Paul Seixas has spent the final days before his Tour de France debut answering questions about more than form. The 19-year-old Decathlon CMA CGM Team leader has also had to calm nerves around his knee, his recovery and whether a reshuffled squad points to a quieter approach in his first three-week r...

When NSN Cycling made its landmark signing in Biniam Girmay over the winter, they did so with a clear ambition in mind: to win a stage and chase green at the 2026 Tour de France. The Girmay transfer was a key piece of the puzzle, but so was carving a squad of riders around the Eritrean who could deliver him to Tour glory.Jake Stewart is set to be an important cog in that machine when the Tour sets off from the teams new home in Barcelona, operating as Girmays last man in the NSN sprint train. The main ambition is the sprint stages with Biniam, We want to go and win a stage at the Tour de France, Stewart tells Cycling Weekly ahead of his third Tour. That's a huge goal. I think it's the same as every other team's goal when they go to the Tour de France, they want to win a stage thereWe'll start to shift our focus to the green jersey if we see that he's in a good position to challenge for that in Paris, Stewart adds.(Image credit: Getty Images)The team endured a period of transition over the winter, taking on new branding and sponsorship following mass protests at the 2025 Vuelta a Espaa against the teams links to Israel, when the team was known as Israel-Premier Tech and bankrolled by billionaire Sylvan Adams. Things have changed on the performance side, too, with Girmay replacing GC rider Derek Gee-West as the teams talisman. The now Swiss-registered squad has had to morph into a Classics and sprint team, as opposed to focusing on the overall classification goals of Gee-West and Matthew Riccitello, who also departed. It's been a shift in terms of the team's focus this year, Stewart says. But it was also a discussion that we had within the team. It's so difficult nowadays for teams to focus on everything. Either you're a GC team, you're a Classics team or you're a sprint team.There's very few teams nowadays that are going to Grand Tours and targeting a GC and also sprint stages.So it kind of shifted the focus from that GC focus to stage-hunting, and I think it's been really positive for the team. It takes away a lot of the pressure from GC, which is a lot of pressure and it allows guys to focus on the days that suit them best and what suits us best as a team.Becoming the worlds best lead out manAfter racing the first part of the year in support of fellow Brit Ethan Vernon, Stewart linked up with Girmay for the first time at the Baloise Belgium Tour, guiding him to a stage win on the opening day. Stewart says that the pair have gelled well together and that Girmay knows what he wants and how he wants to execute sprints.Having started his career with Groupama-FDJ chasing his own opportunities, Stewart has settled into a lead-out role as he has matured. He admitted that the pressure of sprinting for himself had been tough to handle at times and he has started to see a sports psychologist. Now 27, Stewart is in his prime years as an athlete, and wants to build a reputation for his ability to deliver his sprinter to the line.My biggest ambition is to develop myself into one of the best lead out guys, the best last man in the world, Stewart says.I think my characteristics as a bike racer suit that last man role rather than winning myself in these big bunch of gallopsIf I do carry on progressing the way that I am, then I can kind of put myself in that realm of being one of the best last men in the world. That's definitely something that I'm striving to try and achieve. Obviously the Tour de France is the biggest stage to be able to show that on and execute that on. If I do a good enough job and Bini comes away with a stage win or two, then it's going to be a successful Tour de France for me.

Remco Evenepoel arrives at the Tour de France with almost everything carefully controlled. The race days have been limited, the altitude work has been prioritised, the training numbers have been released and Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe have built their July around a dual-leadership structure with Fl...

Time passes and things change. Kids dont do paper rounds anymore (many wont touch a newspaper in their entire lives), and it seems that young Saturday staff in bike shops are experiencing a similar extinction event. And this will cut off an entry point into the cycling world that has existed for decades, a leading industry body has said this week. But why are many bike shops no longer employing weekend staff? According to Jonathan Harrison, Director of the Association of Cycle Traders (ACT), it is mainly down to rising costs and onerous employment obligations. The ACT issuedIn a press release this week, he argued that the combination of minimum wage increases, holiday pay entitlements and new sick pay requirements introduced in April is deterring independent bike shops from taking on young part-time staff, which is choking off an entry point into the industry. "The Saturday lad or lass has been how generations of people fell into the cycle trade," Harrison said. "They came in for the love of bikes, learned the ropes, and many of them went on to build careers in the industry. That pipeline is now under serious threat."The release goes on to quote Paul Kenchington, director of The Bicycle Chain in Bridgwater, who said: "In the early days of our business the Saturday lad or lass worked for the experience and the staff discount, with a small wage as the bonus. Some of our best people started that way. But the product is now complex, the marketplace is cut-throat, and the cumulative cost of employing someone one day a week has reached the point where many of us are simply stepping back."When Cycling Weekly spoke to some independent bike shops, it was actually the complexity of the modern bicycle that came up as the biggest barrier to employing weekend staff, over and above any concerns about improved employees rights. We havent been able to employ any Saturday staff for some time, said Sid Soanes from Soanes Cycles, an independent bike shop that began life in Colyton, Devon, in 1902 as Liberty Cycles. Back then, bikes were handmade in the shop, and Sidney J Soanes (Sids grandfather) joined the business as a mechanic in 1910. Over a century, and four generations later, the bike shop is still owned and run by the same family, but a lot has changed. Saturday is our busiest day, and bikes are just too technical these days for an untrained young person to do anything meaningful with. Now were dealing with electronic gears, hydraulic brakes, tubeless tyres you just dont get the minor repairs and servicing that a Saturday lad might have been able to work on without supervision.Its the same with work experience, continues Soames. We used to take loads of kids on work experience, but its not doable now, because bikes are far too technical and complicated. It's a shame, but we cant spend enough time with them to make it worthwhile for them or us.Sid Soanes, owner of Soanes Cycles in Devon, inside the bike shop that has been in his family for four generations (Image credit: Pat Kinsella)Tom Armstrong, an elite rider who races for Wheelbase CabTech Castelli and placed second in this year's RutlandMelton CiCLE Classic, works for JE James Cycles when hes not riding, and he agrees. At one time, you could start as a Saturday lad in bike shop, sweeping the floor and so on, and when there was a spare minute learn how to true a wheel or something, but it's not like that anymore, he told Cycling Weekly. Bike shops have to range e-bikes, of course, and then youre dealing with motors and batteries, and you almost have to be an electrician. But even standard bikes are incredibly technical. Now, when we do a handover and give a bike back to a customer, you need to be there with a laptop, asking them what phone they use, talking to them about apps and all sort of things.Weekend jobs still exist in big bike shops, but theyre different. Now, unless youre a fully trained mechanic, youre likely to be out on the shop floor, showing customers whats available basically working as a sales assistant, but not getting your hands dirty. (Image credit: Getty Images)Harrison did also acknowledge this issue, recognising that the demise of Saturday jobs isnt purely down to cost: "The job itself has changed, he said. Customers expect expert advice on e-bikes, on fit, on technology. That's a lot to ask of someone working one day a week, and when the financial risk of employing them has also risen, many shop owners are simply deciding it isn't worth it." This is something Armstrong has seen firsthand, and he agrees that its having a big impact, not just on the industry, but also how kids get into the sport. The bike shop that really helped me out when I was a young rider, Broadgate Cycles in Preston, has just closed, he explains. It was a family business and had been passed down from generation to generation, but the times are so tough and margins so tight, that they decided it wasnt worth it. I got my first and second bikes from there Im very sad to see it go. The ACT, which is part of the Bira Group and represents cycle traders and retailers across Britain, championing independent bike shops, is appealing to the government to review the impact of recent employment legislation on small independent retailers, and to consider whether targeted exemptions or support for young and part-time workers could help preserve entry-level roles that are vital to the future of the trade.

The 2026 Tour de France will take place from the 4th to the 26th of July. Throughout the21 stages, the peloton will be racing through the mountains, sprint stages, cobblestones, individual and team time trials, and even. We take a look at all stages, their official profiles, and preview the days -...

Heat waves, earthquakes, war, rampant JCPenney closures Theres no shortage of things to be anxious about in this world. However, you can take solace in the fact that its never been a better[wait for it]TIME to be a Bicycle Fred and a Horology Fred trapped in the same body:First the million dollar Colnago watch and now this? Thank goodness I have two wrists!Plus, at just over Eight Thousand American Fun Tickets its practically free.And what do we have here?I do really like the color of the Coppi model, but I think Ill keep my powder dry until the Rivendell watch comes out:Just kidding!Obviously that isnt the Rivendell watch. Everybody knows the Rivendell watch will be low-normal like their new derailleur and the hands will move counter-clockwise. Duh.Oh, and that sundial watch isnt AI, its actually a thing on Amazon.(Well, it probably is AI, but apparently you can buy it.)Speaking of heat waves, its hot, yet I still headed to the forbidding Trails Behind The Mall yesterday:Thats because I needed to bring THE CAR THAT I OWN to the mechanic again, and so I brought a bike with me so I could squeeze in a ride. And while this isnt the old jalopy I was drivingthis is the old jalopy I was riding:The ride was as fun as it could be given the heat. The refurbished rear shock is also functioning well, and I even stopped to toe in the front brake pads, which seems to have taken care of that brake squeal you may have noticed the other day. Bike mechanics will often recommend you use a business card in order to do this:You may wonder who the hell is still using business cards in 2026, though I suppose if youre still using rim brakes you may also have business cards:Alas, I didnt have any business cars with me, since I generally dont carry them while mountain biking, though it would be fun to stop people on the trail and hand them something like this:That is of course AI, and it mostly ignored my prompt, which was this:A fancy business card that says Tan Tenovo: Bon Vivant, Bicycle Blogger, and Horology Noob, with an etching of a gentleman on a pennyfarthingActually that was my second prompt; in the first prompt I told it to incorporate actor Rip Torns mugshot, but it refused, presumably for copyright reasons. Anyway, I dont like that it thinks it knows better than me, and yet I do like the name Henry Plumptre, which is exactly the sort of moral quandary that makes this whole AI thing such an ethical minefield.So no, I didnt have a business card to toe in my brake pads. The other item youll hear people suggest is a credit card, but sadly mine was maxed out already thanks to the visit to the mechanic. Fortunately I have the perfect toe-inner with me on my keyring at all times, and Ive used it before with great success, and that item is the key to my mailbox, which is just the right size and thickness for the job.Being a city dweller is not without its challenges when it comes to mountain biking, and thats saying nothing about how badly a letter carrier will mangle your mail to get it inside one of those tiny boxes:But hey, if I lived in the country and I had one of these things instead Id be screwed:So the ride was good and the bike was good, though the brake squeal was soon replaced by a creak which Im hoping is not the bottom bracket, because if it is I am completely horrified by the prospect of dealing with this:Im fairly intolerant when it comes to noisy bikes, and normally Id start investigating as soon as I returned home, but in this case it was so damn hot I couldnt even make myself care:So I just hosed the sweat off of the bike and added it to the many things Ill deal with when conditions are optimal, and by optimal conditions I mean having both an air conditioner and a beer at arms length.All of this raises an important question:Should I have used a gravel bike or a mountain bike?Spoiler alertif you want a gravel bike choose the gravel bike, and if you want a mountain bike choose the mountain bike:So, what would we choose? For the road rider/XC rat turned gravel rider, we think the Vault is an uncompromising choice. Its got the chops for the dirt, its at home on everything, and can still pull double duty as a cross rig or all-road raconteur. The same can be said of the LES SL, with the bonus that its a little more at home on traditional mountain bike terrain.Wow.So glad I read that.Id better stop now before I exceed my weekly dated pop culture reference quota.