Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Sunday, September 6, 2026
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Every strike brings me closer to the next home run. - Babe Ruth
Bill and Carol McGann's book The Story of the Giro d'Italia, A Year-by-Year History of the Tour of Italy, Vol 1: 1909 - 1970 is available in print, Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.
Current racing:
- August 22 - Sept 13: Vuelta a España
- September 2 - 6: Tour of Britain
- September 2 - 6: ZLM Tour
- September 6: GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano
Upcoming racing:
- 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
We posted the organizer's report with the results.
Here's the Vuelta report from stage fourteen winner Marco Brenner's Tudor Pro Cycling Team:
Stage 14 of La Vuelta a España brought the peloton to one of the most demanding climbs of the race, with 154.5 kilometres from Jaén to the summit of the Sierra de La Pandera. A true mountain stage, with more than 4,000 metres of elevation gain before the final 11.9-kilometre ascent, average 7.2%.
In the heat of Andalucía, the fight for the breakaway was fierce from the very beginning. A large group of more than 40 riders managed to establish itself, with Marco Brenner among the riders who made the selection.
For Brenner, the opportunity was clear: after a difficult start to his Vuelta, the German had finally found himself in the position to fight for something special.
Marco Brenner wins Vuelta stage fourteen. Sirotti photo
“Until now, I wasn’t feeling like myself. I was struggling with some sickness earlier in the race, and I had a crash. So I really wanted to show myself, but also my teammates, who were working really hard for me all the time, that I can be up there. Today again, I had two of my teammates with me. They did a super job.”
As the race entered its decisive phase, the breakaway was gradually reduced on the roads leading towards La Pandera. The final climb immediately began to reveal the strongest riders. Brenner remained patient, conserving his energy and following the decisive moves as the gradients became increasingly severe.
On the final climb, Brenner began to believe that the victory was within reach. “On the final climb, I had the feeling that I had the kick today. I started believing in it.”
Inside the final kilometre, Buitrago launched his acceleration. Brenner responded immediately, closing the gap and bringing the Colombian back into reach.
Then came the final sprint.
Brenner waited until the perfect moment before launching his acceleration towards the line.
Marco Brenner crossed the line first.
“Santiago passed me, but I could catch up and in the end, I could beat him in the sprint.”
For Brenner, it's the biggest victory of his career. For Tudor Pro Cycling, it's a milestone that had been targeted since the beginning of the season: the team's first Grand Tour stage victory. The team had identified winning a stage at one of cycling's three Grand Tours as a major objective for 2026.
The victory also comes less than a month after another landmark achievement. On August 9, Brenner won the overall classification at the Tour de Pologne, a WorldTour stage race, giving to the team its first WorldTour general classification victory.
Now, just weeks later, the same rider has added a Grand Tour stage victory to the story.
“You live for days like today. There aren’t many cyclists who have achieved a stage win in a Grand Tour, and to add this to my palmarès is really amazing.”
Fabian Cancellara:
“My first thoughts went to the whole Team. I really want to thank everyone. Marco won today, but this is everyone’s win.Marco is a great example of the hard work, belief in people and commitment we put into everything we do. This year hasn’t always gone our way - we’ve had bad luck, the pressure was building, but that’s cycling. One day you lose, the next day you win. What matters is that we kept believing, kept working and kept pushing. Today, we were rewarded for it and I couldn’t be happier and prouder.”
Raphael Meyer:
“After winning our first World Tour GC just one month ago, winning our first Grand Tour stage feels like a dream. It is proof that belief and hard work pay off. We are incredibly proud of the entire team — not just those on the ground in Spain, but everyone who gives everything every day to create moments like this. The way Marco won today could not have been more Born to Dare. It is proof that staying true to our DNA will take us forward.This is just the start.”
From Jaén to La Pandera, from the first attack to the final sprint, Marco Brenner and Tudor Pro Cycling turned a brutal mountain stage into a historic day.
The first Grand Tour stage win.
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Here's the Vuelta report from Vuelta stage fourteen second-place Santiago Buitrago's Team Bahrain Victorious:
Santiago Buitrago came within one second of victory on Stage 14 of La Vuelta a España, taking second place at the summit of Sierra de La Pandera after another strong team performance.
Santiago Buitrago finishes second in stage 14. Sirotti photo.
Buitrago and Pello Bilbao made the day’s large breakaway on the 154.5-kilometre stage from Jaén. Bilbao worked throughout the day for his teammate before Buitrago joined the fight for victory on the steepest section of the final climb.
The Colombian made his first move with around four kilometres remaining and attacked again inside the final kilometre. He led into the last 300 metres, but Marco Brenner (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) came past in the closing corners to win by one second. Cristian Rodríguez (XDS Astana Team) completed the podium, 11 seconds behind.
Buitrago said: “It was another hard stage here at La Vuelta, and once again the team was incredible. Pello was like a guardian angel throughout the day, and I think he gave even more than anyone could ask of him. I would have especially loved to win for him because he helped me so much.
The final climb had several flatter sections, so I tried to make the difference on the steepest part, but it wasn’t possible. I didn’t want to leave everything to the sprint, so I decided to anticipate in the final metres, but I was beaten at the end. I think I have good legs, and I hope to recover well ahead of next week.”
Buitrago also retains the lead in the mountains classification.
Sports Director Franco Pellizotti added: “In the end, we have to be happy because second place is always a strong result. But today was not only about Santi finishing second. Jakob also had another good day, and once again the whole team performed really well.
Santi fought until the end for the victory. I’m a little disappointed for him because I know how important this win would have been. Every day he tries to make the breakaway, score points for the mountains jersey and fight for a stage victory. We still have another week ahead of us with some important stages. The key is to stay focused until the end, and I believe Santi will have another opportunity to win a stage.”
Here's the Vuelta report from GC fifth-place Oscar Onley's Team Netcompany INEOS:
Oscar Onley managed his efforts well on the stage 14 summit finish to retain fifth place at the Vuelta a Espana.
The Netcompany INEOS rider was able to cross the line alongside teammate Embret Svestad-Bardseng on the Sierra de La Pandera summit finish, retaining the white young riders jersey and his GC position.
Svestad-Bardseng had been part of the day's large 45-man break which went on to contest the stage, before dropping back to help his teammate in the closing kilometres.
White-jersey'd Oscar Onley before the start of Vuelta stage nine. Sirotti photo
Jack Haig also provided strong support, setting the tempo as the GC group whittled down on the first-category summit.
Up ahead Marco Brenner (Tudor) claimed the stage win, while Enric Mas (Movistar) was able to retain the red jersey as the race entered its third weekend.
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And here's the Vuelta report from Valentin Paret-Peintre's Team Soudal Quick-Step:
Valentin Paret-Peintre was again one of the main animators of the Spanish Grand Tours, just twenty-four hours after finishing runner-up in Loja. This time, the Frenchman was joined in the breakaway by three of his Soudal Quick-Step teammates - Alberto Dainese, Ethan Hayter and Filippo Zana - who all played a part in the group’s successful attempt to open a decisive gap on the peloton, on a day they had to deal with more than 4300 vertical meters.
Stage fourteen gets rolling. Sirotti photo
Preceded by the wall of Valdepenas de Jaen, Sierra de la Pandera (11.9km, 7.2%) - a brutally steep climb that the race visited for the seventh time this century - was the last of the three classified climbs and the place where the winner of this hard stage 14 emerged. Both Paret-Peintre and Zana, our team’s two riders to make the cut when the attacks began shattering the breakaway group to pieces, tried to make a selection and open what they hoped would become an important gap, but their efforts were quickly countered by their breakaway companions.
After Fillippo’s attack was brought back some six kilometers from the finish, Valentin rolled the dice and rode away together with one other rider, but one of the steepest part of the climbs, his time at the front came to a conclusion and he had to be content in the end with a top-five finish, behind winner Marco Brennan (Tudor Pro Cycling). Zana concluded in eighth place, making Soudal Quick-Step the only team with two riders in the top ten.
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We posted the race organizer's report with the results.
Here's the report from Lewis Askey's NSN Cycling Team:
Down, but not out: Lewis Askey and his NSN teammates battled to the finish line to protect his Tour of Britain race lead, but it was not to be on a brutal day of racing in Yorkshire.
Askey finished fifth in Leyburn on stage four, but conceded the green jersey to Belgian rider Tim Wellens, who took second on the stage after a predictably strong UAE Team Emirates – XRG performance.
Cees Bol wins Tour of Britain stage four.
After a hard day of racing through the North York Moors and Yorkshire Dales, Askey finished 27 seconds behind Wellens, and sits 21 seconds down on GC with only Sunday’s stage – which is expected to be one for the sprinters – remaining.
“Honestly, I can’t be disappointed with that,” says Askey. “Every single person in the team today rode incredibly. I also rode a really good race – I had a really good day. If I replayed that race and we were able to make decisions from a little control box somewhere, I would do everything exactly the same. We were just beaten by a stronger man.
“I really believe that we could have brought it back, you know, I really tried to keep as many people together as possible over the top of the climb. So then we could have the strength to bring him back afterwards. I pulled a little bit and then tried to save my legs because I knew the final would be quite hard. And yeah, I’ve got to accept that second [on GC] was probably the best I could do here.
“I think with maybe five or six kilometers to go, we kind of decided that it was probably gone, so I also knew that I couldn’t get dropped by anyone on the steep climb on the last couple of kilometers, because there are a few guys not very far from me on GC. I knew I needed to make sure I protected that.”
Having ridden tirelessly in support of Askey through two crosswind stages on Thursday and Friday, and then again on arduous terrain today, the British rider praised the work of his teammates.
He adds: “I’m super happy and proud of all the boys today. I can’t be disappointed – if you do everything within your control, and do everything correctly that we did, then you can’t be unhappy."
Here’s the update from Pogacar’s UAE Team Emirates-XRG:
UAE Team Emirates-XRG is pleased to announce that Tadej Pogačar has extended his contract with the team through to the end of the 2032 season, reaffirming the long-term commitment between the team and one of the defining riders of his generation.
Pogačar has been an integral part of the team since joining in 2019, growing alongside the organisation and achieving some of the greatest successes in the history of the sport.
Tadej Pogacar after 2026 Tour de France stage twenty. Sirotti photo
Tadej Pogačar: “From the beginning, this team has felt like home for me. We have grown together over the years and shared some incredible moments, so I’m very happy to extend my contract until 2032.
“There is still a lot I want to achieve in this sport and I believe this is the right place to do it. I’m very grateful for the trust the team has shown in me and excited about what we can continue to build together.”
At the same time, the team can confirm that Tadej will not return to competition during the remainder of the 2026 season following his crash at the Vuelta a España.
“Of course, this isn’t the way I wanted my season to finish. Right now, the most important thing is to recover properly and give my body the time it needs. It has been a season with many special moments and I’m proud of what we achieved together. Now I’ll focus on getting healthy, supporting the guys from home, and coming back next year ready for what’s ahead.”
After consultation with the team’s medical and performance staff, the decision has been taken to prioritise his recovery and rehabilitation, allowing him the necessary time to return to full health without placing a timeline on his return to competition.
Dr. Adrian Rotunno, Medical Director: “Tadej is progressing well following surgery and we are very satisfied with his recovery to this point. However, given the combination of his injuries – the concussion, the stable C7 cervical fracture and the open clavicle fracture – we have taken the decision, together with Tadej, that he will not return to competition this season.
“From a medical perspective, his health is paramount, and the priority now is to allow each of these injuries to heal fully and to progress through his rehabilitation in a controlled manner.
“The post-operative clavicle and cervical fracture will both require a structured period of rehabilitation. Equally important is the need for him to progress carefully through a graduated concussion recovery protocol, with ongoing neurological monitoring. Only once he is medically recovered and personally ready, clearance to gradually start increasing training load can be given.
“There is no benefit in accelerating that process simply to meet a racing deadline. Removing the pressure allows Tadej to focus entirely on his recovery, with the objective of returning to full training and competition when he is completely ready.”
Mauro Gianetti, Team Principal & CEO: “Tadej has been central to the journey and development of this team, and we are extremely proud that this relationship will continue through 2032.
“Following his crash, there is absolutely no pressure for Tadej to return to racing this year. His health and recovery are the priority. He has given an enormous amount throughout the season and now the right decision is for him to take the necessary time to recover fully. We look forward to having him back with us when he is ready.”