Bäckstedt, Scaroni, and beyond – Riders on the verge of a breakthrough this Spring Classics season

The Spring Classics season is upon us, with Opening Weekend kicking off almost two months of thrilling action in Belgium, Northern France, Italy, and the Netherlands, taking in four of cycling's Monuments along the way.

We'll all be looking out for the big-name Classics superstars to make their mark this spring, with the likes of Mathieu van der Poel, Lotte Kopecky, Tadej Pogačar, Demi Vollering, Wout van Aert, and Lorena Wiebes all due to make the headlines in the cobbles and hills between now and April.

But every year, of course, a host of new names leave their mark on the spring Classics. Faces old and new make the step up with memorable breakaways, palmarès-topping results, and breakthrough performances.

We've pored through the men's and women's peloton to pick out some of the riders most likely to take the next step this spring. Here are our breakthrough riders to watch in the 2026 spring Classics.

Lidl-Trek's youngsters

The news that Lidl-Trek Classics leader Mads Pedersen fractured his collarbone and wrist earlier this month has opened the door for several of his teammates to step up, at least in the early weeks of the spring Classics. It remains to be seen when the Dane will return to action, but in the meantime, his team can look to a host of promising young riders on the cobbles.

Czech champion Mathias Vacek has shown much promise since joining the team in 2023, including finishing runner-up at Paris-Tours two years ago. He's also featured in the break at Paris-Roubaix and Amstel Gold Race in recent seasons, but hasn't yet raced spring as a team leader. It'll be interesting to see how he tackled Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.

Joining him in the Opening Weekend team will be a clutch of first- and second-year pros in Tim Torn Teutenberg (aged 23), Jakob Söderqvist (22), and Albert Withen Philipsen (19).

Under-23 world time trial champion Söderqvist and Paris-Tours podium finisher Withen Philipsen both fit the profile of tall, strong Classics men, as does German racer Torn Teutenberg. Withen Philipsen and Söderqvist went one-two at last year's Paris-Roubaix Espoirs, while Torn Teutenberg won the race two years ago.

Zoe Bäckstedt (Canyon-SRAM Zondacrypto)

Twenty-one-year-old Zoe Bäckstedt is building towards something special. Will this spring herald another breakthrough for the multi-talented racer who has already won world titles at junior and under-23 levels across road, track, and cyclo-cross.

2026 marks Bäckstedt's third season at Women's WorldTour level with Canyon, with her 2025 campaign bringing much success. Last year, she took out a three-stage-and-the-overall win at the Baloise Belgium Tour and then a second career WWT stage win at the Simac Ladies Tour.

Bäckstedt has the Tour of Flanders junior title to her name, and she's also finished 13th at Paris-Roubaix. She's also improving every year, so we could be in for something big this spring.

Look out, too, for Bäckstedt's Dutch teammate Maike van der Duin. The 24-year-old is a fast finisher and took sixth and third at the Classic Brugge-De Panne and Gent-Wevelgem three seasons ago. The latter half of her 2025 campaign was derailed by illness, but she returned to action at the recent Setmana Valenciana.

Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease a Bike)

Visma-Lease a Bike's rapid 20-year-old Matthew Brennan has already made his big breakthrough, bursting into the pro ranks last year with 12 wins, including four at WorldTour level across the Volta a Catalunya, Tour de Romandie, and Tour de Pologne.

A win at the GP de Denain and a stint working for Wout van Aert deep into Paris-Roubaix showed that he's clearly a name to watch during cobbled Classics season in future, too.

This year, he's already taken out a win at the Tour Down Under, and he's set for a full Classics campaign, including Opening Weekend, Milan-San Remo, and the big cobbled races heading into Flanders and Roubaix. Van Aert may be Visma's leader, but Brennan will be one to watch.

Lara Gillespie (UAE Team ADQ)

It's inarguable that Irish racer Lara Gillespie has already made her Classics breakthrough. After all, the 24-year-old enjoyed a dazzling run of results last spring – second at the Omloop van het Hageland, third at Le Samyn and Nokere Koerse, fifth at the Classic Brugge-De Panne, sixth at Gent-Wevelgem, and a top-20 at Paris-Roubaix Femmes.

Can she take that next step and come away from this spring with a Women's WorldTour podium or a Classics win? She's shown all the potential to do so, and after last year's run of results, she'll be a watched rider throughout this spring.

In order to get a result, Gillespie will no doubt be battling Lorena Wiebes, who took four big wins last March, once again. At the UAE Tour earlier this month, she opened her season account with two second places and a fifth behind the mighty Dutch sprinter.

Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep)

Following the departure of Remco Evenepoel, one-time Classics powerhouse Soudal-QuickStep have recalibrated their squad to go at the spring Classics once more. Jasper Stuyven and Dylan van Baarle join as major additions, while Yves Lampaert, Casper Pedersen, and young sprinter Paul Magnier stay on board to form a powerful group.

The 21-year-old Frenchman came close to a big win this time last season, finishing second at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, while he finished second at the Ename Samyn Classic a few days later, too. Later on, he rounded out his season with 14 wins in two months.

This spring, he's tackling Omloop and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne before heading to Milan-San Remo, Dwars door Vlaanderen, and the Tour of Flanders. Don't be surprised if the two-time Volta ao Algarve stage winner walks away from the period with a breakthrough Classics victory.

Demi Vollering's support team (FDJ United-Suez)

With a spring Classics palmarès packed with six wins across Strade Bianche, Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallonne, and Liège-Bastogne-Liége, it won't be a surprise to see one of women's cycling's superstars, Demi Vollering, competing for the biggest prizes once again this spring.

She'll be backed up by one of the strongest support squads around, too, with the likes of Vittoria Guazzini, Juliette Berthet, Elise Chabbey, and Amber Kraak set to support the Dutchwoman. But these riders, while lacking a similar big Classics win themselves, have all the quality to step up themselves, too.

All four riders have been there or thereabouts in the biggest races of the spring. Guazzini is a former Le Samyn winner with top fives at Dwars door Vlaanderen and the Trofeo Binda to her name. Berthet has scored top 10s at Strade Bianche, Milan-San Remo, and the Ardennes Classics. Kraak has done the same at Paris-Roubaix and Amstel Gold Race. Meanwhile, Chabbey finished top 10 at Flanders and Roubaix last season, and has done the same at Strade Bianche, Flèche, and Liège.

Vollering will be leading FDJ United-Suez this spring, but the strength of her support team is such that any of them could score a big win themselves.

Cristian Scaroni (XDS-Astana)

XDS-Astana came back from the dead last year to fly up to fourth in the UCI rankings, securing their future in the WorldTour for another three years thanks to a single-minded pursuit of UCI points throughout 2025. Italian racer Cristian Scaroni, with five wins and 2,399 points, led the charge for the Kazakhstani squad.

Last year, he took out wins at some smaller hilly Classics – the Classic Var and the Giro dell Romagna – in addition to mountain victories at the Tour des Alpes-Maritimes and the Giro d'Italia. There were 14 further top-10 placings in other hilly one-dayers, too, plus a fourth place at the Road European Championships.

Only one of those, the Donostia San Sebastián Klasikoa, came at WorldTour level, but Scaroni will surely be a watched rider come the Ardennes Classics. XDS-Astana directeur sportif recently drew a comparison between the Italian and the "early days" of Alejandro Valverde. We'll see whether that comparison rings true come April.

Lukáš Kubiš (Unibet Rose Rockets)

After six years in the Continental ranks, Slovakian champion Lukáš Kubiš got his first shot at ProTeam level with Unibet Rose Rockets last season, and the 26-year-old grabbed it with both hands.

Kubiš impressed throughout the spring and the rest of the year, recording 33 top-10 results between February's Etoile de Bessèges and October's Tour of Holland. Along the way came top 10s at both Opening Weekend races plus Nokere Koerse and the Muur Classic Geraardsbergen, showcasing his ability to perform on the cobbles at the highest level.

This year's spring campaign will see him given a chance at an even higher level, with Unibet Rose Rockets scoring invites to every major Classic between Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Paris-Roubaix. Kubiš will be at all of them, including the Tour of Flanders, and he'll be the most-watched man on his team.

Magdeleine Vallieres Mill (EF Education-Oatly)

It may be odd to include reigning world champion Magdeleine Vallieres Mill in our list, but the Canadian's big win in Rwanda came before any big breakthrough in the spring.

The 24-year-old shot to a surprise breakaway victory in the hills of Kigali last September, but, despite her relative lack of Classics success beforehand, it was far from a fluke as she attacked at the lead of the race on the last lap.

She finished her season inside the top 10 at the Giro dell'Emilia and Tre Valli Varesine, having earlier finished 12th at De Brabantse Pijl and 14th at La Flèche Wallonne in the spring. Her Worlds triumph will certainly raise expectations for this year's Ardennes Classics.

Bastien Tronchon (Groupama-FDJ United)

FDJ's longtime Classics leader, Swiss nearly man Stefan Küng, has departed after seven years, and so a Classics leadership role has opened up at the French squad. 29-year-old Valentin Madouas is the man most likely to step up, with podiums at Strade Bianche and the Tour of Flanders to his name, but there should be opportunities for others, too.

Bastien Tronchon, 23, will race the full complement of cobbled Classics for the first time this season after being let go by Decathlon-CMA CGM over the winter.

He's already shown form on rough roads, having finished second at the Clásica Jaén two years ago and taken victory at Tro-Bro Léon last spring. Both races are run on dirt rather than cobblestones, but Tronchon will surely be a name to watch, both this spring and in the coming seasons.

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