Matthew Riccitello and Biniam Girmay have both enjoyed victories this weekend, two of the many riders debuting for a new team, and thoroughly enjoying themselves.
Cor Vos
The road racing season is barely a month old, and yet plenty of storylines have already spilled ink, including a few that we’ll be following for the duration of 2026. Of course, UAE Team Emirates-XRG has essentially picked up from where it left off a few months ago, but they’ve had competition in the early-season discourse: after a busy winter for transfers, new signings have been particularly successful so far in 2026.
And we’re not just talking about the exploits of Remco Evenepoel with Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe. The Belgian is just one of many who has broken the seal with victory, including Tobias Lund Andresen (Decalthon-CMA CGM), Sam Welsford (Ineos Grenadiers), Ewen Costiou (Groupama-FDJ United), Arne Marit (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) and Dylan Groenewegen (Unibet Rose Rockets) among others.
Remco Evenepoel is quickly making Red Bull his team
With four wins in his first five races of the year, the team’s marquee signee is making an early claim to top status in the leadership hierarchy.
This weekend, Matthew Riccitello and Biniam Girmay have been among the winners at the Tour de la Provence and Clasica de Almeria, both of them in their first or second appearance for Decathlon-CMA CGM and NSN respectively. Both of them winning for the first time in many many months, and both proving the merits of a fresh start.
The relative success of new signings compared to their own previous performances is a familiar theme for this point in a season. We saw it last year with Tom Pidcock’s flying start for Q36.5 at the AlUla Tour and Jhonatan Narváez at the Tour Down Under, and in 2024 when Isaac Del Toro christened his pro career with a WorldTour stage victory on his third day in a UAE Team jersey. But 2026 has seen the number of victorious new signings more than double (and the increase is still significant even without Evenepoel’s contribution). 35% of this season’s results in the men’s peloton so far have been won by those wearing a new team’s jersey.
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