Back in January ten riders were picked to watch. When predictions are made its helpful to return to them and see how things turned out.Remco Evenepoel joined Red Bull in search of improvement, and beyond a salary upgrade. It was an open question if hed find gains given the way some recent joiners had fallen off the radar. He started winning January, moves he later said were deliberate attempts to establish himself at the top of the team. A season on and it feels like Evenepoel has thrived, and on several fronts. Invincible in the time trial, he can also climb with the very best, albeit some of the time. But this appears to require sacrifice in lose weight that he can only sustain for a grand tour tilt rather than all year. To be clear hes not hitting the frikandel and frites, think instead of a boxer who has to shed weight for a bout but just cant sustain this. Once hes got a couple of extra kilos hes only stronger in the time trials as we saw in the worlds, even it cost him in the road race and Lombardia too. Hes worked on his sprinting, harnessing his power and also refining the tactics, flipping a liability into an asset. Hes still prone to drama, see his barracking of Florian Lipowitz after the Tours Tourmalet stage but this febrile side is much less in evidence on the bike, in fact several times hes impressed for his resilience, finishing fourth in Lombardia was not the result he wanted but instructive because he kept going and then won the group sprint. Similarly we might now remember the Tour de France podium result but it almost didnt happen when he was dropped on the stage to Le Lioran but fought back to finish second, passing those whod dropped him earlier. All this and hes added the cobbled classics to his range, third in the Ronde at his first go. If it wasnt for Pogaar he could stake a claim to be the best rider in the world; maybe hed lose to Vingegaard here or there but he can finish on the podium in events that the Dane doesnt deign to depart.Max Poole was supposed to be the saviour of Picnic-PostNL. Back in January he was said to be clear of the Epstein-Barr virus but the only thing that made a comeback this year was the virusand he only managed a week of racing in February before being unable to race and even train so theres little to write about, and no illustrative photo either. However Picnics woes are not on him and the virus, assume he scored 2,000 points comparable to Mattias Skjelmose, Matteo Jorgenson, Brandon McNulty, Primo Rogli or Tobias Halland Johannessen and the Dutch team would only move from 30th on the rankings to 24th, sandwiched between Caja Rural and Burgos-Burpellet. Hopefully hes on the mend and theres gossip of a move to Decathlon-CMA CGM.Embed from Getty ImagesJan Christen was picked for talent and character, with an eye on whether hed cope with the congestion at UAE. He took his opportunities, winning the Saudi Tour with some help from the convoy after he crashed and got towed back into contention and was second in the Faun Ardche classic to Paul Seixas, albeit almost two minutes behind. He started and finished the Giro, his grand tour debut was marked by the exit of Adam Yates, Marc Soler and Jay Vine from a single crash and it was only because Christen had sat up to remove his rain jacket that he avoided the fall. But this stroke of luck didnt seem to give him more space. After winning the Swiss road and TT titles he got a stage win at the Tour de Pologne. All this in his second season as a pro which is very respectable but these days not sizzling.Kvin Vauquelin was the best rider from the old Arka team and the idea was to see if hed progress as a punchy rider where his prodigious talents probably lie, or be drawn by the allure the Tour de France after a breakthrough performance in 2025. A weaker season wasnt on the cards but hlas thats what happened, not helped by breaking his ankle but by all accounts he recovered well. He won the Giro dAbruzzo but as the only World Tour team in the race it would have been news if Netcompany-Ineos had lost. The late signing of Oscar Onley was a complication for Vauquelin as they are similar riders and a brief clash at the Aura Tour when Onley dropped his chain and the whole team sat up to wait to wait for him, this cost the team the win and Vauquelin the yellow jersey and he said all this aloud too. With hindsight the team should have taken the win but Vauquelins climbing to Crest-Voland, just the kind of shorter finish that ought to have suited, suggests the spell in yellow would have been brief. Paris-Nice might be a highlight for him, a team time trial stage win on the way to fourth overall but an unusual edition thanks to the frigid Uchon stage and then the climb to Isola being removed.Mathias Vacek was picked as a raw talent to follow but could he get opportunities at Lidl-Trek given the depth of riders? He was a core rider for the team, part of their cobbled classics squad and also the Tour de France where each time he was there for Mads Pedersen. He got carte blanche at the Tour de Suisse and finished third overall. Even if this race has been lamentably condensed to five days and didnt have as much of the high mountain glory that has defined it, who would have imagined him on the podium here?Matthew Brennan kept on winning. Often the triumph feels inevitable, the sense were watching a replay even if the TV screen says live in the corner. One part of this is the way he rides the finish in a big gear, as if hes still waiting while others go beserk. His win in Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne was as cool as the weather that day. His season will be remembered for the five Vuelta a Espaa stage wins but his Vuelta a Burgos wins said plenty too, the first days win on the Alto del Castillo finish was impressive because no other sprinters got near, to repeat the point made in January its said hes got as much power as Olav Koiij only hes seven kilos lighter. With Visma or whatever they will be called next year often keen to name their Tour de France squad over winter itll be interesting to see if he makes it. Because the one thing he did not do this year was land a sprint win against any sprinting aristocracy, no wins against Kooij, Merlier or Milan. Would the team want to see this before selecting him? A lot can be modelled and practiced already so perhaps not but its the next challenge for him.Ben Healy was a pick because at the Tour de France most days belong to Tadej Pogaar or a select group of sprinters, only the Irishman is able to win on the other days. This time not and he didnt get a win all season. As remarked in January for him to win can require a lot of set-up work from team mates and Healy was co-opted into this role at times to help Richard Carapaz. So if Healy did not find a way to unpick an elusive Tour win, his team still did with Carapaz. Now the onus might be back on Healy for 2027 given Carapaz has been released to NSN.When Tibor Del Grosso won the NXT Classic at the start of April one immediate thought was here we go, a pick for the year but unfortunately that was his only win even if was enhanced because he proved to be one of the few riders to outfox Mauro Schmid this season. If he didnt storm any barns he was central to Alpecins classics squad and started Paris-Roubaix.Mathys Rondelbjust needed a win to cap off a solid season. Eighth in Paris-Nice, 11th in the Giro for his grand tour debut, to look at his results is to see beaucoup top-10 finishes. Victory though is elusive as he isnt the fastest climber nor the fastest finisher. His GC results are often higher than this stage placings along the way, for example fifth in the Tour of the Alps when he didnt place higher than seventh on any stage. But this is a sign of consistency and the relative latecomer to cycling has only recently turned 23. On a team keen to score points to secure World Tour promotion, he was their second best scorer behind Marco Brenner and ahead of Michael Storer.Jrgen Nordhagen went from neo-pro to watch in 2025 to rider to watch in 2026 because Simon Yates had just announced a surprise early retirement. He might have wished Adam Yates had quit instead, as the Briton beat him to the win in O Gran Camino. Still 21 he rode his first grand tour at the Vuelta and was strong in the third week but no breakthrough.Riders who could have been tippedIf Januarys crystal ball gave mixed tips, which riders should have been picked with hindsight, or if the post could be edited ex post who would be dropped in today? Januarys piece cited ten riders and then named more including the pleasing picks of Tobias Lund, Paul Seixas, Tobias Halland Johannessen, Romain Grgoire and Milan Fretin.Mauro Schmid had a great season including a Tour stage win. Davide Piganzoli is a contender for the most improved rider of the year, solid at Polti-Malta but went up more than a level at the Giro where he seemed able to win a stage and place on GC but ably supported Jonas Vingegaard. And he wasnt tired, winning the Route dOccitanie in June before making Vismas Tour squad and finishing 14th overall. Plus a prestige win in the Giro dellEmilia. Enric Mas for the Vuelta, with hindsight of course. Felix Gall was surprisingly good and his move to Lidl-Trek is interesting because he could walk in and appoint himself as their grand tour leader given hes finished second at the Giro and third at the Vuelta, a lot better than Juan Ayuso, Mattias Skjelmose or Derek Gee but hes not the bombastic type but only yesterday HLN wrote Skjelmose wants to leave. Lenny Martinez could have been a pick, his plan was to target one week stage races overall and then aim for daily success at the grand tours, only he delivered on the first part with fifth in Paris-Nice, second in Catalunya and third in Romandie and then fifth at the Tour without going for stages or the mountains jersey. Finally a stealthy one could have been Jenno Berckmoes (Lotto-Intermarch) but now were onto the riders to watch for 2027.The post How Did The Riders To Watch Fare? first appeared on The Inner Ring.