Ok, so we're not going to create a race thread for ALL races this year, especially since we're only about 10 people reading here :)

This thread is available for you to write about all the races which don't have a race thread.

It's 2026 and the pro cycling calendar is right around the corner!

Here are all the World Tour and ProSeries races for the year :)

If you're into smaller races - and who isn't? - here are all the 1.1 and 2.1 races you can look forward to this year:

It is becoming more and more difficult to organise races in Switzerland: acceptation by populations/authorities, exploding costs, introduction of women races... In Romandie, they cancelled the women race; here, it is the men race which suffers: from 8 days last years (and even 9 a few years ago) it is now reduced to 5 days (only 4 in Switzerland as the 1^st^ one take place entirely in Italy), the total distance is divided by 2, and all stages are circuits, or more exactly loops, only the last one is an actual circuit.

The women stages are in the mornings, the men races in the afternoon.

PCS page

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Riders (men)

Pogatchar (🇸🇮 UAE) continues his mission, coming on races he hasn't already won to fix this mistake. There won't be much competition for General Classification, as Pidcock cancelled his participation: L. Martinez (🇫🇷 Bahrain), M. Schmid (🇨🇭 Jayco), Roglitch (🇸🇮 Bora), and perhaps Riccitello (🇺🇸 Decathlon) or Tiberi (🇮🇹 Bahrain) if they finally feel better. We may get interested in what the 3^rd^ Bahrain rider, Eulalio🇵🇹, can do here after his great Tour of Italy.

There will be a greater competition among punchers. In addition to some puncher-climbers I already quoted, we shall see Van der Poel (🇳🇱 Alpecin), Grégoire (🇫🇷 FDJ), Narvaez (🇪🇨 UAE) and others.

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Stages

Not a single one reaches 160 km...

Stage 1, Wednesday 17, the Sondrio loop

A punchers' stage going back and forth in an Italian valley.

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Stage 2, Thursday 18, the Locarno loop

A pure punchers' stage.

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Stage 3, Friday 19, the Bad Ragaz loop

The sprinters' stage, unless a few teams want to make their life hard in the first half of the stage. After all, this stage presents basically as much elevation as the first two stages.

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Stage 4, Saturday 20, the AArburg loop

The Individual Time Trial, very much flat, 24 km.

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Stage 5, Sunday 21, the Villars/Ollon circuit

This final stage is a hard mountain stage. A climb of almost 20 km (!) is repeated 3 times with 0 flat in between: you go up by one road, you go down by another road which ends directly where the first one restarts, and so on. The start/finish point is not on top nor at the bottom, but at about 2/3 of the climb, which mean the departure starts with a 4 km climb at 9 %. 😱

This WT stage race goes from Sunday to Sunday, and there will be climbs everyday, even on the TTT which will therefore be exceptionally difficult.

Unfortunately, this is yet another race which was 'bought' by the local elected officials, who changed its name to promote their fiefdom, and ⅓ of the Dauphiné will never be visited any more, as it belongs to a different administration.

Riders

No Pogatchar, no Vingegaard; this leaves the door open for the next level of favourites: the UAE duo Almeida🇵🇹/Del Toro🇲🇽 and Ze Elect (🇫🇷 Decathlon). Skjelmose (🇩🇰 Lidl-Trek) and Jorgenson (🇺🇸 Visma) will be the main outsiders.

PCS page

Stages

(I apologise if the pictures look shitty, but they were already horribly compressed Jpeg on the official website...)

NB: there are no time bonuses on this race, neither at the end of stages nor within them.

Stage 1 (Sunday 7)

146 km, 3200 m D+

::: spoiler Press to see the map :::

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Stage 2 (Monday 8)

234 km, 3700 m D+

::: spoiler Press to see the map :::

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Stage 3 (Tuesday 9) Team Time Trial

27 km, 400 m D+

::: spoiler Press to see the map :::

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Stage 4 (Wednesday 10)

167 km, 2100 m D+

::: spoiler Press to see the map :::

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Stage 5 (Thursday 11)

196 km, 2200 m D+

::: spoiler Press to see the map :::

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Stage 6 (Friday 12)

183 km, 2900 m D+

::: spoiler Press to see the map :::

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Stage 7 (Saturday 13)

134 km, 3700 m D+

::: spoiler Press to see the map :::

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Stage 8 (Sunday 14)

120 km, 4100 m D+

::: spoiler Press to see the map :::

This week offers stages for climbers and GC leaders, as well as stages for punchers. Sprinters will have the last day in Rome for them (providing they can catch a breakaway of Italian contis...)

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Standings after 15 stages

General time classification

Le gap between the Dane and the Portuguese hasn't changed in a week in absolute value, just the sign has changed :-) Scaroni was 5^th^ but had to withdraw.

1. Jonas Vingegaard 🇩🇰 Visma:
2. Afonso Eulalio 🇵🇹 Bahrain: +2′24″
3. Felix Gall 🇦🇹 Decathlon: +2′50″
4. Thymen Arensman 🇳🇱 Ineos: +3′03″
5. Jai Hindley Bora: +3′43″
6. Giulio Pellizzari 🇮🇹 Bora: +4′22″
7. Michael Storer 🇦🇺 Tudor: +4′46″
8. Ben O'Connor 🇦🇺 Jayco: +5′22″
9. Derek Gee 🇨🇦 Lidl-Trek: +5′41″
10. Davide Piganzoli 🇮🇹 Visma: +6′13″
11. Mathys Rondel 🇫🇷 Tudor: +6′58″

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Points classification

The podium order is still the same, but Milan, who scored only 2 points in a week, may have given up.

1. Paul Magnier 🇫🇷 Soudal-QS: 145 pts
2. Jhonatan Narvaez 🇪🇨 UAE: 131
3. Jonathan Milan 🇮🇹 Lidl-Trek: 78
4. Davide Ballerini 🇮🇹 Astana: 70
5. Manuele Tarozzi 🇮🇹 Bardiani: 48

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Intermediary Sprints classification

Top-5 has the same members, but all riders from Italian teams kept on scoring while Milan didn't at all.

1. Manuele Tarozzi 🇮🇹 Bardiani: 60
2. Diego Sevilla 🇪🇸 Polti: 48
3. Mattia Bais 🇮🇹 polti: 44
4. Martin Marcellusi 🇮🇹 Bardiani: 25
5. Jonathan Milan 🇮🇹 Lidl-Trek: 23

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RB Sprints classification

The classification stalled, basically only Eulalio kept on scoring.

1. Manuele Tarozzi 🇮🇹 Bardiani: 31
2. Afonso Eulalio 🇵🇹 Bahrain: 30
3. Diego Sevilla 🇪🇸 Polti: 22

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Mountain classification

Sevilla could only score 3 points this week.

1. Jonas Vingegaard 🇩🇰 Visma: 161
2. Jardi Van der Lee 🇳🇱 EF: 77
3. Giulio Ciccone 🇮🇹 Lidl-Trek: 75
4. Felix Gall 🇦🇹 Decathlon: 72
5. Diego Sevilla 🇪🇸 Polti: 63

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Fuga classification

Only 30 km more for Sevilla this week. Often the breakaway groups were too large to count. But M. Bais managed to score more than 250 km.

1. Diego Sevilla 🇪🇸 Polti: 753
2. Mattia Bais 🇮🇹 polti: 516
3. Manuele Tarozzi 🇮🇹 Bardiani: 458
4. Martin Marcellusi 🇮🇹 Bardiani: 403
5. Mirco Maestri 🇮🇹 Polti: 347

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Teams classification

2 teams are clearly above the others.

1. Visma 🇳🇱
2. RB Bora 🇩🇪 +0′24″
3. Tudor🇨🇭 +22′05″
4. Ineos 🇬🇧 +22′07″
5. Q36.5 🇨🇭 +30′58″
6. Decathlon 🇫🇷 +49′06″

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Stages

Stage 16, Tuesday 26

113 km, high difficulty (15 pts), no sprint zone, 1″ splits

This stage exhibits a funny design: its middle part is very much for punchers, but then there is a break, and finally a long finish-on-top for pure climbers.

::: spoiler Press to see detailed maps and profiles

:::

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Stage 17, Wednesday 27

202 km, medium difficulty (25 pts), no sprint zone, 1″ splits

A stage for breakaways, punchers and guys doing secondary/tertiary classifications.

::: spoiler Press to see detailed maps and profiles

:::

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Stage 18, Thursday 28

171 km, low difficulty (50 pts), 3 km sprint zone, 1″ splits

It could have been a stage for sprinters, if it wasn't for this last hump just 10 km from the line. Don't be fooled by its classification as 4^th^ category, it is not not a false flat but a wall, 1 km at 12%. A few years ago, we would have said this was tailored for Alaphilippe.

::: spoiler Press to see detailed maps and profiles

:::

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Stage 19, Friday 29

151 km, high difficulty (15 pts), no sprint zone, 1″ splits

We find a bit of mountain here! 6 climbs including the cima Coppi of this year (Passo Giau) and almost 5000 m of elevation... For the GPM, Passo Giau will be worth 50 points, Passo Duran (the 1^st^ climb of the day) 40 pts, and the other 4, 18 points each; therefore 162 points are available.

Allowed delay will be around 55 mn, so there is very little hope to eliminate even a sick sprinter.

::: spoiler Press to see detailed maps and profiles

:::

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Stage 20, Saturday 30

200 km, high difficulty (15 pts), no sprint zone, 1″ splits

The last mountain stage, with a main climb done twice.

::: spoiler Press to see detailed maps and profiles

:::

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Stage 21, Sunday 31

131 km, no difficulty (50 pts), 5 km sprint zone, 3″ splits

A flat stage to finish on 8 laps of the circuit in the capital city.

::: spoiler Press to see detailed maps and profiles

:::

After the two finishes-on-top of the first Italian week, the General Classification has begun to take shape. This week in the north-west of Italy will start with a Time Trial that will comfort a few position and reorganise others. The unexpected Eulalio🇵🇹 might still keep the Pink jersey after it, and otherwise he certainly will remain on the podium.

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Standing after 9 stages

General time classification

1. Afonso Eulalio 🇵🇹 Bahrain
2. Jonas Vingegaard 🇩🇰 Visma: +2′24″
3. Felix Gall 🇦🇹 Decathlon: +2′59″
4. Jai Hindley Bora: +4′32″
5. Christian Scaroni Astana: +4′43″
6. Thymen Arensman 🇳🇱 Ineos: +5′
7. Mathys Rondel 🇫🇷 Tudor: +5′01″
8. Ben O'Connor 🇦🇺 Jayco: +5′03″
9. Giulio Pellizzari 🇮🇹 Bora: +5′15″
10. Michael Storer 🇦🇺 Tudor: +5′20″

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Points classification

Not much progress there.

1. Paul Magnier 🇫🇷 Soudal-QS: 130 pts
2. Jhonatan Narvaez 🇪🇨 UAE: 86
3. Jonathan Milan 🇮🇹 Lidl-Trek: 76
4. Davide Ballerini 🇮🇹 Astana: 70
5. Manuele Tarozzi 🇮🇹 Bardiani: 48

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Intermediary Sprints classification

1. Manuele Tarozzi 🇮🇹 Bardiani: 48
2. Diego Sevilla 🇪🇸 Polti: 36
3. Mattia Bais 🇮🇹 polti: 24
4. Jonathan Milan 🇮🇹 Lidl-Trek: 23
5. Martin Marcellusi 🇮🇹 Bardiani: 13

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RB Sprints classification

1. Manuele Tarozzi 🇮🇹 Bardiani: 30
2. Diego Sevilla 🇪🇸 Polti: 22
3. Afonso Eulalio 🇵🇹 Bahrain and 6 other riders: 15

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Mountain classification

The 2 finishes-on-top have killed the game for a good while 🙁

1. Jonas Vingegaard 🇩🇰 Visma: 111
2. Diego Sevilla 🇪🇸 Polti: 60
3. Felix Gall 🇦🇹 Decathlon: 48
4. Einer Rubio 🇨🇴 Movistar: 22
5. Igor Arrieta 🇪🇸 UAE & Nelson Oliveira 🇵🇹 Movistar : 18

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Fuga classification

1. Diego Sevilla 🇪🇸 Polti: 721 (!!)
2. Manuele Tarozzi 🇮🇹 Bardiani: 368
3. Tim Naberman 🇳🇱 Picnic: 310 (who's he?)
4. Martin Marcellusi 🇮🇹 Bardiani: 251
5. Mattia Bais 🇮🇹 polti: 249

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Teams classification

1. Visma 🇳🇱
2. RB Bora 🇩🇪 +1′44″
3. Movistar 🇪🇸 +8′54″
4. Astana 🇰🇿 +10′42″
5. Ineos 🇬🇧 +15′32″
6. Tudor🇨🇭 +18′47″

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Stages

Stage 10, Tuesday 19

42 km, individual Time Trial (15 pts)

It takes place at the same location as Tirreno–Adriatico introductory TT and is as flat, but it spreads over a much longer distance of the coast.

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Stage 11, Wednesday 20

195 km, medium difficulty (25 pts), 3 km sprint zone, 1″ splits

The first half of the stage may see a struggle between a breakaway and sprinters for the I.S. Then the second half is for punchers, inside a breakaway or not. Mind the extra little winding hump in the finish town.

::: spoiler map and profile of the finish :::

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Stage 12, Thursday 21

175 km, low difficulty (50 pts), 5 km sprint zone, 3″ splits

This stage was designed to have a breakaway, and then a fight with the peloton for a bunch sprint.

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Stage 13, Friday 22

189 km, medium difficulty (25 pts), 3 km sprint zone, 1″ splits

90% of this stage are flat, but there are two significant yet not very steep climbs about 20 km from the finish. Another Narvaez-compatible stage?

::: spoiler map and profile of the finish :::

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Stage 14, Saturday 23

133 km, high difficulty (15 pts), no sprint zone, 1″ splits

A pure mountain stage, which starts with a climb, ends with a climb, and present several other climbs in between, with little flat as the stage is short: 3 sections of 10, 5 and 10 km again and that's it. The percentages are not very steep, but the first and last climbs are very long.

::: spoiler map and profile of the finish :::

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Stage 15, Sunday 24

157 km, no difficulty (50 pts), 5 km sprint zone, 3″ splits

The stage to Milano, kept short and purely flat, is made for sprinters.

Here is the situation after 3 days of apathy and hospitalisations in Bulgary:

General time classification

It was only determined by the punchy 2^nd^ stage and a couple of time bonuses.

1. Guillermo Silva 🇺🇾 Astana
2. Florian Stork 🇩🇪 Tudor: +4″
3. Egan Bernal 🇨🇴 Ineos: '
4. Thymen Arensman 🇳🇱 Ineos: +6″
5. Julio Ciccone 🇮🇹 Lidl-Trek: '
6. 29 riders: +10″ ... and about the same number at 1′

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Points classification

1. Paul Magnier 🇫🇷 Soudal-QS: 105 pts
2. Jonathan Milan 🇮🇹 Lidl-Trek: 64
3. Tobias Andresen 🇩🇰 Decathlon: 42
4. Madis Mihkels 🇪🇪 EF: 32
5. Diego Sevilla 🇪🇸 Polti: 28

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Mountain classification

1. Diego Sevilla 🇪🇸 Polti: 42
2. Manuele Tarozzi 🇮🇹 Bardiani: 12
3. Jonas Vingegaard 🇩🇰 Visma: 9
4. Mirco Maestri 🇮🇹 Polti: 8
5. Allessandro Tonelli 🇮🇹 Polti: 6

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Teams classification

1. Astana 🇰🇿
2. Tudor🇨🇭 '
3. Uno-X 🇳🇴 '
4. Movistar 🇪🇸 '
5. RB Bora 🇩🇪 '
6. EF 🇺🇸 '

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Stages

Stage 4, Tuesday 12

138 km, low difficulty (50 pts), 5 km sprint zone, 3″ splits

An even shorter course than stage 1, with the same profile as stage 3, but a nastier last mile. A sprint is to be expected again, favouring the sprinters who can handle an uphill finish; even though a breakaway could have its chances in theory, as the line is closer to the climb than it was in stage 3.

::: spoiler finish map and profile

:::

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Stage 5, Wednesday 13

203 km, medium difficulty (25 pts), 3km sprint zone, 1″ splits

This stage is made for breakaways or punchers-climbers, but will they take their chance this time?

::: spoiler finish map and profile

:::

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Stage 6, Thursday 14

141 km, no difficulty (50 pts), 5 km sprint zone, 3″ splits

After the long stage on Wedneday, this is again a short one, purely for sprinters, that arrives in Napoli.

::: spoiler finish map and profile

:::

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Stage 7, Friday 15

244 km, high difficulty (15 pts), no sprint zone, 1″ splits

This is the most difficult stage of the week. Before the long and difficult top finish at the Blockhaus, there is a series of shorter and smoother climbs without too much flat over 60 km or more, and the whole is packed inside a 244 km course! Good luck...

::: spoiler finish map and profile :::

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Stage 8, Saturday 16

256 km, medium difficulty (25 pts), no sprint zone, 1″ splits

A short costal stage for punchers, with all climbs packed inside the last 60 km, long after a start with a few turns and false-flats to help a breakaway to form.

::: spoiler finish map and profile :::

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Stage 9, Sunday 17

184 km, high difficulty (15 pts), no sprint zone, 1″ splits

Another finish on top this week after the Blockhaus 2 days earlier, but this time without much difficulty before the final climb and a regular length.

::: spoiler finish map and profile :::

Here it is, the .Pro race across the farm tracks of Brittany.

If I trust the weather forecast, this year will be muddy as well.

The course if made of a big loop, starting inland, then closer to the shores at it comes back towards the final circuit in Lannilis. The race is 200 km long, including 34 km of unpaved road.

Due to crashes and punctures, the race can be pretty random. It often smiles upon a sprinter-classicman who survived inside a tiny group of less than 5 or 10 riders. But last year, Tronchon (🇫🇷 Decathlon) managed to win despite a series of various setbacks (punctures, taking the wrong way...)

2 mn video summary of 2025

He'll be back this year under the GFDJ jersey, even though his start of season hasn't been great so far. Cosnefroy (🇫🇷 UAE) will be another favourite, together with a few British riders, Venturini (🇫🇷 Unibet) and the usual Uno-X outsiders.

PCS profile

PCS startlist

The first Grand Tour of the year starts on Friday, with 3 days in Bulgaria.

General info

On each stage, there will be only 1 Intermediate Stage (Traguardo Volante) that give points (to the first 5 riders) that counts both for the Cyclamen jersey, and the dedicated I.S. classification; and 1 Bonus Sprint (Red Bull) that gives Time Bonuses (6″-4″-2″) and makes up a dedicated RB classification.

So the Cyclamen jersey will be determined more by points at stages finishes than last year, when there were 2 I.S. in each stage.

As for climbing (Blue jersey), there are 4 categories plus the Cima Coppi which is located on stage 19. 4^th^ category climbs gives points to the first 3 riders, 3^rd^ cat. to the first 4, 2^nd^ to the first 6, 1^st^ to the first 8, and the Cima Coppi to the first 9.

PCS page

Teams and riders

All World Teams will be present, as well as the following Pro Teams: Bardiani🇮🇹, Polti🇮🇹, Tudor🇨🇭, Q36.5🇨🇭 and Unibet🇫🇷 (without a single bit of 🇫🇷 in it).

The ultra-favorite is Jonas Vingegaard (🇩🇰 Visma), as there are not many competitors for GC. Actually there are many contenders for podium, but not for victory: Pellizzari (🇮🇹 Bora), Bernal (🇨🇴 Ineos), A. Yates (🇬🇧 UAE), Gall (🇦🇹 Decathlon), Storer (🇦🇺 Tudor) and perhaps Vine (🇦🇺 UAE) if he doesn't get attacked by a kangaroo this time.

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Stages

It looks like it was an exercise in avoiding most the mountainous and hilly regions which represent more than half of Bulgaria.

Stage 1, Friday 8

147 km, no difficulty (50 pts), 5 km sprint zone and 3″ splits

This is a short sprinters stage, on the seaside (Black Sea).

Stage 2, Saturday 9

221 km, medium difficulty (25 pts), no sprint zone, 1″ splits

This is more a stage for punchers and sprinters-punchers. The crossing of the lowest part of the Balkan Mountains around mid-race shouldn't impact the scenario, which should be a partial decision in the last little climb of Lyaskovets 10 km before the finish, and a final decision in the last hump at the last mile.

Stage 3, Sunday 10

175 km, low difficulty (50 pts), 3 km sprint zone, 3″ splits

Despite a visit to the northern part of the Rila, passing through the smooth slopes of the ski ressort of Borovets, this should again be a sprinters finish in the long, straight avenues of the capital Sofia.

If I trust the map, the last hundred metres should be on the yellow brick pavement of the Tsar Osvoboditel bvd (Streetview link). However, the cobbles do not appear on the map or profile, so perhaps the line is placed just before them.

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Monday is the transfer to the South of Italy.

It's the 79th Tour de Romandie, the historically French-speaking region of Switzerland.

Traditionally, this race starts with a short prologue followed by a series of hilly and mountainous stages in the Jura mountains and the Alps before ending with an ITT somewhere close to Lausanne. This year, though, the final ITT has been replaced with a mountain top finish, apparently in an effort to remove all doubt about who will win.

Who will win? Well, Pogacar, of course. Here are the main competitors:

• POGAČAR Tadej
• SCHMID Mauro
• LIPOWITZ Florian
• ONLEY Oscar
• MARTINEZ Lenny
• GODON Dorian
• TIBERI Antonio
• ROGLIČ Primož
• FORTUNATO Lorenzo
• PLAPP Luke

You can see more details about each state on the PCS page for the race.

This 6-day World Tour race across the French-speaking areas of Switzerland, begins with a short prologue and will then propose a more mountainous course than it usually does.

Teams and riders

The ultra-favourite is Pogatchar (🇸🇮 UAE), first-timer on this race. Unless an accident happens to him, the other riders will have to fight each other for podium and top-X positions: Lipowitz (🇩🇪 Bora), Martinez (🇫🇷 Bahrain), Schmid (🇨🇭 Jayco) for example. Should I mention Gaudu (🇫🇷 FDJ) who seems to finally return to competition, or are 6 days of competition still twice as long as what he can sustain?

There will only be 15 teams on the race, which shall constitute the thinnest peloton of the year, all levels included... 4 World Teams used their unique yearly joker to decline their participation, perhaps because of Pogatchar🇸🇮's presence; and the organiser, made skint by the departure of an important sponsor, only went and fetched a single Pro Team (Tudor 🇨🇭).

Stages

Most courses are made of circuits, possibly to reduce costs.

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Tuesday 28: 3.2 km prologue

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Wednesday 29: 171 km

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Thursday 30: 173 km

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Friday 1: 177 km

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Saturday 2: 150 km

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Sunday 3: 178 km last stage

The last of the Ardennaises will take place this Sunday, over 250 km.

I noticed that few small changes were made in the course:

• a detour on the way to Bastogne;
• a shortcut on the way back;
• a tiny addition between Spa and the Côte de Desnié: the Maquisard pass (17 km before the Côte de la Redoute).

Outward journey in yellow, inward in red:

Profiles (general and zoom on the last 35 km):

Pogatchar (🇸🇮 UAE) is the favourite for the win, and Evenepoel (🇧🇪 Bora) would be the clear favourite for 2^nd^ place if there wasn't the Seixas🇫🇷 case. It will be a test for Ze Elect (🇫🇷 Decathlon): where does he stand in Spring 2026, compared to those two favourites? He was behind in World & European Chamionships last autumn, but has now reached or exceeded the level of the Belgian on this type of course?

The others? Well, if those 3 don't experience an accident or incident, good luck to Skjelmose🇩🇰 & Ciccone🇮🇹 (Lidl-trek), Vauquelin (🇫🇷 Ineos), Tulett (🇬🇧 Visma) and many other candidates for top-10 to grab a seat on the podium...

Okay, okay, this is the Flèche Wallone this Wednesday😉, but it has been, what, 20 years that almost everyone wait and relies on the last mile to make a decision, in spite of a triple climb of the Wall of Huy and a couple of other climbs in the circuit? Heck, no, even half-a-mile is considered very adventurous on this race. 😀

Tomorrow, there won't be any top guy. As on the Amstel on Sunday, the field of riders will probably be one of the weakest the race ever welcomed. (And wait for the Tour of Romandie next week, with a startlist even shorter than the ones of the French 2.1 in February, despite the presence of Pogatchar...).

Skjelmose (🇩🇰 Lidl-Trek) may be the favourite if the temperature remains mild (he is the Dane who can't bear cold) and if he stops completing his collection of traffic signs. Behind him we may find a gang of four members of the French Connection🇫🇷: Grégoire (FDJ), Martinez (Barhrain), Seixas (Decathlon) or Vauquelin (Ineos). The race is too far from the Basque Country and Izagirre and Arranburu (🇪🇸 Cofidis) normally lose their superpowers at that distance.

PCS page

Tyrol will welcome many well known names this year, on this 5-day mountainous .Pro stage race which often serves as a preparation for the Tour of Italy (also sometimes to test young riders).

It starts on Monday in Austria and finishes before the week-end in Italy.

General map:

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Teams and riders:

Fun fact: as the race is organised over 2 countries, 2 National Teams were allowed, and we have a selection of Austria and a separate selection of Italia.

We can note that Decathlon isn't coming back this time on the theatre of the first exploits of Prodhomme and Seixas last year. In fact, not a single French team is coming.

I'll just drop names: Michael Storer (last year's winner), Mathys Rondel, A.J. Cepeda, thymen Arensman, Egan Bernal, Giulio Pellizzari, Aleksander Vlasov, Lorenzo Finn, Derek Gee, Ben O'Connor, Paul Double, Chris Hamilton, the Bais brothers...

And the prettiest one: D. Pozzovivo🇮🇹 who comes back from retirement at age 43, for Solution Tech Nippo.

Tom Pidcock🇬🇧 didn't feel good enough for a restart on the Ardennaises, so he is joining this race!!

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Stages

They are often composed of several circuits with a climb inside. Despite providing many climbs, the finish line is rarely at the top of a climb, but usually at/after the bottom of the descent.

NB: do not be fooled by the flatness of the detailed climb profile pictures, look at the percentages.

Stage 1 (Monday):

The easiest one.

Stage 2 (Tuesday):

Stage 3 (Wednesday):

Stage 4 (Thursday):

Possibly the hardest one.

Stage 5 (Friday):

The final one.

On Sunday will take place the only WT (or .Pro) race ridden in the country of utilitarian cycling. It loops within the hills of the south of Dutch Limburg, an area located between Maastricht and Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle) that is a sort of northern piedmont of the Ardennes. It is rarely flat, always going up and down over small hills.

PCS page

This year, the race seems strangely avoided both by Flandriens who need a rest after their races, and by the other top guys who wait a few days more for the 'real' Ardennaises. That leaves Evenepoel🇧🇪 as only mutant or semi-mutant.

Last year's winner, Skjelmose🇩🇰 will be there, but he's been so-so in Basque Country. Vauquelin🇫🇷 and Aranburu🇪🇸 are also coming from the Basque Country.

We just saw Grégoire🇫🇷 and Schmid🇨🇭 on the Flèche Brabançonne, we shall see them again after a day of rest. Jorgenson🇺🇸 is coming back after a month of rest.

It's the Arrow in Brabant - the link between the cobbled classic and the Ardennes, and a damn good race.

It might even be enjoyable, given the absence of the big 4 or 5 or however many we're counting on to attack with 80 km to go in this terrain.

The route, usually, is on narrow hilly roads through the landscape in Wallonie, from Beersel to Overijse. Along the way, the riders will pass a number of sharp short climbs - the bergs and straats - until they reach Overijse and ride three laps and a winner is declared.

It is an open field, this year, with no clear favourite - but according to PCS we should look out for:

• Gregoire
• Schmid
• Del Grosso
• Vermeersch
• Venturini
• Wellens
• Zambanini
• Menten
• Leknessund
• Baudin

This 5-day race takes place in Galicia (the very wet north-east extremity of Spain). In its short existence, it has been won twice by Vingegaard🇩🇰.

It starts with a 15 km ITT on the shore of Corunna, but it is not flat and includes at least 2 km of cobbled road. Then there are two days which seem made for punchers-sprinters, and it end with two days tailored for climbers and climbers-punchers.

Among favourites are Adam Yates (🇬🇧 UAE) et and Ivan Romeo (🇪🇸 Movistar); it looks like all French teams decided to shun this class 1 race this year.

PCS page

Stage 1, Tue 14 (ITT):

Stage 2, Wed 15:

Stage 3, Thu 16:

Stage 4, Fri 17:

Stage 5, Sat 18:

How do we know a race is a Flandrienne? Because there are cobbles? No: because Luc is around. 😜

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I suppose I don't need to present the race 😃 50 km of rough cobbles, split in 30 sectors, starting after the first 90 (of mostly flat highway) of 260 km total.

Weather: the week-end should be significantly fresher than the week, and the sky will probably be cloudy, but no rain is expected during the race on Sunday, and very little on Saturday.

Riders: we take the same ones as a week earlier on the Tour of Flanders🇧🇪, minus Evenepoel. Pogatchar (🇸🇮 UAE), Van der Poel (🇳🇱 Alpecin), Van Aert (🇧🇪 Visma), Pedersen (🇩🇰 Lidl-Trek), Stuyven (🇧🇪 Soudal), F. Vermeersch (🇧🇪 UAE), Mohoritch (🇸🇮 Bahrain), Laporte (🇫🇷 Visma), G. Vermeersch (🇧🇪 Bora), you name 'em.

Will Pedersen🇩🇰 continue his recovery, or will he suffer more on the harder cobbles? Will a sprinter manage to stay with the strong men? How long will breakaway men manage to stay with them?

Ganna (🇮🇹 Ineos) is back after having skipped the Tour of Flanders. Will he have a bit of luck this year?

Women: the race takes place after the men's race this year – not on Saturday, starts from Denain, and presents 20 cobbles sectors.

NB: The men will have to wait for the women's race to finish (up to 2 hours) to step on their podium...

This 6-stage race (Monday to Saturday) starts with a Time Trial, and then goes on with a collection of steep hills everyday. Even the Time Trial is not flat at all, starting with a 2.5 km climb, and finishing with a smaller but steeper one.

PCS page

🌞 Weather forecast: a very un-Basque weather (no rain), and the first days are going to be very hot for the season.

🚴‍♂️ Teams:

We'll get to see Del Toro (🇲🇽 UAE), Ayuso (🇪🇸 Lidl-Trek), Seixas (🇫🇷 Decathlon), Roglitch🇸🇮 and Lipowitz🇩🇪 (Bora) for GC. Perhaps Landa (🇪🇸 Soudal-QS), McNulty (🇺🇸 UAE), Uijtdebroeks (🇧🇪 Movistar) and one Ineos behind them. For stages, we can watch the 2 Basques from Cofidis who are always in shape at this time of the year when they smell home: I. Izagirre🇪🇸 and Aranburu🇪🇸 who just made 1^st^ and 4^th^ on the Indurain GP – where Q. Simmons (🇺🇸 Lidl-Trek) 2^nd^ seemed to have finally found his good legs too; as well as the EF team (Healy🇮🇪 and others); I am not about the shape of Astana riders at the moment.

🗺 General map (they picked the separatist version, where Spain and France do not exist, and the Basque Country includes parts in France):

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Stage 1 (Monday 6, Time Trial)

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Stage 2 (Tuesday 7)

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Stage 3 (Wednesday 8)

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Stage 4 (Thursday 9)

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Stage 5 (Friday 10)

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Stage 6 (Saturday 11, last day)