With Christmas in the rearview mirror and the Tour Down Under hurtling into view, it may not quite feel like it, but we are now well into 2026, and a brand new season of cycling.
In this weird period between January 1 and racing actually beginning, it can be easy to forget we're in a new year – and some things, like new jerseys or transfers, can take until the Classics to really sink into our minds.
In many ways, this year is going to usher in some big changes, and it's going to be a very different year of cycling. Some things will always persevere – the Classics and the Tour de France aren't going to dramatically change any time soon – but this year we're seeing new WorldTour teams, new rules, new races, and some other significant things that will influence the future of the sport.
New WorldTour teams, new promotion/relegation cycle – and a new points system
Promotion and relegation seems to be the story that never stops, so this isn't brand new, but the cycle restarts in 2026. On the men's side, that means we have three newly promoted WorldTour teams, but given Lotto and NSN Cycling have been WorldTour teams in previous lives, it's really just Uno-X Mobility who are new new.
On the surface, the changes aren't that dramatic, especially given the fact that the promoted teams have been operating on the level of WorldTour teams for the past few years anyway. But, it ushers in a shift in dynamic, with the teams that have spent three years chasing points now feeling more secure.
We'll see a new crop of teams taking on the job of chasing UCI points – either to be promoted, or to avoid relegation. It may be a three-year cycle, but the work starts now, because it can really come down to very fine margins.
In the women's peloton, the difference is going to be more marked, because a strange confluence of relegation, promotion criteria, team closures and finances mean that there will be only 14 WorldTour teams this year - additionally, it is the first year that only WorldTour and ProTeams may enter WorldTour races.
This means we could see some quite small pelotons in some races, whilst there will also be a fight for points as the UCI has indicated they want to assign one more licence at the end of 2026 to bring the number back up to 15.
The other interesting thing is that from this year, some points from other disciplines will also count towards teams' overall UCI road ranking. Could this mean teams lean even more into the multidisciplinary scene, encouraging their riders to pursue points in cyclo-cross or mountain biking as well as the road? It would certainly be exciting if so, rather than off-road riders being pressured into putting more of their focus on the road.
A better women's calendar
Some changes to the women's calendar have the possibility to really alter – improve, even – the dynamics and visibility of the women's racing season. The main thing is that after literally years of waiting and asking, the Giro d'Italia Women is moving, so it's no longer clashing with the men's Tour de France.
This clash has always been a huge barrier to visibility to what was for a long time women's cycling's only Grand Tour, given how much the Tour just pulls all focus during July, so moving to the week after the men's Giro should allow for a lot more attention and coverage of the women's Giro. Linking it to the men's race also helps build that association, and will hopefully draw fans from one to the other.
The Tour de France Femmes is also moving a week later, so there's no longer overlap with the end of the men's race, which is also good for visibility. What's more, the increased gap between these two Grand Tours should change the dynamic on the calendar, because riders can reasonably target both now, rather than having to choose one is there was only a couple of weeks' rest after the Giro. We haven't really seen riders like Demi Vollering or Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney properly go for the Giro, and that would be very interesting to watch in 2026.
Lastly, the Grand Tour shuffle has moved some races later in the summer, with the Tour of Britain Women now at the end of August, which should help build a late-season block for the women.
With no Canadian races, September Vuelta or Il Lombardia, women's racing is vulnerable to just fizzling out a bit after the Tour, so having a stronger block of racing into the autumn should help keep the momentum going, and keep women's cycling in the headlines all year round.
Lots of race name changes, and new events
If you don't currently know what the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes is, you need to get up to speed ASAP, and while you're at it, I'd revise In Flanders Fields and the Ronde van Brugge too.
The Critérium du Dauphiné will be known as the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes going forward, whilst the other two are the new names for Gent-Wevelgem and Brugge-De Panne respectively, because a lot of races wanted to change their name in 2026, it seems. Will this make a material difference? No. Will it mean we're all saying the wrong thing and getting confused for a while? Probably.
As well as new race names, there are a few new UCI races too – the Lyon-Torino stage race, the Giro della Magnia Grecia and Giro di Sardegna, to name a few. The calendar is busy!
The peloton missing some figureheads
Every year, the shape of the peloton changes, as we say goodbye to retiring riders, and welcome neo pros, so that's no different. But this year, it does feel like several influential, figurehead-type riders all retired in one fell swoop, and their absence will be noticed.
Geraint Thomas, Lizzie Deignan, Alexander Kristoff, Ellen van Dijk and Simon Yates - possibly Chris Froome, too - are some of the major names who won't be in the pro peloton, and that will mark a shift.
These are riders who have often spoken up on behalf of the peloton as a whole, and undoubtedly had an important presence in races – when they were winning, and when they weren't. Without some of these older figureheads, 2026 will see new riders step into those roles as peloton spokesperson, both in front of the media and in the bunch. It will be interesting to see who fills those shoes.
More and more cycling behind paywalls
This is a change that has been slowly happening for a couple of years, but in 2026 more cycling than ever will be behind paywalls – i.e. not free to watch on television. Of course, this is true for many many sports – there's not much football you can watch for free anymore – but cycling has long trailed behind, and held onto its free-to-air status in many countries, which has been essential for drawing in new audiences.
The biggest thing is that the Tour de France, the race most likely to be shown free, will no longer be free to watch in the UK. For the moment, the race is still free to air across much of Europe and Australia, but paywalls are creeping in everywhere, and more and more races are landing on subscription services, even in the cycling heartlands like Belgium, Italy and France.
This will have an impact on the sport. As we explored in an investigation this year, little of the broadcasting revenue makes its way to teams, but fewer eyeballs on the sport can mean less return on investment, and a harder task to secure sponsorship. It's also just hard to grow a sport if you put barriers between potential new fans and actually watching it. Cycling will need to work out how to mitigate that, and fast, as paywalls are certainly the future.
Breaking contracts becomes the norm
After the number of broken contracts in 2024 and 2025 – Remco Evenepoel, Juan Ayuso, Oscar Onley, Derek Gee-West, Cian Uijtdebroeks, Charlotte Kool, Nienke Vienke and that's not all of them – I wouldn't be surprised if 2026 sees mid-contract moves become the norm.
The days of contracts being contracts are over, and the sport is absolutely moving toward a more football-esque system of buyouts and negotiations. We've seen how possible it is, so there's nothing stopping riders and teams from doing it more going ahead.
The question is how will this be regulated? The UCI have already taken steps to make such moves more straightforward, requiring approval from both teams and the UCI, but maybe one day teams will just be free to trade between themselves. It also remains to be seen if the UCI wants to regulate the money involved in these deals, to protect 'selling' teams and maintain fairness in the face of growing gaps between team budgets.
A transfer market that overrides existing contracts can work, but it leaves opportunities for smaller teams to be fleeced and for bigger teams to dominate if there aren't any safeguards.
Steps forward for North American cycling
This year is set to be a very positive one for American road cycling at an international level, which hasn't always been true after some rocky periods.
The USA will field a new men's ProTeam in the form of Modern Adventure Pro Cycling, which is putting US riders first and really starting with the aim of being an American presence in the peloton. If the project is successful, it will be a key way for North American riders to make it to the WorldTour peloton.
It's also going to be a big year in terms of races on the continent. As well as the existing Maryland Classic and Canadian one-day races, Montréal will welcome the whole international cycling community for the Road World Championships in September, and in the US the Philadelphia Cycling Classic is returning to the UCI ProSeries.
As well as having riders racing abroad, having events at home is key to growing the popularity of the sport in North America. Big events like Worlds especially are known to have big legacies in the places they visit – could this be a launchpad year for road racing in North America?
No more OneCycling – but what next?
A big part of 2025 was dominated by talk of OneCycling, the breakaway (then not so much breakaway) league that wanted to shake up the way cycling is run, but after talk of splitting from the UCI, to then tempering that to working alongside the UCI system, the plans ended up falling apart all together.
But even though OneCycling might be over in its original form, the appetite for change is not disappearing. Many stakeholders in the sport – but particularly teams and race organisers – want things to be better. Better structured, better financed, better revenue share. Just because the latest project failed doesn't mean that feeling has gone away.
So what will be next? Someone is going to keep pushing for change, the question is just who. Could it be the AIGCP, the CPA, or The Cyclists' Alliance? Perhaps the UCI might finally concede that things need to be different, and work with stakeholders to restructure the sport. Or maybe it will just be a breakaway group under a different guise, but more than likely with the same Middle Eastern money. Let's see what happens in 2026.
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