Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Thursday, November 5, 2026
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Upcoming racing:
- Nov 7 & 8 European Cyclocross Championships
- Nov 15: Flandriencross
- Dec 6: Superpresitge Ruddervoorde
- Dec 19: Scheldecross
- Dec 23: Azencross-Loenhout
- Dec 25: Heusden Zolder Cross
- Dec 26: Gavere Cyclocross
- Dec 27: Namur Cross
- Dec 30: Diegem Cyclocross
- Jan 1: GP Sven Nys
- Jan 16 - 24: Tour Down Under
Latest completed racing:
- Nov 1: Trofee Oudenaarde - Koppenbergcross
- Oct 25: Superpresitge Overijse - Vlamse Druivencross
- Oct 13 - 18: Tour of Guangxi
- Oct 13 - 18: Tour of Holland
- Oct 18: Chrono des Nations
- Oct 18: Veneto Classic
- Oct 18: Japan Cup road Race
- Oct 14: Giro del Veneto
The rest of the year's completed races are here.
Here’s the team’s news:
As Team Jayco AlUla heads into its 16th season in the WorldTour, the team is pleased to unveil a refreshed roster for the 2027 season that includes Michael Matthews, Sam Welsford, Luke Plapp and more.
Matthews will start his 17th season at the highest level of professional cycling, and his 11th with GreenEDGE Cycling, when racing opens in January. Races such as Milan-San Remo, where he has finished in the top 10 a whopping seven times, will be high on his list of priorities.
Michael Matthews at the 2026 Tour de France teams presentation ceremony. Sirotti photo
Incoming sprinter Welsford will also be aiming to get Team Jayco AlUla onto the top spot on the podium, alongside fellow fast man Pascal Ackermann, when he dons team colours for the first time next year.
Plapp takes aim at time trials as well as targeting stage and general classification results, after some impressive results this year. Paul Double will be looking to continue his progression as a GC rider in weeklong races in addition to hilltop stage finishes that suit his characteristics.
Meanwhile, the likes of Felix Engelhardt, Bob Donaldson, and Anders Foldager are ready to push forward in their development following some breakthrough performances in 2026.
With an average age of 27, it will be the youngest roster for the Australian squad in more than a decade as several young riders are set to make their debut in the WorldTour in 2027. Five of the team’s new riders are aged 21 and under as Ben Wiggins, Jed Smithson, Wil Holmes and Adam Rafferty step up from the Hagens Berman Jayco development squad and rising star Ugo Fabries joins the squad for next season.
As young stars step into the fore, GreenEDGE Cycling’s longest-standing rider Luke Durbridge will say his final goodbye to the team in January. The 35-year-old will compete in team colours for the last time at the Australian national championships in his hometown of Perth, where he won the national title in 2025, before hanging up his racing wheels.
Gene Bates – Head of Performance: “It’s an exciting and refreshed roster for the 2027 season. Although we will lose some experience and leadership with guys like Luke Durbridge and Luka Mezgec retiring, I am sure others will step up, and we will see some fresh new faces making their mark on the season.
"Having Welsford joining the team will add another element of excitement and create some new goals for the squad in 2027. It will also be great to see what riders like Michael Matthews, Andrea Vendrame, Amaury Capiot and Mikkel Honoré can do, being back to full health, with a new season and unfulfilled goals to chase. We had our first camp of the 2027 season last month in Northern Italy, and the vibe in the group is certainly a good one! The guys will go away now to start preparing well, with the Australian racing in January as our first hunting ground for 2027.”
2027 Team Jayco AlUla roster:
Pascal Ackermann (GER)
Oliver Bleddyn (AUS) *New Rider
Amaury Capiot (BEL)
Filippo Conca (ITA)
Alessandro Covi (ITA)
Dries De Bondt (BEL)
Dries De Pooter (BEL)
Davide De Pretto (ITA)
Bob Donaldson (GBR)
Paul Double (GBR)
Luke Durbridge (AUS) **Will retire after Australian nationals
Felix Engelhardt (GER)
Ugo Fabries (FRA) *New Rider
Alessandro Fancellu (ITA) *New Rider
Anders Foldager (DEN)
Patrick Gamper (AUT)
Alan Hatherly (RSA)
Wil Holmes (AUS) *New Rider
Mikkel Honoré (DEN) *New Rider
Chris Juul-Jensen (DEN)
Michael Matthews (AUS)
Hamish McKenzie (AUS)
Kell O’Brien (AUS)
Finlay Pickering (GBR)
Luke Plapp (AUS)
Adam Rafferty (IRL) *New Rider
Jed Smithson (GBR) *New Rider
Andrea Vendrame (ITA)
Sam Welsford (AUS) *New Rider
Ben Wiggins (GBR) *New rider
Team Jayco AlUla stats
No. of riders: 30
No. of nationalities: 10 (8x Australia, 1x Austria, 3x Belgium, 3x Denmark, 1x France, 2x Germany, 5x Great Britain, 1x Ireland, 5x Italy, 1x South Africa)
Youngest: Wil Holmes (20)
Oldest: Chris Juul-Jensen (37)
Average age: 27
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Here’s the team’s announcement:
Team Polti-VisitMalta’s transfer market for next season kicks off with the signing of an Italian rider from Team UKYO: Federico Iacomoni has signed for 2027 and 2028. A finisher on rolling courses and a lead-out man for sprinters, the 2002-born rider from Trentino has been decisive in many of his teammate Dati’s wins (including the one at the Mediterranean Games, where Iacomoni himself took bronze) and he also celebrated a personal victory in September on the second stage of the Tour of Armenia:
Federico Iacomoni after winning 2026 Tour of Armenia stage two.
“I decided to join this project because it’s a close-knit family, just the way I like it! I’ll be reunited with the Bessega twins, with whom I raced in 2025 at Biesse Carrera, and I’ll find many people I already knew and whose philosophy and vision I share, from training to an always hungry racing style… I believe coming here is the right decision, for me and for the team”.
Sports director Giovanni Ellena: “Federico is a very strong profile we’ve had our eye on for some time. He managed to get back on the bike after a terrible training accident three years ago, and we’re delighted to give him his professional debut.”
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Here’s the team’s announcement:
We’re proud to announce that Gavin Hlady will step up from our EF Education-Aevolo development team to join our WorldTour squad, EF Education-EasyPost, from next season.
The 23-year-old American rode with us as a stagiaire at the tail end of 2024, before spending the last two seasons successfully developing as a rider at EF Education-Aevolo.
“I’m excited to be stepping up and into the next phase of my career with this amazing team. Honestly, over the last few years, I always thought joining the WorldTour was possible, but I never thought it was guaranteed, so having this opportunity means so much to me. I truly believe that I have more to give and more room to develop as a rider,” Gavin said.
“I owe a lot to our team manager at EF Education-Aevolo, Michael Creed, and the team founder, Steven van der Zwan,” he added.
Gavin Hlady
A two-time US national road champion at U23 level, Gavin has enjoyed a super-consistent season in 2026. He’s not only picked up some impressive results, including a top ten in the ultra-competitive Le Tour de Bretagne Cycliste and Flèche du Sud races, but also enjoyed several key outings as part of our WorldTour roster at the Philadelphia Cycling Classic and the Vuelta a Burgos, where he rode as a solid domestique for his team leaders.
“The goal this year was to have a good spring, and after that the team came to me with an offer. It was nice to sign early, but I think that my top tens in Europe really helped my case. Then, when I was called up at various races earlier in the year, I tried to be as solid as possible as a teammate,” Gavin said.
“Obviously, EF Education-EasyPost has strong American roots, but even if you took that aspect out of the equation, this is the team that I’d want to join. If you lined up all the teams in the men’s WorldTour, I’d choose EF Education-EasyPost every time. I’m grateful, and I appreciate that we still have this cool international flavor and culture. I think we’re a really diverse team, and what sets us apart is that at the biggest races we always seem to punch above our weight. It’s an all-or-nothing and fun racing attitude. From the outside, they seem like the best team too because all the staff seem really cool too,” he added.
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With a well-deserved WorldTour contract in his back pocket, Gavin wants to use this opportunity to gain as much experience as possible in the toughest races, ride as a loyal teammate and develop his own skills as a punchy rider with a good eye for an opportunity.
“I want to get stronger, better and faster in every possible way and then see where that takes me. From there, I’ll sit down with the team in November at our next camp, and that’s when we’ll formulate a plan in terms of expectations and race calendar.”
Our head of scouting, Sebastian Langeveld, has seen firsthand that Gavin deserves a spot on the WorldTour, having watched the rider’s development over the last two seasons.
“Gavin came with Aevolo, and he’s shown throughout the last couple of years, with his national titles, that he has a lot of upward potential. He raced with the WorldTour team this year, and he did really well as a teammate, and he’s ticked a lot of boxes for us this year. We’re really excited to have him on board for next season,” Langeveld said.
“The way he rode in Bretagne, where elements and skills like positioning and race craft are important, really stood out to me. If you can perform there, it’s a good sign for the future. It’s a bit early to determine where he will end up as a rider, but he still has a lot of untapped potential, and we’re going to work with him on getting the best out of himself in the coming season. He can climb, and he might even go in the direction of the classics, but really, it’s about taking our time with the young riders and not rushing them,” he added.