In 2025, the men’s road season was cannibalised by Tadej Pogačar, who scored almost twice as many UCI points as the nearest rider in the rankings, Jonas Vingegaard. In one-day races, Mathieu van der Poel did the best job of picking up the scraps left behind by Pogačar’s three Monument titles and rainbow jersey. Their tight-fisted grip, however, left 2025 to be one of the most one-sided pro seasons the men’s sport has seen since the days of Eddy Merckx.
Is there light at the end of the tunnel? Will we all be walking to the beat of Pogačar’s drum once again in 2026?
Next year will see some subtle changes in the sport. We reset the relegation cycle, expand the list of wildcard entrants to major races, and welcome a handful of new teams to the WorldTour. But now that the Grand Tour routes are coming in and the transfer window nears its final hour, let’s try to be optimistic about the future. Do we actually have reason to believe that 2026 will be more competitive than 2025?
Related questions you can explore with Ask Cyclist, our AI search engine.
Remco Evenepoel to level out the Classics?
After making the jump to Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, we had soft confirmation last week that Remco Evenepoel will alter his spring programme to include more Classics. The main focus of this is the Tour of Flanders and Milan-San Remo, two races that the Belgian has never competed in before.
Whether he’s a novelty act or not, Evenepoel’s Tour of Flanders debut will be a breath of fresh air. Thankfully, it’ll change the narrative during the pre-race hype, which would otherwise be centred on Pogačar and Van der Poel once again. In fairness though, Evenepoel could be a dab hand at the Ronde. He’s got the climbing legs required to hang on the critical bergs, and his race craft and engine are sure to come in handy once the race disintegrates in the final 50km.
Milan-San Remo is something of a long shot for Evenepoel, who may struggle to distance the likes of Pogačar on the Poggio and Van der Poel on the Via Roma. That said, it’ll be intriguing to see how the Belgian star fares in his debut Classicissima.
On the whole, this is a promising sign for 2026. If this Classics experiment works out, we may have a new protagonist in the Classics. Yes, he’s hardly an outsider or a new entity, but it’ll help diversify our list of favourites in a race that has been duopolised by Pogačar and Van der Poel in recent years.
Can Isaac del Toro extinguish Jonas Vingegaard’s Giro conquest?
After the announcement of the 2026 Giro d’Italia parcours last week, talk has intensified of a Giro debut for Visma’s two-time Tour champion Vingegaard. Now that Evenepoel has tempered his Giro ambitions, the list of Giro contenders currently looks thin on the ground. Yes, UAE Team Emirates XRG are still to confirm their strategy, but I can’t help feeling like Vingegaard will start as the out-and-out favourite if no one comes to the rescue to halt this one-man show, especially given Pogačar’s Tour-centric schedule in 2026.
Recall the build-up to the Vuelta a España, at which Vingegaard appeared the overwhelming favourite before a single pedal was turned in August. This status was only exacerbated once he bagged the first summit finish and went into the maillot rojo as early as Stage 2. If no one else steps up, we could be in for a repeat of that snoozefest.
To counteract that, look to Isaac del Toro. With the Mexican on the start line, we’d be sure to have more of a battle on our hands. The two have quite different riding styles as well, with Del Toro the more aggressive in the mountains, while Vingegaard may look to play a waiting game and hope the tough final week in the Dolomites plays to his strengths.
To keep all three Grand Tours lively, Del Toro has to start the Giro. If he’s learnt anything from this year’s race, he may be able to bring the pink jersey all the way to Rome.
Spreading the wealth
After a few years of dominance from a small handful of pro teams, the 2025/26 transfer window has done a good job of spreading star talent across the pro peloton.
Juan Ayuso’s arrival at Lidl-Trek should be seen as good news. Freed from UAE’s shackles, Ayuso will be free to live up to his own ambitions without having to balance the interests of Pogačar at UAE. In other words, it brings a new contender into the ring at stage races, Classics and even the Grand Tours going forward.
While Red Bull may seem crowded at the top, Evenepoel’s transfer should also be seen as a hopeful sign. It’s a new squad to bring into the ring, and with their resources the Olympic champ will spearhead an already strong Red Bull squad and present them a fitting competitor to UAE and Visma, who have shown such resolute dominance in the Grand Tours in recent years. If he stayed at Soudal-QuickStep, I doubt we would be having the same conversation – even after years of trying to build up an underwhelming mountain train.
Not only has established talent spread out, but it seems as though young prodigies are moving elsewhere. Paul Seixas has Decathlon to make his own, while young climbing sensation Jarno Widar makes an exciting WorldTour debut at Lotto-Intermarché and Czech wonderkid Pavel Novák moves to Movistar for his first season as an elite pro.
Whereas in recent years youngsters have been drawn to the likes of UAE and Visma, the stars of tomorrow are pinning their hopes elsewhere. No longer will we have 21-year-old supertalents working on behalf of the likes of Tadej and Jonas. Instead, these riders have long-term plans in motion to allow them to flourish sooner as leaders in major races.
The sprinters reclaim their limelight
While the GC and Classics field benefits from something of a transfer carousel, the sprinting world will also see some changes to its look and feel in 2026.
A fair few riders have upped sticks ahead of 2026. Dylan Groenewegen has opted for Unibet Rose Rockets, a second-division French team, while stars of yesteryear Sam Bennett, Pascal Ackermann and Fernando Gaviria have also swapped team colours in an attempt to relive their glory days.
The sprinting transfer to keep your eyes on, however, will no doubt be Olav Kooij. After years spent in Visma’s afterthoughts, the Dutchman will be relishing his opportunity as the first choice sprinter. Already proven at the Giro d’Italia, he’s got the faith of Decathlon next year. In preparation, Decathlon-CMA CGM will field a devilish sprint train in 2026, backed up by a wrath of Dutch-speaking rouleurs such as Cees Bol, Tiesj Benoot and Daan Hoole. With Kooij in the driver’s seat, I reckon he is in for a big year in 2026 and could have what it takes to become the best sprinter in the world. At the very least he may finally get the chance to ride the Tour de France.
Kooij won’t be the only sprinter to enjoy full team control in 2026. Tim Merlier will also have a whole roster wrapped around his finger now that Evenepoel has been shifted from QuickStep’s payroll. With that, he’ll have a beefed-up sprint train and all the necessary resources to properly target all the Grand Tour stages he wishes in 2026.
On the other side of the coin, Jonathan Milan may have to miss out on some of the fun in 2026. He’s expected to be subbed into the Giro d’Italia to let Mads Pedersen have a go at the Tour de France green jersey. With the pair locking up all three Grand Tour sprinters’ jerseys between them in 2025, they won’t be short of confidence, but Pedersen will be up against a highly competitive sprinting field at the Tour with the likes of Kooij, Merlier, Jasper Philipsen and Biniam Girmay.
New year, same old Tour (and world champion)
As optimistic as I may sound about the season as a whole, there’s still a big race to address: the Tour de France.
Pogačar will (once again) start as the out-and-out favourite for Tour glory next July. The route looks well-suited to him (don’t they all?), and UAE Team Emirates will likely bring another watertight roster to secure a history-equalling fifth yellow jersey in Paris. Five stage victories and a two-week stint in yellow look all but inevitable at this point. Even with a pink jersey to warm his cockles, Tour victory still looks out of reach for Vingegaard.
If the Tour isn’t enough, it’s likely the UCI Road World Championships in Canada could also play into the hands of Pogačar. The Slovenian is familiar with the route, having won on a near-identical Montréal course on two occasions at September’s GP Montréal. The playing field may be levelled with Del Toro, Evenepoel and Ayuso’s boost in confidence – and even an emerging Seixas – but the outcome looks pretty nailed on for now.
Luckily for us, discussion of a Pogačar debut at the Vuelta seems off the table. In that case, we may still get some excitement next autumn after all.
