Remco Evenepoel has received strong support from his former team manager Patrick Lefevere regarding the rider's decision to skip the Belgian National Championships this year in order to remain fully focused on his build-up for the fast-approaching Tour de France.

The Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe rider has opted to miss the Nationals, a decision which according to Belgian Cycling Federation regulations, which stipulate all pro racers must take part in that event, could hypothetically result in a short suspension.

This could potentially affect his participation in the Tour de France, although it is thought unlikely that such a suspension would actually happen, particularly as riders have missed the Belgian Nationals in the past without penalisation.

The Belgian star has not raced this Spring since Liège-Bastogne-Liège, with the July 4 start in the Tour de France his next event.

However, Evenepoel's absence from the Nationals and the possible penalty have caused something of a minor media storm in Belgium, with Lefevere now weighing in his weekly Nieuwsblad column in support for his former protege at QuickStep, which Lefevere managed for over two decades.

“Every year at the Belgian Cycling Championships, we get the same role-playing: riders who suddenly fall ill or suddenly feel a slight overload and therefore have to withdraw 'with a heavy heart'. A week later, they start the Tour de France fit and cheerful," Levefere wrote.

"The doctor's notes come in to the Belgian federation, and they just have to take it all in their stride. Someone probably has to reply 'get well soon' as well."

Lefevere described the mandatory participation in the Belgian Nationals as "an absurd situation" but he also said he understood the logic behind it. With very little money available for the Belgian National Federation and few commercially viable opportunities to help boost their profile, an event like the Nationals guaranteed some return for host towns and cities.

However, Lefevere also said in his Nieuwsblad column he understood why stage racers like Evenepoel wanted to stay away.

"He naturally thinks - ' No way am I going to jeopardize my Tour in Brasschaat" - the location of this year's Nationals - "with zero elevation gain," Lefevere wrote.

"I saw Remco Evenepoel win the flat Belgian Championship in Izegem and even the Gullegem Kermesse, but if he goes for the doctor's note now too, I fully understand."

Lefevere said he disagreed with a currently popular argument that the Belgian National Champion's jersey had little importance for pros, stating categorically "Every rider worth his money wants to have worn it at some point. Without the Tour, Remco Evenepoel is always at the start."

“The Belgian Championship is somewhat of an anachronism in today’s cycling. Teams of three against teams of twenty-three, somewhere around a church tower or town hall. It gets in the way of altitude training camps, and team sponsors aren’t exactly keen on a jersey where the national flag obstructs their own logo.

"But I don’t join those who think the Belgian jersey means nothing anymore."

As for Sunday's race, Lefevere said he'll be backing Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) for the title on the flat course, arguing that he had given a better impression in the most recent stage race in the Tour of Belgium.

But in any case, Lefevere said, regardless of who was going to win, he would never miss the chance to watch the Nationals, pointing out that, "On a flat course, even with a Belgian peloton, you still see the world’s top riders in action."

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Maggie Coles-Lyster won from a bunch sprint in Saint Georges, Quebec, to score her second national title on Saturday, and seal a special victory for Human Powered Health.

Coles-Lyster's fast finish saw her storm to her first road race win in four years ahead of EF Education-Oatly's Alexandra Volstad and Movistar's Olivia Baril, who rounded out the podium. Volstad took the U23 title in the process.

The victory follows Coles-Lyster's first pro win at the Tour Down Under one-day race at the end of January, in what has been a stand-out season for the 27-year old from Maple Ridge in British Columbia following a comeback from iliac artery surgery.

Defending champion Alison Jackson (St Michel - Preference Home - Auber93) just missed out on a podium spot, finishing in fourth.

Speaking after the race to Cycling Canada, Coles-Lyster said: “It’s amazing. It’s been four years since I last won this. After the last year, with my iliac artery surgery, it’s been a really fun comeback. I’m really happy with where I am and to be able to wear the maple leaf this year.”

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A new name will grace the start line of the men's Tour de France this year as teams roll off the ramp for the opening team time trial in Barcelona.

Caja Rural-Seguros RGA will be a team familiar to most, thanks to their exploits at the Vuelta a España over the past 15 years, but 2026 will be the first year that the team lines up in the world's biggest race.

"For us, it's incredible to be in the Tour de France this year because we are a small team compared to the WorldTour teams and the other ProTeams. It's incredible for us," sports director Aritz Bagües told Cyclingnews ahead of the team's debut.

Cooperative banking group Caja Rural has previously featured in the Tour de France, sponsoring the Caja Rural-Orbea team in 1987 and 1988. However, the entity that will race the Tour this year was founded in 1992 and spent almost two decades as an amateur team based in Pamplona before registering as a UCI team in 2010. The team will commemorate sponsor Caja Rural's long history in the sport with a special jersey for the 2026 Tour.

Caja Rural-Seguros RGA has been known over the years as a real talent factory, with names such as Michal Kwiatkowski, Pello Bilbao, Hugh Carthy, and 2026 Giro d'Italia stage winner Thomas Silva developed in the team's system, which also includes a development team that races in the highly competitive Spanish amateur circuit.

The team has enjoyed its own success too, winning one stage of the Vuelta in 2012 through Antonio Piedra, and the mountain classification in 2014 and 2015. The 2026 Tour, however, represents the team's biggest moment.

'It's very special'

In order to make the start in Barcelona, Caja Rural-Seguros RGA had to fend off other ProTeams who were similarly keen to secure a first outing at the Tour de France. The French-Dutch Unibet-Rose Rockets team were touted for selection, but race organisers A.S.O. chose the Spanish team due to its higher placing in the UCI ranking and its vast Grand Tour experience.

Bagües remembers the moment he found out the team had been selected for the Tour. He was in the car during a stage of the AlUla Tour in January when the news came through, but didn't have any signal in the desert. He was told as he parked the car at the finish.

"It was a very special day for all the team," he says. "It's very, very special for us because we've been there a lot of years with a small team doing all the European calendar and nowadays all over the world. It's like a prize for us."

Caja Rural-Seguros RGA's maiden Tour start is even more significant given its proximity to the team's base in Pamplona, in the region of Navarra, about a five-hour drive from Barcelona. Five members of the team's 26 riders hail from the autonomous region of Catalonia: Abel Balderstone (Ullastrell), Jan Castellon (Lleida), Sergi Darder (Barcelona), Joel Nicolau (Llofriu) and Eduard Prades (Alcanar).

The team are expecting a crowd of supporters over the first three days before the race enters France. "We have a lot of riders from Catalonia in our professional team, and in the amateur team too. I think that we will have a lot of supporters there."

Chasing a stage win

Having discovered their Tour participation in late January, Caja Rural-Seguros RGA selected ten riders to be considered for La Grande Boucle in April, to be whittled down to eight ahead of the race's start.

The team will chase stage wins across the three weeks, with two-time Tour de France stage-winner Fernando Gaviria leading the line in the bunch sprints. The Spanish outfit will also contain several climbers who will look to sniff out opportunities in the mountains.

It will be Gaviria's third Tour de France, having taken both of his wins during the 2018 Tour while riding for Quick-Step Floors. The 31-year-old Colombian, who has become famous for launching his sprint early, won't have the luxury of a powerful sprint train like rivals Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) or Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep), but Bagües believes that Gaviria has the experience and talent to find his own way to the finish line.

"We know that this is very difficult, but he's a special rider. He's a very talented rider, and maybe we can do it. It's difficult," he says. "He manages very well in the peloton. He knows where he has to stay, and he's very, very special in that. He's a very, very good rider."

"He's also a very good captain and leader for the guys, and for us, he's a very important guy in the team," Bagües adds.

The team's Spanish climbers have been buoyed by a strong performance at the Tour Auvergne-Rhǒne Alpes, the Tour de France's traditional warm-up race, with José Félix Parra 9th in the General Classification and Jan Castellon 11th, along with several stage top-10s.

"For us, it's good because we see that we can stay there with those guys and with those teams. It's more confidence for us to start in Barcelona with less pressure, because we know that we can do it," Bagües says.

"We put a goal of trying to take one victory in a stage…I think it will be very difficult, but we will try to do it."

Other potential principals in the team include Australian Sebastian Berwick, who won the Tour of Türkiye earlier this year, former Giro d'Italia stage-winner Stefano Oldani and Dutchman Alex Molenaar, who scored a top-10 and De Brabantse Pijl earlier this year.

"They are all motivated. It's very special for the team but also for the riders because it's their opportunity to go to the Tour de France. It's important for all of them," Bagües adds.

Racing for Jaume Guardeño

The Caja Rural-Seguros RGA team is finding added motivation ahead of the Tour as riders and staff keep their colleague Jaume Guardeño in the forefront of their minds.

23-year-old Guardeño, who finished 14th at the Vuelta last year, collided with a car during a training ride in March, putting him in a critical condition. Local media reported that the rider from Altea had struck a rock, causing him to lose control of his bike.

Guardeño was taken to the intensive care unit at Parc Taulí Hospital in Sabadell and has since been transferred to the Guttman clinic in Barcelona; a facility that specialises in "neurorehabilitation and treatment of serious neurological injuries," according to the most recent team update on his condition.

"It's difficult because we know that Jaume is not in a good condition. It's very, very hard for us. We will try to do our best to give him a victory and to give him power to help because he's in a very dangerous situation and it's bad news for the whole team," Bagües says.

Caja Rural-Seguros RGA may be the new boys on the block at the Tour de France, but this Spanish team, with its mix of young talent and experienced heads, are out to prove that they are not just there to make up the numbers.

Particularly in the opening three stages, this will be a team that will be motivated not only by the grandeur of the Tour, but also by the desire to honour their team-mate and the team's long history in the sport.

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The support team for Paul Seixas's Tour de France debut still remains under wraps one week out, but Decathlon CMA CGM have confirmed the young French talent is over his recent crash and building form at altitude in Les Arcs in the French Alps.

One rider that will not be at the Grand Départ in Barcelona is climber Gregor Mühlberger, who announced the news on social media. After helping Felix Gall finish second at the Giro d’Italia, while finishing 15th himself, the 32-year-old rider focused entirely on preparation for the Tour, skipping the Tour de Suisse and the Austrian Road Championships to train at altitude with the team. But cycling can sometimes be cruel.

“I put everything into the preparation at the team altitude camp in France. Full focus, full discipline, no shortcuts and everything was going to plan,” Mühlberger wrote on Instagram.

“Which makes this even harder to accept: sometimes sport gives you no warning and no chance to show what you prepared for. I won’t be on the start line in Barcelona, only watching and cheering for my teammates from home. It’s devastating, but that’s sport.”

The decision leaves the door open for another rider. One option would be to bring in sprinter Olav Kooij to hedge their bets to get a stage win, especially since Seixas will be coming in banged up.

Kooij, who joined the French team this year, has claimed three successive wins in the past weeks, after he had to postpone his season start due to a lingering virus.

His most recent victory at the Baloise Belgium Tour seven days ago saw him outsprint Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech), in a hectic finale where he had to surf wheels. Afterwards, the Dutch rider stated that he was looking forward to fighting duels with fast men at the Tour.

Reported to be listed in the preliminary start list, Kooij will not be racing the road race at the Dutch Road Championships on Sunday.

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Lara Gillespie (UAE Team ADQ) claimed her second national road title in three days, sprinting to victory in the road race on Saturday after taking the win in the time trial on Friday at the Irish Road Championships in Cong, County Mayo.

In rainy conditions, the track World Champion was the fastest from the breakaway in an uphill sprint to take her third road title, following wins in 2020 and 2023. Emma Jeffers (Liv AlUla Jayco) was second, and defending champion Mia Griffin (Mayenne Monbana) rounded out the podium.

The 2026 edition of the race saw one of the strongest fields ever to take on the women’s title race, including Marine Lenehan (Lidl-Trek), Fiona Mangan (Picnic PostNL), Griffin and Gillespie.

“It feels good [to win twice in three days]. It means a lot to bring the national jersey into the European Peloton. So, I'm excited to wear that for the next year, and I missed it the last two years. It was really good race, and I felt really good again today. So, I knew it was going to be a fun one,” Gillespie told Cycling Ireland.

“It was absolutely bleak weather, but actually kind of like you wouldn't go out in that on training day, but it was quite fun to race in drastically different conditions today compared to Thursday.”

Gillespie was able to use the miserable conditions to whittle the field down.

“The wind was quite good for me, because I attacked over the top of the climb, which kind of split the group up quite well, and then I attacked another time in like a crosswind section, and that also I think tired people out. I think maybe, I don't know, I used it to my advantage.”

The 32-rider field tackled the challenging Loch na Fooey Loop once before transitioning to the 28.7km Cloughbrack loop, twice, for a total of 111.6 kilometres.

The peloton fractured on the first big climb with an elite lead group of nine riders building up a gap of 2 minutes before the final shorter lap. In addition to Gillespie, Jeffers and Griffin, the lead group included Fiona Mangan (Mayenne-Monbana-Mypie), Aliyah Rafferty (DAS-Hutchinson), Marine Lenehan (Lidl-Trek), Greta Lawless (Simpson Nouvelles), Linda Kelly and Lucy Benezet-Minns (Team Féminin Chambéry).

Lenehan was the first to make a move inside of two kilometres before being reeled in by Gillespie with the group in tow, leading to the final sprint.

“Marine actually tacked with like one one and a half to go, and everyone just let her go, so then I attacked over the top, and then I was like ‘I'm not gonna lose it, like now with one K to go’, and then I wanted to kind of try and use her as a lead out in a way, but I kind of caught her too soon. So then everyone else also caught up, and then we like braked, and then we were all side by side, basically a standing start with 250 to go,” Gillespie said.

“I know how fast Mia is. I mean, on the track we're racing and training together a lot, and then I know how fast Emma is from the road, so yeah, I just had to hope for the best.”

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Leading Danish racer Magnus Cort has confirmed that he will be leaving the sport at the end of this year.

The Uno-X Mobility racer, 33, will quit after a hugely successful career, winning stages in all three Grand Tours and a host of other WorldTour events, as well as numerous small-to-medium level one-day races. And there may yet be more to come before he bows out at the end of the year.

Arguably almost as famous for his moustache and internet posts of hotel room ratings as he is for his success on the bike, Cort said in a press statement on Saturday that he aims to ride the Tour de France and perhaps the Vuelta a España in his final season where he has two and six wins respectively to date, with the aim of going out on as high a note as possible.

"For Cort, the decision is not about no longer being able to perform. It is about timing, priorities and choosing the right moment after more than a decade in the peloton," an Uno-X team press release said on Saturday.

“I still feel that I am riding at 100%," Cort added, "but I have been in this for many years, and there is a lot you have to sacrifice to be part of it. You eventually start becoming ready to stop.”

Well-known for being able to win in almost any kind of stage race cycling could throw at him - his triumphs range from stages in the O Gran Camiño in north-west Spain to the Binckbank Tour in the Low Countries to the Veneto Classic in Italy - Cort has delivered plenty of masterclasses in cleverly calculated victories. His trio of victories over three weeks in the 2021 Vuelta a España - one a few metres ahead of an all-conquering Primoz Roglič on a hilltop finish in Cullera, another outsprinting a reduced peloton in Cordoba and a third from a high-speed breakaway in Monforte de Lemos - was one hugely memorable set of wins. But there were plenty of others.

Having joined Uno-X Mobility in 2024, Cort has seen the team move up from ProTream to WorldTour and from chasing wildcards to having guaranteed spots in some of the biggest races.

“I will do everything I can to get a few more good results. In the Tour de France, it would be absolutely fantastic to get a result, or to help Tobias Johannessen," - the former Tour de l'Avenir winner - "to a good result. I might also ride the Vuelta, and a Grand Tour win in my last season would make me leave professional cycling in the best way.”

A winner of 33 races and a pro at WorldTour level with Orica-GreenEdge in 2015 before joining Astana and then EF Education-EasyPost, Cort said moving onto Uno-X and back out of the WorldTour in 2024 was "a bit risky, of course, but I was not afraid of it. "

"Uno-X was already at such a high level that I knew the team would give me the same opportunities, maybe with even more support than from other teams. It did not feel like a step down — and looking back, it obviously wasn’t.”

Following this season, Cort will be aiming at having some time away from cycling, with a long trip to Nepal on the cards, but the hotel room ratings, he told his team's website, will not disappear.

“I do not have plans for the ratings, but there will probably be some here and there. Not so many, but maybe they will come. The fans just have to follow along — and I hope to surprise them.”

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Franziska Koch (FDJ United-Suez) made it three in a row in the road race at the German Road Championships, after scoring her first women's time trial title yesterday in Bad Liebenstein.

In a similar scenario to her two previous victories, Koch came out on top from a five-rider breakaway, which included Liane Lippert (Movistar), Nele Laing and the Canyon-SRAM duo of Antonia Niedermaier and Justina Czapla.

Three-time champion Lippert (2018, 2022, 2023) launched the sprint first, but Koch powered past her to claim the win, with Lippert settling for second as she did in 2024. Newly crowned German U23 road champion, Czapla, after going on a solo break of almost 65 kilometres before being caught in the final lap, took third.

Runner-up last year, Niedermaier finished fifth. Crossing the line 1:41 later, Linda Riedmann (Lotto-Intermarché Ladies) led the peloton in for sixth place.

In hot temperatures, close to 37 °C, the women faced a shortened course, from 136.5km to 109km, after their start was delayed by one hour due to a fall in the men’s junior race held earlier in the day. The women raced the 27.3km circuit with around 550 metres of elevation gain per lap four times.

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Living up to his pre-race favourite billing, Jonathan Milan sprinted to his first Italian national road title on Saturday, coming off the wheel of Alessandro Romele (XDS_Astana) in the final 250 metres in Cuneo.

Milan’s team, Lidl-Trek, took control of the peloton for the majority of the 225-km race, keeping the early breakaway on a tight leash and forcing a regrouping with 64 kilometres to go to deliver a bunch sprint. Burning through his five teammates, Milan was left isolated in the final four kilometres.

The 25-year-old was second wheel as they sped under the kite, until he unleashed his sprint, a speed that no one could match.

Surging in the final metres, Tommaso Dati (Team UKYO) took second, while Romele held on for third.

How it unfolded

On another hot day of racing in Italy, over 130 riders lined up for the elite men’s road race, from Asti to Cuneo. The 225-kilometre course was really divided into two sections, starting with a hilly first half with two climbs, the Monforte d’Alba and Murazzano, the highest point of the race at 696 metres. Then, the route transitioned into a fast finishing circuit, tailor-made for the fast men.

A flurry of attacks led to shuffling and re-shuffling in the early break, with 18 riders managing to escape but only gaining around 1:15 on the Lidl-Trek-controlled peloton before being reeled back in with 64 kilometres to go.

From that point on, the speed was kept high by Lidl-Trek, making sure that no riders could escape, and the majority of the field seemed content to wait for the inevitable. As the kilometres ticked down, Soudal-QuickStep rider, and later on, Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe’s Lorenzo Finn, recently the winner of the Giro Next Gen, added their power in the rotation with the latter putting in some accelerations.

Inside of six kilometres to go, the peloton was reduced to half its size, as many riders dropped from the heat and speed, leaving Milan with no teammates two kilometres later.

As they sped under the red kite, Filippi Baroncini (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) launched a short-lived attack, closed down by Milan with Matteo Trentin (Tudor) on his wheel. Then Vincenzo Albanese (EF Education-EasyPost) took the front, with Milan slotting in behind him, still followed by Trentin.

With 250 metres to go, Romele launched his sprint but Milan was able to use his splistream to come around and speed to the line.

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Faultless teamwork by FDJ United-SUEZ and a devastating late attack on the final has seen ultra-talented young racer Célia Gery conquer her first senior French Nationals road title.

Second was Cedrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly), five seconds back, with Emilie Morier (St-Michel-Preference Home-Auber 93) claiming the bronze.

For the bulk of the very hilly course at La-Tour-du-Pin, FDJ United had four riders in a front group of around a dozen, and they made their domination count throughout.

Coming onto the final ascent of the ultra-steep Bejui climb, Gery's teammate Juliette Berthet led the 20-year-old racer out, and then an all-out acceleration close to the top was all it took for Gery to go clear. Following a fast, technical solo to the finish, the gold medal was in the bag.

"It was a great race by all seven of us, we only had two riders ahead at the start so we had to get across, and I jumped across to the front group on the hill," Gery recounted later.

"Marie [Le Net, teammate] brought me across after I'd used up a lot of energy and we tried to manage things as best we could."

"I used the final climb, which is really my strong point, I wasn't at all calm, I think I looked back a lot but it's really mission accomplished. I'm not the best of sprinters particularly after a technical finale and descent like this one, so I knew I had to get away before that, and that's what I did."

How it unfolded

The very punchy 16.3 kilometre circuit round La-Tour-du-Pin featured two classified climbs, the gentler Montée de San Roch (1.7 km at 4.4%) then the much more difficult Montée de Bejui (1km at 8.4%, with a maximum of 13%) and the brace of ascents proved more than enough in the early laps to split an already small field of just 37 starters.

With 80 kilometres left, a 12-rider group was already in command, with no less than four FDJ United-SUEZ racers: Marie Le Net, Juliette Berthet, Léa Curinier, and Célia Gery - the latter two both arriving late to an initial move, and ensuring the lead group had FDJ very much in command. Along with the FDJ quartet at that point were Clémence Latimier (Ma Petite Entreprise), Victoire Berteau (Cofidis), Solène Muller and Emilie Morier (St-Michel-Preference Home-Auber 93), Gladys Verhulst Wild and Amandine Fouquenet (AG Insurance-Soudal Team), as well as Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly).

By the time the front group reached the third ascent of the Montée de San Roch, the leaders had a 1:30 advantage on the remainder of the field. There were some lineup changes - 2025 Tour de France double stage winner Maeva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ) made a notably impressive and successful solo effort to get across - but the four FDJ riders remained very much in control.

A typically attritional Championships scenario continued into the final 30 kilometres, although the numbers of around a dozen in the front group stayed roughly the same and FDJ continued to dominate on the baking hot day. A second group was circulating at 40 seconds but by this point, it was increasingly likely that the winner would come from the front break.

Trying to break free of the FDJ United hegemony was always going to be trickier the closer the race got to the finish, so Latimier and Morier both had a try in the second last lap, to no avail. Le Net, the defending champion, had the bulk of the duties keeping the remainder of the rivals under control, and she eventually sat up, leaving her three FDJ teammates to go for their own crack at glory.

On the second-to-last ascent of the Bejui, just six riders remained ahead: Berthet and Gery for FDJ, along with Latimier, Morier, Kerbaol and Squiban. FDJ retained their numerical advantage, then, even in the reduced lead group, and on top of that, Curinier was still shadowing the head of the race as the bell rang to mark the start of the last lap.

Yet again, more attacks tested FDJ's strength, though, with Latimier going for it on the shallower San Roch ascent, only for Berthet, the 2024 National Champion, to bring her back. A brief discussion with Gery then followed, and it was clear from the way Berthet moved to the front to keep the pace high that Gery - already a winner on very similar tough courses like Brabantse Pijl - was going to be the favoured FDJ rider on the day. However, a massive, successful effort by Verhulst Wild to bridge across was a reminder, too, that the gaps were still too small to overthink any plan.

With 11 kilometres to go, Berthet chased down a quick dig by Verhulst Wild, and as she buried herself for Gery and kept the six others lined out on her back wheel, the group settled in to wait for the last, decisive, ascent of the Bejui.

Berthet continued to power up the lower slopes, but Gery was waiting in the wings, finally smashing her way clear with 3.3 kilometres to go. She initially distanced all but Morier, and then by the top, another concerted surge meant Gery had nearly 100 metres' advantage on her closest rival.

That last effort was ultimately all it took to seal the victory, and as she claimed her first senior National title aged just 20, Gery proved yet again that she will likely be a force to reckon with for many years to come.

Results

Mireia Benito (AG Insurance-Soudal) has followed up her mid-week Nationals time trial win with victory in the road race on Saturday, blasting away from a six-strong lead group to clinch another triumph.

Four times a time trial champion, the 29-year-old Catalan took off early on the final uphill climb in Sabiñanigo to take her first-ever road race gold ahead of Sara Martín and Paula Ostiz (both Movistar).

The race was dominated by a long-range attack by Maite Urteaga (Eulen-Amenabar), finally caught with just four kilometres to go by a chase group of four containing Benito, the two Movistar riders and five-times Spanish National Champion Mavi García (UAE Team ADQ).

Despite making much of the running late on, García could not stop Benito from going clear in the final 400 metres, and the Movistar duo proved equally powerless to keep the national time trial champion from adding a second title in just three days to her palmares.

"I can't believe it, it's been a really chaotic race," Benito said about her first-ever mass start road race win. "I thought it was all decided because there was no collaboration. It was very hard to understand the race dynamics."

"So I decided simply to go for it and I didn't want to leave anything behind. I just wanted to go home with the feeling that I had fought hard. It's a dream come true."

"When I attacked before, I really didn't feel that it was going anywhere, it was a really odd race. But I wanted to try, and then when I was caught, I thought that I was done for. But then I realised everybody was really suffering by that point so I tried again."

How it unfolded

The 129.7-kilometre race was largely defined by the pursuit of long-distance breakaway Urteaga, who defied the WorldTour teams with a move that began on the first of the five lap circuit and which only definitively ended close to the finish in Sabiñanigo, NE Spain.

On a deceptively difficult course, featuring a never-ending series of undulating climbs across the foothills of the Pyrenees, Urteaga's move effectively saw the chasing peloton shred itself into bits as they tried to chase her down on a blisteringly hot day. And with 40 kilometres left, her advantage of two minutes over a chase group of less than ten riders was still proving tricky to reduce.

With her teammate and top favourite Paula Blasi a DNS because of injury, yet more accelerations by García on a grinding ascent whittled down the chase group to just the UAE Team ADQ rider, defending champion Martín and Ostiz (Movistar) as well as Benito. A fifth rider, Sandra Alonso (Eneicat-Be Call) was sporadically in contact, but visibly struggling to maintain herself in the group and despite the presence of two Movistars, much of the running was made by García, arguably the strongest rider in the race, and Benito.

Benito and García even managed to clip away from the Movistar duo, closing in remorselessly on a by-now flagging Urteaga. But instead Ostiz and Martín managed to reel them in, after which García provided more impetus to catch Urteaga four kilometres from the line.

A holding pattern briefly emerged, and coming into Sabiñanigo, the five leaders even slowed so much Alonso could rejoin them, making a courageous, if futile, attempt to go clear immediately afterwards.

The final uphill 800 metre drag to the line was looming up fast, and when Benito went from distance, it seemed like an overly ambitious move. Instead, neither Blasi nor Martín had enough individual power to bring her back, and García had finally run out of energy as well. That meant Benito had ample margin to celebrate a triumph that owed as much to reading the race correctly and realising her rivals had nothing left to offer as it did to pure strength, raising her arms several bike-lengths ahead of Martín and Blasi, silver and bronze despite their team's advantage in numbers in the winning break.

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Leading Spanish Nationals favourite Paula Blasi will not be taking part in Saturday's road race because of injuries incurred in a training crash earlier this week.

Blasi has enjoyed a runaway series of breakthrough successes this year, with victories in La Vuelta Feménina, Amstel Gold and most recently the Volta a Catalunya propelling the 23-year-old into second place in the UCI World rankings behind Demi Vollering (FDJ United-SUEZ).

However, the UAE Team ADQ co-leader had a bad crash when training on the TT route in Sabiñanigo, north-east Spain on Thursday. She later told AS she had fallen on a gravel sector and that the impact had been so hard she had been unable to breathe well for several seconds.

Blasi spent more than six hours in various medical centres, including a hospital, getting stitches and with severe rib pain from where her race radio had impacted her body. That did not stop her taking part in the time trial, finishing fourth.

Further checkups have seen her opt to pull out of the National road race, and she will soon begin training at altitude in Andorra for her debut in the Tour de France, which starts on August 1. First though, will come recovery from her heavy crash.

"Due to the crash I had in Wednesday's recons, the pain in my ribs has got so bad that I can barely move," she wrote on social media on Friday. "Together with the team, we've decided it's best to to try and rest, have a full medical checkup and recover."

"Good luck to all the riders tomorrow, particularly my teammates [five-times National Champion] Mavi García and Celia Torres."

Blasi has also made the headlines this weekend regarding a possible transfer for 2027, with Wielerflits citing multiple sources as telling them that Blasi will use an opt-out clause with UAE to switch to Spanish WorldTour team Movistar.

Wielerflits have claimed that the yet-to-be-confirmed new contract would see Blasi earning just under a million euros a year.

Rewind six months, and Netcompany Ineos' Tour de France project looked genuinely exciting. They'd signed one of the most exciting young GC riders – a British one, at that – as well as a rising French star, both of whom had finished in the top 10 of the 2025 Tour.

Add those two riders to the team's existing climbers, their wealth of experience in winning Grand Tours, and their top-tier resources and you had a winning formula, right? Well, wrong, because like many best-laid plans, things aren't looking as promising as they were six months ago.

The team's star signings, Oscar Onley and Kévin Vauquelin, had a great start to the year at the Volta ao Algarve, kicking off enthusiasm about what Ineos were hoping to achieve this year. But since then, their fortunes seem to have waned.

Onley's torrid year reached its zenith this week when the team confirmed that he wouldn't ride the Tour at all, still struggling with a "significant" shoulder injury sustained in a truly horrible crash at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.

Even if it didn't look like Onley was at the level that delivered him to fourth last year anyway, losing him is a big blow nonetheless, both for the team and for his confidence, which seems to have been shaken by the difficult months he's had.

At the time of writing, we believe Kévin Vauquelin is going to start the Tour, but he's been hit with illness in the run-up and his year hasn't exactly been a breeze, either. He hasn't suffered quite the same bad luck as Onley but he hasn't excelled, either. Based on his results and the stacked competition starting the race in Barcelona, for now it looks like he would have to make a big jump to repeat his top 10 finish from last year.

So where do Netcompany Ineos stand? Before the Giro d'Italia, when they welcomed new title sponsor Netcompany, the team were clear about their long-term goal: to return to the top step of the Tour de France podium – and not just one day, but within the next five years, they emphasised.

Of course, this is only year one, the very beginning of their project, and no one said they were going to win the Tour this year. But for a team that wants to win this race by 2031, you'd hope to at least be challenging for the top 10 in 2026, and for the moment, it's not certain that they will.

Who will step up this year?

Right now, Ineos have an immediate challenge on their hands. Who is going to step up and make a success of their Tour de France this year? Long-term goals aside, the team have a flashy new sponsor who want results and visibility at the biggest race on the planet, be it on GC or elsewhere. If they're not going to be battling for the GC, they need to be battling for stage wins. Unfortunately, bad luck for a few riders won't really cut it as a reason to not deliver at the Tour.

So who can do that? Obviously, a lot of hopes will still be on Vauquelin, especially whilst we don't know how bad his illness was or how it might affect him. His fearless and consistent riding earned him seventh overall last year whilst riding for a smaller team, Arkéa B&B Hotels. So there is hope that if he feels well, he could still be fighting for the top 10.

Vauquelin's results so far in 2026 haven't been overly impressive, with 15th at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes on his most recent outing, but in fairness the good results that he enjoyed before the Tour last year were largely in smaller races. He's raced a much more ambitious programme this season, and not quite delivered, but that's not to say the French fervour couldn't spur him on to find some magic in his legs.

If he's not in GC-challenging form, Vauquelin should readjust quickly and at least try and go for a stage on one of the early tough days. Paul Seixas will take a lot of the French pressure off his shoulders, but there's still a lot of expectation on Vauquelin.

Though we've spent most of the year talking about Onley and Vauquelin, the riders Ineos signed for the Tour, let's not forget the riders they already had who can also compete on the hardest stages.

Thymen Arensman won two of the toughest stages of the Tour last year, and he's only been demoted from leadership duty for the Tour because he was targeting the Giro d'Italia this year – it's not because he isn't capable of a GC campaign if he's willing and able.

He finished fourth overall at the Giro, and whilst that will have taken a lot of his energy, he's done two Grand Tours in a year before so it's not like he's coming to the Tour with totally empty legs. The third week TT works in his favour, too, given his strength in the discipline, and if he comes good whilst other riders fall away, he could replicate a good GC result.

The Dutchman has flown under the radar amidst the Onley-Vauquelin focus, but – like he was last year – he could end up being Ineos' secret sauce.

There's also Carlos Rodríguez who, yes, hasn't quite replicated the level that saw him finish fifth overall and win a big stage in 2023, but that doesn't mean he should be written off entirely. He's had consistent if not stand-out results this year, and certainly has the Grand Tour experience.

If the mountains and GC battle fail, Ineos can always hold onto hope that Filippo Ganna might deliver, either in the TTT or the individual effort on stage 16: Newly crowned Polish TT champion Michal Kwiatkowski, who never seems to age, could be in with a chance of a vintage stage victory.

Amongst the new signings for 2026, Dorian Godon has proved to be a real success story as well. With five WorldTour stage wins this season, as well as a long spell in the lead in the Volta a Catalunya, Godon's versatility in punchier terrain has earned the Frenchman some impressive victories this season, including the opening prologue of the Tour de Romandie.

So, given how Ineos have improved on capitalising on chances, racing more aggressively and winning more often, it does seem unlikely that their race will be a total wash, but it also doesn't look likely to reach the heights they hoped for at the start of the year.

The bigger picture – or bigger problem?

Whether Netcompany Ineos can still pull of a 2026 Tour or not, though, questions still remain over the feasibility of their stated aims.

Both Onley and Vauquelin are still young and they obviously have a whole lot of room to grow, but it must also be said that we're in an era where GC contenders don't tend to grow into it – riders like Pogačar, Vingegaard and Del Toro were very good, very quickly. Is it even possible to grow into being a Grand Tour winner over five years, or is it a case of you either have it at 21 or you don't?

With Onley and Vauquelin, everything is of course pure speculation, and particularly in Onley's case a year of crashes and illness doesn't erase the raw talent he clearly has, which delivered him to fourth last year with very little team support. But in pro cycling there is so little time to falter, that it does feel like this one off year could make a dent in his long-term chances as a Tour winner.

The other question for Ineos is whether their project is as future-looking as it needs to be. We know that they were a highly effective Grand Tour team in the past, finessing the mountain train tactic and delivering their riders to

So what have Ineos done to move into the future and this new era? Well, they have a fancy new sponsor who promises to use AI to help them win – even if most other big teams are already well on the AI train – but in terms of personnel, their leadership looks notably nostalgic.

Dave Brailsford is back as team principal, Geraint Thomas is head of racing, and they've got former riders in the team cars as sports directors. Their staffing is full of people who helped them win the Tour last decade, but that's the operative phrase: last decade.

Despite their good recruitment moves and injection of sponsor cash, the team is still looking somewhat stuck in the past, hoping that what worked 10 years ago will work now, and we know very, very well by now that it just won't.

In Onley and Vauquelin, as well as Arensman, they have fresh, talented and high-potential riders. It might not have worked out this year, but there is still time for them to get back on track and harness the talent of their riders to work towards that lofty Tour de France-winning goal. They just need to do it in the modern way, not the way of 10 years ago – and with 2026 already partly scratched off, at least for Onley, they'll need to do it fast.

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Jérôme Gauthier (Project Echelon Racing) was the surprise winner of the elite and under-23 men's titles at the Canadian Road Championships held in Saint-Georges, Quebec, on Friday.

The 21-year-old was dropped from a lead group of eight riders that had split off the front of an initial breakaway of 14 over the top of the final climb, but he reconnected with the group and then out-sprinted his rivals to take the prestigious victory.

Luke Valenti (Club Ciclista Padronés-Cortizo) finished second, and Léo Roy (Team Vittel N'side) finished third on the day. Further back, Joel Plamondon (Charvieu Chavagneux Isère Cyclisme) finished fourth, Hugo Houle (Alpecin-Premier Tech) fifth, and Pier-André Côté (NSN Cycling) sixth.

The pair of Michael Woods (Ventum Racing) and Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek) were also in the front group, and while they set off on a series of attacks on the run-in back to Saint-Georges, they ended up finishing seventh and eighth, respectively.

Last year Gauthier earned the U23 title with a fifth-place finish in the combined road race. He came into nationals in solid form, winning the youth classification at Tour de Beauce and going second at the UCI one-day race Gran Premio New York City.

Late breakaway and surprise winner

Riders headed north from Saint-Georges for an opening 19.3km that led to a punchy 9.4km circuit, each lap ascending the St-Odilion climb, which features in Tour de Beauce. The elite men completed eight circuits and then returned via Route Langevine to the city. The full course of 185km included 1,986 metres of elevation gain.

Unlike the unseasonably hot weather in Europe, the elite men's race began under cloudy skies and in cooler conditions at 18°C.

Once on the first circuit, Houle went off the front with the first successful attack of the day. Woods, now a gravel privateer, and Gee-West set to work at the front of the peloton and kept Houle within 20 seconds. However, the acceleration at the front quickly formed gaps throughout the field. Once over the St-Odilion climb the first time, the breakaway was over.

By the third lap, rain began to fall, and the peloton was divided into distinct groups, with eight in the lead comprised of Houle, Côté, Laurent Gervais (Project Echelon Racing), Plamondon, Robin Plamondon (Velo Cartel Racing), Dérénik Beauregard (ASPTT Nancy), Roy and Francis Izquierdo Bernier (Cannondale Echelon p/b 4iiii).

Gee-West made the initiative to shake things up by the mid-way point of the race, and he created a new composition in the breakaway. Côté, Houle, Joel Plamondon, Robin Plamondon, Izquierdo Bernier, Roy, Beauregard were all there from the earlier move, and they were joined by Gee-West, Woods, Riley Pickrell (Modern Adventure Pro Cycling), Gauthier, Valenti and Carl Truffer (Vittel N'Side).

With just two-and-a-half laps to go, the 14 riders led a group of chasers by 30 seconds. Not seen in any moved behind was 2023 road race winner Nickolas Zukowsky (Pinarello Q36.5), who was reported by Canadian Cyclist magazine to have pulled out of the race on the fifth lap.

Woods attacked on the last time up the climb on the last lap, which caused the front group to split apart, taking with him Gee-West, Houle, Joel Plamondon, Roy, Côte, and Valenti on back into Saint-Georges.

With a massive push on the pedals, Gauthier reconnected with the front group, but a series of attacks from Woods and Gee-West threatened to split the group apart again.

It was all back together within the final few kilometres of the race with Gauthier taking the reduced sprint and both the under-23 and elite men's national titles.

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Alec Segaert (Bahrain-Victorious) earned his first Belgian elite men's time trial national title on Friday, as race favourite Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) fell six seconds short for second place.

The 23-year-old Segaert gained steam on the second half of the 20.7km course and stopped the clock at 24:56, unseating his Bahrain teammate Vlad Van Mechelen by 14 seconds.

As the last rider on the course, Wellens had Segaert's time as his carrot, but could not break the 25-minute mark or Segaert's time to grab a second career TT win.

Bahrain-Victorious scored two riders on the podium as Van Mechelen held on to third from an early finish among the 26 elite men's starters. Rune Herregodts (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) threatened but fell one second back for fourth.

Segaert added his first elite tri-colour time trial national jersey to a collection that included one U23 national title and a trio of U23 European TT wins. He was third last year and second as an elite in 2023. It was his third victory of the season, which included a strong impression with a stage 12 win at the Giro d'Italia.

The heat is on

Ice bags were a common sight at the start area of Etikhove, with riders trying to keep their core temperatures moderated in the sweltering heat. Because the mid-afternoon temperature reached 36°C in the Maarkedal area, the Belgian Cycling Federation shortened the men's time trial championship to one lap of the 20.7km course to help athletes, spectators and officials. The original course had been planned for two full laps.

The time trial course still provided a challenge across the Flemish hills with two short climbs - a 900-metre rise at 6.4% to open the contest immediately from the start ramp and then 12km later a 500-metre slope at 5.6%. From that ascent, riders could regain a steady rhythm for the final 8km.

Michiel Lambrecht (Team Flanders-Baloise) was the first rider on the course and set the standard at 27:16.

As the procession of riders completed the ride, the time kept dropping, and Vlad Van Mechelen (Bahrain-Victorious) took a turn in the hot seat with 25:10.

Van Mechelen's fastest time at the first intermediate checkpoint, 9:24, held until the final three riders passed, his Bahrain teammate Segaert posting a better time by four seconds and then Wellens two more seconds faster.

Through the second checkpoint, Segaert turned up the heat and went one second faster than Wellens, as the two set sights on unseating Van Mechelen at the finish.

Just behind Wellens was Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal-QuickStep), who won a bronze medal in the TT at Worlds last year, and he finished 1:01 back in eighth place.

Absent from this year's time trial were defending national champion and five-time world champion Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), who will focus on the Tour de France, and former national ITT winner Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), recovering from an elbow injury in a training ride that led to an infection.

Wellens will next defend his road race title on Sunday, 236.7km from Antwerp to Brasschaat.

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Lotte Claes (Fenix-Premier Tech) claimed the elite women's individual time trial at the Belgian Road Championships on Friday. It was a strong performance and a surprise unseating Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) from an eighth consecutive victory in the discipline.

Claes covered the 20.7km course with the winning time of 29:05, beating Sandrine Tas (Lotto Intermarché Ladies) by 12 seconds and Margot Vanpachtenbeke (Lidl-Trek) by 28 seconds. Kopecky finished fourth at 31 seconds back.

The Belgian Road Championships kicked off on Friday with the time trials, where the elite women raced across an undulating 20.7km course with about 200 metres of elevation gain in Etikhove, a small section of Maarkedal.

The only two inclines on the course were a 900-metre hill with an average gradient of 6.4% that peaked at the 1km mark, and a 500-metre hill with an average gradient of 5.6% located at the 13.5km mark.

The organisers of the event, in consultation with the riders' union and the teams, made the decision to shorten the elite men's time trial due to the current heatwave in Europe, and temperatures reaching 34°C in the area.

With a few technical sections, riders were asked to exercise caution on their time-trial bikes.

Audrey De Keersmaeker (Picnic-Post NL) was the first rider off the starting ramp at 3:24:30 local time, and Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) was the last rider to start her time trial at 3:50:00, in her attempt to win a remarkable eighth consecutive elite women's time trial title.

Shari Bossuyt (AG Insurance-Soudal Team) set the first benchmark with a fast intermediate time check, but that was short-lived as Tess Moerman (AG-Insurance Soudal) crossed the line six seconds faster. Claes stormed across the intermediate checkpoints and the finish line with the benchmark time of 29:05. Tas and Vanpachtenbeke were the next fastest on course.

By the time Kopecky started and hit the first time check with the fourth fastest time, it was apparent that she would struggle to gain time back in the last sections of the course, ultimately finishing in fourth place.

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As someone who loves to soundtrack my rides, the Apple AirPods range is my choice as the best headphones for cycling. While they usually carry a premium price tag, Amazon's Prime Day sales have seen the latest Apple AirPods Pro 3 slashed by $70, dropping these top-tier earbuds to an incredible $179. That is their lowest ever price and smashes their 2025 launch price of $249.

Get the Apple AirPods Pro 3 right now for just $179 at Amazon.

Prime Day wraps up at midnight tonight, June 26th, and these AirPods deals with it, so grab them while you can. Below you'll find the details on AirPod Pro 3 and also the AirPod 4 with deal from Amazon US and UK.

Prime Day runs from June 23rd to June 26th. As always, there are plenty of cycling deals to be had, and our Amazon Prime Day 2026 bike deals page will be the place to find all the best deals.

The Apple AirPods Pro 3 see a big jump forward over their predecessors, for cyclists the built-in heart rate sensing lets you track your heart rate and calories burned with up to 50 different workout types.

Apple also claims to have improved the sound quality with three-dimensional audio and a new acoustic architecture, which is claimed to deliver transformed bass, detailed clarity so you can hear every instrument and stunningly vivid vocals.

Having used both the AirPods Pro 3 and AirPods Pro 2, there is noticeable improvement in sound quality, but it's the heart rate tracking which is particularly useful for cyclists. Battery life remains much the same at around 7-8 hrs.

If you are already plugged into the Apple ecosystem, the instant, seamless pairing across your devices is a massive quality-of-life bonus too. That said, they are fully compatible with any standard Bluetooth device, meaning you can easily pair them directly to your bike computer for hassle-free heart rate tracking, audio cues and music on the fly.

Below you'll find the best Apple AirPods deals for your location and currency.

Be sure to check out our Prime Day 2026 Live ticker, and there you'll find all the best cycling deals as they appear.

Most of the time when we see Tadej Pogačar in a bike race, he's already at the peak of his powers. The only questions that need to be asked are not so much whether he will win, but how and where.

The Tour de France is the hardest of all those racing challenges, though, and taking a fifth one this year would further cement the Slovenian star's place amongst the very greatest of the sport. However, while he is the maximum favourite for the final victory, it's by no means a given that he'll do it.

All of which makes the process by which Pogačar has reached a point where he can bid for the Tour for a seventh year running (and with podium finishes on all of them so far) even more relevant.

In the first of a two-part series, Cyclingnews talks to UAE Team Emirates-XRG Head of Performance Jeroen Swart about Pogačar and what he believes he can achieve in the Tour de France this year, including why he thinks the four-times winner can still get even better.

Q&A with UAE Team Emirates-XRG's Head of Performance

Cyclingnews (CN): At the start of this season, while you pointed out that two years ago [from the start of 2024 onwards], Pogačar had mproved dramatically, you said, and I'm quoting you textually "I think the changes now will be much smaller. It's more about being able to sustain that level."

Do you stand by that statement now, having seen what he did in the spring and where he's at?

Jeroen Swart (JS): I do. If we look at Tadej's numbers, he definitely is not improving by the same margins as he did before. I have been a little surprised in that we've been able to still eke out some improvement. If you had asked me two years ago, I would have suspected that we would have hit a plateau and that we would have been then focused on maintaining that plateau and to our surprise, he has still improved, and that has helped us as well in terms of his performance on the Classics side as well. That was also aimed at specifically that he'd gained a few kilos of extra muscle that helped with the explosiveness required for the Classics, so there was a focused training and specific adaptation for that.

But his overall performance, if we look across races, has increased very marginally, and we were nevertheless surprised to still see an improvement, which is obviously welcome. Every little bit helps.

CN: So is it fair to say that the best Tadej could be yet to come?

JS: That would be so difficult to predict. I would settle for the same Tadej we've had in previous Tours, that would be great. If he manages to improve further, that would certainly be welcome. I would hesitate to think that it's still possible, but let's wait and see.

CN: But you're not ruling it out.

JS: I'm not ruling anything out. He keeps surprising us and with his level, every year has been a surprise in terms of his ability to continue to improve a little bit here and there. So I wouldn't rule it out, but I think the chances are increasingly slimmer each season that he can take another step.

CN: Miguel Indurain was the last male rider to win five Tours, and he won his first when he was 27, which is the same year that Pogačar could win his fifth this July.

So given the five-year difference in ages to possibly reach that particular landmark, is it fair to say what really matters more now at this point in Tadej career is ensuring his mental resilience remains in place, because you've got the physical side of things more or less dialled?

JS: I think that point about mental resilience isn't just about Tadej, it's across the board, in all sports. Sports psychology and mental coaching have become increasingly recognised as a very important part of sports performance, and whether it's in professional golfing or professional cycling, it's equally as important.

So that means that there's a greater structure and focus than ever before on mental health, performance-related optimisation from a mental perspective. And we've taken specific steps to do that, and to look after that.

The racing has definitely become mentally more challenging, too. It is more full on from the start, and it doesn't really let up, you know: There are the odd races or stages where there's a hiatus in the sort of attacks and the pace and the peloton can relax a little, but that has become almost the exception and no longer the rule. So every race is mentally very taxing and that can be cumulative.

I also think there's a greater mental stress because of the speeds, the aggression in the racing - and our riders talk about this - the risks being taken across the peloton, including by our riders as well, because everybody seems to be pushing the envelope.

Descents have become a step to the next attack, they've become the area where attacks often happen, where the pressure is exerted. So all round, the mental stress of racing has definitely increased substantially.

At the same time, the younger peloton has emerged as a result of riders developing physically much earlier, particularly in their late teens and early twenties, a time when many of them are developing as individuals and their personality is not even fully formed. The prefrontal cortex is still developing, and you're putting these athletes into the most difficult circumstances mentally while they're still developing emotionally and neurologically.

The reason why you've asked the question is because it's obviously a factor these days and we recognise that and so it's something that you have to pay attention to and look after them.

The question is often asked, too, 'When will Tadej stop racing?' and it will be earlier than other athletes have traditionally done in the past. Athletes used to ride into their mid-30s, sometimes in the case of Alejandro Valverde and others into their 40s.

I think it's unlikely that we'll see that. I think we'll see earlier retirements, and then there's also the aspect of motivation for us with Tadej. We've spoken about it quite regularly, and it's important for him to stay motivated and enjoy the sport because as soon as it becomes a drag, it becomes harder to have the level of commitment that you have to have to achieve the heights that he is achieving.

CN: So does that added mental stress for everybody, not just Tadej, but obviously including him, affect the way you've approached the assault on the fifth Tour win?

JS: Well, it's not just around the Tour, it's around the entire season and actually with the whole team. So one of the things that we did do in recent years is that, and I'm talking from a team-wide basis, was introduce our Gen Z team into 1.1, 2.1 races, where we are able to substitute in Gen Z riders and allow our WorldTour riders to take more time out, because we do know and recognise that they require periods of recovery and a large part of that is mental. So we build that into each rider's calendar and [UAE sports manager] Joxean Fernández Matxin does an excellent job of that.

He has found an absolutely phenomenal balance in terms of bringing riders both opportunities but also the periods of recovery that they need and so every rider has a break in the season where they're able to just go home where they reset mentally and physically, and that helps in terms of then returning with increased mental vigour and focus.

In Tadej's case specifically, it's the same thing but also focused around maintaining his motivation while also not overloading him in terms of the racing calendar, and so you'll see his racing calendar is very much focused around his ambitions and goals, and further to that, it's not peppered with races that aren't meaningful. So it's a very carefully constructed calendar that ensures that he is able to tackle the goals that he wants to tackle while also being prepared physically and mentally for the goals coming up.

CN: This year, it's a similar kind of Tour route to 2024, as in we've got a very complicated first week, and then again in the third. How does that change things in terms of the physiological and preparation side? Are you taking a similar approach to 2024, perhaps, when we had the Alps so soon?

JS: The approach is actually very similar, but I don't think the specific parcours of this year's Tour is a reason to change how we do things. In the years when he did the Giro, it was obviously different, but in the years that he hasn't done the Giro and that's the majority of the last few years, the build-up has been very similar to this one: a focus on the Classics, a reset and then a build-up towards the Tour, which requires a different physiological stressor [physical or biological factors that disrupt the body's internal balance - Ed] in terms of the training stimulus. It requires a different set of performance characteristics and so it's aimed at achieving those. It doesn't matter whether the first week is peppered with difficult stages or whether that's in the second week, he needs to arrive at the Tour in top condition, and so that is really what our focus is on.

CN: When it comes to general preparation of the UAE athletes and Tadej in particular, have you looked at other sports outside cycling a lot, a little or just a bit, as a reference point? Are there any specific ones that you have found helpful?

JS: I wouldn't say so. We look at all the science and the evolution of sports performance across the board. So sometimes there are, you know, little anecdotes that come through from running, from other sports that we then look into, and sometimes innovation happens in other sports, and then we will assess that. And then over time it will become part of our practice.

But it's not that often that you see other sports demonstrating new techniques. I would say the ones that we have gained insights from would be, for instance, running and triathlon.

CN: Could you give me an example?

JS: Sure. In running and in triathlon, we've increasingly used heat training in previous years, [also] the aerodynamic side. Triathlon is unlimited. There are no restrictions on the kinds of aerodynamic changes that you can adopt on the bike and in terms of the rider's position, and so triathlon often innovates in that space.

We're then constrained by the UCI regulations. So we have to look at changes that are adopted in triathlon and see whether or not a modification of those can be somehow implemented within the UCI's rules. So that's an example.

Aero gains is a huge part of triathlon, too, and then in the training side of things, as I said, heat training is an example that was adopted across multiple different endurance sports and then running in particular. Then it was adopted by cycling and triathlon and all endurance disciplines collectively.

CN: Have you continued working on his sprints in high mountains because this is something you mentioned in previous interviews as being very important?

JS: It's part of our altitude training protocol for different reasons. Doing sprints at altitude reverses some of the negative effects of being at altitude, which is that blood vessels constrict and therefore limit your ability to do high-intensity accelerations at altitude.

I know that other teams, Jumbo as they were back then [Visma-Lease a Bike], were doing that prior to us, and so sometimes we look at some of the things that other teams are doing while we're studying the literature and we met with the scientists in that space to optimise our protocol and implementation of that protocol.

So that's something that we definitely do, and continue to do, and it's certainly beneficial.

CN: What about his low-cadence torque training, which has also been mentioned as significant?

JS: That's something that's continued too, and I think some of his improvements in the last seasons are still attributable to improvements in torque. In cycling we talk about mean maximum power, which is the mean value for a particular duration that you can produce a power output and we have mean maximal torque as well.

So we know that an athlete can sustain a maximal torque for say five minutes or 10 minutes or 15 minutes and it declines with increasing duration. And Tadej's mean maximum torque values have continued to increase over the last three years that we've been focused on that kind of work.

And because torque is a component of power that is possibly responsible for some of the gains that we've made, we can infer that there are continued improvements in that area as well.

CN: When it comes to Pogačar's use of standing and seated accelerations, I couldn't help noticing during Liège that as far as I could see from the TV cameras, he used a very strong standing acceleration on the Côte de la Redoute and then a seated one on the Roche-aux-Faucons to finally 'get rid of' Paul Seixas. Was that a planned strategy or was that switching around simply because Tadej felt like it?

JS: That was his own decision, that was purely his own decision to attack in that way.

Part of that race he was assessing where he could potentially uncover a weakness in Seixas' ability and it seemed that the out-of-the-saddle, very high intensity attacks were not having the desired effect of shaking him loose. So then he decided to do a very high-intensity effort but sustained for a longer duration, and that's something that you can only do in the saddle and that then had the desired effect of creating the gap.

So I think it was just a matter of testing out the different aspects of where he could exploit a weakness. And eventually he found it.

Part 2 of this interview, including more information on Pogačar's capacities as a racer and rider, will be published next week.

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Dceathlon CMA CGM's Paul Seixas has been spotted training in the high Alps as the day counts down to the start of the Tour de France and the 19-year-old super talent continues to recover from his crash injuries.

Local newspaper Le Dauphiné spotted the French rider climbing the Col du Galibier on Thursday, with teammates Nicolas Prodhomme, Aurélien Paret-Peintre, Gregor Mühlberger, and Matthew Riccitello. Romain Bardet, who has been announced as the team's future sports manager, also rode with Seixas.

Decathlon had said that Seixas and his teammates would carry out reconnaissance rides of the three Alpine stages during a final training camp as the days count down to the start of the Tour. This year's Grand Boucle ends with mountain stages to Orcières-Merlette and then two climbs to Alpe d'Huez on consecutive days via the iconic hairpins and the lesser-known Col de Sarenne.

Seixas will not ride the French National Championships on Sunday and will travel directly to Barcelona on Tuesday for the Tour de France Grand Départ.

He is expected to target the GC on his Tour debut, with French fans hoping he can one day win the Tour. Seixas' career trajectory has indicated he is destined for greatness but he crashed hard at the recent Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and then abandoned the race.

He suffered major road rash to his forearms and hip, admitting he "slid like a toboggan, on my front. I grated myself on the road." He was forced to train indoors as he recovered but travelled to the Alps to ride outdoors and stay at altitude. He has been seen with bandages on his arm, two weeks after his crash.

Seixas underwent an MRI scan on Tuesday to rule out any consequences of his crash at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and had since upped his training intensity, even riding in the rain on Wednesday.

Decathlon were supposed to name their eight riders for the Tour de France on Tuesday but delayed their announcement as they wait for final checks on rider fitness and health.

According to L'Équipe, Decathlon are concerned about Daan Hoole. The Dutch rouleur and time trialist would be an important domestique for Seixas but withdrew from the Dutch National Championships TT this week.

Prodhomme, Paret-Peintre and Riccitello are expected to form the core of the Tour squad, with Mühlberger selected after his impressive support ride for Felix Gall at the Giro d'Italia.

Stefan Bissegger and Hoole are likely selections but the Decathlon team management have to decide if sprinter Olav Kooij is given a place in the final eight-rider roster.

Decathlon are expected to name their Tour line-up after the National Championships at the weekend and final medical checks and considerations.

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Franziska Koch (FDJ United-Suez) scored her first elite women's time trial title at the German Road Championships on Friday, adding TT gold to her two road race victories from 2025 and 2024.

Koch, who won Paris-Roubaix Femmes earlier this year, powered round the 26.2km course in Streufdorf 26 seconds faster than second-placed Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM) to take the victory.

Lisa Klein (REMBE rad-net) finished in third, 1:12 adrift of Koch's fairly dominant ride.

It remains to be seen whether Koch can take home the road race jersey for a third year in a row over the weekend, but she will at least be taking one set of German stripes home from the National Championships in what has already been a highly successful year.

Earlier in the day, Justyna Czapla (Canyon-SRAM) won the under-23 women's TT title with a time that would have put her in the top six of the elite race, whilst Nils Politt (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) won a close-fought men's TT.

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Recently-retired Lizzie Deignan will be returning to the sport in a new capacity, taking up a sport director role at the Great Britain Cycling Team to work with the road squad at World Championships and other major events leading towards the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.

Deignan, who retired in 2025, has so far spent her time away from the sport welcoming a third child and working as a pundit, but will now make her return to racing in the Great Britain team car.

As well as her successes for her various trade teams, which included winning the inaugural Paris-Roubaix Femmes, Deignan was highly successful in a GB jersey too, delivering the first medal at the London 2012 Olympics and winning a world title in Richmond in 2015.

In her new role with British Cycling, she will be hoping to help the new generation of riders to reach the heights that she did.

"I’m excited about the opportunity to work with a strong and talented group of riders; I believe we’re one of the strongest road nations in the world. It’s been over 10 years since my world title so it’s time for us to step into our potential and deliver more rainbow jerseys!" she said in a British Cycling press release.

"It’s always a proud moment to represent your country - my aim is to help each rider who does that achieve their maximum performance with the best possible support."

Matt Brammeier, the current road cycling lead at British Cycling, welcomed Deignan's appointment with enthusiasm.

"Bringing Lizzie into the team is a real coup," he said. "Having only recently retired from the bunch, she has so much insight and knowledge into both GB’s riders and the opposition. She also understands how we work as a team first-hand and can support and advise on how to get the best out of our riders on race day.

"Beyond that, Lizzie is a true legend of the sport and has directly inspired some of our future stars to want to follow in her footsteps, so to be working alongside her will be a real joy for them. Most importantly, she is just incredibly passionate about the sport and seeing Great Britain achieve success at the highest level and that shines through above everything."

Deignan will work with the Great Britain Cycling Team at various international events but the main focus for British Cycling right now is the LA Olympics in 2028, where they are hoping to back up the successes of Paris which saw Anna Henderson score a silver medal in the women's time trial.

Though Great Britain is a dominant force on the track, the nation hasn't won a gold medal on the road since 2008 when Nicole Cooke won the road race in Beijing. At the World Championships, riders like Zoe Bäckstedt, Cat Ferguson and Harry Hudson have delivered age-group rainbow jerseys, but a GB rider hasn't won an elite road race or TT since Deignan herself won in Richmond.

With over 20 years of experience as a professional, British Cycling are hoping her return to the fold can also bring back a return to the top of the biggest international road events.

"It’s now incredibly exciting to see her wanting to continue to contribute to the success of the team from the team car, so to speak," GBCT performance director Stephen Park CBE said.

"Having a rider return to the programme beyond their racing career is a true testament to their relationship with the programme and I know that Lizzie’s input will be invaluable as we move ever closer to LA 2028."

Eurobike is back. Though not as I or many others remember it.

At one point, it looked like the show might not go ahead at all, but in the end, it has returned, albeit in a much smaller capacity, and there was still plenty of new tech on display to check out.

The event now uses only three halls and even these were far from full, compared to seven or more in previous years. As someone who has attended the show on and off for fifteen years, I found this rather melancholic. It's an event that everyone likes to complain about, but it was always a great chance to meet up with the rest of the industry from around the world in one place. Alas, times change, but despite this, there was still some great stuff on show.

Having roamed the halls, here are my top five highlights.

1. New Canyon Aeroad CFR

Canyon wasn't shy about its latest race bike, the Aerroad CFR. "The fastest Tour de France bike you can buy." That's a line touted by many an aero bike builder, but this one is at least backed by test results from Tour magazine that put it under the elusive 200W barrier, and putting it ahead of everything else currently in the pro peloton. Time will tell how well it fares in our own testing, though; keep your eyes peeled.

Calling it a new bike feels a bit of a stretch, though, as all of the changes and improvements come from using a different handlebar. It now features UDH (Universal Derailleur Hanger) compatibility, and more seatpost options are available, too, making it much easier to get your ideal fit.

The handlebar has been used by Mathieu van der Poel and his teammates all season and is available aftermarket at £598, should you want to upgrade your existing Aerroad.

The catchily titled CP0053 is said to be 120g lighter than the outgoing version and to save two watts, with a forward-sweeping design and flared drops. Canyon make some lofty claims on how much this new bar saves with the rider, claiming the longer lower position could save up to 24 watts (assuming, of course, the lower position works for you and you can stay in it, which is no mean feat for most of us).

2. Ridley's unnamed gravel racer

The prototype for this was first spotted at the Traka by our own Will Jones back in April, and it now looks much closer to production-ready, proudly on display on the Ridley stand. We assume it'll be the new Kanzo, but it doesn't yet have an official name.

It's a striking-looking beast, and ticks all of the current gravel racers' want lists. Aero, wide tyre clearance (up to 58mm apparently), frame storage and an aggressive position similar to top-end road bikes. The display bike featured SRAM Force 1x13 (does anyone still run a double chainring in gravel?) and had a neat Wolf Tooth chain guide as well as a sharp-looking Forza one-piece cockpit with narrow lever position and flared drops. The wheels look like something new, too, with deep rims and 27mm internal rim bed, CeramicSpeed-equipped hubs, and carbon spokes. They're named the Forza Sikonros and could be a good, fast option with wider rubber.

3. Eddy Merckx 525R

On the same stand was the Eddy Merckx 525R, which takes a thoroughly different approach to going fast. It has a lot of the things you'd expect, like a nine-watt saving over the original, tyre clearance for 34mm and a sub-kilo frame weight. But what makes this interesting is its approach to fit geometry.

By steepening the seat angle and raising the stack, they've created an aero bike that still lets the rider get in an aero position, but one that's far more comfortable for us mere mortals to hold. There is some clever geometry manipulation going on here, and good use of the revised UCI regulations, too, which means they have moved the saddle position further forward to open up the hip angle, which is becoming an increasingly common way to get faster on the bike.

Elsewhere, you'll see aero features common on lots of other bikes, like a deep head tube and aero tube shapes throughout, but combined with its fresh take on fit geometry, this could be one of the surprises of all of the latest generation of aero bikes.

4. Megamo Upon

Avinox, the e-bike arm of DJi, drew plenty of attention this year with its new concept motor, combining an E-bike motor and gearbox, but it was the use of its current 2nd-series motor on the Megamo Upon that caught my eye.

Most E-road bikes approach the motor in the same way, trying to hide it as much as possible. Both in terms of looks and function, but the Upon is different. Looks-wise, Megamo has done a very good job of packaging the full power motor and 600Wh battery. You can still tell it's an e-bike at first glance, but it's far from the early monstrosities the Eurobike was often full of.

Power is where it differs greatly, though. Normally, bike brands will spec either a lighter-spec version with less torque or a specific motor designed to give a softer feel on drop-bar E-bikes. The idea being that you don't really notice the motor and still feel like it's your effort propelling you forward, more of a gentle assist than you would find on a full-power e-MTB, for instance. But not here. This uses the same high-powered motor as their MTB line, offering up to 1500 watts of peak power.

I'd say watch out Jasper Philipsen, but his is limited to 25 km/h in Europe, so don't expect to be dominating any sprints on it. It should make light work of steep climbs, though. It's an interesting approach, and one to keep an eye on.

5. Gusto's new GTG gravel prototype

And finally, a bike from a brand you might not have heard of, but one ridden by someone in his younger years, you certainly will know.

Gusto are a Taiwanese brand that offers great value road bikes, but unlike many others, has been involved in the European race scene for some time, sponsoring a certain Tadej Pogačar when he first joined the peloton. In fact, he now personally sponsors the second division team that still runs the Gusto bikes.

The brand had a new gravel bike on display outside in the sweltering heat. Details were a bit scarce, but it looked like it follows many of the aesthetics and details found on its current road bike, the GTR and added all the features you'd expect of a gravel bike; plenty of tyre clearance, a one-piece cockpit and a suitably aggressive position, and some new gravel-specific wheels too.

The brand says it expects to launch the bike fully later this year, but if its road range is anything to go by, I'd expect it to be sharp-handling and extremely well priced.

For over 120 years, the Tour de France has been held in July, with winners from Maurice Garin to Tadej Pogačar triumphing at cycling's biggest race in the height of the summer.

But will things always be this way? Or will rising temperatures caused by climate change one day provoke a shake-up in the professional cycling calendar?

The question has been asked about cycling's other Grand Tours – the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España – before. The Italian race is sometimes forced to skip high-mountain tests as heavy snow lingers deeper into May, while racing through Spain in late August poses obvious heat-related challenges.

The Tour de Frances Femmes, which runs in early August, the hottest time of the year in the country, is another race that will surely be affected by the rising heat, too.

This year, the same questions have been posed of the men's Tour as Europe faces a record-breaking heatwave just a week before the Grand Départ in Barcelona. Much of Western Europe has dealt with air temperatures of 35°C (95°F), while highs of 43°C (109°F) have hit parts of France and Spain.

On Monday, French newspaper Le Parisien raised the question, referring to a scientific study titled 'The future of European outdoor summer sports through the lens of 50 years of the Tour de France', published by a collective of experts based in France, Spain, the UK, and Italy in the journal Scientific Reports in February.

The study stated that, given the increased frequency of heatwaves, "it seems only a question of time as to when the race will encounter the extreme heat stress days that will test the existing heat safety protocols," citing Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) – a measure of environmental heat which takes humidity, air movement, and heat radiation, along with the standard air measurement temperature, into account.

A WBGT reading above 28°C (82°F) stands out as high risk, and so the study looked back over 50 years of July data around France. The focus was on key cities including Paris, Nîmes, Bordeaux, and Toulouse (and a secondary focus on six others), as well as the famous mountains of Alpe d'Huez and the Col du Tourmalet.

The study found that the highest mid-afternoon WBGT occurrences in each location "since 1974 have all been recorded post 2018", while all four cities have passed the high-risk mark in recent years.

"Excluding the two mountainous locations, each of the above-mentioned WBGT records would fall well in the high-risk category according to the UCI's [High Temperature] Protocol," the study noted.

"The WBGT trends over the entire Metropolitan France are positive, demonstrating an increase in afternoon heat stress values in July over the 50-year period."

Fortunately, a high-risk WBGT event has yet to occur concurrently with a Tour de France stage. But with air temperatures and the WBGT trending upwards over time, it looks like it's a matter of time before that eventually comes to pass.

The High Temperature Protocol and its consequences

What could happen when that mark is eventually passed during a race?

Cycling's governing body, the UCI, has taken steps in the past to assist with the challenges of the weather. The well-publicised Extreme Weather Protocol was introduced in 2015, while the lesser-known and less often-utilised High Temperature Protocol was adopted in 2023.

The High Temperature Protocol assesses risk in line with various WBGT ranges, with a WBGT between 23°C and 27.9°C in the orange zone of moderate high risk, and anything above 28°C in the red high-risk zone (other sporting federations, including football's FIFA and tennis' ITF, define high-risk zones above 32°C).

Once the protocol is invoked, various race stakeholders, including the commissaires, race director and doctor, and team and rider representatives, would meet to discuss the next steps in line with the UCI's risk zones.

Suggested countermeasures for the orange zone include adapting race start times, adding shading and motorbikes with drinks and ice socks. Red zone countermeasures include adapting start times, neutralising sections of stages, and even race cancellations.

At the time of writing, none of cycling's biggest races has been neutralised or cancelled in line with these measures, though more and more races are being affected by the heat.

Earlier this month, the Canadian Gravel National Championships were cancelled due to safety concerns as air temperatures hit 34°C, while in Europe, several national federations have made extra accommodations due to the ongoing heatwave.

Back in January, a combination of temperatures hitting the 40s and bushfire risks caused the cancellation of both Surf Coast Classic races and the alteration of a stage of the Tour Down Under.

Four years ago, stage 15 of the Tour saw riders racing to Carcassonne in air temperatures exceeding 40°C as the UCI enacted the Extreme Weather Protocol, allowing riders to take on drinks until 10km from the finish and extending the time cut as race organisers ASO sprayed water across select portions of the road.

"I would say other sports would be cancelled if it's that warm, but I think mostly in cycling we learn if something bad happens, which is very unfortunate," Bob Jungels told Cyclingnews at the time.

The Scientific Reports study notes that the lack of neutralisations and cancellations at the Tour due to the heat is "apparently by chance."

"It is interesting that the Tour de France race dates have thus far managed to avoid the worst of the July heat stress," reads the paper's conclusion alongside recommendations to keep developing and re-evaluating cycling's heat protocols.

"However, given that the route and the race dates have to be planned months in advance, while reliable weather forecasts are available maximum 14 days beforehand this outcome is apparently by chance.

"Accordingly, it is critical that both organisers and participants (and to a lesser extent, the spectators) remain vigilant and prepared. In the absence of detailed daily weather forecasts several months before the event, awareness of the locations with a history of dangerous heat stress occurrences, as well as emerging ones, is of key importance."

Measures to beat the heat

So could the Tour de France be moved, then? Shifting the race, or any other long-established major race, for that matter, seems unlikely in the near future.

In recent years, races have managed to avoid running in air temperatures and WBGT which stray into the high-risk category as defined by the UCI and the Scientific Reports study, so there's no present danger of shifting the Tour to May, let's say.

There could be scope to shift stage times around, given that riders race during a point of the day when the highest temperatures occur. This seems the most likely outcome in the near future, with races shifting away from the mid-afternoon heat and further into the morning.

"In July in France, morning hours are the safest part of the day," notes the study. "While high heat stress can persist during most of the afternoon, planning the race for the morning hours and avoiding the afternoons could substantially increase rider and spectator safety."

In the meantime, the Tour is also taking other measures to beat the heat. Speaking to Le Dauphiné Libéré recently, race director Christian Prudhomme said that he and route designer Thierry Gouvenou have sought out shaded areas more than they had in the past.

"Our approach to designing certain routes," he stated, when asked if the race has a solution for the rising temperatures.

"The Col du Haag [on stage 14 – Ed.], which is one of the new features for 2026, is entirely under the trees. Five or six years ago, when we were designing a route, we thought it had to be in the open for television coverage and for the public.

"Today, on the contrary, we look for climbs in the undergrowth whenever possible. But obviously, we will never remove places like the Galibier or the Tourmalet from the Tour de France."

At the Vuelta a España, which this year, in a rare move, will be run entirely in Spain's southern regions, among the hottest in the country, race director Javier Guillén has taken a different stance.

"The heat cannot prevent us from going to certain areas. It's part of the competition, and we must adapt to those conditions," Guillén told Marca last week.

"Furthermore, we have protocols in place for extreme situations. They are planned for cases of extreme temperatures. We are prepared and will assess each situation as it arises."

The Tour de France, and La Vuelta for that matter, will remain in the afternoon for now, then, and there's no talk yet of inverting cycling's calendar to avoid the summer months. But with record-breaking temperatures and extreme heatwaves becoming ever more common across Europe, that may not always be the case.

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UAE Team Emirates-XRG's Nils Politt reclaimed the elite men's time trial title at the German Road Championships on Friday morning in a tight race that saw the podium separated by only two seconds.

Politt won by only a second on the 41km course in Streufdorf, only narrowly beating Max Walscheid (Lidl-Trek). Third-placed Jasha Sütterlin (Jayco AlUla) was also incredibly close, only two seconds down.

Defending champion Max Schachmann (Soudal-QuickStep) missed out on the podium this time, finishing fourth at 14 seconds.

The German TT title is often one of the most hotly-contested titles during National Championships week, and for Politt this marks a return to the German stripes, having last won in 2024 and 2023.

The UAE rider will take his freshly-minted jersey to the Tour de France, where he will wear it as he plays a key role in the opening team time trial in Barcelona.

Earlier in the day in Streufdorf, Bruno Kessler (Tudor Pro Cycling U23) won the men's U23 title.

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Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe have confirmed that Remco Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz will share team leadership at the Tour de France, convinced that the two riders' different talents and mindsets can be combined to target a place on the final Tour podium.

"We believe we are bringing one of the most complete squads to the start," the team's Chief of Sports Zak Dempster said when the final eight-rider line-up was confirmed.

"With Remco and Florian, we have two leaders who have already proven they can stand on the Tour podium. Their different strengths give us tactical options that could prove decisive."

A few days ago, team manager Ralph Denk suggested that the road and the racing will eventually decide who becomes the protected leader and real podium contender.

"Remco is still the team leader and Florian Lipowitz is a bit of the second man but in terms of sporting performance, they are on equal footing," Denk explained to Flemish newspapers Het Laatste Nieuws and Het Nieuwsblad.

"Eventually, there will come a day when one or the other feels better. Then they will have to fight it out between themselves on the road. I am convinced that this can work," Denk made clear.

Jai Hindley and Maxim Van Gils will provide vital support in the mountains, with Mattia Cattaneo, Jan Tratnik, Nico Denz and Tim van Dijke selected for the flat and rolling stages. Aleksandr Vlasov, Finn Fisher-Black, Jordi Meeus and Daniel Martínez did not make the final selection, despite their Tour experience and current form.

The team highlighted how both Evenepoel and Lipowitz have finished third in the Tour in 2024 and 2025 and that both have won the best young rider's white jersey.

"Now, they will line up together for the first time as a leadership duo," the team said.

"Their strengths complement each other perfectly. Evenepoel is one of the most explosive and versatile riders in the peloton, while Lipowitz has established himself as one of the most consistent stage racers.

"The combination of their different skill sets gives Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe a level of tactical flexibility that few teams can match."

"The strength of this roster goes far beyond Remco and Florian," sports director Patxi Vila said.

"We have experienced climbers, strong all-rounders and riders capable of taking responsibility in every race situation. Every Tour develops its own dynamic, and with this team we have an answer to almost every possible scenario."

Red Bull suggested that Tratnik, Cattaneo, Denz and Van Dijke will form the team’s 'engine room' as they guide and protect Evenepoel and Lipowitz during the three weeks of intense racing. Patxi Vila, Oliver Cookson, Klaas Lodewyck will be the sports directors, calling the strategy from the team cars.

Tratnik is the designated road captain, while van Dijke will make his Tour de France debut. The Dutch rouleur fractured his collarbone during an altitude training camp but Red Bull said he is fully fit.

Denz and Cattaneo brings a wealth of experience and calm. The Italian is especially close to Evenepoel and will also play an important role in the opening team time trial after finishing third in the Italian time trial championships.

The Red Bull line-up is split 50-50 between climbers and rouleurs, with Hindley and Van Gils expected to help Evenepoel and Lipowitz in the mountains.

Hindley finished third overall at the Giro d'Italia after fighting illness mid-race. He also won the 2022 Giro and a stage in the Pyrenees at the 2023 Tour. With Van Gils still building his form after a nasty crash in the spring, Hindley will play a key role in the Pyrenian stages in the first week of this year's race. Van Gils returned at the Tour Auvergne–Rhône-Alpes and won a stage from the breakaway to confirm he is on his way back to peak form.

Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe for the 2026 Tour de France

• Remco Evenepoel
• Florian Lipowitz
• Mattia Cattaneo
• Nico Denz
• Jai Hindley
• Jan Tratnik
• Tim van Dijke
• Maxim Van Gils

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A total of 184 riders from 23 teams will start the 2026 Tour de France, all with different roles, hopes and ambitions for the three weeks of racing.

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) is chasing a record-equalling fifth victory, while some Tour debutants are just hoping to survive the mountain stages and reach the finish in Paris. 'À chacun son Tour' as they say in France.

Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) have dominated the Tour GC battle in recent years but this year's race, at least for the podium spots, seems more open and so surely more interesting, even if there is a fear Pogačar could dominate once again.

Vingegaard and his Visma team will challenge Pogačar and UAE, with Remco Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) a dangerous duo for the GC. Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) leads the list of young Tour debutants but the French teenager could also emerge as a GC contender.

The best sprinters in the world will fight for the victory on the flat stages, with plenty of other more aggressive riders looking for success from breakaways. The domestiques on every team face three weeks of suffering and total team loyalty.

The start list includes the 18 WorldTour teams plus Pinarello-Q36.5, Tudor Pro Cycling and Cofidis - the three automatic invitation teams – and Team TotalEnergies and Caja Rural-Seguros RGA, the final two wildcard teams.

This is the Cyclingnews guide to all of the 23 teams taking part in the 2026 Tour including team leaders, objective, riders to watch and full team line-ups when they are confirmed.

Alpecin-Premier Tech

• Ambitions: Sprint and stage victories, points classification
• Team leader(s): Mathieu van der Poel, Jasper Philipsen
• Rider to watch: Emiel Verstrynge
• Full team: TBA

Alpecin-Premier Tech will again be hunting for stage victories at the Tour, with Jasper Philipsen a proven sprint winner and Mathieu van der Poel a threat from a breakaway or after a hard finale. Kaden Groves can help Philipsen and also be a dangerous sprint alternative.

Van der Poel and Philipsen both enjoyed successful spring Classics campaigns and appear to be on track to peak again in July. Philipsen recently won the Copenhagen Sprint WorldTour race, while Van der Poel grew in confidence and form during the Tour de Suisse.

Emiel Verstrynge is far more than a talented cyclocross rider and proved it with fourth at the Amstel Gold Race and fifth at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Whenever the stage profiles are too demanding for Van der Poel, Verstrynge should get a chance to show what he can do in the biggest race in the world.

Bahrain Victorious

• Ambitions: GC top ten, stage victories
• Team leader(s): Lenny Martinez
• Rider to watch: Antonio Tiberi
• Full team: TBA

Bahrain Victorious appear to have kept their best riders for the Tour de France, with Lenny Martinez, Antonio Tiberi, and Matej Mohorič all expected to line-up in Barcelona. Pello Bilbao will miss the Tour in what is his final season as a pro.

Cyclingnews understands that veteran Damiano Caruso is also pushing to ride the Tour de France in the final months of his career. Those five riders would give Bahrain Victorious options to fight for the GC and chase stages on mountainous and hilly terrain.

Tiberi targeted the Giro in 2025 only to suffer in the final week after a nasty crash. He will make his Tour debut, with his teammates and performance staff convinced the French Grand Tour suits him far more due to the gradual gradients in the mountains and the impact of the time trials. It will be fascinating to see if he can finally live up to the talents he showed as a young rider.

Martinez may be overshadowed by the Seixas-mania swapping through France but at 22, with two Tour rides on his palmarès, he is perhaps ready for a breakthrough stage victory. He went on the attack on four different stages in 2025 and has surely studied every detail of stages 19 and 20 to Alpe d'Huez.

Caja Rural-Seguros RGA

• Ambitions: Sprint and stage victories
• Team leader(s): Fernando Gaviria
• Rider to watch: Stefano Oldani
• Full team: TBA

The Spanish ProTeam secured a wildcard invitation from ASO, as Unibet Rose Rockets missed out. The Grand Depart in Spain was surely a factor, as was the team's long history and trusted team structure.

Caja Rural will race the Tour in their iconic jersey design of the nineties, which Marino Lejarreta showed off so often in 1987 and 1988 with mountain attacks during the Tour.

Fernando Gaviria is the team's standout name and the now veteran Colombian will surely contest the sprint finishes, perhaps with his usual early acceleration giving him a number of placings or even a victory.

Italy's Stefano Oldani won a stage at the 2022 Giro d'Italia and showed he is back to his best with a strong ride at the Tour of Slovenia.

José Félix Parra finished ninth overall at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Jan Castellon was 11th, surely enough to punch their tickets for the Tour. Alex Molenaar is also expected to be part of the final eight-rider line-up.

Cofidis

• Ambitions: Stage victories
• Team leader(s): Ion Izagirre
• Rider to watch: Milan Fretin
• Full team: TBA

Cofidis are cleverly racing for UCI ranking points and WorldTour survival but they will perhaps change tactics at the Tour and target a stage victory, which would be worth far more due to the importance of the race for the French-based team.

Veteran Basque rider Ion Izagirre could win from a breakaway in the mountains as he did in 2016 and 2023. Izagirre has already announced he will retire at the end of the season but will surely want to go out on a high. He seems motivated and focused and his third place overall the La Route d'Occitanie proves it.

Alex Aranburu showed his form by winning at the Baloise Belgium Tour from the break, while Benjamin Thomas is still a fine finisseur and arguably deserves a Tour de France stage win on his palmarès.

Milan Fretin could be a contender in the sprint finishes, as he proved in the June semi-Classics.

Decathlon CMA CGM

• Ambitions: GC podium
• Team leader(s): Paul Seixas
• Rider to watch: Olav Kooij
• Full team: TBA

The presence of Paul Seixas in the Decathlon Tour line-up changes everything for the French team.

Seixas is still only 19 but has already proven his stage racing ability and incredible potential. Now his talents face the ultimate test on his Tour debut, with France hoping and expecting him to finally give them a home victory in the years to come.

Such is Seixas' talents that even his rivals respect and fear him. Can he defeat Tadej Pogačar and stop the Slovenian from winning a fifth Tour? Probably not but he is the equal of Jonas Vingegaard and perhaps already a better, more complete Grand Tour rider than Remco Evenepoel. If he avoids any early crashes and loss of time, he could emerge to fight for the podium. That gives him a chance of victory if Pogačar stumbles.

The Decathlon team management face a tough decision on the inclusion of Olav Kooij in the Tour team. Seixas arguably deserves full team support but the Dutch sprinter has won three times since overcoming illness and making his season debut in late May. A Kooij sprint win early on could help ease the pressure on Seixas.

Stefan Bissegger and Daan Hoole will play a vital role in the opening team time trial, while Tiesj Benoot could be a calming and experienced road captain. Seixas' mountain teammates are likely to include Aurélien Paret-Peintre, Matthew Riccitello and Nicolas Prodhomme.

EF Education-EasyPost

• Ambitions: GC podium, stage victories
• Team leader(s): Richard Carapaz, Ben Healy
• Rider to watch: Alex Baudin
• Full team: TBA

EF Education-EasyPost struggled for results in the spring due to illness and injury but always raise their game for the Tour de France.

Last year Ben Healy won a stage from an aggressive breakaway, wore the yellow jersey for two days and finished ninth overall. Team manager Jonathan Vaughters will be hoping the Irish rider and fellow team leader Richard Carapaz can produce similar results this year, though the Ecuadorian has played down any GC ambitions and may just be going for stage wins instead.

Carapaz was forced to miss last year's Tour due to a late gastrointestinal issue and then was forced to reset his 2026 season after a serious saddle sore needed surgery. He missed the Giro but showed his form with second overall at the Tour de Suisse, attacking in pursuit of Tadej Pogačar on stage 1 and then defending his time gain. If he performs at a similar level in France, his and EF's season will be a success.

Kasper Asgreen is expected to target the flatter early stages, while Frenchman Alex Baudin will hope to repeat his Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes success.

Jayco AlUla

• Ambitions: Stage victories
• Team leader(s): Ben O'Connor
• Rider to watch: Michael Matthews, Luke Plapp
• Full team: Michael Matthews, Luke Plapp, Pascal Ackermann, Ben O'Connor, Mauro Schmid, Kell O'Brien, Felix Engelhardt, Luke Durbridge

Jayco AlUla are looking for a major sponsor for when Gerry Ryan finally ends his backing and a successful Tour campaign could help secure the long-term future of the Australia team.

Management have selected the team's biggest names, with Ben O'Connor, Luke Plapp, Mauro Schmid and Pascal Ackermann all expected to be part of the final eight-rider roster. Each has different talents and different ambitions, meaning the special edition Maap Jayco-AlUla jerseys could be in the action on every stage.

O'Connor hoped to target the GC at the Giro but suffered on the climbs and finished 16th. The Western Australian will be looking for redemption on the roads of France and often performs better in his second Grand Tour of the season.

Schmid is more consistent and can battle with the likes of Mathieu van der Poel on hilly stages suited to breakaways. His second place at La Flèche Wallonne was no fluke.

Michael Matthews missed the 2025 Tour due to a dangerous blood clot and then missed four months of the 2026 season after fracturing his wrists in a nasty training crash. He is healthy again and back racing and rode both the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and the Tour de Suisse.

Plapp got his first taste of the Tour in 2025 when he got a late call to replace Matthews after racing and winning at the Giro. This year his Tour campaign has been carefully calibrated and he should be a contender for breakaways and perhaps the individual time trial.

Groupama-FDJ United

• Ambitions: Stage victories, GC top ten
• Team leader(s): Guillaume Martin
• Rider to watch: Romain Grégoire
• Full team: TBA

The Groupama-FDJ United team have struggled in recent seasons as French rivals Decathlon CMA CGM out-performed them and became a super team.

Marc Madiot is no longer directly involved in team management but his traditional Tour de France motivational talks are likely to lift the riders as they search for stage victories and a moment of glory in their biggest race of the year.

In the absence of David Gaudu, Guillaume Martin will likely be the team's leader and potential highest GC finisher, though a top 20 feels more feasible than a top 10 at this stage.

Romain Grégoire won the Tour of Britain in 2025 and showed he has Tour de France form by winning stage 2 at the Tour de Suisse. He is still only 23 but has already ridden the Tour twice.

Italy's Lorenzo Germani is also expected to make his Tour debut and join the pursuit of stage victories via breakaways.

Lidl-Trek

• Ambitions: GC podium, stage victories, points classification
• Team leader(s): Mads Pedersen, Juan Auyso
• Rider to watch: Quinn Simmons
• Full team: TBA

Lidl-Trek are in the midst of a management revolution as the German supermarket ushers out Luca Guercilena and puts their trust in former Tour contender Andy Schleck. It will be interesting to see if the changes have an impact on the team at the Tour de France.

Lidl-Trek have added GC ambitions to their Tour strategy after signing Juan Ayuso and have to combine the Spaniard's lofty goals with Mattias Skjelmose's objectives and chasing stage victories with Mads Pedersen, Guilio Ciccone, Quinn Simmons and Mathias Vacek. That may make it difficult for Pedersen to also target the green points jersey and Andy Schleck will have to manage his riders' ambitions and convince them to work for each other.

Pedersen is back targeting Tour stages after swapping roles with Jonathan Milan in 2025. The Dane has endured a quiet preparation phase after fracturing his wrist before the Classics. He was strong at the Boucles de la Mayenne at the end of May but needs to be much stronger to be successful in July.

Ayuso showed his form with third overall at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. He couldn't crack Isaac del Toro but at least tried and seems back to his Grand Tour best after failing to finish the Giro and the Tour in 2024 and 2025.

Simmons will again fly the US national champion's stars and stripes in the Tour after his win in Charleston, West Virginia. He could be a valuable teammate but will also expect or even go and take his chances in breakaways on specific stages.

Lotto-Intermarché

• Ambitions: Sprint and stage victories
• Team leader(s): Arnaud De Lie
• Rider to watch: Lennert Van Eetvelt
• Full team: TBA

Lotto-Intermarché are back in the WorldTour in 2026 and have stepped up their ambitions too. 20-year-old super talent Jarno Widar will make his Grand Tour debut at the Vuelta a España rather than at the Tour and so the Belgian team will target sprint stages with Arnaud De Lie and mountain stages with Lennert Van Eetvelt.

De Lie rode the Tour in 2024 and 2025, racking up numerous top five sprint results. A victory is surely within grasp this year, perhaps on a hillier stage when his fastest rivals have been dropped. We should watch for Lotto-Intermarché joining forces with Lidl-Trek and NSN Cycling Team to make the rolling stages far harder than they look on paper.

Van Eetvelt was chasing stages and looking strong at the Giro d'Italia but then crashed and fractured a finger on stage 11. He appears to have recovered and has been training at altitude recently, so should be in form for breakaway days in the mountains.

Movistar

• Ambitions: Stage victories, GC top ten
• Team leader(s): Cian Uijtdebroeks
• Rider to watch: Einer Rubio
• Full team: TBA

Movistar have carefully divided their Grand Tour leaders, with Enric Mas riding the Giro and the Vuelta. Cian Uijtdebroeks was a surprise signing for 2026 and was given the task of targeting the Tour, which arguably suits his talents and more controlled racing style.

Uijtdebroeks was considered a super talent when at Red Bull and Visma and is keen to return to his best at this year's Tour and prove his talents. He was seventh overall at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and seems to be building consistently for the Tour.

Einer Rubio will be Uijtdebroeks' climbing companion and could also have the freedom to target mountain stages. The Colombian is on track to ride all three Grand Tour this year after finishing 23rd at the Giro.

Movistar will be missing one strong rider in Iván Romeo who is out of the race due to illness.

Netcompany Ineos

• Ambitions: Stage victories, GC top ten
• Team leader(s): Kévin Vauquelin
• Rider to watch: Thymen Arensman
• Full team: TBA

Netcompany Ineos have a new title sponsor and appear to have a new focus on their performance, with the Tour de France the biggest goal of all.

However, their team has already taken a blow as Oscar Onley has been ruled out of the race due to a shoulder injury he sustained in a nasty crash at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.

The British team does not otherwise have a bonafide GC contenders but any of Thymen Arensman, Carlos Rodríguez and Kévin Vauquelin could finish in the top 10. The roads of France will surely decide who emerges as the protected rider for the final mountain stages in the Alps.

Vauquelin was seventh last year and despite underwhelming results so far this year he will probably start as their main rider. Arensman finished fourth at the Giro d'Italia and may opt to target mountain stages but his ride in the 2025 Tour indicated he performs better in his second Grand Tour.

Filippo Ganna is also doubling up, riding the Tour after the Giro, and the Italian will be the driving force for the team time trial, target the stage 16 individual time trial and also target stage victories from breakaways.

NSN Cycling Team

• Ambitions: Sprint, stage victories and points classification
• Team leader(s): Biniam Girmay
• Rider to watch: Marco Frigo
• Full team: Biniam Girmay, Jake Stewart, Lewis Askey, Krists Neilands, Marco Frigo, Matis Louvel, George Bennett, Tom Van Asbroeck

NSN will celebrate the Tour de France Grand Départ kicking off near their Spanish base, with co-founder and former Barcelona soccer player Andrés Iniesta no doubt as popular as the team's riders during the opening stages.

Biniam Girmay leads NSN's stage hunting ambitions after his move from Intermarché. The Eritrean has won three times so far in 2026 but appeared stronger and faster at the recent Baloise Belgium Tour where he beat Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) in the first sprint.

Stage 2 ends with three laps of the Montjuïc circuit and a 1.6km climb each time. If the GC riders opt not to attack, Girmay could have the power to survive and the speed to win the stage. A new points structure also favours Girmay as he targets a second green jersey after his historic 2024 success.

NSN will build their Tour team around Girmay, with Jake Stewart expected to be a vital leadout man.

“At the beginning of the year, we built a nice group around Bini for the sprints and that was a learning process," sports director Sam Bewley explained to Wielerflits.

"We asked how he wanted to be led out, where is the best place to position him, and how does he work with the other riders. They have found that click now."

Picnic PostNL

• Ambitions: Stage victories, points scoring
• Team leader(s): Pavel Bittner
• Rider to watch: Mattia Gaffuri
• Full team: TBA

Picnic PostNL have been struggling in the first part of 2026 but refuse to give up the fight and always trust their well-developed and proven process.

In 2025 Oscar Onley emerged to finish fourth overall in the Tour de France and his UCI ranking points haul helped the team retain WorldTour status. He left for Netcompany Ineos during the winter and so Picnic PostNL can only hope that Pavel Bittner can pull off a win in the sprints and veterans Warren Barguil and John Degenkolb can rekindle the success of their past.

Sadly Max Poole has not raced since February as he battles full recovery from Epstein-Barr syndrome but the lack of a clear team leader could open doors to the likes of Mattia Gaffuri, who showed his form by finishing 15th overall at the Tour de Suisse.

Bittner has raced little since the spring but was second behind Tim Merlier at Scheldeprijs. He also took two top-five placing in sprints in the 2025 Tour.

"Things aren't going smoothly. We're fighting against the wind. That's a given at times, and you have to find a way out of it," sports director Roy Curvers told Wielerflits recently.

"Believe me, we're working hard on that internally. But if you look at a list of our injured and sick riders, it's understandable why things aren't going smoothly for us."

Pinarello-Q36.5

• Ambitions: Stage victories, GC top ten
• Team leader(s): Tom Pidcock
• Rider to watch: Fred Wright
• Full team: TBA

Pinarello-Q36.5 secured an automatic wild card invitation to the 2026 Tour de France and so will make their debut in the sport's biggest race.

The Swiss-based team is growing and improving rapidly, just like team leader Tom Pidcock's Grand Tour ambitions. The Yorkshire rider finished third overall in the 2025 Vuelta a España and so will try to combine his love for winning with Tour de France GC ambitions.

"The first goal is to enjoy the Tour de France," his long-time coach, confidant and Head of Performance at Pinarello-Q36.5 Kurt Bogaerts told Cyclingnews.

"His last result in the Tour was 13th in 2023. If he could get into the top 10 on GC, that, for me, would be a good progression. Then with Tom, we always know that he can do better than anyone expects."

Pidcock was slowed by a viral infection at his altitude camp and so opted to miss the Tour of Suisse. However he won the Andorra MoraBanc Clàssica on June 21, showing he was on the way back to his best.

The Pinarello-Q36.5 Tour roster is built around Pidcock's ambitions but fellow Briton Fred Wright will likely have the freedom to also target stages. He suffered a knee infection after the team's pre-season altitude camp in Chile but has raced aggressively and taken several placings in recent weeks.

Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe

• Ambitions: GC podium, stage victories
• Team leader(s): Remco Evenepoel, Florian Lipowitz
• Rider to watch: Jai Hindley
• Full team: Remco Evenepoel, Florian Lipowitz, Mattia Cattaneo, Nico Denz, Jai Hindley, Jan Tratnik, Tim van Dijke, Maxim Van Gils

Remco Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz have been named as joint team leader's for the Tour de France, with team manager Ralph Denk opting for a Formula 1 type strategy of letting the two fight it out on the road for eventual team leadership. Jai Hindley finished third at the Giro and will have the difficult task of trying to help both of them on the key mountain stages.

Lipowitz has the bragging rights of finishing third in the 2025 Tour but prefers to let his legs do the talking. Evenepoel is Red Bull's big name signing for 2026 and has claimed his stake to leadership by dedicating the last two months to his Tour preparation.

The Belgian was a surprise contender at the Tour of Flanders and won the Amstel Gold Race. Now he has to prove to himself and his doubters that he really can challenge for the yellow jersey against Pogačar and the next generation of riders led by Paul Seixas.

The Barcelona team time trial will be the first test of Red Bull's leadership strategy and for Evenepoel's and Lipowitz's Tour ambitions.

Soudal-QuickStep

• Ambitions: Sprint and stage victories
• Team leader(s): Tim Merlier
• Rider to watch: Valentin Paret-Peintre
• Full team: TBA

Soudal-QuickStep have reverted to being a Classics and sprint team after letting Evenepoel move to Red Bull but have few regrets about the decision so far, with the team's core proving to be strong enough to move on from the change in strategy.

Tim Merlier suffered with a knee problem and only made his season debut in late March. However he immediately won Scheldeprijs and more recently won a stage at the Baloise Belgium Tour and was second on two others.

Merlier has the late speed and power to win Tour sprints and the calmness to handle the pressure and hectic finale of stages. This year he can count on the support of loyal leadout man Bert Van Lerberghe, plus the proven talents of Jasper Stuyven.

Valentin Paret-Peintre helped steady the Soudal ship after Evenepoel quit the Tour last year and it became evident he would move to Red Bull. Few riders have won atop Mont Ventoux and the French climber took victory from the breakaway after a great team ride from Ilan Van Wilder.

The two could combine again this year, perhaps late in the Tour in the high Alps, when the GC is set and breakaway opportunities more frequent.

Mikel Landa missed the Giro after being hit by a race vehicle at the Itzulia Basque Country race but is expected to ride the Tour. It is possibly the last time for 'Landismo' racing on the roads of France.

TotalEnergies

• Ambitions: Stage victories
• Team leader(s): Jordan Jegat
• Rider to watch: Mattéo Vercher
• Full team: TBA

French ProTeam TotalEnergies are racing for their future, with legendary team owner Jean-René Bernaudeau and new team manager Stéphane Heulot are hoping a historic result in the Tour can convince a new sponsor to take over from the French energy giant and keep the team alive.

Threats by management not to select riders who had found a new team for 2027 appears draconian and illogical but has perhaps focused minds and ambitions.

The team has emerged from the ashes in the past, with Thomas Voeckler wearing the yellow jersey for ten days in 2011 and finishing fourth overall.

The TotalEnergies roster is weaker than it once was but Jordan Jegat impressed at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, going on the attack on three different mountain stages. It is easy to forget that Jegat finished tenth overall in the 2025 Tour.

Geoffrey Bouchard is now 34 but has proven Grand Tour experience, as do Mattéo Vercher and Mathis Le Berre.

Tudor Pro Cycling

• Ambitions: Stage victories
• Team leader(s): Michael Storer
• Rider to watch: Julian Alaphilippe
• Full team: TBA

Tudor are a WorldTour squad in everything but name and team owner Fabian Cancellara is hoping to see his distinctive black and red colours in the thick of the action after an injury-hit spring.

Julian Alaphilippe is in Tudor's Tour de France selection along with Michael Storer, Matteo Trentin, Rick Pluimers and possibly Stefan Küng.

The Swiss rider fractured his femur at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad at the end of February and will only race again at the Swiss National Championships this week. However if that test goes well, he could be part of the Tour roster.

Alaphilippe recently took time out from racing but was back in action at the Tour de Suisse. He may lack the panache and swagger of his best years but even at 34, Alaphilippe is still inspired by the Tour de France and the love of the French fans. He went closer to victory on stage 2 last year and went on the attack on four other stages. His long spells in yellow may be a thing of the past but Alaphilippe is always entertaining.

Storer finished seventh at the Giro d'Italia as he focused on the GC. He will flip to stage hunting at the Tour and hopes to build on his five breakaway attempts and two top-five results of 2025.

UAE Team Emirates-XRG

• Ambitions: Win the GC
• Team leader(s): Tadej Pogačar
• Rider to watch: Isaac del Toro
• Full team: TBA

UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Tadej Pogačar appear unbeatable on paper but everyone at the team, from manager Mauro Gianetti to Pogačar and each rider and staff member, know that every Tour has to be won out on the road, overcoming daily problems, crashes, illness and attacks.

The final UAE Tour squad is expected to include Isaac del Toro, Tim Wellens, Nils Politt, Adam Yates, Brandon McNulty and Florian Vermeersch.

Last year Pogačar seemed unhappy and fatigued in the final week, only to reveal months later that a simple handlebar bang to his knee had left him in pain and doubting he could even make it to Paris. Of course he won a fourth Tour and now he has a chance to join Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, and Miguel Indurain as five-time Tour winners.

Pogačar defies cycling logic in the way he distances his rivals and adds victories to his palmarès. He appears from another planet but yet remains humble, hungry and even friendly. When he can't drop his rivals on the road, he seems to destroy them mentally. He again dominated the Classics, even if Paris-Roubaix evaded him and won the Tour de Suisse after working hard at altitude for the Tour.

"I’d say I’m stronger," Pogačar said after a recent training camp test ride. "We did super good training. We had a lot of time out of home with the teammates. A lot of work has been done, so I'm happy."

We have been warned.

Sports director Joxean Fernandez Matxin fears Vingegaard and Paul Seixas but considers Del Toro as a valid and strong Plan B if anything should happen to Pogačar. The Mexican is making his Tour debut but won the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.

Uno-X Mobility

• Ambitions: Top five on GC and stage victories
• Team leader(s): Tobias Halland Johannessen
• Rider to watch: Magnus Cort
• Full team: Anders Hallan Johannessen, Magnus Cort, Tobias Halland Johannessen, Anders Skaarseth, Søren Wærenskjold, Anthon Charmig, Jonas Abrahamsen, Torstein Træen

The Uno-X Mobility team jokingly described themselves and their Tour de France squad as a moment of yellow and red Danish-Norwegian unity, as riders from the two nations come together to target stage wins and a GC result with Tobias Halland Johannessen.

Uno-X won a stage at the 2025 Tour thanks to Jonas Abrahamsen, with Tobias Halland Johannessen finishing sixth overall. This year their goals are higher.

"The goal is to do what we did in 2025 once again. And that might be even harder this year than last year, because now we have said it out loud. A top 5 overall with Tobias is the objective, and it is the team’s big goal," sports director Gabriel Rasch said.

Halland Johannessen has been consistently impressive so far in 2026, finishing fourth at Tirreno-Adriatico, third at Itzulia Basque Country and fifth at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.

The eight-rider roster includes Magnus Cort, Anders Skaarseth, Søren Wærenskjold, Anthon Charmig, Jonas Abrahamsen and Torstein Træen, who impressed at last year's Vuelta. Andrea Kron was meant to start but is ill so has been replaced by Anders Halland Johannessen.

33-year-old Cort seems back to his Grand Tour winning best and leads the group of sprinters and stage hunters.

"There are many stages where we have to try to get the right rider in the right breakaway on the right day. We can win in several different ways," Rasch said.

Visma-Lease a Bike

• Ambitions: Win the GC
• Team leader(s): Jonas Vingegaard
• Rider to watch: Davide Piganzoli
• Full team: Jonas Vingegaard, Edoardo Affini, Bruno Armirail, Victor Campenaerts, Per Strand Hagenes, Matteo Jorgenson, Sepp Kuss and Davide Piganzoli

Visma-Lease a Bike are a proven Tour de France winning team and perhaps the only squad able to take on Tadej Pogačar and his UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad in this year's race.

Vingegaard defeated Pogačar in 2022 and 2023 and has clashed with the Slovenian year after year. Pogačar is targeting a record-equalling fifth victory, while Vingegaard is chasing a historic Giro-Tour double.

The Tour will decide who has chosen the best route to Paris but both seem in peak form. Vingegaard and Visma rode a controlled Corsa Rosa and the Dane again insisted he was back to his very best for the first time since his terrible 2024 Itzulia Basque Country crash.

Vimsa were the first major team to confirm their final eight riders, with the roster built around Vingegaard's ambitions. The absence of Wout van Aert due to his elbow infection has removed any temptation and stage victory distractions, Visma are going all-in for Vingegaard.

Edoardo Affini, Bruno Armirail, Victor Campenaerts and Per Strand Hagenes are the engine room and guardian angels for the flat stages, with Matteo Jorgenson, Sepp Kuss and Davide Piganzoli expected to be there in the mountains.

Strand Hagenes is perhaps a replacement for Christophe Laporte, who tore his quadriceps muscle in training in mid-May. Van Aert is irreplaceable and so Visma opted to add climbing power with Piganzoli. The Italian joined the team in 2026 but made an immediate impression with his strong riding at the Giro and earned Vingegaard's utter confidence.

Expect Visma and Vingegaard to be in the battle for the yellow jersey right from the opening time trial in Barcelona.

XDS Astana Team

• Ambitions: Stage victories
• Team leader(s): Sergio Higuita
• Rider to watch: Max Kanter
• Full team: TBA

XDS Astana successfully chased UCI ranking points in 2025 to safeguard their WorldTour status but with a new three-year licence confirmed, they are targeting race victories in 2026, with any points as a welcome consequence.

They won three stages at the Giro d'Italia and will surely hunt more at the Tour. Sergio Higuita and Harold Tejada are always a threat in a mountain breakaway, while Mike Teunissen and Max Kanter are suited to the stages that become a Classics-rider showdown. Kanter secured his place after three top-five results at the Baloise Belgium Tour.

Higuita finished 14th in the 2025 Tour after a consistent ride. There is no reason why he can't climb into the top ten this year, especially with the difficulties of the late mountain stages in the Alps.

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With the Giro d'Italia having been Ben O'Connor's chosen GC tilt this season, Jayco. AlUla have made no secret that the Tour de France will be all about those stage wins, and the squad they have just announced couldn't make that any clearer.

Along with O'Connor, who last year clinched his second victory at the July Grand Tour by taking the Queen stage, they will be lining up with another former multiple stage winner at the race, Michael Matthews, who has recently returned to racing after a training crash in March where he broke both wrists and also had a sinus fracture to deal with.

“If you’d told me three months ago that I would be lining up for the Tour de France, I don’t think I would have believed you," said Matthews, who will be lining up for his ninth edition, in a team statement.

"After missing last year with my illness and then with my crash earlier this year, it’s given me even more motivation and hunger."

The rider with a fast finish but ability to hang on through the punchy climbs will not be the only rider on the squad chasing wins on the days that don't lean to the pure climbers, with Mauro Schmid – who came second last year on a lumpy stage 11 – looking for the step up this time.

Then, for the sprints there is Pascal Ackermann, who has claimed three stages at the Giro d'Italia and the ciclamino jersey but has yet to step up from the lower steps of the podium at the Tour de France.

Then, when it comes to the climb-heavy days. alongside O'Connor the team has Luke Plapp, who last year managed to score a victory at the Giro d'Italia, plus he is always one to keep an eye on in a time trial, proving that with his fifth place last year in the race against the clock to Peyragudes.

Then there is Felix Engelhardt who will be making his Tour de France debut alongside Team Pursuit Olympic gold medallist Kell O'Brien. He'll be adding power to the team, as will the ever steady road captain Luke Durbridge, who will be racing a last Tour de France given his looming retirement at the end of this season.

“We’re really excited about the team we have put together for the Tour de France this year," head of performance Gene Bates said. "This line-up has riders capable of competing on every stage over the three weeks, from the flat sprint stages through to the high mountains."

Jayco AlUla for the 2026 Tour de France

• Michael Matthews
• Luke Plapp
• Pascal Ackermann
• Ben O'Connor
• Mauro Schmid
• Kell O'Brien
• Felix Engelhardt
• Luke Durbridge

The world’s biggest bike race deserves world-class coverage. Subscribe to Cyclingnews for unlimited access to our unrivalled reporting of the 2026 Tour de France. From Barcelona through to Paris, our experienced team will bring you breaking news, expert insight, and in-depth coverage from every stage as the battle for the yellow jersey plays out. Plus, access the Cyclingnews app to follow the action on the go! Find out more.

Ryan Mullen (NSN Cycling) won the elite men's time trial national title Thursday in Swinford at the Irish Road Championships. An 11-year veteran on the WorldTour, Mullen stopped the clock after 30.7km in 35:08 for his second consecutive ITT title.

The podium was a duplicate of last year, with George Peden (Team PB Performance) repeating in second and Darren Rafferty (EF Education-EasyPost) going third.

This year's course was 5km longer than the prior year in Kilbeggan, which turned into a close six-second decision between Mullen and Peden. For 2026, the course went out-and-back through Carracastle, with just one 2% uphill across 6.4km at the mid-point and then more rolling terrain in the final 7.7km back toward Swinford.

The NSN rider left no doubts about his title defense this time by winning with a 47-second margin. Rafferty repeated in third, 1:15 back, and held Conn McDunphy (APS Pro Cycling by Team Cadence Cyclery), a former winner, to fourth position by one second.

Both Mullen and Rafferty came into the event off the back of 21 days at the Giro d’Italia, while Peden has had success in one-day races with his domestic team.

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Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek) secured his career-third elite men's individual time trial title at the Canadian Road Championships held in Saint-Georges, Quebec, on Thursday.

The all-rounder covered the 34.1km course with the fastest time of 40:23, beating runner-up Nickolas Zukowsky (Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling) by 54 seconds and third-placed Pier-André Côté (NSN Cycling Team) by 1:11.

Gee-West won his previous national time trial titles in 2022 and 2023.

After joining his new team, Lidl-Trek, Gee-West went on to recently place fifth overall at the Giro d'Italia.

He will line up at the elite men's road race as the defending champion in Saint-Georges on Friday.

More to follow...

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Track world champion Lara Gillespie (UAE Team ADQ) rocketed through all three time splits and landed a decisive victory in the elite women's time trial at the Irish Road Championships on Thursday evening.

The 25-year-old averaged 47.6 kph in her victory on the 30.7km course across County Mayo, finishing in 38:38. Linda Kelly, another track star who has world titles and a Paralympic gold as a tandem pilot, repeated with the silver medal, 1 minute and 31 seconds back.

The battle for the final medal played out just six seconds behind Kelly, with Marine Lenehan (Lidl-Trek) one second faster than Mia Griffin (Picnic-PostNL), last year's road race champion. Dublin native Lenehan earned her second career bronze at the Irish championships, having gone third in the road race last year.

A total of 14 elite women lined up Thursday evening at 19:15 local time for the 30km ITT in County Mayo. The out-and-back affair included a climb on Charlestown Bypass that took riders to the south of Carracastle, rising 2% across 6.4km, then a loop through the centre of Carracastle to take on more rolling terrain in the final 7.7km back toward Swinford.

Gillespie came into the Irish Road Nationals in solid form, having won Samyn Ladies in March and taking a pair of runner-up finishes in stage races, the UAE Tour Women and the Giro d'Italia Women. She had never competed in the time trial at nationals before, having won Irish titles in the road race three times, once as a junior and twice as an elite.

Her world title came in the Elimination race in 2025, and she became the first Irish woman to become a world champion on the track.

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Nadia Gontova (Liv AlUla Jayco) secured a career-first elite women's individual time trial title at the Canadian Road Championships held in Saint Georges, Québec, on Thursday.

Gontova covered the 27.8km course with a winning time of 38:08, beating runner-up and former three-time champion Paula Findlay by 1:08 and third-placed Emily Driedger (The Cyclery Racing) by 1:38.

Gontova has experienced a rapid rise to the top step of the podium in only her first year racing on the World Tour with Liv AlUla Jayco. She previously raced with local team Red Truck Racing, which led to opportunities with Roxo Racing, DNA Pro Cycling and Winspace.

During that time, she won the longstanding Redlands Bicycle Classic, finished runner-up at the Tour of the Gila, and placed second at the Tour Féminin International des Pyrénées.

She performed well in mountainous terrain in the early-season Spanish races in 2025, but it was her success at the Tour de France Femmes, where she finished 10th on the final stage to Chatel and 23rd overall, that led to multiple contract offers from top-tier programmes, which led to her contract with Liv AlUla Jayco.

She was sidelined last fall and through the off-season to recover from iliac artery surgery, but has proven her top form with the victory at the national championships.

“It feels really special to win my first national championship. I wasn’t sure how I’d go after a big block of racing, but I had a good day out and I’m happy with my ride," she said in a team statement after her win. "Today definitely gives me good confidence going into the road race on Saturday.”

She will compete in the national road race in two days before heading back overseas, and then aiming to return to home soil for the UCI Road World Championships in Montreal.

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Pablo Castrillo (Movistar) earned his first time trial championship as an elite rider at Spanish Road Nationals on Thursday. He positioned himself in the hot seat among the final 10 riders after posting a time of 37:40 on the 30.8km course and celebrated after nine others could not break his mark.

Xabier Mikel Azparrren (Pinarello Q36.5) was 4 seconds back for the silver medal, while Pablo Torres (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) was another three seconds back for bronze.

Defending ITT champion Abel Balderstone (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) finished eighth, 1:25 off the pace.

A total of 37 riders took on the 30.8km race against the clock under brilliant sunshine, with 370 metres of elevation gain in the foothills of the Aragonese Pyrenees into Sabiñánigo. The opening 10km featured an uphill profile, with a rolling middle section. Then, once through a short climb through Larrés, the final 5km descended back into Sabiñánigo.

One notable absentee from the event was last year's road race winner Iván Romeo (Movistar), who finished fourth in the ITT, as he sits out the championships to recover from an illness.

The 25-year-old Castrillo last captured a Spanish time trial title as an under-23 rider four years ago. He has finished in the top 10 of the ITT as an elite rider twice since, and has not won a bike race since winning a pair of stages at the 2024 Vuelta a España.

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Ethan Hayter (Soudal-QuickStep) swept to a dominant victory in the elite men's time trial at the British National Championships on Thursday, scoring his fourth career title in Lampeter.

The 27-year-old scored his eighth career time trial victory and sixth of the past year as he beat Connor Swift (Netcompany Ineos) by 1:30 on the flat 38.4km course.

Hayter averaged 52.149kph during his ride, 1.7kph quicker than second place. Josh Charlton (Netcompany Ineos Racing Academy) rounded out the podium, 1:40 down.

The victory is Hayter's first of the 2026 season, his best result to date coming back on his second race day as he finished fourth in the UAE Tour time trial at Al Hudayriyat Island.

Hayter recently completed the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, but won't take part in the Tour de France next month. Instead, his main late-season goal looks set to be the Vuelta a España.

“It’s my second consecutive title and my first victory of the season, so obviously, I’m happy to be on the podium and know that I will keep the jersey for one more year," Hayter told his Soudal-QuickStep team after the race.

"I liked this course a lot, and as soon as I left the start house, I found my rhythm and kept it the entire time, which shows that I came here with strong legs. We’ll see what I can do on Sunday, when I’m ready to give everything again."

Earlier in the day, Ben Wiggins (Hagens Berman-Jayco) won the under-23 men's title, while Erin Boothman (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) triumphed in the under-23 women's time trial by almost two minutes. Zoe Bäckstedt (Canyon-SRAM) defended her elite women's title to win the race for a second time

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The soaring temperatures sweeping the UK may mean it's too hot to work up a sweat out on a ride; however, it's a great time to give your bike a deep clean. Water dries off rapidly in these conditions, so it's far less likely to hang around and corrode any componentry. I've been washing my bikes during the evening and may have liberally chucked the water around to keep myself cool during the process, too.

As well as a water supply, you'll of course need some decent cleaning equipment, so here's a seriously good Amazon Prime Day cycling deal on Muc-Off's 8-in-1 Bike Cleaning Kit.

Get 40% off the Muc-Off 8-in-1 Bike Cleaning Kit and pay just £29.99.

Shop all Amazon deals.

Prime Day runs from June 23 to June 26. As always, there are plenty of cycling deals to be had, and our Amazon Prime Day 2026 bike deals page will be the place to find all the best deals.

This kit consists of Muc-Off Nano Tech Bike Cleaner, Muc-Off Bike Spray, a microcell sponge, soft washing brush, detailing brush, claw brush, two-prong brush, and a storage tub to keep it all in.

It's a comprehensive cleaning set that's got everything you need to reach all the nooks and crannies on your bike, whether you ride road, gravel, or MTB. If you don't have a decent lube already, I'd also recommend a bottle of the best bike chain lube. I clean and relube my chain every time I give my bike a thorough wash.

Muc-Off's Nano Tech Bike Cleaner is one of the best bike cleaners on the market and is excellent at shifting dirt and grime. Unlike generic cleaners, it won't damage your paintwork or harm delicate components.

The Muc-Off Bike Spray included with the 8-in-1 kit is a handy light lube for protecting certain components and metalwork. Be sure to keep it away from brake callipers, brake discs, or wheel rims (if you're running rim brakes), as getting lube on those vital components will seriously hinder their performance, and it's almost impossible to remove.

For lots more money-saving offers, see our Amazon Prime Day cycling deals main article and our live Prime Day bike deals blog. We'll be on the case, scouring the online retail giant for the best deals for cyclists until Amazon Prime Day ends at midnight this Friday.

Jayco AlUla and Liv AlUla Jayco will both wear swap-out kits this summer for the Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, adding 'electric' green highlights to their signature purple 'Aurora' purple jerseys.

MAAP, in a second year as an official sponsor for GreenEDGE Cycling's WorldTour programmes, will produce the limited-edition kits as part of their presence at Paris Fashion Week. The Melbourne-based cycling apparel brand revealed the special Tour jerseys today at a public exhibition for Fashion Week, the MAAP HYPERFORMANCE installation located at 36 Rue Étienne Marcel in Paris.

Jayco AlUla will be the first on the start line with the new kits, the Tour de France beginning with a Grand Départ in Barcelona and stage 1 on July 4. The Liv AlUla Jayco squad will then fly the new colours at the Tour de France Femmes, beginning August 1 in Lausanne, Switzerland.

"As we hit our 15th season, we want to keep pushing the boundaries of what a professional cycling team looks like," Brent Copeland, general manager of Team Jayco-AlUla, said in a joint press release with MAAP. "Racing the Tour in this kit is about standing out and showing our ambition right from the first stage."

This year's kits added a striking flame motif on the purple jersey, with the MAAP logo on the shoulders and back pocket in a muted 'electric' green. The same green colour now punches into the flame motif, rising from the waistband to the centre of the kit on all sides, plus a splash of the green flame on the sleeves.

The launch during Paris Fashion Week was not just about new design, but also material innovation, as "the project brings elite cycling technology into a cultural setting rarely occupied by professional sport", according to MAAP.

"No leader's jersey clash to avoid, no UCI mandate, just a desire to drop something unexpected on cycling's biggest stage."

The brand incorporated several technical developments with the 2026 kits for their sponsored teams in January, including refined aerodynamics and improved thermoregulation for its lightweight race speedsuit, and changes to the fabrication of time trial speedsuits.

A limited production of 150 swap-out kits will be available for purchase worldwide from June 30, sold at MAAP.cc and select MAAP LaB locations worldwide.

The world’s biggest bike race deserves world-class coverage. Subscribe to Cyclingnews for unlimited access to our unrivalled reporting of the 2026 Tour de France and the 2026 Tour de France Femmes. Our experienced team will bring you breaking news, expert insight, and in-depth coverage from every stage as the battle for the yellow jerseys plays out. Plus, access the Cyclingnews app to follow the action on the go!

Rémi Cavagna (Groupama-FDJ United) came out on top in the time trial at the French National Championships for the first time in three years on Thursday, beating Bruno Armirail (Visma-Lease a Bike) to the title.

Cavagna and Armirail have been trading blows in the French TT for the last several years, winning the six previous editions between them – three for Armirail, and now three for Cavagna.

Armirail started the day as favourite given he's the defending champion from 2025 and 2024, but he couldn't hold off Cavagna this time as the Groupama rider put a 49-second gap into his rival. He completed the 29.7km course in 36:55 for an average speed of 48.3 kph.

Third went to Ewen Costiou (Groupama-FDJ United) who finished 1:03 down on his teammate, and in fact Groupama riders finished in fourth and seventh too, such is their numerical advantage at the French Championships.

Championship racing continues in southeastern France on the weekend with the elite road races.

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Garmin is the leading brand when it comes to the best cycling watches, and one of its flagship GPS smartwatches, the Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2), is currently discounted by $500 to just $499.99, from the usual $999.99.

Amazon Prime Day 2026 draws to an end tomorrow, and although it's not quite been the bargain bonanza of Black Friday, this Garmin deal is, without doubt, the standout deal so far.

Shop the Garmin Epix Pro Sapphire Edition discounted by $500 at Amazon.

This is the lowest price we've ever seen on the Epix Pro this year, with the previous best being $549.99 back in March, and with the generally hovering around the full RRP of $999.99, this is a significant saving for anyone looking for an Amazon smartwatch deal.

However, Amazon has this marked as a limited-time deal, and although Amazon doesn't actually say when it ends, we'd expect that to be at the end of the Prime Day sales.

Prime Day runs from June 23rd to June 26th. As always, there are plenty of cycling deals to be had, and our Amazon Prime Day 2026 bike deals page will be the place to find all the best deals.

This Garmin Epix deal is only on the Pro Sapphire Edition (47mm) and comes in two colour choices: either Carbon Grey DLC Titanium w/ Black Band or Titanium with Whitestone Band.

The Epix has a long list of smartwatch features that are ideal for cycling and multi-sport use, too. It includes a stunning AMOLED display and a scratch-resistant sapphire lens with a titanium bezel, making it highly durable. The bright AMOLED display is also a cycling box ticker, and ensures all your on-the-go cycling stats are easy to read, along with that extensive battery life and multi-band GNSS technology for highly accurate navigation.

There's no solar charging on the Epix but the battery life is claimed at a huge 16 days, so even for forgetful chargers, it'll have your back.

Garmin is renowned for producing groundbreaking cycling tech, and the Garmin cycling range holds top spots in our best cycling tech buying advice, including the best GPS bike computers, plus the best power meters, smart lights with rearview radar, and of course, smartwatches.

Below you'll find the best Garmin Epix deals for your location and currency.

Be sure to check out our Prime Day 2026 Live ticker, and there you'll find all the best cycling deals as they appear.

There are fears that Visma-Lease a Bike could lose yet another important Tour de France rider in the lead to the race after Edoardo Affini crashed heavily in the elite men's time trial at the Italian National Championships.

The 30-year-old crashed around 6km into the 40km effort, which was eventually won by Filippo Ganna (Netcompany Ineos). Italian journalist Stefano Rizzato reported that he had to be taken away in an ambulance, though he was conscious.

Visma confirmed on Thursday evening that the Italian was taken to hospital and never lost consciousness.

"Examinations at the hospital showed that no fractures were sustained," the team said. "Over the coming days, his recovery will be monitored."

Despite Visma's statement, there are still questions over exactly what injuries Affini may have suffered, especially after TV footage emerged of the crash. The race was not broadcast live but was shown on Eurosport on a delay, where TV images did not catch the crash itself, but did show its aftermath.

The footage shows Affini's bike and helmet being retrieved from over a guardrail, where it appears that he crash on a downhill section, likely at very high speeds. Viewers can also see that his front tyre has come off the rim in the accident.

Affini is set to line up at the Tour de France in Barcelona as part of Jonas Vingegaard's Tour de France support squad, where he would be a key part of the opening team time trial and an important helper and workhorse on the flat.

Visma's Tour team has already taken several blows before the Tour has even begun, with Christophe Laporte missing the race, and then Wout van Aert ruled out more recently due to an elbow infection.

They have drafted in replacements, most notably in Davide Piganzoli, but are lacking on the horsepower front, which is important for the flat and transitional stages, as well as any windy or tense moments. There was no rider in Visma's roster who could replicate Affini's time trialing strength if he is deemed unfit for the Tour.

Even if Affini can start the Tour next Saturday, a crash bad enough to require an ambulance is never good just a week before a Grand Tour, and even the smallest ache or pain could weaken him, especially in what will be a highly important TTT in Barcelona.

The world’s biggest bike race deserves world-class coverage. Subscribe to Cyclingnews for unlimited access to our unrivalled reporting of the 2026 Tour de France. From Barcelona through to Paris, our experienced team will bring you breaking news, expert insight, and in-depth coverage from every stage as the battle for the yellow jersey plays out. Plus, access the Cyclingnews app to follow the action on the go! Find out more.

We're currently in the throes of a four-day Amazon Prime Day deal event, and this year, the behemoth retailer appears to have it in for bike computers.

Among our hunt for the best Prime Day cycling deals, we've already uncovered a host of Wahoo Elemnt computer deals in the UK, an incredible price on the Hammerhead Karoo 3, and even a deal on the iGPSport BiNavi, a budget contender to the big boys.

Now it's the turn of Garmin, whose Edge computers are hitting all-time-low prices thanks to Amazon, which actually seems to have it in for all Garmin tech, with radars, smartwatches and even power meter pedals getting the cut-price treatment.

The deals we've found cover six different models across all price brackets, from the navigation-friendly Edge Explore 2, through the 540, 550, 840 and 540, up to the bells-and-whistles Edge 1050.

Shop all Garmin cycling tech at Amazon.com.

The price war

If there's any good thing to come from the sheer size that Amazon has grown to, it's that when it runs a sale event like Prime Day, other retailers take notice and, as has happened here, they price match.

As you'll see in the prices listed above, many of the US retailers such as Jenson, Competitive Cyclist and REI have matched the Amazon price down to the cent. If you'd prefer to shop at any of the more cycling-specific retailers, you can do so without being forced to pay more.

In the UK, Balfe's Bikes has actually gone one step further and undercut the giant on a couple of the models.

US brand Tifosi makes a massive range of sun, sports, and safety glasses that cover everything from golf to pickleball. There are a ton of options to choose from its cycling range, and the Sledge tested here is one of the brand's best sunglasses for MTB.

Design and specifications

The full framed Sledge glasses I was testing came with three lenses (Clear, AC Red, and Smoke) covering a range of light conditions from night riding to full sun. Though other Sledge models come with different lens options. The lenses have cutaways in the upper edge to aid ventilation and are pretty straightforward to pop in and out of the frame. The frames are made using Grilamid TR-90 – a polycarbonate known for stress and weathering resistance – with a rubberised section running from mid-way down the arms to the tips.

The frames measure 144mm wide by 59mm deep, while the arms measure 120 from the edge of the frame to the tip. The frames and a single lens weigh in at 38g.

Performance

I've ridden wearing the Sledge glasses in all kinds of light conditions, all weathers, temperatures ranging from freezing to baking, and on a number of different bike types. The three lenses supplied basically have you covered for every light condition, but I mostly used the clear lens (for night rides and dark winter days) and the AC Red for pretty much everything else. The red lens did an excellent job of removing harsh light without darkening my vision and was ideal for mixed conditions where I was riding in and out of wooded sections – where the darker Smoke lens proved to be too much.

The glasses stayed in place well without causing any tightness on the sides of my head from the arms like some models can. The Sledge specs also played nicely with all the MTB helmets I tried, even the ones with a deeper fit that have had compatibility issues with some other models I've tested.

The only negative for me is that they were prone to misting up more than most from sweat when slowing and stopping This was probably down to the full frames sitting very close to my cheekbones and eye sockets which left little room for ventilation from below. However, the close fit also meant that trail debris getting behind the lens was an extremely rare event – even in properly filthy winter conditions where mud and roost were flying everywhere.

Verdict

In terms of value, the Sledge sunglasses are very hard to beat. They look good, are tough and comfortable, and work well in every light condition. The propensity to fog up when working hard at slower speeds – particularly in the cold – isn't ideal, but it could be sorted by pulling the glasses away from my face a little. Overall, the fogging isn't a deal breaker for me though and I'd still highly recommend the glasses given everything else they offer and their maximum-bangs-per-buck price tag.

Filippo Ganna (Netcompany Ineos) won his seventh elite men's time trial national title at Italian Road Championships on Thursday, completing the challenging 40.3km rolling course into Barolo in 47:39.

Luca Giaimi (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), a former junior ITT champion, took the silver as the best of five other riders who finished more than two minutes back on Ganna. Mattia Cattaneo (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) edged Filippo Baroncini (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) for the bronze.

A surprise was Lorenzo Finn (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) finishing sixth. In the battle of former junior ITT champions, 21-year-old Giaimi was the better of the two with a podium finish.

Ganna won his first Italian time trial title as a junior in 2014. He has won the elite title five consecutive years, missing the podium in 2021 when Matteo Sobrero took the victory. This year the Lidl-Trek rider finished fifth, 2:57 off the pace.

The route started in Santuario di Vicoforte and finished in Barolo, with three climbs and a slightly downhill finish. The Italian champion averaged 50.36 kph to dominate the competition.

The elite men were the only division to compete in the time trial, as the Italian Cycling Federation announced on June 9 that the junior men and women, U23 categories and elite women would compete at a later time this year, the dates and venue not confirmed.

Saturday will determine the Italian road race champion for elite men, while the elite women will compete in the road race on Sunday.

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NSN have announced their Tour de France team to support Biniam Girmay at this year's race as the Eritrean looks to repeat his 2024 success.

Two years ago, Girmay announced himself as a superstar of the sport in France, winning stages in Turin, Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises, and Villeneuve-sur-Lot en route to taking home the green jersey.

Girmay hasn't hit the same heights since then. However, he's enjoyed an uptick in form this season, scoring wins at the Vuelta Comunitat Valenciana, Clásica de Almería, and Baloise Belgium Tour.

He'll be primarily backed up by Jake Stewart, Lewis Askey, Tom Van Asbroeck, and Matis Louvel during this year's Tour. The NSN selection is rounded out by Krists Neilands, George Bennett, and debutant Marco Frigo, who will have freedom to fight for stage wins in the hills and mountains.

"Everybody who knows me understands how special the Tour de France is to me – but I'm more interested in creating more special moments than looking back on what I've achieved in the past," Girmay said.

"I know my form is good, but it's also great knowing that I have a really committed team around me. We have worked hard since the start of the season to discover the best ways to work together, to build trust in each other, and to score the best results possible.

"I'm going into this year's race full of confidence and with a real sense of anticipation for the first sprint opportunities."

Girmay, who also has a stage of the Giro d'Italia and a Gent-Wevelgem title on his palmarès, became the first Black African rider to win a stage of the Tour on stage 3 two years ago, beating Fernando Gaviria and Arnaud De Lie to the line.

His trio of wins in that edition, along with two second places and three other top-10 finishes, provided the basis for his green jersey triumph in Paris, 33 points ahead of Jasper Philipsen.

There are few opportunities for a sprint win in the early stages of this year's race, which kicks off with a team time trial and several tough stages in Catalonia.

Stage 5 in Pau may be the first chance for Girmay and the other star sprinters, while further chances should reveal themselves on stage 7 in Bordeaux, 8 in Bergerac, 11 in Nevers, 12 in Chalon-sur-Saône, and 17 in Voiron.

NSN, riding their first Tour de France under the team's new identity, will be "focussed primarily around Bini and the sprints," said head directeur sportif, Sam Bewley.

"But the race is 21 stages. We want to have a purpose and a goal across the entire race, so it's important to have guys like George, Krists, and Marco in his first Tour there so we can keep NSN in the race across as much of the three weeks as possible.

"We feel confident with the guys we have to be able to deliver some good stage outcomes from breakaways, mountain stages, or how the Tour plays out, in addition to our primary focus of the sprints."

New Zealander Bennett will be the team's key rider in the mountains as he seeks to infiltrate breakaways. This will be his sixth Tour start and first since 2022.

British pairing Stewart and Askey are both punchy riders with good finishes, though neither has won a race in 2026, with Askey coming closest as he finished second on stage 3 of the Baloise Belgium Tour.

Latvian racer Neilands is an option for the breaks and will race his fourth Tour after recovering from a crash in Belgium. 26-year-old Frigo, who broke through with a series of strong rides at the 2023 Giro d'Italia, is another man for the breaks, having recently finished fourth on a stage of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.

"Any rider's first Tour de France is special. The 2010 Tour – and the big fight between Contador and Schleck on the Tourmalet – was one of the first races I remember watching on TV and knowing what was going on. To be part of this big event will be amazing," Frigo said.

"I am super happy with my level right now – I have done everything I can ahead of the race. I think I can try to fight for a stage, and I want to take all the opportunities I can.

"A lot depends on the tactics, but already from the first week, there are some good stages that we will try to grab. Then, of course, I will give 100% for Bini on the sprint stages, so I think it's true to say that there is a lot of food in the dish for us."

NSN team for the 2026 Tour de France

• Biniam Girmay
• Lewis Askey
• George Bennett
• Marco Frigo
• Matis Louvel
• Krists Neilands
• Jake Stewart
• Tom Van Asbroeck

The world’s biggest bike race deserves world-class coverage. Subscribe to Cyclingnews for unlimited access to our unrivalled reporting of the 2026 Tour de France. From Barcelona through to Paris, our experienced team will bring you breaking news, expert insight, and in-depth coverage from every stage as the battle for the yellow jersey plays out. Plus, access the Cyclingnews app to follow the action on the go! Find out more.

ProTeam rider Célia Le Mouël (Ma Petite Entreprise) shocked all the big favourites and WorldTour riders to power to victory in the elite women's time trial at the French Road Championships, winning by 11 seconds.

The 25-year-old smashed the 29.7km course in southeast France in 43:57, beating Maëva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ) by 11 seconds.

Defending champion Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) was denied a third TT title, finishing 25 seconds down in third.

Riding for the second-tier Ma Petite Entreprise squad, few would have had their eyes on Le Mouël as a potential winner amongst the likes of Squiban, Kerbaol and Juliette Berthet (FDJ United-Suez), but expectations didn't matter as she sped to her first elite national title atop her Factor TT machine.

Taking home an elite title will certainly be a huge boost for Ma Petite Entreprise, who were only founded this year but are set to ride the Tour de France Femmes, where Le Mouël will surely get to show off her tricolour skinsuit in the stage 4 time trial.

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Whatever Remco Evenepoel does or does not achieve in the Tour de France this July, it's worth remembering that he has already had a good Classics season.

Third in the Tour of Flanders in his debut there was a success, so it's not like his year will be a bad one if, say, he now only wins one stage in the Tour. I think with Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard there, if Remco can get third and wins the time trial that'd be a good race for him, whilst for it to be a great Tour, he'd have to get a mountain stage win against Pogačar or wear the yellow jersey.

But can he achieve even more than that? In many ways, that's Remco's problem right now in Belgium. Because even if he did get third, then a lot of people will say he didn't perform well. While somebody else gets just one top 10 in a stage and they'd say, 'Ah, that was a really good Tour de France', in Remco's case, even being on the podium of a Grand Tour – which for me is as good as it can get right now, barring major surprises – that just wouldn't be good enough.

Within those double standards, if his time trialling is taken for granted, the high mountains are going to be where Remco's Tour is really judged. But again, the standards he is judged by are wrong. That's because if you put him in a race where there is no Pogačar and no Vingegaard, then he's one of the best on the climbs because he can choose his own tempo on them. But his problem is that when Pogačar attacks, he can put Remco in the red zone and after a few minutes, he explodes. He loses 30 or 40 seconds in those two minutes, after which he gets to his own tempo again and he doesn't get dropped that badly. He's a time triallist and once he gets to his own pace, he's really capable. But by that point he's lost that minute on the climb, so it's difficult.

He's far from being alone in having this problem when Pogačar attacks and unfortunately Remco's upper limit isn't quite good enough to follow Pogačar. But maybe now with the new training approach Remco has, it could be he's been training like a maniac to get his VO2 Max up and he'll get that extra percentage point – and it really is just 1% difference. But remember that if on paper it looks easy, in practice is another thing.

Talking of numbers, I've seen all this stuff about his FTP value of 425 and actually I think it's a number that's lower than what he is actually pushing – it's just a training number. For example, my own FTP on paper was always 430 or 435 with a weight of 69kg. But in the races, it could actually rise to something like 460 for 20 minutes. So what your FTP is in the race and on paper are two very different things.

As for the why he published that number, he may explain that at some point before the Tour so it'll become clear, but right now that's hard to understand. After all, the two guys that are ahead of him in the Tour will likely always stay in front of him – and that's Vingegaard and Pogačar. But I suppose that at least for a lot of the guys that are training at home, they now know what numbers they have to push to be at the top level...

As for other rivals apart from Vingegaard and Pogačar, I'm not expecting as much from Paul Seixas as some people are this July. He can always surprise me, and his numbers for a 19-year-old are incredible, and he will for sure be a Tour de France winner one day. But this is his first Grand Tour and while I think he'll be there in the mix at the top level for the first two weeks, the third week is always something of a question mark for a lot of riders, and that includes Seixas.

It's even true for riders who have finished on the podium of a Grand Tour. You can get sick in the build-up, say, and that can sometimes only emerge as a problem in the third week because you're missing 1% or 2% in your endurance and in the last part of a Grand Tour, you pay a really high price for those tiny gaps. So Seixas has to learn how his body will react after two weeks and what happens in the third when Pogačar and Vingegaard unleash their demons, and as a result, I think it'll be difficult for him to be on the final podium.

Evenepoel and Lipowitz

How Evenepoel works with Florian Lipowitz is another story. Lipowitz is a teammate but he could be a bit of a problem, because imagine Lipowitz attacks a bit early on a climb and Remco is not allowed to chase, then he's a bit blocked behind because of team tactics. You're just stuck on the wheels in a group.

For sure they will have some discussions before the Tour, but they will have to reach some solid agreements. Because at some point you have to make a decision, one of them may have to sacrifice his options for the other. It's a team sport, and you can't just race for a top five placing in the Tour. Because then if you end up in fourth and fifth, say, and nobody's on the podium, then it will look a bit stupid.

What will also define Remco's Tour is how he comes out of such a long time before it without any racing, training for over two months purely for the Tour. I can only speak for myself but if I didn't do any racing for a month, then the first few days of competition were always horrible, because your legs miss the speed. I just hope for him that's not the case, because for me not racing so long would be a really bad decision. On top of that, the first day of the Tour is a team time trial and it's not like Remco can sit back, he's the TT powerhouse for his squad. I've already seen that when there are TTTs, if the other guys do 20-second turns, Remco's doing 40 to one minute. So the results of the TTT will be almost completely on his shoulders.

On the other hand, I know Remco a little bit, and I also know that when he's in a race, he's there to win and not just follow wheels. You could see that at the beginning of the year, when he was at preparation races and he kept on having to win: he's a difficult rider to contain. It doesn't matter if you say 'Please, just go to the Tour de Suisse and we'll do it as preparation, just going for it on two stages'. If he can attack 60 kilometres from the line, then he will.

Not only that, all of the parameters in training are controllable, you have a reduced risk of crashing, a lower risk of getting sick. But truth to tell, we'll only really know by the end of July, not the beginning, if this training strategy was a good or bad decision.

In fact, Remco's problem is a different one – it's that for some people, only winning is good enough at this point and that's a bit of a shame. Particularly because while Remco went to Red Bull to win races, I think winning the Tour will be really difficult. It's not impossible, but realistically, I think he only has a small chance.

It's not that some people back home have less sympathy for Remco because he left QuickStep, rather that there's something about him and his results that they always look at differently. He won six of seven races in the first two months of the year, and then just because he was dropped on one climb in the UAE Tour, their theory is that he's not performing well. So he can achieve whatever he can, but the moment he doesn't perform, even if he crashes and has bad legs as a result, they'll always say that's no excuse. Or even after finishing third in Flanders, expectations were higher for Liège and the Ardennes races, and when he didn't perform so well, they burned him down again.

So that's Remco's story: he's in a position where even if he does win, he's still doing something wrong in the eyes of a lot of people – and a lot of journalists as well. And unfortunately it seems like nothing can change that, not even (maybe) finishing third in the Tour de France this July.

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The use of rider power data as a form of anti-doping is likely to be a hot topic at next month's Tour de France, after the International Testing Agency (ITA) revealed details of a two-year feasibility and pilot study exploring whether power data could be a supplementary source of intelligence for anti-doping purposes.

Using rider power data, like how biological samples are used to create the Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) has been discussed for several years but critics have often cited a lack of accuracy and concerns about privacy.

However, the ITA has revealed that 60 riders have consented to participate in the trial project, including riders from Visma-Lease a Bike, Picnic PostNL, Jayco AlUla, Decathlon CGM CMA and Cofidis. Others are said to be in advanced discussions continuing with the ITA.

The research is being carried out in collaboration with the University of Kent and University College London. The ITA was founded by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as an independent non-profit foundation to carry out a multi-sport approach to anti-doping, taking it out of the hands of individual governing bodies.

Depending on how the trial project goes, using power data could eventually be part of the fight against doping in pro cycling and even other sports such as triathlon.

However, there has been considerable pushback against power data analysis from some part of the sport. Tadej Pogačar's agent Alex Carera described it as 'stupid' and an extra burden on athletes. Earlier this year, he told The Athletic that measuring any evolution in performance was not needed because "we do not have a doping problem."

Adam Hansen, the president of the CPA riders’ unions also has concerns about using power data as an anti-doping tool, with different stakeholders in the sport at loggerheads about who owns and controls rider data.

“I highly believe it won’t be successful. And then it will be scrapped. But we will see how it goes," Hansen told Road.cc.

“At first they said it’s just a test. I said, 'OK, that’s fine. But what happens when it’s not a test? What happens when a rider does not submit his training data? What happens if his SRM or Garmin is flat? What happens if his power meter does not work?

“While this is voluntary at the moment, I’m really worried when it becomes mandatory.”

However, the ITA claimed it has the support of the UCI, who is funding the research from revenue that is partly paid by riders, teams and race organisers.

"If validated by the ITA and approved by both the UCI Funding Committee and the UCI Management Committee, the UCI regulations will be amended to require the mandatory sharing to the ITA of individual power data for all professional men’s road riders," the ITA said as it detailed the testing.

It also said that "The study is being conducted with riders participating on a voluntary basis and in full compliance with applicable data protection regulations."

ITA said the research includes two incremental phases over two years after first revealing the idea in 2025.

"The first year focuses on retrospective analysis using historical rider data to determine whether a meaningful and sufficiently reliable longitudinal monitoring approach can be developed.

"If the feasibility phase demonstrates that the modelling principles are scientifically and operationally robust, the project would progress into a pilot implementation phase using current season data.

"Its purpose is not to establish anti-doping rule violations through performance data, but to evaluate whether certain patterns or evolutions in performance may, in the future, help inform areas such as targeted testing strategies, sample retention decisions, additional laboratory analysis or investigations."

The ITA could use power data to look for what it calls “excess performances” compared to their peers and across their careers, much like the Athlete Biological Passport does for blood values.

“We are constantly looking at how to make the cycling anti-doping program smarter and more effective," said ITA Director General Benjamin Cohen.

“Power data has been part of the conversation in cycling for many years. It is one of the sport’s most widely used performance tools, yet until now its potential contribution to anti-doping has remained largely unexplored.

"Thanks to the commitment of riders, teams and recognised experts, we now have the opportunity to assess its potential through a structured scientific process and determine whether it can meaningfully complement the anti-doping toolbox in the future."

The world’s biggest bike race deserves world-class coverage. Subscribe to Cyclingnews for unlimited access to our unrivalled reporting of the 2026 Tour de France. From Barcelona through to Paris, our experienced team will bring you breaking news, expert insight, and in-depth coverage from every stage as the battle for the yellow jersey plays out. Plus, access the Cyclingnews app to follow the action on the go! Find out more.

Zoe Bäckstedt (Canyon-SRAM) successfully defended her British elite women's time trial title in Lampeter, Wales, on Thursday.

The 21-year-old won her second elite title on the 25.6km course, beating four-time track world champion Anna Morris by 21 seconds. Bäckstedt's sister, Elynor (UAE Team ADQ), rounded out the podium in third place, finishing 1:05 down.

Last year, Bäckstedt put in a similar ride to win in Aberaeron, triumphing by 20 seconds ahead of Anna Henderson. The Lidl-Trek rider was present again this time around, though she finished her effort in eighth place, 1:54 down on the reigning champion.

"It was super hard, the heat made it 10 times harder than I think I expected to be," Bäckstedt said after the race, according to CyclingWeekly. "It was a super nice course, really fast, with country roads basically. Classic Welsh roads, but it was really fun in a way, even though I think everyone suffered through it. Happy that it's done and over with, and I'm just glad to come home with the jersey."

The win goes down as the 10th of Bäckstedt's road career to date, and her third of the 2026 season, following a triumph at the Vuelta Extremadura Feminas time trial and on stage 3 of the recent Tour de Suisse.

The elite women's race was run shortly after the under-23 men's time trial, which was won by Bradley Wiggins' son, Ben (Hagen Bermans-Jayco). The under-23 women's time trial and elite men's time trial will follow later in the day.

Imogen Wolff (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Carys Lloyd (Movistar) will take part in the under-23 women's race, while Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Ethan Hayter (Soudal-QuickStep) are among the elite men's competitors.

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Mireia Benito (AG Insurance-Soudal) defended her title for a fourth time in the elite women's time trial at the Spanish Road Championships on Thursday, riding the 18.6km course 21 seconds faster than her closest rivals.

Benito completed the TT in Sabiñánigo in 25:59 for an average speed of nearly 43kph, earning herself the right to wear the Spanish champion's skinsuit for another year. She is now a four-time consecutive winner in the elite TT, winning every year since 2023.

The rider she beat into second this year was Movistar's Sara Martín, who finished 21 seconds down on the winning time. Sandra Alonso (Eneicat-Be Call) took third at 27 seconds.

After crashing during her recon and needing stitches, podium hopeful Paula Blasi (UAE Team ADQ) missed out on the top three, coming in fourth, 40 seconds down on Benito.

Earlier in the day, Alejandra Neira (Baqué Movistar) took the junior women's TT title, whilst Paula Ostiz (Movistar) won the women's U23 TT, finishing fifth in the elite race.

Racing continues at the Spanish Championships on Thursday afternoon with the elite and U23 men's TTs, before the road races on the weekend, where Benito will be among the favourites again.

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If you're in the UK, have spoken to anyone in the UK, or watched any news pertaining to the UK this week, you'll be well aware that we're all hiding indoors away from the heat.

That giant fiery ball in the sky that we so long for throughout the other 11 months of the year has finally shown its face, and now we don't know how to cope. But naturally, like true Brits, we do what we can to muddle through.

Compared to the general population, there's a subsection of cyclists that, in my opinion, are pretty well equipped at staying cool when the mercury rises, and that's the indoor cycling crowd; Zwifters, TrainerRoaders, MyWhooshers, FulGazzers and the like. Our hobby literally entails finding ways to keep cool while we ride our bikes.

Over the years, I've had dozens of products, hacks and techniques pass across my desk to help in this aim. I've had various fans, core body temperature sensors, continuous misting devices, I've even had cycling kit with small pockets into which you can put ice packs. And I've learned techniques such as a wet towel draped around my neck and a damp cap on my head to help with evaporative cooling.

But of all those and more, there's one I'm using right now as I type this that is doing an excellent job of keeping me cool, and that's the Wahoo Kickr Headwind fan that I've had since 2019. And luck would have it, it's currently on sale among the Amazon Prime Day cycling deals with 15% off!

Get 15% off the Wahoo Kickr Headwind fan with next-day delivery at Amazon

What is the Kickr Headwind?

To put it simply, the Kickr Headwind is a fan, but to leave it at that would be to sell it miles short.

More specifically, it's a smart fan specifically designed for indoor cycling.

In that context, it can be connected to your workout to automatically adjust the wind speed between four levels based on your riding speed (in a virtual world, of course), your heart rate, or your power output.

But it can also be controlled manually between four wind speeds via buttons on the front of the fan itself, or you can select the speed as a percentage of max (meaning 100 different options) via the Wahoo smartphone app.

And speaking of the max, it can send wind across your room at up to 30mph. That's four times faster than the £600 Dyson AM07.

It delivers air in a fairly narrow direction of travel as it's designed to maximise coverage over the shape of a cyclist. But this means it's really good at moving air across a room from a distance, or in my current case, down my hallway and into my office.

Does it have any downsides?

It's worth noting that the Kickr Headwind isn't a silent fan by any means. It's quieter than the floor-standing industrial fan I also have at home, but louder than the higher-end Shark or Dyson fans.

It also won't oscillate like many of the aforementioned brands' models or those intended for generic at-home use.

Its fold-out rear feet let you adjust the angle, but only from a simple low- to high- angle. There's no finite angle adjustment, and I often find myself reaching for a few books to prop up the front or back legs to adjust the angle when I want to direct the airflow to a specific height.

Wahoo Kickr Headwind vs Elite Aria

I also have the Elite Aria indoor cycling fan at home, and on comparing the two against each other in today's conditions, it's clear which is the better unit.

The Aria does a similar job of cooling you in close quarters when riding a bike. And it's got a smaller footprint, so when cycling, I can actually put it on the desk next to my laptop, meaning it's usually less than three feet away from my face.

But it doesn't have the same total power or narrow field of airflow as the Kickr Headwind. This might seem like a good thing for moving air around the house more broadly in a heatwave, but I've found it simply means it moves less air in total, and circulates air around a smaller area when used in an open-plan space.

Britain's Oscar Onley will not race this year's Tour de France after crashing at the Tour Auvergne-Rhônes-Alpes, Netcompany Ineos confirmed on Thursday.

Onley, who finished fourth at last year's Tour, was set to co-lead Ineos' team in France alongside Kévin Vauquelin. However, his participation has been in doubt ever since a heavy crash at the renamed Dauphiné earlier this month.

He completed some Tour recons with the team after his crash, but medical tests have since revealed a "significant shoulder injury," and therefore, he will not be on the start line in Barcelona.

“I’m gutted not to be able to line up for the Tour de France this year," Onley said in a short statement released by the team.

"My focus is now on recovering and getting my shoulder in a good place, but I’m really motivated to try and make something out of this season."

Onley suffered the injury in a crash on stage 6 of the Tour Auvergne-Rhônes-Alpes, with Ineos director of racing Geraint Thomas revealing that the 23-year-old had suffered a "dislocated shoulder and a bit of a chunk out of his knee."

He attended a recent team altitude camp, and on Wednesday, posted details of a 43km 'Morning ride' on Strava, with a subheading of 'Road to the Tour… of Guangxi', sparking a sense of pessimism on social media about his presence at the Tour.

Ineos has confirmed that Onley has already started rehabilitation on his injured shoulder and is "making encouraging progress".

However, the timing of the injury means that, a year on from his breakthrough performance at the Tour, which ultimately earned him the transfer to Netcompany Ineos, he will be watching this year's race from home.

"I am looking forward to watching the boys racing in France in the coming weeks, especially knowing how hard everyone has worked," he said.

A selection dilemma for Netcompany Ineos

The British squad were expected to target the general classification at the Tour de France with four riders, but they are facing a selection dilemma after recent crashes and illness.

The British super team hoped that Oscar Onley, Carlos Rodríguez, Kévin Vauquelin and Giro d'Italia fourth-place finisher Thymen Arensman could create a combined GC attack. However, with a week until the Tour de France team presentation in Barcelona, their team leaders have still to be confirmed.

Josh Tarling is also a doubt for the Tour de France after fracturing his collarbone during the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. He quickly underwent surgery but faces a race against time and long days of indoor training to be fit enough to start the Tour. He was expected to play a key role in the opening team time trial stage.

Vauquelin finished 15th at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes after racing hard, but pulled out of both the time trial and road race at the French National Championships due to an illness he picked up in the stage race.

He was tagged in TotalEnergies rider Jordan Jegat's Instagram story of a 155km motor-pacing ride on Wednesday, but revealed he had been battling illness. He finished seventh at the 2025 Tour, while riding with Arkéa-B&B Hotels.

"Unfortunately, I won't be participating in the French Championships. A virus and bacteria contracted during the Tour Auvergne Rhône Alpes are still affecting me," Vauquelin said in his own post on Instagram.

"My team and I have decided to skip the championships in preparation for the Tour de France. It was a difficult decision to accept, but health comes first."

Filippo Ganna, Carlos Rodríguez, Michał Kwiatkowski, Dorian Godon and Thymen Arensman are expected to be part of the final Netcompany Ineos Tour roster, with the likes of Andrew August possibly drafted into the team to replace Onley.

Netcompany Ineos, like many other teams, are expected to reveal their eight Tour riders after this weekend's National Championships. Riders are expected to travel to Barcelona on Tuesday for the Grand Départ. The Tour begins on Saturday, July 4.

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Earlier this year, Primož Roglič teased his summer plans, with the door seemingly left open for a surprise Tour de France appearance in what was a four-month gap in his racing schedule.

However, the Slovenian veteran will not be heading to France next month. Instead, his summer has been filled by an appearance at the Tour de Suisse and, this weekend, a return to the Slovenian National Championships for the first time in six years.

The Slovenian Cycling Federation announced the news on Wednesday, stating that Roglič is set to take on both the time trial and road race this week, having not raced either since 2020.

He'll aim to win a second career Slovenian time trial title on Thursday, competing against 2025 Giro d'Italia Next Gen champion Jakob Omrzel and reigning champion Mihael Stajnat on a 28.8km course between Karteljevo and Poljane pri Mirni Peči. He won the title back in 2016 and finished second behind Tadej Pogačar in 2020.

On Sunday, he'll aim to win the road title for the second time, having triumphed ahead of Pogačar on his last appearance in 2020. The start list has yet to be confirmed, but reigning champion Omrzel is expected to line up.

Other riders expected to race include several more Bahrain Victorious riders, Matej Mohorič, Matevž Govekar, Roman Ermakov, and Žak Eržen, plus Domen Novak (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)

Spanish journalist Daniel Arribas reported that Pogačar had planned to compete in both races, but his partner Urška Zigart's injury has led him to rethink his run-up to the Tour de France.

"Tadej Pogačar had planned to race the Slovenian National Championships (road race and time trial) rather than head to Isola 2000, but Urška Žigart's crash changed his plans," Arribas wrote.

Pogačar's plans remain up in the air following his partner Žigart's crash at the Tour de Suisse, which left her with a fractured jaw. His teammates are at their altitude training camp on Isola 2000, but so far, he has stayed at home in Monaco with Zigart.

Roglič, then, should line up among the favourites in Slovenia as he searches for his first win of the season.

The 36-year-old's 2026 to date has seen him take on a host of stage races through the spring and early summer, with his top result being fifth at Tirreno-Adriatico and third at the March one-dayer Milano-Torino.

With no Giro or Tour on his schedule, Roglič is expected to line up at the Vuelta a España later this year, where he'll lead Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe in pursuit of a record-breaking fifth overall victory.

Whilst doing some snooping among the sales for our Prime Day cycling deals hub, I came across a bike computer on sale that I have been testing recently, and it might just be a bit of a game-changer thanks to its very competitive price and solid performance.

iGPSPORT is a Chinese brand whose profile gained traction this year when it began sponsoring WorldTour team Groupama-FDJ United.

I've been testing the brand's BiNavi model, which is one of its navigation-focused models, though I'd just call it an all-rounder with a lot of the same specs as the best bike computers that I am pitting it against.

Head straight to Amazon to buy the iGPSport BiNavi

Setup was easy, and so was the accompanying app. I also had no issue pairing my sensors, etc.

The BiNavi, specifically the 3.5" size screen version, is on sale in the UK and US, and what may draw your attention is its very competitive price point. Under £170 in the UK and just over $200 in the US.

Specs-wise, the unit weighs just over 100 grams, has a 3.5" colour touch screen, accompanying app, Strava, Komoot and TrainingPeaks integration, smartphone music control, Core sensor and smart light compatibility, IPX7 waterproof rating, the list goes on, but the point is it stands up against more expensive, better-known competition.

I've been surprised and impressed in testing. The BiNavi is performing strongly so far for the money, and could be a serious rival to more established brands.

The only negative so far for me is that the screen isn't quite as bright or vivid as something like Garmin Edge 550 or Hammerhead Karoo.

If you're considering a new computer and don't want to spend a premium, in my opinion, it's at least worth investigating. When was the last time you saw a unit like this at this price? Head below to see some images of my own test unit.