Visma | Lease a Bike continues to lock in the future of its Grand Tour core. According to WielerFlits, the Dutch squad has extended Bart Lemmens contract through the end of 2029. The 30-year-old Dutch rider was already signed through 2027, but the team led by Richard Plugge has chosen to reward h...

Tom Pidcock is edging closer to completing the best Tour de France of his career. The Briton from Pinarello-Q36.5 used the stage 16 time trial to cement his place in the top ten of the general classification and keep another major goal intact: taking a stage win before Paris. The 26-year-old finishe...

Too long a sacrifice can make a stone of the heart. This isnt a line from a poem about the amount of work a rider puts into making the Tour de France ruining the romance of it, but it could be. The race did predate WB Yeats Easter, 1916 by over a decade, but that poem is about rather less trivial matters than a bike race.Still, too long a sacrifice can make a stone of the heart. The sacrifices that the 184 riders at this years Tour made just to get to the start line are innumerable, and would seem alien to most of the fans watching the bike race. As the race gets faster and harder, more is needed just to get to the base level for the whole peloton, not just for those who are aiming for the yellow jersey.Days at altitude are increasing, and even if riders arent racing, theyre away training. While a weekend in a hotel here and there might be a treat, to be living out of a suitcase for weeks feels less appetising, especially as riders almost never have agency over which hotel they stay in. Its rarely The Ritz.My whole life's a sacrifice in some ways, George Bennett of NSN Cycling explains to Cycling Weekly. Sometimes it doesn't feel like it, because you love what you're doing, and it's a super exciting process, but since January, we're living in this bubble of sleeping in altitude generators, I've done eight weeks without seeing my partner. It's not what I have to do, it's more what I don't do. I don't go for a beer with the boys, because I'm worried about getting sick. All these things you really lock down on before the Tour, I think I'm not alone in that. The whole peloton makes these sacrifices. We do a lot of things that are really hard, but it's more about what we don't do.Another day, another hotel (Image credit: Getty Images)Being away from home is a recurring theme when asking riders about the sacrifices they make to be a professional bike rider at this level. Those who are younger might enjoy the thrill of adventure, but as they grow older, different commitments cause more pain.It's the things out there that people don't really see, Picnic PostNLs John Degenkolb says. The family, especially, has to make sacrifices for you not being there for many, many weeks you're not there. You cannot just be like a normal father at home. It's a period of time in your life that is limited, so if you don't make those sacrifices, then you're not competitive. It's the price you have to pay in the end.Tom Skuji of Lidl-Trek echoes this: I wouldn't call them sacrifices, they're just choices. Spending a lot of time away from the family is probably one of the biggest ones now, as I have a young family with two daughters. This spring I was home for a very long time which was nice, because I was super sick, which obviously is not nice, but good side, down side. Since the beginning of May, I have slept in my house less than 10 times, and we'll be at the end of July now.To be exact, Dylan van Baarle of Soudal Quick-Step has counted: Since 20 May I have been home for four days, I think that says enough.Of course, it isnt just the time away which would seem alien to us about the life of a pro rider. Saying no to some of my favourite foods is another one [sacrifice], and my favourite drinks, is another, Skuji explains. Heat training is something I don't enjoy and people would find crazy. After a hard day already, riding indoors, dressed in more than you would outside is something that seems quite silly.Toms Skuji (Image credit: Getty Images)In general, it's just about dialling everything up a little bit before the Tour, stage winner Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla) tells CW. Before the Tour, you need to be in your own bubble, you can't do anything you would normally do off the bike. Be a bit more focused on nutrition and recovery. With the altitude camps, I was pretty strict on myself to get to the best shape possible.Altitude camps are a common theme when riders are asked about the stark choices they have to make, but being a pro cyclist does just seem sometimes like a life stripped of a lot of fun.My birthday was at an altitude camp, Pinarello Q36.5s Fred Wright says. I've obviously missed the World Cup, and the heat in the UK at the moment. It would be so nice to be in a pub just enjoying the games. We get to watch them, but it's not the same as being in the UK in the summer. I guess just less time with my girlfriend, too, it's not just these four weeks. It's commitment to an altitude camp, the build up races beforehand. We're close to the finish line now. It starts a lot further back than the first day of the Tour. It's such a weird bubble that we live in. There's a lot of weighing of food, which to a normal person, would be considered quite toxic. It's part of our job, so you get quite used to it.It isnt always this bad, especially if youre not a GC rider. Schmid explains: I try to really enjoy the winter and when I'm training in November, December I try to have a good time off the bike, because I know how many sacrifices I will have to make in the summer, so I really try to recharge, and enjoy the time at home. For us, it gets normal that during the year you're so dialled in, going from race to race. It's a lot of unpacking, and moving onto the next thing.Next time you watch the Tour, and youre supporting or cursing your favourite rider, make sure to think about the amount of work that has gone into getting to this point. Even the rider who finishes last will have sacrificed a whole part of their life to reach here. Just hope their heart hasnt completely turned to stone.

Matej Mohoric has confirmed that he was also the subject of a late-night doping test at the Tour de France. Following tests of Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard on Saturday night, Mohoric also faced a 5am wake up call during the race. The Bahrain Victorious rider is the only other rider outside of...

When To Replace... is a feature series in which we explore when one should replace common cycling products like helmets, apparel and various moving parts on your bike. Curious about a particular product? Shoot us an email at anne.rook@futurrnet.comTyres have wear indicators, chains can be measured, and clipless pedal cleats show distinct signs of wear. But how about less obvious things like when to replace your helmet or the sealant in your tyres?Tubeless tyre sealant serves two main purposes: it ensures an air-tight seal between your tyres and your rims, and fills small punctures on the fly. While sealant can prevent a puncture from ruining your day, it needs a little more care than a traditional inner tube.Depending on frequency of use, bike storage environment, riding conditions and weather for instance, youll need to perform a bit of maintenance on your tyres and wheels to keep them rolling.The most obvious time youll need to replace sealant in a tubeless setup is if you suffer a puncture and the sealant in your tyres spills out while doing its job. Another indicator it's time to check your sealant levels is if your tyres start losing air more quickly between rides.Cadex Cyclings Jeff Schneider likened tubeless tyre sealant to chain lube, as both are consumable products, and not set-it-and-forget-it.A common misconception is that tubeless systems are set-and-forget, said Schneider. In reality, sealant is a consumable maintenance item, much like chain lubricant. Periodic inspection and replenishment are essential to maintaining puncture protection and optimal system performance.Why tubeless tyre sealant ages and how to gauge sealant lossSilcas Josh Poertner explained why sealant dries and ages, and characterises the minor difficulties with troubleshooting sealant viability.Tubeless sealant relies on solid latex liquified by a high pH solvent. Once in the tyre, some of the solvent evaporates into the tyre air allowing the entire system to maintain a good pH level for that sealant to remain liquid. This solvent gas slowly escapes the tyre with the air in the tyre. When you add more air more solvent has to leave the sealant itself to allow the new air to reach equilibrium and the cycle repeats.As it loses solvent to evaporation, [the sealant] will thicken to something more like honey before eventually becoming hard.You are aging your sealant far faster if you are adding air every two days than if you are having to add it every two weeks, said Poertner.The consistency of the sealant will change over time (Image credit: Alex Derr/CC)There are several methods for checking tyre selant levels, as outlined by Poertner:Hold the wheel to your ear and shake it; the sealant in there should sound like water sloshing around.Use a dipstick (which requires complete tyre deflation and dragging sealant through the valve stem).Weigh the wheel/tyre system to see how much of the sealant liquids have been lost. Most sealants are on the order of 70-80% liquid solvent by weight, so if you add 50 grams of sealant to a tyre, your sealant will be completely dried out when you've lost 35-40g.Poertner indicated he uses the first method. Whilst using enough sealant that you can hear it sloshing may represent a weight penalty, he's not overly concerned, believing the trade off to be worth it. I use the shake method every week or two and then add sealant every 60 days or so even if it still sounds good. Better safe than sorry! Another 15 to 20g of sealant doesn't bother me, Poertner told us.Schneider recommends checking sealant every two to four months, depending on the environment.Factors affecting sealant lifespanRiders in hot, dry climates may find that sealant dries out more quickly, while cooler and more humid environments can extend service intervals, Schneider advised.Schneider, like Poertner, suggests using the shake method, among others, for determining if your sealant needs replenishment.Riders training or racing regularly, particularly those participating in long events where puncture protection is critical, checking sealant before major events is a good practice regardless of the service interval.Another sealant aging consideration Schneider cautions is the use of CO cartridges.CO gas can accelerate the coagulation and drying of some latex-based sealants, potentially reducing their effectiveness and shortening their service life.Riders using high-pressure road tubeless systems, where sealant volume is relatively small compared to gravel or mountain bike tyres, the effects of CO on sealant condition can be more noticeable, making post-ride inspection particularly worthwhile.If a rider uses a CO cartridge during a ride to repair and re-inflate a tubeless tyre, it is a good idea to inspect the sealant and, if necessary, refresh it once they return home. This is especially important if multiple CO cartridges have been used or if the sealant was already several months old, said Schneider.We asked the cycling maintenance authority Park Tools for its advice about signs and indications for when to replace road tyre sealant.This is not a cut and dry answer and depends on climate, amount of riding, tyre choice, and type of sealant being used, says Parks Truman Purdy.The type of sealant you use will impact how often it needs replacing, among other factors (Image credit: Future)My universal suggestion is that you should replace your sealant at the beginning of your riding season, check and refresh about half way through the season and (for best results) drain [and replace at] the end of the season, Purdy added.While this seems like a lot to do, in the larger scheme of cycling maintenance, the time spent proactively maintaining your tyre and wheel systems is well worth the investment to keep you rolling.Purdy cautioned cyclists who use tubeless systems in hotter and drier regions to do a little more proactive maintenance. The goal is to be sure that you have enough liquid sealant in the tyre to prevent small leaks and to fill larger holes as they come up. A person who rides a lot in hotter and dryer climates should be checking sealant monthly, Purdy said.How to remove old sealantSilca makes a sealant removing agent, useful for getting sealant off bikes, kit, floors, shoes, and other surfaces sealant may have leaked or sprayed onto while doing its job. But you dont want to use sealant remover on the inside of your tyres when refreshing sealant. This would compromise the newly installed sealant.The safest and most effective way to remove old, dried sealant from tyres is with a crepe rubber block (often sold as a sanding belt cleaner) or a heavy-duty natural rubber eraser. Some elbow grease is also usefuluse your thumbs to push and roll out clumped sealant.If the sealant is tricky, you can submerge your tyres and rims in hotbut not boilingwater to soften it up a bit before going to work on it. While some mechanics suggest using a small, plastic scraper, we think the risk of destroying tyres or marring wheels is great enough to avoid using tools.Stay away from acetone or other cleaning agents which can compromise new sealant, the materials comprising your tyres, and even your rims.

Mathieu van der Poel is clear about one of his key targets in the closing stretch of the Tour de France 2026. After all but tiptoeing through the stage 16 time trial, the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider said the whole team saved energy with the finish in Voiron in mind, a course he sees as ideal for both h...

Right now, it feels like its a one-trick pony and the rest of us are just picking up scraps, says Doug Ryder, manager of Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling.The Tour de France peloton is frustrated. And not for the first time. UAE Team Emirates-XRGs chokehold on the race, and on the wider sport in general (they won a record 97 races last season, 93 more than fellow WorldTour teams Picnic PostNL and Intermarch-Wanty), has accelerated the push for change within cycling. The status quo isnt working. The richest super-teams are getting richer, their dominance is suffocating the competition, and the rest are left splashing around for the odd victory to boost morale.So what can be done about it?Christian Prudhomme, the race director of the Tour de France, has called for a budget cap to be introduced, an idea that is also favoured by cyclings world governing body, the UCI. But putting a limit on teams spending isnt the only proposal being put forward on how to make cycling and the Tour de France less unpredictable and more exciting. Others have proposed a draft system, a mechanism used routinely across American sports, as well as a properly enforced transfer market where buying and selling directly bolsters and reduces a team's coffers. Reducing team sizes or setting a UCI points cap have also been tabled. There are lots of things we could do, but the teams and the UCI have to be serious about implementing some of them, says Movistars sports director Matt White. Lets pre-empt a disaster and do something before the bubble bursts.Would a budget cap work?The idea of introducing a budget cap in cycling has been around for years. Many other sports and leagues across the globe, including footballs Premier League and Americas NFL, already have one in place though to varying degrees of success.A budget cap in cycling runs into practical obstacles that most other sports and leagues dont have, such as cyclings teams being based in many different countries, and therefore coming under multiple different legal jurisdictions. But its not impossible Formula One, an international sport, has one, and UEFA, footballs European governing body, also has a budget cap for its competing teams who are based in 55 different countries.(Image credit: Getty Images)The only way to stop [the concentration of top talent in a few teams] is to have some kind of parity with the budgets which would have to involve a salary cap. Theres no other way, White says. Rider agents and the athletes they represent are against such a move, though. I dont think salary caps are the solution, says Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohes Jai Hindley. The salaries of cyclists are now very good, better than theyve ever been, but if you compare them to a football players and the demands of a professional cyclist, theyre still not the highest paying. The average wage for a WorldTour cyclist in 2026 is 654,000 if theyre self-employed, and 384,000 for riders on employed contracts. Many are on much more, though, and Hindley referenced the Tours leader Tadej Pogaar, who currently earns 8.4m per annum. Pogi is underpaid for what hes doing. Hes probably one of the best endurance athletes ever. Do I think he should be paid less? No.White, however, dismissed that school of thought. Thats a pretty small-minded way of looking at it, he says. All [a budget cap] means is that the talent would be dispersed among the teams. You can also structure the cap differently. So if you did have a big sponsor and a big budget, the salary cap could be X amount, but then Pogi and the worlds best sprinter would be outside the cap.Kurt Van de Wouwer is a sports director at Lotto Intermarch, one of the WorldTours lowest budget teams. He says something must be done to address the lack of competitiveness, but doubts whether a budget cap could work practically. He cited teams who already funnel parts of some riders wages through their sponsors. Theyd just game the system. Will a budget cap really solve the problem?We need to look at other sports to see how they are coping with it. If they do a budget cap, they need to do it in a smart way, but Im not convinced it will be the solution.What about a draft system?Hindley might be averse to a budget/salary cap, but he does agree that a rethink is required. Cyclings business model is quite outdated," the Australian says. You have a handful of teams with massive budgets, and then a lot of medium-sized teams with average budgets. The gap is getting bigger and bigger, and every year its getting harder and harder for the smaller budget teams.I don't know what the solution is, but if you want teams to continue being sponsored, then I think something needs to change, also for the longevity of the sport.One idea Hindley has is a draft system. It could be good to have the best riders in the under-23 level going to the lowest-ranked WorldTour team.Jonathan Vaughters, manager of EF Education-EasyPost, also proposed a draft. Its a proven model that works, he says. The NFL in the US is the best example. The worst-ranked team gets the first pick of college recruits. In cycling, even if a rider wanted to ride for UAE because they were offering 10x more money, sorry, they cant. They have to go to the worst-ranked team in the WorldTour. The result is that the NFL is far more competitive than cyclings WorldTour. But whether or not a draft system would be legal under European law is questionable.Q36.5s Ryder believes that riders could more evenly spread out without the need for a draft. What needs to happen is that riders who are good enough to be leaders in those big teams need to make the decision: do they want to be a worker, or go somewhere else and be a leader? he asks.Its up to us smaller teams to create an environment where those riders are able to lead with good support and thatll balance the ship a little bit. Weve done that with Tom [Pidcock]. All of us need to work better at creating that space and agents have a role in that too.(Image credit: Getty Images)Is a transfer system a better idea?Lidl-Trek rider Carlos Verona says that a draft would be complicated in cycling. Where youre going to ride depends on the type of rider you are and your cultural aspects, so its not going to be easy to say the lowest teams can go first [in picking the best young talent]. I dont think itd work out.What Verona instead proposes is what many of the biggest teams managers, as well as agents, have been openly calling for in recent years: a properly regulated transfer system. Cycling is still a conservative and antiquated sport, and its only in the past half-a-decade that riders have been breaking contracts and teams have been paying fees to their rivals to sign certain names. But there is still no transfer market like in football, and the UCI remains opposed to introducing one, even if the winds of change are pointing in that direction.Some teams can pay a buyout clause of 1-4m for a rider, no problem, and for some teams that could be 20% of their overall budget, Verona says. I think this is the only way to balance the budgets and close the gaps.What about a limit on UCI points?Speaking all the way back in January, Soudal Quick-Steps CEO Jurgen For suggested that the UCI would be better introducing a ruling that would prevent teams from fielding several world-class riders in their Tour de France roster.I would be in favour of a sporting regulation where there is a maximum amount of UCI points that you can bring to the start of a one-day race or a Grand Tour, For said. That would already make a more equal playing field. Then it would be impossible to go to the Tour de France with a team where the eight riders cost more than my team of 30 riders.If you intervene in the business or economic model, there will always be a regulatory body saying its anti-competitive, so make a sporting regulation that is more equal and teams will be obliged to be more creative in how they approach a sporting event. For me it would be a step forward in the competitiveness of the sport and keep the insane amount of money [being paid to riders] at bay a little bit. It would be more competitive at the Tour and the high level riders would be more equally spread.It would be less about money [for riders], and more about can I achieve my sporting goals and what is the best team to support me? I think some people share the same angle as me and itd be something constructive to do.Not everyone is convinced, though. The common perception is that teams would find a workaround to still be able to select their best riders in the best races, such as not sending their highest point-scoring riders to many races before the Tour, therefore limiting the amount of points they can accrue. Q36.5s Ryder also made the point that such a method would be counterproductive to the even wider discussion surrounding reform which calls for the best riders to race against each other more often. To have Tadej, Jonas [Vingegaard], Remco [Evenepoel] and the other top guys racing more often would create more interest and more hype, he says. Thats also part of the solution.What Ryder really doesnt want is a limit on team sizes at the Tour; CW understands that ASO, the Tours organiser, is warm to the idea of six-man squads. I wouldnt reduce the number of riders in teams because the sport is already hard enough, Ryder says.If you look at us in the Giro dItalia, we lost three riders in the first week, so if wed have had less numbers that wouldnt have been a solution. Being on the startline here gives your partners big exposure and the commercial side of it is important.(Image credit: Getty Images)How urgently does change need to happen?The consensus within the sport is absolute: change must happen. But as with anything in cycling politics, change is often slow, and neither the teams, nor the rest of the stakeholders are aligned on what to do.There is, however, no time to waste if the sport wants a more unpredictable and less rudimentary Tour de France than the 2026 edition. The ecosystem of cycling needs to support each other to create a competitive dynamic that people want to see and are energised to want to watch it, Ryder says.His EF counterpart Vaughters puts it in even more urgent terms. Where theres a will theres a way, but the thing is, cycling is stuck in the mentality that its athletes dont get paid enough and the sport is worth so much more that we cant discourage new investment with a salary cap. But the top teams are no longer a valuable proposition from a sponsor standpoint. A company could get their logo on a ninth-ranked F1 teams car for 20m, or they could invest it in a cycling team. But 20m isnt going to win them the Tour de France. Theres zero chance. Cycling used to be a valuable proposition but weve lost that now. Smaller teams cant attract big sponsors anymore and thats because cycling isnt as attractive anymore. Once you make changes, entice sponsors and make cycling more achievable and valuable again, then investors will flood back in.And in turn, goes the theory, the sport and in particular the Tour de France will become more equal and more competitive.

Nicely executed, versatile summer jersey at an appealing price

Stage 16 of the Tour de France saw two riders crash outside of the course, with both struck by cars in separate incidents before and after the individual time trial. Xandro Meurisse and Brandon McNulty hit the deck as a result of the unrelated incidents. After McNulty's crash was confirmed by UAE Te...