It’s national road race weekend, a time of year which means the Tour de France is just around the corner, and a period where I frantically try to get up to date start list information, which is just about impossible! In this preview I’ll give an overview of the national championships in Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, France and GB.

Right folks, we are here, the start of the 2026 Tour de France is in sight. The pinnacle of the cycling season, the best climbers and sprinters going head-to-head over the course of 3 beautiful weeks. I’ll be here previewing each stage, helping you to understand just how each stage is going to play out and hopefully managing to predict a winner or two. Most of you know the deal, I’ve been doing this for over 10 years, consistently producing the best previews out there. Whether you want to look like a smart arse in your cycling fantasy league, make...

Villars-sur-Ollon > Villars-sur-Ollon 150km The final stage and an absolute beauty. Tadej Pogačar is secure in the yellow jersey, I think he’s going to use this day as a proper test of the legs. It will show him what he needs to work on over the next two weeks, but also put the fear of life into all those heading to the Tour de France. 4267m of climbing over 152km is a perfect test event for one of the big stages in July. It’s not just a test for Pogačar, but also for those likely to be supporting him next...

Aarburg > Aarburg 23.7km ITT Time trail day in Tour de Suisse.

Bad Ragaz > Bad Ragaz 157km Is this a sprint stage? There’s 1500m of climbing in the opening 63km of the day, that sounds like an awful lot to me, but it all depends on how it’s ridden. The rest of the stage is perfect for the sprinters, but the peloton will have to fly to catch the break, it’s all about break management.

Locarno > Locarno 158km Tadej Pogačar dominated the opening stage, winning with a 72km solo effort, which is fucking insane. On one hand it’s just so impressive, on the other hand it’s a massive concern for anyone wanting an interesting Tour de France. That isn’t Tadej’s problem, it’s not his fault he’s so bloody good. The vast majority of the peloton will head into the 2nd stage feeling a little deflated, we’ll have to see what the great man wants to do. 

Sondrio > Sondrio 143km Opening stage and straight into some GC action.

The Tour de Suisse, the final preparation race for the Tour de France. Tadej Pogačar is here to try and complete the set of iconic one week stage races, winning Suisse would leave him one short of winning the main 7 races, only the Basque Country will remain. Due to his focus on one day races, he’s only got 11 race days in the legs this year, but he’s already got an astonishing 9 wins, the guy’s an animal. How many will he win this week?

Beaufort > Plateau de Salaison – Brison 120km Just another crazy stage of this race. Seixas crashed, was 4 minutes down but managed to get back to the front group. In the end, he paid for his efforts, and it was Del Toro who took the stage win and Tuckwell held onto the yellow jersey. The Aussie leads Jorgenson by 42 seconds, Del Toro is 7 seconds further back and Ayuso is 4th, 1:06 down. After doing his best to limit his losses, Seixas sits in 6th place, he’s 1:54 down to Tuckwell, it’s all set up for an incredible final...

Roskilde > Copenhagen 228km Scheldeprijs, step aside, the Copenhagen Sprint has taken over as the sprinter’s world championships. The vast majority of the best sprinters in the world are here, only Kooij and Magnier are missing. Last year, a crash denied quite a few of the big contenders, hopefully this year we get to see everyone going at it up the finishing straight.