As the National Road Championships approach, the contrast between Belgium and the Netherlands has once again become impossible to ignore. While many of the biggest Dutch stars, particularly in the men's peloton, regularly skip the Dutch championships, Belgium operates under a system that effectively...

Meaghan Hackinen just won the 2026 Tour Divideand set a new women's recordafter delivering one of the most disciplined and tactically impressive rides in the event's history. Combining meticulous preparation, efficient stops, and unwavering consistency from Banff to Antelope Wells, the Canadian ultracyclist dominated the women's field for 14 solid days. Find the details about her win and more about the record here...The post Meaghan Hackinen Wins the 2026 Tour Divide in Record Time! appeared first on BIKEPACKING.com.

After a frustrating Giro d'Italia campaign, Giulio Pellizzari is already looking ahead with renewed confidence. The Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe climber returned to racing at the Tour of Slovenia, where he immediately showed encouraging signs of form, and is now set to line up at the 2026 Italian Nat...

Bart Lemmen will not line up at the Dutch National Road Championships in Nijmegen this Sunday after being withdrawn by Team Visma | Lease a Bike, with the Dutch rider now on standby for a possible late call-up to the Tour de France. The decision comes in the wake of Edoardo Affini's crash during the...

Sometimes as a writer of columns I find Im writing a column thats a sort of Part 2 to a piece I did a few weeks earlier. Perhaps I didnt quite finish the thought first time, or I came up with a decent joke after Id filed the copy, or I changed my mind and wanted to pretend I hadnt been stupid enough to write the first one.And sometimes I realise Im writing a whole series of themed columns that you could collate into one long whinge. To wit, Ive noticed that a recurrent motif of recent years has been, Gosh, hasnt cycling got expensive?In general Ive been against this trend. But, last weekend, as I tried to find something in my overly-cluttered bike store I found myself thinking differently: If everything had been as expensive ten years ago as it is now Id have a lot more space in here.In fact a bit of quick maths suggests that the increased cost of bikes and the consequent reduction in my ability to buy them would save enough storage space that I could get off with a smaller house. Financially Id actually come out in front.The advantage is actually two-fold. First, as mentioned, you can afford less. Second, to upgrade you have absolutely no choice but to sell something you already own. This saves even more space. You cant conceivably afford to keep anything you dont use.Ive only preserved one bike from my racing career as a memento its a TT bike that I won quite a lot on, and which was perhaps the prettiest of my race bikes. Its aesthetic qualities are, however, hard to appreciate because its surrounded in its storage unit by a mighty collection of some of the best wheels, bars, saddles, and random bits given to me by sponsors down the years that I hadnt intended to keep, but somehow did. Im not a hoarder. But if the Hoarder Police raided my unit, they would have questions Id struggle to answer.Why do I still have all these things? The problem is that when things were cheaper, their second-hand value declined to nothing even more quickly than modern equipment. If you were a sponsored rider looking to squeeze a bit more out of the deal by selling your team equipment, you had to do it very fast."My friend still looks back fondly on the year he broke his collarbone in mid-September and got to sell everything his team had given him a month earlier than usual."Dr HutchIve got one friend who used to do well on Ebay, but insisted that speed was key. If the prize haul at a race included something like a pair of sunglasses, he normally had them listed for sale before he even got home. (Exclusive pro-only promotional colourway was, he told me, the secret to turning ugly Italian sunnies with over-sized logos into a new video game.)He still looks back fondly on the year he broke his collarbone in mid-September and got to sell everything his team had given him a month earlier than usual.For those of us a bit slower out of the blocks, the cash value of most things dropped below the it-might-come-in-useful-one-day value in a matter of months.Leave it sitting for a year or two beyond that point, and you had things that no one would take even if you gave them away, like rim-brake tubular-tyre wheels. You find yourself at the local recycling centre asking a dude in a high-viz jacket what skip you should put carbon fibre in. Thats pretty heartbreaking.Which naturally means that I dont even do that with it I just keep it. I tell myself that one day the value will go up again. Like an exquisite, chromed Cinelli frame from the 1950s, perhaps people will one day pay big money for old rim-brake aero wheels. And if they do, Im going to be so rich Ill be able to afford a modern bike.How To Be a Good WinnerEveryone knows the importance of grace in defeat, even if they prefer not to actually demonstrate it. Similarly, it is important to know how to win while maintaining a spirit of generosity towards your vanquished opponents or, as we winners think of them, the losers.For example, you can help them improve their own performance for next time. Pinpoint for them any mistakes they might have made: Mate, I just couldnt believe my luck when you launched that incredibly stupid attack over the top of the last climb. Wow, you really handed it to me there.You might like to suggest that your performance was really just down to luck: Mate, Im just lucky. I have a lot of innate genetic talent, but as well as that Im lucky enough to be the sort of person with a real work ethic and a will to just find ways to keep improving. Next time that could just as easily be you.Recognise that your opponents might not have had all of your advantages: Mate, I think you did pretty well to be that close to me. I mean, youve got a lot of limitations as an athlete.Make sure you show them you understand the pain of defeat: Mate, I know how hard you work. I know that youre out training every day, sacrificing time with your family. It must really hurt to do all that and still come up short. I mean, Id be bloody raging if something like that had happened to me.Acts of Cycling StupidityA long time ago, there was a fad for L-shaped cranks cranks with a 90-degree bend in them. Supposedly they made it easier to pedal over top-dead-centre. Of course they did no such thing. There was maybe a visual illusion, but nothing more.I was surprised to find an old photo of a friend of mine using them. I messaged him, mocking his credulity.Not a bit, he replied. I knew they didnt work. But Id also overheard one of my main rivals telling someone that he was desperate to get a pair because he was convinced they were brilliant. So I borrowed a pair and rode up and down in front of him with them at the race HQ before that years national championships. Id killed him before he even got on his bike.

The Tour de France is always defined as much by the riders who make the start line as by those who don't. While the 2026 edition will still feature most of the sport's biggest stars, several high-profile names have been forced to abandon their ambitions through injury or illness, leaving significant...

Remco Evenepoel paints a confident figure as he looks forward to his return to the Tour de France, with 2025 demons on his mind and a calculated and uninterrupted preparation. The Red Bull - BORA Hansgrohe rider hasn't raced in over two months, but appeared assured that he'll be ready when the flag...

Last week, Dr Sarah Ruggins arrived in Nordkapp, in the far north Arctic-tickling tip of Norway, exactly 13 days, 20 hours and 27 minutes after setting off on her bicycle from Tarifa in southern Spain. Her total riding distance was 6,042km, and just to put that into context, last years entire Tour de France was 3,301.9km in length, spread across 21 stages and three and a half weeks. In completing her epic journey in such a blisteringly fast time, the Canadian-born athlete and adventurer not only smashed the existing world speed record for riding from the bottom to the top of Europe knocking over three days and 32 off the time set by Dr Ian Walker, in 2019 she also set a new record for the greatest distance ever ridden by a woman in a week, riding 3,364.08km in seven days.These figures are phenomenal in anyones book, but when you consider that Ruggins couldnt even ride a bike just three years ago, theyre nothing short of incredible. Now a triple-record holding ultra-cyclist (she also holds the John OGroats to Lands End and Back record), Ruggins only began cycling in 2023, after spending 10 years recovering from a rare autoimmune condition.A promising track and field athlete as a child, with realistic Olympic aspirations, Ruggins was diagnosed with the condition when she was 15, and the illness left her bedridden and in need of 24-hour care. A couple of years before setting her LEJOGLE cycling record, Ruggins was planning to run from Lands End to John OGroats, when she run collapsed with series of dreadful injuries as result of her illness, suffering two broken ankles, and fractures in her femur and pelvis just weeks before the planned start. Ruggins survived on 10-minute micro rests (which had to include medical checks and food) during the day, after sleeping 90 minutes overnight (Image credit: James Busby)Undeterred, she secured an entry for the Transcontinental Race, a 4,000km unsupported race across Europe, and then bought a bike and started training. Ruggins crashed out of the 2023 event, but returned stronger in 2024, and finished near the front. But, even having proved herself capable of climbing such a steep training and learning curve, Ruggins achievement over the last fortnight is jaw dropping. So, how on earth did she manage to pull off such an incredible ride, let alone in the heatwave conditions she started off in last month? Dr Ruggins has a PHD in finance suffice to say, she knows her way around an abacas, and number discipline was obviously a crucial factor to achieving what she has done over the last couple of weeks. With that in mind, Cycling Weekly spoke to the rider and some of her support crew earlier this week, when they were enroute back to Britain (where Ruggins is now based), and together we have gathered the stats and stories that tell the tale of this extraordinary double record-setting ride. (Image credit: James Busby)Riding by numbersOne Ruggins rode the entire route on a single bike, the Liv EnviLiv Advanced SL (also much beloved by Cycling Weekly tech writer Hannah Bussey). She also rode the entire route on one chain. 12 Number of croissants with cream cheese eaten per day by Ruggins during the latter part of the ride, after she overcame the nausea that plagued her during the early stages.Nine Countries passed through during the continent-crossing adventure. Two Number of punctures Ruggins suffered during the entire ride. 14 Number of times Ruggins listed to Salt by Ben Camden during her mammoth cycle. I felt very overstimulated, she says. I had my earbuds silent most of the time. But this track reminded me of my partner, Ryan. My second most-listened to track was Hymn by Charlotte de Witte - that one kept me awake at night! 90 Minutes of lie-down sleep Ruggins allowed herself every day until she broke the seven-day distance record (after which she treated herself with a 3-hour kip) Four The maximum number of off-bike micro rests Ruggins allowed her during each day (five minutes of which were taken up with eating and medical checks, leaving 5 minutes for a quick nap)8,623 Amount of money, in GBP sterling, that Ruggins has so far raised for World Bicycle Relief, a charity that helps people and communities around the world by providing them with life-changing bikes.Two Number of fingers Ruggins has no feeling in (temporarily, we hope) after suffering nerve damage during her ride. I was unable to use the aero position for much of the ride, because of saddle discomfort, she told us. So I was riding on the hood for most of the way, and I'm paying for it now!"35,000 metres climbed during the 6,042km ride22 Hours spent in the saddle every day during the challenge11,000 calories consumed on average every day20 Number of kilometres of mud, sand and gravel Ruggins was forced to ride her road bike across when she encountered some unexpected road works whilst leaving Poland.35 Degrees of heat (in Celsius) that Ruggins was riding in during the first few days of her record attempt, while racing across Spain and France. Nutrition, especially hydration, was very challenging, in those conditions she says. I was taking on 2 litres of electrolyte-loaded liquids every hour, and the only thing I could eat was gels.11,748 Kilometres driven by Ruggins media and support car 500 Number of Buffalo Bicycles Ruggins is aiming to provide to people in poor rural regions around the world.Read an interview with Sarah Ruggins in the current print edition of Cycling Weekly subscribe here!

Primoz Roglic ended a six year absence at the Slovenian National Championships and was instantly back in the medals thanks to an impressive time trial performance, taking his third elite national title. It's his second in the individual time trial, adding to his one road race win. The Red Bull veter...