Fifty years ago, at the 1975 men's Tour de France, just 13 riders on the start line hailed from nations outside of the five that have dominated much of professional cycling's history, France, Italy, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Ten years on, in 1985, that number had more than doubled to 30; it was 51 by 1995, and at this year's Tour, the figure had climbed to 82 of the 184 starters, with the spread of nations represented sprawling with each passing decade.
Some nations have become major forces in the world's biggest races. Most recently, Slovenia has developed into one of professional cycling's top nations – boasting a raft of stars that include Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Primoz Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Urska Žigart (AG Insurance-Soudal), with a number of young riders coming through – and ranking in third place on the 2025 UCI Nations rankings. Ten years ago, Slovenia ranked 14th and had never won a Grand Tour – now they have ten.
Mexico catches Del Toro fever
At the Angel de la Independencia in the centre of Mexico City, a crowd begins to gather. It's an event that is usually reserved for Mexico's football team during their biggest matches, but in May of 2025, it's for a cyclist.
Isaac del Toro's remarkable success in Europe, particularly at this year's Giro d'Italia where he finished second after relinquishing the pink jersey on the penultimate day, has lit a fuse in Mexico. Del Toro has reached an astronomical level of stardom in his home nation and was recently awarded the Premio Nacional de Deportes 2025 as Mexican sportsperson of the year.
The picture of Mexican cycling looked very different four years ago, when the cycling community was hit by the news of the suspension of the Mexican Cycling Federation due to governance and electoral malpractice. This meant that there could be no national championships in the country and, crucially, no organisation to oversee the development of cycling in Mexico, although the Mexican Olympic Committee deputised in the intervening years at major championships and the Tour de l'Avenir to allow riders to compete.
However, at the 2025 UCI Congress in Rwanda, a brand new Mexican Federation was ratified. A few weeks later, the country's first road national championships since 2021 were held in Ensenada, Del Toro's home town, and a feeling of optimism swept over.
"I think it's very good news and it looks good for Mexican cycling in the future," says Alejandro Rodriguez, the founder of A.R. Monex, the team that discovered and developed Del Toro.
With a new federation on board and millions of Mexicans turning their eyes to the sport of cycling, this nation of 130 million people has the potential to become a major force in the sport. Rodriguez's A.R. Monex team continues to develop talented riders with their men's and women's teams, alongside the Continental men's team Petrolike, racing in Europe.
Mexico will also have a second professional in the men's peloton next season, as young sprinter Cesar Macias steps up to join Spanish ProTeam Burgos Burpellet BH, and Romina Hinojosa will continue to develop as part of the Lotto Ladies team. Teenager Said Cisneros will also step up from the A.R. Monex junior team to join Soudal-QuickStep's development team in 2026.
No concrete plans are yet in place, but there is talk of a major race being put together by the organisers of the Canadian WorldTour races in the coming years. Cyclingnews also understands that the new Mexican federation plans to revive the Vuelta a Mexico, an historic race under several guises which was last run in 2015.
"I can say that Mexico is already there," Rodriguez replies when asked how far Mexican cycling has come in the last few years. "It's in the spotlight because of Del Toro. It was a 180-degree turnaround in comparison to where it was 10 years ago.
"I think Del Toro is just the proof of the potential that we have in Mexico. Of course, we need to put in the hours in the saddle and the investments from the sponsors and so on. I think this whole thing is creating momentum, and I really believe that we are just getting started."
China becomes new racing destination
For years, professional cycling has been attempting to tap into the gigantic Chinese market, seeing the world's second-most populous nation as a potential opportunity for growth. Major races have been organised, starting with the Tour of Beijing from 2011 to 2014, followed by the Tours of Guangxi and Chongming Island. ASO also launched a short-lived post-Tour de France Criterium in Shanghai in 2017.
Although some of these efforts have made progress, nothing has yet caught fire among the Chinese public in terms of growing the sport beyond the fringes.
However, that could all be changing from an unexpected source. The lower-level Chinese domestic scene has been expanding rapidly over the past two years and is becoming a viable alternative option for riders out of contract to continue their careers, and it only looks set to grow.
In 2025, there were 15 Chinese men's continental squads registered with the UCI, most of them racing entirely within China. There were nine UCI stage races organised this year alongside the season-long China Road Pro Cycling League. These teams and races are well funded and efficiently organised, riders are paid well - often better than the salary they could earn on a continental team in Europe - and working conditions are good.
It's all attracting a growing number of former professionals to make the move east, like Danish sprinter Alexander Salby, who moved to the Li Ning Star team this season after two years at ProTeam level with Bingoal WB.
"It wasn't easy to find a pro contract in Europe. With everything that isn't a pro contract in Europe, it's hard to find decent money where you can actually make a living," Salby told Global Peloton of his reasoning for making the move to China.
"I saw how professional the setup was there. From what I heard from the international riders who were already there, the team had big ambitions and good sponsors behind the team. Now I really do not regret anything.
"They treat us really well, we have a good programme, we have some good sponsors, good bikes. In almost any way possible, we ride as a pro team."
With the transfer market so volatile this season and so many riders still out of contract ahead of 2026, Salby, who took 11 UCI wins in 2025, thinks that more riders may look to move to China or other parts of Asia to continue their careers.
"I think the Asian circuit is definitely a good option because you can make a living from racing and they have a decent programme also for racing," he says.
At the end of 2024, Chinese bike manufacturer XDS invested in the long-running Kazakh WorldTour team, Astana, with riders racing on their X-Lab bikes and a name-change to XDS-Astana. The team also made room for young Chinese rider Haoyu Su, the only rider from the nation currently racing at a professional level in the men's and women's pelotons.
Despite investment, Chinese riders have struggled to gain a foothold at the top-level of the sport in meaningful numbers over the years, and there are very few talents coming through. This is despite the efforts of development teams like China Glory-Anta-Mentech, who give Chinese riders the opportunity to race in Europe, and a new UCI development centre in Shanghai.
China's financial influence over the sport may be growing, but influence in a sporting sense is proving harder to grasp. With the further growth of the domestic scene and continued investment, this could all change over the next decade.
Mauritius inspired by Le Court-Pienaar
An island nation deep in the Indian Ocean and just over 2,000 square kilometres in size would not be the usual description of a country developing into a serious cycling force, but that is what could be happening.
Spearheaded by Africa's first Monument winner and Tour de France Femmes yellow jersey wearer, Kim Le Court-Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal), Mauritius has become one of Africa's best-performing nations in recent years. Last year, Alexandre Mayer became Mauritius' first professional in the men's peloton after he signed for Spanish ProTeam Burgos Burpellet BH and there are several promising young riders also making their mark.
Mayer says that the key turning point for Mauritian cycling came in 2017, when the national federation devised a plan and raised funds to invest in the sport. They initially wanted to see Mauritian riders racing across the African continent, but those riders are now developing beyond that level.
"It's been growing slowly and I think it's only now that we can see the benefits from this programme," says Mayer, a four-time national champion whose contract with Burgos Burpellet BH runs until the end of 2026.
"There's still not a lot of riders here, but the ones that go to Europe, we proved that we can perform and race well," he adds.
The men's Tour de Maurice has played a role in developing cycling in Mauritius. For the first seven editions of the race, it was run as a non-UCI event and was dominated by local riders. Since 2023, the race has stepped up to UCI 2.2 level with sponsorship from Škoda and now welcomes teams from Europe, Asia and Africa. The race did not take place in 2025, but is set to return in 2026.
One talent that the cycling community on the island is excited about is Tristan Hardy. The 17-year-old raced his first-year junior season in France during 2025 with impressive results, including 4th at GP Plouay Juniors and a GC victory at the Tour Junior Causses-Aigoual-Cévennes. The youngster is now in talks with several agents, hoping to secure a move to a top development team when he progresses to under-23 level in 2027.
Hardy has been greatly inspired by the success of Le Court-Pienaar over the past two seasons, and says that cycling participation numbers have multiplied thanks to her.
"Kim has done something incredible. It's so nice to see a Mauritian rider going to the WorldTour stage and doing so well, like she's doing. In Mauritius, everyone knows Kim now. When she did good at some races, I nearly thought they would do a national holiday the next day," Hardy says.
"I think people in Mauritius, even the government, are starting to see that African riders can do well in sports, and especially cycling. So maybe they [will] start to put a bit more money for us.
"In Mauritius, I just see so many more people cycling around the island when I go out for a ride. Before, it was not like this. There are more group rides," Hardy adds.
Whether the Le Court-Pienaar effect will see Mauritius climb the ladder and produce more elite talent is yet to be seen. What's clear is that this nation, with a population of just 1.2 million, is already punching above its weight in the sport and is producing several talented prospects.
‘More talent to come' in the UAE
Cycling in the UAE is definitely at a different stage in its development from the other three on this list, but arguably the Middle Eastern state has already become one of the sport's most influential nations.
The UAE funds the best men's team in the world in UAE Team Emirates-XRG as well as women's WorldTour team UAE Team ADQ, but stated from the outset an intention to also develop cycling at home. The result of that work, alongside major investment from the national federation, is a rapid expansion in racing at the grassroots level.
"I remember when I was a cadet [youth rider], on the starting line were only 30-40 riders. Now we have more than 200 on the starting line, which gives us a really big opportunity to discover a talent from the UAE," says Yousif Mirza, the only Emirati rider to have raced in the men's WorldTour, now a sports director with the UAE Team Emirates-XRG Gen Z team.
Upon its launch at the beginning of the 2024 season, UAE Team Emirates-XRG Gen Z, a development squad of the world's top-ranked team, signed two riders from the UAE, Abdulla Jasim Al-Ali and Mohammad Al Mutaiwei, to develop them in Europe.
Mirza hopes to see one of them emulate his achievements of racing in the WorldTour in the coming years. Al Mutaiwei is seen as a gifted time-triallist and won the UCI 1.2 Dhofar Classic in Oman this year. Al-Ali competed in several races with the WorldTour team in 2025 and finished second overall at the Tour of Salalah, also in Oman, in September.
"We keep working on them to improve their talent…they keep getting more experience when they are with the team in Europe," Mirza says.
"They are the future of cycling in the UAE. And we have more to come. We have more talent to come."
Mirza identifies junior rider Abdulla Yousuf Amiri as one to watch for the future. In September, he became the first Emirati rider ever to finish the junior World Championships road race, a small but significant step of progress.
On the women's side, 24-year-old Safiya Al Sayegh became the first Emirati rider to race in the women's WorldTour in 2022 as part of UAE Team ADQ. The nine-time national champion will continue her development with the team into the 2026 season.
Both the men's and women's UAE Tour have also become established races on the WorldTour calendar. There is also the early-season Tour of Sharjah and an expanding national-level racing scene.
With no shortage of cash to invest in the sport, talent coming through, and the popularity of cycling growing thanks to the success of the two WorldTour teams, the trajectory is set for the UAE to become an emerging player in professional cycling.
Going global
Professional cycling’s globalisation is not limited to these four nations; the sport is developing steadily across Asia, Africa, South America and elsewhere. However, it takes a number of factors for these nations to really break through into the top tier, seeing riders contending for the world’s biggest races.
Access to high-quality racing is vital, where young riders can test themselves against their peers. Proper coaching and equipment are important too, and the athletes that do make it to the top levels need to be given the right kind of support.
However, the thing that holds cycling back from a more accelerated globalisation is that the system continues to be weighted towards riders from Western Europe. That’s where the races are, alongside the resources and infrastructure to create the next stars of the sport.
If cycling is ever to be a truly global sport, it needs to share the wealth, invest in the international race calendar and increase financial backing for development in Asia, Africa, South America and elsewhere. There’s a world of Isaac del Toros and Kim Le Court-Pienaars out there.
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