Ok, so we’re not going to create a race thread for ALL races this year, especially since we’re only about 10 people reading here :)
This thread is available for you to write about all the races which don’t have a race thread.
I’m relatively new to cycling. I’ve been watching the TDF for a few years and am planning to see the Vuelta this upcoming week.
What would you consider the other “high profile” races that should be on my calendar after July? I want to see more of them and track these teams and racers better, but I think I actively need to set calendar alerts so I don’t forget about them (there’s little to no talk of them in the US, so it’s easy to miss).
@Deschanel2032 has said most of it, good list, and be sure to check in again once the new season starts on february. Most of my favourite races take place in February, March, April.
There isn’t that much left now / after the Tour of Spain, especially concerning stage races.
You will have in September the Grand Prix of Québec (Sep 11) and of Montréal (Sep 13) which may not be the greatest or most interesting classics but will present the benefit, for you, to take place on the American continent, therefore in daytime. And the World Championship will follow a week later (well, Sep 27 for the men road race), in Canada again. Naturally, the WC is raced by national teams, so it won’t help you get acquainted with the commercial teams 🙂
Then as autumn classics, there are many one-day races in Italy. If I were to keep one, it would be the Tour of Emilia (Oct 3), with a scenic climb repeated in a circuit, and an honest startlist.
I didn’t pick the Tour of Lombardy because I am not a big fan of mountain classics and Pogatchar always wins in the end, but it is a ‘monument’ (if you care about that concept) which attracts star climbers. Oct 10.
The day after il Lombardia, there is the lesser prized Paris-Tours in France (Oct 11), which became interesting to watch since they added a few dirt/stone tracks and hills near the final part, even though it got harder to create differences when the weather is good since they ‘refurbished’ the tracks.
Then we’ve reached mid-October and the season is basically over.
Ah, there is the European Championship a few days before (Oct 4).
If we insisted on adding a stage race, for it is easier to get accustomed to teams and riders when you see the same ones several day on a row, what could we add? Hmmm, there are only smaller races left. Let’s see…
There is the Tour of Britain but it takes place during the Tour of Spain.
The Tour of Luxembourg is all right. 5 days including a time trial. Sep 16-20.
Ah, before the Vuelta starts, there is the Tour of Limousin in France. 4 days starting this Tuesday. Aug 18-21. It is not a bad race usually (even though it gets harder each year to create gaps on its profiles), but it ranks lower, and most of the top teams do not come. At ton of French and Belgian riders.
Naturally, I listed races without knowing what you can see: what is actually broadcasted at your place and what is compatible with your time zone and your personal timetable.
About missing races of not, if you visit PCS’ main page at https://www.procyclingstats.com/ , there are a “Next races” and a “Next WorldTour races” inserts.
Usually, I post a thread on this forum, or a comment in this topic, for the races I shall follow; and the main moderator also posts when I don’t. But that’s not 100% guaranteed and I don’t post them much in advance. And we don’t follow or post about every races.
Tour du Limousin 🇫🇷 2.1
The course is made of 4 very hilly stages, without a time trial. On stage #3, there will even be the climb of the Suc au May, that was climbed in July during the Tour de France stage which was won by Van der Poel.
Concerning teams and riders, we may get this year the weakest startlist ever on this race. Only 3WT: the 2 remaining French ones and Lotto-Intermarché, but also only 4 or 5 PT. So there will be many Contis including little known ones and those French clubs which have been semi-upgraded to Contis since last year. A massive number of French riders and quite many young Belgians too.
Does someone know what category it is that PCS calls ‘C-PRO’?
After his 4th DNF in 4 races, this Sunday, Gaudu was pulled out of the team presented par GFDJ.
On the contrary, the biathlete Émilien Jacquelin (🇫🇷 Décathlon) should come. He was better than I expected on Sunday (I didn’t expect him to finish). Let’s see if he can now keep going over 4 days (with only 1 rest day since the Polynormande). Positive point to make it: except on the last day, there is no circuit, therefore delays are comfortable if you want or need to go easy in the end. Stages are longer than the Polynormande classic, though (one could have believed the opposite).
Stage 2
Our traditional breakaway was split by Veistroffer’s (🇫🇷 Lotto-In.) attack 35 km from the line (it was the same little climb that would serve as finish 35 km later). The two Conti rider managed to catch up after the summit but the two Club riders were dropped. 10 km later, those were dropped as well.
The peloton base pace was set like yesterday by riders from 3 teams, with FDJ replacing Lotto. It was still Jacquelin🇫🇷 for Decathlon. When things got serious around 25 km from the line, Decathlon disappeared quite a bit and was replaced by Total.
FDJ started pulling and Costiou🇫🇷 attacked. While the peloton was blown to pieces, he wasn’t able to make a big gap over the best riders, and was soon joined by 4 other riders. They didn’t collaborate well and were not able to catch Veistroffer🇫🇷 up. They came back into what was left of the peloton but attacked again at the same time.
A motorbike crashed at the exit of an hairpin in a descent, Veistroffer🇫🇷 could avoid it, and then the passenger-commissar could signal for later groups.
Then a group with the same riders and a few extra ones reformed again.
Finally, Costiou🇫🇷 attacked one last time in a easier place (were there still 10 km to go?), and nobody in the little group wanted to follow. This group had several chances to catch Costiou🇫🇷 up, especially has the last 9 km were not as hectic as the 20 previous ones (narrow winding roads going up and down all the time), but basically only the several Total riders were pulling regularly and when the group would come near the FDJ rider, nobody would be willing to make the last little effort.
Near the last hill, M. Vercher (🇫🇷 Total) broke a bit away and got the 2nd place. Busy looking at each other, the gang of idiots (7 Frenchmen + Aranburu (🇪🇸 Cofidis) who won their sprint and 3rd place) is now about 30 seconds behind in GC, when they had the capacity of arriving with Costiou🇫🇷. Because they feared losing stage victory and a 4″ time bonus to Aranburu, they lost 30″ to Costiou, lost the stage victory and… lost a 4″ time bonus to Aranburu 🤣 Naturally, Mariault (🇫🇷 CIC) was one more time always present in the group that didn’t collaborate…
One may note that St-Michel–Auber had 2 riders in the front group, while FDJ, Decathlon and Cofidis only had 1 each!
Veistroffer🇫🇷 had been dropped in one of the last hills after being caught after the previous one, perhaps the one on top of which Costiou🇫🇷 attacked. He got the Mountain jersey, though.
Stage 1
There was a breakaway of 5 little riders, then 4, then 3 after the Bike Aid guy was dropped on top of the first GPM: 1 from Rouen, Maximilien Juillard🇫🇷 from VilleFranche who grabbed all bonus sprints, and Davy🇫🇷 from Nice who always gets in breakaways since he was freed from FDJ’s shackles 😀
They never got much more then 2 minutes. Controlling the peloton were 1 guy from Cofidis, 1 from Lotto, and E. Jacquelin (🇫🇷 Decathlon) who pulled until there was only 20 km to go and the gap was down to 20 seconds! He is really much better than I thought he would be (and easy to spot as he has bigger arms than all others).
Then there were a number of attacks in those last 20 km. Cavagna (🇫🇷 FDJ) started one (the first one?). Later, Joris Chaussinand (🇫🇷 CIC), whom we already saw being active on Sunday, did a small solo. There were a few others.
Anyway, the peloton arrived for a sprint in this long, straight uphill false-flat. Isidore (🇫🇷 Décathlon) hadn’t made any effort before the sprint, contrarily to Sunday, so he won it. The 2 Cofidis riders who were on the podium on Sunday made it into the top-5 today again. Gautherat (🇫🇷 Décathlon) sprinted along his sprinter after ‘launching’ him, it was a bit weird and he could have helped the Cofidis behind him by doing so, but fortunately for him, Page (🇫🇷 Cofidis) was located elsewhere and it was the slower Aranburu🇪🇸 in his wheel.
The surprise is the name and pedigree of the 2nd: Daan Depuydt🇧🇪 from Baloise Verzekeringen - Het Poetsbureau Lions. I knew neither the rider nor the team 😄
Maximilien Juillard (🇫🇷 VilleFranche) managed to stay within the peloton, and thanks to the time bonuses, he is now 3rd in GC. While this doesn’t award any UCI point or anything, it is always nice for someone from this division. (He used to be in the Roubais team.)
Other than that, yeah, it is indeed the weakest startlist in this century for this race. I though that this race would rise to 2.Pro one day (not that I wished it…), but it seems to go the opposite way. They probably are short on money, as they picked a cheaper producer/broadcaster than previously – you could see from the deteriorated picture that a 4G communication was used. Previously a national channel was producing the race, now it is only a regional one; it belongs to France TV and is available (in France) on satellite/fibre for free but you have to actively look for it, you cannot stumble upon it if you don’t already know the race is going on and is broadcasted on the channel, and as they barely promote the races they show on their national channels (except for TdF, Roubaix and women races), you can imagine that they do absolutely nothing for a program that they buried on a regional channel.
Polynormande 🇫🇷 1.1 16/8/2026
The fraudster Gaudu🇫🇷 went to the bus after 1 or 2 circuit laps (out of 11). 🤣 While the biathlete E. Jacquelin🇫🇷 is still in the peloton…
E. Jacquelin🇫🇷 managed to finish the race, only 12 minutes behind the winners. He had been dropped 40-50 km from the goal after having worked a bit at the front of the peloton. I didn’t expect him to be able to finish the race, as it is not an easy one, and it is a circuit (regulators may stop you if you are too far).
The race was overall quite fun despite ending in a medium group sprint. There were many attacks, breakaway (even a good solo by a guy from the little Beat Saxo team). in fact, it looked like a race without earpieces.
Decathlon did a bit whatever, failing to put more than one guy in important breakaways, then they were sending counter-attacks (typically Isidore🇫🇷, but also at least once another one behind) which had the effect of bringing the peloton back while in the breakaway the lone Lapeira🇫🇷 was pulling like crazy.
Mathys le Berre (🇫🇷 Total) who had performed a little solo breakaway even heartily insulted his own teammate when he noticed he was pulling the peloton that was catching him up! 🤣
Meanwhile, Cofidis always remained undercover, and they scored 1st and 3rd place with H. Page🇫🇷 and Aranburu🇪🇸! It think 3 riders successively believed that they would win the sprint: first, Isidore🇫🇷, but he probably paid his earlier (idiotic?) efforts; then Dujardin (🇫🇷 Total) overtook him, only to be himself overtaken by Page🇫🇷.
First FDJ: Martin🇫🇷, 15th… They had no one suitable for a sprint in the first group. Or anywhere, for the only guy who could sprint a bit in the team they had brought, Bower🇳🇿, performed his 3rd DNF in a row.
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.
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), 2nd and 3rd division players/riders have to face the top of the 1st 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.
🔴 LIVE | 2026 British National Road Championships 🇬🇧 | Women’s Road Race 28 June 2026 morning
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCkKXB-plWA
Zoe Backstet is chasing down Josie Knight with two laps, 28km, to go. 2min gap, having made up 5 already.
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.
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 👍
Road Championship of France 🇫🇷 27–28/6/2026
I’ve watched the amateur races, and the circuit isn’t very sexy. It is only 16 km long, and meanders through a countryside overpowered by the heat and by disorganised urban creep. Women will ride it only 6 more times, but men 14 times (supposedly): way more than enough to get sick about it…
In the pro men race on Sunday, there will be no less than 33 FDJ riders, and the whole Total team (28 riders), out of 140 part-takers! Favourite is Grégoire.
Meanwhile, there will only be 40 pro female riders all together on Saturday… (there were many more on the amateur female race). edit: only 36 female riders started, and 25 finished.
Small post in French: https://sh.itjust.works/post/62227196
men 14 times (supposedly)
As last year, because of the heat, the organisers shortened the distance by removing… the first, thus the coolest lap.
In the pro men race on Sunday, there will be no less than 33 FDJ riders, and the whole Total team (28 riders), out of 140 part-takers! Favourite is Grégoire.
It went as expected: FDJ controlled every group, and Grégoire easily dropped all other guys in the steep 1 km climb just 2-3 km from the line. In the absence of other favourites, all possible outsiders who weren’t affected by heat produced their efforts earlier, often at the strangest times (no earpiece ⇒ no brain), and the main ‘fresh’ contender remaining in the last lap was perhaps Delbove (Total, formerly St-Michel–Auber)…
First Conti riders are Mariault and Vezie(CIC): 9th and 21st.
It was Gaudu’s sole racing day in probably 2 months or more; he was dropped by the peloton and withdrew after only 60-70 km… 🙄
Gaudu has been terrible this year and the bad blood in the team is starting to hit the news as well.
Yeah, I read the original article, a few derivatives of it, and Gaudu’s interview before NC. They guy gives the feeling that he is adopting the stance of a few football players: I’ve signed a contract, and as long as I show up on time and do my hours, they can’t fire me.
He gets paid over a million € a year (over 100.000 € a month), and it will go on until the end of 2027… It is just crazy that the idiots in charge, who offered again this contract last year, didn’t propose him a contract with a large variable part, so that he could get again this type of income if he performed, and would cost them much less if he couldn’t or wouldn’t.
Several years ago, when Pinot was still around, I got insulted by all FDJ fans when I said I could see Gaudu ‘pinotising’ really fast, i.e. would get more and more unreliable / unavailable. It was a double capital offence, as I was at the same time telling that the old darling Pinot was unreliable, and that the new darling was going the same way, and faster.
I mean, the signs were all there: problems in early spring because it was too cold, problem in late spring because there was too much pollen, problem in summer because it was too hot, and when he wasn’t ill he was crashing all by himself. In between, he was only showing up on races ‘for testing himself’,meaning he wouldn’t try to win anything, but just try to follow the other leaders and get dropped as late as possible, to assess his level before another race (where he would again get unwell or fail in other ways). Like with Pinot, you know that this type of rider will always have a problem, even when they are close to the goal and the road looks clear: it becomes a running joke (like Pinot since the Vuelta 2016).
And he was big-headed and big-mouthed, with a gang of gamers followers because he was spending a lot of time on Twitch (or whatever it is called, something like a youtuber anyway), and there were already signs all this didn’t go well with every other rider.
French riders were already getting overpaid before the inflation of riders’ income (possibly because the teams don’t want to miss the next French to win er… any 2.WT), and it kept going.
I we get back to Pinot and Bardet, Pinot was getting paid over 2 millions € a year, even in the last years when he basically couldn’t ride. I don’t know how much Bardet made, but I assume it wasn’t too far. After all, Pierre Rolland was making close to 1 million € already several years earlier, when he left Europcar for Cannondale, and he wasn’t hyped as a French GC rider like the other two were (and it was 10 years ago, i.e. just before the salary madness pushed by the arrival of the UAE team).
I have already said it, but I will repeat it because it is important to get the facts straight: this pair of riders was vastly over-hyped. They almost never rode as domestiques, they always were leaders and they basically never rode with another leader; and yet their honours list is abysmal compared to what they earned. The only stage race they won is Trentin (Alps), only once each. Each also won only 2 one-day races in more than 12 years as professional WT riders… Even in his last year, where he rode much better and eagerly than previously, desperate to win anything, Pinot didn’t manage to score a single victory: even on tiny races, there was at least one rider to beat him. Jerseys on Grand Tours? Phshaw! Only Bardet wore one, gifted by a young teammate, for a single day, and lost it on the 2nd stage of his last Tour of France. Pinot never wore Yellow, Red or Pink for a minute in 12 years.
So, having this as a reference point, The Gaudu case is even worse. Not only he never won a 2.Pro like the two others did, but he never won any stage race, not even the crappiest 2.1! Did he make it up with one-day races? No, his results are abysmal there too: he only won 2 very French races: Boucles de l’Ardèche before another Frenchman, and Tour du Jura before two Frenchmen (1.1). At least Pinot won the Lombardia once (I wouldn’t count Milan-Turin as on that day Gaudu was used to bring Pinot’s contender, M.-A. Lopez, to the ground 🤣). Did Gaudu bring a Mountain jersey home? No, it was never worthy of him (same attitude problem at Pinot’s, who only grabbed the Mountain jersey because he didn’t manage to get anything else and got a little bit lucky with that jersey). He wore the Red jersey for 1 day only, last year when he got position within the peloton to take it from Vingegaard who was in the same time and didn’t want it so much.
So, in 10 years (!) as a professional rider, the only things he can show are basically stage victories on stage races… And yet he gets paid something between 1 and 1.5 million €… and renewed at the same price!
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.
Actually, due to the disappearance of 2 French WT, there are now less World Teams than last year.
And EF starts with only 4 riders… The two defections raise the average age of the team up to… 21 y.o…
With only 112 riders starting on the first day, that’s the shortest startlist of the 2.Pro raced this year. Al-Ula and Andalusia weren’t much more populated, but still a little bit more. (The one-day races are significantly more populated.)
Out of the five 2.1 events raced so far, it only beat the shortest (Provence) by 3 riders and Bessèges by 1 one rider.
We can recognise the French touch in this podium 😃 😮💨
Stage 4
A really good stage today. Lots of time bonuses available. Lots of small but difficult hills. Lots of attempts.
In the final configuration, Kamp (🇩🇰 Uno-X) did most of the work in the group of 4 chasing L’Hôte (🇫🇷 Decathlon), receiving only the help of C. Strong (🇳🇿 NSN). I guess Q. Hermans (🇧🇪 Q36.5) could have been right not to relay, as he was far in GC and he finished last on the sprint, but that’s more disputable for Venturini (🇫🇷 Unibet) who was just a few seconds behind C. Strong🇳🇿 in GC and could have great hopes for the sprint. Kamp🇩🇰 probably also paid a bit his earlier efforts when he was in the group that won the time bonus sprint and broke away at that point.
L’Hôte🇫🇷 had tighten his seat-post today, obviously! 🤣 Another brilliant day for Decathlon, even though he was close to be caught up 1 km from the goal.
A bit of a disaster for Cofidis and Coquard🇫🇷 who grabbed the first time bonus on top of a hill in Le Mans, but disappeared later in one of the Gazonfier climbs. And the team got fined for a sticky bottle for L. Rouland… who finished over 4 minutes behind! Coquard🇫🇷 had said he wasn’t really interested in the first 2 stages, but concentrated on the last 2; well, the result, 16th on Thursday and 22nd on Friday, is no better than on Tuesday and Wednesday…
Costiou🇫🇷 exemplified what I told about him yesterday: he is always a bit listless this year. He attacks, without dropping everyone but still putting them behind him, but then never pursues his efforts despite looking OK. Best FDJ (himself) is therefore only 15th in GC, in one of the easiest 2.Pro of the season… That’s behind Unibet, Bardiani, Caja Rural, Cofidis who screwed up, Total, Polti and even Euskatel and Roubaix… FDJ is lucky that EF is not very good so far and that Picnic sucks badly (but managed to put Bittner 2nd on the WT race-of-fractures), because otherwise it would be very visible that this team has an awful start of season.
Stage 3
It finally gets a bit interesting.
Cofidis tried a team attack already 85 km from the line.
Well, that’s a winner I’d forgotten existed, but the I remembered that he’s won the race before. Hopefully an indication of a good Ardennes-campaign to come.
Always present to terrorise our little, defenceless races. The other ones, which stayed class 1 this year, were safe from Viking looters this year, but a .Pro race was too tempting for the horde. That’s 2, 2 and 1 on the stages so far.
Spoiler Basque Country
But Cofidis had its revenge on the other side of the Pyrenees!
The young L’Hôte (🇫🇷 Décathlon), who didn’t relay the others much after they caught him, declared that he felt a bit ‘short’ on his bike for the last lap, as his saddle had dropped a bit 😃
Bessega🇮🇹 did well for Polti. I feared that, as too often, Polti would disappear in the last mile after having very visible or active.
The splits + the various time bonuses built an interesting GC before the final stage:
Several favourites, like Costiou1 (🇫🇷 FDJ) are in the group at 17′, which has about 30 riders.
A pity the breakaway men wasted a lot of time in the last kilometre, they could have entertained more hopes for final GC if they hadn’t.
note 1 : I mean, Costiou didn’t impress me so far this year, he always seems a bit limited and unable to make a difference (his GC win in Bessèges is only thanks to the final TT); but he is generally listed among the favourites, is still in that 30 riders group, and finished 2nd of the peloton today behind Strong🇳🇿, so he is not off the game yet.
Stage 1
I think that the organisation tried to add a bit more relief to the stages to honour the new classification.
Well, sometimes I don’t think right. The few false-flats today were absolutely not enough to avoid a mass sprint in any way. So everyone went for a mass sprint.
And tomorrow, with the arrival on the coast, is guaranteed for sprinters. Unless wind could split the bunch?
Stage 2
On the women (one-day) race, there was a rather spectacular crash in the fences during the sprint 50 m from the line.
There seems not to be any wind at all, even in the area of marshes. 😞
Only Davy (🇫🇷 Nice) tried to attack 9 km from the line, but he was caught after 1.5 km.
Nothing else happened but a couple of crashes, each involving several riders, perhaps 15 or 20 km from the line.
The sprint itself didn’t cause troubles, but the mile or two before, Jesus, crossing the city centre to reach the shore, full steam ahead through narrow streets made narrower by random street furniture, it was scary at hell, and we believed there was going to be crashes at the front of the bunch 10 times. Yet no crash was witnessed (at least from the front camera) in that part either…
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. 😨
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:
- Friday: https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/classic-grand-besancon-doubs/2026
- Saturday: https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/tour-du-jura-cycliste/2026
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.
Besançon classic
As I alternated between races, it is quite possible I missed some, but I didn’t see any action this year in the circuit. Usually there are a few attempts in the first climb, in the descent, on the plateau…
We could discover the new Scandinavian small team Lucky Sport thanks to a long solo breakaway.
FDJ pulled the peloton all day long. And naturally disappeared in the final climb: their favourites vanished (Martin🇫🇷 24th at 1′20″…) , and their best rider in the end is one of those who were wasted in pulling the peloton : C. Braz🇫🇷. Yet another disaster.
The winner is of course a rider whom I had not quoted 😃 as he hadn’t ridden in a year! J. Jegat (🇫🇷 Total) managed to beat the two Décathlon riders Bisiaux🇫🇷 and Riccitello🇺🇸.
Behind, J. Meehan🇮🇪, joined by B. Munton🇿🇦, stuck to the first three a long time. Munton🇿🇦 finished better but both produced a very honourable performance.
Then we saw our traditional Spaniard, this year, Unai Iribar🇪🇸 from Kern.
First Conti riders are: T. Champion (🇫🇷 St-Michel) and A. Mariault (🇫🇷 CIC), 9th and 10th. Then there is a Jaime Jamaica (🇨🇴 Nu Colombia) 15th.
The winner is of course a rider whom I had not quoted 😃 as he hadn’t ridden in a year! J. Jegat (🇫🇷 Total) managed to beat the two Décathlon riders Bisiaux🇫🇷 and Riccitello🇺🇸.
I hadn’t paid attention to the fact that Jegat, despite his top-10 in last Tour de France GC, had never won anything before today! This a good way to start a season 👍
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:
- Tours (1.1) : no one in top-10,
- Wevelgem (1.WT): no one in top -10,
- Catalunya (2.WT): no one in stage top-10 (no one in any stage top-10, no one in GC top-30, no one in KOM top-30, no one in Points at all).
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 2nd 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.
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.
Mwell… nobody gave a fuck about GC during the 3rd and last stage. Not only there wasn’t a single attack in the finish, but nobody tried to grab a time bonus despite the fact that there were no less than 3 Intermediate Sprints with time bonuses!
To add to the nonsense, this is on a 2.Pro, where stages almost don’t bring any UCI points, while the final GC is pretty generous in UCI points. Despite the fact that the winner broke away in the last 2 editions on the same circuit, everyone was just waiting/riding for a sprint this year.
So basically, the classification was determined by the 6 km long prologue, among the 15 riders who were in the first group in stage 2 (the hilly one).
The Pedersen case.
His prologue wasn’t a success. 20th at 15 seconds over 6 km. Pajur Romet was closer to him, than he was close to the winner…
On stage 2, as he already did a couple of times earlier this year, he rode like he had his magic legs from the previous years. Expect he hasn’t, even against the field of riders in Mayenne (which wasn’t so bad this year). The legs he has now require him to ride more intelligently. One may wonder if he wasn’t just rehearsing efforts, I don’t know.
On stage 3, his team only rode to bring him to the sprint. There was an interesting movement, far from the finish, with 2 Lotto (including Veistroffer) and 2 Lidl-Trek (including Pedersen), but the latter refused to relay the Lottos, a pity for it would have been fun and the teams leading the peloton were in complete panic when they saw this movement. On top of his tendency to start too early, he took way too much wind, for he lost the wheels of his teammate SKA. He was easily beaten by Kooij, but beat everyone else.
Since nobody rode for GC, he was the only rider, among the first 30 riders in GC, winning a place in GC ranking (actually 2 places) on the last stage, thanks to the time bonus at finish. :)
The Pedersen case.
His prologue wasn’t a success. 20th at 15 seconds over 6 km. Pajur Romet was closer to him, than he was close to the winner…
So, I had picked that name at random, to describe a completely unknown rider.
Would you believe that today, just 4 days later, the same guy wins the prologue at the Tour of Estonia?! 🤣
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.
