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.
Classique de Bretagne (ex GP of Plouaix) 🇫🇷 30/08/2026
It was rather pleasant to watch, as there were many (counter-)attacks.
Aranburu (🇪🇸 Cofidis) learned from his mistakes on the Tour of Limousin. This time, once in the final largish breakaway group, he was the one who attacked 1 mile from the line instead of waiting for the sprint, and being beaten at it or letting another guy leave solo while all riders in the group look at each other.
A. Kamp (🇩🇰 Uno-X) did the same a little bit later. While he never could catch Aranburu🇪🇸, he ensured a good 2nd place. You had to wear Yellow and Red on that day 😁
That’s 2 WT victories in the same week-end for Cofidis, now a Pro-Team!
I heard it was a good race though I didn’t watch it (as usual, this season). You have to wonder where Kamp suddenly found some form, he was good in april but has been mostly absent since then. Maybe this means he will go to Canada and to get a result, it’s a contract year for him after all.
I heard it was a good race though I didn’t watch it
Well, there are 2 ways to consider it:
- it was a good race because there were many attacks/counter-attacks, and yet it wasn’t decided until the last km;
- it was one of those crappy Coupe-de-France style of race, where the hills are never enough to make a real difference, and the victory is played on a dice roll in the last miles (wrong position at the single wrong time, or a group of idiots not chasing a lone guy, or one of those sprints on top of false-flat). 😀
BTW, I read it was the first WT classic won by Cofidis in 23 years (that is, since before it became WT)!
Of course, it is one of the weakest WT classics in the year, but still…
You have to wonder where Kamp suddenly found some form
I cannot tell you whether he was good all along, or just lucky. By lucky, I mean that perhaps that may have been the only attack he followed, and then for the last mile there was this ‘group of idiots’ effect. I don’t know. Anyway, he was in the right breakaway while others didn’t manage to be there for various reasons, and he attempted to follow Aranburu without being caught up by the rest of the group.
Hey, I like those Coupe de France style races more than races which are decided purely by strength :) It’s also how a lot of classics are ridden, well, were ridden before the mutants decided to ride them.
You may wish to watch the 1st stage of the Tour of Britain which took place today. It was raced as a true classic.
I did watch the final! Really good ride by Askey, and a lovely tactical final.
There was action everyday on this edition: attacks, counter-attacks, splits, echelons, team attacks, and bad luck.
I didn’t expect that. I had in memory Britain / Yorkshire Tours where there were breakaways of small teams (very small Contis that I basically wasn’t seeing anywhere else, but races like Tour of Greece perhaps) almost everyday, with sprint finishes, and then the fate of the Tour was decided on the only day where they had found a hill and even then, with time bonuses.
🇬🇧 😍 🇬🇧
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 in a Cup), 2nd and 3^rd 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. 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.
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.
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 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, 4th 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 6th!). 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 5th 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…
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 👍
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.
la Route Adélie de Vitré (3/4/2026) 🇫🇷 ①
That’s tomorrow Friday. This race is composed of loops that go in and out of the town of Vitré (in Britanny). It is a pretty hilly circuit without much flat, so punchers or even puncher-climbers have a chance, even though sprinters often manage to survive and win.
Link to my post in French with the circuit(s) and the profile
The FDJ team may appear as favourite but Gautherat (🇫🇷 Decathlon) who just won Paris–Camembert on Tuesday will be there, as well as Venturini (🇫🇷 Unibet) who won the Roue Tourangelle two days earlier.
Uno-X isn’t coming, so there are only 3 World Teams (FDJ, Décathlon and Lotto-Intermarché) and 3 of the big PT (Total, Cofidis, Unibet). The rest is smaller PTs and 5 Contis.
It is a pretty hilly circuit without much flat, so punchers or even puncher-climbers have a chance, even though sprinters often manage to survive and win.
There were many attacks, but when it wasn’t a lone rider from a small team, the attacks were weak, not long and not relayed. So no difference was made. The fact that I mixed this race up with another one (another circuit race, perhaps the Polynormande ?) didn’t help 😉
Gautherat (🇫🇷 Decathlon) won again, but I figure he should be relegated, for he crossed the road, which had the consequence to corner 2 sprinters in the right fence, who had to break.
Another Decathlon rider also hit the last survivor of the early breakaway when he was was caught a few miles from the line and tried to insert into the head of the peloton. I wonder whether this Van der Tuuk (🇳🇱 Euskatel) didn’t believe he was winning one lap from the actual end, by the way.
FDJ managed to fail and arrive after Pro Team riders, as usual… Costiou🇫🇷 attacked in a hill but made no difference, and while he looked fresher than the guys in his wheel, didn’t push on the summit. Cavagna🇫🇷 was in one of the attacks of the last laps, but he dursn’t push either. Like they trusted Penhoët🇫🇷 for the sprint…
Gautherat (🇫🇷 Decathlon) won again, but I figure he should be relegated, for he crossed the road, which had the consequence to corner 2 sprinters in the right fence, who had to break.
And… Marc Brustenga (🇪🇸 Kern Pharma) gets his first victory on the Good Friday!
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/c/cyclisme . NB: the technical guide was both clean and thorough. Higher ranked races could take a leaf out of their book.
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 turn, 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.
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:
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.
Tour of Asturias 🇪🇸 ① (23–26/4/2026)
This 2.1 started yesterday. We should be able to watch it on the Asturian TV website https://www.rtpa.es/ at around 15:45 today and tomorrow, 13:30 on Sunday (Spanish time).
The field is pretty deserted (only 2 WT and 4 PT), as all the almost-top guys chose to go to the Alps/Trentin to do nothing. This is pretty much the continuation of the Tour of Galicia.
The team Nu Colombia pulled off the race, as its rider Cristian Muñoz died today, after an infection contracted following a crash on the Tour du Jura on Sunday in France.
Tour of the Appenines 🇮🇹 ① (26/4/2026)
The Giro dell’Appennino will take place tomorrow Sunday, at the same time as Liège–Bastogne–Liège. As the Appenines are the name of the mountain range that forms the whole Italy and this a 1-day race, it obviously only uses a very small part of it: the Ligurian Appenine near France, that it crosses, starting from the plain of Novi-Ligure in the North, and going southwards (through several loops) to reach the Mediterranean Sea in Genoa.
Victim of the collision of all mountain races at the same time, it won’t host a single WT, and only 4 PT.
We may be able to watch it live on https://telenord.it/diretta-streaming after 13:45 (I wouldn’t put my money on it, but…)
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 3rd 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.
