The project that set out to transform cyclings economic and sporting model is entering a new phase. Richard Plugge, head of Visma - Lease a Bike and one of the leading forces behind One Cycling, the Cycling Super League, is no longer leading the initiative. His departure took effect on 25 May, acc...

Geraint Thomas believes that although Tadej Pogacar will stop cycling at point or another, his Netcompany INEOS team should believe that, while the Slovenian continues to improve, they can continue to push the envelope in pursuit of success. The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider's stratospheric performanc...

Dutch cycling analyst Thijs Zonneveld didn't mince his words when it came to rating the recently released Tadej Pogacar documentary - claiming that the production brought no new facts or revelations as he handed it a zero-stars rating. The Eurosport and HBO Max production, the premiere episode of th...

A quick retrospective on the team victory rankings in the mens World Tour and beyond, looking at the win rates and some extra stats.UAE top the tables with 78 wins. They didnt shout it from the rooftops but the plan was to go for triple digits after last years score of 97. Several crashes got in the way, Pogaars Vuelta exit counted but so did the Giro hecatomb and this without a house sprinter worthy of their ambitions but still left them well clear of the rest. Its hardly a bad year to land the third highest tally ever behind HTC-Columbias record from 2009. For all their struggles, Netcompany-Ineos surprise by sitting in fourth place, their challenge is getting the quality wins of old but they score well in this quantitative ranking. Again to compare quantity and quality EF and GFDJ both have 12 but one squad won multiple grand tour stages. Poor Picnic-NL with three wins and if the worst thing was people feeling sorry for them, some sympathy might have gone with the reports of overbearing management.This chart shows what share of the teams wins came from their leading winner. Pogaar got over a quarter of the teams wins. At Visma its Vingegaard and Brennan both on 12 which covers plenty of bases. RedBull-Bora-Hansgrohes lead winner was Remco Evenepoel. Netcompany-Ineos? Dorian Godon proved a great signing, there are not many opportunities for a finisseur but he took them and won and probably could have got more if he wasnt trying to contest the Tours bunch sprint to Chalon-sur-Sane.Pinarellos Tom Pidcock got over half their wins, like Mauro Schmid at Jayco. But thats in part because few others won but a tale of different expectations for 2027 with Schmid moving to join Pidcock as the Swiss team gets more ambitious while the Aussie team has a challenge. Alpecin-PremierTech are very reliant on Jasper Philipsen (and Mathieu van der Poel) and this showed at the Tour de France with Philipsen feeling the pressure to deliver to the point of describing dining in silence after hed lost out on some days. Uno-X won plenty but were not reliant on any one rider for this. Groupama-FDJ owe most of their UCI points to Romain Grgoire landing top-10s in many classics but his problem is converting this into podium places and wins; their score for wins came from new signing Ewan Costiou.This chart above goes beyond the win count to show the podium placings for the teams and the share. As you can see Visma-LAB look like alchemists with 55% of their top-3s turning to gold while Dutch rivals Unibet have the opposite problem. Is this anecdotal? With a rider like Pogaar hes often going to deliver wins and rarely finish second so theres probably something at work. With teams still arranged in order of total wins there does seem to be more gold on the left and more bronze on the right, that the teams with few wins owe this in part to struggling to convert an opportunity into the win.The post Team Victory Rankings first appeared on The Inner Ring.

CyclistMET launches updated Manta 3 aero helmet, claiming better ventilation and reduced dragMET has updated its Manta aero race helmet, claiming a 10% improvement in ventilation and a 6-watt reduction in drag.The helmets aerodynamics are tuned for a rider in an attacking, head-down riding position and MET says the internal channelling has been designed to enhance airflow.It reckons the Manta 3 is the fastest aero helmet when it was benchmarked against (unnamed) competitors in an in-house wind-tunnel.MET has also switched from MIPS C2 to the lightweight MIPS Air Node Pro rotational impact protection system, where the sliding plane is integrated into the helmets Coolmax padding.The rear vents have been simplified from the previous generation Manta, switching to two parallel horizontal ribs, which MET says are inspired by the air deflectors used on Formula 1 cars and claims improve aero performance and heat dissipation.A change to the shape of the outer surface at the rear of the helmet is also said to optimise airflow and the front vents and strap placement have been designed for eyewear compatibility. A full wrap shell aims to increase durability. Crash-tested by the prosMET says it has crash tested over 250 Manta 3 helmets as part of the new models development, putting them through a total of 745 impact tests in the lab. It also collected 142 crashed helmets from the UAE Team Emirates pro team and compared the effect of real world impacts with its lab testing to help validate its results.The helmet has been in use by the pros throughout the 2026 season, starting with Milan-San Remo, where Tadej Pogaar wore it to the win, while Brandon McNulty was wearing the Manta 3 when he won the mens Road World Championships in Montreal in September.Sprint Cycling AgencyMET has sent the new helmet to Virginia Techs Helmet Lab for testing, where it was awarded a five star safety rating.It claims the Manta 3s 250g weight in size M, which fits heads from 56 to 58cm, makes it one of the lightest aero helmets on the market and claims its shape is comfortable for a range of different head shapes.The size S helmet fits heads from 52 to 56cm and has a 240g claimed weight, while the L fits heads from 58 to 61cm and weighs a claimed 280g.The new MET Manta 3 is on sale immediately, priced at 300 / $375 / 330 and available in six shell/logo colour combinations.The post MET launches updated Manta 3 aero helmet, claiming better ventilation and reduced drag appeared first on Cyclist.

Brian Holm has hit back at criticism aimed towards Jonas Vingegaard, insisting that Johan Bruyneel's comments declaring the Dane wouldn't win the Tour de France again as 'nonsense'. Former Danish team manager Holm was critical of the former team manager's assessment of the Visma rider, with Bruyneel...

CyclistMeet the maker: Ben Spurrier of CondorIt doesnt take much to turn heads at the cafe. A set of deep-section rims or a frame in some colour other than black will usually elicit a few sideways glances. By contrast, in the obscure and esoteric world of custom bicycles, the bar is somewhat higher.Take a bike show such as Bespoked, where some of the weirdest and most wonderful two-wheeled creations in the world gather under one roof for a few days each year.Here, only the most beautiful and bizarre bikes stand out. That could be due to some sort of alien geometry, an experimental new construction method or, in the case of Condors stunning Porta Romana Italia RC, a particularly decadent paintjob.Condors head of design, Ben Spurrier, developed the Italia RC alongside the now disbanded UCI Continental team JLT Condor. But this steel beauty isnt just about going fastJuan Trujillo AndradesCondor is a name that requires little introduction. The London marque has been building bikes since 1948 when Monty Young opened the original shop on Grays Inn Road. In the decades that have passed, its frames have been ridden by everyone from club riders to professional racers.Its a brand rooted in classic framebuilding and the golden age of metal bikes, but one that refuses to be governed entirely by nostalgia. Aesthetics lean towards the classic diamond frames and metal tubes prevail across the range but head of design Ben Spurrier doesnt shy away from modern details either.What has changed is where those frames are built. Condors production moved from Britain to northern Italy in 2006, and its frames continue to be made there today. And a bike that encapsulates all of the above is the Italia RC, a blisteringly fast alloy race bike with classic lines and a relatively accessible pricetag, despite the fact it is handmade in Veneto.Juan Trujillo AndradesIts a lightweight frame with racing pedigree for anyone who wants the snappy ride characteristics of a performance machine without the costs of a high-end carbon frame, Spurrier explains.Each frame is made by our master craftsmen, one at a time rather than on a production line. This allows a single builder to dedicate greater attention to detail and use less material at each join, ultimately enhancing the overall quality of the ride. We also use custom-drawn 7000-series aluminium, which has an exceptional strength-to-weight ratio that allows for thinner and lighter tubes for a stiff yet durable frame construction.The Italia RC was developed alongside Condors UCI Continental team, JLT Condor, which at the time was home to the pelotons tallest rider, Conor Dunne at 6ft 7in, whose gargantuan 64cm R&D model served as the ultimate test in 2016.Conor rode it to a fifth-place finish in the Tour of Taiwan, battling through a challenging mountain-top finish to secure his general classification position, says Spurrier. The long alloy tubes proved their strength in competition, their stiffness for elite performance and their ride quality for gruelling all-day breakaways.Juan Trujillo AndradesThis stunning gilded version of the bike is the result of a collaboration between Condor and Porta Romana, a UK-based interior design and lighting outfit that has done everything from creating installations for the Royal Academy of Arts to dreaming up unique designs for homes, galleries and hotels around the world.The goal was to help support Clerkenwheels fundraising adventure ride, which saw podcasters Jonathan Forster and Tom Bourne ride 430km from Plymouth to Clerkenwell to raise money for United in Design, a charity devoted to creating opportunities for underrepresented talent in the design industry. The one-of-a-kind bike was then raffled off at Clerkenwell Design Week, with all proceeds going to UiD.Flying coloursPorta Romanas painting studio is central to the design process. Its there that they have spent more than three decades building on the craft of hand-painted finishes, developing their own unique library. Each patination takes a skilled team weeks to develop, sampling layer upon layer of colour in search of the perfect Porta Romana finish.Juan Trujillo AndradesUsing their extensive paint library, I created the design using their Burnt Ochre finish and asked them to gild the Condor logo, head tube and fork, explains Spurrier.The finish is applied by hand using proprietary techniques to build up layers of paint to achieve the final depth and texture. On top of that, the logos, details and fork internals are all gilded by hand using gold leaf.If the finish alone isnt enough to grab your attention, the all-Italian components might do the trick. The bike is fitted with a full Campagnolo Super Record wireless groupset and matching Campagnolo Shamal wheels a decision, Spurrier says, that was made to attract as much attention for the ride and the charity as possible. For those who like what they see enough to open their wallets, the good news is that a Campag-dripping Italia RC can be yours for 7,200. As for the finish, thats harder to put a pricetag on, but Spurriers best guess puts it around 1,500 for the full Porta Romana treatment. Condor Italia RC, 7,200, Porta Romana build approx 8,700. Visit condorcycles.com for more informationThe post Meet the maker: Ben Spurrier of Condor appeared first on Cyclist.

The driving force behind India's successful 2032 UCI World Championships bid has an even bigger goal in mind as cycling is set for its first-ever rainbow jersey race in the country - bringing a new Grand Tour to the sport. Jitendra Dudi, the official behind Punes bid for the championships, wants In...

There are any number of AI training platforms out there. But can you get trained for free? I put one of the biggest LLMs to test to get me ready for a three-day ride across Wales

In a new video, German photographer and filmmaker Stephan Wieser takes a classic approach to telling the story of a bikepacking trip around Patagonia with a new friend. Watch the slideshow-style video featuring our friend Neza Peterca of What Happened here...The post Through Patagonia As Strangers (Video) appeared first on BIKEPACKING.com.