En route to the cobbles

Hey hey lovely folk out there, welcome to this very busy edition of the newsletter (when are they NOT busy lately!) which is coming to you slightly earlier than scheduled, as I’m off for a few days to spend time outdoors with my family in beautiful Yorkshire, switching off from the digital world ahead of a busy spring of Classics action.

As always, there’s a big focus on the racing, and with several stage races taking place since I was last in your inboxes, it’s going to be a mammoth round-up - hopefully you’ll find it useful.

If you are enjoying these newsletters, please consider donating just a few of your hard earned [insert currency here] to buy me a coffee support my mission to continue bringing you free, informative and entertaining content, both on the website and here in the newsletter - link here, and above!

On with the good stuff.

ON THE WEBSITE

Speaking of Omloop, I wrote a post yesterday turning over the idea that maybe, just maybe, Opening Weekend should be moved further back in the calendar, to streamline the season a bit more. I KNOW I KNOW - I can hear you all shouting at me from here. But hear me out…

I also reflected on race safety following the crazy situation on stage 1 of the Volta ao Algarve.

NEWS! NEWS! HERE IS SOME NEWS!

TOP STORY: Geraint Thomas announces retirement

After 19 years as part of the pro peloton, Welsh former Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas of INEOS Grenadiers announced last week that he would retire from racing at the end of 2025. While the news doesn’t come as a surprise, having been hinted at a number of times over the past year, it wasn’t made official until last Monday morning, when Thomas announced across social media:

The winner of the 2018 Tour de France has since confirmed that he is keen on a potential management role within the team, following the conclusion of his racing career. It really does mark the end of an era, for British fans of the sport in particular.

TOP STORY: Further setback for Egan Bernal

After his double triumph at the Colombian national championships, Egan Bernal returned to Europe to begin his road season at the Clásica Jaén in Spain, and he was an active participant in the race, exciting fans who considered the enticing possibility that he may be heading back into the kind of form that saw him take victory at the 2021 Giro d’Italia.

Those hopes were dealt a major blow however, as Bernal crashed in the late stages of the race, breaking his collarbone. He will now have to consider his Giro bid based on his recovery from the injury, but it’s safe to say we all hope to see him pick up right where he left off, upon his return to racing.

TOP STORY: Team time trial for Tour de France

The first two stages of the 2026 Tour de France were unveiled yesterday, with stage 1 set to be the first team time trial in the race’s history. The Grand Départ, which takes place in Barcelona, will see the riders take on a tough TTT course around the city with an uphill finish, before a hilly stage beginning in Tarragona on stage 2 heads back to Barcelona via repeated ascents of the Montjuic climb, made famous in the annual final stage of the Volta a Catalunya. Stage 3 will begin in Granollers, with the finish location yet to be revealed.

View the first two stages here:

BITESIZE CHUNKS OF NEWS - YUM!

• Chaos in Algarve! As discussed in my post, above, and in the results section, below, stage 1 of the Volta ao Algarve was declared null following an unprecedented issue at the final deviation, heading towards a bunch sprint at the finish. More on that below.

• Collar bones bear the brunt of numerous crashes at UAE Tour! There were a number of crashes in the later stages of the UAE Tour, causing collarbone fractures for Chris Froome, Niklas Behrens, Victor Langelotti and Carlos Rodriguez. There were plenty more victims including a concussion for Dylan Groenewegen and crashes for Sebastian Molano, Fernando Gaviria, Paul Seixas and Felix Gall, in another early season fraught with incidents.

• No, not Romain! At the Volta ao Algarve, Romain Bardet was another rider to crash out of early season racing, leaving his final season in doubt as he heads home to recover from his injuries – luckily, he escaped with no broken bones, despite looking quite banged up after the incident. A shoulder contusion was the prognosis.

• No Giro for Pogi! Despite all signs pointing to a Tour-Vuelta double for Tadej Pogacar this year, until UAE Team Emirates-XRG confirmed unequivocally that he would not be taking part, rumours still circulated that the Slovenian may consider a title defence at the Italian Grand Tour. But this week, UAE management have

• Domestique launches new platform for cycling content! If you don’t frequent social media much you might have missed the news that the creators behind the Domestique accounts - who bring live race updates and news to social media channels, particularly Twitter - have launched an audacious new offering set to re-shape the cycling media sphere.

  Designed with fans in mind, the platform aims to bring all manner of cycling content together in one place - from live race updates, to stats and data, to original content, to online gaming and community - a one-stop shop where fans can interact, and content creators can share their work. I have agreed to play a part in this exciting new project as I am really passionate about independent cycling content and offering fans unique and different perspectives. My site and newsletter will continue - this is complementary to my other work, and a place that I hope you will find really useful in the long-run.

  All the information is at the site below - the launch is in May, and in the meantime, if you’re really keen, you can donate to the project to help get it off the ground.

OH HAPPY DAY!

Celebrating the lighter side of the sport…

You know I love me some doggos, and the absolute top of my league table of cute pups are Tom Pidcock’s pair of sausage dogs Chestnut and Acorn. Check out these two when their Dad got home from his trip to Spain.

thenutsisters

View more on Instagram

ROAD RACING RESULTS ROUND-UP

One of the shortest men’s stage races (though there’s an even shorter one at the end of this round-up) the Tour de La Provence (14-16 Feb) still packed a punch, with a top line-up and three varying stages.

On stage 1 Lidl-Trek set out their stall early by riding aggressively and breaking up the race, forcing a split in the peloton. There were plenty of attacks as the kilometres passed, with Arkéa-B&B one of the teams trying to set up a move, and GC favourites Mads Pedersen and Matej Mohorič putting their noses in the wind. It was a solo attack from Samuel Leroux of TotalEnergies that stuck though, and he built a solid gap, forcing Lidl-Trek and the rest of the sprinters’ teams to chase. It was a valiant ride from the lone leader but he was heartbreakingly swamped by the bunch less than a kilometre from the line, leading to a hotly contested sprint which was won by Sam Bennett (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale).

Stage 2 was the toughest day of the three, but not to be deterred, Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) took the race on from the front heading into the main climb of the day with 30km to go. He was joined by Mohorič and though the pair were chased by the rest of the bunch, their combined power was impossible for the rest to overcome. Pedersen won the sprint and took control of the race lead.

Stage 3 was a more straightforward day in the saddle, a four-man break being swept up by the bunch 1.5km from the line, including the heartbreak hero of stage 1, Samuel Leroux. The run-in to the bunch sprint was marred by a nasty crash, with Pascal Ackermann the most badly hurt. Sam Bennett was left clear to sprint for his second win of the race, while Pedersen sealed the overall win.

The one-day Vuelta a Murcia (15 Feb) provided a surprise winner in Swiss youngster Fabio Christen, older brother of UAE rider Jan. In another great day out for Q36.5 Pro Cycling, Christen pipped Aurelien Paret-Peintre to the victory, after a strong breakaway effort from Tim Wellens and Cristian Scaroni was chased down by an elite group, but no-one could pass the young Swiss who recorded his first pro victory. The next day the Clasica de Almeria (16 Feb) saw more points on the board for Cofidis, through Milan Fretin, who won a bunch sprint ahead of the likes of Arnaud de Lie.

Meanwhile in Portugal, the Figueira Champions Classic (16 Feb) offered season debuts to the likes of Julian Alaphilippe, who rode his first race in a Tudor Pro Cycling jersey, and Romain Bardet, riding his final half-season before retirement. With 50km to go, the race kicked off, with Alaphilippe going on the attack (how good was it to see him doing his thing again, if only for a minute or two?!)

It was Filippo Ganna (INEOS Grenadiers) who took the initiative and powered away from the peloton, and he led the race solo for a period, building his gap up to 45 seconds at one point. The chasing peloton comprised around 30 riders, and eventually caught Ganna on the main climb of the day, with UAE Team Emirates-XRG home rider Antonio Morgado taking advantage and striking out solo with 21km remaining. Morgado’s gap grew, but with the finish line closing in the chasing group chipped away at it, led by Soudal-QuickStep on behalf of Paul Magnier. In the end, Morgado had just enough space, raising his arms with just five seconds to spare ahead of Magnier and Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek).

A one-day race on a Monday?! Yes, the newest white-road classic on the block, Clásica Jaén (17 Feb) kicked off last week in characteristic style, quite unlike any other race on the calendar save for perhaps Strade Bianche. The race kicked off with just under 70km to go, with the first UAE v Visma battle launching. Tim Wellens fired the first shot, but it was Visma Lease-A Bike’s Ben Tulett who lit the touch paper, attacking repeatedly over the next section of the race, drawing a select group clear.

With the peloton in shreds and the breakaway’s day done, a group of three finally made it clear from the group at the head of the race: Michal Kwiatkowski (INEOS Grenadiers), Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and the lone remaining member of the day’s early break, Equipo Kern Pharma’s Ibon Ruiz. It looked as though Van Aert was struggling to keep pace in the chasing group, and he switched roles with Tulett, taking over the pace-setting at the front of the small chasing group, though it seemed Tulett’s chance might have evaporated in the moments between the message getting through that his team leader was cooked, and swapping roles - a case of poor timing that led to us wondering what could have been.

With 30km to go, Van Aert dropped the chasers off and the counter-attacks began immediately, with a gap of around 15 seconds remaining to the lead trio. The chase split and came back together again, with INEOS and UAE extremely well represented, though they both had interest at the front of the race.

Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale went on the offensive but the lead group maintained their gap and the chase group began to look at one another as the gravel sectors ticked down. Attacks came, were neutralised, and the gap remained. It looked like the win was in the hands of the leaders, but McNulty punctured with just under 14km remaining, and with UAE out of the picture Kwiatkowski launched his attack with 12km to go. Isaac del Toro responded in the chase group to try and save the day for his team. He eventually chased down Ruiz and the pair worked together for a while, with the gap too great to be bridged, and INEOS recorded their first win since last July through the ever-reliable Michal Kwiatkowski, another one of their old guard.

Next up for the men was the UAE Tour (17-23 Feb). With a world-class line-up of sprinters on the bill, alongside some excellent GC riders – and headline act Tadej Pogačar – it was set to be a big showdown in the desert. The first stage didn’t disappoint, with a never-ending uphill sprint to the line that has to be seen to be believed. With his sprinter Sebastian Molano falling in a crash just a few kilometres before the line, Pogačar was free to go for his own chances in an attempt to steal a march on GC. As a result, the riders featured at the front of the race were a mixed bag of sprinters and GC riders, and Pog even tried his luck at the sprint, before being overpowered by the sheer wattage of Jasper Philipsen and Jonathan Milan. It was the fearsome pure power of Milan that won the day in the end though, with Philipsen relegated for deviation on the line, leaving – rather improbably – Finn Fisher-Black in second place for Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe.

When a top ten looks like this, you know it’s not been a ‘normal’ bunch sprint…

Stage 2 was a time trial, and it second win in as many days for INEOS Grenadiers, as Joshua Tarling found his best form to take victory ahead of Stefan Bissegger and Pogačar. He fought valiantly to hold onto the race lead on stage 3, the first of two traditional summit finishes, up to Jebel Jais. It was a large group that stayed together into the late stages of the climb, and though it began to thin out, there were still plenty of contenders as the finish line approached. In the end, the strong favourite for the day, Tadej Pogačar, exploded away from the rest just a few hundred metres from the line, to score his first victory of the season.

Stage 4 was set to be a bunch sprint, but the desert crosswinds complicated matters, with the beautiful sight of echelons gracing our screens, with two bouts of attacking in the crosswinds, the first pictured above and with 18km remaining, the race turned back into the crosswinds and UAE Team Emirates-XRG attacked forcing another split, with plenty of teams missing out heading towards the final. But with 3.5km remaining the chase group sewed up the gap and the big sprint showdown ensued, and it was a doozy. We were finally treated to the sight of arguably the three fastest men in the world surging for the line together, with Jonathan Milan once again taking the win, just millimetres ahead of European champion Tim Merlier in second, and Jasper Philipsen in third.

Stage 5 was another bunch sprint day that began with chaos, and ended with it too. There were crashes galore, including for victor Tim Merlier, after he had crossed the finish line. A second victory for Tim Merlier followed on stage 6, before the final stage, with the second of the traditional summit finishes – Jebel Hafeet – saw Pogačar do Pogačar things and solo off to win by over a minute, ahead of Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) in second place – a strong ride from the Italian, with Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) rounding out the podium for the second success year.

Alongside the UAE Tour, two more stage races took place last week.

In Spain, the Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista del Sol) (19-23 Feb) was front-loaded, with stage 1 a relentless uppy-downy slog which smashed the peloton into numerous pieces, with the GC exploded on day 1. Despite a spirited solo breakaway effort from Andreas Leknussund, the lone survivor of the day’s early break, the final came down to a trio of riders, Pavel Sivakov and Tim Wellens of UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Maxim Van Gils, riding for his new team Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe. Despite UAE’s repeated attempts to distance Van Gils, the Belgian held firm, and in the end it came down to a head-to-head uphill sprint between him and Wellens, which the younger rider won. He sealed his first win for his new team, and took control of the race lead in the process.

Stage 2 was less straightforward for Van Gils. The GC battle exploded on the final ascent of the day’s category 2 climb but was decided on the descent, as Tom Pidcock got away from the Belgian and made his way across to a leading group which included Pavel Sivakov, the third placed finisher on stage 1. The two were part of a group of five riders who stayed together all the way to the finish line, with Van Gils almost two minutes behind at one point in a chasing group, which ended the day 1:10 behind the top five. Pidcock won the final sprint with relative ease, and Sivakov took control of the race lead.

Stage 3 looked set to be a bunch sprint on paper, and it sort of was, though from a reduced bunch after the group split in crosswinds. It had little effect on the main teams and their leaders though, who fought for a handful of bonus seconds on the ‘golden kilometre’ before they headed to the final. Ben Turner launched a long-range effort from 300m out, but he was up against one of the peloton’s veteran fast men, Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X Mobility), who was able to come through and pass Turner on the line, after a less than ideal lead-out. Kristoff records win number 97 in his career, as he seeks his century.

Stage 4 saw an incredible breakaway victory for Equipo Kern Pharma’s Diego Uriarte. The 23-year-old won from a group of six which had survived from the day’s early break, as UAE were content to conserve energy in defence of the lead of Pavel Sivakov. Uriarte struck out 2km from the line and with the rest of the lead group looking at one another, they missed the chance to be involved in the race for the win, leaving Uriarte to race solo to glory.

The final stage was another day of glory for the Spaniards, with Movistar’s Jon Barrenetxea taking victory from the breakaway, the escapees winning for the second stage in a row. The large breakaway group split several times on its way to the finish, and in the end it came down to three – the Spaniard, and two Norwegians, Johannes Staune-Mittet (Decathlon-AG2R) and Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X), but the Movistar rider timed his final sprint to perfection to win the day. There was no change in the overall classification, with Pavel Sivakov sealing yet another victory for UAE Team Emirates.

Meanwhile in Portugal, the Volta ao Algarve (19-23 Feb) featured a star-studded line up, including the season debut of Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease A Bike), and kicked off with a sprint stage. Or at least, it was supposed to. If you haven’t seen the fall-out from the shambolic stage finale you can see a crudely captured video on my social media. Most of the peloton went the wrong way at the deviation, resulting in what initially appeared to be a fairly straightforward win for Filippo Ganna, as one of the few who had ended up on the correct side, but the race organisers later decided to annul the stage, meaning sadly for Ganna and INEOS the win doesn’t count. It would have been even more impressive as it was the third win in as many days for the beleaguered British team… until it wasn’t.

The race got underway for a second time the next day, with the first potential GC day, and though Jonas Vingegaard and Primož Roglič were the favourites for the overall victory, it was UAE Team Emirates-XRG who once again stole a march on the competition, with the in-form Jan Christen taking the stage win, though he was almost beaten to the line by the team’s GC leader João Almeida finishing the race strongly to take second. It resulted in the team leading all three stage races currently underway – their dominance on several fronts is kind of scary.

The third stage gave the sprinters the opportunity to reprise their nullified efforts from stage 1, and it was the rider most upset by the missed opportunity – Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe’s Jordi Meeus – who proved he really did have the legs to beat the rest, taking the win.

He didn’t have the beating of Milan Fretin (Cofidis) the following day though – the in-form Belgian took victory in the bunch sprint after a tense day out, just pipping Meeus to the post, with stage 1’s winner-but-not, Filippo Ganna, in third place – once again proving his capabilities in a sprint finale.

With Christen still leading in the GC, it would all come down to the final time trial. With some of the top time trial specialists struggling, on a particularly tough ITT course with a big final climb into Malhão, Wout Van Aert looked good for the win, until his teammate Jonas Vingegaard went off, bettering the Belgian’s time by 11 seconds, and beating his closest rivals on GC by a significant chunk of time to win the GC to, as the Dane proved he was already in good shape several months ahead of his main target, Le Tour. There was a big reshuffling in the overall, with Almeida managing to remain in second, and Laurens de Plus of INEOS Grenadiers finishing in third. Primož Roglič finished 12^th on the time trial, and 8^th overall.

Alongside the two stage races in Spain and Portugal, there was three days of racing in France to enjoy, beginning with the Classic Var (21 Feb). A five-man breakaway nursed an advantage right the way up to the final couple of kilometres, and with just one kilometre remaining the remnants were swept up heading into the steep uphill finish. With so many riders still together, it was quite a physical approach to the final as riders jostled for position, with Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ) leading the charge. Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale took control after that with first Victor Lafay and then French champion Paul Lapeira leading a group of five riders, but it was Christian Scaroni (XDS-Astana) who came to the fore as the finish line arrived, scoring the team’s first much-needed victory of the season.

The next two days saw the two-day miniature stage race the Tour des Alpes-Maritimes (22-23 Feb) unfold, with stage 1 another one for the climbers, and the same riders duking it out for the win. It was once again Christian Scaroni who would be victorious, beating the Bahrain Victorious duo of Santiago Buitrago and Lenny Martinez, and he won the overall classification across the two days, as the second day resulted in a sprint which was won by Decathlon-AG2R’s Dorian Godon.

WOMEN

On the women’s side, the calendar is nowhere near as densely packed as the men’s at this stage in the season, but the one race we had last week was a banger. The Setmana Ciclista Valenciana (13-16 Feb) boasted a stacked startlist, with race debuts for many riders, and it was all eyes on Demi Vollering in her first race as an FDJ SUEZ rider. With the first stage the toughest in terms of climbing, it became ‘the’ GC day, and when Vollering attacked around 25km from the finish, her old mentor, then DS at Team SD Wrox-ProTime, Anna van der Breggen, was the first to mark her. It was a scintillating moment, which I discussed in the last newsletter, representing the first blood drawn in a battle that will rage across the season.

In the end, Vollering was able to ride away from the former world champion, and with Marlen Reusser – also a former SD Worx rider – taking on the GC mantle for her new team, Movistar, it was a mouth-watering proposition.

Vollering won the stage with Reusser second and van der Breggen third, and that was how the GC finished in the end. Team SD Worx-ProTime’s Mischa Bredewold took a popular victory on stage two, while Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) triumphing twice on the final two stages.

The only race was the one-day Clasica de Almeria (23 Feb), and it ended with yet more glory for arguably the in-form rider of the early season, Ally Wollaston (FDJ SUEZ). Wollaston took the reduced bunch sprint ahead of Linda Zanetti (Uno-X Mobility) and Dominika Wlodarczyk (UAE Team ADQ).

CYCLOCROSS DISPATCH 15-23 FEBRUARY

I’ll express my full shock at the fact that cyclocross season is already over in just a moment in ‘Final Thought’ but first, a moment to round up the final results of the season.

At the Exact Cross Sint-Niklaas (15 Feb) Lucinda Brand continued her incredible winning streak in the women’s race, while in the men’s Niels Vandeputte won his first since December. The following day the X2O Trofee rounded up with one final race in Brussels (16 Feb). Sara Casasola won her first race of the season, beating teammate Marion Norbert Riberolle, with Lucinda Brand unable to carry her winning run on any longer. Michael Vantourenhout won the men’s race in a close battle with Joris Nieuwenhuis.

The season closer was the standalone Internationale Sluitingsprijs Oostmalle (23 Feb). Lucinda Brand and Joris Nieuwenhuis were the two final victors of the season. And that, as they say, was that…

I’ll leave the final word to the outgoing legend that is Sanne Cant, followed by a really great reel by Cosmo Catalano of How The Race Was Won on her impact and legacy.

FINAL THOUGHT – Cyclocross Season, Dispatched

Excuse me, but where did that cyclocross season go? It was literally only five minutes ago that I was writing about the best riders of the early season, then BAM Van Empel and Van der Poel are World Champions again, and we’re done. OK, kerstperiode was absolutely BRILLIANT, as per usual, and we’ve seen all kinds of narratives play out across the winter, but still... how is over already?

So what were the narratives that defined the season?

In the women’s field, while Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado rode her best season in years, and Fem van Empel proved she wasn’t infallible (but was still stone cold under pressure), the story of the season is undoubtedly Lucinda Brand’s incredible consistency, guts and tenacity. Not to mention her simply astounding record of results. The former world champion podiumed every single race that she started - 33 race days in total, won the World Cup, Superprestige and X2O Trofee overall series titles, and took 11 wins. She was only narrowly pipped to a second World Championship title by Fem van Empel, and though she is 35 years old, the gritty veteran shows no signs of nearing the end of her career.

The men’s racing told a story of increasing depth, meaning that on any given day, it was impossible to know who would triumph. With the usual exception of course – Mathieu van der Poel. The man, the myth, the machine – van der Poel proved once again that he was head and shoulders above the rest of the field, and probably waist and legs as well, and also he’s just generally a better bike rider than basically 99.99999% of the world’s population and that’s really just the beginning and end of it.

Outside of that, the season was full of ups and downs for the cyclocross stalwarts, as the likes of Eli Iserbyt, Michael Vantourenhout and Laurens Sweeck found their opportunities to win increasingly thwarted by an ever-growing collection of young bucks, including Mr Consistency Niels Vandeputte; Emiel Verstrynge – the baby-faced assassin who can take on Namur and not bat an eyelid – and of course the sport’s new multi-discipline star, Thibau Nys, who once again proved that he could turn it on for a big occasion, winning the European Championships and podiuming at Worlds on his first outing at elite level. His bravado and youthful exuberance were still often his undoing, though, as he suffered crashes and made errors with the best of them. Beyond that, Lars van der Haar won a second Koppenergcross ten years after his first, Toon Aerts re-established himself as one of the top riders in the world, and Joris Nieuwenhuis rode the final quarter of the season as one of the best – having missed most of the season with illness. Oh and Wout van Aert fell over a lot, won Dendermonde in the mud, and still managed to finish second in the World.

As the sport continues to thrive in its heartlands, and rely less on the participation of the two titans of the sport each year, new talents are rising rapidly through the ranks, and now it’s time to turn back to the road, where some of them will show how cyclocross skills really can set you up for a successful career on the road as well as off it. With the likes of van der Poel, Van Aert, and Marianne Vos already well-established top names on the road, it’s the time of Puck Pieterse, Fem van Empel, and Thibau Nys to lock horns with the pure road riders and prove they are more than up to the challenge. Multi-discipline riders ROCK - and as always, I’ll be cheering loudly for them this season.

THE LAST WORD

Let’s keep it short - unlike the rest of this missive! Thanks so much for reading, and enjoy Opening Weekend.

Until next time,

Cheers,

Katy