Remco Evenepoel is flying, UAE are already top, and Wollaston can't stop winning: five things we've learned from the start of the road cycling season

January is finished with and the scores on the doors are in. We've had a good look at the runners and riders in races across the globe from the Tour Down Under to the Trofeo Mallorca and all points in-between, and they have turned up some interesting – and enticing results.

They won't necessarily enable us to predict the winner of this year's biggest races, but they do at least hint at who has come out of the blocks with momentum, who might be biding their time, and more.

1. Remco Evenepoel means business

Having moved teams from his long-time home at Soudal Quick-Step to Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, the Belgian has wasted no time in getting some first places on the board. He is currently sitting on a 100% record, having won two of the Mallorcan races – the Trofeos Andratx-Pollenca and Serra Tramuntana, as well as the Ses Salines team time trial.

In both individual wins, crossed the line solo, and in the case of Serra Tramuntana after a 50km solo effort. When 2026 is done and dusted, it's unlikely these races will be the ones Evenepoel will be celebrating the most, but they will have given the Belgian and his team a confidence-boosting running start to the year.

2. Matthew Brennan brimming with confidence – and defiance

Having already taken a first and a second at the Tour Down Under – as well as second in the young rider classification, up and coming Britain Matthew Brennan is clearly determined to build on the successes of last season, when he launched himself at the WorldTour with a string of victories.

He also appears to have carried plenty of confidence across the off-season too and, when he finished second again, this time at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race on Sunday behind Tobias Lund Andresen (Decathlon CMA CGM), he laid the blame at the feet of a confusing 300m to go sign:

"300m sign looks the same as 200," he protested on X, explaining on the team website: "Unfortunately I launched my sprint about a hundred metres too early. That was a misjudgment."

3. Human Powered Health have already beaten their 2025 pro win record

At the beginning of the new season, anything is possible. Every team wants to go one better than the year before, achieve new aims and goals. Leading the way on that front is surely the Human Powered Health team. Thanks to Maggie Coles-Lyster's victory at the Santos Tour Down Under one-dayer have already surpassed last year's achievements, at least in terms of pro wins.

Last year Thalita De Jongh's win in the Trofeo Binissalem-Andratx in Mallorca was the team's only pro victory, and it was rated UCI 1.1 – lower than the Santos TDU's 1.Pro rating. It seems a little soon after the off-season to be opening the Champagne, but we wouldn't be surprised if corks were popping that evening.

4. UAE sitting pretty on top

With seven victories and a couple of handfuls of top-fives under their belts already, both the men's and women's teams at the UAE stable are already sitting pretty at the top of the UCI's team rankings for 2026. It's a defiant counter-response, perhaps, to the success of Remco Evenepoel and a reminder that UAE's Slovenian talisman is waiting menacingly in the wings.

The men's team, UAE Team Emirates-XRG has seen wins at the Tour Down Under, thanks to new Aussie road champion Jay Vine, and at the AlUla Tour, where Jan Christen scored a final-day triumph after grabbing a sticky bottle only the day before.

On the women's side, UAE Team ADQ netted a double victory at the Challenge Mallorca thanks to Karlijn Swinkels and double Tour de France Femmes stage winner Maeva Squiban.

5. Wollaston's best ever start

Rivalling Remco Evenepoel in the 'flying start' stakes is Ally Wollaston of FDJ United-Suez. You could even argue that the 25-year-old Kiwi has outdone Evenepoel, for the three races she has won already are all WorldTour ranked. In fact the stats currently show she has won 75% of all the WWT events so far this season, thanks to a double stage win in the Tour Down Under and victory in the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race. That only leaves one stage and the overall of the TDU – and she even took the points classification there for good measure. It's the best start to a season she's had yet.

Wollaston looks to be building on the "bit of belief" that last season's achievements gave her, but said: "I'm still feeling my way through the races and working out what works for me and what doesn't."