The 2026 season has finished and here is a look at the UCI rankings for the year. There’s the three year promotion and relegation contest to note. More immediately we can see which teams are eligible for invites to the major races next year, assuming they’re viable.
Did you notice the rider protest and eloquent speech calling for improved rider safety and expressing the fear of the risks involved? You might have heard Remco Evenepoel’s version but Dorian Gordon also made an appeal at the start of Paris-Tours on Sunday. It didn’t resonate as much in the media. Both speeches and rider actions were poignant but they were too modest.
After a gradual, seated acceleration Paul Seixas rises up on the pedals to go clear on the Civiglio climb. This was the moment Il Lombardia was won.
Almost the last chance of the season to land a big win, only now it’s also the first chance for many to win Lombardia given five-time winner Tadej Pogačar is out.
A look at the Shimano Bike Museum with praise for its focus on bicycles over its own corporate history. For anyone in the Kansai area of Japan, perhaps visiting Kyoto or Osaka, this has a prodigious collections of machines and within a well-designed setting.
The Vuelta a España goes to Andorra today and pleasant weather awaits, 26°C and sunshine. As a ski resort in the Pyrenees it’s an obvious destination for a race with climbs and hotels but there’s a wider ecosystem for much of the pro peloton here. The micro-state has become home to plenty and this is creating a self-fulfilling phenomenon attracting more riders and in turn physios, nutritionists, mechanics, financial advisors and more.
Watching the Femmes at the Tour de France? Do you know what all the team sponsorsdo? If you’ve ever wondered if Suez has something to do with water, or what Laboral Kutxa or VolkerWessels are about, here are some answers.
Years ago “revenue sharing” was all the rage with team managers making public calls for the major race organisers to pay them money. Only even if a race owner felt inclined, when you looked at the data the sums available were small.
Today the calls remain but the sums have changed so time to look again with updated numbers. Especially as it’s been floated by no less than the New York Times, as the screengrab above shows.
