo took the points ahead of Vine, ostensibly in an attempt to escape the break, not take points. Romo kicked off the move, and was joined by Vine, Bernard, Castrillo, Ryan, Azparren, Conci, Balderstone and Segaert.

Behind, Bahrain Victorious continued to pull on the front of the peloton, for red jersey Torstein Træen.

Bernard won the intermediate sprint in Isaba, with 21km to go, before Segaert launched an attack from the front group through the 20km-to-go marker.

The classified final climb to El Ferial Larra Belagua began with 9.9km to go, with an average of 6.3%, but with ramps above this.

Lotto’s Segaert built up a lead of 43 seconds with 13km to go, making him believe a first Grand Tour stage victory might be in sight, while the rest of the break were another 30 seconds back. The peloton was 3:14 behind Segaert.

As the climb began, Bernard, Conci, Vine, Ryan Castrillo and Romo were left chasing Segaert, with the win seeming likely to come from these riders.

With 7.6km to go, Castrillo caught Segaert, with Vine, Bernard, Romo and Ryan following. The attackers had just over two minutes on the red jersey group, what was left of the peloton. Here, Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) pulled for João Almeida, shadowed by Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike).

As the group of favourites made it onto the climb, Træen was dropped, leaving around 11 riders. Almeida put the pace on the front, followed by Vingegaard and others.

Vine caught Castrillo with 5.5km to go, pulling in the blue polka-dot jersey, before going alone.

Lower down the mountain, seven riders were left in the GC group: Almeida, Vingegaard, Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike), Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling), Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), Jai Hindley and Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe).

Almeida attacked again with 5km to go, followed by Vingegaard, Pidcock and Jorgenson, and Matthew Riccitello (Israel-Premier Tech), they were 1:17 behind Vine. The group swelled again, with Hindley and Pellizzari joining.

Vine flew to victory, having comfortably distanced Castrillo, while most of the GC contenders finished together, with Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) among those losing time.

Results

Vuelta a España 2025 stage 10: Parque de la Naturaleza Sendaviva > El Ferial Larra Belagua (175.3km)

1. Jay Vine (Aus) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 3:56:24
2. Pablo Castrillo (Esp) Movistar, +35s:
3. Javier Romo (Esp) Movistar, +1:04
4. Archie Ryan (Ire) EF Education-EasyPost, +1:05
5. Tom Pidcock (Gbr) Q36.5 Pro Cycling
6. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek
7. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe
8. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike
9. Junior Lecerf (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step
10. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, all at same time

General classification after stage 10

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 37:33:52
2. Torstein Træen (Nor) Bahrain Victorious, +26s
3. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, 38s
4. Tom Pidcock (GBr) Q36.5 Pro Cycling, +58s
5. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, +2:03
6. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +2:05
7. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +2:23
8. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +2:16
9. Giulio Pellizzari (Ita) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, at same time
10. Matthew Riccitello (USA) Israel-Premier Tech, +2:43