Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Tuesday, September 1, 2026
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Current racing:
- August 22 - Sept 13: Vuelta a España
Upcoming racing:
- September 2 - 6: Tour of Britain
- September 2 - 6: ZLM Tour
- September 6: GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano
- September 9: Giro della Toscana
Latest completed racing:
- August 30: Bretagne Classic Ouest-France
- August 25 - 28: Tour Poitou-Charentes en Nouvelle Aquitaine
- August 19 - 23: Renewi Tour
- August 18 - 21: Tour du Limousin-Périgord
- August 13 - 18: Arctic Race of Norway
- August 16: Cyclassics Hamburg
- August 16: La Polynormande
- August 3 - 9: Tour of Poland
- August 4 - 8: Vuelta a Burgos
- July 29 - August 2: Tour of Denmark
- August 2: Circuito de Getxo
Here’s the team’s news:
Ready to make its second appearance in as many years, UAE Team Emirates-XRG is pleased to announce its six-rider lineup for the Lloyds Tour of Britain. The five-day stage race begins in Lincoln on Wednesday, 2 September and draws to a close in Earlston on Sunday, 6 September.
Along the way, there are stage finishes in Skegness, Beverley and Leyburn, as the 22nd Tour of Britain makes its way across Lincolnshire, Yorkshire and the Scottish Borders.
For UAE Team Emirates-XRG, Sports Directors Fabrizio Guidi and Aner Moreno will take the reins, with the six-rider roster including Mikkel Bjerg, Benoît Cosnefroy, Felix Grossschartner, Nils Politt, Florian Vermeersch and Tim Wellens.
Politt will bring the experience of five previous appearances in Britain, whilst Cosnefroy will look forward with confidence towards the race’s punchy parcours. Sprint finishes may be expected on stages 2 and 3, but otherwise there is ample terrain for the peloton’s puncheurs to contest the overall victory.
Nils Politt (shown checking out the 2025 Tour of Flanders course) will race the Tour of Britain. Sirotti photo
For the Emirati squad, Wellens looks ahead to five exciting stages between England and Scotland.
Wellens: “This will be my first time at the Tour of Britain, so I do not quite know what to expect. I hear the weather will be unpredictable and the parcours can be spicy, so this suits my characteristics. I think, as a team this suits us as well. We arrive here with a strong squad and the atmosphere will be nice all week, so we can enjoy these moments together.
“For me personally, I struggled after the Tour and unfortunately had to miss one of my favourite races, the Renewi Tour. But now, I am mentally fresh from the break and it is the beginning of the closing part of the season. I have a lot of motivation to finish the season on the front foot, and I know we can attack this race together as a team.”
Last year’s title was decided by just a matter of seconds, something not out of keeping with recent history at the Tour of Britain. As such, bonus seconds will naturally be important this week, and the rolling parcours offers a little something for everybody over the five stages.
First up, the race gets underway in Lincoln on Wednesday. This will be the first time that the city will host the Tour of Britain in its modern incarnation, but of course bike racing is nothing new around these parts.
Stage 1 will take place on the city-centre circuit, which has been used time and time again in the Lincoln Grand Prix, with the Michaelgate climb front and centre. Standing at 9.3% for 400m, this cobbled climb will be the major feature of the five-lap circuit. The first green leader’s jersey of the race will be settled in Lincoln after an attritional day in the saddle.
After that demanding start, the sprinters in the peloton will look to stage 2 with delight. At 180km in length, the stage from Boston to Skegness has under 1,000m of elevation gain, marking it out as the easiest of the race.
For both Boston and Skegness, the Tour of Britain will visit for the first time, and the Grand Parade in Skegness will play host to a bunch sprint in all likelihood.
Both stages 1 and 2 will chart a course through the Lincolnshire Wolds, but on Friday, the Tour of Britain heads into Yorkshire.
Starting out in Hull, stage 3 is the longest of the race, stretching out for 194.1km to Beverley. Along the way, Withernsea, Hornsea and Skipsea will all watch the race speed through their town centres, before four laps of a 16km circuit will mark the race in Beverley.
Once more, it is tough to see past a sprint finish for the day’s honours at the Beverley Racecourse.
The same can’t be said for the following day, with the Tour of Britain visiting the Yorkshire Dales for the toughest outing of the week.
Stage 4 squeezes 2,699m of climbing into the 165.8km route from Helmsley to Leyburn. Any riders familiar with the Dales will recognise the tough climbing tests that await the peloton, and the general classification contenders will have this day firmly circled in the road book.
Their eyes will turn squarely to Greenhow Bank (3.5km at 8%), Kidstones (2.1km at 6.9%), and the ascent to Redmire (3.7km at 8.2%), before the undulating roads that lead to the historic Wensleydale market town of Leyburn. The riders will be on the pedals all the way to the line on Market Place, with the battle for the green jersey set to rage in the Dales.
On Sunday, 6 September, the 2026 Tour of Britain will draw to a close in the Scottish Borders. Earlston in Scotland will host the start and finish of stage 5, and reach into the nearby Lammermuir Hills. In the 156.1km-long stage, some 2,236m of climbing awaits the peloton, as the fight for the overall win heads into the last day of racing.
Much of the climbing falls in the middle of the stage, before the race returns to Earlston for two laps of a 19km-long circuit. There is every possibility the race comes back together in this phase, with the resilient sprinters determined to leave one final mark on the 22nd edition.
But with bonus seconds and the Tour of Britain title on the line, expect the unexpected in Berwickshire. The 2026 Tour of Britain has all the ingredients to be a blockbuster.
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Here's the team's post:
The first week of the Vuelta a España has come to an end. On a wide variety of parcours, the Groupama-FDJ United cycling team made every effort to make its mark over the past few days. Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet (14th) and Rudy Molard first joined a successful breakaway on Friday, before Bastien Tronchon secured a solid seventh place on Saturday in a mass sprint. Clément Berthet, meanwhile, continues to prove his reliability in the mountains and sits 11th overall heading into the first rest day.
Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet at the 2026 Vuelta's team presentation ceremony. Sirotti photo
After the sixth stage of the Vuelta, during which Tadej Pogacar had already claimed his third victory, an opportunity seemed to be opening up on Friday towards Aramón Valdelinares. On a day featuring 3,500 metres of elevation and finishing at almost 2,000 metres above sea level, the breakaway finally had a chance to make it to the end. “We suspected it could go all the way, and there was actually a lot of fighting right from the start,” explained Benoît Vaugrenard.
“It was absolutely essential to have someone in there, and above all, one of our climbers.” After around thirty kilometres of attacking, Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet managed to make his way into a chasing group of around twenty riders, alongside his teammate Rudy Molard. “It was a good situation for us, but there were five strong riders up front, including Van Aert, Leknessund and Johannessen,” Benoît continued. “They put in an impressive ride.” So much so that the chasing group was never able to close the 1’30” gap separating them from the leading quintet. On the steady final climb (10 km at 6%), none of the chasers was able to challenge them for the win, which ultimately went to Andreas Leknessund.
Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet ultimately finished 14th on the day. “Guillaume and Rudy fought hard, and there are no regrets,” Benoît assured. “Guillaume was just missing a little bit towards the end, but he was up there, and that is always good for his confidence. He also moved up to 13th overall, just behind Clément, who did a good job of limiting his losses.” Before one final showdown expected on Sunday, the climbers were supposed to get a bit of a respite on Saturday in a stage suited to the sprinters. There was just one climb on the day’s route, and only one rider actually went clear at the start. Nevertheless, the mass sprint was preceded by plenty of incidents, including the withdrawal of red-jersey wearer Tadej Pogacar.
“We thought it would be a quiet day, but since not much happened during the stage, there was a lot of nervousness towards the end,” Benoît explained. “The riders entered the final 20 kilometres being very fresh, which made for a very fast and very dangerous race, with a lot of tension. Pogacar crashed, and there were other crashes afterwards. We had to stay alert and avoid getting caught up in them, and things went well for us. Then we had the goal of doing a nice sprint with Bastien.”
Having been left frustrated in the first two sprints, the 24-year-old from Chambéry was this time able to execute an almost perfect race. “His teammates put him in a good position, and then he managed to stay near the front over the final three kilometres,” Benoît added. “He was still well positioned going into the final corner. A slight touch on the brakes may have cost him one or two places, but there are no real regrets.” Very much in the mix with the big sprinters over the final 200 metres, Bastien Tronchon secured a fine seventh place. “He had the confidence that he had been missing a little beforehand,” Benoît added. “This top-10 finish did him a lot of good mentally.”
As a result of the red jersey’s abandonment, Clément Berthet (11th) and Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet (12th) logically moved up one place in the overall standings. However, their positions were far from secure heading into the final stage of the week. Almost 5,000 metres of elevation gain awaited the riders on Sunday en route to Alto de Aitana (22 km at 6%), with a succession of climbs along the way. “Despite Pogacar’s absence, we weren’t certain that the breakaway would make it to the finish,” Benoît said. “We had decided not to try too hard today unless a very large group got away, because the stage was extremely difficult. We chose to stay in the peloton, and ultimately that was probably the right decision.”
Around twenty riders did indeed spend a long time up the road with a four-minute lead, but the relentless pace on the final climb doomed the last fugitive nearly five kilometres from the finish, paving the way for a battle between the favourites for the stage win. Clément Berthet managed to hold the pace of the red-jersey group for two-thirds of the climb before finishing at his own rhythm. “He had a slight dip when the pace accelerated. We were a little worried when he was dropped eight kilometres from the summit, but he recovered well,” Benoît admitted. “He almost caught the Kuss group fighting for tenth place.”
At the summit, the Frenchman crossed the line in 14th place, 1’41” behind red-jersey wearer Enric Mas. “He really put in a strong climb, and that is encouraging for what lies ahead,” Benoît insisted. “We are very satisfied. He is 11th overall, which is very good. We know that a Grand Tour is a war of attrition. A lot can still happen over the next two weeks, and we hope that his freshness will work in his favour.” On Monday, the riders will have the opportunity to recharge their batteries after nine intense days of racing, before the race gets back into full swing. “A breakaway is likely to make it all the way on Tuesday, and we’ll be getting involved in the fight,” Benoît concluded. “We had this stage marked on our calendar, we have several riders who can perform well on it, and we mustn’t miss the opportunity.”
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Here’s the team’s announcement:
Bahrain Victorious is pleased to announce the signing of Belgian rider Liam Slock, who will join the team from the 2027 season on a two-year contract.
The 25-year-old turned professional in 2023 with Lotto and has steadily established himself as a versatile and powerful rider, capable of playing a key role in one-day races, breakaways and time trials.
Slock claimed his first professional victory earlier this year at the GP Gippingen in Switzerland, attacking as part of a decisive three-rider move before taking a memorable sprint victory ahead of experienced WorldTour riders including Richard Carapaz and Aleksandr Vlasov.
Liam Slock in an undated photo.
He followed that breakthrough with an impressive Tour de France debut, making his presence felt on Stage 8 with a long solo breakaway. Slock was finally caught by the chasing group of sprinters with just 1.3 kilometres remaining, narrowly missing out on the chance to fight for his first Grand Tour stage victory. His performance nevertheless showcased his ability to combine power and endurance over demanding terrain, including the climbs encountered during the stage.
Alongside his attacking qualities, Slock has developed into a strong time trial specialist, particularly suited to flat and rolling courses, adding another valuable dimension to his racing profile.
Bahrain Victorious Performance Manager Rod Ellingworth welcomed Slock to the team:
“We are very happy to add a powerful rider like Liam to our roster. He is a valuable addition who brings strength to all areas of our race programme, from one day races to stage races.
“His arrival is part of Bahrain Victorious’ continued effort to strengthen our core engine for stage races and the Spring Classics. We believe Liam has the qualities and mentality to play an important role in our team and we are looking forward to seeing him develop further with us.”
Liam Slock said:
“This is a new step in my career, and I am immensely looking forward to developing further in this new environment at Bahrain Victorious. I am motivated to bring my experience and qualities and to strengthen the Classics group of the team.
“At the same time, I want to thank Lotto for the past six years. I learned a huge amount there, was given great opportunities, and grew both as a rider and as a person. I am grateful for the people and experiences I take with me from this period, and I look forward with confidence to what the future brings.”
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Here’s the team’s announcement:
Italian rider Andrea Bagioli will represent XDS Astana Team in the new season. The 27-year-old has signed a two-year contract covering the 2027 and 2028 seasons.
Andrea Bagioli is a well-known specialist in one-day races, renowned for his attacking style. Among his major achievements are victory at the Gran Piemonte and second place at the Monument Il Lombardia in 2023, as well as stage victories at the Volta a Catalunya, Tour de Wallonie, Tour of Slovakia and other races.
Andrea Bagioli wins the 2023 Gran Piemonte. Sirotti photo
This season, Bagioli won a stage of the Tour of Austria, finished third on a stage of the Tour de Suisse and took fifth place at the Grand Prix Miguel Indurain.
“As soon as I learned about XDS Astana Team’s interest and received the offer, I immediately felt that this would be the right choice for me. This is a project I have always followed with interest, and now the opportunity to become part of it really inspires me. I know many of my future teammates well, and I have always heard very positive things from them. I think I will be able to quickly integrate into the team and show what I can do over these two seasons. My main goal is to fight for victory whenever the opportunity arises, while also helping the team achieve its important objectives”, – said Andrea Bagioli.
“Andrea started his professional career at a young age, quickly making his mark and achieving a number of impressive results. We have been following this rider for a long time, and now we have the opportunity to bring him into our project. I believe that at XDS Astana Team, Bagioli will have the opportunity to fulfil his full potential. Our team performs well in one-day races, which is one of our priority areas, and adding Andrea Bagioli should help us improve our results even further. In addition, he has extensive experience racing Grand Tours, which is always an important factor for us”, – said Alexandr Vinokurov.