Jack Woods, the 16-year-old Irish rider who has been a youth national champion on the road, has signed for a Belgium team as he prepares for his first season as a junior. Woods, from Carlow, won the U16 road race title at the National Road Championships this year in Kilmacthomas, repeating his victory in the []The post Irelands Jack Woods (16) secures place with Belgian junior team appeared first on Sticky Bottle.

Rmi Cavagna and Movistar Team were a partnership that simply did not work in 2024. He was the most exciting signing of the Spanish team, called to give a leap forward in time trials and classics, but will leave after the first of an initial three-year contract by mutual agreement.He has participat...

Planned openings in walls and other barriers would provide more direct access to a mix of schools, public transport, and the Royal Canal Greenway.Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, Social Democrats, and Labour councillors in Kildare are moving to delete references to proposed walking and cycling permeability improvements contained in the Draft Maynooth and Environs Joint Local Area Plan 2025 2031.The vote on the issue is expected to happen at a council meeting tomorrow (Monday).Cul-de-sacs housing estates are seen by transport and planning experts as car-centric planning which makes the walking and cycling less attractive. Modern urban design guidance outlines that improving permeability links is key for increasing activity and health via active travel, increasing mobility access especially for people with mobility disabilities, improving access to public transport and increasing social cohesion.The motions to remove a wide range of proposed permeability links from Maynooth comes after some intensive lobbying from residents in estates who do not want access points opened up for walking and cycling.It is understood that the chief executive of Kildare County Council has said in an official reply to the councillors motion that the permeability links are crucial to help reduce car dependency and promote active travel.The councillors who have motions against the walking and cycling measures are Cllr Aidan Farrelly (Social Democrats), Cllr Angela Feeney (Labour), Cllr Naoise Cearil (Fianna Fail), Cllr Tim Durkan (Fine Gael), and Cllr Peter Melrose(Social Democrats).The motions range in the number of permeability links which the councillors want to be removed, with Cllr Cearil looking for 46 links to be removed from the plan.Some residents have expressed their fears to councillors on increasing anti-social behaviour but plannerssay well-designed permeability links increase footfall and improves safety.Concerns were also raised about increasing non-residents parking in estates close to the train station in the town.A National Transport Authority (NTA) guidance document on permeability outlines how A permeable district can contribute to a range of planning objectives related to design, social integration and transport.The NTA guidance continues: Permeability can enhance the attractiveness of a neighbourhood through the provision of additional useable open space; can increase social interactions by facilitating more activity in the public realm, and can maximise the potential for walking and cycling to a range of services.

Joran Wyseure secured his first professional cyclocrossvictory in style, winning the Superprestige Ruddervoorde. The 23-year-oldBelgian from Roeselare, riding for the AlpecinDeceuninck Development Team,crossed the finish line solo in what he described as an unforgettable moment.This is unbeliev...

Ben OConnor moves from Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale to Eddie Dunbars Team Jayco AlUla as a Grand Tour leader and has now said the Giro dItalia is the race he wants to tackle most as it suits him best, though he also wants to go back to the Tour de France. OConnor finished 2nd in []The post Ben OConnor hopes to lead Jayco AlUla at Giro and also ride Tour appeared first on Sticky Bottle.

Aoife ODonovan (Dungarvan CC) may be the reigning U16 road race national champion, but the 16-year-old is now riding as a junior in cyclocross and made a big mark yesterday on the home scene. As she was one of only three women to enter the Munster Cyclocross Series in Clonmel, all three were put into []The post Aoife ODonovan (16) wins mens race at Munster Cyclocross Series appeared first on Sticky Bottle.

Dutch rider Koen Bouwman is set to leave Visma-Lease a Bike,where he has spent a large part of his career, to join Team Jayco-AlUla. The30-year-old, who won the Giro dItalia mountains classification in 2022, hasexpressed mixed emotions about his move.The last time in black and yellow, that is a...

Scottish rider Oscar Onley, representing Team DSMFirmenichPostNL, has wrapped up his 2024 season in strong form. The 22-year-old, whobegan the year with a stage win at the Tour Down Under, capped his campaignwith an impressive second-place finish at the Tour of Guangxi, on the climb toNongla. O...

Cyclocross world champion Fem van Empel admitted she wasntat her best during the Superprestige Ruddervoorde, finishing second behindCeylin del Carmen Alvarado. Despite competing for a podium spot, Van Empel, of TeamVisma-Lease a Bike, never looked like a serious contender for the victory.It was...

Happy New Year, or Bonne Anne as they say at the UCI HQ in Aigle, Switzerland*. A new year has rung in but dont worry if you missed the party last night although its safe to say a share of the peloton will have sunk some beers after the finish of races in Nanning, Utsunomiya and Bassano del Grappa yesterday.Officially the 2025 professional road cycling season starts today. Its anecdotal for the most part but theres one big fix to be done.Thats the UCI rule in question, as you can see the new season starts the day after the last World Tour race has happened. With the Tour of Guangxi finishing yesterday that makes today the start of the 2025 season.Its mainly a trivial admin issue but any points earned in races for the remainder of 2024 like the upcoming Tour du Faso, the Vuelta Ciclista a Ecuador and so on count to the 2025 score even if they happen in 2024.But the one big issue where it counts, and the purpose of this blog post, is to point that if the UCI rules in black and white that the 2025 season starts today then the UCI and the pro teams really should get around to making pro contracts run across a similar period. For example 1 November-30 October rather than per calendar year.Pro riders will still be salaried by their old team for the next two months. Ben OConnor has has already attended a Greenedge team gathering and after a well-deserved rest hell be training hard again soon in anticipation of his first races with his new squad. Yet hes still legally a Decathlon-Ag2r La Mondiale rider and going to be paid the French team until the end of December. Likewise for any other rider changing teams, theyre now all focussed on delivering with their new teams but contractually and in terms of wages they belong to the old squad.This is often visible moment when riders gather for training camps. When Simon Yates goes to Calpe for the Visma-LAB camp this December hell be obliged to wear his Jayco kit and ride his Giant bike; ditto Lenny Martinez who has to don Groupama-FDJ kit and ride his Wilier around the Costa Blanca despite showing up for work chez Bahrain. Its here that things get a little absurd, imagine another workplace where youre expected to show up, but have to wear the clothing of your previous employer?More importantly the bike matters as a rider needs to find their new position, get used to any changes in components and so on but officially theyre not supposed to use the new machine until January. You might remember Sergio Higuita being fired by EF because he was filmed riding his Bora Specialized before 1 January.The bike example matters and the clothing is largely cosmetic but obviously visible so we see the absurdity. However surely the real oddity is riders are going to become de facto employees of their 2025 teams in the coming weeks, theyre taking part in the workplace of their new employer but still technically hired by another. Itd just make more sense to make them de jure employees too. Or without the Latin jargon if theyre working for their new team already itd be sensible if they were legally employed by them too.The fix to this is have contracts run from November to October, still 12 months. Easier said than done of course. Plenty of riders hold contracts today are valid until the 31 December in some future year and theyd be hard to amend. But the UCI and teams could agree to reform this so that future contracts have a 30 October expiry.Remember the things like the minimum wage are part of the Joint Agreements, a set of terms and conditions agreed between the AIGCP group of teams and the CPA rider union, mediated by the UCI. Indeed its Article 6 that stipulates:Art. 6 Contract shall be for a specified period ending on 31 DecemberThis could be rewritten. Clearly the change couldnt come by making anyone worse off, by saying to someone with a contract to December that theyll have to forgo two months, itd only be for new contracts.ConclusionIts a small fix for pro cycling. It wont increase TV revenues, make the Tour de France more thrilling nor safer but it can help in smaller ways and above all its reasonably achievable. Its not a new call either, this blogs raised it before and others have too. With riders effectively swapping teams now its just obvious to align contracts too.Lastly this blog doesnt do cyclo-cross but that branch of the sport looks even odder when teams change kit, branding and sometimes name mid-season because contracts are also January-December. If this could be fixed first, perhaps road cycling could copy soon after? Either way, happy new year.* the Google Streetview image is from the village of Bonne Anne, Happy New Year in French. Its the slopes of the climb to Torgon, used by the Tour de Romandie with recent winners like Primo Rogli and Demi Vollering. Follow the long straight road on the right and the white object in the woodland. is UCI HQ.The post Happy New Year first appeared on The Inner Ring.