Some predictions for 2026. Yes Pogaar is there, but inside the crystal ball there are foolhardy glimpses of sprinting, TV coverage, scandal and even bidonsfor the year ahead.Tadej Pogaar will win his fifth Tour de France. Obvious, dull and safe and if this blog was chasing hits its not an opening to provoke outrange or intrigue. But it is the central question in the sport. Given Pogaar has won four five seems within range. His biggest rival is Jonas Vingegaard who has opted to do the Giro as a reset, and were he to win the maglia rosa he could well find some liberation from this but could equally be sapped by UAE for trying. Such certainty today of course means plenty can chip away at these assumptions in the coming months.Lidl-Trek will finish the season as the second best team. UAE will top the rankings take your pick for wins, UCI points or even vibes but the newly-branded German team will be runners-up and having finished narrowly third on the UCI tables last year behind UAE and Visma-LAB theyll open up a gap on the rest and could even push UAE, in part because Pogaar is racing less and so should score less too. Lidl-Trek is arguably a more complete team than UAE as they have multiple contenders for the classics and a world class house sprinter and should pull ahead of Visma-LAB, especially as the Dutch team has now lost Olav Kooij, Cian Uijtdebroeks and Simon Yates. The mystery is whether Red Bull can find their wings.Congestion could be an issue at UAE and Lidl-Trek with top riders not always getting the chances they want. The Giro looks spicy for UAE. Juan Ayusos move last autumn between these teams even signalled to many they can shred their contract, pass Go on their way to a new team where they can pick their race program. But there wont be any contract-breaking soap operas this season. Loyal readers will know the Paradox of Long Contracts where the longer deals get, the more likely they are to get broken. All these forces exist but it just feels like 2026 could be an exception. Think of the musical chairs party game, theres been a lot of riders dancing to the point but now there are few chairs left, as in not many teams need to raid rivals for talent now.Embed from Getty ImagesBudget caps will become a live topic this season but dont expect them to come into force. Its been an idea for a while but one that might break cover into something more concrete. Theres always been a big discrepancy between teams in the World Tour; 20 years ago CSC kicked sand in the faces of Euskaltel and Franaise des Jeux. But now the way arguably two thirds of teams in the World Tour look uncompetitive is striking, reduced to fighting over the crumbs that fall from the table. The remedy? Good luck. Theoretically even the top teams stand to gain if the sport becomes more sporting but in a tragedy of commons scenario the top teams probably wont vote for this, plus those with ambitions to grow may reject it too. Even if the UCI could make it happen its fraught with difficulties and technicalities, the big teams, star riders and agents would have already hired lawyers and accountants to quietly game the rules. One solution to mitigate some of the structural gaps is a central licencing location where, say, French teams with high payroll taxes at home could change jurisdiction to Switzerland while they could do this today Soudal-QuickStep seems so Belgian but legally its a Luxembourg team having the UCI instigate this soon would supply political cover for a move in the future.Youll look forward to bunch sprints a little bit more. One domain where UAE wont win everything is bunch sprinting. House sprinter Juan Molano has averaged 2.5 wins a year since joining the team in 2019 so imagine how the team would fare if they hired someone capable of winning ten or more sprints a season, all on the caveat that they might not get much of a lead out at all but theyd be paid like a king? But were not there and also theres no undisputed sprint king either, they can go the way of Tim Merlier, Jonathan Milan, Matthew Brennan, Olav Kooij Jasper Philipsen with others capable too. So far, so salivating but one problem is the thrill of the final kilometre means the entirety of the course to get there is predictable, and probably more than ever as teams hunting for wins cant afford to miss. So tune in, but just for the finish.A coin toss and the international TV rights to the Giro and the rest of RCSs portfolio get renewed by Warner-Discovery-Eurosport. As mentioned recently here the existing deal has expired and sale of the rights has been given to Iris Media and they are closely linked to the UK-Saudi streaming website DAZN, a venture with a record of over-promising and under-delivering (here, here, here). But how much is RCSs portfolio worth? Not much frankly and still probably worth more to Eurosport than DAZN, which would not only have to stream the image but set up production. This could be an entry point for DAZN but the Saudi connections dried up given the One Cycling project has stalled. It could go either way and if the coin toss guess sounds flippant, well Strade Bianche is just over 40 days away and theres no news on how people can watch it, commentators prepping notes for the Giro are waiting and more.Safety will remain a blame game. Fields that prize safety like civil aviation, IT or deepwater diving go a long way to establishing a culture where there are fail-safes, backups and above all a willingness to learn from accidents. Pro cycling has commendably implemented many safety enhancing features in recent years, think weather protocols, five kilometre rules, tramadol bans and more but these tweaks can only mitigate the obvious dangers of hundreds of cyclists in light clothing racing on open roads, all while speeds have increased. Culturally its still coming up short. Last year there were two pilot two safety measures, one to reduce the maximum gear ratio and the other over location transponders and both were aborted because of politics, not even a test could happen. So if theres a serious accident especially involving a celebrity name, expect a circular firing squad and finger-pointing rather than handshaking.Financial scandal erupts. Nothing systematic but one the consequences of the lack of doping scandals is that money is pouring in with corporates reassured they wont be the new Festina. As rider pay soars so do the temptations to hold onto it. We already see riders opting for cramped studio apartments in Monaco to live somewhere with no income tax, or take more spacious accommodation in Andorra sleet and 2C this morning with its low 10% rate. But some have partners or agents renting villas the Cte dAzur hills, others can be regularly spotted training around Girona. Cyclists have been busted for this already but its easier than ever for tax authorities. Riders are papped by Instagram users, while Strava, Garmin and Wahoo log precise location data, as does WADAs Whereabouts system and if they have privacy limits, tax inspectors have investigatory powers too.The Vuelta a Espaa runs normally. Dog bites man normality, sure but last year the Israel-PremierTech team attracted large protests with some by the road thinking the team was backed by the country and the Vuelta needs to get back to being a bike race rather than a political event. Now the team is rebranded as NSN and while it retains many connections to the backers of IPT, its visibly and audibly different and that should suffice, plus Gaza isnt in our headlines and feeds as much. The sport is vulnerable to protest because it is run outdoors and its impossible to secure the whole route. The UAE team could be questioned about Darfur but as well explore in a separate blog post soon, this wont worry them much; anti-Americanism could be on the rise in Europe given recent events but the EF team would be an unlikely target. Ineos doesnt have the notoriety and the Total Energies team feels too small to attract climate change protesters despite its big backer.Assuming the paragraph above holds then the Vuelta a Espaa is the best grand tour of the season. As strong as Joo Almeida is, Jonas Vingegaard ought to cruise the Giro but could still be sapped by the UAE team which means Tadej Pogaar should win his fifth Tour de France. This leaves the Vuelta more open, especially as neither Vingegaard nor Pogaar are down to race the Vuelta.The womens Tour de France is better than ever. The mens Tour is still a highlight of the season: the best riders in peak form racing across France in summer, its hard to top and the daily stage battles are like a world championships every day. But the race is often defined by the contest for the yellow jersey and right now this looks settled in advance. By contrast the womens race looks open and a good blend of stages means riders with overall ambitions cant stake all their chips on Mont Ventoux. It got bumper audiences in France last year and Pauline Ferrand-Prvots fame should bring out more crowds too.Journalist Daniel Friebe wrote in his predictions that One fairly major WorldTour team will run into life-threatening financial difficulty. I have an idea who but wont say just yet. You might be wondering which one but here the response was just one? Plenty of teams have issues for survival and last summers list can be reworked, for example Ag2r did stop sponsoring but the teams secure thanks to Decathlon and CMA CGM but others could be added to the list. It circles back to the dominance question with teams and their sponsors having to spend ever greater sums just to stand still and some of those who came on board a few years ago may decide theyve done their time during the course of 2026 but this could be valid next year and beyond.Staying with financial gloom the Total Energies team ends. This is one call where it would be great to be wrong but the title sponsor has switched to become a co-sponsor Ineos and the remaining deal with the plucky French second tier team runs out at the end of this season. And theres no news on a replacement so the squad that joined the pro ranks in 2000 may halt. The best time to find a new sponsor was yesterday, the second best time is now and talk of racing to get results is an alarm bell as it puts the onus on the riders and means nobody is interested now. Theres little time left. Current riders like Jordan Jegat, Emilien Jeannire, Mathieu Burgeaudeau, Thomas Gachignard and Anthony Turgis will be targetted by other teams in the coming weeks and months and the longer the wait, the more riders who can leave will which leaves the remaining team less appealing in case any sponsor is interested, a vicious spiral. There is one big hope why it can continue in that its got a de facto Tour de France invite. Having a sufficiently competitive team, a French flag and the lack of rival contenders for this spot means its a potentially attractive venture. But its not as easy as paying 15 million for Your Name Here title sponsorship, new backers have to buy into the teams identity and define a new project.On the tech-side a new Dura-Ace groupset from Shimano is due for release this summer. Reprising something from the Christmas Quiz is that many stock team bikes can now weigh under 6.8kg so we might see the UCIs minimum weight limit become an issue, or at least some UCI illegal marketing from brands.Talking of revisiting blog posts, a year ago there was a suggestion that with more and more carbs being used that teams could move to bigger bidons so they can carry more fuel. It didnt happen but having read the follow-up review of 2025s predictions a member of staff from one team emailed to say theyd tested just this but the riders were anxious about the weight penalty, both while riding but also as picking up heavy bottles at speed increased the risk of dropping them. So if regular size is here to stay, how about insulated bidons in use more? Normally theyre cheap plastic and treated as disposable. Thermos-style ones might seem extravagant to throw away at passing fans but there could be real gains when its very hot, at least the kind teams might pay 10-15 a time for.The post Predictions For 2026 first appeared on The Inner Ring.

Cinellis Supercorsa was introduced 70 years ago. Now its back, still made in Italy to the same exacting standards. That means the same elegant classic geometry, the iconic sloping fork crown, super-slender fastback seatstays and one of the first examples of internal cable routing for the rear brake. The new Supercorsa is handmade at Cinellis Milan-based facility. The tubing is from fellow Italian brand, Columbus, with its Spirit tubeset. Columbus is the literal neighbour of Cinelli, based within walking distance, giving the Supercorsa perhaps the shortest supply chain in the bike industry. Read more: Best steel road bikes 2026: 7 timeless bikes that will never go out of fashion The Supercorsa legacy The original Supercorsa evolved over many years as the pinnacle of the Cinelli range. Gruppo SRL The first Supercorsa was introduced in 1951 by Cino Cinelli and frame builder Luigi Valsassina, built for Valsassinas friend, Fausto Coppi. Coppi, known as Il Campionissimo (champion of champions), was the first rider to win the Tour and Giro in the same year, twice. He also held the hour record, was a world champion, and won Paris-Roubaix, multiple Milan-San Remos, a Lombardia and many more honours. The Supercorsa is one of the most iconic Italian framesets ever made, with a reputation based not only on its beauty but on its performance, too. The new Supercorsa in fixed-gear trim. Gruppo SRL The Supercorsa is Cinellis soul, says chairman Victor Luis. For over 70 years, it has embodied the timeless pursuit of performance through craft. This latest iteration stays true to its legacy and continues to pay homage to Italian steel tradition as an object of desire for riders and collectors alike. The 2026 Supercorsa The head tube lugs are chromed and stamped with the Cinelli logo. Gruppo SRL The new Supercorsa is now part of the Cinelli range, building on the ultra-limited-edition Pink Supercorsa from 2025, when only 12 frames were produced. The 2026 Supercorsa features double-butted Columbus SL tubing and original lugs, together with a matching Columbus SL 1in threaded sloping fork. It's compatible with standard rim brakes, and features an ITA 70mm bottom bracket shell, internal rear brake routing and down tube shifter bosses. The Spoiler bottom bracket shell was patented back in 1984. Gruppo SRL The bike incorporates details such as the Spoiler bottom bracket shell, a patented design from 1984 that resolved the problem with condensation collecting in the bottom of traditional bottom brackets. The graphics are a reissue of Italo Lupis 1979 winged-C logo and the rear brake cable is routed through the top tube. Slender steel tubes and modern internal routing. Gruppo SRL For those of us who think internal routing is a modern idea, this was a detail first introduced by Cinelli in the late 1970s. The lugs and chrome work show Cinelli hasn't lost its ability to craft steel beautifully. Gruppo SRL It looks to be the perfect retro reissue, encompassing the evolution of the Supercorsa over 70 years, and Im somewhat smitten by the Supercorsa in classic Cinelli Azzurro Laser blue. Size and colour options The sloping cast fork crown bears the Cinelli winged logo from 1979. Gruppo SRL The Supercorsa will be available as a frameset in a massive range of 17 sizes, from 48cm through to 64cm. Each size can be had in eight colours. The frameset is priced at 3,150. International pricing is to be confirmed. Frameset specs Sizes: 17 available, 48cm to 64cm (1cm increments) Colours: Rosso Ferrari, Bianco Perla, Azzurro Laser, Titanium Grey, Verde Jaguar, Black Tie, Blu China, Giallo Curry Weight: frame 1,830g (M), fork 670g (uncut) Headset: EC 30/25, 4-24TPI EC 30/26 Seatpost: 27.2mm BB shell: ITA, 70mm Tyre clearance: 700x25

They may not match Mont Ventoux in severity or fame, but the early season races often have classic climbs of their own: but do you know which race they feature in?

The idea of Tadej Pogacar finally lining up in Australia has never been far from the surface at the Tour Down Under, but this week it gained a rare sense of momentum. Not because of a startlist announcement or a calendar shift, but because someone from Pogacars inner circle is on the ground, watch...

CyclistFlemish steel: Behind the scenes at JaegherYou can count the number of bike brands that are older than Jaegher and still making bikes today on one hand. Bianchi, Fuji, Raleigh, Orbea. Little finger not required. Despite having been in business almost as long as those names, building bikes in Ghent in the heart of Flanders, Jaegher remains decidedly lower profile.Its related to how the business has developed, says Emanuel Ramoudt, Jaeghers co-owner, but as much as anything, Flemish people are modest. We dont shout about our heritage as much as we could or perhaps should.Mores the pity, because the Belgian brand has quite the story to tell.Juan Trujillo AndradesSimpler timesOdiel Vaneenooghe was a pro rider in the early 1900s, says Ramoudt. He even won a stage of the Tour of Belgium in 1932 but, ironically, got into building frames because he couldnt find good enough ones to race on, which curtailed his racing career.Vaneenooghe set up as an atelier rather than a brand he would build to commission for whoever wanted to buy from him, and they could label the frames up however they wanted. This was 1934. In the years that followed his frames became popular, and in the 1950s his son Etienne came on to work with him, and their business shared a site with a cafe that sold coffee in the morning and beer from lunchtime. Life was good and stayed that way for decades.The company grew. Odiel and Etienne built big batches of utilitarian bikes for European brands and high-performance racers for the likes of Eddy Merckx, Sean Kelly and Roger De Vlaeminck. Again however, because other names ended up on the down tubes, the Vaneenooghes work flew under the radar. However, their reputation among those who knew was enough to carry the business through to Odiels grandson, Luc, and great-grandson, Diel, who was still with the company until the 2010s.Juan Trujillo AndradesThe steady increase in popularity of carbon fibre frames did the business no favours and it started to flounder as it lost a sense of direction, says Ramoudt. Though there was a long period of transition, Diel sold the business to the current team about 15 years ago. We thought we knew where we could take it; there was opportunity to blend the heritage of the company with the performance of modern steel, so we set about communicating that.A fresh startThe reset began by finally adopting a brand name: Jaegher. A new team, new direction and a new premises followed, away from a nondescript workshop and into a space with more character to fit Jaeghers more ambitious intentions.This whole site was once a railway service depot, but it also played host to the finish of the second ever Tour of Flanders as well, says Ramoudt. We think its pretty fitting to base ourselves here.Jaeghers bikes are built by a small but highly skilled team.Juan Trujillo AndradesRamoudt walks Cyclist along a row of towering brick buildings that all show signs of gentrification. Fashionable companies blend clean branding against the rustic brickwork, and Jaegher slots in nicely alongside a unit selling outdoor equipment and another given over to a new skatepark.Inside Jaeghers facility, futuristic-looking pods are used in different applications a bike-fitting studio in one, a consultation room in another. They have been created from timber and corrugated Perspex and dot the space, which is dominated by a projector showing Jaeghers promotional material on a blank wall above the main structure within the workshop.The original industrial building sits detached all around, its vaulted ceilings giving the space a church-like atmosphere. Jaegher bikes are everywhere, each one wildly different in use-case, geometry and looks, but each unmistakably related to its neighbour.Weve made building with Columbus XCr [stainless steel] tubing our speciality, says Ramoudt. We started with Columbus Spirit but thats only good for more traditional steel bikes, which were not concerned with anymore.Juan Trujillo AndradesXCr is a material that intimidates many builders because it is extremely challenging to work with. The tubes are incredibly thin, leaving no room for error. At the same time its astonishingly hard our machines wear out up to five times faster than when working with regular steel. You cant bend it, shape it or adjust it once welded; every frame must be perfect from the very first attempt. Its stronger than titanium but more comfortable than aluminium. In the oversize diameters we use it in, it transmits power so efficiently.The workshop itself is unassuming. There are none of the huge autoclaves or industrial freezers needed for carbon fabrication, just a couple of builders working with quiet efficiency. One of them is Jan, who before he moved to Jaegher worked in the pharmaceutical industry where every machine is made in stainless steel and has to be built to the most exacting standards. The customers of the Jaegher frames he now makes can rest easy.Juan Trujillo AndradesRamoudt stops by some drawers and opens a few to reveal tubing rolling and clanking in each one.Two drawer units are all we need to store the tubesets for a hundred frames, he says. We generally have about nine on the go at once.The lathes, sanders and grinders all look well used; there are steel filings on the floor and Post-its on the jigs. It all comes across as incredibly authentic.It might look humble but things like these Post-it notes are a goldmine of information, says Ramoudt. Things the builders have picked up, quirks during fabrication to make sure the frames come out perfectly. Say a seatstay needs to be mitred at 448mm, theres a note here to say go 0.2mm long on the mitre, as the steel pulls back 0.2mm during fabrication. Thats where our experience comes into play to set our bikes apart.Juan Trujillo AndradesMade to measureFabrication quality may be one aspect that Jaegher prides itself on, but another is customisation. Every bike is made entirely for the individual, and no feature, component or paint finish is off the table. Jaegher describes it as an experience more than a transaction. Theres a two-hour initial consultation, holistic fit assessment done on site by a former pro cyclist turned physiotherapist, and regular appointments to sort the finishing details throughout the four-to-six-month process of the bike being built. Customers almost unilaterally choose to collect their bike in person once ready.They can never believe that we can go and ride the Paterberg and Koppenberg from our front door. Were learning to lean into our Belgian-ness because it gives us such credibility. Everyone around here rides from about two years old and its a part of daily life, so we dont necessarily recognise how deeply significant what were doing and where were doing it is to other parts of the world, says Ramoudt.Jaeghers premises sit inside the one large hall of an old railway service depot. The tall ceilings give it a church-like atmosphere.Juan Trujillo AndradesCustom-fitting bikes to clients for decades as the brand has, we know our machines are every bit as high performing as carbon in real world riding conditions. For normal riders, its often an even better choice.Ramoudt uses the example of Formula 1 to illustrate his point.You can be a fan of Max Verstappen but that doesnt mean you should drive his car, he says. Cycling isnt that much different. The machines the guys use on the WorldTour are not suitable for normal riders.Columbus XCr stainless steel is so hard as a material and tough on tools that it intimidates many other builders. Jaegher has made the material its speciality.Juan Trujillo AndradesThat doesnt mean that Jaeghers machines are not suitable for pros, however. Soudal-QuickStep sprinter Tim Merlier bought a Jaegher Hurricane back in 2023 and even used it beach racing, where he became Belgian champion in the same year. He then went on to invest in the company.Merlier isnt the only pro to buy a stake in Jaegher after trying out one of its bikes. The most high-profile investor to come on board has been three-time Flanders winner and four-time Paris-Roubaix winner Tom Boonen.Juan Trujillo AndradesIts been a few years now but Im still in shock about that, says Ramoudt. Tom Boonen has been my idol as a racer for as long as I can remember, and then all of a sudden he makes contact and Im doing our build consultation with him. Hes bought several Jaeghers now and hes not only the most famous customer weve had but the most fastidious as well. He wanted to know everything about everything, and as hes a partner we get design feedback from him now as well, which is so valuable.Taking the past into the futureEven without notes from the big guy, Ramoudt says that Jaegher is continuing to push the boundaries of stainless construction techniques.Not resting on our laurels is the only way to build on the renewed momentum of our brand, he says. Were an old company, but the bikes we build are cutting edge. A good example of that is the Phoenix road bike weve just launched. Its one of the first stainless steel bikes to use 3D printed steel junctions, which have come out of a two-year collaboration with a university and the Belgian Institute for Welding Technology.Stainless steel is notoriously hard to work with and frames cant be adjusted once made, so every one has to be spot on from the get-go.Juan Trujillo AndradesRamoudt walks Cyclist over to an example, and its quite a thing to behold. The lines at the tube junctions look carbon-like in their flowing seamlessness.Well be making more widespread use of the technology as we move forward, says Ramoudt. It improves stiffness, increases design freedom and modernises the looks of the bikes as well.Its clear Jaegher is having some success in moving steel from its utilitarian roots into genuine superbike territory. Thats just as well because the brand has bold plans for the future.Jan is a cycling fanatic, so his professional expertise dovetails perfectly with his passion.Juan Trujillo AndradesWe now have the foundations in place to triple our output over the next two years, says Ramoudt. Our domestic recognition is solid, so now were working to expand internationally.The easy way to expand would be to make large numbers of stock bikes, but Ramoudt says Jaegher is determined to do things the right way.People who step into our workshop have had stock bikes before and come to us for something more. In stainless steel, bespoke fabrication is the way to do it best. For most of the last 90 years weve done it that way, and thats the way well carry on doing it in future.Juan Trujillo AndradesWhats in a name?Quite a lot, as it turns outJaegher is the Flemish spelling of jger, the German word for hunter, which we like for its associations with KoM hunting and the type of riding our bikes are best suited for, says Jaegher co-owner Emanuel Ramoudt. But we got to that from an American fighter pilot, Chuck Yeager, who was the first man to break the sound barrier. We worked from that to the naming system of our bikes as well. Phoenix, Ascender, Interceptor they are all named after fighter jets. Fighter jets arent made from composite, theyre made from metal, which I like to think says something.Etymology aside, Jaeghers other branding is beautifully considered as well. Ramoudt says the nested circles around the J on the bikes head badge nod to the crosshairs of a fighter pilots targeting system, as well as representing the different diameters of tubing it uses in its framesets. Then the font used for the Jaegher logo causes the tails of the J and the R to flick out in the curve of handlebar drops. Neat.The post Flemish steel: Behind the scenes at Jaegher appeared first on Cyclist.

As is often the case in a stage race of this intensity, the 2026 Tour Down Under will no doubt see a number of riders forced to abandon due to crashes, illness, and other racing incidents. Keep track of all incidents and withdrawals throughout the race right here! Nothing to note. Jardi Christiaan v...

Katie Strempke was the first woman and 10th overall rider to finish the 2026 Fat Pursuit 200-kilometer race earlier this month. Learn more about her Chumba Darksky fat bike, find a video she put together outlining her setup, and dig into her gear list here...The post Katie Strempkes 2026 Fat Pursuit Rig (Video) appeared first on BIKEPACKING.com.

Inside Team Visma | Lease a Bike, the Giro dItalia is no longer being spoken about as an endpoint. For riders tasked with doing the hardest work in the mountains, the tone around the race has shifted, and Bart Lemmen has quietly articulated why. Speaking ahead of the new season, the 30-year-old all...

In this edition of Riders Lens, we share a sweeping selection of illustrations from Copenhagen, Denmark-based artist and cyclist Jody Barton. Read on to browse a lively mix of Jodys drawings, find his perspective on the ethics and economics of making art full-time, learn about his celebrated Dirty Filthy Bikepacking board game, and more...The post Riders Lens: Jody Bartons Politics of Personal Experience appeared first on BIKEPACKING.com.