Cycling Project — the daily pulse of road cycling

The Cyclists' Alliance's 2026 survey of 127 riders found that 75% of the 52 Continental respondents receive no salary from their team. Among WorldTeam respondents, 90% have contracts of two years or longer, and 79% of Continental respondents have one-year deals. The women's peloton is split by tier, and the TCA's asks to the UCI read as a minimum standard for the lower one.

The Cyclists' Alliance (TCA) released its 2026 rider survey, which highlighted race safety, clear development pathways and additional health screenings as ongoing concerns. Riders have raised these same issues for a few seasons already. Over the same period, women's cycling has grown fast, with record numbers for the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.

Pogačar's agent Alex Carera said on RAI's RadioCorsa that a Vuelta a España start in 2027 is more likely than the Giro d'Italia. Pogačar said earlier in October that he would rather go to the Giro but will have to check off the Vuelta at some point.

A jury at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court found Simon Richardson guilty of murder over the death of cyclist Michael Mullins. The Crown chose murder over causing death by dangerous driving because Richardson kept driving knowing Mullins was trapped, and death or really serious injury was virtually foreseeable. The CPS says this is one of the first murder convictions arising following a road traffic collision.

Dylan Teuns announced his retirement on Instagram on Thursday, ending a 12-year professional career after he failed to find a team for 2027. Lotto-Intermarché told him the previous Friday that it had no place for him, and he turned down a smaller team. A La Flèche Wallonne winner and two-time Tour de France stage winner leaves the peloton without a contract offer he wanted.

Cyclingnews' wind tunnel test of the Merida Reacto One ended with the bike barely scraping the top 10, remarkably short of the Factor One and Cervélo S5. The cockpit is 22.5cm between the hoods but 42cm at the drops, and the bike was tested with hands in the drops. Cyclingnews says that position did not let the narrow bars show their benefit, and that a hoods position would likely have made a difference.

Thömus Maxon has signed Charlie Aldridge for 2027 on a two-year deal that runs through the Los Angeles Olympic Games 2028. Phil Dixon becomes sport director and Kenta Gallagher joins as skills coach, both coming from Cannondale Factory Racing. Aldridge is the first non-Swiss athlete in the history of a team that was exclusively Swiss until now, so what arrives is a British working group, not one rider.

Bahrain Victorious named Factor Bikes its official bike partner from the 2027 season, a day after Bianchi announced it is ending its partnership with the team. The deal marks Factor's return to the men's WorldTour. David Millar, Factor's chief brand officer, calls it the first time he has been directly involved in working with a men's WorldTour team in his role at Factor.

Picnic-PostNL has appointed Professor Marjan Olfers to lead an independent investigation into team culture, working with her company Verinorm. The same day, Esmée Peperkamp told NOS her health and form deteriorated in five seasons at the team and called its medical support 'substandard'. She also said riders and staff she worked with have contractual clauses preventing public criticism of the team, even after leaving. An investigation built on interviews and surveys depends on exactly that speech.

Paul Seixas covered contracts, race calendar, safety and taking on Tadej Pogačar in a media tour, his third appearance of the week. His Decathlon CMA CGM contract runs until the end of 2027, so the contract question is now being aired in public.

Life Time unveiled standardized qualification criteria for riders seeking pro-category entry at Unbound Gravel, Leadville and its other marquee races, requiring an LT Pro Number for 2027. The stated reason is a specific incident: crashes involving less-experienced riders and Grand Prix contenders in the first six miles of the Unbound Gravel 200 two years earlier, as Cyclingnews reports Life Time cited. Pro entry now depends on results and a committee, not on signing up.

Travis Stedman won stage 5 of the Nedbank Gravel Burn, his second straight, and Hayley Preen took her second stage of the event. Neither leads the overall: Matt Beers holds a 32-second GC lead in the men's race, and Nele Laing leads the women's by 55 seconds. With two stages left in the women's race, the stage wins and the GC sit with different riders.

The UCI and Skydance published the 2027 WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series calendar on 29 October 2026: 10 rounds over 10 weekends between May and October, across eight countries. North America is down to two stops, Soldier Hollow - Midway for XCO/XCC and Whistler Mountain Bike Park for downhill.

Zwift launched Zwift Plus, a premium tier that holds Zwift Coach and Zwift Video exclusively. The standard membership stays at £17.99/$19.99/€19.99 per month while Zwift Plus costs £26.99/$29.99/€29.99.

Bianchi and Bahrain Victorious mutually agreed to end their partnership after one season, effective immediately. The press release does not say why. It comes after a season in which the bikes took a stage at the Giro d'Italia and a stage at the Vuelta a España, nine wins in all according to CyclingPro.

Cyclingnews, citing Het Laatste Nieuws, reports that Lotto-Intermarché is no longer an option for Primož Roglič, alongside Visma-Lease a Bike. According to Het Laatste Nieuws, Lotto-Intermarché had offered him a contract, which he declined. Asked at Il Lombardia about riding on in 2027, he said: «I don't know it yet. We will see. We will see.»

Paul Seixas went on Canal+ 'Clique' on 29 October and called for stricter organisational standards after the death of Finlay Tarling. He said the problem «is not the only one», repeating much of what Remco Evenepoel said at Il Lombardia. That protest was run by riders through a WhatsApp group, with the CPA union and the teams kept out, and the demand is still being made nearly three weeks later.

Visma-Lease a Bike is considering Matthew Brennan for the 2027 Tour de France, and team boss Richard Plugge says he is part of the team's 2027 plans alongside Wout van Aert and Jonas Vingegaard. Brennan won five stages of the 2026 Vuelta a España and took 12 wins in 2026, the same number as Vingegaard. His results have put the question on the team's desk, and the team's answer so far is «Let us evaluate and make plans for next year.»

EF Education-EasyPost announced that Matt White has joined as a sports director for the 2027 season. EF dismissed him in January 2011 over a rider referral, and it now brings him back while Carapaz, Valgreen and Asgreen leave and Healy and Powless take the lead. The hire is a bet on a director's experience while the roster is rebuilt.

BMC will end its official cross-country structure at the end of 2026, and BMC Factory Racing leaves the XCO World Cup in 2027. BMC gives a move into women's road cycling, which it calls 'long overdue', as the reason, and has not yet said which women's team will use its bikes in 2027.

Visma-Lease a Bike has told Primož Roglič's entourage it is no longer pursuing his signing, according to WielerFlits as reported by Wielernieuws. Visma-Lease a Bike had reportedly re-contacted him about a return, and he had spoken with the team about a possible comeback. The team gave no reason, and team sources declined to clarify. His Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe contract expires and he is unsigned for next year.

AiRO confirmed it will work with Netcompany Ineos on aero testing in 2027. It is the brand's first official partnership with a team. The tool costs about $200 a session through specialist bike fitters, and AiRO already claims other WorldTour teams as paying customers. Netcompany Ineos adds a name to a product that was already on sale.

Tofik Beshir has spent 20 days in hospital after a head-on collision with a motor vehicle driver and has been moved to a Washington, D.C.-area hospital to be near family. Chris Merriam, founder and team manager of CXD Trek Bikes, says Beshir is "much more conscious" than the prior week and that there is "a long road ahead".

Lidl-Trek announced Lidl-Trek Future Racing Women, a Continental-level development team for 2027, with a 10-rider roster from eight countries. The number of women's development teams stays the same, because UAE Team L'IMAD shut its own this year. The roster is not strictly under-23, and manager Fränk Schleck says selection looked beyond results.

Netcompany Ineos sports director Dario Cioni told Bici.PRO that Bernal «will restart as scheduled in 2027.» Bernal's own wording is smaller: on 2026-10-08 he wrote that his intention is to start the upcoming season, under contract with Netcompany Ineos until the end of 2029. The same statement left a premature exit open.

Cofidis have signed Gabriela Guerra, a two-time Esports World Championships runner-up, on a two-year deal running through 2028. Sporting manager Raphaël Jeune acknowledges the uncertainty and is betting on her determination and late-season road form. The tests he names are adapting to professional racing, performing across successive race days and working for teammates.

Joseph Hedley, 39, avoided jail at Edinburgh Sheriff Court for assaulting cyclist Ian Brown, and was given an electronic tag, a 12-month home curfew from 7pm to 7am and a two-year supervision order. He had pleaded guilty to assaulting Brown to his severe injury, permanent impairment and to the danger of his life. Sheriff Fergus Thomson said he imposed an alternative to custody "by the narrowest of margins".

A shorter crank is a fit change, and the saddle has to move with it. Phil Burt sees very little downside to shorter cranks, but only if saddle height and setback are adjusted for the new hip and knee angles. Swap the crank and leave the saddle, and you have changed the position without fixing it.

Team TotalEnergies announced Pardus as its bike supplier from 2027, replacing Cube, in a three-year deal running through 2029. The team was left off the UCI's 2027 list, which carried 12 ProTeams against 14 applications. The supplier is one more box ticked in a licence application that is still open.

Mads Pedersen testified via video link on 26 October 2026 in the image-rights case against HBO Nordic at the Maritime and Commercial High Court. HBO Nordic says the athletes consented through the IOC participation terms and that the use was editorial. Pedersen says it was a subscription ad: «I completely understand that HBO and TV2 promote cycling, but here they are advertising a subscription.»

Lucinda Brand leaves Lidl-Trek for Canyon-SRAM on a two-year contract. The deal maps the rest of her road career: Paris-Roubaix Femmes in 2028 as the planned finale, then a role on the technical staff.

Havering Council, now under Reform UK control, has scrapped the £1.1m Marsh Way Active Travel Scheme in Rainham. Transport for London and the Thames Gateway Project were funding all of it. The reasons for the cancellation are unclear, and road.cc's request to the council for them went unanswered.

Maximilian Schachmann announced on Instagram that he is leaving Soudal-Quick Step, and he did not name a new team. He was not selected for any Grand Tour in 2026, and his last race for the team was Il Lombardia, where he finished 50th.

Jay Vine extended his contract with UAE Team Emirates-XRG until the end of the 2029 season, the team announced on 2026-10-27. The team signed him after a year in which he left Catalunya, the Giro d'Italia, Burgos and the Vuelta a España early. The announcement still calls him one of its most versatile riders and lists the Tour Down Under and Vuelta stage wins.

Tickets for the Tour de France 2027 team presentation on the Edinburgh Castle esplanade start at £27. The Tour's team presentations are generally free, and the Edinburgh one is ticketed for the first time since 2014. The UK government is putting £65m into hosting the 2027 Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes grands départs, and the public is still asked to pay at the door.

Ruby Taylor won the elite women's race at Gravelista in Seymour, Victoria, with a solo margin of 8 minutes 50 seconds. Harry Leask won the elite men's race 23 seconds ahead of Tasman Nankervis. One result was settled by a gap, the other by a late move.

Paula Blasi has signed a three-year deal with Movistar after leaving UAE Team ADQ. She won La Vuelta Femenina in May, then went to the Tour de France Femmes as one of three possible leaders and finished fifth in Nice as a super-domestique for Elisa Longo Borghini. Her explanation for the exit is that when several riders can win, nobody sets the direction.

Paul Seixas said on RMC that he has not decided where he will race after 2027 and may start that season without announcing anything. In July he told L'Équipe he still had time. Now he calls the debate «increasingly oppressive».

Mercy Eragae, 18, of Team Amani's Black Mamba Development team, took bronze in the junior women's road race in Kisumu. Madison Bateson of South Africa won and Joudy El Sayed of Egypt was second, with Eragae third in the sprint. It is the first medal by a Kenyan in the 19-year history of the African road cycling championships, according to Nation Kenya. Kenya had hosted the event for the three years before 2026.

The 2027 Tour de France Femmes runs nine days from Leeds to the Puy de Dôme, with an 18 km team time trial in London and no individual time trial. Cyclingnews says the Puy de Dôme finish, 11.3 km at an average of 7.8%, will decide the yellow jersey. That leaves a climbing contest, and Demi Vollering is Cyclingnews' early pick as overall favourite.

Ezra Bateman, 16, set the fastest time of the day at the national hill climb on the 6.6km Porlock Toll Road: 14:31.9. Ed Laverack won the Open title 0.2 seconds behind him, because Bateman was entered in the junior category and the senior and junior races are separate events ridden concurrently. Bateman himself says the two categories are different.

Prudhomme says the 2027 route is not an anti-Pogačar strategy, and that Pogačar «aime les défis» and may win both time trials. He also acknowledges the route suits Paul Seixas more. The organiser's own account leaves the 71 km of time trialling open to Pogačar.

Tuttosport reported a 2027 Giro route with a double ascent of the Mortirolo from its steeper side, the Passo Gavia as Cima Coppi and a finish at Zoncolan. None of it is official: Cyclingnews calls the route a classic format based on reports and predictions. The 2026 route had almost all the classic Alpine and Dolomite mountains missing.

Remco Evenepoel uploaded a 65.34 km Strava ride titled "LA 2028 ITT RECON", centred on the expected time trial course around Griffith Observatory. He climbed to the Observatory in 10:23 on a segment with a 7:22 course record, a pace that suggests scouting rather than going full gas.

The 2027 Tour de France Grand Départ will be a first "Super Grand Départ" in Great Britain, combining the men's and women's races. Organisers are already discussing the legacy they want. The Tour de Yorkshire, which followed the 2014 Tour, ended after the 2019 edition.