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Boucles de la Mayenne 🇫🇷 May 28–31
There is some heavy stuff this year among the starting riders, with riders who restart competition like Pedersen (🇩🇰 Lidl-trek), Kooij (🇳🇱 Decathlon) and Brennan (🇬🇧 Visma), on top of Cosnefroy (🇫🇷 UAE).
I didn't check whether the prologue is televised elsewhere, but in France it is not; but the 3 stages are.
Hoping Pedersen gets his first win of the season here.
I guess you didn't imagine having to say this sentence 6 months ago!
I suppose it depends whether he comes to just restart easily and ride miles in a peloton, or if he is already in full form.
Stage 2 is the most hilly; nothing very steep but nothing flat. It is probably the most suitable stage for a Pedersen in shape, if the sprinters aim for the other stages. And perhaps Cosnefroy is past his peak shape; I mean, he won twice this month, and I see he is still expected on the Dauphiné (which surprises me a bit), but he didn't had any significant break since January...
He won a prologue of similar length 2 years ago. That's another possibility. This one will be more punchy, not because of slopes but because of curves; it will give a first piece of information about his punch of the moment.
Given his injury he's had a fine spring, just... no victories. I think he'll go for wins, he's not in the habit of starting races where he isn't fighting for the win.
Ronde de l'Isard 20-24/5/2026
https://www.ronde-isard.fr/edition-2026/
For the first time, this U23 race was sort of televised (one camera moto in 4G, and there is mostly no 4/5G in our mountains ;)).
A few pictures from the last and hardest stage (over 4000m of climb: https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/ronde-de-l-isard/2026/stage-5/info/profiles).
Here is Rémi Daumas (🇫🇷 FDJ devo) who broke away in the previous climb, changed bike after the descent, regained his gap and still has 2 extra passes to climb after this one. He will will have more than 2 minutes over the chase/peloton, but will lose a bit in the beginning of the last climb, and a lot in the downhill false flat leading to the finish, which is more flat than downhill. Hence no race victory, but still a stage victory with an old-school 90 km (!) breakaway...
The first peloton where we can see the Yellow jersey Huw Buck Jones (🇬🇧 Bourg-en-Bresse) pulled by a teammate, and the in the Green Dots jersey of points classification, Niels Driesen (🇧🇪 Lotto devo). The Brit will lose his jersey in the last metres of the stage to the Belgian, because of time bonus as they sprinted for second place of the stage.
And in a galaxy far, far way, here is half of the Vendée U team (Total's 'devo'), pushed by the sweeper car. They won't finish the stage/race.
Majorcan races
OK, so Evenepoel has decided to crush the small Spanish 1.1s, like UAE's almost-winner of the Tour of Italy was doing last year on Spanish and Italian 1.1s, depriving small World Teams and all Pro Teams of any chance to compete for the win.
I truly hope that the teams categories and the races categories will be reformed one day, so that most 1.1 are protected from most World Teams, and Pro Team and Conti riders have a chance to battle.
That's the only sport I know where, all year long (and not only during a Cup event), 2^nd^ and 3^rd^ division players/riders have to face the top of the 1^st^ division in every match/race. Just imagine that you are a second division French or even Austrian football club, and you have to play and get a beating by Madrid, Munich and Liverpool every bloody week, without a local championship to play where you face other clubs of your level and win every other week on average. This is nuts.
Professional cyclists are a refreshing bunch: it is 2026, and after the previous 2 days, you can still find a few riders who relay Evenepoel! 😆
Another easy win for him, after getting angry at the motorbikes, getting angry at a Movistar rider, and probably getting angry off camera too. He pretty much won in the same way as yesterday: breaking away in a descent, and then growing the gap on the flat against 8 riders... As he hadn't dropped Rondel yet, he climbed the last climb faster than anyone too (yesterday he went easy on the last one as he reached it with a 2 minutes gap), dropping him as soon as a couple of hundred metres after the climb started, as Rondel was burned by simply staying in the Belgian's wheel on the flat.
Tomorrow, Evenepoel won't take part in the last Majorcan race tomorrow; unfortunately, it is for sprinters.
I find it so incredibly boring to see a phoenomen ride alone for 30+ kms. Give me a good sprint any day.
Not a small race at all, but I was very impressed with the way Brennan and Lund Andresen got over the hill in the Mapei Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.
I was also impressed with the way they managed to keep it all together in the final, with Brennan being perhaps a little too eager to close gaps and stay at the front. Maybe that's what cost him the victory in the end.
First French race: Grand Prix la Marseillaise (raced on Sunday the 1st)
It was a pleasant surprise. The removal of the Route des Crêtes could let us fear a bore fest with a massive sprint in the end. But as the race was shorter it got more nervous and uncontrollable. It still ended in a massive bunch sprint but there was 70 km of action since the final section of the Espigoulier climb, as the traditional scenario of a breakaway of small riders 2-3 mn ahead was broken as Décathlon pulled the peloton hard and caught the breakaway just at the bottom at the descent. Then until the end, there were many attacks, many groups splitting, rejoining, splitting again, pushing, letting go, etc. Lapeira did a significant 1-man breakaway but he is no Evenepoel and was caught as soon as the road started rising a bit for the last climb. Mifsud attacked twice in this last climb; the first time he caught Lapeira but was caught up by the peloton soon after, the second one near the top brought him and two other riders almost under the flamme rouge! Unfortunately, while Mifsud (now Polti) and Hardouin (Roubaix) gave all they had from the attack til the end, one of those 3 riders (Mariault from CIC) was more interested in sabotaging the breakaway. This attitude turned out to be utterly stupid as nobody in his team scored a single point in the end... The stubborn Mifsud however managed to stay in the bunch and score a couple of points.
la Roue Tourangelle (29/3/2026) 🇫🇷 ①
That's tomorrow, Sunday. Yep, on the same day and at about the same time as Gent–Wevelgem, isn't that brilliant? Why didn't they put this race on Saturday, between the two Belgian races of the week, is beyond me (well, my bet would be that it is 99% about the local elected officials who don't want it on a Saturday).
The finish line is in Tours, in the Loire valley.
It is one of those French races which present punchy hills, but those (or the field of riders) are often not enough to completely break away and avoid the victory of a sprinter within a group of undetermined size.
As this is a 'mega'-thread, I won't put pictures of the course here, to avoid overloading the page; but they are on my small post in French: https://sh.itjust.works/post/57573667
No Uno-X this year, they have become too good for our little races, but Beton will represent the tradition of Danish looters 🤣
Brilliant Sunday for the World Team FDJ, engaged on 3 races:
Anyway... This year a group managed to break away in the final part around Tours and the peloton completely gave up. I think the decisive factor was that the varied first group who broke away was then joined by another group composed of only 'major' French teams (WT and big PT). Then there was almost no team left for pulling behind (and the smaller teams who weren't at the front had generally already played their cards) .
Coquard (🇫🇷 Cofidis) started his sprint too early and then went backwards. I thought Marcellusi (🇮🇹 Bardiani) had 'stopped' too, but he managed to finish 2^nd^ I don't know how.
And that's another victory for Unibet! This team is really tailored for this kind of hard-but-not-too-hard races.
Tour of Oman
stage 2 (8/2/2026)
A breakaway developed at km 2 (there was a bit of fighting this time), with Alrahbi (🇴🇲 Oman selection), Goszczurny (🇵🇱 Visma), Gelders (🇧🇪 Soudal-QS), Marsman (🇳🇱 Alpecin) and the lone escapee from the Muscat Classic 2 days earlier: Veistroffer (🇫🇷 Lotto-Intermarché).
190 km to go: good luck!
Before the first climb (Fanja), the gap was 4 minutes. On top, the order was 1. Goszczurny 2. Veistroffer 3. Marsman, just 3 yards ahead of the other two. In the descent after the top, Gelders stopped on the side of the road. And the Oman fellow was dropped. Gelders didn't finish the stage (why? the heat perhaps).
In the peloton, Jayco followed by UAE were leading during the climb.
So, only 3 men left in the breakaway and 100 km to go (with only 3 minutes left)...
A few miles later, Goszczurny obediently follows the instruction on the official race sign, telling to make 3/4 turn of the roundabout by the right in order to go left. The others two disobey the sign, and cut by going directly left. The Polish rider is thus dropped, but they immediately wait for him.
75 km to go, only 1mn45 left. 60 km, 1mn30.
The Intermediate Sprint 50 km from the goal is gifted to Goszczurny by the other two. Strangely, soon after, the gap is announced as 3mn45 again!
Then comes the main climb (almost 4 km at 9% on a freaking highway). The 3 men manage to stay together, Goszczurny gets those points too. Behind, Jayco, Cofidis and Astana lead the peloton in the beggining of the climb, a few riders are dropped, then it is back to Jayco and UAE leading.
After the downhill, with 33 km to go, the gap is 2 mn. About the same 25 km from the line. Several teams like Total, Jayco and Tudor accelerate the chase, the peloton is basically in single file. 20 km to go, still a bit more than 1mn30 to catch.
1mn15 at 15 km. The last climb is as steep as the previous one, but much shorter, and on a normal road. However, it is followed by an uphill false flat.
In the peloton, Double (Jayco) attempts an attack. He doesn't manage to create any gap. The front of the peloton is disorganised.
1 minute at the top (14 km to go). After leaving the Mountain points to Goszczurny gain, Veistroffer uses the false flats to attack.
The final mile is another climb, 5-6% only this time.
One Uno-X leads the chase. Replaced by UAE (Yates)when he drops.
Veistroffer reaches the last 2 km with a gap of around 40 seconds. Goszczurny and Marsman are caught by the peloton.
Baptiste Veistroffer (🇫🇷 Lotto-Intermarché)manages to stay about 15 seconds ahead of the sprinters!!! Mulubhran (🇪🇷 Astana) winning the peloton's sprint.
190 km of breakaway today, after 150 km solo two days ago...
Stage 3
I just saw the very beginning.
Veistroffer did it again! I saw the Uno-X leading the peloton immediately reaching for his radio, and imagined what he said: "Hey Boss! The leader of the race attacked at km 0. There was no such plan in our morning briefing. What do I do?" 😆
His little group was chased and caught after perhaps 4 or 5 km. Then 1 km farther he tried again, without success. Another 2 km, one more try. And one more at km 10, with a Total; and when they're caught, he tries again, and this time a large group breaks away.
edit:
So, Veistroffer didn't feel it was a true breakaway, there were too many people in it polluting his clean air. After 10 km in this large group, he attacked again, 4 guys and then 2 more followed him, and the real breakaway was formed.
These breakaways are not a stroll in the park like they often are for most of the distance: here, the guys are pushing pushing pushing for hours. Pacher (🇫🇷 FDJ) was dropped 40 km from the line; he wasn't attacked, it was on the flat, he just couldn't relay nor even keep a wheel to stay in the line any more.
The breakaway was caught in the beginning of the final climb. They could have been lucky and benefitted from the mass crash in the peloton a few miles earlier, but that crash happened in a roundabout, and a small half of the bunch had chosen to ride on the right of the roundabout and was unaffected as the crash happened on the left side of the roundabout.
Anyway, that was an extra 180 km spent in a breakaway for Veistroffer. The battle with Vercouillie is intense 😀
Stage 4 (10/2/2026)
Damien Touzé (🇫🇷 Cofidis) crashed on that day. I didn't see it. However, he suffered internal injuries, and as a result he won't ride again this year, and this may also be the end of his pro carrier. 😨
Tour des Pays de la Loire (7–10/4/2026) 🇫🇷 Ⓟ
In parallel with the Tour of the Basque Country, this 4-day race has been upgraded to the .Pro class. However, teams didn't seem to take notice, and the startlist remains similar as when it was a 2.1. Actually, due to the disappearance of 2 French WT, there are now less World Teams than last year. But there are more Pro Teams.
I think that the organisation tried to add a bit more relief to the stages to honour the new classification. Except for the final stage in the city of Le Mans with its Gazonfier hill, they were relatively boring until now, with many sprinters victories. I mean, it was those French races where there are hills, there are attacks, but gaps don't get created and (part of) the sprinters and sprinters-punchers almost always manage to reach the line at the front of the race. But with circuit finishes and the geography of the region, you can only do that much.
The first 2 days go towards the Ocean, and the last 2 days come back into the countryside.
Maps and profiles are on my post in French https://sh.itjust.works/post/58065974 . NB: the technical guide was both clean and thorough. Higher ranked races could take a leaf out of their book.
Besançon classic & Tour du Jura (17 & 18/4/2026)
Two one-day class .1 races (the Sunday one was cancelled) in France on Friday and Saturday. Happening at the same time/period as the more upmarket Flèche Brabançonne and Amstel, they usually present a rather weak field, which allowed G. Martin (🇫🇷 FDJ) to score 2 wins last year. This is exacerbated this year by the presence of O gran Camiño in parallel: while in previous years many Spanish Pro-Teams were coming, only Kern will be there this year.
Maps and profiles on my post in French: https://sh.itjust.works/post/58613242
On the first race, the decision is usually only made in the second and final climb of the Côte de la Malate in Montfaucon. Fun fact, the race passes on C. Berthet's doorstep a few hundred metres from the top. The victory smiles upon (short) climbers or possibly punchers-climbers.
The second race course is nowadays more reminiscent of a mountain stage in a GT. The peloton may often be split before the last climb, contrarily to the Besançon race where it normally arrives compact at the bottom of the final climb.
PCS pages:
edit: Oh, by the way, Gaudu was expected but his participation was cancelled. Allergies this time...
edit 2: Décathlon brings quite the team who did a good Basque Country (except for the last day): Bisiaux🇫🇷, Prodhomme🇫🇷 and Riccitello🇺🇸. It may not be as easy as usual for FDJ.
International week Coppi & Bartoli
It looks like it won't be broadcasted on Youtube this year.
I was WRONG: it finally appeared on the Youtube channel of the Italian league: https://www.youtube.com/@legaciclismoprof/streams 👍
Tour of Hellas (Greece) 🇬🇷 6–10/5/2026
This 2.1 has started today. Live stream (and replays) are on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@tourofhellas/streams
Uncommon teams and riders: the biggest team is Unibet (I think there are 6 Pro Teams). I see a team from Philippines, a selection from Cyprus, a Czech Conti team which hosts Pavel Bittner's little brother (but he's not on this race).
On the last stage – the usual circuit for sprinters in Athens, sprinters didn't win, for one big guy managed to do the 1-mile stunt. I thought he was coming to the peloton's front to pull it, but he gradually crushed the pullers/launchers who were in his wheel. When I saw (at 500 m?) that it was Pozzovivo🇮🇹 who had to lead the chase for the peloton for all regular sprinters teammates were already agonising, I knew this Mads Andersen (🇩🇰 Swatt Club, a Conti team) would make it 😃 I suppose it is his first victory at professional level, because he seems to mostly ride class 2 and below.
Grand-Prix du Morbihan 🇫🇷 Ⓟ, Saturday 9/5/2026
The day before Tro Bro Léon, we are already in Brittany for another .Pro classic, which Cosnefroy🇫🇷 won last year for the 3^rd^ time. He'll be there again, this time under the colours of UAE and not AG2R any more.
As you can see, most of the distance is made in a circuit with 2 variants.
I don't think there was so little action in the previous years. UAE, Decathlon and Uno-X locked the race – more by numbing the peloton than by pulling hard or accelerating. Beside the little early breakaway of 3, there was basically only a little solo by a Burgos (?), a group of 9 who stopped relaying as soon as they got a gap of 50 m (only one Visma and like 2 others riders (NSN + ?) wanted to relay, the UAE, the Decathlon, and the Uno-X rider refused), and a solo by one Lucky Sport rider.
And then a crash in the final climb when all riders suddenly wanted to be at the front. There was ample room on the right of the room, but they were all trying to ride up by the left of the road. I said to my TV "if they continue, they will land on the grass". They kept doing it again and again, until 3 or 4 of them ended up in the meadow below the road.
Cosnefroy (🇫🇷 UAE) wins for the 4^th^ time with a tiny margin over Isidore (🇫🇷 Decathlon). The first 7 seven positions are occupied by French riders! Uno-X failed hard compared to the attitude they showed during the race, they end up after the 15^th^ position.
On the French TV, for many laps, the common thread of the race comments (together with some attention from camera bike) was "is Gaudu still hanging to the bunch?" 😆 Jeesus... and indeed he was struggling to follow Conti riders (and finished behind 4 Nice and 4 Lucky Sport riders for example).
la Flèche du Sud 🇱🇺 13–17/5/2026
This 5-stage race got upgraded to class 2.1, but it looks very much like the teams didn't get the message: there won't a be a single World Team, nor a single Pro Team!
Actually, Visma comes with a 50% WT / 50% Conti team. Per UCI regulations, it counts as a WT, as on a class .1 race, you can include up to 4 Conti riders in a World Team on a class .1, while you can only include up to 2 WT riders in a Conti team.
Tour of Hungary 🇭🇺 13–17/5/2026
This race is not usually the most interesting of tours, and having been promoted to 2.Pro for 4 years and welcoming no less than 7 World Teams this year, it probably isn't going to get better: out of 5 stage, 3 or 4 seem promised to sprinters, and Merlier (🇧🇪 Soudal-QS) is coming...
And for the remaining stage(s), there are names like Cosnefroy (🇫🇷 UAE) and Plapp (🇦🇺 Jayco), which leave little hope for other riders.
I used to watch this race 10 (?) years ago, and while the puszta was already as boring as a plain can be, some of the finishes on old-school town roads or final circuits were pleasant, and even if most riders were unknown to me, the race was open.
Dunkirk classic 19/5/2026 🇫🇷 Ⓟ + 4 days of Dunkirk 20–24/5/2026 🇫🇷 Ⓟ
Les 4 jours de Dunkerque were split a year ago into a 1-day race and a 5-day race. Yep, the 4 days last 6 days.
Both remained class .Pro, which is not warranted for the 1-day race but brings big UCI points. As a result, there are no less than 10 WT. We'll see if one day escapes sprinters and sprinters-classicmen. Cassel stage should in theory favour punchers as well as breakaways, but as all teams come with sprinters and control the race, the best one can reasonably hope is a sprinter-puncher.
The classic wasn't that bad this year; the rain and the very different course (country roads) probably helped. At least its final part, as Artem Shmidt (🇺🇸 Ineos) attacked in the small wall used as finish line, 1 lap (13 km) from the actual finish. There was a group who followed him, but on the flat after they looked at each other and were caught by the peloton. He caught the last survivor (Mariault 🇫🇷 CIC) of the breakaway (there were 3: another CIC who got a puncture, and 1 Roubaix bonked out), then dropped him just by taking curves in a faster/riskier manner, while Mariault🇫🇷 was also bonking out a bit (the cold and the rain really did their grinding work today). His advance increased as he was giving 100% of what he could give, and the bunch never caught him even though he had nothing left in his legs for his second climb. There was a crash in the fences in that final climb.
Cofidis and EF had been the main teams pulling the peloton, and they have 0 rider in top-12 at finish...
First PT is T. Müller🇩🇪 for Unibet, 5^th^.
As far as Contis are concerned, Sanlaville🇫🇷 is 12^th^ for CIC, Konijn🇳🇱 15^th^ for Nice and Bouquet🇫🇷 18^th^ for St-Michel.
WT who failed: Picnic and above all NSN.
Stage 1: a rather spectacular circuit in Laon. I didn't know the place (only the name). Gautherat (🇫🇷 Decathlon) managed to crash into a wall again.
Stage 2: there are days like this... The stage was 100% a sprinter stage, yet the peloton misjudged the breakaway of 5 then 4 Conti riders: 2 Roubaix, 1 CIC, and 2 then 1 Nice, despite Guégan (CIC) refusal to relay in the last miles. And it is Nice who get its 1^st^ professional victory thanks to Victor Papon🇫🇷!
Stage 3 and 4: cobbles... Pithie (🇳🇿 Bora) is very, very strong. On stage 3, one could say that he was helped by other teams/riders, but on stage 4, he had to everything by himself (and against everyone): pulling, chasing, puling, chasing, attacking, and again. His team (Bora) is nowhere to be seen, very weak.
Stage 5: the mass sprint couldn't be avoided this time (neither could the crash...) Pithie (🇳🇿 Bora) almost lost the race because of a puncture just before the sprint zone, but made it back into the peloton.
Overall, the race was significantly better than what I forecasted in my negative presentation. 👍
Muscat Classic (Oman, 6/2/2026)
During 150 km, the camera bike followed a guy in red lost on a motorway across the desert – Veistroffer (🇫🇷 Lotto-Intermarché).
Astana tested the peloton in the first of the last two climbs, about 20 km from the line, and caught Veistroffer.
In the last climb, Double🇬🇧 launched the first attack for Jayco, followed by two guys including the almost local UAEan UAE rider Jasim Al-Ali🇦🇪 who completely blew up after a while.
Then the decisive attack saw A. Yates🇬🇧 (UAE), Plapp🇦🇺 and Schmidt🇨🇭 (both Jayco) drop everyone. Yates🇬🇧 lead the climb, and Plapp🇦🇺 the descent. Plapp🇦🇺 almost killed the breakaway when arriving on the short flat section, but Yates🇬🇧 told him he was alone against 2 Jaycos, so one of them should better pull 😀 Schmidt🇨🇭 won the sprint against Yates.
Scaroni🇮🇹 (Astana) preceded the peloton by a few yards.
First French rider came just after the top-10. First rider from a French team 15^th...
Tour of Limburg (15/4/2026)
From what I saw, there wasn't much racing. A. Withen (🇩🇰 Lidl-Trek) was in a breakaway that became a solo breakaway in the circuit, I reckon. When he was caught, or about to be, in the last (long) lap, there was no attack in the hills; on the cobbled sector there were one or two tiny attempts only; then (6 riders of) Lidl-Trek tried to create an echelon on the plateau, but failed to create any split; then Aimé de Gendt (🇧🇪 Q36.5), followed by 4 or 5 other riders, managed to create a little gap, but that gap never became larger than 50 m; so it was a mass sprint. No crash, though.
If only there had been a bit of racing before, the Lidl-Trek or the De Gendt movements could very much have worked. But since no one tried anything before the last 15 km, of course there were still many riders in the peloton, and many fresh riders among them, to make sure it would end in a sprint.
edit: Oh, and I forgot: the results. In those conditions, the ultra-favourite Merlier (🇧🇪 Soudal-QS) won as expected, and very easily. Gaviria (🇨🇴 Caja Rural) brings some welcome points for his team with his 2^nd^place (several bike lengths behinf Merlier). Aniolkowski🇵🇱 and Crabbe🇧🇪, 6^th^ and 7^th^ bring a few relatively interesting points for Cofidis and Flanders-Baloise.
Browsing the results, I see that Caja Rural placed 3 other riders between 10^th^ and 13^th^ and one more in top-20: they really came for the points!
Tour of Andalusia (stage 1, 18/2/2026)
Spoiler
I was surprised to see Laporte (🇫🇷 Visma) win a mass sprint. Already in his final days in Cofidis, his role had diversified, he had started to turn into a classic rider rather than a sprinter; and this option increased once he joined Visma. Even before that, his best performances were after a hard race, in groups with very few sprinters or none at all; he won very few mass sprints, even at medium level.
Tour of Andalusia (stage 3, 20/2/2026)
Spoiler
Today, Laporte (🇫🇷 Visma) missed the victory because of his own leadout Zingle🇫🇷 who got in his way when he moved aside in the end of his launching effort. He still finished 3^rd^ on the same line as the first two.
Penhoët (🇫🇷 FDJ) was coming fast, but it is a law of nature that Penhoët can never win, therefore Fretin (🇧🇪 Cofidis) suddenly appeared on the other side between Laporte and the fence to snatch the victory.
Oh, and Crabbe (🇧🇪 Flanders-Baloise) who surprised everyone by winning a stage on the Star of Bessèges, scored a couple of UCI points again by finishing 5^th^, before Aranburu🇪🇸 and Pidcock🇬🇧!
Tour of Algarve (stage 2, 19/2/2026)
Spoiler
This Seixas🇫🇷 is truly something. He was pulling Ayuso🇪🇸 and Almeida🇵🇹 (which are now in different teams) most of the time in the final climb, and still beat them in the end. For his first race of the year... against a very decent field of opponents...
Almeida🇵🇹 was really struggling all along that climb. It was not just his usual painful start. I mean, 'struggling'... those 3 guys dropped everyone else, even though a few riders like Onley🇬🇧 and Ricitello🇺🇸 managed to come back close in the end.
Seixas🇫🇷 didn't get the leader jersey, because Ayuso🇪🇸 intelligently did several bonus sprint in this stage and the first one, ending up in the same total of time bonus as Seixas. So, it was a matter of ranking, and Ayuso🇪🇸 finished in the first half of the bunch on the first stage while the young Frenchman was musing at the back.
Tour of Algarve (stage 3 ITT, 20/2/2026)
Spoiler
Seixas🇫🇷 again showed a very good TT, 4^th^ at only 13 seconds behind the winner Ganna (🇮🇹 Ineos), better than Vauquelin, Küng and especially Almeida🇵🇹 who came only 30 seconds later. Onley🇬🇧 and Ricitello🇺🇸 are pushed back 1 mn away.
Unfortunately for him, the second best today is Ayuso🇪🇸, therefore the Spaniard consolidates his first place in GC (for only 7 seconds though, I think, so the final GC is still open between those two riders).
Very impressed with him this week, he's the real deal. He's only 19 too, so if he doesn't do well in a GT in the next 3 years that's probably fine and nothing to worry about. Lovely to see such a great French talent!
It depends what 'doing well' means, but I reckon he can already do well on a Tour of Spain this year. If they put him on the Tour de France, it will be much more uncertain of course.
Last year he already did very well on the 8-day long Dauphiné (had he not fallen on the last climb of the last day, he would have finished 6^th^!). Then he was the best Frenchman on the 270 km WC race in Rwanda despite not being the chosen leader, and got the bronze medal behind Pogatchar and Evenepoel on the 200 km EC race on the following week. Oh, and looking at the stats, I had forgotten that less than a week later, he was in the tiny group for 5^th^ place in the Tour of Lombardia, with Del Toro, Vine and Pidcock.
I mean: long, hard stages/races (battling with big names on top of that) do not seem to be a problem for him; and neither does a large week of continuous stage racing (it doesn't get much longer than that on a GT before the first rest day). Very unlike Lenny Martinez who has shown his limits many times as soon as racing days start pile up, if you will.
Despite his good 2025 year, it's the first time he crosses a line first on a pro race (and that's a .Pro race which is fashionable for good climbers to start a season, not a .1 or a race which is a bit scorned these days).
His own video debrief of Stage 2 final climb, subtitled in English, and with excerpts from the race:
https://twitter.com/decathloncmacgm/status/2024584478895612384
It is quite different from mine, because I saw it in the middle of the night and I most certainly fell asleep in the last miles 😜 So trust him, the video, and not my account!
I am pretty sure they're sending him to the Tour de France. The logic seems to be that in the giro or the vuelta people will expect him to make a result, in the tour not so much so in a sense it's easier for him to do the tour and get it over with and ride with less pressure. Not sure I follow it completely, but it's the plan anyway, so...
Tour of Algarve (final stage, 22/2/2026)
Spoiler
Well, Ayuso🇪🇸 wasn't annoyed by Almeida🇵🇹's train, he didn't suffer from Ricitello🇺🇸's acceleration, he wasn't dropped by Seixas🇫🇷's attack, and he won the stage, consolidating his final victory, while no difference could be made between the leaders. Earlier, Ayuso🇪🇸 had put all chances on his side by scoring another 1 second bonus: he took the race really seriously.
Who is that Gloag🇬🇧 within these 6 best riders???
Le Samyn (Tuesday 3/3/2026)
It appears that Van Aert (🇧🇪 Visma) would finally start his season there, just a couple of days before going to the Strade Bianche.
It looks like he will be the only 'big name' on the race (or do we count Groves (🇦🇺 Alpecin) or Kubish (🇸🇰 Unibet) as big names?), but former winners Rex (🇧🇪 Soudal-QS) and Hofstetter (🇫🇷 NSN) should be present in the large peloton: 25 teams including 9 WT for a 1.1!
Do we know if Groves is ok after crashing on sunday? I also wonder if Decathlon considers adding Tobias Lund to the start list, he's clearly in great shape.
Do we know if Groves is ok after crashing on sunday?
Oh, I didn't know he was part of the crashes. I watched a bit of Kuurne-Bruxelles-K last night, but it may have happened earlier than the parts I watched.
At this time of the day, he hasn't been pulled off start lists yet.
edit: Are you positive he crashed? The only written bits I could find seem to lean toward the hypotheses that he didn't have the legs and just disappeared as Girmay did.
No Laporte (🇫🇷 Visma) today. Visma seems to specialise in illnesses.