Elisa Longo Borghini has launched a furious defence of UAE Team LIMAD and teammate Paula Blasi amid reports of tension within the team at the Tour de France Femmes. Questions over whether Blasi should be given a leadership role, together with rumours that the young Spaniard could leave at the end o...

For years, Logan has searched for the perfect flat pedal, convinced that each new contender might finally unseat his longtime favorites. After more than 1,000 miles of testing on rocky singletrack and dirt roads, the Tectonic Alibi may have done exactly that. Read his full review here...The post Tectonic Alibi Pedals Review appeared first on BIKEPACKING.com.

TNT Sports presenter Orla Chennaoui has hit out at ASO, the organisers of the Tour de France Femmes, over the lack of live coverage.Chennaoui started covering womens cycling 10 years ago. She said she would have never imagined the level of media attention this years Tour de France Femmes has seen. But despite this, live television coverage remains limited and the presenter is getting really pissed off.There is so much excitement and interest in the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, Chennaoui said in an Instagram reel.The riders, the race has proven over and over again how dynamic and dramatic this sport is. I have never seen my algorithm so flooded with excitement, with joy, with celebration, for this race.But Chennaoui said despite this we cannot get live TV coverage and called out the race organisers, before highlighting how the 2023 champion and race favourite Demi Vollerings crash on stage 3 was not covered by live television.She could have crashed out of the race and we wouldnt have seen it, Chennaoui said."Partial coverage is no longer enough" Sigrid Haugset had launched her stage-winning attack before TV coverage began. Alex Broadway / Getty Images Only three of the nine stages of the 2026 Tour de France Femmes are set to be broadcast from start to finish, and Chennaoui is not alone in calling out the lack of coverage.The Cyclists' Alliance, a labour organisation representing professional cyclists in the Womens WorldTour, also highlighted stage 3 of this years race.The organisation said that the first 70km of the stage would be missed by live broadcast, including the Col de La Faucille and Cte de Lajoux.As well as missing Vollerings crash, this meant Uno-X Mobility Sigrid Haugset had already started her 88km, stage-winning attack that saw her move into the maillot jaune before broadcast began.The Cyclists' Alliance also highlighted how France Televisions has seen a 40% increase in viewership from 18.3m in 2024 to 25.7m in 2025.Mdiamtrie figures published by Puremedias revealed the opening stage of the 2026 race on August 1 had 2.17 million viewers on France 2. Despite a lower viewership than the first stage of the 2025 race, this years Grand Depart had a higher audience share at 27.6%.For the biggest race in womens cycling, partial coverage is no longer enough, The Cyclists' Alliance said on Instagram. The demand is undeniable and we are asking for the coverage to catch up.The Cyclists' Alliance said full coverage is the logical next step: Nine stages. Start to finish in 2027.A step backwardsIn her Instagram reel, Chennaoui pointed out that its the decision of the race organisers ASO and France TV whether to provide coverage.She described this years Paris-Roubaix Femmes, which had less than 90 minutes of live coverage, as a huge step backwards.Theyre still doing a disservice to womens racing, and we cant then say the audience isnt there. We can. It is there.You may like Padded bras cause controversy at Tour de France Femmes ahead of stage four time trial Womens cycling is growing in popularity, but how can participation be improved? Cycling is overwhelmingly male and I wish that wasnt the case

Flag-to-flag TV coverage of every stage of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift is currently under consideration, race director Marion Rousse told Cycling Weekly. This year, only three of the nine stages have been granted full broadcasts stages one, five and nine with hours missing from the the starts of the remaining six stages. Speaking to Cycling Weekly at the start of stage five in Mcon, race director Rousse said she and the race organiser, ASO, were giving serious consideration to broadcasting the race in full. Whats certain is that Ive discussed this at length with France Tlvisions [who produce the broadcast for the race, commissioned by ASO], and were giving serious consideration to broadcasting all the stages in full in the future because the women deserve it, and because it works well in terms of audience figures, Rousse said. Were currently giving it a genuine consideration, which is a step forward. Things are moving in the right direction. Fans, riders and team staff were left frustrated on stage three when the partial broadcast missed Sigrid Haugsets (Uno-X Mobility) stage-winning move, which came with 88km to go, 5km before the coverage began. The best way to get more public is to show it properly, Paula Blasi (UAE Team LIMAD) told Cycling Weekly. Its quite sad that we cannot really watch it. Rousse said she is actually quite pleased to see the debates around TV coverage. In the very first edition [in 2022], the question was whether the Tour de France Femmes would work or not. And now, five years on, everyone wants to watch the stages in full, she said. I receive a huge number of messages from cycling enthusiasts who want to watch the stages in full. With the mens Tour, [full live coverage] has only been around for a short time, and there were years and years without fully broadcast stages. Asked if financial constraints played a role in the decision to produce partial stage broadcasts, Rousse said: Of course. Everythings a question of resources, like the production of the footage. [Full coverage] is a consideration we hadnt necessarily had in previous years, and one were now asking ourselves. Theres a real discussion to be had. The stars, middles and ends of stages are spectacular to watch. Lets hope we can pull it off.

The time trial at the Tour de France Femmes stage has, thus far, been the most important stage of the race. There is potential that the challenge against the clock might decide the outcome of the race as defending champion Pauline Ferrand-Prvot had a notably difficult day and lost around two minute...

Watching the Femmes at the Tour de France? Do you know what all the team sponsorsdo? If youve ever wondered if Suez has something to do with water, or what Laboral Kutxa or VolkerWessels are about, here are some answers.Visma-Lease A Bike is obvious as its the sister team to the mens World Tour squad, with Norwegian IT services company Visma sponsoring alongside Lease A Bike, a company that offers bike leasing services to other companies and their employees that belongs to PON, a Dutch congolmerate that has a big footprint in cycling owning brands like Cervelo, Cannondale and Schwinn.FDJ United-Suez sees French state lottery provider and now Europes second biggest gambling company alongside Suez which is a French company that has two main activities, waste management and water services, so think of fleets of garbage trucks and recycling plants, as well as reservoirs, piping and sewage. Beyond the two headline names the jersey is notable for more blue chip corporates with Gan insurance and CB which is Frances answer to Visa payments. Team manager Stphane Delcourt could teach his French peers in the mens World Tour some lessons.Canyon-SRAM is a factory team with German bike brand Canyon alongside US component manufacturer SRAM. The team has just dropped Zondacrypto mid-season after the Polish company vanished taking some peoples savings and has just signed a German retail brokerage platform Scaleable Capital.UAE Team lIMAD is the Gulf state we know from the mens team. IMAD is the sovereign wealth fund that used to be called ADQ and has been chaired by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, the UAEs national security adviser, ie the spy chief, pictured with his trademark shades above, hence the recent name and kit change for the team. It the same backers as the mens team for example Analog is an IT company owned by G42 which has also been chaired by TBZ.Team SD Worx-Protime has Belgian corporate services company SD Worx which claims to be Europes leading HR, pay and time partner, so playing a similar role to Visma. Protime is a brand belonging to SD Worx, its a corporate HR service to track and time workers to measure when they are in the office and logging time spent on a workstation.Movistar is the Spanish telecoms operate Telefonica and its mobile brand and not just with Marlen Reusser today but arguably a team with a consistently better womens team than the men but because of international recruitment, having hired Annemiek van Vleuten in the past while seeing home talent Paula Blasi go abroad. She has been strongly linked to the Spanish squad but things seem increasingly open at the moment.Lidl-Trek is the German discount supermarket alongside the US bike brand and a big budget outfit keen to be cited among the top tier teams for both the men and women. The team is owned by Lidl which is interesting because the retailers premise is low prices and no frills but here they are spending probably 60 million a year on sport, still small compared to 140 billion in annual revenues but a luxury feel.AG Insurance-Soudal is the sister team of the mens Soudal-Quickstep outfit but think of a step-sister because it has had its own independent history before joining up with the mens team and while the kit is similar and they share a bike sponsor, its a Belgian entity while the mens squad is run out of Luxembourg. AG does consumer insurance, like car, travel and accident cover while Soudal is adhesives and other chemicals for construction and DIY.EF Education-Oatly sees Swedish-Swiss language education company EF Education alongside Oatly, an oat drink dont say milk company that was also started in Sweden but has since floated on the New York Stock Exchange.Fenix-PremierTech is led by Italian company Arpa with its Fenix brand, its a plastic surface product offering interior solutions, think wall or worktop coverings that offer colour and are easy to wipe. The Belgian squad is is the sister team of the Alpecin-PremierTech mens team but notable because of the different title sponsor for each. PremierTech is the Canadian horticultural company that started out selling peat but now offers agriscience products and machinery to plant seedlings and package crops.Human Powered Health is a US healthcare company that specialises helping to promote athletic health, offering nutritional advice and VO2 max testing for example and a subsidiary of Optum which is itself part of UnitedHealth group, the American health and insurance giant.Liv Jayco Alula sees Giants womens brand Liv in lights alongside Australian caravan and camping car maker Jayco and Saudi tourist project Al Ula. Like the mens team, its been a pet project of Gerry Ryan who started out backing womens cycling in the 1990s by personally funding individual athletes to train for the Olympics. His long run as a patron of the team, men and women, could be coming to an end.Team Picnic-PostNL is a copy-paste of the mens text, Picnic is a Dutch food retailer start-up that does home delivery, an online grocer and supermarket that is now expanding into France. PostNL is the Dutch postal service. Alas just like the mens World Tour team its also struggling, no wins this season and overtaken by several second tier teams on the UCI rankings.St Michel-Preference Home-Auber 93 is closing its mens team to focus on the women. St Michel is an industrial bakery company making madeleines and biscuits which can be found for sale all over France, from supermarkets to railway vending machines. Preference Home is a house building company operating in the Paris area. Auber 93 is the town of Aubervilliers and Seine-Saint-Denis department, long a working class area just to the north-east of Paris where the team has its HQ. It has had a joint mens team at Continental level but this is stopping to focus on the womens project.Laboral Kutxa-Fundacion Euskadi is the sister team to the Euskatel-Euskadi mens team only with Laboral Kuxta they have a credit union as a sponsor of the womens team, kutxa is Basque for a caja in Spanish. Like other womens teams, it only has a minority of local cyclists with only a few Basques on the books.VolkerWessels is a Dutch construction company building everything from housing in the Netherlands to railway infrastructure projects in the UK and reportedly the countrys second largest builder. Its part owned by the Wessels family with workers also having a share of equity. Construction is not an advanced business but the kit looks like it was designed twenty years ago.Uno-X is the Norwegian retail company Reitan and its service station business, offering fuel and charging points across Norway and Denmark. While the mens team is 100% Norwegian and Danish, the womens team is more international.Lotto Intermarch Ladies is the full name, the ladies suffix does feel like something out of a Bronte novel that could be revised. Lotto is the Belgian state lottery and so by extension the Belgian government with a mission to support womens cycling in Flanders and Wallonia alike although the roster looks very Flemish. Meanwhile Intermarch is a French supermarket giant that operates across Europe from Portugal to Poland via franchise that buy centrally from the company which itself sources and produces a lot of goods, it has extensive agricultural holdings and Europes largest fishing fleet.Ma Petite Entreprise is French for My Small Business and a crowd-funded team backed by small businesses. There are different membership tiers, from individual supporters paying 120 a year to sponsors ranging between access entry point of 750 a year to the pro tier of 15,000, and there are over 642 of these corporate sponsors. Its a novel project as an alternative model to the title sponsor system that every other team relies on and interesting because of this.Mayenne Monbana My Piesees the Mayenne department of France as the lead choice. With local government in France under pressure to make cuts you can see this may not be an essential service but theres a logic to it with local politicians wanting to reach people in France to sell their area as a dynamic and active place to relocate. Monbana is a chocolate company located in the Mayenne. My Pie is a French company selling pies, founded by two entrepreneurs who discovered the New Zealand and Australian staple of pies when on a trip Down Under and decided to import the idea to France. Getting the French to eat new food may not sound easy but meaty sauce inside a buttery pastry is an easy sell and the business seems to be growing well.Mens Pro Team sponsors explainedThe post Womens Pro Team Sponsors Explained first appeared on The Inner Ring.

Last weekend, 82-year-old Bob Montgomery was celebrating the successful conclusion of his latest challenge: a 5,290-kilometre road-cycling expedition right across Australia, accompanied by his 18-year-old grandson Tom Malcolm.The intrepid pair had just spent 41 days pedalling through some of the harshest conditions on the planet, averaging 160km a day while riding from Broome on the northwest coast of Western Australia, to Bowral in New South Wales, raising money for a charity that provides assistance to people living with motor neurone disease, a condition suffered by one of Montgomery's cousins. Then, earlier this week, the family shared the sad news that their beloved Papa had passed away, explaining on social media that he had died unexpectedly the day after finishing the ride. Fittingly, and now poignantly, the ride was named One Last Ride, said the post. At 82 years of age, Bob was still passionately sharing his message only hours before his passing.A post shared by @broome2bowral.4mndA photo posted by on This latest journey across Australia was Montgomerys sixth long-distance charity bike ride across large sections of the country, and his fifth in support of MND NSW, raising money and awareness for "a cause that was deeply personal to him, as the family explained. During this last ride alone, Montgomery raised AU$104,965 in donations, and the fundraising page remains open for those who would like to contribute. Previously adventures included a 3,000km ride from the Three Sisters in Katoomba to Port Douglas in Tropical Far North Queensland, a 3,900km cycle from Perth to the Blue Mountains near Sydney, a 4,200km epic from Darwin to Perth and another 2,900km pedal-powered journey from Darwin to Port Douglas. He had also done an earlier 1121km ride with grandson Tom, then aged just 12, cycling from Sydney to Melbourne in 2019, rising $30,000 for a charity that supports people with Huntingtons Disease.While deeply saddened by their loss, the family would like Montgomery to be remembered for his extraordinary achievements. Papa was an absolute legend and his story was definitely one of a kind, his granddaughter Camille told us. He loved everything cycling, and nutrition, she continued, explaining how he would collect copies of Cycling Weekly. [He] always loved showing them us all. Bob Montgomery and his 18-year-old grandson Tom Malcolm during the ride (Image credit: Image taken from www.instagram.com/broome2bowral.4mnd with permission from the family)A lifelong sportsman and cyclist, Montgomery was riding a Trek road bike during his challenge. "For those who are thinking about the bike, its not electric," he wrote on his website just before setting off. "It will be all pedal power."My wife Jenny named the ride, ONE LAST RIDE, so I am taking the hint and calling it my last distance ride for charity, he continued. That makes it even more important that I reach my target to raise $500,000 in donations or sponsorship for research into Motor Neurone Disease. I will be riding for all of those people affected by this disease, THOSE WHO NO LONGER CAN. I have seen family and friends suffer. Its heart breaking. I cant do anything medically to help people suffering with MND, but I can help by raising much needed money for research and support sufferers of this disease."MND NSW shared a tribute describing Montgomery as a cherished friend and tireless supporter of MND NSW, and saying the charity was deeply saddened by his sudden passing. For many years, Bob dedicated himself to raising vital funds and awareness for people living with motor neurone disease, the groups CEO, Liam OMeara, said in a statement. Bob Montgomery, 5 January 1944 3 August 2026

Good morning and welcome to the liveblog of Stage 5 of the 2026 Tour de France Femmes. A demanding day lies ahead, and predicting how the race will unfold is far from straightforward. Following a change of race leader in the individual time trial, where several general classification contenders lost...

Hot on the heels of another 32 gravel bike dropping with availability in the US, we recently got an up-close look at some 32 DT Swiss prototypes fitted to this EU-market aluminum Superior XR GR gravel bike. Apparently already in the later stages of development, the Czech bike maker plans to include this big-wheeled gravel bike part of their regular offering for next year. And its likely not the only 32 model they have coming, since we just spotted a multi-world champ mountain biker on an XC version, as wellThe next generation of bigger and bigger wheels continues to heat up.Superior XR GR 32 aluminum gravel bike prototype(All photos/Cory Benson)Superior has built its brand on affordable, high-value bikes. They were also a fairly early adopter of 29 wheels for XC bikes, too, making that big-wheeled switch back in 2004. And the brand has really upped their performance game in the past few years with some top-tier full-suspension XC, eMTB, all-road & gravel bikes that dont break the bank. Now, they are leveraging their aluminum bike design experience to build what could be one of the most affordable ways for consumers to try out the unavoidable new wheelsize. When it comes to 32 wheels, it does feel like gravel bikes are a pretty good place to start. Without the need for suspension forks, bike makers have more flexibility with geometry and frame sizing to fit more riders with fewer compromises. Plus, they dont have to wait for the big suspension manufacturers to develop all new fork platforms. In fact, looking at this bike, it appears that bike makers can even repurpose rigid carbon forks that had been designed for 29 mountain bikes, but with suspension-correct axle-to-crown lengths.With a bunch of outside variables out of the equation, bikemakers can just focus on the details to make a new frame work wellInto the detailsSuperior explains that this 32 XR GR prototype essentially uses the same core materials and construction details you will find on their current production 700c gravel bike. Of course, scaled up to fit larger diameter wheels, bigger tires, different forces at play from the longer stays, and revised geometry to deliver good fit & handling.Otherwise, you get the same seattube with lower half cutout and thin, flattened seatstays for comfort. The same tall S-bend & dimpled chainstays for stiffness and big chainring clearance. UDH-ready dropouts with mounts for full-coverage fenders. A reinforced 1.5 headset for fully integrated internal cable routing, plus versatile modular routing ports that will work with 1x & 2x setups and both mechanical or electronic drivetrains. Plus, a simple PressFit bottom bracket, round 27.2 seatpost with external clamp, flat mount disc brakes, and MTB Boost spacing to offer better bracing angle for the longer spokes.Not a final official spec, but interesting nonethelessDid anyone else know that a 12-speed Shimano GRX Di2 derailleur would shift well on a SRAM Eagle cassette? Superior thinks it works well enough for this prototype they were happy to let people test ride.maybe 32 DT Swiss XR 1700 Spline aluminum cross-country wheels?Yes, these not-yet-production DT Swiss wheels were one of the first things I noticed on the 32 prototype Superior XR GR bike.Very finished XR1700 labels, even down to the note on them being 28mm hooked tubeless, plus 350 Spline series centerlock hubs with 24 straightpull spokes front & rear. But DT Swiss later confirmed that, as finished as they look, these XR 1700 Spline cross-country mountain bike wheels still werent a done deal. DT all but confirmed that they will provide 32 wheels across multiple disciplines and price points for OEM customers in 2027, including to Superior. But final rim, hub, spacing, and complete wheel build spec selection is still totally in development. So, in all likelihood well see similar wheels like these on complete bikes next season, but their naming & spec is still subject to change.As for the tires, Schwalbe already confirmed 32 tires were coming to complete bikes and the aftermarket in 2027. Weve seen quite a lot of these 32 x 50mm G-One RX Pro gravel tires, a great race-ready mixed-conditions tire already in the 700c version that I tested. Weve also seen plenty of 32 x 2.4 Rick Race Pro cross-country tires for those looking for more volume and still fast-rolling tread.32 Superior XR GR gravel bike Pricing & availabilityOfficially, we only know that the new 32 Superior XR GR will not hit the market until next year. With rumor that will mean late winter/early spring 2027 availability. We dont know exact pricing either. But Superior has suggested that the alloy 32 bike wont cost much more than a similarly specd alloy 700c gravel bike. And thats what makes this so interesting. The current aluminum XR GR gravel bike starts at just 1659 complete with a mechanical Cues 111 LinkGlide setup or just 1900 with mechanical GRX 112. So, a 32 aluminum Superior gravel bike should still be possible under two thousand euros if they give it a mechanical groupset. Well definitely be keeping an eye out for an affordable European entry into 32 gravel, as soon as it will be available!32 Superior XP aluminum cross-country bike prototype, too!(Photo by Jaroslav Kulhav/Superior)And, as for the mountain bike side of things Just last week, London Olympic, XC Worlds & Marathon Worlds Champ Jaroslav Kulhav shared a photo of himself on Instagram testing an aluminum prototype 32 Superior XC hardtail. From afar, the XC frame looks very similar to the gravel prototype I photographed above. So, its possible Superior just rebuilt the frame with a suspension fork, flat bar, and 2.4 Schwalbe Rick Race tires to see how it rides off-road. Or it very much could be a similar prototype with MTB-tuned geometry. In any case, Superior are clearly looking to develop a production-ready 32 mountain bike hardtail, as well.And lets leave you with this question Is that a 32 RockShox SID fork? Weve heard plenty of rumors of RockShox developing a 32 XC fork, but havent seen it up close, yet. The machined crown on Kulhavs bike looks very much like a SID Ultimate, as do the relieved bracing at the axle offset. The arch maybe looks thinner and more curvy, though. And its certainly not the new 32 Manitou, XFusion, SR Suntour, Fox, or DT forks weve already spotted.SuperiorBikes.com

This Thanet Silverlight was delivered to P.S. Wells of Crawley on 9 December 1950, so perhaps Santa visited early that year. Indeed, the weather was suitably Arctic, with records showing it was the coldest December since 1890, with widespread heavy snow and persistent ice.Holed up in these conditions, its unlikely that P.S. would have cycled the popular 22-mile route to Brighton pier until the following spring, but I bet that, if he or she finally made the trip, they would have worn a permanent grin. It was a very desirable bike.(Image credit: Future)The Silverlight was a clubman's bike, explains current owner Richard Hoddinott of vintage specialists Velo Pages. I guess you could have raced on one, but its not really designed for it. Instead, I can imagine slinging a saddlebag on and heading out for a nice long run, you know, a Sunday jaunt.The Silverlights frame design is famously radical. Inspired by the lightweight airframes of WWII-era aircraft, founder Les Cassel strived to improve on the traditional diamond-shaped frame by optimising its bracing. He adopted Hellenic seatstays and, most noticeably, a suspended bottom bracket. The BB shell is cradled by elongated chainstays, as well as the seat and down tubes that converge at a prominent point.(Image credit: Future)These 'improvements' were made in conjunction with the use of narrow-gauge Accles & Pollock Kromo chrome molybdenum tubing. The primary tubes are beautifully slim, a design choice enabled by one of chrome molybdenum's key benefits: its tubes are low-temperature silver brazed, a process that increases their strength. Despite this, on later bikes, the BB area was reinforced with additional lugs, which points to some early failures.(Image credit: Future)Despite Cassels innovations, the Silverlight was only made in small numbers between 1945 and 1958. Reviewed in this very magazine in 1948, it was priced at 46 12s 6d, which is only about 1,500 in todays money premium bikes were clearly much cheaper then!