Danish rider Anthon Charmig escaped to victory on stage two of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes after spending his day in the break.

The Uno-X Mobility rider proved himself best of a 10-man breakaway, which had led the peloton with a gap of over 5 minutes for the majority of the day, taking only his second ever pro win (the last one coming four years ago), and his first victory on European soil.

"For me, I don't get too many chances," the delighted Dane told reporters. "It's an incredible feeling! I'm so happy to be here."

"I think the whole team has really stepped up. The atmosphere in the team is really good. We have so much fun together. I have come straight from four weeks at altitude with the team, and we had a really good time. For motivation, it's the perfect environment, and it shows in the results."

Charmig got away from the lead pack after the final climb, the Côte de Saint-Vidal, and just kept increasing his lead, chased by Henri-François Renard-Haquin (Picnic PostNL), Vlad Van Mechelen (Bahrain Victorious) Clément Braz Afonso (Groupama - FDJ United) and Raúl García Pierna (Movistar). Renard-Haquin finished second, ahead of Van Mechelen.

Frenchman Alex Baudin finished 59th but retains his lead in the general classification, after an impressive victory in the opening stage yesterday, having been well looked after by EF Education-EasyPost teammates Ben Healy and Sean Quinn throughout the day. Local lad Clément Braz Afonso deprived him of the polka-dot King of the Mountains jersey, however, with an impressively powerful performance on the final two climbs of the day.

The rider everyone is watching this summer, Decathlon's Paul Seixas, rode a measured race, the French teenager finishing safely in the peloton in 30th place for the stage to move into 15th spot in the GC. Britain's Ben Tullett (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) and Oscar Onley (Netcompany-Ineos) moved up to fifth and eighth in the GC respectively.

Much less positive news about João Almeida, with the UAE Team Emirates - XRG rider dropping out the back of the peloton, clearly still suffering the effects of the illness that put him out of the Giro, with an appearance at the Tour de France looking increasing unlikely

How it happened

Today's 234.3km route from Saint-Martin-le-Vinoux to Le Puy-en-Velay was the longest stage in the Critérium du Dauphiné, now known as the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, for over 20 years, and there will be some sore legs for the team time trial tomorrow, especially among the 10 riders who broke away from the peloton early on.

Afonso (Groupama - FDJ United) pushed particularly hard in the final 35km, riding hard over the penultimate peak, the category-2 climb of Côte des Baraques (4.2km at 6.6%), with fellow Frenchman Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto Intermarché). Afonso was first over the summit, securing five points and putting himself in pole position for the polkadot jersey, which he subsequently secured.

By the time the breakaway reached the top of the final climb of the day, however, the rearing summit of Côte de Saint-Vidal (which has a gradient of 14% at its apex), Anthon Charmig was preparing to make a move. The Dane seized his chance during the descent, and soon established a commanding lead. With just 5km to go to the finish line, and the terrain flattening out, his lead went out to 30 seconds over the five remaining chasers, and he made the win look easy in the end.

Meanwhile, back in the peloton, EF Education-EasyPost were busy trying to keep control of the GC after the team's first ever win in this race yesterday. Netcompany Ineos started putting the pressure on during final climb, but Healy and Quinn held them off, and Alex Baudin retains the yellow jersey for another day in the alps where he was born.

Results

Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes stage two: Vizille > Saint-Ismier (146.2km)

1. Anthon Charmig (Den) Uno-X Mobility 5:40:29

2. Henri-François Renard-Haquin (Frais) Picnic PostNL 0.:41

3. Vlad Van Mechelen (Bel) Bahrain - Victorious "

4. Raúl García Pierna (Spa) Movistar 0:43

5. Clément Braz Afonso (Fra) Groupama - FDJ United 0:44

6. Benjamin Thomas (Fra) Cofidis 1:56

7. Jordan Jegat (Fra) TotalEnergies 1:59

8. Nadav Raisberg (Isr) NSN Cycling 2:10

9. Finn Fisher-Black (NZ) Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe 3:13

10. Maxim Van Gils (NZ) Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe "

General Classification after stage two

1. Alex Baudin (Fra) EF Education-EasyPost in 9:27:40

2. Ramses Debruyne (Bel) Alpecin-Premier Tech, +32

3. Kevin Vermaerke (USA) UAE Team Emirates-XRG "

4. Léo Bisiaux (Fra) Decathlon-CMA CGM "

5. Ben Tullett (GBr) Visma-Lease a Bike "

6. Luke Tuckwell (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe "

7. Kévin Vauquelin (Fra) Netcompany-Ineos "

8. Oscar Onley (GBr) Netcompany-Ineos "

9. Rudy Molard (Fra) Groupama-FDJ United "

10. Luke Plapp (Aus) Jayco-AlUla "

Twenty-four-year-old Uno-X Mobility rider Anne Dorthe Ysland has chosen to end her professional cycling career due to a chronic struggle with ulcerative colitis.

The Norwegian was first diagnosed in late 2022 with the condition, which causes inflammation in the bowel.

She had been managing the symptoms with medication, but the treatments have now stopped working, and the pain has worsened, leading her to step away from cycling.

“The doctors have advised me to stop professional cycling ever since I got the diagnosis of ulcerative colitis,” Ysland said in an interview published on Uno-X’s website. “I have tried for years to show them that I can make this work, and I have got so much support from the team. But after this season’s opener in 2026, I understood that this couldn’t work out for me.”

Following her diagnosis in 2022, aged 20, Ysland raced just six days at the start of 2023 before taking almost two years out of competition to look after her health. She began 2026 at the Tour Down Under in Australia, where she failed to finish the second stage.

“I had done so much work, I used all the medicine I could to avoid symptoms, but I was still one of the first riders to get dropped,” she said. “I felt horrible on the training rides and even worse in the races… At that point, I started to give up.

“After coming home from Australia, my symptoms became much worse and the medication stopped working the way it had before. Following new examinations at the hospital, I was told that the inflammation in my bowel had never been more extensive, even while on full treatment.”

Ysland explained that that hospital appointment was a “turning point” for her. “I realised that the medication had mainly been managing the symptoms, while the disease itself had continued to progress,” she said. “When the treatment stopped working, I had no choice but to take a step back and listen to my body.”

Among the Norwegian’s symptoms were severe stomach pain and diarrhoea with blood. The medication she took also suppressed her immune system, leaving her susceptible to colds and infections.

Sharing the news of her retirement on Instagram, Ysland said the decision had been “both heavy and unreal to accept”.

“My body said stop,” she wrote. “Cycling has been a huge part of my life and shaped who I am. Letting go is difficult, but I know this is the right choice.”

Ysland joined Uno-X at 19 years old in 2022, and this year began her fifth season with the team. Her best career results are 6th at Binche Chimay Binche and 13th at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in 2022. She also raced the inaugural Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift that year, placing 91st overall.

Her Uno-X team manager Thor Hushovd said women’s racing has lost one of its “biggest smiles and best laughs” with Ysland’s retirement. “No matter what hit her, Anne Dorthe kept smiling and helped the team with a great attitude,” he said.

Uno-X Mobility rider Kamilla Aasebø suffered a “small” bleed on the brain, as well as fractures to her jaw and elbow, in a crash at Paris-Roubaix Femmes on Sunday, her team has confirmed.

The 19-year-old Norwegian was one of around eight riders involved in a pile-up towards the end of the Orchies sector with 58km to go.

She did not go on to finish the race, and was instead taken to Lille University Hospital for medical attention.

A statement, released by Uno-X on Monday, revealed the extent of the teenager’s injuries: “Following her crash at Paris-Roubaix, initial assessments have confirmed that Kamilla has sustained fractures to her jaw and elbow, as well as a small bleed on the brain.

“At this stage, the bleed does not require surgery, but she will undergo operations on her jaw and elbow.

“We would like to thank the race medical team and the staff at Lille University Hospital for their care.

“Everyone on the team wishes Kamilla the very best in her recovery.”

Aasebø, a former cross-country skier, appears to have suffered the worst injuries of the riders involved in the crash.

VolkerWessels’ Amber van der Hulst was captured by the TV cameras lying face down, motionless in the dirt at the side of the cobbled sector. She wrote after the race on Instagram that she sustained a concussion and some wounds, and was “relieved about how I got off”.

Shari Bossuyt (AG Insurance-Soudal) and Chloé Dygert (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) also had to abandon the race after coming down in the same crash; neither rider sustained fractures, their teams later confirmed.

Victory in the race ultimately went to FDJ United-SUEZ's Franziska Koch who, though outnumbered by Marianne Vos and Pauline Ferrand Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike) in the finale, sprinted to win in a photo-finish in the velodrome.

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

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

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

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

Teams

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Races

Spring Classics

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tour de France Femmes – 1-9 August

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

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

Norway’s Jonas Abrahamsen of Uno-X Mobility is a miracle man. Just over ten days ago, the 29-year-old fell heavily on stage one of the Baloise Belgium Tour which left him with a broken collarbone, an injury which could typically see a rider off the bike for months.

However, Abrahamsen was surprisingly given the all-clear to start the Tour de France on Saturday after just nine days of recovery time, having already been initially named as part of the Uno-X team when the crash in Belgium occurred.

"I went and saw a specialist in Manchester to look at it. The doctor checked me and he was very very happy, he was saying that this isn’t normal, a collarbone recovery can usually take more than eight weeks. He was pretty surprised at my situation, I am super human," Abrahamsen told Cycling Weekly.

Abrahamsen has been a key rider for Uno-X in the last two Tours he’s ridden for the team, he also wore the polka-dot jersey as leader in the mountains classification for ten stages last year after several long stints in the breakaway.

"The Tour de France has been the biggest goal for me since the start of last November. I’ve trained hard every day to be good for this moment. It was such a shit time to then crash in Belgium, but that’s cycling sometimes," he added. "I did not then have much hope of being able to go to the Tour but every day since then has been fast, I’ve got better and better which is crazy.

"I managed to get back outside to ride my bike very quickly, I’ve been so lucky that it was the end of the bone, not the middle. At the Tour I will try to get in the breakaway again now," he added. "We have a lot of strong guys, sprinters and others, but if I can get in the breaks again then I will for sure try."

When asked what was behind such a quick recovery, Abrahamsen explained that doing the basics correctly as an athlete went a long way in ensuring that his time off the bike was minimal.

"Maybe I’m a super hero," he joked. "It’s not very often that stuff like this happens and you recover quickly so maybe my body is different. I think having positivity in this situation is important, you should never give up when injured. Trust yourself and your body and the rest will come. I eat healthy, I did everything perfect with training, eating and sleeping so anything was possible for me in the end."

The Tour de France gets underway in Lille on Saturday 5 July.

Team Uno-X Mobility will be rebranded as Team 7-Eleven for one day only at Liège–Bastogne–Liège on Sunday, paying tribute to the well known American team that was founded in 1981.

7-Eleven is the world's largest convenience store chain, with its headquarters based in Irving, Texas. The supermarket retailer operates 107 joint service stations in Norway with Uno-X, the main sponsor of the Norwegian cycling outfit, with the two companies both sitting within the pool of brands owned by the Reitan Convenience group.

The 7-Eleven cycling team was active for 15 years, first under the name of its initial sponsor before Motorola took over headline sponsorship, and was managed by former US pro cyclist Jim Ochowicz. Riders including Andy Hampsten and Sean Yates rode for the team when it was known as 7-Eleven.

Now, due to its headline sponsor's longstanding connection with the supermarket in Norway, Team Uno-X Mobility will pay tribute to the American squad at the oldest of cycling’s five Monument races by sporting a different kit featuring the old team’s colourway of red, green and white. The squad's riders will also race on specially painted Ridley bikes for the occasion.

"Team 7-Eleven was a legendary team," Uno-X Mobility’s general manager Thor Hushovd said. "My own cycling journey started watching Dag Otto - also from Grimstad - win Norway’s first Tour de France stage in that jersey. Seeing our riders wear it now is truly something special."

The 7-Eleven rebrand will also celebrate the 80th birthday of Eddy Merckx. The cycling legend turns 80 in June, and his Merckx-branded bikes were previously used by the original 7-Eleven team during the 1980s.

"This is more than a limited edition bike or jersey — it’s a heartfelt tribute to Eddy Merckx for his 80th birthday and to the legacy he’s built over eight incredible decades," said Frank Symons, the marketing director of the Belgian Cycling Factory manufacturer who now owns Eddy Merckx bikes.

"By bringing the iconic 7-Eleven team back to life at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, together with Uno-X Mobility and our amazing partners, we’re reviving a piece of cycling history in a way that’s never been done before."

A previously unreleased aero bike used by Uno-X at the Tour de France is now commercially available, with prices for the frameset starting at £4,000.

The Velocity Ace-AFO (VA-AFO), made by Taiwanese bike brand Dare, was ridden as a prototype by Alexander Kristoff and other riders throughout the 2024 season.

The bike is characterised by its aggressive design, counting a remarkably bulky head tube and deep integrated handlebars. It entered the retail market this month, with the frameset – including a cockpit, seatpost, bottle cage and Ceramic Speed SLT headset bearing – priced at $5,200 (£4,011).

Uno-X began using the bike in May 2024, and, according to a press release from Dare, “saw immediate results”.

“Not only did Uno-X secure single stage wins in several renown races, they pedalled to outstanding scores in July’s Tour de France, nabbing the green jersey in stages 2-4 and the polka dot jersey in stages 1-11, showcasing the excellence of VA-AFO’s engineering to the world,” the brand wrote.

Compared to its predecessor, the VSRu, riders are said to save 5.2 watts at 35km/h, 11.4 watts at 45km/h and 21.2 watts at 55km/h. “Our mission in designing the Velocity Ace was not to simply be better, but to be the best. In a world of speed, even one watt can be the difference between victory and defeat,” a press release read.

The bike was designed in conjunction with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) experts in Switzerland, before then going through rounds of wind tunnel testing. It is made from Torayca carbon fiber, originally an aerospace material, produced by Japanese brand Toray.

According to Dare, the new VA-AFO is a “beast of pure speed”.

The bike is currently available through local dealers in Asia, Australia and Norway, with no sales information for customers in the UK or USA.

Its release follows that of Decathlon’s Van Rysel RCR Pro, ridden by Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale from the beginning of the year, which undercut the pro bike market at a full-build retail price of £9,000. The RCR Pro went on to sell out in minutes when it was made available for pre-order.

The jury result was unanimous. After 170km in the breakaway, 140 of them on his own, Uno-X's Jonas Abrahamsen was awarded the prize for the most combative rider on stage eight of the Tour de France. Journalists nodded in agreement when the message came through in the WhatsApp group. Who else, they figured, but the race's solo Norwegian? 

The lashing rain at the start of the day pointed to an afternoon of attrition. Fans lined the finishing straight in Colombey-les-Deux-Églises with plastic ponchos and yellow umbrellas, in high spirits despite the downpours. It was a day, for the average hobby cyclist, to stay at home and wait for clearer skies. For Abrahamsen, it was another chance to show off his polka-dot jersey. 

"The plan was to go in the breakaway," the 28-year-old said afterwards. It's been the same plan almost every day. "In the start it was pretty good, we had three strong guys, but they didn't want to pull with me, so they went behind with the peloton, and then I went solo."

Ahead of the bunch is where the Norwegian has found his place this season. In fact, no rider has spent more kilometres than him up the road – 1,383km in 48 race days. Five hundred of them have come at this Tour de France alone. He's quite simply a jersey sponsor's dream. 

"On the first day, I took the mountain jersey. On the second day, I got second place, and the green jersey, and the mountain jersey. From the first day, I've kept the mountain jersey," he grinned. "I can't believe it, it's so big for me.” 

Born in Skien, an old seafaring city in the south of Norway, Abrahamsen has only ever ridden for teams from his home country. He joined Uno-X’s development team in 2017, aged 21, and has remained loyal to the team ever since, winning his first professional race in the one-day Brussels Cycling Classic last month. 

Following his Tour debut last year, Abrahamsen made headlines after he revealed he had gained 20kg to bulk up. The approach came as a refreshing one in a sport dominated by weight-cutting, and has paid dividends for the Norwegian, who transformed from a lightweight climber, into a powerful rouleur. 

"I think I've never had as much power in four hours before," he said of his lone foray on Saturday. "I was trying to think positive. You never know if the peloton is going to stop behind after a crosswind. I just tried to motivate [myself] to get a stage win, that was the main goal of the team."

Victory, in the end, went to Biniam Girmay for the second time at this year's race. Abrahamsen rolled home 141st, veiled in the anonymity of the bunch, but easily identifiable from his red-spotted threads.  

He smiled to the press as he walked through the interview zone afterwards. It's a protocol he has become used to after a week of duties in the polka-dot jersey, a honour that no other Norwegian has experienced. 

"I like to have pain in the legs, and I got that today," he said, drawing a chuckle from the media. Can he keep his new jersey until Nice? "I don’t think so. I'm too heavy for that, but I will try. I'll try to find my mountain legs, my climbing legs. You will see, I'll try to keep it as long as possible."

It's a promise that, whether someone joins him or not, more breakaways will come. For as unpredictable as this Tour has been, one sight has been constant: that of Abrahamsen, head to toe in red spots, riding clear of the bunch.

2024 may be the year of the dragon in the Chinese zodiac, but in cycling, it’s proving to be the year of the aero helmet. 

Already, we’ve seen some big tech trends emerge on top of riders’ heads, notably Kask’s new ear-cover helmet, and a smattering of time trial lids in the peloton.  

This week, at the Volta ao Algarve, Uno-X Mobility riders have been wearing an unreleased version of the Tucker TT helmet, made by Norwegian brand Sweet Protection. This follows after EF Education-EasyPost riders were spotted in the bunch at the Tour Down Under wearing new POC helmets, which bear a striking resemblance to the brand’s Procen TT. 

According to Uno-X’s resident aero expert, Casper von Folsach, the reason for the trend is simple: There’s a “significant” aero gain. 

“The use internally has been increasing, with the increased focus and understanding of aerodynamics amongst riders,” Von Folsach told Cycling Weekly. 

“The aero advantage is definitely what I would call significant,” he continued. “I guess it’s no surprise that it’s due to an aerodynamic improvement over our more all-round - and so lighter and better ventilated helmet - Falconer 2Vi. When the race course, and particularly the environmental conditions allow it, [Tucker] is the faster helmet.” 

Von Folsach explained that, on average, the helmet yields around a 0.006m² improvement in CdA, the measurement of aerodynamic drag. It’s small, but with rising average speeds in the pro peloton, the advantage is becoming more and more impactful. 

“If it’s a trend at the moment, we must be real trend setters,” Von Folsach said. “I’m pretty sure we started road racing with it back in 2019, or at least 2020. But this was likely in smaller races and on less-known riders.” 

At last year’s Volta ao Algarve, Uno-X’s Alexander Kristoff wore a discontinued TT helmet, riding it to bunch sprint victory. Now, the use of TT helmets is more widespread among the team, with riders choosing them for Thursday’s mountain stage. 

In fact, the Tucker helmet used by Uno-X this season is a brand-new, unreleased model, a contact at Sweet Protection revealed to Cycling Weekly. It was developed alongside the Uno-X riders, and adapts the existing TT version slightly by making it lighter and removing the visor. 

Sweet Protection describes the new Tucker 2Vi as a “supreme aero road helmet that leaves no room for compromise”. It will be available to consumers in mid-March. 

The new release comes a year after the Norwegian brand made headlines with its Redeemer 2Vi TT lid, which was likened aesthetically to Star Wars villain Darth Vader. This will be the team’s primary helmet for time trialling going forward. 

Mornings can be heavy going, even more so when you’re on the road at a race. Motivation to get the day started comes in many forms.

When Cycling Weekly casually asks longhaired Uno-X rider Magnus Kulset about how he gets himself in the zone for a race we were expecting perhaps some symphonic Norwegian metal but he immediately gets animated about K-Pop.

“Before every workout at home, we listen to a lot of music…We’re into Korean music, although it is kind of strange,” he says.

It seemed to be working. When we speak Magnus is racing the Tour of the Alps with his brothers Johannes, Sindre while their other brother Christian is a sports director in the team car. The climbers helped their team leader to a top ten at the race packed with WorldTour talent.

“It all started with me,” Sindre recalls. “I used to play a game called League of Legends. There’s a lot of Korean influence in that game. Then I started listening to Korean music, and really fell in love with it.”

“Then they’ve kind of been forced to listen to a lot of it thanks to me, but eventually they started to like it as well.”

The genre's most well-known export is probably globe straddling mega-hit Gangnam Style by PSY, which has reached one billion views on YouTube, making its way onto wedding and party playlists worldwide, but the Kulset brothers explained that for them it's the heirs to that crown BTS who are the group to really get your toes tapping in the morning.

“I think the most famous group, BTS, would probably be who I’d recommend,” Sindre adds. “If you’re a new person to K-Pop then Boy with Love is probably the best song to get you completely into K-Pop.”

Hailing from a cycling family near Oslo, Magnus, Sindre and Johannes are the sons of Vegar Kulset, the CEO of Uno-X mobility, the headline sponsor of the squad. Prior to beginning life as a sports director for the Norwegian outfit, eldest brother Christian was also a pro-rider on the team.

At just 19-years-old, Johannes tells Cycling Weekly that getting the chance to race in the Alps with his brothers has been a phenomenal experience, particularly as he was able to ask them for advice and guidance as the week progressed.

Johannes is labelled as “the loud jokey one,” by Sindre and Magnus.

“They are always motivating me and helping me,” Johannes says. “It’s been very nice to have people close to you who have always been able to help you from the start.”

However, he explains that the trio’s eldest brother has been their biggest influence yet.

“He started when he was like 15 or 16. Then Sindre and Magnus started after him… I cycled a bit before Covid, but when Covid started I started to cycle lots more.

“We’re seven in the family. Two girls and five guys. The five guys are all very interested in cycling.”

When the race eventually concluded, Johannes was the highest placed brother, finishing 15th behind overall winner Tao Geoghegan Hart. The strong performances from the trio will almost certainly see them line-up together at races again in the coming months, maybe even at the Tour de France.

“We’re the same type of riders, and always knew that eventually we were going to ride the same race together, all three of us,” Sindre explains. “It’s probably going to happen a lot more in the future."

If you want to say hello at the Tour de France just follow the sound of K-Pop blasting from the bus.

It has been likened to a giant bumblebee and Star Wars villain Darth Vader, but now Uno-X’s new helmet has a name.

The Redeemer 2Vi, first spotted at last month’s Volta ao Algarve, was officially unveiled on Tuesday by the Norwegian team and their helmet supplier Sweet Protection, who lifted the lid on the secrets of its design. 

“There’s a lot of excitement around this project because it looks like this or that,” said Uno-X commercial manager Erik Nordby at the product’s launch event. “The Eurosport commentators today said that spaceships landed on their heads [in the team time trial at Paris-Nice].” 

The new helmet, garishly large but surprisingly light at 490 grams, is the result of hundreds of hours of computer and wind tunnel testing. Its shape was designed to line up with the wearer's shoulders and back, helping to smooth airflow over these areas. According to the manufacturers, the Redeemer sets “a new benchmark in aerodynamics”. 

Kyle Forster, the project’s lead aerodynamicist, explained that the helmet comes with “a few little nifty tricks” that give it an “overall optimised shape”. 

One of these is its Laminar Flow Bypass Duct, which channels wind out through its flared sides. Expanding on this feature's role, Forster said: “What happens is, the pressure on the front of the helmet, in its central area, is reduced, because we’re allowing some airflow to bleed through. It’s essentially as if we had a much smaller helmet in this region.”

So how does this translate into drag savings? Well, Uno-X are reluctant to say. 

The team’s performance coach, Casper von Folsach, explained: “I think many people are tired of hearing how many watts you save from this, that and the other, because it’s so dependent on the protocol, where you test, at what speed you test, at what yaw angles [you test], test facilities and so on.

“What I will say, however, is that from the testing and benchmarking against other helmets is that, as the guy overseeing equipment, and in this case TT helmets for our team, I can say without a doubt that this is the helmet that I would prefer our team to be riding.” 

While Uno-X will wear the Redeemer in time trials this season, including at the Tour de France, the product won’t be available commercially until the autumn. Currently, the manufacturers expect it to come with a €450 (£400) price tag. 

People may poke fun at it, but if the helmet is as effective as Sweet Protection and Uno-X say it is, the jokes will soon stop. “It wasn’t about the looks,” said the team’s commercial manager Nordby. “Obviously within the design parameters, we tried to make it as good-looking as we can, but it was about speed, about creating something fast. That was the focus and this is what we ended up with.”  

Leonard Snoeks is used to deserts; the Uno-X directeur sportif lives on Spitsbergen, part of the Svalbard archipelago, Norwegian territory well inside the Arctic Circle. 

However, when Cycling Weekly catches up with the Norwegian DS at the Saudi Tour, the climate is rather different to the one he is used to, despite the similar lack of rain in the two locations.

The 37-year-old has lived inside the Arctic Circle since August, when he moved there due to his wife's work on Norway's new climate and energy plan. He is one of the less than 3,000 people that live on Svalbard, which must make him one of the most isolated people involved in the world of professional cycling.

"It has been nice. I actually have more time to prepare, because there's nothing else to do," he says. "Of course, living there is different, it's a bit like here, just cold, because it's an Arctic desert. Either you have sun or dark.

"Luckily we have training camps, and Christmas, to get me away. I'm not that big a fan of the dark, so for me to go away, it's not that much of a problem. For my wife and daughter, maybe it's a bit more challenging at times. The contrast is what I like."

Snoeks is from Oslo, which might be ruled by the same government, but is vastly different. He explains that Svalbard is as far from the Norwegian capital as Morocco is, to give some sense of the distance.

However, despite the hundreds of kilometres of extra travelling he needs to do as a result of living so far north, it is not a problem for his Uno-X team.

"Norway is pretty stretched out, we have riders living in Tromsø, we have riders in Stavanger [the two ends of the mainland country]," he says. "So that's one of the nice things about being in cycling, you can stay where you want in Europe. 

"We're used to distance. I just have to put in an extra day of travelling, but it's not forever. I'll be there between one or two years more."

Svalbard is not suited to road riding, despite this being the main focus of Snoeks' attention.

"There are a lot of people cycling in Svalbard, but mostly on fat tyre bikes or e-bikes," he explains. "There aren't that many roads, I think there's only 50km of tarmac there. You need to have a pretty decent gravel bike for it to work. I'll get a bike up there this spring."

Snoeks might be able to get away, for training or for racing, but his wife and daughter are there pretty much full time; fortunately, the youngest Snoeks is not yet at the age where she is itching to get away from her Arctic home.

"My daughter loves it, there was a window now before she got too old where we had to go there," her father says. "She enjoys it, it's totally different. Kids are pretty adaptable, they quickly make friends. It's pretty unique, she will remember it for the rest of her life."

Uno-X already have two wins this season, one of which came through their new veteran signing Alexander Kristoff, a coup for the Norwegian team. Everything is building up to big objective, however, that of the Tour de France, which the squad will race in July, the first Norwegian outfit to do so.

"I was really happy, it was a big effort behind the scenes," Snoeks says. "I was happy for Uno-X, both as a company and a team. I went straight out, put on my French hat, took my wife, and we had a glass of champagne by the fire in the hotel in Svalbard. The response from cycling in general in Norway was incredible."

One imagines the response in Svalbard was slightly more muted, but Snoeks and Uno-X are proving that cycling can thrive even in one of Europe's wildest countries.

Søren Wærenskjold might have just won his first professional victory, and his Uno-X team’s tenth at elite level, but he is in no mood to bask in his moment of glory. Instead, he wishes to look forwards, to predict great things for his nascent Norwegian team.

“I think it's just a matter of time before we do even better,” he explains at the finish of stage three of the Saudi Tour. “I think we just have to continue what we're doing as we know that it works. 

“We just have to get the details correct, like when we did everything right in the final today.”

For the last couple of years the squad has been a favourite of peloton watchers, always trying something, highly visible in the yellow and red kits, keen to not just sit back, or simply be there, as so many Pro Teams have done in the past.

This is something that Wærenskjold’s directeur sportif, Leonard Snoeks, is keen to stress.

“Now, stepping up on the biggest stage, we're not just here to show up,” he says, hours before his rider proved his point. “We want to look good, but we also want to win. We brought some new riders in, some new riders came up from the development team, and it's all part of the plan of getting closer towards our goal.”

2023 is a big year from the Norwegian squad, which is made up of Norwegians and Danes, the news broke in January that Uno-X were one of the recipients of two wildcard spots for the Tour de France, the team’s first Grand Tour, and the biggest one of all at that.

“Every race we go to we're aiming for a win, here, or even the Tour de France. We're not going on holiday,” Snoeks explains. “I think we have a really good shot with some of our top class riders, and of course, they need backup from the other guys. It is a good journey from the development team to the top. We have many riders who are capable of winning.”

Wednesday proved that Uno-X can mix it with the best teams, carry out a plan, and challenge at the sharp end of races. Saudi Arabia is rather different from Norway in January, but the squad showed their spirit and togetherness, and Wærenskjold was there to finish it off.

“I just knew that it was a bit of a steep climb,” the man from southern Norway says. “It was steep at the end before it went downhill again. I surfed a little bit to get back into the peloton to save myself for the sprint. I knew when the guys went really hard at the bottom I couldn't follow, so we did it perfectly. Today we took the right side, so we finally got the wind from the left. We did really badly at the end yesterday, and we learned from that, so today we did it.

“We have two fourths in the first stages, so it's been really good, creating good morale for the team. We try to continue to do well, and tomorrow it's Jacob's [Hindsgaul] turn, so I think he can do well in that climb. Today he was one of the leadout men. It's going to be exciting for the rest of this week now.”

The results have been coming. It is clearly a close knit bunch, helped by the shared Norse heritage of all the riders; if the Vikings ever got into cycling, it would be Uno-X.

“It's a really good atmosphere in the team, and since we are all Norwegian and Danish, we come from the same cultures, and we're quite the same,” Wærenskjold says. “We have fun on travel and training camps, and then we have a good time on the road.

“Hopefully there are some young guys watching that will get inspired, and considering cycling.”

The 22-year-old is one of 12 riders aged 23 or younger on the team, and won the under-23 time trial world championships last year in Australia, at the same time as his compatriot Tobias Foss won the elite title. He was also third in the U23 road race, a hint of his talent to come. However, this was his first pro win.

“It's fantastic,” he says. “I waited for this for some time, and I haven't been so close. I've been good at under-23 level, but haven't managed to take a pro win, so this is really fantastic.”

He is not alone. Tobias Halland Johannessen won the Tour de l’Avenir, the race which so often predicts future talent, in 2021, and the team has signed Alexander Kristoff for 2023 to help push onto the next level.

This is the start of the biggest season in Uno-X history, and Wærenskjold has proved that he is an integral part of it, next he just needs to prove that he can keep this form up, and get into that Tour de France team.

“I think I can be a good leadout man for Kristoff in the sprints, but I have to prove that I can do longer stage races,” he explains. “I have to do well in the Spring, and then we will see if the management tells me I'm strong enough. Hopefully, but we will see.”

Winning a first professional race is a solid first step.

After the excitement of promotion and relegation from the WorldTour in 2022, it is time to do it all over again, but this time with the women's peloton.

At the end of this season, 15 teams will be awarded licences to race on the Women's WorldTour for the next three years, based on points from 2022 and 2023. Mathematically, very few of these licences are in doubt, with the top teams like SD Worx, Trek-Segafredo and FDJ-Suez all but guaranteed their spots for the next year.

Alongside this, the other members of the top nine: DSM, Movistar, Canyon-SRAM, UAE Team ADQ, Jayco-AlUla, and Jumbo-Visma are all basically safe. 

Like in the men's WorldTour last year, it is the teams at the bottom of the points table and the top Continental-level teams who should concern themselves with promotion and relegation, and tackle this season accordingly. 

This is the first time that WWT teams will be awarded their places on sporting merit, rather than meeting criteria laid down by the UCI such as financial structures, so in theory there is a lot to play for this year.

With Fenix-Deceuninck stepping up to the top table this year, there are 15 teams for the first time, meaning this season will be the first of scrapping over points to stay in the WorldTour.

As the graphic below, designed by Mathew Mitchell of Procyclinguk shows, the teams that should be worried are Human Powered Health, Israel Premier Tech Roland and Uno-X, all of which are in the relegation spots at the moment.

Should Life Plus Wahoo, Ceratizit-WNT and Parkhotel Valkenburg apply for WWT status as the table currently is, all three of these teams would be destined for Continental level. While this is not guaranteed, there will be a fight for the status, with AG Insurance - Soudal Quick-Step also being clear about their objective to be promoted.

The battle has been made slightly easier by Valcar-Travel & Service, the highest ranked Continental team, being turned into a development team by UAE, and therefore they cannot be promoted. However, it will still be fiercely fought.

As we saw in the men's WorldTour relegation scrap last year - one that Lotto-Soudal and Israel-Premier Tech ultimately lost - there are different ways of going about the chase for points.

AG Insurance have shown their desire by signing Ashleigh Moolman Pasio from SD-Worx, a top level rider who should bring points, while Human Powered Health have brought in both Marjolein van't Geloof and Alice Barnes.

Israel Premier Tech Roland will be looking to Tamara Dronova-Balabolina to continue scoring points. It is Norwegian squad Uno-X who look the most in trouble currently.

Speaking to Cycling Weekly last week, Van't Geloof made clear that WorldTour survival was something that Human Powered Health is thinking about this year.

"It's something we're already focused on," she said. "If you compare us to Wanty [Intermarché-Circus-Wanty], everyone thought they were going to go down last year, and once they did their season they came up so much, and they had two years where they were in danger. 

"We just need to cancel out one year, and I think we've shown in Australia that we can score points. If we can keep that momentum going, we could be safe halfway through the season. I don't think that's going to be the biggest issue, because we have people who can finish off races."

At the Tour Down Under in Australia, the American team got their survival plan off to a strong start, with a stage win through Daria Pikulik, and top-10 finishes from Nina Buijsman and Henrietta Christie.

It was Christie’s seventh-place finish in the general classification, however, that really helped the team out, and saw it move from 27th to 20th in the two-year table.

Barnes, who joined the squad from Canyon-SRAM, said that the talk around WorldTour relegation was helping motivate the riders for this year.

"We're aware of it, obviously it's important to remain in the WorldTour, but I don't think we're stressing about it," she said. "Every time we race we will do our best, and the points will come with that. I don't think you can focus on it too much, because that takes away from the main goal, which is winning races."

Kenny Latomme, Human Powered Health's manager, stressed how important it was for his team to continue at at WorldTour level.

"First of all it's important for our sponsors, because all the races are on television," he said. "It gives you the opportunity to set up a full calendar, whereas if you're a Continental team you have to wait for invitations, which is sometimes last minute."

As for what the team are aiming for, Latomme said that the main aim was 14th place, not any higher. Survival would do, and then they can plan for the future.

"The relegation battle will definitely impact our season, because we are fighting for that 14th and 15th spot," he said. "Luckily we took a lot of points in the Tour Down Under, and we are hoping to score a lot of points this weekend too. It's hard to predict how we will continue this season, we hope we can remain at this level, and score at every race a little bit, but to be top 10 is almost impossible. 

"To be reasonable, 14th would save us, and that's the goal. Then we want to create a gap to the 16th team so we are not stressed out about always scoring, because that would definitely affect our racing. The best racing you do in an easy environment, but this points system can bring stress."

Points can be scored across .1, .Pro and .WWT races, so teams (which average around 16 riders) might stretch themselves across the season to get those points. 

Whatever happens, it will be a big year for the likes of Human Powered Health, if they want to stay in the vanguard of women's cycling. Expect to see point-hunting across the board.

Uno-X general manager Jens Haugland was overcome with emotion after finding out his team will line up at the Tour de France for the first time this July. 

The Scandinavian team will join fellow ProTeam Israel-Premier Tech as the two wildcard invitations at the 2023 edition of the race. 

Speaking exclusively to Cycling Weekly on Wednesday, Haugland explained how race director Christian Prudhomme called him on New Year’s Day to tell him the good news. 

“It was a very, very friendly phone call," he said. "He had a good laugh and I had to spend quite a lot of time after that call just to remember everything. He asked me if we were ready for 2023 because we’re going to race the Tour de France.

"I just started screaming," the Uno-X manager laughed. “[There were] a lot of emotions. I have devoted a lot of time to trying to make sure this happens. It’s just huge, enormous for a young team like ours.”

After forming as a Continental team in 2010, Norwegian-registered Uno-X were promoted to ProTeam status in 2020. This year’s Tour will be the team’s first three-week Grand Tour. 

“We feel that this is the correct next step for us,” Haugland said. “We’re not in the Tour de France because we're nice people. We’re in the Tour de France because we have a very good cycling team, and that acknowledgement from the organiser is of course enormous for Norwegian and Scandinavian cycling.” 

When they take the start line in July, Uno-X will become the first Scandinavian team in a decade to race at the Tour, following on from then Danish-registered Saxo-Tinkoff in 2013. 

According to Haugland, the team will not hold any GC ambitions, but instead will deploy aggressive tactics to target stage wins. 

“We’re not going to be defensive, we’re going to be very positive and attacking in our racing,” he said. “No one can tell me that we are not able to win a stage in the Tour de France this year.”

One rider who knows what victory feels like at the race is former European champion Alexander Kristoff, who joined Uno-X this season from Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert. The 35-year-old Norwegian has started nine Tours de France in his career and taken four stage wins, claiming the yellow jersey on the opening day in 2020. 

Asked about the importance of having Kristoff on the team, Haugland said: “He brings this experience and calmness into the whole situation.

“It means a lot to us to have Alex on board as a captain and also a leader of the team going into such an experience.” 

The 2023 Tour de France will start in Bilbao, Spain on 1 July. 

Reinardt Janse van Rensburg, who rode for Lotto-Soudal at the Tour de France this year, has said that the current WorldTour system in cycling is endangering many smaller teams' futures. 

The South African professional, who was part of Caleb Ewan’s sprint train last season, believes that the current WorldTour system is “preventing growth” in cycling, leaving some teams “fighting against everything” just to survive. 

Speaking to Cycling Weekly, Janse van Rensburg said that without change cycling will see further teams collapse in the same manner as B & B Hotels-KTM did earlier this week. 

“I think the system at the moment and how it’s set up is killing all the smaller teams, all the Pro Continental teams, they just don’t have a chance to shine,” he said. 

“You’ve got the 18 WorldTour teams, and then the two Pro-Continental teams that are guaranteed invites to all the WorldTour races, so race organisers only have like two invites that they can send out.” 

“So then if you’re a French race organiser you’ve got two French Pro-Conti teams lined up, if you’re Italian, you’ve probably then got one or two Italian teams lined up. So if you’re at Pro-Continental level, you’re kind of fighting against everything just to try and get an invite to WorldTour races, which I don’t think is really fair,” he added. “It’s limiting things for teams, and I think the system is actually preventing growth inside cycling.”

In recent days, the management of Norwegian Proteam Uno-X explained that they were watching the situation of the stricken B & B Hotels-KTM team with a close eye. The demise of the French team now means that Uno-X are arguably in a stronger position to receive an invite to the Tour de France next year. 

Janse van Rensburg responded to a tweet from Cyclingnews which contained comments from Uno-X to express his frustration at the system. Something which he clarified was not a direct dig at the Norwegian team but at the wider system in general. 

“To be clear, my comment was not a dig at Uno-X or their position about this. It’s more about the system in the WorldTour, that’s what my comment was about. It’s not about Uno-X, it’s really understandable their position. It’s the system that’s frustrating me,” he explained. 

POINTS SYSTEM IS 'COMPLETELY BROKEN'

Janse van Rensburg is among those that see problems with state of the WorldTour relegation system and the way in which points are allocated during the season. 

The points given to riders for minor one day races are often offer a better return on investment than wins at bigger stage races like the Tour de France.

In recent weeks prominent figures including Chris Froome have spoken out against the set up, with Froome branding it a “death sentence” for smaller teams. EF Education Easy-Post boss Jonathan Vaughters also slammed the points system saying it led to an “absurd” way of racing. 

Janse van Rensburg explained that the points system in his mind is “completely broken”. 

“It’s a big factor in all of this. I think the points system is completely broken with how it works, it just doesn’t make sense the way in which points are allocated. First that needs to be fixed and then the relegation system has to be looked at too,” he said. 

“I think it would actually make sense to have even fewer WorldTour teams, say only 10. Then you could have 12 wildcards or Pro-Continental or whatever. Then it could be much more competitive and much more supportive and fair with how teams get to the big races,” he added. 

“Otherwise there are very limited opportunities if you’re not one of the top 20 teams in the system.”

When asked if he expected to see further teams fold like B & B Hotels did Janse van Rensburg said: “Oh definitely. With there only being spots on the big races for those 20 teams, the rest is just all fighting. So if you’re not one of those 20 teams then good luck to you. It’s terrible news for B & B. The system is really limiting teams chances and it’s not healthy for the sport.

“I think maybe the Tour de France is becoming too prominent in the calendar. Of course you need that premier event in any sport, but I think cycling is much bigger than that. There’s more events than just the Tour.”

“With that I just think the WorldTour is just killing all the small teams. It’s always the same teams, at all the races. Some teams get all the opportunities and the other ones are just fighting for scraps,” he added.

Janse van Rensburg left Lotto-Soudal at the end of the 2022 season, and explained on social media that he will be stepping back from racing at WorldTour level. Something which he told Cycling Weekly was partly affected by his feelings towards competition at that level and the wider system.

“It definitely played a role in my decision. When you see what I’m involved in next year, I can elaborate more on that.”