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Welcome to the latest edition of writebikerepeat BITESIZE in which I will attempt to cover A LOT OF THINGS in very small chunks.
Why are there a lot of things to cover? Good question. It is, supposedly ‘off-season’ after all - so there aren’t any race updates needed at least, right? Wrong. Cyclocross has started. And if you’re new to this newsletter, I do like to cover all things off-road and muddy. I am less good at keeping up to date with track, but as we’ve just enjoyed the action at the world championships in Chile, there might be a bit about that in here somewhere.
We occupy that weird bit of the year in cycling terms where road racing has ended, and most of the pros are on their holidays, or getting married (more on that later), but now we’ve ticked into November, we are drawing closer to the bit of the year where everything begins again - training camps, new kits, the last few transfers, and before you know it, we’ll be looking ahead to the Tour Down Under - where a certain Slovenian master of the universe is set to make an appearance in 2026, apparently.
On with the stuff!
4 THINGS FROM ME
Thing 1.
It’s the biggie - I’m once again incredibly proud to announce that I will feature in this year’s edition of the Road Book Cycling Almanack. This year I have written an essay about the ups and downs of Holy Week, focusing on memorable editions of the men’s and women’s Tour of Flanders, and Paris-Roubaix. It was a pleasure to write my first essay for the book on road cycling, having featured twice previously (and once online) writing about the cyclocross season.
There are a VERY limited number of copies signed by editor Ned Boulting left to purchase, so hurry if you’re after one of those - I hope you enjoy my contribution, along with many other brilliant essays which I cannot wait to read.
Thing 2.
I made it a run of 9 weeks posting an essay a week on my Substack until a half term trip to Wales broke my streak. But that’s OK, because it was wholesome and relaxing (well, sort of - it was a bit hurricane-y, truth be told).
The final essay of the streak was this reflection on team identity in cycling - focusing on the missed opportunities that teams are failing to grasp, and considering the examples of Decathlon and Unibet Tietema - now Rose - Rockets.
Thing 3.
This is a post for paid subscribers, featuring my top 5 under the radar breakthrough riders of 2025 - it’s the first of a new weekly newsletter on the Substack where I will be investing much of my time and energy to producing quality content and if you would like to jump on board, consider signing up to ensure you never miss a post.
Thing 4.
And back to the weekly streak, I am writing about Victor Lafay’s move to Unibet Rose Rockets - could this be the perfect transfer? All about cycling transfer season and why I think this move is the absolute perfect fit, in today’s post.
6 BITESIZE CHUNKS OF NEWS - YUM!
There is so much news this week - SO MUCH NEWS! I’ve picked the best bits, for the rest head to Domestique Cycling.
Oier Lazkano doping allegation!
In the highest profile doping case of recent seasons, Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe’s former Spanish champion Oier Lazkano is under suspicion, as the UCI have discovered irregularities in his biological passpost relating to the years 2022-2024, when he was a rider with Movistar. Lazkano hasn’t raced since Paris-Roubaix in April, and was suspended by the German team last week. He has since denied the allegations. Investigations are ongoing.
Tour de France reveals 2026 route for men and women!
In their usual ceremony in Paris, the ASO revealed the routes that we can begin to get excited for, for next summer’s Grand Boucle. All the information can of course be found on their website, along with various different analyses across cycling media, but the short takeaways are as follows:
The men’s route features an opening stage team time trial in Barcelona and beyond that, just one relatively short time trial, meaning it’s not an ideal route for Remco Evenepoel. The Queen stage includes four huge Alpine Cols, finishing with Alpe d’Huez, which will be tackled again the very next day, from a different direction, ahead of a Paris finale which will once again include the Montmartre climb, albeit earlier, potentially enabling sprinters to stay the course.
The Femmes begin in Switzerland, and will enjoy their first visit to Mont Ventoux for the queen stage. A time trial will be back on the menu which is good news for Marlen Reusser’s chances, and the race concludes in Nice with a short, tough circuit similar to that tackled in the final day of men’s Paris-Nice.
Team updates, many and varied!
There are a number of significant changes to report vis-a-vis cycling teams. The biggest is the confirmation of the ‘merger’ between Intermarché-Wanty and Lotto. I have said merger because that what it’s been widely reported as but in reality it’s a takeover, with Lotto the dominant party. They retain the riders who had already existing contracts for 2026, while Intermarché riders are forced to either negotiate contracts with the new team, or move on. The knock-on effect of this at the end of the three-year cycle for renewing WorldTour licenses is that Uno-X have been promoted to the WorldTour, with Cofidis relegated.
Beyond that, the Belgian Wagner-Bazin ProTeam were reportedly ending their time as a team, but have since reformed as a continental side. There’s a new women’s ProTeam in France, Ma Petite Enterprise, which is picking up a number of the displaced Arkéa-B&B Hotels riders. And Unibet lose Bas Tietema’s name from their handle, replacing it with the name of their new bike sponsor, Rose, to form one of the best team names in the bunch in my opinion - the Unibet Rose Rockets - although they do sound a bit like a roller derby outfit.
Rui Costa calls time on his career!
More retirement news, as the announcements continue to roll in - it’s a proper changing of the guard this year in both the men’s and women’s peloton. EF Education-EasyPost’s Rui Costa is the latest to announce he will step away from the sport after a long career which has spanned over 16 years and saw him first compete at the Tour de France in 2009. The Portuguese has had 35 wins in his career, the most high profile of these coming in the road world championships in 2013.
New bike race in London for 2026!
Yes, British Continental today reported there would be a new nighttime criterium race in London in June 2026 - read about it here.
The City of London Nocturne will bring UCI-sanctioned night racing to the UK in June 2026, with men’s and women’s Pro Criterium events planned under the lights of the capital. thebritishcontinental.co.uk/2025/11/03/c...
— The British Continental (@thebritishcontinental.co.uk)2025-11-03T10:54:05.473Z
LATEST TRANSFERS
Plenty more goings-on on the transfer market - here are a few of the latest moves. Displaced Intermarché-Wanty riders Louis Barré, Hugo Page and Laurenz Rex have secured contracts with Visma | Lease a Bike, Cofidis and Soudal QuickStep respectively - great moves for all involved there. Q36.5 Pro Cycling replace one Irishman with another, signing Sam Bennett from Decathlon while Rory Townsend heads to Unibet Rose Rockets, along with veteran climber Wout Poels - a real coup for the up-and-coming fan favourite team. Ewen Costiou joins the Breton contingent at Groupama-FDJ, and fellow Arkéa-B&B teammate, up-and-coming GC rider Embret Svestad-Bårdseng, moves to INEOS Grenadiers. And arguably the two most surprising moves of the last couple of weeks are those of Alison Jackson, who heads from EF Education-Oatly to St Michel Preference Home Auber93, and Benoît Cosnefroy, who joins UAE Team Emirates. I wrote about this one while on shift for CyclingNews, check it out if you like, I managed to conceal my sadness quite well I think. Decathlon won’t be the same without him.
3 BITES OF FUN
Celebrating the lighter side of the sport…
The wholesome-est thing you will see this week, nay, year
‘El Tractor’ Tim Declercq is retiring this year, and while the peloton will be a poorer place without him in it, his friends, family and fans in Belgium have commemorated his long career as a loyal domestique in style - the first GP Tim Declercq was held just last weekend and with races for kids as well as adults, it was wholesome family fun, as you will see from this clip. Yes, that’s Wout van Aert’s son Georges taking third place in the kids race. Just watch Yves Lampaert catching them all as they cross the finish line. Truly adorable, heart-warming stuff.
Wedding season
You’ve gotta love love, right? Yes, in the narrow 3-4 week window that these dedicated pros have to call their own per year, the nuptials are legion, occurring all over the world almost simultaneously in what feels like some sort of giant global wedding-based flashmob. It echoes through time, too, as all the riders who’ve been married in this exact period over the past few years share their anniversary snaps, and it’s a massive flowery joyful bombardment which is only just about now grinding to a halt.
This year’s happy couples included Derek Gee, Fernando Gaviria, and Lauretta Hansen and their respective partners, and a rare sighting of a double-WorldTour-pro wedding as FDJ SUEZ’s Juliette Labous married Decathlon’s Clement Berthet - who is himself moving to Groupama-FDJ for 2026, so the two will also be united under the FDJ banner, as well as the marriage-based one. Now that’s what I call commitment.
From Juliette Berthet’s instagram
Beyond the weddings, there were engagements, with Ben Healy proposing to girlfriend Martha, and Tom Pidcock putting a ring on the finger of his partner Beth. Cannot WAIT to see the sausage dogs as little flower girls at that wedding. It’s all too cute I can’t even. ONWARD!
Scandi skills
Uno-X had an end of season celebration and the star of the show was Andreas Leknussund who is a demon with a diablo, it turns out. (OK I’ve tried pasting the link as an image but it’s not working so here it is)
2 (OR MORE) RACES TO WATCH
We are of course into cyclocross season now, so this section melds seamlessly from road racing recommendations into distinctly muddier territory. We also enjoyed the track world championships in Santiago Chile recently, so there’s a cameo for the cyclists of a more indoor persuasion too.
For everything else, there’s FirstCycling.
UCI Track World Championships (22-26 Oct)
Am I really going to cop out and just suggest you watch the whole bloody thing? Well, not exactly - unless you feel so inclined - but it must be said, the action in the velodrome in Chile was extremely compelling, with standout performances from the likes of Harrie Lavreysen, who won all four of the sprint titles in a clean sweep on the men’s side and a personal record for one championship for the Dutch speed demon, and Katie Archibald, who rode the women’s madison with Maddie Leech to absolute perfection, timing exchanges with pinpoint accuracy to ensure they took home the rainbiow stripes for Great Britain. My personal highlight of the championships though, from a British perspective, was the flawless debut race for INEOS Grenadiers’ Josh Tarling, who took part in the men’s points race and delivered a powerless, savvy performance to take gold in his first ever appearance at the competition. A sign, if one were needed, that he is extremely ‘back’ following his long-term lay-off after crashing out of the Giro in May, and very much ready to head into 2026.
Koppenbergcross (X2O Badkamers Trofee Oudenaarde, 1 Nov)
Well, we’ve made it this far, it’s time I admitted the truth. I’m waaaaay behind on the cyclocross. I have watched bits of races here and there but then I went to Wales and things slid. I haven’t watched one of the best races on the calendar, the Koppenbergcross, yet, but it’s always an absolutely cracking race, so I’m recommending you watch it anyway, and I’m hoping to catch up on it next week and be back up to date in time for the UCI World Cup rounds at least. Promise.
2 FINAL THOUGHTS
Paul Seixas is bonkers (proof positive that he’s destined for greatness in this sport)
Sometimes you just know something is meant to be. And there’s no clearer example than that of big French hope Paul Seixas being absolutely the right lunatic for pro cycling, as proven by a remarkable effort that he uploaded to Strava just a couple of weeks after the end of the season.
While his colleagues were busy packing their backs to jet off to far-flung destinations to take a well-earned rest, Seixas decided he wasn’t quite done with the achievements, in 2025, so he set about putting in one of the most epic rides of the year, seemingly ‘just because’.
Seixas got up at 3:00am to begin the effort, which took him around the French and Swiss Alps in the Mont Blanc region, and amassed over 8,000m of elevation, across 323km and it only took him the 12 hours. Truly crackers. An absolute dead cert to succeed in this mad sport.
Lars van der Haar’s absence will be keenly felt by CX faithful
After waving goodbye our fair share of road cycling legends in 2025, from Romain Bardet to Lizzie Deignan to Geraint Thomas, cyclocross fans learned that the end of the 2025/6 season would also mean bidding farewell to a rider of equivalent stature, in the off-road scene, Lars van der Haar.
He stepped up to elite level in the 2012/3 season, making this his 14th season as a senior pro. In that time he’s been European champion twice, Dutch national champion four times, and has come incredibly close to becoming world champion, with four podiums throughout his career, including two silver medals, in 2016 and 2022. He’s clearly a great guy, a brilliant teammate and a distinctive rider - always the one you write off after a slow start, only to find him grinding his way back into contention into the latter stages of races, often bringing about thrilling battles as a result. His win at the Koppenbergcross last season (pictured below) was a memorable victory, and proof that he has been competitive throughout his time on the ‘cross bike. There’s little doubt that the sport won’t be the same without him - congrats on a fantastic and successful career, Lars!
From Lars insta - his full statement - https://www.instagram.com/p/DQYk11FiB2N/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
THE LAST WORD
I hope you’ve enjoyed this edition of the newsletter, thanks as always for reading and for sticking around, it means a lot. If you’d like to support my writing, you can buy me a coffee, and if you’d like to hear from me more regularly, sign up to the Substack.
Until next time,
Cheers,
Katy