Sepp Kuss finished stage 20 of the Tour de France disappointed, having finished third after cresting the Col de Sarenne in third, but it could have been so much worse.

The Visma-Lease a Bike rider crashed twice in the final 8km of the day on the descent from the Sarenne before the small climb up to Alpe d'Huez, with the second crash looking particularly terrifying.

First, the American crashed as he left a dark tunnel with 7.1km to go, but then with just over 4km to go, he misjudged a corner on a fast descent and was saved from plummeting over a sheer drop just by safety netting on the bend.

The heart-stopping moment allowed Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) to catch and overtake him, and win the stage, his second in three days. To add insult to injury, Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) passed him in the finale.

The only consolation was third place, and a combativity prize. The other good news is that the man from Colorado seemed unhurt by the incidents, but he came close to disaster. The prize of a second Tour stage win was on the line, hence the pressure Kuss put on himself on that descent.

"I wasn't entirely clear-headed," Kuss told France Télévisions post-race. "The effort was incredible. I was trying to maintain the gap with Richard Carapaz. I knew he wasn't far behind and that he would fight to the end. I was trying to gain as much time as possible on every corner."

"I wasn't too scared," he continued. "I thought I'd read the right line. Luckily, there were nets. It would have been nice to finish this Tour on a positive note. But I managed to finish the stage, and we're satisfied with the fighting spirit we showed in this Tour. We fought to the very end."

"I was so on the limit, I misjudged the corner a bit," he added to the Tour's media team. "First in the tunnel, and then after that I was still trying to make up too much time and I misjudged the corner. It was a bit scary, sorry to my wife and my family watching at home! That's racing. I’m happy with the fight and the performance, and it was a big day out.

"That’s how it goes, you can't always have good luck, of have everything in your way. We can be proud of the way we fought as a team. After Jonas [Vingegaard] was out the race, we made the most of every single day. I felt the support of the guys during the stage, I couldn't pay it back but we can be proud of our effort."

To dampen what could have a been a perfect day even more, the day's jury bulletin revealed that Kuss had been fined 1500 CHF ($1,832) for littering.

The exact rule reads: "Rider or team staff disposing of waste or other objects outside of litter zones, or not returned to team or organisation staff, not collected by team staff, thrown at a spectator."

He did it twice, according to the report; for the first offence, he was fined 25 UCI points and 500 CHF, for the second offence, 50 UCI points, 1000 CHF and 60 seconds in the general classification.

Freed from domestique duties, with his teammate Jonas Vingegaard at home with a broken collarbone, Sepp Kuss sensed glory on Alpe d’Huez.

It’s been five years since the sport’s favourite helper won a stage of the Tour de France, and there was no better place to finally win in the Tour again than atop the mythical Alpe, the climb every single cyclist, amateur or pro, dreams of being triumphant on.

Visma-Lease a Bike’s Kuss did everything right at the start. He was part of the huge 42-man breakaway, and was present when that group was whittled down to 15 on the penultimate climb. At the bottom of the iconic Alpe, only six remained, and one of them was Kuss.

Before long, there were only three: Kuss, stage 18 winner Richard Carapaz, and the best French-placed rider in the race: Lenny Martinez. Either of them could win.

Neither of them would.

The trio all attacked one another, but it was in vain: with 3km remaining, Tadej Pogačar, he who spoils so many dreams, passed them all and rode to his fifth stage victory in the race. Martinez held on for second, Carapaz third, but Kuss drifted back to fourth.

If it seemed inevitable that Pogačar would win, and in doing so smash Marco Pantani’s record, Kuss believed that the break had a chance of resisting the race leader. But their advantage to the yellow jersey at the foot of the Alpe wasn’t big enough.

“I knew he [Pogačar] would probably go from the bottom so with that you probably need six minutes or something,” Kuss said.

“We had a good selection at the bottom, but when I saw the gap at the bottom, I knew it would be tight. It was a bit stop-start riding, a lot of attacking.

“It was just everyone on their own, nobody wanted to commit fully. It’s still a climb where you get quite a bit of drafting, so it was pretty tactical at the end.

“I just tried to ride my own rhythm. I’m not as explosive as those other guys, but I’m happy with the ride. I tried to keep it steady, but it’s hard. There are all the moments when you think, ‘Now I want to go with speed, or go when they’re finished with their effort’. Then you get another narrow part. So it’s hard to time it.”

Despite not pulling off the win, Kuss was content with how he performed. ”I’m happy with the ride. I feel good,” the American said.

The Tour returns to the Alpe tomorrow. One more chance for a Kuss victory.

Jonas Vingegaard said that he was lucky to only break his collarbone in the crash that took him out of the Tour de France, as he abandoned the race for the first time.

The Visma-Lease a Bike rider, a two-time winner of the race, crashed on an innocuous bend on stage 15 of the race on Sunday, depriving the Tour of the man in second place.

He was taken away in an ambulance for an X-ray, which confirmed that he had fractured his collarbone, and that he will need surgery.

"It's going surprisingly well," he told Danish TV station TV2 later. "It's of course very disappointing for us to end up like this, and for the Tour to end like this. But that's how cycling is. Luckily, it's only a broken collarbone.

"Of course it's a huge shame. We're disappointed, and I just hope the boys can now focus next week and hopefully win a stage or two.

"I just talked to my family a little bit. That was the most important thing for me. We've come up with a plan for what's going to happen now, and I've talked to some of the team. It's no use hanging your head. It just makes it worse."

On Sunday evening, Visma-Lease a Bike reasoned that the crash might have happened because of the line the lead motorbike took through the corner.

"We maybe came into this roundabout a little too fast, and then my front wheel just slips. I can't do anything," Vingegaard said. "That's how cycling races are sometimes. It's just super annoying for us, to be honest.

"Maybe the motorcycle makes a mistake, but we can't trust the motorcycles. We have to have our own judgment," Vingegaard continued. "People make mistakes, and we can't change that now."

In his yellow jersey press conference, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) suggested that part of the reason for the crash could be that Vingegaard was woken at 2am by anti-doping testers.

"It is clear that it has not done anything good for it, you could say. Whether that is the reason, I dare not speculate. It may well have done something. I should not be able to say that," Vingegaard replied, however.

"I don't want to blame it on that, because it's a bicycle race, and crashes happen in bicycle races. So I don't dare answer that."

Visma-Lease a Bike have no plan B at the Tour de France. The Dutch team were all in on Jonas Vingegaard, supporting the Dane towards the dream of winning the Tour and Giro d'Italia in the same season.

Sadly, that dream is now over, with Vingegaard crashing out on stage 15 of the race, and breaking his collarbone. It has deprived the race of a key character, the only rider who has ever beaten yellow jersey Tadej Pogačar at the Tour overall.

"What is there to say?" His teammate Matteo Jorgenson said at the top of the Plateau du Solaison after the stage. "I don't have much other than it's gutting. We're on stage 15, we had no Plan B. We were all in with Jonas, we all believed in it, and I thought it was beautiful. Today was going really well, he was on a really good day I think, and bike racing sucks some times, it really does."

Visma sports director Marc Reef, at the bottom of the climb outside his team bus, added: "We went through a corner, I also didn't have a good picture on TV, we came around the corner in the car and he was laying there. It's unfortunately really shit that this happened and he had to abandon. He's gone to the X-Ray van now to see how he is. I said that I felt sorry for him at that moment, and it was quite quickly clear that he could not continue. He said he had pain, but there's almost not much you say at that moment.

"They put him in an ambulance and then he left. We had a big goal today to try and win the stage, everything went according to plan until the moment he crashed. We planned this morning with two riders ahead, with the situation under control, with him feeling really, really good. The situation was under control, the time gap was under control, and we were ready to go for it."

Asked if it the road where the incident happened was dangerous, Jorgenson replied: "It didn't seem like it, the motorbike double checked in the corner and took the left side of this traffic island, Victor [Campenaerts] was following his line, and it was definitely not the smooth line to the right, we ended up braking, and I'm sure there was a ripple effect, and I'm sure he crossed wheels or hit...

"As often happens in this sport you have a plan, you're in good shape, these things happen, and they're hard to accept, but they have to be accepted."

Until the crash, everything had been going well enough on Sunday. They might have been four minutes behind Pogačar on general classification, but they were still challenging. Now they will have to reset on the fly, easier said that done 15 stages into the toughest bike race of all.

"We have a different Tour now, but I'm at least going to think about what happened today, check in with Jonas tonight, and then we will take the rest day and think about the rest of the Tour," Jorgenson explained. "It's difficult to put into words, but it's our whole life. We spend most of the year on top of a mountain, training, weighing all our food.

"You do everything, you come to the Tour, you do 15 stages, and do everything pretty well, and we're in a good position, and it's a mental job to try and accept these things. It happens to everyone, crashing and losing your goal, but every time you have to take a beat and say this is a special sport, for sure."

Race leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), for his part, said: "It was really dangerous there in the town, and I'm really disappointed and sad that he's going home. The Tour will not be the same without him. We've been battling in the Tour since 2021, and I hope he can recover well.

"If I'm not wrong, he broke his collarbone, I hope he can recover fast and I will see him soon. I hope he's not too down from it and he will go on nice holidays after this, like we spoke a few days ago."

Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard were both awoken in the middle of the night ahead of stage 15 of the Tour de France by anti-doping testers, it was revealed on Sunday.

The pair, first and second on general classification at the race, had their sleep interrupted by officials from the International Testing Agency (ITA) overnight between the mountain stages in the Vosges on stage 14, and the Jura and Alps on stage 15, it was revealed by Le Parisien.

The news was later confirmed by their teams, UAE Team Emirates-XRG for Pogačar and Visma-Lease a Bike for Vingegaard and the pair talked about it with Eurosport at the start of stage 15 in Champagnole. The pair appear to be the only riders tested in such a way.

A spokesperson for the International Testing Agency (ITA) confirmed the tests. The race leader is subject to a test every day post-stage, along with a targeted selection of other riders; they can also face other tests through the Tour.

Since 2016, it has been permitted for anti-doping tests to take place between 11pm and 6am, but it remains very unusual. Pre-race, the ITA said it would aim to conduct around 600 tests during the Tour.

"I got four hours of sleep today," Pogačar said. "They were [at my door at] 5am in the morning. I always sleep late, it was a big shock for me to get four hours of sleep.

"I had a cool, long morning because I couldn't fall back to sleep. I was chilling, listening to some old Eminem hits, and making coffees, so I'm overcaffeinated and ready to start the day. It was definitely not nice to be woken up in the middle of sweet dreams."

Asked about the post-stage testing he undergoes daily the yellow jersey-wearer added: "There's a chaperone following you, and then you go to control, you do that. They also come randomly in the mornings through the Tour, and today they chose night time. I feel sorry for the guys that are doing the control, I can imagine that some riders get upset and angry with them, but it's not their fault. It's the bosses. The guys doing the control are just doing their jobs."

Vingegaard said, who was also tested overnight, said: "I guess the ITA didn't allow me to sleep much. I was sleeping very well but then somebody knocked on my door at 2am which was a surprise to me.

"Of course it's good that they test, but when it's affecting performance and your sleep, I don't think it's so good. Hopefully, I'm not the only one. It has to be equal for everybody I think. It's not the nicest at 2am.

"I think it took me about 40 minutes before I was back in my room, so it was not the best night. I still feel ok, but just not the best night. I cannot change it, but that's part of it I guess."

The more Tadej Pogačar wins, the further Jonas Vingegaard slips back.

On stage 14 of the Tour de France, the defending champion increased his lead to 4:30 over Vingegaard, and there’s still a whole week of racing to go. The destination of the yellow jersey seems all but certain.

Vingegaard finished fourth on the stage to Le Markstein, 44 seconds adrift of Pogačar, but lost six seconds to his fellow podium contenders Isaac Del Toro and Paul Seixas. Four stages earlier, at Le Lioran, Vingegaard lost by the same amount of time to Pogačar, and also ceded time to five of his podium rivals.

In the past five editions of the Tour, with the exception of Pogačar in 2021 and the last two years, Vingegaard has always been a cut above the rest of the field; Not this Tour he’s not, though.

The Dane is no longer in a battle for yellow, but instead in a fight to remain in the top-three. After two-thirds of racing, he has 34 seconds on Remco Evenepoel in third, with Seixas a further 15 seconds back.

Yet rather than change tact and concentrate on securing a sixth successive top-two spot, Vingegaard and his Visma-Lease a Bike teammates are still adamant that the 29-year-old can challenge runaway leader Pogačar.

“It was not a bad stage,” Vingegaard said. “I got some answers about myself. My legs are where they want them to be, so I’m happy with what the team did today.”

His chief mountain domestique, Sepp Kuss, equally refused to be defeated. “Jonas did his best to hang on and limit the damage, but Pogačar was super strong today,” the American said.

“We’re still going with the mindset that we want to win. It may seem further and further away the more time he puts into us, but I think that’s the best mindset to have when it gets hard.

“When you start doubting yourself you have to have the mindset of trying to win. For the team and for Jonas himself, having won the Tour twice, that’s the mindset he needs to have.

“It was a hard day, but we gave it our best. We will keep fighting until the end.”

Vingegaard went into the Tour on the back of cruising to a convincing victory at the Giro d’Italia. He said in Italy and before the Tour started that he was in career-best shape, but in the Tour’s four mountain stages so far he has been unable to stick to Pogačar’s wheel when he has attacked. Rather than the gap between the pair closing, it has only increased.

Still, though, Visma are projecting optimism. “I think Jonas would have preferred to be with Pogačar,” Kuss recognised. “He’s riding super solid and not showing any weakness. But Jonas is super consistent, and will only get better.”

Stage 15 finishes up an even harder climb – the HC ascent of Plateau de Solaison. Rationality dictates that Pogačar will only add to his advantage. “It's a brutal last climb [tomorrow],” Kuss said. “And after the efforts of today, it'll be even more decisive I think.”

Maybe then Vingegaard will accept that he needs to focus on defending second.

Jonas Vingegaard finished seventh on stage 10 of the 2026 Tour de France, 44 seconds behind Tadej Pogačar, who won in Le Lioran. The former now lies 3:36 behind the latter overall, in second place. The Dane also lost at least 10 seconds to Remco Evenepoel, Paul Seixas and Florian Lipowitz, and a few to Juan Ayuso and Mattias Skjelmose.

This was not a good day for Visma-Lease a Bike's Vingegaard. It might not have been the kind of stage that perfectly suited him, with a series of short, sharp climbs in the Massif Central, but he already could not afford to be losing more time at this year's Tour, and he did. It was telling that defeat came two years on from when Vingegaard beat Pogačar on the same finish line. Then, the race felt alive. Now, it feels almost over.

And yet, the message that Visma-Lease a Bike gave out post-stage was not one of despondency, or shifting goals – it was an attempt to be positive, to look for the light. Of course, they could hardly declare the race over, or show too much weakness, but on a day when Pogačar crushed all again, the message felt out of place.

To the viewers, to the fans, the reality feels clear: barring accident, injury or illness, Pogačar will win this Tour de France. To pretend otherwise feels fantastical. But Visma-Lease a Bike are refusing to totally surrender hope.

"In the end, I think it was not too bad of a day," Vingegaard said post-stage. "Shorter climbs like this never suit me the best, so obviously, I had to fight today. To come away with a smaller loss like this is something I can be happy with."

He added: "I think my legs are getting better and better, and all the long climbs are coming."

The words were slightly different to the mood, with Vingegaard not seeming loquacious, looking pensive as he warmed down on his time trial bike outside the Visma team bus. His answer to a simple, soft-ball question of "what's next" was terse: "I'm going to sleep tonight and there's a stage tomorrow."

Vingegaard, the Giro d'Italia winner, does still sit second overall, and perhaps not losing too much time is something to be happy with, but these do not feel like the words of a relentless winner. Evenepoel is now just 30 seconds behind, lurking.

"It was a very hard day," Marc Reef, the Visma-Lease a Bike sports director, said post-stage. "Jonas did a great job, he fought all the way to the line, but Pogačar was stronger. We did not see it [the attack], we heard it, and the next moment we heard something was that there was a time gap to Jonas. From that moment on, we tried to motivate him, he's been in this situation before in this stage two years ago. All the rest stayed in his wheel, and we knew that they could work together to close the gap.

"On the last climb, the gap increased again and it was difficult to come. I think the others are riding for the podium, and that's their decision. We are here to win and that's why we motivated Jonas to keep fighting to the line, and that's what he did. No regrets.

"At this moment Pogačar is a lot stronger and big congrats to him, but we're not in Paris yet and we'll keep fighting," he added. Asked if the team should be looking up, not down towards other threats to second place, Reef said: "It's too early to say something about that now."

Sepp Kuss, one of Vinegaard's key lieutenants, did sound more realistic, however. Asked if he could see a way through Pogačar and UAE Team Emirates-XRG, the American said: "At the moment, no. They were riding incredibly strong and they have the strongest rider too. So we just have to keep trying and stick to our plan and stick to our strengths and see if things come out for us on the stages that suit us."

Vingegaard and Visma-Lease a Bike cannot come out and give up in their fight against Pogačar. However, with the battle only heading one way, and 11 stages still to come, how much longer can they say they are fighting for yellow with a straight face? We might know by the end of the week.

Visma-Lease a Bike domestique Bruno Armirail looked in pain on stage three of the Tour de France after he was involved in a mass crash with around 182km to go.

The Frenchman appeared to go down first and hit his knee hard as the peloton moved through a small town. While he remounted, he was shown clutching his knee and with a broken shoe.

The crash happened at the front of the peloton, and also took out Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) and Netcompany-Ineos riders Tobias Foss, Thymen Arensman, and Michał Kwiatkowski. Matthew Riccitello (Decathlon CMA CGM) was affected by the incident too.

Armirail was shown getting treatment from the doctor's car in the aftermath. The crash briefly blocked the road, as the race headed onto the Côte de Saint Feliu de Codines, with gaps opening up in the peloton with most of the day still to come. After almost 10km with a broken shoe, the 32-year-old replaced this.

All the riders involved finished the day, with Armirail finishing 36:30 behind the stage winner, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).

More to follow...

Jonas Vingegaard has played down suggestions of fatigue after winning the Giro d’Italia, declaring himself fitter, stronger and happier as he attempts to win a third Tour de France.

The Visma-Lease a Bike rider cruised to the Giro title in May without serious opposition, in doing so becoming only the eighth man in history – and first since the now-retired Chris Froome in 2018 – to win all three Grand Tours.

Now the Dane, 29, is aiming to deny his eternal rival Tadej Pogačar a fifth and third successive Tour de France title in what is set to be the duo’s latest ding-dong battle.

Speaking to press in Barcelona before the start of the 113th Tour, Vingegaard was asked about the physical and mental toll of riding the Giro before the Tour. “Without taking anything away from anyone at the Giro, it is true that I did not have to completely kill myself [to win the race]. I didn’t come out of the Giro completely on my knees,” he said.

Vingegaard won all five mountain-top stages at the Italian race and his closest challenger, Felix Gall, finished more than five minutes adrift of him in the general classification. It was, in reality, a procession for the rider who also won the Vuelta a España last September.

“That means you can recover faster afterwards and start your training and get into a good rhythm quicker. If you are on your knees after the Giro, you need two weeks, maybe even more, to recover," Vingegaard added.

“Then it is hard to start building towards the Tour because then the Tour is already coming. For me at least, I came out of the Giro in a good way and pretty quickly I could start building towards the Tour de France.”

Pogačar, in 2024, was the last rider to win the Giro and Tour in the same year, the Slovenian becoming the first rider to do so since Marco Pantani in 1998.

The 26-year stretch without a double winner led many commentators and riders to dub it the near-impossible task. Vingegaard is hoping to add his name to the short roll call of successors.

“We tried something new [in going for the Giro-Tour double], which was also the plan, because I think we realised after last year that it was not really so enjoyable to do what we did every year,” Vingegaard said.

“So now we tried to mix it up with the preparation for the Tour, and it has been going really well this year.

“I think I’m ready for this race and I am really looking forward to it. It has been an amazing year for me so far and I am looking forward to it hopefully continuing,”

Vingegaard and his Visma team have repeatedly said in the past few months that he is in better shape than ever before, and it was a message that the rider himself repeated.

“I’m both better and stronger,” he said. “I would even say I’m happier in a mental state also; I’m in a very good place. I’ve had a very good year so far. I’ve enjoyed riding a bit more this year than I did last year.

“I’ve had a very good season so far already with the three races I’ve done” – he also won Paris-Nice and Volta a Catalunya – “and of course it takes some pressure off me and off the team.

“But the Tour de France is still the biggest race. It is still the race you really want to win. I’m not saying that I’m not happy with what I’ve already won this year because I am extremely happy, especially also winning the Giro d’Italia title and now having won all three Grand Tours.

“But again, the Tour de France is just the biggest race of the year and I’m here to go for the victory.”

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.

Wout van Aert is out of the Tour de France due to the effects of an elbow injury which resulted in an infection, his team announced on Wednesday morning.

The Visma-Lease a Bike rider was expected to be a key support rider to Jonas Vingegaard's attempt to win the yellow jersey back, but will now miss the French Grand Tour for the first time since 2018.

Van Aert injured his elbow in a training crash the week before the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, with an infection developing which meant a trip to hospital was required. The team and Van Aert have decided that full recovery is the priority over attempting to be on the start line of the Tour in just over two weeks' time.

The Belgian appeared to be struggling at Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes last week, leaving the race on stage six, but not before he won stage five, allaying some fears about fitness. However, there were reports this week that he had missed the start of Visma's pre-Tour training camp, and the problem appears big enough to force him out of the team's key target for the season.

"This is of course a big disappointment. The Tour de France is one of my main goals every year," Van Aert said in a statement on the squad's website.

"Unfortunately, a crash during training has put a spanner in the works, and the injury to my elbow has worsened and has still not healed sufficiently. Together with the team, we have concluded that starting the Tour in top form is not feasible at this point. My full focus is now on my recovery so I can return to my best level later this season."

Van Aert hasn't missed a Tour since joining Visma-Lease a Bike in 2019, winning 10 stages in that time, and the green jersey in 2022 as well. The 31-year-old was also a key part of Vingegaard's overall triumphs in 2022 and 2023, so his absence is a huge blow for his team.

"Wout is one of the most important riders in our team and we would obviously have loved to have him at the start of the Tour," sports director Marc Reef added. "In recent days we have explored all options, but ultimately his health comes first. With the recovery process required, it is not possible for him to reach top form in time for the Tour de France. It is unfortunate that he will not be there, but we are convinced this is the right decision for his recovery and the rest of his season."

It is not the first time that misfortune has struck Van Aert, who fractured his ankle in a cyclo-cross crash at the beginning of the year, before fighting back to form to win Paris-Roubaix in memorable circumstances.

In 2022, he tested positive for Covid days before Flanders, depriving him of an opportunity at Belgium's biggest race; Mathieu van der Poel went on to win. A year later, Van Aert finished third at Roubaix after puncturing on the Carrefour de l'Arbre. Van der Poel won. In 2024, Van Aert looked in great form, before crashing at Dwars door Vlaanderen and ending his tilt at the Classics early. Last year, he raced them all, but was coming back from the serious knee injury he suffered at the Vuelta a España the previous summer.

Stalwart Visma-Lease a Bike staffer Grischa Niermann will move to Lidl-Trek, it was revealed this week, reportedly replacing their long-standing general manager, Luca Guercilena.

The Dutch team's head of racing has been with the team in yellow since 2017, and is often a key staffing fixture on the ground at the biggest races. A former pro with Visma-Lease a Bike's previous incarnation Rabobank, 50-year-old German Niermann initially headed up the Rabobank development team after he retired in 2012, before becoming a director on the men's senior squad, then called LottoNL-Jumbo. He was promoted to the head of racing position in late 2024, after the departure of Merijn Zeeman. The German will continue to work for Visma until the end of August.

Niermann's move is part of continued and major shuffle within the Lidl-Trek management structure that began with Lidl's majority acquisition of the team in October last year. Since then the Schleck brothers Andy and Frank have been brought in – Andy as deputy general manager and Frank as a sports director. Now Niermann will be replacing Luca Guercilena – the highly respected general manager who has been with the set-up since 2011.

However, the new-look Lidl-Trek team has not had the best start to its season, with the men's and women's teams only gaining half the victories they had enjoyed this time last year – though those numbers have had a boost this week with wins by Jonathan Milan and Elisa Balsamo in the men's and women's Giri d'Italia.

Visma-Lease a Bike announced on Tuesday morning that Niermann's role will be filled by Marc Reef, a current sports director with the team who helped shepherd Jonas Vingegaard to his recent Giro d'Italia win. They also thanked Niermann for his work and "unwavering commitment" in a statement.

"I think like most of you are now, I was surprised when Grischa called me a couple of weeks ago to share his decision to leave," Visma-Lease a Bike CEO Richard Pugge said on Tuesday.

"I'm very sad that Grischa is now leaving. He just started in his new role, and he was developing more and more. I'm disappointed to see him leave, because as a person and as a great sports director, I have a lot of respect for him, and together we achieved exceptional success, including multiple Grand Tour victories, and most recently our victory in Paris-Roubaix, which was the pinnacle, maybe, of what we tried to achieve.

"I'm very happy to have worked with Grischa, and I wish him all the best. He's close to my heart, and it's a friend, but he wants to move on, and I respect that choice."

For a rider who is one of the best climbers in the world, a Vuelta a España winner, and a member of one of the most dominant teams in cycling, Sepp Kuss remains an incredibly likeable man.

The 31-year-old, who has spent most of his career in service to starrier teammates like Primož Roglič or Jonas Vingegaard, always manages to seem relatable, despite being so good at riding a bike.

Therefore, it was heartening to watch the Visma-Lease a Bike rider climb to glory on stage 19 of the Giro d'Italia on Friday, as he completed the set of Grand Tour stage victories. His first Vuelta win came seven years ago, his triumph at the Tour de France two seasons later, so his victory was testimony to determination, grit, and plugging away.

He attacked and caught another crowd favourite, Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) on the final climb in the Dolomites, but that didn't diminish his likeable win. When he's at his best, let off the leash, there's barely anyone in the world that makes riding up a mountain look as effortless as Kuss, it's where he's at home.

As ever, as a selfless domestique de luxe, Kuss was adamant post-stage that he didn't come into the Giro to win a stage, but to help his teammate, Vingegaard, to the overall crown. That all but achieved, however, he was given the chance.

"To be honest, it was never the primary goal, the main challenge was to win the pink jersey with Jonas," Kuss explained on TV. "So far it’s looking good, but when they told me the other night that I had the chance to go in the break I knew I had to seize the opportunity."

Five years on from completing two thirds of the trilogy, it took a lot of effort to get to this point, he said: "It’s something I've always dreamt of, but every year it gets harder and harder. I keep progressing and getting better but so does everyone else. Every year that goes by I think it’s going to get harder to win a stage of the Giro, to complete all three, but yeah, I just can’t believe it."

He can believe it now, but it was not an easy ride to the finish, despite that serene climbing style, which got a bit ragged by the end. Asked what the final kilometre was like, when he was surely ahead, he said: "Lots of suffering, because I knew I had to push it all the way to the line, and I went pretty deep in the middle."

What made it all the more special was that the man from Durango, Colorado, was joined in Italy for his moment of triumph by his mother. All top cyclists live like monks, but those from other continents racing in Europe have to live more than a few hours from home, too, and an emotional Kuss made clear that this life is not easy.

"I knew my mother was going to be standing 500m from the finish, and a big shout out to her and my family," he said, holding back tears. "I only see them a few weeks of the year, and it’s hard to stay in contact with everyone that’s far away. It’s really nice to see her there, and I’m always thinking of my family and my friends that I don’t get to see so much, so this one’s for them."

Grand Tour trilogy complete, interview done, Kuss was free to embrace his mother, in the knowledge that all that work was worthwhile. It was a moment to realise pro cyclists are human too, just incredibly powerful ones; the scene just added to his charm, too. Congratulations, Sepp.

Sepp Kuss conquered the Dolomites on stage 19 of the Giro d'Italia to take a debut stage win at the Italian Grand Tour after a dramatic Friday.

The American outlasted the rest of his breakaway companion to triumph atop the Piani di Pezzè as his Visma-Lease a Bike teammate Jonas Vingegaard all but sealed overall victory at the Giro.

Behind, Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek) was second, gaining time on his other general classification rivals, as Giulio Ciccone, also of Lidl-Trek, finished third. It looked like a time that Ciccone would take the stage win, after he launched a move over the penultimate climb of the Passo Falzarego, having already taking the maximum mountains points over the top of the Passo Giau. Ciccone therefore won the Cima Coppi, the prize for conquering the highest point of the Giro.

However, Kuss rode hard in the valley and caught his Italian rival on the climb to be along in the last kilometre.

"Not especially," Kuss said when asked whether he thought he would catch Ciccone. "I knew he would accelerate over the top for the mountain points, and it looked like he was already slowing up, but then he looked and there was a gap, and by the bottom of the climb he had a minute, and I thought it was over.

"To be honest, I was a bit demotivated because I thought it was over, but I just tried to focus on doing the fastest time possible, on a steep climb. A nice one for me."

"To be honest, it was never the primary goal, the main challenge was to win the pink jersey with Jonas," he said. "So far it’s looking good, but when they told me the other night that I had the chance to go in the break I knew I had to seize the opportunity."

Vingegaard finished alongside Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) and Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM), to also gain on GC. Hindley replaced Thymen Arensman (Netcompany-Ineos) on the podium, while Gee replaced former pink jersey Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious) in the top five.

On the final climb, Gall attacked but was matched on every pedal stroke by Vingegaard, who has a four-minute advantage on him, while Hindley followed, all moving away from Arensman, who lost just over a minute to the trio.

After stage wins at both the Tour de France and Vuelta a España, as well as the overall at the latter, Kuss added a Giro stage to his palmarès to complete the set.

His victory also meant that a rider in the yellow of Visma-Lease a Bike (four for Vingegaard, now one for Kuss) has won every mountain-top finish of this year's Giro, in a clear representation of the team's dominance at this year's Giro.

Kuss joined the day's large breakaway with around 100km to go on the first climb of the day, on the Passo Duran, which was around 26 riders. The race was shaken up on the next climb, the Passo Giau (9.8km at 9.3%), as GC contender Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling) attacked, followed by Gee-West, which meant there was action with well over 50km left to go of the stage.

Gee-West was the main beneficiary of this, as he moved up on GC, and was close to stage winner Kuss. Ciccone gained mountains points too, as a result of his exploits, and moved into the lead of the blue jersey competiton.

"It was super hard, I was just going to stay with the GC guys and then Tudor pulled a good move with Michael jumping and then a bunch of their guys dropping back and pulling him across to the break," Gee-West said. "To be honest, I thought we had the stage when Giulio went on the descent and there was a bit of disorder behind. Hats off to Sepp, he pulled in the valley, I was sitting in the wheels, and he still rode away from me."

Saturday sees the last mountain day at this year's Giro, a final chance for the GC to be shaken up.

Results

Giro d'Italia 2026, Stage 19: Feltre > Alleghe (Piani di Pezzè) (151km)

1. Sepp Kuss (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike), in 4:28:33
2. Derek Gee-West (Can) Lidl-Trek, 13s
3. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek), +36s
4. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +39s
5. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, at same time
6. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +43s
7. Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +1:06
8. Davide Piganzoli (Ita) Visma-Lease a Bike, +1:11
9. Einer Rubio (Col) Movistar, +1:19
10. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, at same time

General Classification after stage 19

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 75:13:16
2. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +4:03
3. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +5:04
4. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Netcompany-Ineos, +5:33
5. Derek Gee-West (Can) Lidl-Trek, +6:31
5. Alfonso Eulálio (Por) Bahrain Victorious, +7:26
7. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, +7:50
8. Davide Piganzoli (Ita) Visma-Lease a Bike, +8:29
9. Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +9:01
10. Egan Bernal (Col) Netcompany-Ineos, +11:19

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%.

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.

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."

Matteo Jorgenson is out of the Ardennes Classics after he crashed out of the Amstel Gold Race on Sunday.

The American hit the ground with 42km to go after slipping on a wet corner behind Kévin Vauquelin.

The Visma-Lease a Bike rider was among a small lead group made up of Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe), Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) and Huub Artz (Lotto-Intermarché) when he came off. Vauquelin went first, with Jorgenson on his wheel unable to save himself from falling. He landed hard on his right shoulder and arm, fracturing his collarbone in the crash.

"Matteo broke his collarbone in his crash during the Amstel Gold Race. As a result, he will not start in the Flèche Wallonne or Liège–Bastogne–Liège," the team announced after the incident.

The 26-year-old had been focussing on the upcoming classics, opting out of the cobbled Classics to attend training camps in preparation for the Ardennes.

"We had high expectations for this race and were well prepared. Everyone could see that Matteo was in great form, so it’s very frustrating that our race ended this way," Visma-Lease a Bike's sports director Frans Maassen said.

The race had, until the point of the crash, looked to be shaping up well for the American and the team he was leading. After over 200 kilometres of racing, he had found himself in a nine-man break in the finishing circuits through Valkenburg.

"As a team, we were well positioned throughout," Maassen continued. "The riders did a great job keeping Matteo in a good position all day. The goal was to be among the first to crest the Gulperberg and the Kruisberg. He looked fresh on those climbs, but unfortunately he crashed shortly afterward. That’s extremely disappointing."

While Vauquelin was able to recover quickly from the fall, the US rider stayed down, and out of contention. Artz was also caught by the corner.

Remco Evenepoel went on to win the Amstel Gold Race, placing the achievement in the top-eight wins of his career.

If, when Wout van Aert crossed the line first at Paris-Roubaix on Sunday, your first thought was “I’d love a jigsaw puzzle of that”, then your wish, it seems, is Visma-Lease a Bike’s command.

The squad has this week launched a range of merchandise commemorating the Belgian’s first cobbled Monument win. Among the more unconventional items are a 500-piece jigsaw of Van Aert celebrating ahead of a defeated Tadej Pogačar, and a beach towel the team describes as “thin [...] so you can bring it easily everywhere you go”.

Both items are priced at £26.36 (€30 / $35) each, and are available to pre-order now, with stock expected to arrive with the team around 30 April.

The range also includes Nike t-shirts bearing the phrase ‘Never Stop Believing’, a hoodie, a poster, a ceramic tile and a fleece-lined blanket.

“That memorable moment when Wout raised his finger in the air at the Roubaix velodrome is one to cherish forever,” write Visma-Lease a Bike on their web store, adding that the commemorative products are only available for a limited time.

Writing about the jigsaw in particular, the team says: “The puzzle is the perfect way to relive this historic victory piece by piece. Whether you are an avid puzzler and cycling fan or simply looking for a special memory of this legendary and historic win, this is for you.”

Van Aert’s victory at Paris-Roubaix came on his seventh time of trying, having previously finished second, third and fourth at the race.

As he crossed the line, the Belgian gestured to the sky in tribute to Michael Goolaerts, his former team-mate at Vérandas Willems-Crelan, who died of a heart attack during the 2018 edition of Paris-Roubaix.

“Ever since then [...] it was my goal to win this race, and to be able to point my finger to the sky for Michael. He’s a lot on my mind but especially in this period,” Van Aert said of his celebration in his post-race press conference.

“Winning this race means basically everything to me. We make so many sacrifices to get to this level, to always fight back, and every year our target is this race and [the Tour of] Flanders. To finish it off in this way in a sprint with Tadej in his [rainbow] jersey, there’s no better way to do it. It’s a dream come true.”

Visma-Lease a Bike’s Van Aert Paris-Roubaix range is available to pre-order now.

Nothing is predictable at the end of Paris-Roubaix Femmes. The best rider of all time, the winner of more than 250 bike races, in a situation which seems perfectly suited to her, can be out-sprinted by a rider who has only ever won thrice before. Franziska Koch can win, and Marianne Vos can lose.

The Visma-Lease a Bike rider has almost won it all, and yet in Roubaix – a race which is almost tailored for this multi-discipline world champion, who has won endlessly for two decades – she can't seem to get it across the line. Vos has raced five times: second, 10th, fourth twice, and now second again.

This time, in particular, the race situation was in Vos's favour; with 50km to go, she was in the front of the race with her teammate Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, the defending champion, and an isolated Koch. It was no fait accompli, but a betting person would have felt confident staking their money on Vos.

However, it didn't come to pass, with the pair unable to distance their German rival, but also with the FDJ United-SUEZ rider seemingly not tiring, despite trying to break them up.

"In hindsight, we probably could have done things differently, but she also made some great attacks herself," Vos said in her press conference. "I’m very thankful for Pauline, all the efforts she did, to make the gap bigger, to keep pushing. I would have wanted to finish it off, but it is what it is."

Ferrand-Prévot, for her part, conceded that Koch was "a bit stronger at the end".

"For me, I was doubting a bit when Blanka Vas was with us," the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift winner said. "When we dropped Blanka, I thought, 'OK, it’s quite a good situation for us.' I wanted Marianne to save as much as possible and try to win a sprint.

"After such a hard race, you can’t be 100% sure that Marianne will win the sprint. We tried, but it’s also part of cycling: you can’t always win."

Tactics were not the only thing that complicated Vos's fifth attempt at Roubaix; her father, Henk, passed away just before last weekend's Tour of Flanders, and grief consumed her race preparations.

After pausing to find the right words, when asked about her difficult run-up, she said: "I tried to focus as much as possible on the race itself. With the team doing such an amazing job, and Pauline, I tried to focus on the task you need to do.

"Cycling has always been a big part of my life. I just wanted to try and make the best of the preparation under the circumstances. I was also just very happy to be here because it’s one of the most beautiful races of the season. Even though I knew it might not be the perfect preparation, I just wanted to give everything I had today.

"It’s an in-between feeling, which is a weird feeling. Maybe one day it will be closer to one or another. I don’t know what to feel yet."

She added: "We miss him, just calling, having a small WhatsApp or whatever. In a way, you just try and focus on what you need, and have to do. It’s what I always do. There is enough to focus on to mostly think about that."

It was the sad situation which brought Ferrand-Prévot into this race, one that was not on her calendar originally: "When I knew her father passed away I called the team and said I would like to race Roubaix to try and support Marianne, to help her in this moment. I knew it was a dream for her to win, and I just wanted to win for her father.

"I had such good memories with them, and for me it was to say bye to him and say thank you to him. It’s why I wanted Marianne to win. We didn’t succeed, but at least we gave everything we had."

Vos will be back, to try and conquer the unpredictability, to give it everything she has once again at Paris-Roubaix Femmes. Second in these circumstances was still impressive, and a month shy of her 39th birthday, there is no sign of the Dutchwoman slowing yet.

There were times when it felt like Wout van Aert would never win another Monument, especially not Paris-Roubaix, the one-day race which suits him the most.

Even as he approached the Roubaix Velodrome on Sunday, at the end of his seventh 'Hell of the North', together with Tadej Pogačar, who he would surely beat in a sprint, the doubts were still there; it would be very Van Aert to be presented this golden opportunity, only to be denied.

Luck never seemed on the Belgian's side. It was part of what made him charming. Just at Roubaix, there was second in 2022, winning the sprint after Dylan van Baarle escaped to victory, after he recovered from Covid; the puncture which took him out of contention in 2023, which stopped him from racing with Mathieu van der Poel to the end; in 2024 it was the turn of a crash at Dwaars door Vlaanderen to take him out of contention; last year he was on the comeback from another serious crash, this time at the Vuelta a España.

On Sunday, for once, luck was just about with him. There was the almost compulsory puncture, but it did not take him out of the race, while his rivals, especially Van der Poel, were beset by issues. Pogačar changed his bike twice, and was forced to chase on before the Arenberg, while Van der Poel's whole race went up in smoke in the trench, after two punctures. Van Aert was able to take the lead into the crucial sectors, including the Trouée d'Arenberg, and dictate the race. He won in the end, out-sprinting Pogačar in the velodrome to win.

"I’ve been pretty unlucky sometimes in this race, so it will be a nice story to say that I was feeling so much better in this edition, but the truth is other years I felt really good but circumstances were not on my side," he explained in his winner's press conference.

"In this race I had my own story, and my own bad luck at points, but I could fight back. All the experience from the other editions gave me the knowledge to pull it off today."

The crowd were also with the Belgian; rarely can there have ever been a non-French winner who received as much acclaim as Van Aert. Coming into the velodrome, it was clear who the fans wanted to win, despite the possibility of history being made.

No-one would ever choose to go into the final 500m of a race against the rider many consider to be the best ever, just one win away from completing a historic set of Monuments, but Pogačar was there to be beaten, and Van Aert took the opportunity with both hands.

"I’m obviously super proud," he said. "Winning this race means basically everything to me. We make so many sacrifices to get to this level, to always fight back, and every year our target is this race and Flanders. To finish it off in this way in a sprint with Tadej in his jersey, there’s no better way to do it. It’s a dream come true."

Van Aert and Pogačar were alone from around sector 12, around 50km to go, and while it was not a done deal, the former sensed this was his moment.

"From when I was on the road with Tadej I knew I had a fair chance," he explained. "I also knew it was a long way, a lot could happen. I truly believed after Carrefour de l’Arbre that I had the same chances as him when it comes to a sprint after a race like this, anything can happen. From then I really believed. When we were two I always really believed that I had a chance."

With around 40km to go of Paris-Roubaix, Pogačar launched his final all-or-nothing move, knowing that he could not take Van Aert to the finish with him. From then on, there would be fewer pulls by the Belgian, who sensed the way to win this race was from behind.

"That was the moment I would stick on his wheel on the cobbles in order to not get attacked from behind again," Van Aert explained. "He did a very good attack after the first corner of Mons-en-Pévèle. It was a good moment of realisation that this was the strongest guy in the whole peloton. That was a very good attack that I could just answer, but from then on I knew my main goal was to stick on his wheel."

Paris-Roubaix is special to Van Aert for reasons beyond its general stature as a big race, one that suits him. In 2018, on his first appearance, Van Aert finished 13th riding for Vérandas Willems-Crelan. Tragically, that same day, his teammate Michael Goolaerts died from a heart attack during the race, on the Briastre sector of cobbles, a sector which returned to the race route this year.

"It was immediately a sad day, losing a teammate in the race, it’s something brutal," Van Aert remembered. "Ever since then, personally, I did a good race, I felt it was something that really suited me. It was my goal to win this race, and to be able to point my finger to the sky for Michael. He’s a lot on my mind but especially in this period.

"This was the first edition we did [since] where we passed his sector, where he died. When we did the recon I had goosebumps. I like to believe he gave me a bit of extra power today. It’s a good thing, and a beautiful thing that I can dedicate this victory to his family."

This win was for the Belgian, but also for Goolaerts and his family, with a dedication in the celebration. It was a promise to himself finally realised.

It seemed apposite, that in this chaotic, engrossing, monumental edition of Paris-Roubaix, it was finally Van Aert's victory. A meme for something special, beautiful, is to 'hang it in the Louvre'. It would take more than even that vast museum's floor space to tell the tale of Van Aert's trials and tribulations, and then triumph at last, but it is a compelling story. Luck finally turned, fortune's wheel spun right for the Belgian, and he finally has his cobblestone. The time was right. Everybody cheered.

Visma-Lease a Bike have angrily lashed out at the UCI, after the governing body suddenly banned the use of a game-changing gadget produced by GRAVAA and developed in conjunction with the Dutch team, which allowed riders to adjust the pressure in their tyres on the move.

The system provides a significant – potentially title-deciding – marginal gain during races with cobble sections… like the Paris-Roubaix, happening this Sunday. Visma's head of performance, Mathieu Heijboer, was incandescent about the communication of the ban, as much as the “vague story” used to justify it, let alone the impact it will have on his top riders’ performance in this weekend’s cobbled Monument.

“Does this reduce Wout van Aert's chances? Yes!” Heijboer fumed during a Flemish podcast, In de Waaier, with his comments later reported in the newspaper Nieuwsblad. “This is no coincidence,” he said. “We received no announcement that this was coming; there was simply that letter. In fact, we even rode the GP Denain with it.”

“The surprise is going to be that we won’t be applying an innovation [in this year’s Paris-Roubaix],” Heijboer said during the podcast. “As you know, we have worked with the GRAVAA system for the past two years,” he continued. “We further developed it and tested it extensively during the winter. However, two weeks ago we received a letter stating that it is banned by the UCI. Then it stops all at once.”

The ingenious system makes it possible for riders to soften their tyres just before contending with cobbled sections, and then repressurise them afterwards for maximum performance. However, the price of the tech (around €4,000 for a complete system) seemed to make it commercially unviable and GRAVAA, the company behind it, was declared bankrupt earlier this year, leading the UCI to ban it for the rest of the season.

Heijboer, however, questions this, arguing that the system is commercially available. “You can order one if you want,” he said. “Moreover, there is no rule stating that a tape must be available two weeks or two months in advance. The moment of recording is the competition, and if a tape is commercially available at that time, then you comply with the rules.”

Tour de France Femmes winner and Visma-Lease a Bike rider Pauline Ferrand-Prévot took victory in last year's Paris-Roubaix Femmes, and the Frenchwoman later said the innovative GRAVAA gadget “Made a huge difference and it is fantastic to have this system ahead of the competition.” Last year Wout van Aert finished fourth in the Hell of the North, but he won the final stage of the Tour de France in Paris in spectacular fashion, attacking solo on the wet cobbles during on the final climb of Montmartre to emerge victorious on the Champs-Élysées.

The timing of the ban, almost on the eve of this year's Paris-Roubaix, has really drawn Heijboer’s ire. “I can’t read the minds of the UCI, but it is just a little too coincidental. Especially since the GP Denain is the biggest cobblestone race after Roubaix. It is also our final competitive test, and at that time there was nothing going on. But now, suddenly, right before Roubaix... That is no coincidence. Is there nothing we can do about it? Yes, the penalty ranges from a warning to disqualification. You’re not going to take that risk.

“Moreover, it does take quite a bit of preparation time. Over the past two weeks, our mechanics have been preparing hundreds of sets of wheels. So you can’t postpone that until the Saturday before Roubaix. Quite soon after that letter, we decided to cut our losses; we are not going to ride with them. We are going to challenge this, but for now, it is too late.

“Does this reduce Wout van Aert's chances? Yes. We have a lot of faith in the system and have tested it extensively. It is a real shame that it is now suddenly no longer allowed for very unclear reasons...”

Wout van Aert does win bike races, I promise. Just last year, the Belgian won stages at the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France, and has raised his arms in victory 51 times in his career.

However, the Visma-Lease a Bike rider has also finished second 49 times, and third 36 times. He has finished second twice at Dwars door Vlaanderen, first last year in bizarre circumstances, and now this season, when he had his heart broken just 150 metres from the finish line. There doesn't seem to be another rider like Van Aert when it comes to tragedy, and that's part of what makes him such a likeable rider. He is also incredibly unlucky.

On Wednesday, Van Aert attacked around 40km from the finish on the Eikenberg, and was then alone in the final 10km, before being passed just 150m from the line by eventual winner Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers). It was another second place.

"It would have been nicer if the finish was 150m earlier, but I tried everything I had and I was really dying in the end, so if somebody passed me, that's racing," he said post-race on television.

"I got to the front after the Eikenberg, and I had good companions there with Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ United) and [Niklas] Larsen (Unibet Rose Rockets)," he explained of his day. "We cooperated well. I could feel the pace was slowly decreasing in the end so I had to try and attack and search for that victory. Until that very last moment I thought it would be just enough to make it, I almosty never looked back because I tried to focus on my own effort. After the last corner, suddenly, Ganna was there.

"I only knew it when he passed me because I tried not to look back and suddenly I saw a wheel next to me and I knew I would have nothing back.

"It was again a good race. A bit of a strange race in the middle part, the race got launched quite early. There was a lot of moments where we didn't really push on. There were a lot of guys coming back, so it took quite a while until we could make a proper selection. After the Eikenberg I did a really good final I believe."

For Van Aert, there is no time for despondency. He might have had his dream crushed by Ganna, but he also looked like the strongest man in the race, with his attack on the Eikenberg being unmatched. If he can carry this form into the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, then he could take the fight to Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogačar. His power is clear, even if he couldn't pull it off at Dwars.

That said, it is yet another disappointment for Van Aert, thanks Filippo Ganna. There will be no Wout Wednesday today.

Visma-Lease a Bike staff were left “shaken” after two roadside spectators attacked their team car and tried to steal a bike from the roof during a race.

The incident happened on Saturday during the fourth stage of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali in Italy.

A video, shared on Instagram by Italian outlet Scannellatori Seriali, shows one of the pair on top of the car trying to free a bike. After the car brakes and propels the person down the windscreen, the other person on the ground can then be seen punching the driver’s window and shouting aggressively.

In a statement issued later that evening, Visma-Lease a Bike described the pair as “intoxicated supporters”. The team also confirmed they had reported the incident to the police and the Coppi e Bartali organisers.

“We take this incident very seriously, as it put the safety of our colleagues at risk,” team boss Richard Plugge said. “In the end, no equipment was stolen and no damage was caused. The colleagues in the car are okay, but understandably shaken.”

One of the staff members in the car was later said to be Gaëtan Pons, a sports director who joined Visma-Lease a Bike from the Unibet Rose Rockets this season.

Speaking to Cycling Pro Net the following day, Robert Wagner, another Visma-Lease a Bike sports director who was in a different car at the race, said the incident came “out of the blue”.

“There was the crash [in the race], and my colleague got blocked with the car, so he couldn’t move anywhere, and then these two guys were there,” Wagner said. “Obviously these two people jumped on the car and also tried to punish us in a way. No clue why.”

There have been no further statements from either the Coppi e Bartali organisers or the local police.

Jayco AlUla’s Mauro Schmid won the 41st edition of the race, which took place over five days across the north of Italy. The Swiss rider’s victory came thanks to a final-day raid, which earned him enough bonus seconds across the line to bunnyhop Ineos Grenadiers’ Axel Laurance at the top of the general classification.

Laurance won stages one and four, while Continental-level rider Filippo D’Aiuto (General Store-Essegibi-F.Lli Curia) took a brace of victories on stages two and three. Visma-Lease a Bike’s highest overall finisher was Anton Schiffer in fifth.

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

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.

If there was one rider whose achievements were overlooked last season, it was Visma-Lease a Bike’s teenager Imogen Wolff.

The Yorkshirewoman began her debut year in the WorldTour as a fresh-faced 18-year-old, and won a stage of the Vuelta a Extremadura Femenina in just her third day of racing.

It proved to be her only win of the season, but Visma were so impressed that they accelerated her development pathway, and she rode and completed both the Vuelta Femenina and Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. In the latter race, she rode in support of the eventual winner Pauline Ferrand-Prévot.

Now, Wolff is looking to take another step forward in 2026, after a year of learning, new experiences and redefining what sort of rider she is.

“One of the biggest things from last year was that my role has definitely changed,” Wolff told Cycling Weekly on the eve of her first race of the season, the Setmana Ciclista Valenciana.

“As a junior I could climb, time trial and sprint with the best in the country – I was a proper all-rounder. But then I moved to the pros and learned that I can’t do all that with the best in the world.

“Being at this level really highlights your strengths and your weaknesses, and I realised that the slightly harder terrain that I thought suited me doesn’t, and I found that the Classics and punchy style of racing is what I really enjoy.

“It would have been nice to get another win at some point in the year, but I got to ride races that weren't even mentioned when we discussed the original season plan. I did races I always dreamed of doing and I learned so much thanks to so many opportunities.”

Wolff, who turns 20 on Thursday, was thrown in the deep end of elite-level racing from the get-go, riding Milan-San Remo, the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix in a packed spring of the biggest races.

“I started the season with no idea of how I’d slot into the elites as I’d only done junior races before, but I found my feet quicker than I and the team were anticipating,” she explained.

“I figured out early on that helping with leadouts, like I also did in the Tour, was a role that I can be really good in. Fighting for position and dealing with the hecticness and chaos is one of my strengths, and I was lucky that the team saw a gap that needed filling and I could fill it for them.”

Wolff will have an almost identical race schedule in the first-half of this season, working mostly in support of Ferrand-Prévot and Marianne Vos, while also being offered the occasional opportunity of her own.

“I’m really happy that my calendar is similar to last year and I really want to be good at the Classics,” she said.

“In races like Omloop [Het Nieuwsblad] and Gent-Wevelgem I won’t be an outright leader but I’ll have more of a free role. It’s great to have that mix of my own opportunities and contributing to the team as a good support rider.”

Three of Visma’s seven places for the summer’s Tour de France have already been designated, meaning that Wolff is one of 12 riders on the team fighting for the four remaining slots.

She’s confident that she can prove herself worthy of selection once again. “It feels crazy to say but I do feel like I belong at this level,” she said.

“I’ve not kept quiet about wanting to go to the Tour again, as the amount of learning in nine days was insane. I still pinch myself when I look back on that week.

“Physically it brought me on loads as everyone brings their A game and is 20% better, faster and stronger.

“In the first half of this season it’s going to be in the back of my head that I want to prove I’m strong enough to go and contribute to something cool again, to be part of the best and strongest team at the Tour.

“It sometimes feels like I’m on a bit of a girls' trip because the vibes are so good and I’m with such a cool bunch of people. That makes a huge difference to how we race.”

One of the biggest stories on our site this week centred on fresh furore over handlebar width. If you thought we'd rode the wave of UCI regulation-related drama, it's far from over. Trickling down from the professional peloton to smaller British races, the real pain-point seems to be arising from a lack of clarity around the rules themselves: will they be implemented to the dot or not? You can read Pat Kinsella's piece on it here.

Cycling social media is a calmer place than usual, full of nostalgic throw backs to famous bike collections and horrible commuter cycling trips. But it also turned up some gems - I think the ballad for Paul Seixas has to be the crowning glory of this week's selection.

1. "This is the wrong road!" Pauline Ferrand-Prévot shouts into the radio as the bunch hits a dusty detour at the Strade Bianche Donne: 'The most chaotic race of the year already?'

2. How many cycling caps do you have? Indisputably the coolest part of a cycling kit, blogger Michael Wagner rocks them in this series of self portraits. “Some of those caps have rarely been worn, others have seen better days,” he wrote in a blog post. “The elastic is completely shot on some, the brim has started to rip off on at least one, and is severely warped on another. A couple of them look really small - what the heck - did they shrink?” Can you spot the decoy?

3. Myth-busting with Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe. How much protein should we really be taking in per day?

4. On the topic of fuelling, Lucy Houles shares how she survived the Strade Bianche route on beers, tiramisu and gels: “I’m a firm member of the anti-bonk club and I’ve got a lifetime membership.” Her top tip? Train the gut and eat on every ride.

5. Everyone's talking about Paul Seixas. A few weeks, our News Editor, Adam, wrote an opinion piece on the recent successes of Seixas and Matthew Brennan at Faun-Ardèche Classic and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne respectively: “These aren’t talents to incubate or to expect big things from in years to come, but to watch, to mark immediately,” he wrote. All we need now is a song.

6. The life and bikes of Robin Williams. The actor amassed a collection of over 100 bikes during his lifetime and was an avid cyclist and race fan. In 2016, his family auctioned off 87 of his bikes to raise money for the Challenged Athletes Foundation and Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation.

7. Maybe I should shut up complaining about Lime bikes after seeing the motorway commute these cyclists in the 80s had to endure…

8. Ever wanted to ride with Chris Hoy? Entries to his charity bike ride, Tour de 4 on 6 September in Glasgow are open now.

9. With the addition of Il Lombardia, the women’s peloton will tackle all five Monuments in 2027. “It wasn't a big week for women's racing but it was a breakthrough week for women's professional cycling,” says 2021 Irish road race champion, Imogen Cotter.

10. For anyone thinking they could outpace a women’s peloton, think again. This is one man’s full-pace attempt to beat the women’s Danilith Nokere Koerse race. “But my short shorts were good enough to make it on TV,” laughed the speedy amateur in an Instagram comment.

Matthew Brennan will not race Milan-San Remo this Saturday due to illness, his Visma-Lease a Bike team said on Friday.

The 20-year-old was set to make his debut in the Italian Monument after a breakthrough 2025, in which he won 14 times in his first season as a pro.

Brennan will be replaced by Victor Campenaerts in Visma-Lease a Bike's seven-man team for the race.

A statement from Visma-Lease a Bike, shared on social media, read: "Unfortunately, Matthew has fallen ill and is not fit enough to start in Milano-Sanremo tomorrow. Victor will replace him."

The Dutch team's full line-up for the race is: Wout van Aert, Christophe Laporte, Victor Campenaerts, Edoardo Affini, Owain Doull, Timo Kielich and Matteo Jorgenson.

The team is expected to ride for Van Aert, who won the Monument in 2020.

Brennan was considered by many to be an outside contender for victory. Earlier this month, he won his first Belgian Classic in Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, "and hopefully not the last," he said afterwards.

Saturday's Milan-San Remo will take the riders 298km from Pavia to San Remo on Italy's Ligurian coast. Among the favourites for victory are the defending champion Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) and Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5).

Brennan is not the only contender who has had to pull out through illness. Lidl-Trek's Jonathan Milan will also skip the race after becoming unwell after Tirreno-Adriatico.

Likewise, the women's race will be without Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ), who has come down with a virus.

Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) withdrew from Visma-Lease a Bike's women's race squad on Friday afternoon after receiving news that her father's health is "critical", the team said. She has since returned home to the Netherlands.

Brennan's next race is expected to be In Flanders Fields - From Middelkerke to Wevelgem, previously named Gent-Wevelgem, on 29 March. He will then finish his Classics block next month with the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, before building up to his Grand Tour debut at the Vuelta a España in August.

"I hope to reach the same level as last season, and ideally push even higher," the Briton said when he announced his calendar at the start of the year.

"I hope to make my mark more and more in the bigger races, where I can hopefully play a meaningful role."

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.

The knee injury that almost saw Tadej Pogačar retire from last year's Tour de France was triggered by a shunt with a Visma-Lease a Bike team car, the Slovenian's agent has said.

The knee injury incurred by UAE Team Emirates-XRG's Pogačar in the final stages of the last year's race – which he went on to win – has been well documented. But the fact it was caused by a collision with the team car of his main rival Jonas Vingegaard had not been revealed before now. Speaking on the Domestique Hotseat podcast, Alex Carera described how the "crazy" incident took place just ahead of stage 18 to Courchevel.

“When he goes against the car of Visma, he’s really unlucky because it’s a crazy situation,” Carera said. “After that of course he’s worried because he doesn’t feel well.”

Beyond getting Pogačar better, the priority became ensuring that other teams did not get wind of his weakness. “It was my job to protect him so this information didn’t go out,” Carera said. “If other teams knew he had an injury, the tactics could change and become more aggressive.”

There was a point, says Carera, when it was not certain that Pogačar would be able to continue. It would appear he remained in the race by a whisker.

In the daily press conference following the Courchevel stage, Pogačar admitted that he could not wait for the race to finish. "I ask myself why I'm still here," he said. "It's so long these three weeks. You count the kilometres to Paris and yes, I can't wait for it to be over so I can do some other nice stuff in my life as well."

These most recent revelations add new context to those comments, which were unusually gloomy for the usually cheerful character.

The story does not end there though. Pogačar's team-mate Tim Wellens puts a different spin on the issue, insisting that the knee problem flared up the day before on a wet stage 17 to Valence.

“It was so bad that he even went down to the race doctor," Wellens said in L'Equipe in November. "After that stage, he went to the hospital for a number of tests. That’s where they discovered the inflammation, but nobody knew! I was certain the news was going to leak out. Withdrawing was seriously considered. It was therefore a huge relief that Tadej didn’t give up in the mountains. After the Tour de France, we were worried about his physical condition.”

Perhaps one incident exacerbated the other, but what seems to be beyond any doubt is that Pogačar was suffering with a problematic knee injury in the final stages of last year's Tour.

If his rivals had known, we may have seen a different finale, but the fact that the Slovenian and his team managed to keep it a secret is indicative of his own professionalism and that of the tight knit group around him.

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.

How many mirrors has Wout van Aert smashed in his life? How many black cats have crossed his path? Does the Belgian have a habit of walking under ladders or opening umbrellas indoors?

This would go some way to explaining why the Visma-Lease a Bike rider seems to acquire more bad luck than his fellow stars of cycling, but it feels unlikely. Misfortune just seems to trail the 31-year-old.

Already this year, Van Aert fractured his ankle in a cyclo-cross crash, before illness delayed his season start at Omloop Nieuwsblad. Then, when he eventually pinned a number on at Le Samyn, he punctured out of the race with less than 10km to go. He might have won that thrilling edition of Paris-Roubaix, but the adversity has returned, with an elbow injury taking him out of the Tour de France. It's one stroke of bad luck after another.

Bad luck seems in endless supply for Van Aert. Despite being one of the favourites every Classics season, the Belgian has only ever won Paris-Roubaix once, and never triumphed at his home race, the Tour of Flanders.

In 2022, he tested positive for Covid days before Flanders, depriving him of an opportunity at Belgium's biggest race; Mathieu van der Poel went on to win. A year later, Van Aert finished third at Roubaix after puncturing on the Carrefour de l'Arbre. Van der Poel won. In 2024, Van Aert looked in great form, before crashing at Dwars door Vlaanderen and ending his tilt at the Classics early. Last year, he raced them all, but was coming back from the serious knee injury he suffered at the Vuelta a España the previous summer. Now, he has had injury, illness and a puncture all in a few months.

The misfortune is amplified by the fortune his rivals appear to find. Alpecin-Premier Tech's Van der Poel and Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) seem to crash less, which of course is partly down to excellent bike handling, but also down to little flashes of luck. At Omloop ear, Van der Poel somehow managed to avoid the fallen Rick Pluimers (Tudor Pro Cycling) on the Molenberg, while Pogačar bounced back up from his crash at Strade Bianche last year. It could have been so different. They also seem to get ill less often, which could of course be down to stronger immune systems, but must also just be luck.

It is easy to imagine an alternate history, one where Van Aert has escaped illness, injury and incident, and think of more glory for the Belgian. Five years ago, it seemed like Van Aert and Van der Poel would be going toe-to-toe, pedal-to-pedal, in every cobbled Classic. For various reasons, this hasn't happened.

The truth is, because of the adversity that he has been forced to fight through, more than potentially any other 'big name' in cycling, Van Aert's plight makes him distinctly likeable – he's cycling's Donald Duck: victim of chronic misfortune, and even more beloved for it.

While the sport may seem easy for Pogačar and Van der Poel, there's more of a slog, a struggle for Van Aert. His stage win at the Giro d'Italia seemed like the result of an immense amount of hard work, rather than a solo attack, gliding away, like others. The hard times mean that the good times, like his victory on the final stage of the Tour de France last summer, seem all the better. This is why everyone loved his Paris-Roubaix win so much, it was the feast after the famine.

Somehow, Van Aert remains stoic and successful. He's still a 10-time Tour stage winner, one of the best riders of his generation, and a super-domestique beyond everyone else, to boot – let us not forget his help for Jonas Vingegaard at the Tour or Simon Yates at the Giro. Misfortune is part of his story, and cycling fans ultimately wouldn't want it any other way. That said, I hope he has used up all his bad luck for the rest of his career, already. No more smashing mirrors, Wout.

It took just 24 hours for Matthew Brennan to bounce back from his crash at Omloop Nieuwsblad and return to winning ways, claiming a first Flemish Classics victory at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne on Sunday.

The Visma-Lease a Bike rider sprinted to a convincing win in the Belgian one-day race. He launched his dash with 150m to go, following a lead-out from team-mate Christophe Laporte, and won by a bike length ahead of Luca Mozzato (Tudor Pro Cycling).

The victory marked Brennan's second of the season – his first came on the final day of the Tour Down Under – and made him the first British winner of the race since Mark Cavendish in 2015.

“It’s special to be able to say that I’ve won Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne,” Brennan said afterwards in quotes shared by his team. “As a junior, I often stood here watching the pros race, so it still needs to sink in. Everyone went above and beyond today. We took the initiative as a team, so I’m incredibly happy that it paid off.”

The 20-year-old explained he arrived at the start line in Kuurne “nervous”, after crashing hard on the approach to the Muur van Geraardsergen at Omloop Nieuwsblad on Saturday, and abandoning the race.

Speaking to Cycling Pro Net after his win, he said: “It was chaotic, it was busy, there was so much going on, so many close moments, and that wasn’t very helpful for bringing the confidence back,but I knew the legs were feeling pretty good, and [I] kind of leaned more on them.”

After the midway point, Brennan was gapped from the front slightly, but was brought back into contention by his team-mate Pietro Mattio. Visma-Lease a Bike then took control for the bunch sprint, shepherding the Briton down the finishing straight, and setting him up to kick ahead to the team's third victory of the year.

“The guys guided me to the front flawlessly,” he said in Kuurne. “Christophe dropped me off at exactly the right moment and made sure the hardest part was done. I still had to finish it off. It’s the first Flemish classic I’ve won, and hopefully not the last.”

Brennan is next scheduled to compete at Milan-San Remo on 21st March, before returning to Belgium for a Classics block including: In Flanders Fields - From Middelkerke to Wevelgem, Dwars door Vlaanderen and the Tour of Flanders. He will also ride Paris-Roubaix, the race in which he made his Monument debut last year.

The 20-year-old won Cycling Weekly's Rider of the Year award for 2025 after winning 14 times in his breakthrough first season as a pro.

It has not been the start to a season that most have come to expect from Dutch men’s super-team Visma-Lease a Bike, and things got worse for the squad at Omloop Nieuwsblad as young British sprinter Matthew Brennan pulled-out after falling heavily with 19km to go.

Brennan had been talked-up ahead of the race as the team’s leader following Wout van Aert’s withdrawal due to illness, but the 20-year-old was one of several riders in the chasing group to come down in greasy conditions on the approach to the Muur van Geraardsbergen. Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) went on to win the race in dominant fashion, with Visma-Lease a Bike’s Christophe Laporte crossing the line in fourth.

Brennan is said to have been able to make it to the team car “under his own power” following the fall, but withdrew from the race. The team has not yet released a more detailed update on his condition at the time of writing.

From a results perspective, it has been one of the team’s poorest starts to a season for several years. Visma-Lease a Bike currently sit 11th in the UCI ranking and have won two races in 2026 - one of them courtesy of Brennan. That’s half the number from 2025 at this same point and down from nine in 2024 and seven in 2023.

The team’s leader for the Tour de France, Jonas Vingegaard, is yet to pin a number on this year having pulled out of the UAE Tour following a crash after being followed by a fan on a training ride. The 2022 and 2023 Tour de France winner is set to open his season at Paris-Nice on the 8th of March.

The team also lost key climber and 2025 Giro d'Italia winner Simon Yates after a surprise retirement and Vingegaard’s long-standing coach Tim Heemskerk, while Van Aert was set to make a tentative return to competition this weekend following an ankle break during the cyclocross season before his illness. In addition, Sepp Kuss struggled with illness at the Tour of Oman and domestiques Bart Lemmen, Niklas Behrens and Menno Huising have also been ruled out injured.

The dawning of the Spring Classics season suggested an opportunity to revitalise a team which has been struck with misfortune at the beginning of 2026, but Brennan’s crash adds another problem into the mix. It was down to Frenchman Christophe Laporte to salvage fourth place at Omloop Nieuwsblad, himself in recovery after a difficult couple of seasons.

“I’m pleased that I was still able to deliver a strong result for the team today,” Laporte said on the team’s website after the race. “After an unlucky season last year, it’s nice to show myself again in races like this.”

“The rain and wind made it extremely hard. Still, as a team we were always well positioned,” Laporte added. “In the chasing group we worked well together and still came close. In the end, fourth place was the best possible result in these conditions.”

Crashes characterised this particular edition of Omloop, with several leaders of other teams coming down in wet and windy conditions including Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step), Stefan Küng (Tudor) and Magnus Sheffield (Ineos Grenadiers).

Eventual winner Van der Poel utilised his bike-handling skills to full effect to evade a fallen Tudor rider who slipped just ahead of him on the Molenberg climb. In the end, the former world champion was peerless.

“We came to the start aiming to compete for the win, but in hindsight Christophe’s fourth place is a solid result,” Visma-Lease a Bike sports director Maarten Wynants said.

“The race was calm for a long time, but toward the finale the crashes followed one another in quick succession…Matthew [Brennan] also crashed heavily. He was able to make it to the team car under his own power. For now, that’s the most important thing.”

Wout van Aert has been ruled out of Omloop Nieuwsblad with illness, delaying his season start, his team revealed on Thursday.

The Visma-Lease a Bike star was set to make his comeback to racing on Opening Weekend, but will now take time to recover; he will be replaced by Pietro Mattio. He is also on the start list for Le Samyn, on Tuesday, but it is not known if he will be back to health in time.

"Obviously it’s a big blow for me to miss out on my first race, having prepared for the Classics season the whole winter," Van Aert said. "We had a good training camp at Sierra Nevada and I was feeling really strong. But unfortunately, it’s also that time of the year where it’s easy to fall ill. I remain positive about the feeling I had on training and am confident that I will be able to return to racing soon. Just not this Saturday."

It is the latest setback for both Visma-Lease a Bike and Van Aert. Their GC leader Jonas Vingegaard was forced to delay his season start after illness, and this was set to be Van Aert's first event back since he fractured his ankle after crashing in a cyclo-cross race in January.

Misfortune has dogged the Belgian at the Classics in recent years, with crashes, illness and injuries either ruling him out of races or damaging his chances. He is due to continue his season at Strade Bianche, next Saturday 7 March, but potentially not at 100%.

It means there will be no duel between Van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech), which was expected after the latter was revealed to be racing yesterday. The start list for the men's WorldTour race still contains multiple big names beyond Van der Poel, including Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5), Biniam Girmay (NSN Cycling) and Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Intermarché).

Visma-Lease a Bike will look to Frenchman Christophe Laporte and young Briton Matthew Brennan for Omloop and also Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, which takes place on Sunday.

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.

Pauline Ferrand Prévot has signed for a further year with the Visma-Lease a Bike team, extending her contract to the end of 2028.

The Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift and Paris-Roubaix champion says she loves being at the Dutch team and that "I don't see myself going anywhere else".

Whether that means she intends to retire at the end of the 2028 season – which will see her set the Olympic Games in Los Angeles as a major goal – remains to be seen.

"I really love being part of this team and I feel happy and at home here," she said in a statement issued by the team. "For the first time I feel truly understood, both as a person and as a rider. I don’t see myself going anywhere else.

"Next year, I want to focus on developing my time trial skills," she added. "Together with the team, we have made that our objective. I also hope to perform at my best at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, which is an exciting long-term goal."

Visma-Lease a Bike CEO Richard Plugge said the team was proud to have the Frenchwoman on board for another year: "Pauline belongs to the absolute top of women’s cycling," he said in the statement, adding: "Pauline represents ambition and belief, and she plays an important role in the development and visibility of women’s cycling. We are proud that she continues that journey with us."

Team manager Rutger Tijssen said Ferrand-Prévot's drive and high standards "raises the level of the entire team".

"Pauline is an exceptional athlete," Tijssen said, "but what truly sets her apart is how she combines ambition with a constant drive to develop. She sets high standards for herself and for us as staff. Not only in races, but in preparation and in mindset. That raises the level of the entire team. Her long-term commitment strengthens belief and confidence across the team."

The 34-year-old signed to the Dutch outfit for 2025 following a year-long contract with Ineos Grenadiers that saw her target and win gold at the Paris Olympics mountain bike cross-country race.

Returning to road racing for the first time in seven years with Visma-Lease a Bike last year, Ferrand-Prévot shocked many by soloing to victory at Paris-Roubaix before going on to win the Tour de France Femmes in July.

Visma-Lease a Bike are looking for a new lead sponsor in order to compete with cycling's super-teams, Cycling Weekly understands.

The Dutch team, which has both men's and Women's WorldTour outfits, are looking for new investment, with talks over new sponsorship ongoing. Norwegian software company Visma will stay on board as a partner, but will no longer be front-and-centre of the team, should a deal be completed.

As first reported by Wielerflits, Visma-Lease a Bike are not in financial difficulty, with the decision coming as a result of re-evaluation of both Visma and the cycling's team's commitments.

While UAE Team Emirates-XRG remain top of the pile in terms of financial power – and therefore results – teams like Lidl-Trek, Decathlon CMA CGM and Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe have also brought high-levels of investment with them, meaning Visma-Lease a Bike have to spend more to keep up.

Visma joined the team as a co-title partner in 2019, when the squad was Jumbo-Visma, before stepping to the front of the name in 2024, when the team became Visma-Lease a Bike. The squad, the home of Jonas Vingegaard, Wout van Aert and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, has a history dating back to the 1980s, including as Rabobank in the 2000s. Last year, they won the Giro d'Italia, the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, and the Vuelta a España.

Last year, Rabobank returned as a "jersey sponsor" for the team, but it is unknown if the Dutch bank is one of the parties involved in talks over the future of the cycling squad.

Last month, Visma-Lease a Bike CEO Richard Plugge said that cycling was in a "downward spiral" due to its business model.

"I think for everyone, we're in a downward spiral as cycling, if we like it or not, and I think that's why, for everyone, the urgency becomes bigger and bigger every day," he said.

"Not only for teams, but also to the point, a lot of relatively big teams are getting in trouble and also organisers are getting in trouble, so you have to make sure that cycling makes a big change."

Visma-Lease a Bike are not the first WorldTour team to be looking for a new title partner. Last month, EF Pro Cycling went public with their search. Last summer, as many as 15 Tour de France teams were looking for new sponsors.

The team were contacted for a statement, but declined to comment.

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.

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."

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."

There was around 100km left of the final stage of the Tour Down Under when two kangaroos jumped into the peloton from the roadside bush.

“Oh, it’s a kangaroo!” Shouted Phil Liggett from the commentary box. “Never seen that before!”

Race leader Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) was among those knocked off their bike, along with Menno Huising (Visma–Lease a Bike), Lucas Stevenson (Tudor Pro Cycling) and Alberto Dainese (Soudal Quick-Step). The latter were forced to abandon the race due to injuries, along with several other riders.

"Everything was going according to plan up until that point," Vine told reporters after the stage. "Sebastián [Molano] was doing a great job. The breakaway was well within reach. And then, unfortunately, we lost Mikkel, and he knocked the kangaroo into me. So it was just like pinballing inside the group there. But I didn't fall too hard."

After crashing, Vine swapped bikes with teammate Ivo Oliveira and worked his way to the front of the race as the bunch sat up to wait, ultimately finishing in 26th, with Visma–Lease a Bike’s Matthew Brennan sprinting to finish first in the stage. Vine emerged the overall winner of the 2025 Tour Down Under.

“You can’t really predict two kangaroos jumping across the road - I hope everyone is alright,” Brennan said after the race.

“They were quite big - I wasn’t expecting that. I just looked to the right and I saw this big animal. I thought ‘oh, you’re not meant to be here’.

“All the Aussie boys were like ‘they come in pairs’ and then all of a sudden the second one comes along and decides he’s going to throw himself in front of the peloton. So we had two sacrificial kangaroos today.”

While one kangaroo escaped unharmed, the other was euthanised after breaking its leg, an injury it would be unlikely to recover from in the wild.

"Everyone asks me what's the most dangerous thing in Australia and I always tell them it's kangaroos,' two-time race-winner, Vine, told ABC Australia.

'They wait and they hide in the bushes until you can't stop and they jump out in front of you. Point proven today."

Gravaa, the Dutch company behind Visma-Lease a Bike's tyre pressure adjustment system, has been declared bankrupt.

According to court records in the Netherlands, liquidators have been appointed to the brand. Gravaa pioneered the KAPS system, which allowed riders to inflate or deflate their tyres on the go.

The system was used on board Visma-Lease a Bike's bikes at Paris-Roubaix in recent years, as well as the UCI Gravel World Championships, where Marianne Vos used it on her way to victory in 2024. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot rode a bike using Gravaa to the win at Roubaix last year.

It first appeared in 2021, but it appears that it never reached commercial success.

The Gravaa works by housing a tiny compressor inside the wheel hub. Pressure build-up is then fed into the tyres via an electronically controlled Presta valve, which allows riders to deflate and inflate tyres while riding along. It's controlled by buttons on the handlebars, and could be paired with a bike computer to display live pressure information.

The idea, then, is that a rider could deflate their tyres for a section of gravel or cobbles, and then reflate them for tarmac.

It uses a kinetic compressor system that uses the rotation of the wheel to pressurize air from the surroundings. Speaking to Cycling Weekly in 2024, Gertjan van Ginderen, the founder of Gravaa said "The rate of inflation is proportional to distance travelled. When running a 42mm tyre, the air pressure can be increased by around 0.8 bar (11.5 PSI) per kilometer."

In an email this week, John Zopfi, the firm's commerical director, wrote: "To reach volume, we needed to scale up. To scale up, we needed capital and firm commitments from potential volume customers. That combination never fully came together, and without fresh funding, there was unfortunately no other viable option."

Apparently, use with tubeless tyres and the pricing were stumbling blocks for the brand's future. There is still some hope for the future, as the tech could be bought by another brand.

Zopfi said: "A curator has been appointed and will assess whether parts of the company, technology, or brand may continue under new ownership."

America’s leading cyclist Matteo Jorgenson has paused plans to target GC success in a Grand Tour for a tilt at a first ever Monument victory at Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

Twenty-six-year-old Jorgenson signed a lengthy contract extension with Visma-Lease a Bike last summer, with the plan for the Idaho-raised rider to become one of the Dutch team’s Grand Tour leaders.

But that ambition is on hold for the moment. Though Jorgenson will once again be a key domestique for Jonas Vingegaard in the Tour de France, his personal ambitions in 2026 will centre around one-day races.

The biggest being Liège, the final Ardennes Classics at the end of April. That means the 2024 winner of Dwars door Vlaanderen will miss the cobbled Classics, as well as Paris-Nice, the stage race he has won in each of the last two years.

“Last year I watched the Ardennes and I really wanted to be there,” Jorgenson told a small gathering of press at Visma’s media day in eastern Spain. “I asked at that point in the spring last year if I could do the spring differently next year.

“I really want to be good at the Ardennes, and to do that I think I want to go to altitude before then, so that forces me to skip the cobbled Classics.

“Liège is a race I’ve done a few times and watching it in the past couple of years I always wanted to be there as those longer climbs are good for me, and I feel might be a little bit better than the Flemish ones.

“I raced it a few times with my previous team [Movistar] and really liked it. It’s not to say I don’t like the Flanders Classics, but at a certain point you have to make a choice of where you want to be in peak shape, what you’re targeting, and I wanted to try something different.”

Winning Liège is a mighty task. Tadej Pogačar and Remco Evenepoel have shared the last five titles between them, and both will be present once again. But Jorgenson is ready to rise to the challenge.

“I’m only 26 so I think there’s some progression still to be had and this year I hope to definitely take more steps,” Jorgenson continued. “It’s important for me to step up this year and be a leader, especially in some cases in the spring when with some of the new guys I will sometimes be the rider who’s been on the team longest.”

Beyond the Tour de France, a space appeared to open up for Jorgenson to lead Visma’s GC charge at the Vuelta a España. Currently, it is the team’s plan to go with Wout van Aert and Matthew Brennan as co-leaders, with stage hunting the priority.

Yet Jorgenson is set to dismiss that possibility, and will instead focus on the Montreal-held World Championships in September and then the season’s final Monument, Il Lombardia. “Hopefully we can cover the base with another Monument, because I’m assuming we will win one in the spring,” he smiled.

Jorgenson explained that the changes to his calendar came about from constructive conversations with team bosses: “It’s true that the management sat down last fall and they thought a little bit about what we can improve, and they definitely realised I think they want to listen to our desire a little bit more this year.

“You can see in the calendars that as riders we were given the choice to choose a little bit of our own calendar and they really listened.”

Grand Tour leadership, he insisted, remains a goal, but further down the line. “It’s something that I’ve set as an objective I’d like to go for at some point in my career, and it remains to be seen if it’s possible or not – you only know if you try and show up,” he said.

“I’d definitely love to have the opportunity to do that at some point. I’m sure in the next four years we will find a moment where I can put a lot of resources into going for one and really try to be a GC leader in a Grand Tour.”

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.

Pauline Ferrand-Prévot knew the question was coming. “Voilà, finally,” she said once it was asked. It wasn’t about her Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift victory, nor was it about her dream Paris-Roubaix Femmes debut, or plans for the coming season. The question she was expecting was about her weight loss, a topic that has followed her since last summer’s Tour.

Ferrand-Prévot was criticised during the race, which she ended up winning by almost four minutes, for appearing thinner. Speaking in her winner’s press conference last August, she said she had received “quite a lot of complaints” online, some telling her that she was “not a good example for young people”. Still, she stressed, it was her choice to make. Male riders have long cut weight for Grand Tours, after all.

On Tuesday, Ferrand-Prévot was asked once again to revisit the topic. As reported by DirectVelo, she said she was surprised by how prominent the weight debate grew after the Tour.

“Once I realised what was happening, I was mostly upset for my parents,” she said. “I wondered if they were reading all this. But for me, there was no problem, nothing to create a big controversy about, because I simply felt I had done my job as I should have to give myself the best possible chance.”

The Visma-Lease a Bike rider won the final two Alpine stages of the Tour, sealing the overall ahead of Demi Vollering (FDJ-SUEZ). It came as the pinnacle of her comeback season on the road, after she won gold on her mountain bike at the Olympics in 2024.

“What I didn’t understand is that people explained that I won the Tour solely because I lost weight like that,” she said. “But the reality is that, behind it all, there was an enormous amount of preparation, dozens of very difficult, specific training sessions… That’s the main reason for that Tour victory.

“It’s not just a question of weight loss, but also of sacrifices. Every girl would weigh 30kg if it were that easy.”

In an interview with Tages-Anzeiger after the Tour, Movistar rider Marlen Reusser said the “new standard” Ferrand-Prévot had set around weight “puts pressure” on the rest of the peloton.

Asked about the criticism she received, Ferrand-Prévot said on Tuesday: “If I started reading everything on social media, it wouldn’t work… You have to filter it. My family and my team are there for me – they are the people to listen to and trust, the ones to value.”

The Frenchwoman also confirmed she plans to prepare similarly for her yellow jersey defence next summer. “It’s actually something I’ve been used to doing for my major goals for about ten years now,” she said.

“I know what I'm doing. We're in a professional sport, we're surrounded by doctors and nutritionists, there's no reason not to do things to the best of our ability. I want to arrive at the 2026 Tour de France as the best Pauline I can be, once again, to try and win the Tour de France for the second time. I've always given my all in my preparations, and I'm not going to change now.”

A former road, cyclo-cross and mountain bike world champion, Ferrand-Prévot has set herself ambitious goals for her second season back on the road. “My goal is to fight for the very top in every race I start,” she said. “Last season I was very good on several occasions, but I still want to work on my consistency.

“That will be a challenge, but it’s one I’m happy to take on. I finished on the podium many times in 2025, but secretly I want to win more.”

Her current programme will see her race Strade Bianche, the Tour of Flanders, La Flèche Wallonne, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Vuelta Femenina before the Tour. She is not expected to defend her Paris-Roubaix title.