No matter your level of riding, whether you compete or ride for fun or fitness, the chances are you've been helped along the way by an inspiring individual or club. Maybe it's the person who got you out riding through winter, helped you hit your fitness goals, or supported you as you progressed through the sport.Maybe it was a whole club of people, organising events, building a community and getting people on their bikes. Whoever or whatever inspired you, now is your chance to pay them back by nominating them for a Cycling Weekly award.Every year we crown a Local Hero and Club of the Year. Recognising the efforts of the people who make their local cycling scenes tick. The people who give up their time to coach, organise or administer. Ensuring everyone else has the opportunity to race or ride. If you know such a person or club, we'd love to hear from you. Nominating either will take you just a few minutes. Nominations are open until October 30, at which point we will make a shortlist and put it to our judging panel, who will choose the winning club and individual.Winners will be announced along with the 2026 Riders of the Year on December. third.Club of the year - what we're looking forFor a club to be shortlisted it will have demonstrated a desire to go above and beyond for its current members, while also bringing newcomers into the sport and helping them develop in a safe and supportive environment.Development means different things for different people. It could be fitness-based, or a racing focus, improving their skills or gaining cycling qualifications of their own.The successful club will also put on regular events for its members, and bigger events for the wider cycling community, be it a major race, sportive, local race series, or regular coaching sessions. Above all we're looking for a club that inspires people to ride, and instils a love of cycling in its members. If this sounds like your club, please get together with your club mates and put in one entry. We will judge all clubs from the strongest entry, not on the number of entries. >> Nominate your club for our 2026 Club of the Year awardLocal Hero - what we're looking forCoaches, organisers, administrators, race officials, marshals...... our Local Hero award has crowned individuals who have taken on a variety of roles in cycling. But all of them have one thing in common: they are dedicated to the sport and giving others the opportunity to ride or race. They give up their time week in, week out, and their work alone has a huge effect on their local cycling scenes. Much of their work goes unseen, which is why this award matters. Recognising them and celebrating their work is the highlight of the CW awards, and all of us owe our own Local Hero a debt of gratitude.>> Nominate an inspiring person for our Local Hero awardClub of the year - previous winners2018 - Otley CC2019 - Poole Wheelers2020 - Ilkeston CC2021 - Falkirk Junior Bike Club2022 - Halesowen ACC2023 - Cowley Road Condors2024 - Peebles CC2025 - Newbury VeloLocal Hero - previous winners2018 - Peter Harrison2019 - Dot Tilbury2020 - Phil Wright2021 - Chris Jones2022 - Bridget and Ian Boon2023 - Sharon Dyson2024 - Roland Bell2025 - Bhima Bowden

Whilst Ryan puts the finishing touches on the podcast, Callum is drafted in to keep the live blog on track into the weekend...

A lot has been said of Mathieu van der Poel and his chances of winning this Sunday's World Championships in Montral. The Dutchman has come clean on his hopes for the race, including a very fast finale and the opportunistic use of the lack of race radios. The Alpecin - Premier Tech rider was able t...

A super clear lens, but somewhat delicate and in a flimsy frame

Tom Pidcock enters the Montral World Championships fresh off an altitude camp in Colorado, and aims to take the rainbow jersey on the road - just under a month after doing so in Mountain Biking. He has discussed tactics, his main rivals, and the presence of Mathieu van der Poel and Wout Van Aert....

This Sunday, a bike race will take place in the Yorkshire Dales that is widely considered by anyone who has ever been anywhere near it to be the hardest one-day event in Britain. And probably well beyond.Its so nuts, there is some debate, even amongst former winners, about whether the 3-Peaks Cyclo-Cross race is actually a biking event at all. It's mostly off road, on very lumpy and technical terrain, but straight bars, suspension and chunky tyres are all strictly banned. At least six kilometres of the 67km (38-mile) course are deemed utterly unrideable, even by the organisers (who, to be fair, are famous for doing their own race). Veterans of the event train for the race by carrying their bikes for miles, and it attracts almost as many runners as it does cyclists. Besides rough riders from all over the world including Australian EF Education-EasyPost rider Lachlan Morton, back for his third attempt at glory this year, the field will feature at least one elite triathlon, double gold-medal winning Olympian Alistair Brownlee, plus ultra-running tough guy Tom Evans, the current 3-Peaks fell-running champ.Is it a bike race? muses reigning womens champ and three-time winner Bryony Halcrow when Cycling Weekly asks her to define the 3-Peaks Challenge. Is it a running race? What kind of race is it?On balance she decides it is primarily a cycling challenge, but for Halcrow who considers herself a fell runner above all else, and tells me that she doesnt enter many bike races the difficulty is definitely part of the appeal. Its just really good fun, she says. The atmosphere is amazing. Like, at the bottom of Ingleborough, everyone's there, crowding around. At the bottom of Ribblehead, the same thing happens. There's people out on the hill, everyone's cheering you on. It's so different from anything else. There are road bits, there are bits that you can't ride, there's bits that you can ride it's just got everything that no other race has."(Image credit: Andy Jones 2014)According to local lore, the race was born in 1959, when Kevin Watson, a 14-year-old lad from Skipton, rode a circuit of the Yorkshire Three Peaks Whernside, Ingleborough and Pen-y-Ghent in six hours and 45 minutes. Two other local riders, John Rawnsley and Harry Bond, subsequently turned Watsons rugged route into an organised race, with the first iteration of the 3-Peaks Cyclo-Cross challenge being held in 1961. Rawnsley won, went on to organise the first 50 races (many of which he also took part in), and stayed involved until he passed away in 2019.The race has attracted and produced some genuine legends, including Nick Craig, who won in 1991, 2009 and 2011, and Rob Jebb who, between the year 2000 and 2022, bagged an extraordinary 13 victories (the Jebb name appears again in this years start list). Louise Robinson has the record number of wins in the women's race, with five victories between 2002 and 2011, and she also holds the female course record, but Halcrow is hot on her heels on both counts. Over the years the race has evolved slightly and grown considerably, with the original route being 25-miles (40km) long, but it remains steeped in history and tradition, which is partly why its so tough, with anything even vaguely resembling a mountain bike completely banned. This year the rules have been relaxed slightly to allow 40mm tyres to be used (anything up to 40-622 / 700 x 38C is now permitted), so there will be more gravel bikes among the cyclo-cross steeds than ever before, but splayed bars (let alone straights) are still strictly banned. And theres no getting away from the hike-a-bike element of the event. "There's nothing else like it, says last year's winner Jenson Young, who fought off a challenge from Lachlan Morton to set a new course record in 2025. To prepare for it, you've got to do specific things that you wouldn't do for any other race. There's such a variety of terrain. You could be a really good fell runner or really good at going up, but that doesn't mean you can do technical descents on a bike. Everyone struggles at something on the course no one like excels at everything, which makes it pretty interesting. The first year I did it, I was really specifically doing running training and interval sessions. And then I realised that, actually, that approach didn't make me quicker at going up the hills. What you need is the ability to power walk up steep steps with a bike on your shoulder. The second year I did it, all my training was just walking up steep hills with weights or my bike on my back."Young will miss this year's 3-Peaks, because he is heading to Australia to compete in the Gravel World Championships, but the guy who was on his heels last year, Lachlan Morton, is travelling in the other direction, and will be a big contender this year.Like fell-running, there is a big community culture around the race. Will Scholey, who races at national level, took part in the race last year for the first time, and placed an impressive 14th in a large and competitive field, but it's been in his blood for years. "It's right on my back doorstep, as I live just down the road in Settle, where my Dad's bike shop is," he explains. The bikeshop in question, 3-Peaks Cycles, has sponsored the race it takes its name from for the last ten years. "Every year, Dad and I have gone up to watch. It's always been a goal of mine, and I always said to Dad that when I was old enough, I was going to do it," Will continues. "I did it for the first time last year, aged 19. Unfortunately it didn't go my way my descending was far from up-to-scratch, and I cramped the whole way down Whernside and whole way up Pen-y-Ghent. I hadn't quite got my nutrition right."I've only done it once, but it was the best race I did last year. I really enjoyed it, and I instantly wanted to come back for more, and to do better, which is what I'm hoping to do this year."It's called the world's hardest cyclo-cross race for a reason. It's a challenge, but it's a fun challenge. It takes in everything from road riding to grassy descents, riding down slabs downhill mountainbike style, hike-a-bike sections, especially up Simon Fell, which is close to vertical."The technicality of the course, the steep nature of the terrain and the quality of the entrants all combine to make this a highly challenging event, but the elements can also play a big role in how the race pans out. Not that conditions overly bother everyone. "I haven't actually looked at the weather yet," admits Halcrow. "If it was absolutely horrible, I think I'd survive better, compared to other people because I go fell-running out in foul conditions all the time."

The men's junior road race at the 2026 World Championships have seen Benjamin Noval Jr. take a dominant victory, despite being outnumbered by his rivals. The race has seen another interesting incident featuring the Spanish team, as one of its sports directors drove the team car into taking off from...

The victim said hes still struggling with the psychological impact of the mugging, which occurred in broad daylight on his way to Regents Park

On the 25th of September, the World Championships will host the men's under-23 road race, featuring big riders such as Ben Wiggins, Ashlin Barry, Cameron Rogers and Hctor Alvarz. Below, you'll find the favourites for the race, the course and the preview. The riders will find the exact same course...

The main favourites for the 2026 World Championships road race are clear. Remco Evenepoel, Paul Seixas, Isaac del Toro, Mathieu van der Poel or Tom Pidcock are in the spotlight. However the race promises an action-packed thriller where outsiders could thrive. On September 27, the elite men will take...