Hello, 2026. After a long winter, I’m finally out of hibernation and looking forward to a year of cycling, especially the races Pogačar isn’t doing. I’ve done my usual and avoided the mundane chat about cycling jerseys and grand tour routes but wanted to share my thoughts as the new season approaches.
Red Bull pulled off the biggest signing, Remco Evenepoel leaves QuickStep and heads to Germany. On paper, it’s a great move for the team, but I’m not so sure how this one is going to play out. I have no doubts about Evenepoel’s talent but keeping that team happy is going to be almost impossible. Lipowitz finished 3rd in last year’s Tour de France, there’s no chance he’ll be happy to play deluxe domestique and never should he be. At 25, he’s the same age as Evenepoel, and after a brilliant 2025, he’ll expect to be one of the main riders in the team. With plenty of races on the calendar, I’d have expected team management to keep both apart until the Tour de France, but both seem to be heading for Catalunya. The reason for this has to be the presence of Roglič and Hindley, two more riders who’ll be expecting plenty of leadership opportunities. It’s going to be impossible to keep everyone happy, I hope they don’t end up regretting bringing Remco on board.
Ineos also dipped into the transfer market, giving Picnic 6 million euros to “persuade” them to release Oscar Only from his contract. After finishing 4th in the Tour de France, the young Scotsman was going to attract interest, moving to Ineos always seemed a sensible move for everyone concerned. The price tag is a big one, but Ineos have the financial muscle to pull off such a move, but questions will be asked about why they didn’t go for Evenepoel. His release clause was only 1 million euros more, but the yearly salary would have been a whole lot more, especially with his entourage added in. Ineos are also thinking about the 2027 Tour de France, which starts in Edinburgh, having Onley in team will be great from a marketing point of view. Oscar is a very talented young man, but I do fear that he’ll never best his Tour result from this year, breaking into the top 3 would be one hell of an achievement, but also incredibly difficult.
Ineos also signed Dorian Godon, this is a move which I expect to be very successful. Godon has an excellent sprint finish, especially after a tough day. His main goal will be to win world tour races, he’s only done that twice throughout his career. When he’s on the start line, expect to see Ineos making it a tough day out.
UAE haven’t done much in the transfer market, they didn’t have to. Pogačar will continue to win almost every race he starts, they also have Del Toro, Almeida, Adam Yates, Vine and McNulty to clean up the races where Pogi doesn’t start. They did allow Juan Ayuso to leave, which will help keep most of the squad happy, team harmony is just as important as wins. I do like their move for Cosnefroy, if he gets a performance boost thanks to working with the UAE coaches, he could win a hatful of races in 2026.
Over at Visma, they continue to believe/hope that Vingegaard can beat Pogačar. They don’t seem to have the money that other teams have, but they still have lots of talented riders who’ve been at the team for a little while. I’m interested to see what happens at the Giro, Jorgenson had previously spoken about wanting to lead the team, it would be his first grand tour as leader, but it seems that Vingegaard is also interested in racing, this is far from ideal as the American deserves a shot at leadership. Away from the mountains, they do have Matthew Brennan, an absolute superstar. The young kid from Darlington reminds me so much of a young Peter Sagan, and I can see him developing the same way. The great Slovakian often found himself isolated in races, which is a potential issue for Brennan, will they end up sending him to races with Wout Van Aert? This would be a bold move, but Visma do like having multiple options in the big races, teaming up Brennan and Van Aert makes a lot of sense to me.
Decathlon are another team with a lot of financial muscle, they’ve invested big in Olav Kooij. They didn’t just sign the Dutch sprinter, they also signed a whole sprint train for him, this is a huge investment. Expect to see Hoole, Bol and Ghys riding a lot of races with Kooij, they have what it takes to form a very effective sprinting unit. The hope will be that he can immediately win lots of races, but the pressure is on to win Tour de France stages. It is vital for the French team to take wins in July, but beating Merlier in a flat sprint will not be easy.
Lidl-Trek enjoyed a sensational 2025, they head into 2026 hoping to see Mads Pedersen win a monument. A couple of years ago I would have said he didn’t have a hope in hell, but after seeing him last year, he’s got a decent chance of winning one of the big ones. Milan will continue to smash sprints, his train needs some readjustment as Hoole has left, I’d expect Walscheid to move into this role, he’s a great addition to the team. The signing of Juan Ayuso immediately seemed to cause a little friction with Mattias Skjelmose, but I think the Spaniard is exactly what the team needs. I do find it surprising to see both riders having similar schedules, but that could be because Derek Gee is due to arrive. Ayuso is a prodigiously talented cyclist, someone who has the potential to win a grand tour, if Lidl-Trek want to be one of the big teams, they need a rider like this.
I want to end this piece by taking a moment to pay some appreciation to Hugh Carthy. The big man has called it a day at the age of 31. I’ve followed Hugh from the start, first interviewing him before he joined Caja Rural, back at the end of 2014. I could talk all day about The Lancashire Longshot, he achieved an awful lot at the pointy end of the sport, starting with 9th in Catalunya in just his 2nd pro season. His epic stage win in Tour de Suisse will live long in my memory, taking a solo win after breaking away not long after the start of the 101.5km stage, it’s still one of the craziest rides I’ve ever seen. Then we have his win on l’Angliru in 2020. Winning on such an iconic climb was an amazing achievement, especially considering he beat the likes of Roglič, Carapaz, Mas, Kuss and Vlasov. The big man went on to finish on the overall podium, just 1:15 behind Roglič, not bad for a wee guy from Preston. It’s been a pleasure to follow Hugh over the last 12 years, I wish him all the best for the future.
In terms of previews, I’ll be kicking off soon with the Aussie road race, which will be followed by TDU, and the hope is to cover most of the races in January. See you soon.