In and out, Luca Guercilena has been in charge of the Lidl-Trek project for more than a decade. However, his spell had come to an end this summer. Right after the 2026 Giro d'Italia had ended, a major shake-up on upper-echelon staff positions hit Lidl-Trek, Visma | Lease a Bike and Red Bull - BORA -...

Netcompany INEOS has had a rather miserable run up to the 2026 Tour de France. Their leader Oscar Onley crasher hard at Tour Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes, on the same day as Joshua Tarling. Team's former hope Carlos Rodrguez was left out after inconsistent preparation, and the British team pretty much ente...

Egan Bernal heads to the 2026 Tour de France with a very different mindset from his peak years as a GC contender. The Colombian, winner of the race in 2019, has accepted that his role at INEOS Grenadiers will be more attacking and less focused on the overall, something he summed up clearly by saying...

When, in 1982, Gerald ODonovan, then head of Raleighs elite Specialist Bicycle Development Unit (SBDU), discovered that Tommy Godwin was riding time trials at the ripe old age of 61, he didnt hesitate to build the veteran Olympian a bike suitable for a champion. As well as being a remarkable engineer with a natural gift for marketing, Gerald was one of the most generous people I have ever known, explains current owner, Dave Marsh, of the Universal Cycle Centre, Rotherham.(Image credit: Future)Godwin was a cycling icon for decades. He won two bronze medals at Herne Hill during the London 1948 Olympics, managed the British team at the Tokyo 1964 Olympics, and was, at 91, an official ambassador and torch bearer for the London 2012 Olympics. Marsh first met him trackside after winning the Masters category of the 1997 National Championship points race at Manchester Velodrome.Tommy presented me with my medal, Marsh fondly recalls. Little did I suspect that Id be buying this bike from him four years later at a Kidderminster cycle jumble.Godwin was having a clear-out that included his TI Raleigh Team Bike. We did a meticulous restoration, remembers Marsh, including a respray by talented ex-SBDU frame painter Phil Skill Insley, who first painted it back in 82. Even the decals are original. The frame is built entirely from heat-treated Reynolds 753 tubing, a stronger, thinner-walled version of 531. The rest of the build is almost entirely no expense spared Campagnolo Super Record. The training wheels shown feature 28/32 spoke Mavic Mach 2 CD grey anodised rims shod with durable Vittoria Rally tubulars, but Marsh also owns the original TT-ready 28/28 spoke Arc-en-Ciel rims that Godwin paired with fast silk tubulars.(Image credit: Future)The Saba stem evokes 80s nostalgia. Its a Cinelli, but pantographed by Italo Berigliano, whose London-based company Saba imported lust-worthy bike components from Italy. The bars are also Cinelli, a 42cm width model 64.

By any objective metrics, Remco Evenepoel and Wout Van Aert both represent the absolute pinnacle of the world of cycling of our generation. And yet, the general perception of the two stars seems to be quite underappreciated back home in Belgium. Or at least that is the feeling of Adrie van der Poel,...

The 2026 Tour de France can already be felt in Barcelona. Just a few days before the peloton rolls out from the Catalan capital, NSN Cycling Team held a press conference featuring former footballer Andres Iniesta, one of the teams owners, and the squads major sporting reference point, Biniam Girma...

Emer Heverin (Camsmajaco) added another national title to a tally already past 30 across different disciplines, soloing to the 2026 Junior Womens Road Race National Championship in Cong, Co. Mayo, hosted by Cunga CC.Heverin got clear on the first lap and rode the final 40 km alone, winning by 3:51 over Ffion Dolan (VW Breda) and Aoife ODonovan (Dungarvan CC). I made a couple of small attacks to see how everyone was feeling, then halfway around the first lap I pushed on up the hill and eventually got away on my own, she said. Wearing a black armband, Heverin dedicated the win to her late teammate Shane OBrien: He was a great friend to us all hell be missed. Full result below.JWJunior Women 57.3 km 35.65 km/h avg1Emer HEVERINCamsmajaco1:36:242Ffion DOLANVW Breda1:40:16 +3:513Aoife O DONOVANDungarvan CCs.t.4Ysabella HUELERudyco Cycling Team vzws.t.5Holly MC CAFFREYLongcourt Hotel NCW Wheelers1:40:17 +3:53OTLAmi FLAVINDungarvan CC1:44:37OTLClodagh MOLYNEAUXBohermeen CC1:46:16OTLAoibhe REILLYBohermeen CC2:03:48

After previewing the mountains competition, time to look at the points competition and the green jersey contenders.The points scalePoints are awarded at the finish line and at one intermediate point in the stage.Flat stages (Stages 5,7,8,11,12) 70-50-40-35-30-26-24-22- 20-18-16-14-12-10-8-6-4-2 points for the first 18 ridersHilly stages (Stages 4,13,17,21): 50-30-20-18- 16-14-12-10-8-7-6-5-4-3-2 points for the first 15Very hilly stages (Stages 2,3,9,18): 30-25-22-19-17-15-13-11-9-7-6-5-4-3-2 pointsVery difficult stages + ITT (Stages 6,10,14,15,16): 20-17-15-13-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 pointsIntermediate sprits 25-20-16-14-12-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 pointsThis scale is new for 2026 with more for the very flat stages, eg 70-50-40 for the first three when last year the flat and hilly stages saw 50-30-20 and so on. Also the intermediate sprints get a boost too, they now offer 25 to the winner when it was 20 last year. This tilts the competition even more to the pure sprinters.The routeThere are only five obvious sprint stages, see for yourself with all the stage profiles on one page at inrng.com/tour.Stage 17 stands out as a day where a strong team like Lidl-Trek can hope to break the peloton early and distance sprinters so their house sprinter, in this case Mads Pedersen, can win the intermediate sprint.Similarly Stages 18 and 19 also see the intermediate sprint placed later in the stage which allows a raider capable of going clear to score. But by when what if a sprinter has managed to take three stage wins and thrived in the intermediate sprints too?The ContendersTim Merlier (Soudal-Quickstep) is the probably fastest sprinter at the moment but aged 33 hes never sat comfortably or durably on the throne, in part because hes a modest man rather than the alpha egocentric sprinters were used to. See the recent Tour of Belgium where he won a stage but got beaten on other days. Or last years Tour where he won every Tour sprint he could contest but was also thwarted by splits and crashes. He is the example of why competition is about arithmetic and not speed: he ought to win a stage but taking the green jersey is a big ask. Hell need to rule the roost with multiple stage wins to build up a lead.Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-PremierTech) won this competition 2023 and has been runner-up twice and has some versatility to get over climbs when other sprinters cannot and gets the boost of lead-outs from Mathieu van der Poel who deliver him into position in a way nobody else can. Van der Poel himself ought to be a green jersey contender on paper but mentally having to hunt for points every day is not his style, hed probably prefer the thrill of going all in for a stage win.Embed from Getty ImagesBiniam Girmay (NSN) has found winning ways again. He took three stages and the green jersey in 2024 but then didnt win a race again until this year. But if hes back hes yet to establish a winning streak but he has been placing regularly. Helpfully hes got a team in his service so if he can show the speed and versatility again hes got a strong chance of repeating.Embed from Getty ImagesOlav Kooij (Decathlon-CMA CGM) has been an heir apparent for the sprint crown and now starts his first Tour de France. He moved teams in order to be at the Tour but hes missed most of the season with illness and the rise of Paul Seixas threatened to eclipse him but hes here after three wins in nine days of racing. Hes got light support but teams dont have long sprint trains these days and Cees Bol is a good helper but theyre not used to each other. The sense is a stage win comes first and then what comes after is a bonus.Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) sat out the Tour last summer to give Jonathan Milan a go. Pedersen doesnt have the pure speed but neither did points competition record holder Peter Sagan against Mark Cavendish et al, indeed he could win the green jersey without winning a stage thanks to placing in some sprints and by making raids in the mountains and using his team to break the peloton on the climbs. Pedersen will aim to mimic this, hell have it hard winning bunch sprints outright against the names cited already but his advantage comes on hillier terrain but these days are rare, plus his team also have other goals too. Hes still hunting for his first win of the season too. However in his prime he can be in sizzling form.Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Intermarch) excels in slow sprints, races that end with a gradual rise to the line only there are none on this years route. He hasnt got his usual lead-out entourage either, it feels like hes been picked because hes the teams star rider, but not backed all the way because hes leaving the team soon.Dorian Godon (Ineos) is good on hard days but is more likely to pick a stage rather than try every day and hell likely lose when it comes to the new points scale which reward the pure sprinters too.Milan Fretin (Cofidis) could be Wout van Aerts body double and a rising prospect but he and his team would sign for a stage win today.Tadej Pogaar (UAE)? Hes on 21 stage wins and will surely win more and he finished second last year, 78 points behind Jonathan Milan in Paris. Last years route really suited with a first week that actually saw him take green thanks to a series of punchy uphill finishes. This year can see him hustle for results and wins in the first week but there are fewer opportunities. In short he didnt win it last year, the course is less auspicious and the points scale has changed too.Talking tacticsOnly a handful of teams come with a full sprint set-up: namely a top sprinter, a quality lead-out and a couple of workhorse riders to reel in breakaways. Soudal-Quickstep, NSN and Alpecin-PremierTech fit the bill here.The tactics could be interesting to watch, will Quickstep and Alpecin commit to all the work knowing the likes of Cofidis, Decathlon, Lotto, Bahrain (for Bahaus), Uno-X (Wrenskjold), Astana-XDS (Teunissen), Picnic-PostNL (Bittner), Caja Rural (Gaviria) and Tudor (De Kleijn) might try to hold-off or even send riders up the road, all while having their sprint cards in the finish too? This could see a sprint stage going to the breakaway but only on terrain to help, think Stage 12 because the amount of sprinters here still means on flat days even Caja Rural will back Gaviria rather than gamble on the break.Philipsen, GirmayKooij, MerlierPedersenThe post Tour de France Points Competition first appeared on The Inner Ring.

The ink on the Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL9 launch is barely dry, and you can already grab yourself a deal on select Tarmac SL8 models with Balfe's and Sigma Sports, here in the UK. It should come as no surprise that once a new model has been launched, the old one is discounted. What's more surprising is the fact that Specialised only announced the arrival of the top-tier S-Works version of the all-new Tarmac SL9 this week, providing no information on how that might affect the lineup below it. The S-Works SL9 is available in both SRAM and Shimano builds, both coming in at a whopping 12000. Typically, we'd expect the likes of Shimano Ultegra and 105 builds to follow, but at present details on lower-tier groupset offerings are yet to be released. This, however, hasn't stopped retailers slashing prices on SL8 builds. Shop all Sigma Sports Tarmac SL8 dealsShop all Balfe's Bikes Tarmac SL8 dealsRegardless, if Specialized decides to 'trickle down' the S-Works level SL9 tech, the stronger argument for considering the SL8 now and not waiting around for mid-level builds of the new SL9 is that Specialized was only able to find 4 watts of aerodynamic performance over 45Kph/28Mph. Now, for mere mortals like you and me, that is likely not a speed you regularly ride at. So, in real-world terms, you may be only saving a single watt, if that.The good news for you, regardless, is that you can now save over 1100 on the bike that CW's tech experts voted as the very best road bike available. SL8 ExpertThe SL8 Expert is the thinking person's spec, with Ultegra 12-speed Di2, Roval C38 carbon wheels and a 2-piece aluminium cockpit; it packs a lot of performance without breaking the bank. View DealSL8 ProThe Expert and Pro are very similar in specification, so you still get Ultegra 12-speed Di2; however, it takes a step up in terms of finishing kit. The Pro comes clad with Roval's very fast Rapide CL III wheels, and you get the full integrated one-piece Roval cockpit. View DealSL8 CompThe most affordable Tarmac SL8 has the smallest discount; however, given the frame's performance and the fact that you can now pick it up for very close to 3000, it offers a lot of bang for your buck. Match that with Shimano's excellent 105 Di2, and you've got yourself a real deal, though many will want to put a better set of wheels on it. View DealThe Tarmac SL8, as I said, is our pick for the best aero road bike on the market, and has been for some time now. In the summer of 2024, Tech Writer Joe Baker, after riding 2000 kilometres in order to crown our Race Bike of the Year, declared the SL8 the best there was. He then followed that with a 12-month long-term review and concluded that it remained the benchmark to beat in 2025. It's 2026 now though, I hear you say, and Tarmac SL8 is still widely considered one of the best road bikes ever made. It's a bike whose geometry hasn't really changed since we moved to disc brakes, but it's the refinement over the years that puts the Tarmac SL8 head and shoulders above the rest. That can be seen clearly in the release information of the SL9. Whilst there have been many subtle changes, Specialized was only able to find 4 watts of improvement after 3-4 years of development at 45kph/28mph. It's a tough job to make the best better. I have currently only found Specialized Tarmac SL8 deals in the UK, but I will report back as soon as I find some more.