The "strategic partnership" will be welcome for Britain's biggest bike manufacturer after years of financial uncertainty

The 2026 Tour de France is fast approaching as the worlds best riders descend on Barcelona ahead of Saturdays Grand Depart. Its one of the most exciting times of the season as fans anticipate a new general classification battle in the race to Paris. Tadej Pogacar is attempting to make it three ye...

Are we in Barcelona yet? Are we in Barcelona yet? Are we in Barcelona yet? Nope, but theres still plenty of cycling news, views, and general silliness to help you while away the hours on the Tuesday live blog

The Tour de France will be the first and perhaps only race in 2026 where Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard will clash. But it promises to be a major clash with both riders at the top of their game, and perhaps with the psychological scale tilting more towards the Dane's side this year. Tom Dumoulin...

Hey guys, check out my new Colnago watch!Sure, it wasnt cheap:But you cant put a price on hanging around train stations and airports and places like that just so you can wait for someone to ask you the time and then conspicuously extending your arm in order to check, thereby exposing your extraordinary timepiece for their admirationthough depressingly 99% of people will just think its a Swatch, plus now everyone has a phone and already knows what time it is, so these are dark days indeed for the Horology Fred.Of course, the same philistines who think thats a Swatch will also note that for a mere fraction of the price of that Colnago wrist clock you can obtain a space-aged watch that not only tells the time with total accuracy but also has a million other features:Granted, its not quite as elegant:And in my own case I use exactly three (3) of those features, those being:The time thingPaying the subway or bus fare without having to fish around in my pocketReading text messages while riding, because otherwise I miss them and my wife thinks Im deadMeanwhile, the Colnago time bracelet costs roughly 4,000 times more and does only one of those three things.At this point you may be wondering, How can you advocate so fiercely for mechanical shifting yet wear a smart watch? Well, to me, the difference is that the smart watch actually does more things than the regular watch (which still has to be wound, or else needs a battery just like the smart watch) while being relatively inexpensive, whereas not only is the digital shifter typically more expensive than its mechanical counterpart, but it performs exactly the same function, only it needs to be charged first. (And not only is the mechanical shifter battery-free, but you dont even have to wind it.) So to me the mechanical shifter is the clear winner.But I do recognize that for some people the digital shifter actually does do more. Who are these people? Racer- and racer-adjacent types who are hooked up to power meters and all that stuff. For them, a digital drivetrain actually does make (I hesitate to use the word Im about to in this context, but Ill use it anyway) sense, since theyve got a whole Bluetooth or ANT+ or whatever the protocol is thing going on and they need to know their wattage and their cadence and how much time theyre spending in each gear, plus they need wireless auxiliary shifters so they cant afford the extra wind resistance that results when you move your hands slightly. So sure, for them, like a smart watch an electronic shifting system does more, and is therefore worth it.So yes, I get why some people need electronic shifting, and I also get why some people will gladly pay lots more money for a mechanical watch that does way less than a smart watch doesI mean sure, a million is crazy, but I can understand why you might want to own a really nice watch that you can pass down from generation to generation:Theres only one thing I still dont get, which is why no bicycle drivetrain component maker has figured out how to make the mechanical shifter equivalent of a really fancy watch and sell it for lots and lots of money. Like, why had Campagnolo not come up with a $10,000 pair of luxury mechanical Ergo levers with little crystal windows in them that let you see their internal movements?Heres the AIs take on that:I had something a little more sleek and modern in mind, while this looks sort of like a steampunk-meets-retrogrouch nightmare. However, I cant bear to give the AI more instructions in order to fine-tune it, because quite frankly interacting with it makes me feel sort of uncomfortable and weird. Its like like having a co-worker who you know is a registered sex offender.Speaking of Ergo shifters, its now been a little over two months since I bought this bike I dont need mostly because it had 10-speed Ergo shifters on it:Because I didnt need it I also pledged to spend absolutely no money on it, and Im proud to report Ive continued to live up to that pledgeapart from these things, which I absolutely had to buy for the wheels or else the hubs would have exploded while I was riding with disastrous results:It was either that or toss the wheels, and you simply dont toss a perfectly good pair of wheels (paucity of spokes notwithstanding) if you can inexpensively repair them. So all in this bike has still only cost about what youd pay for an entry level smartwatch from *pple.By the way, to refresh your memory, Bens Cycle are now the words greatest repository of Campagnolo components and spare parts, so if youre looking for that sort of thing your search should probably begin and end with them.Anyway, I hadnt ridden this bike in a few weeks, and it was a pleasure to get back on it yesterday. There may be little to no reason to ride tires this skinny in 2026, but on a smooth road on a sunny day its as about as close as youll get to flying:Just watch out for the gravel, or else you might really go flying:And when I say gravel I dont mean like an unpaved road, which you can still ride even on an road bike with skinny tires. I mean this kind of gravel, which you might find strewn across a road surface and encounter unexpectedly:Just ask Lucas Brunelle:Every so often I like to see what Old Man Brunelle is up to, and most recently it seems he undertook a death-defying ride to his cousins wedding:My goodness, hes a middle-aged man! Whats next, a video entitled Balls-0ut Shred Sesh To My Colonoscopy? Why not put on a suit, get on a Rivendell, and ride to the wedding with some dignity? Just imagine its your wedding day and Uncle Lucas shows up in his full Fred suit and hands you a moist envelope straight from his jersey pocket:Though if the envelope were fat enough I suppose you might overlook it.

Groupama - FDJ are in a moment of transition in the team. David Gaudu has been left out of the Tour de France team amidst his inconsistent season but he was not the only notable absence from the team's Grand Boucle plans: Valentin Madouas was also left out, and the 29-year old did not take the news...

For the second installment of his 2026 Tour Divide field report, photographer Eddie Clark follows the race deep into New Mexico, capturing the defining moments of an unforgettable yearfrom Victor Bosoni's composed march to victory to Meaghan Hackinen's dominant ride and Felix Laberge's remarkable singlespeed performance. Find a striking photoset, a unique perspective on the riders, and behind-the-scenes stories from nearly 5,000 miles on the road here...The post Tracing the 2026 Tour Divide (Part 2): The Final Push appeared first on BIKEPACKING.com.

The transfer market is moving before the start of the 2026 Tour de France, and one of the first deals to surface directly affects Caja Rural-Seguros RGA. The Spanish team has worked well with some of its riders and brought out the best from Sebastien Berwick, but the Australian is set to depart towa...