Last year, Australia enjoyed an excellent Road World Championships, securing silver with Neve Bradbury in the women's U23 road race category, gold in the mixed team time trial event, and again in the elite women's time trial with Grace Brown. Ben O'Connor rounded out the week with a notably surprising silver medal in the elite men’s road race.

While the West Australian has a much more uneven track record in one-day racing than in multi-day events, he came through strongly in the raggedly fought late battle to stand next to winner Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia) on the podium.

O'Connor is not taking part in this year's race "for various reasons", as he told Cyclingnews during the Vuelta a España, but Australia are nonetheless fielding a well-rounded eight-man elite squad both for the time trial - where Luke Plapp and Jay Vine will be gunning for top results - as well as the road race.

"We're an under-the-radar team, if I'm honest, but it's just like in the Worlds last year, where we had a really strong team and we got a guy on the podium at the end," Jai Hindley told reporters whilst en route to fourth overall in the recent Vuelta a España.

"So that was not too bad for little old Oz, eh?

"I think we have a really great team, with some guys who are really in form," continued Hindley, who is slated as a likely co-leader for the elite men's event where he took 18th last year.

"Hopefully I can come out of the Vuelta in pretty good nick, and it's always special to race for the Aussie team, when you get the opportunity. This year, the Worlds on paper is a super-hard course, and I think it'll be a pretty interesting one."

The Rwanda elite men's course itself, with 5,475 metres of vertical climbing, will make for an exceptional event, Callum Scotson, also part of the Australian lineup, told Cyclingnews during the Vuelta.

"For me at least, it's a bit unique, normally when there are so many climbing metres, you think more about a mountain stage," added Scotson, making his debut in the elite men's squad.

"It's certainly tougher than a usual World Championships, and that's where it's a little bit of an unknown, particularly coming so late in the season.

"It's interesting, because no one really knows how it can pan out, with so many climbing metres, some cobbles… everyone will be interested in what the course is really like."

The benefits of three weeks of hard racing in the Vuelta are something Scotson, for one, hoped he would feel.

"Sometimes coming off the Vuelta can be a great thing when you've got those tough legs," as he put it, whilst the effect of the high altitude at Kigali will also play a part, Scotson said.

"I think everyone going for the Worlds will have done something at altitude, whether it's immediately before that," - with Plapp, who has done through August training specifically at the same altitude in the Pyrenees as the Rwanda course - “or even if you're doing the Vuelta, directly before that, so they'll have the benefits of that. But the altitude in itself will only make the racing harder.

"I don't know who Australia is thinking of as their leader for the road race, but I imagine there are maybe three or so guys who can play their cards, and at least here on the Vuelta, we've seen that Jay Vine and Jai Hindley are in great form. There could be one or two others, too, who could turn up and are ready to fight for a result."

Scotson himself is simply pleased to be there after missing out last year due to sickness, and with a fifth in the U23 Time Trial in the 2017 Elite World Championships as his best personal performance.

"It would have been my first time in the elite, so it's nice to be selected again, and I'm really looking forward to it. We have quite a strong team, a lot of strong climbers, and you can see that already here," he said, during the Vuelta.

"So I'm looking forward to going there and just supporting whoever my leaders are, do whatever I can in the early and middle part of the race.”

He agreed with Hindley, too, that Australia were fielding a powerful squad, and that while there were some top standout favourites, 'under-the-radar' squads can always impact in a race as unpredictable as the World Championships.

"With what Ben O'Connor did last year, it just shows - he also wasn't a favourite to make the podium but anything can happen if you arrive with good form.

"This late in the season, you really never know. And I just want to try to assist those guys with whatever they need to get there."

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US time trial champion Emily Ehrlich (Virginia's Blue Ridge TWENTY28) was the last rider on course but could not match the dominant pace set by the Dutchwoman and finished second, 41 seconds back. She did disrupt a Visma podium sweep, going 7 seconds faster than Margaux Vigié, and dropping Carlijn Achtereekte to fourth.

The bronze medalist at this year's Dutch time trial nationals, Nooijen dashed around the two laps of the 11km course with both the best intermediate time and the best finishing time, stopping the clock at 28:50. Finishing one spot off the podium at the TT at Simac Ladies Tour a week ago, Nooijen recorded her first victory of the season in Gatineau.

"Well, it was a super tough time trial. But yeah, to win this time trial in Canada, it's super nice and happy to take them in today,. It makes our trip amazing," Nooijen said on the FloBikes broadcast about her first time in Canada.

The new circuit for 2025 was completed twice for 22.2km, taking riders from the centre of Gatineau in Québec across the Ottawa River into Ontario, crossing the waterway on the Portage Bridge for an out-and-back path. The U-turn in Ontario arrived at kilometre 4.5 on the first pass and kilometre 15.5 on the second pass. After crossing the Ottawa River a final time on the Portage Bridge, just 2km remained for the finish.

The field was absent the top seven riders from last year, with Julie Lacourciere, eighth in 2024, the highest returning competitor and this year riding for Team Canada. The number one bib was carried by Ehrlich as the US elite women's TT winner from May.

Canadian Isabelle Mayrand (ECF p/p Golden Sport) was the first rider down the start ramp and 31 riders to follow, with bright, blue skies and mild temperatures offering no weather conditions for the final days of summer.

When Ehrlich hit the course, 24-year-old Nooijen was already in the hot seat, having started 12 riders ahead as the final rider in the second of three waves. The US rider then had a big deficit to close by the second lap, 21 seconds behind the best intermediate time set by Nooijen, 14:29.

A few riders ahead of Ehrlich on the course was Visma's Achtereekte, who had the second-best time split until the US champion went by one second faster. While Ehrlich then passed Lacourciere, who started one minute in front, she could not make up the difference to Nooijen.

"I haven't done a time trial in a while now, I was home sick for a while, so it's been a little little bit rough trying to get back into race form," Ehrlich said at the finish.

"I would say in the second lap, it felt like it started to get a little bit harder, but I tried my best today, and I'm very happy with my result."

Ehrlich last raced in June at the Armed Forces Cycling Classic. She had opened her 2025 season having won gold medals in the Individual Pursuit and Team Pursuit at Pan American Track Championships and at the Road Pan-Ams she took silver in the time trial.

Friday's UCI 1.1 time trial will be followed on Saturday with a road race and a criterium on Sunday, all events scored as individual races and not combined as a stage race.

Results

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The men race on a similar course to the women in central Kigali, covering 40.6km rather than 31.2km. The men's course includes several rolling climbs, mostly on wide roads, explaining why the likes of Filippo Ganna (Italy) opted not to ride this year.

The course starts inside the 10,000-seat BK Arena in central Kigali, so on an indoor start ramp. The route heads south to climb the so-called Côte de Nyanza on the out-and-back sector, then the two-kilometre Côte de Peage with just seven kilometres to go. There is also a climb to the finish via the Côte de Kimihurura, with the line outside the Kigali Convention Centre, as for all the races.

Riders will have to stay aero as they tackle the climbs and the 680 metres of climbing of the 40.6km course. The 1500-metre altitude will also be a factor and will hurt anyone who fails to pace their effort.

Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) and Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia) are expected to fight for the rainbow jersey but could be challenged by riders who raced the Vielta a España.

These are the Cyclingnews' contenders for the elite men's time trial.

Remco Evenepoel (Belgium)

Evenepoel is the defending champion and arguably the favourite to win his third consecutive world title in Rwanda.

He beat Ganna by 12 seconds in Zurich last year and has finished on the podium on three other occasions, becoming junior world champion in Innsbruck in 2018.

Evenepoel also won this year's early time trial stage at the Tour de France beating an on-form Pogačar by 16 seconds on a flat 33km course. He suffered in the mountain time trial stage and then quit the Tour with fatigue.

He returned to racing at the Tour of Britain after an altitude camp in Livigno and confirmed his transfer from Soudal-QuickStep to Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe for 2026. Evenepoel won the hardest stage of the Tour of Britain in Wales but doubts remain about how good his form really is.

The time trial will be the first indication if Evenepoel has a real shot at winning both the time trial and road race titles in Rwanda.

Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia)

A special performance will be needed to beat Evenepoel on the rolling roads of Kigali, but Pogačar appears able to do special things whenever he gets on his bike.

He is not as aerodynamic and not a time trial specialist like the Belgian but manages to produce the same power and performances that have won him the Tour de France four times and most of the biggest Classics on the calendar.

Pogačar wants a world title double, too, and he would not have opted to ride the time trial if he did not believe in his chances. He only returned to racing in Canada, and admitted he has been riding his time trial bike during his summer break from racing.

His best world champion time trial result was sixth in Wollongong in 2022. However, the hilly Kigali course changes everything and means Pogačar is Evenepoel's biggest rival.

Jay Vine and Luke Plapp (Australia)

Australia has two talented riders and two possible medal contenders for the men's time trial. Jay Vine and Luke Plapp have taken two different paths to Rwanda but are both suited to the hilly course, which penalises their more powerful rivals.

Plapp was a late call-up to the Tour de France after riding the Giro d'Italia and winning a stage in Italy. He was ninth in the flat Tour time trial and then fifth in the Peyragudes mountain time trial. The sum of his performances confirm Plapp has the time trial skills and climbing ability to excel in Rwanda. He has spent recent weeks at altitude in Andorra and seems fresh, happy and ambitious.

Vine arrived in Rwanda from the Vuelta a España. He is surely fatigued after winning two stages, the mountain's jersey and riding for João Almeida but is clearly on form. If he stayed healthy and stayed focused, he could upset the Evenepoel-Pogačar battle.

Vine is a former Australian national time trial champion and is skilled at staying in an aero tuck and riding hilly time trials. He only lost the 12km Valladolid Vuelta time trial by a few hundredths of a second to Ganna and seems confident and ambitious after a season without major setbacks

Isaac del Toro (México)

The Mexican super-talent is a true dark horse for the time trial. Isaac del Toro is not a proven time trial rider at World Championships level but his current form elevates above others and makes him a medal contender.

Last week Del Toro won the GP Industria & Artigianato, Giro della Toscana, Coppa Sabatini and Trofeo Matteotti in Italy and who can forget his Giro d'Italia performance.

He may struggle to stay aero for all of the 40km time trial but has the form to handle the climbs and a mentality that shakes off any pressure and expectation.

Bruno Armirail and Paul Seixas (France)

Bruno Armirail and Paul Seixas are two contrasting riders but give France two cards to play in the time trial.

Armirail is a classic rouleur time trialist, who has the power, time trial skills and mentality for racing against the clock. He is the current French national champion after beating Kévin Vauquelin and Seixas in June.

He rode the Tour and the Vuelta this summer, finishing fourth in the Caen and Valladolid stages. He is 31 but has been buoyed by Visma-Lease a bike signing him for 2026.

If Armirail represents the current best in French time trialling, Seixas is the future. The 18-year-old was junior world champion in Zurich last year. He proved he is a true 'super talent' by impressing at the Tour of the Alps and then the Critérium du Dauphiné, where he was eighth overall. He recently won the Tour de L'Avenir confirming his Grand Tour potential and won the opening prologue up to Tignes and then the final 10km mountain time trial.

He has since trained at altitude and will also be part of the French road race team alongside Julian Alaphilippe and Valentin Madouas.

Iván Romeo (Spain)

Iván Romeo is another young revelation and part of Spain's next generation that includes Juan Ayuso and Pablo Torres.

He has been a WorldTour rider since 2023 and won the Under-23 time trial world title in 2024 before the UCI changed their rules to stop WorldTour competing at the lower level.

Romeo made his Tour debut this year and was seventh in the Caen time trial and then went on the attack on four different road stages. He is the current Spanish road race national champion, which confirms his many talents.

Matteo Sobrero (Italy)

Ganna opted not to ride the World Championships due to the hilly course and so Italy have selected Matteo Sobrero, Gann's close friend and possibly future brother-in-law.

The eclectic Mattia Cattaneo will also race for the azzurri in the time trial, before forming part of the Mixed Relay and road race teams, and joining Evenepoel at Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe in 2026.

Sobrero was Italian time trial champion in 2021 when he beat Eduardo Affini and Cattaneo, and is suited to the hilly Kigali course.

Stefan Küng (Switzerland)

Küng is perhaps not suited to the hills of Rwanda but true to character, he will fly the flag for Switzerland and give his all.

He rode the Vuelta a España and so has the endurance and form to secure a result if he can pace his effort on the climbs and then accelerate on the descents.

Magnus Sheffield (USA)

A number of US riders, including Brandon McNulty, opted out of the World Championships but Sheffield but will be in Rwanda after riding the Vuelta.

He was 13th last year and 16th in the Paris Olympics time trial. The hilly course and the absence of other riders could see him finish in the top 10 or even higher.

Subscribe to Cyclingnews to unlock unlimited access to our coverage of the first-ever UCI Road World Championships on African soil. Our team of journalists will bring you all the major storylines, in-depth analysis, and more directly from the action in Rwanda as the next rainbow jerseys are decided. Find out more.

The Knog Blinder Rear Bike Light represents potentially Knog’s best budget bike light offering, at least for the back of your bike anyway. It sits below the Blinder R-150 and above the more commuter, and not daylight riding, Blinder Mini, with a competitive 100 lumens that makes it comfortably bright enough for day time visibility.

It features a broad range of flash patterns and modes that make use of the variable pattern options available from more basic block shapes to 'Peace' and 'Skull' options. Not only does this add to the charm factor of this light but it also makes it stand out to other road users and draws attention to the rider, a useful safety feature.

So as to reduce charge cable waste, the charge connector is integrated into the light, and with IP67 water and dust resistance, promises to not be compromised over time, but potential concerns still remain.

Design and specifications

The Knog Blinder rear bike light has a slightly different take on many rear lights, in that Knog has decided that it provides a great opportunity to add a bit of personality to your ride. Coming in somewhat more standard Square and Grid light structures, with an 'X' option as well, there is also the 'Peace' and 'Skull' light patterns – these are product variations rather than selectable modes.

Using various quantities of the 144 LEDs that make up the light, patterns can be created so as to add something a bit different to the light. Partially this is somewhat of a safety feature too, since our eyes are drawn to different patterns.

As for the light itself, these 144 LEDs produce a brightness of 100 lumens. To ensure this remains consistent, Knog has fitted it’s Chip On Board system (COB) which provides maximum brightness for 90% of the total charge capacity of the light, before any dimming kicks in to conserve remaining power.

There are five flash patterns in total, with varying degrees of brightness, fade, and flash, and a total of eight modes. Battery life for the High Steady mode is 2.7 hours claimed, while Eco Flash 78 hours claimed on the box, 60 hours on the website. Knog claims the light gives daylight visibility of 450m.

Charging is on the longer scale for a light like this, at four hours from flat, with a low battery and full charge indicator LED by the single button for on/off and mode switch. Knog has come up with a novel way to reduce the amount of cable waste though, integrating a USB-A charger into the light itself. This leaves it somewhat exposed to the elements, but the light still features a waterproof rating of IP67. This means it’s dust proof and can withstand 1m of water pressure submerged for 30 minutes. At the rear of the bike this is unlikely to ever present an issue as rear wheel spray will not reach that pressure.

The light itself is rather petite at 43x43mm and 46mm deep with the USB-A. Medical grade silicone is used to shroud the light and provide the strap, of which there are three lengths. A slight gully at the rear of the light means it mounts well to both round and more aero profiled seatposts, however square tubes are not as easy to mount on. 22-32+mm is the claimed seatpost diameter that the light can be fitted to, using one of the three rubber O-rings supplied.

Performance

Straight out the box, the first thing I have to compliment Knog on is the use of entirely cardboard recyclable packaging. There is no surplus of material used, with the light and rubber loops all kept together between the two piece of card, the details on the back of the packaging, and instructions on a QR code. It’s neat, it’s simple, and there’s no waste.

As for the light itself, I was initially met with the first minor hurdle straight away. The fitting system is similar to the Wahoo Trackr Radar, where a more rugged latch attaches to the loop to make fitting and removing less of a faff. However, it took me a little while to work out you have to angle this a certain way to release it from the catch. This can be a little more tricky if the loop is at a very high stretch around a seatpost, but I take responsibility for not working this one out properly sooner. But now you’ll know for if you get one.

With the loops, three different sizes are provided. One is far too small for fitting to any seatpost frankly, but the others make it possible to fit around most round tubes and some more aero profiled ones, and less deep aero profiled posts. However with the way the rear of the light is designed, wider blunt profiled tubes are impossible to fit on, I did not have this problem with the ones I tested, but I can see it being an issue.

The reason for this is the battery charger plug, in this case an exposed USB-A connector. This has the benefit of removing a cable from the equation, and therefore an opening that would need to be secured from the elements. It does present a couple of potential issues though. Firstly, even though it is attached to a more flexible rubber base, I am paranoid about snapping the connection off. Also, I do wonder how it deals with long term water exposure.

The light is IP67 rated for dust and water protection, so unless you submerge it in deep water for long periods of time, it should be fine. It has also presented no issues during testing, so I can’t say this is a problem that necessarily exists, just a concern of mine long term insofar as bare metal connectors exposed to regular salty spray may not fare too well from a theoretical standpoint.

One thing that is quantifiable though is the charge time – around four hours from flat – which is a good long while. The battery life itself is strong on the lower power modes, with a claimed 78 hours max on the box and 60 hours on the website. However for day light riding my preferred option is the High Flash, with 4.4 hours of battery life. Fine for most rides many of us will do, but after a long day in the saddle that will require a long charge time. Also, that USB-A charge connector is becoming a touch obsolete with the introduction of USB-C on pretty much everything at both ends of the connectors. I have maybe one or two USB-A charge plugs at home now whereas most are USB-C.

But I’ve managed to talk about the light without actually talking about the light performance itself. For just 100 lumens, it’s actually impressively bright. The COB system means it maintains this brightness even when the battery starts to fade, and that 100 lumens makes for a light that illuminates a good area behind you. This makes it plenty bright enough for day riding and staying visible.

Knog claims a 450m range for being seen, but it’s not clear if this is at night or day, I’d be inclined to say day given how bright it is. It is not as bright as the Lezyne Strip Drive Pro 400+, but that has four times the lumens. I would not say it is four times brighter though; Knog has done a very good job with this Blinder rear light.

My favourite feature of this light though is the fun factor. Many metrics within cycling to gauge performance are objective and quantifiable, but there is a distinct lack of subjective and qualifiable performance measures. I’m a huge fan of riding your bike for fun, and making it as fun as possible. Having the Peace sign option, or the Skull option that I have on test, both bring a bit of character to your bike and attire, and do just make it a bit more fun. Add to that it makes for some standout light patterns that are sure to get the attention of other road users, so this fun elements does not come at the compromise of performance or safety.

Value

Looking at the Blinder compared to other rear lights in Knog’s range, it actually stands out as one of the best value offering looking at price per lumens. The R-150 has, as the name suggests, 150 lumens but costs £62.99, while the Blinder Mini is £26.99 and just 30 lumens. The Blinder strikes a wonderful balance between being bright enough for daytime usage, while coming in at a price that is able to be seen as less of an investment and more of a necessary purchase. It doesn’t perhaps integrate as neatly into the seatpost as the Blinder R-150, but those extra 50 lumens don’t add a massive amount to the brightness in daylight conditions in my experience and testing.

However, the likes of the Lezyne Strip Drive Pro 400+ are a different beast altogether. That’s a boost in brightness that really has a tangible impact, and while it has a longer charge time it comes at a price that is not significantly more expensive at £55, so does frankly offer a better value option. You can also splurge a bit further for the intelligent AI version of that light with integrated brake lighting.

I do admittedly enjoy the Knog Blinder's unique selling point of using different light pattern designs for the lights, with this Skull version adding something a little unique and personalised to your bike and setup. It’s fun, and fun is a subjective and non-quantifiable metric, but an important one nonetheless.

Knog is also a company that donates 10% of its proceeds to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), an international and independent medical humanitarian organisation, though only through sales of the Peace option for this specific light. There’s also 2 year warranties on the products and going through customer service incognito has proven easy and effective. I do think the Lezyne Strip Drive Pro 400+ is better value, and still remains my favourite rear bike light without a radar function, but the Knog Blinder is fun, and it makes me smile.

Verdict

The Knog Blinder Rear bike light does something that not many things in the cycling industry do, and puts fun factor far up on its list of priorities. It does this without any compromise to performance or safety, and if anything compliments those factors. It’s a light that is bright enough for day riding, with a great array of modes and flash patterns.

However, it takes a good while to charge, brighter modes do suffer when it comes to battery life, and the exposed USB A present some fitting compatibility issues and potential longevity concerns. Overall though, it is a neat, effective, and fun bike light for a competitive price.

The Italian left it late but timed his surge to the line perfectly at the end of the 180.2km race in Koolskamp, coming past Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco-AlUla) just before the finish to beat the Dutchman to the line.

Groenewegen had started the sprint after a strong closing leadout from his Jayco-AlUla team, who took charge heading into the final kilometre. It looked as though he was all set for his fourth win of the year, but he didn't quite have enough left in the tank to hold off Milan.

Behind the lead duo, European champion Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) came through on Milan's wheel. He didn't have the time or the speed to get past Milan or Groenewegen, however, and had to settle for the final spot on the podium.

"I'm really happy to be first. It's special," Milan said later. "The team managed the day really well. The speed was high in the first hour, and the final was pretty chaotic. It was difficult to organise a lead-out. Many sprinters wanted to be in the front, but we managed it really well, and I'm really happy for this result.

"It was pretty difficult to recover [from the Tour de France]. I was having not that bad Tour of Germany, but I was hoping it would go a bit better. I think my body wasn't recovered enough. Now, I've had some nice recovery and training, and I was pretty motivated to do these last races of the season, do some nice results, and have some fun."

The race for the final began 20km from the line, when the survivors from the early breakaway were finally brought back. Jensen Plowright (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Oliver Stockwell (Bahrain Victorious), Martijn Tusveld (Beat Cycling Club), and Gavin Hlady (EF Education-Aevolo) were the last men standing. However, the move didn't make it close to the finish, leaving it up to the sprint squads to contest the final lap around Koolskamp.

Lidl-Trek, Soudal-QuickStep, and Visma-Lease a Bike controlled the run towards the finish for their sprinters, while at 12km, Joost Nat (Beat Cycling Club) made a brief attack to try and disrupt proceedings.

He'd be quickly brought back, though, leaving it up to the big sprint squads to lead the race towards the finish. It was Visma who took over in the final 3km, while Tudor Pro Cycling and Lotto were also among the contenders at 1.5km to go.

Jayco took over heading under the flamme rouge, leading out Groenewegen with a strong final surge. It wasn't to be for the Dutchman, however, with Milan sprinting past and sealing victory at the line.

Results

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The hilly circuits and a finish at the town's castle blew the general classification apart, with only a dozen riders at the head of affairs on the uphill finish.

Overnight leader Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) lost contact with the leaders on the steep climb of the Montée de Niklosbierg and tumbled out of the top 10, with Skjelmose assuming the race lead.

The Dane leads Jegat by four seconds thanks to the time bonus, with McNulty third at eight seconds thanks to a two-second gap between the top two finishers.

"It was a difficult final. Everyone knows if you attack early you have the motorbike. Marc [Hirschi] was really strong and it was difficult to catch him back. Luckily, Brandon [McNulty] started his sprint early and I could overtake him at the last moment," Skjelmose said.

How it unfolded

The sun was out again for the third stage of the Tour of Luxembourg, but there was an ominous feeling in the air as the riders faced a 170.5km stage from Mertert to Vianden that included three closing circuits, each with an ascent of the Montée de Niklosbierg (2.8km at 9.3%).

The peloton was content to let an early breakaway go quickly and open up a large gap of six minutes in the first hour of racing.

The move included Simon Guglielmi (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Thomas Gachignard (TotalEnergies), Ådne Holter (Uno-X Mobility), Silvan Dillier (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Henri-François Renard-Haquin and Victor Papon (Wagner Bazin WB), and Joshua Gudnitz (Team ColoQuick).

They made it past the first ascent of the Montée de Niklosbierg with two minutes still in hand, but Papon, Gudnitz and Dillier struggled on the steep slopes and had to let go.

Behind, the peloton also came apart, first because of a crash on the approach to the climb and then under pressure from an attack by Søren Kragh Andersen (Lidl-Trek). He drew away a group of 15 riders, including Dillier and Papon, who latched on as the group came past.

More riders bridged across to the first chasing group after the second ascent of the Niklosbierg, and the gap to the breakaway continued to come down as Renard-Haquin led over the top.

The pressure continued to come from the chasing group, and as the breakaway struggled to hold a gap, Holter was dropped and caught by the favourites behind.

As they reached the foot of the Niklosbierg for the final time, Gachignard attacked but was caught by the chasing group along with the rest of his breakaway companions.

UAE Team Emirates XRG, with five riders in the group, kept pushing the pace, leaving race leader Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) fighting off the back of the ever-shrinking group.

Only nine riders were left in the lead: Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), Mattias Skjelmose and Toms Skujins (Lidl-Trek), Brandon McNulty and Rafał Majka (UAE Team Emirates XRG), Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies), and Marco Brenner and Mathys Rondel (Tudor Pro Cycling).

They were chased closely by McNulty's teammate, Jhonatan Narvaez, and Tudor's Marc Hirschi.

An attack from Brenner and then from Skjelmose briefly split the lead group, with Majka dropped, but McNulty sat up and let his teammate rejoin. Majka immediately went to work, pushing the pace to keep more riders from coming back.

It didn't prevent Hirschi, Narváez and Urko Berrade (Kern Pharma) from coming back, however.

Hirschi immediately launched an attack with 6.5km to go, forcing UAE to burn some matches, and with his teammates to slow the chase, Hirschi came into the final 2km with a seven-second lead.

On the long, cobbled, uphill drag to the finish, Hirschi fought with a few seconds as McNulty accelerated with 400m to go, but it wasn’t the American who came past; it was Skjelmose and then Jegat.

Results

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SRAM argues that there is no sound evidence that higher rollout rations (harder gears, in common parlance) relate to an increased risk of crashing.

The US component rans made their challenge via the Belgian Competition Authority (BCA). The BCA said the "investigation will seek to determine whether the adoption of the ‘Maximum Gearing’ technical standard by the UCI amounts to an anticompetitive decision."

SRAM said it made multiple attempts to engage the UCI and raise concerns about the impact of the gear restriction test and rules but UCI leadership declined to engage in meaningful dialogue.

“This protocol penalizes and discourages innovation and puts our
riders and teams at a competitive disadvantage," SRAM CEO Ken Lousberg said in a statement sent to Cyclingnews.

The new UCI rules on gears are part of a package of measures that the governing body has either imposed or is set to trial, with the aim of improving rider safety primarily by means of reducing overall velocity. The measures include rim depth restrictions and handlebar width restrictions that have drawn the ire of bike fitters and female athletes.

The impending gear restriction rules effectively outlaw anything equivalent to or exceeding a 54x10t drivetrain.

SRAM is the only groupset manufacturer to offer a 10-tooth sprocket, so is the only brand affected by these new rules, which in turn will impact the teams it sponsors, including Lidl-Trek, Visma-Lease A Bike, and Movistar.

Sram and the teams will allegedly suffer a significant disadvantage compared to Shimano and Campagnolo, and their teams.

Here at Cyclingnews we speculated on how SRAM teams will get around these rules given that development of new components takes significant time and investment.

We assumed that mechanics would simply use a longer limit screw to physically prevent the derailleur from accessing the 10t sprocket, in much the same way as we saw from Lidl-Trek at Paris-Roubaix this year with their 13sp to 12sp hack for tighter gear spacing.

This, it seems, is also SRAM’s solution:

“SRAM is the only company, at scale, equipping teams and riders across the world with drivetrains that exceed the rollout limit. The protocol forces SRAM to mechanically disable its 10-tooth cog, reducing gear options and placing SRAM-equipped riders at a competitive disadvantage.”

Beyond simply disadvantaging its athletes, SRAM is also claiming these new rules will cause reputational damage and potential civil liability (presumably from the implication that its systems are somehow less ‘safe’ than compliant ones), loss of retailer and OEM support, erosion of global market share, and ‘up to a decade of reinvestment to recover’.

"Although the UCI refers to the Maximum Gearing Protocol as a “test,” its implementation has already caused tangible harm," the statement read.

"SRAM’s gearing has been publicly labeled as non-compliant, creating reputational damage, market confusion, team and athlete anxiety, and potential legal exposure."

SRAM explained that the company will attempt to use legal action to stop the gearing restrictions from coming into force.

"It is for these reasons SRAM has also sought immediate injunctive relief, halting the gearing restriction requirement at the Guangxi event and any future events," the statement continued.

Gearing and safety

Will forcing SRAM riders to disable their smallest sprocket make them safer? SRAM certainly doesn’t believe so.

This sentiment is mirrored by many pro riders, with the likes of Tom Pidcock being openly critical of many of the new rules.

It must be said that the new rules to try to improve rider safety have been, from an outside perspective at least, imposed in what appears to be a reactionary and haphazard way, with little effort gone into improving things like course design and crowd management.

Likewise, if reducing race speeds is the overall goal, perhaps changing the rules in recent years to make bikes significantly more aerodynamic might not have been conducive to that end, something we pointed out following the results of our recent wind tunnel testing.

The talented 21-year-old French rider has now won 14 races and nine just in 2025, again using his powerful sprint on the high-speed finish after his teammates rode to control the attacks and lead the sprint.

Lukáš Kubiš (Unibet Tietema Rockets) repeated in second for a third time with Britain's Matthew Walls (Groupama-FDJ) third.

Magnier also took bonus seconds at an intermediate sprint and so extended his overall race lead.

"It's super nice for me and the team. We again did an amazing job," Magnier said after Soudal-QuickStep celebrated together.

"It was hard to control the race at the start on steep climb but then Josef Černý did a good job. We controlled the later attacks and there were three of us in the final metres and that made my sprint easier.

"It's nice to take three wins in a row, I did it in the Tour of Britain last year and so it means the shape is really good.

"I hope to win again on Saturday. It's a short and flat stage, so difficult to control. Then the last stage will be hard and hectic."

The 191km third stage from Kežmarok to Banská Bystrica included a number of climbs but a flat final 10km.

Thomas Gloag (Visma-Lease a Bike) attacked alone after 30km on a steep point and led the race over the early climbs, sweeping up a hail of KOM points. Several counter attacks were chased down by the peloton before a group of three formed with 125km to race and Gloag opted to wait for them.

The break climbed the gradual 15km long Edlo Prašivá climb but with Magnier there, Soudal-QuickStep then drove the peloton in pursuit to try to catch them before the final intermediate sprint with 34km to go. Magnier swept up the extra three seconds but Oscar Nilsson-Julien (Equipe continentale Groupama-FDJ) and Rick Ottema (Diftar Continental Cyclingteam) got away to create another attack to chase.

Nilsson-Julien went solo on the final Mičinský vrch climb with 15km to go and put up a brave fight but he was caught with seven kilometres to race. Despite the hilly profile of the stage the sprinters would fight for victory.

Niklas Behrens (Visma-Lease a Bike) tried to go long but only acted as a guide in the final kilometre. Dries Van Gestel then took over for Soudal, taking Magnier to the final 200 metres so he could open the sprint and win yet again.

Results

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Speaking at a press conference before heading to Africa, Murn admitted that Slovenia are the favourites to take home the elite men's rainbow jersey once again, with Pogačar top of the favourites list.

Murn also named Primož Roglič, who arrives in Rwanda off the back of a two-week altitude training camp, will be another rider to watch at the 267.5km race on September 28.

"We are the favourites. The first favourite is the defending champion Pogačar, but I also count on Roglič to turn the tables in Slovenia's favour in the end," Murn said, according to RTV.slo.

"Roglič will join us directly from the high-altitude preparation. He went to Sierra Nevada for 14 days on his own initiative, and we all know how prepared he is when he comes straight to the races."

Murn said he hopes that Roglič will be on hand in the final of the race in Kigali, with the 35-year-old able to "mix things up", even if Pogačar is the team's outright leader.

Roglič's most recent outing came at the Donostia San Sebastián Klasikoa last month, where he finished 22nd. Meanwhile, Pogačar took second place behind UAE teammate Brandon McNulty at the recent GP Montréal.

"I believe that Primož will be perfectly prepared, so that he can mix things up in the final and ensure the outcome," Murn said.

"But the first favourite is definitely Tadej, who has now proven his strength in the races in Canada, just like last year.

"There will be no hiding places for us in these Championships. Everyone will race against us. I expect some individual escapes from the start, and then an attempt by those in the stronger group to break away somewhere two-thirds of the way."

Murn also talked about team strategy ahead of the race. He said that he expects his team to go on the attack less than they did in Zürich. Instead, they'll hope to cover moves and aim to place a rider in an early breakaway.

"I don't think we will attack, just like we didn't last year. The main thing is to cover the escape of good cyclists like last year," he said.

"I expect a similar story this year, that one of our riders will be there. I expect that he will be well prepared, certainly better than last year, Domen Novak, as well as Gal Glivar. Both of them successfully completed the Vuelta.

"We saw that Matej Mohorič is good, probably in the best condition this year. I would say that we have an almost better prepared national team than last year. It's a shame that Jan Tratnik is not there."

Before tackling the road race, however, attention will first turn to the individual time trial on Sunday, September 21.

Defending champion Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) is the top favourite for glory once again, but Pogačar also has a chance on the 40.6km route, which features 680 metres of climbing.

"When he saw the time trial route, he immediately knew he had a chance to win," Murn said. "I think we will be watching a duel between Belgian Remco Evenepoel and Pogačar."

Subscribe to Cyclingnews to unlock unlimited access to our coverage of the first-ever UCI Road World Championships on African soil. Our team of journalists will bring you all the major storylines, in-depth analysis, and more directly from the action in Rwanda as the next rainbow jerseys are decided. Find out more.

The valuation of the company is currently estimated at $2.2bn, thanks to an active user base of 150 million, based on a funding round completed in May of this year. It is unclear at this time how much the San Francisco-based company hopes to raise from this IPO and the valuation it will seek.

What is an IPO?

Strava is currently a private company, meaning ownership of the brand and the profits from it are kept to a small group of individuals, usually the founders and private investors who come aboard as shareholders during rounds of funding, as occurred in May.

An initial public offering is the official launch of the company to the general public on the stock exchange, meaning that if this reporting is true, then members of the public will be able to buy or sell shares in Strava on the stock exchange (which particular exchange is unclear), and the value of the company is more greatly affected by market sentiment.

Signs this was coming?

In 2023, co-founder and outgoing CEO Michael Horvath suggested that an IPO is something the business would consider at the right time. Hovarth subsequently suggested the business needed a CEO with experience to "make the most of this next chapter", before Strava went on to appoint Michael Martin, an ex-Google executive, as its new CEO.

Before this, in 2020, Strava made its leaderboards for KOM/QOM segments available only to paid subscribers, which could be taken as a slow move towards making the app more financially viable, too.

Last year, however, the platform brought out a slew of new updates, from night mode to aid its users in running or cycling on safe routes after dark to AI integration in the flagging of dodgy segment times. AI has become something of a buzzword with all tech platforms, but combined with the integration of Oakley’s Meta-enabled AI sunglasses, Strava's deployment of it certainly paints a picture of a forward-looking brand with an eye on creating a diverse value package for investors to see.

What will this mean for users?

It’s hard to say at this stage what Strava's going public will mean, but once brands (and especially apps) go public, there is often a concurrent push to create more shareholder value (i.e. extract more value from the customers).

Whether Strava's shareholder accountability would see more monetisation creep in is impossible to tell, but it wouldn’t be out of the question to suggest it will likely have a bigger push to vie for your time in the attention economy for both paid and free users, one way or another. It is for many users already as much a social media app as it is an activity tracker.

Given that the platform is such an ingrained part of not just cycling but more or less any endurance sport at this point, we hope that it doesn’t succumb to platform decay, whereby initially engaging, free platforms (free, such that they draw a critical mass of users) slowly degrade in quality as they seek to claw back money for their investors.

While it didn’t follow an IPO, Komoot drew the ire of many when its founders sold the brand to private equity firm, Bending Spoons, with users lamenting not only the axing of most of the staff but also the continued ‘enshitification’ of the platform with key features like Garmin and Wahoo integration and being paywalled for new users. A cautionary tale, perhaps.

Rotor first launched the hydraulic Uno groupset back in 2015; for the most part, it seems to have remained an interesting, alternate option rather than properly challenging offerings from the likes of Shimano, SRAM or Campagnolo, but never really took off. Rotor's key offerings currently are its cranksets and aftermarket drivetrain parts.

Things may be about to change, though, as the Spanish brand has kept the Uno name and relaunched new gravel and MTB electronic, wireless groupsets today.

There's another key factor in this development, which is the fact that Chinese OEM manufacturer WheelTop acquired a majority stake in Rotor around this time last year.

WheelTop already produces and offers electronic road and gravel shifters, derailleurs and brakes. Now, perhaps the marriage of the two companies will help bring the Rotor offering to the mass market at scale.

We don't currently have a full pricing breakdown for the Uno groupset or any of its components, but Rotor tells us MSRP will be less than €700 for the MTB groupset and around €800 for the gravel option.

Gravel and MTB offerings, with road on the way.

Currently, the Uno electronic groupset will be offered in Gravel and MTB variants, with a full road offering reportedly on the way.

The system is comprised of a rear derailleur, brake levers, brake callipers, and Rotor's existing cassette and cranksets can also be brought into the mix. Rotor cites a wide range of cassette compatibility across different brands as a strength.

Both groupsets focus on 1X, single-ring offerings currently. There is already a range of rotor crankset options to pair the systems with, such as the Rotor Aldhu carbon fibre cranks, but other cranksets could be used.

Both groupsets share the same rear derailleur design generally, but with a few tweaks for larger MTB cassettes. It also appears that the rear derailleur can be configured to work with 10-13 cassettes, potentially offering an advantage over current electronic rear mechs.

The brake levers, which look similar to SRAM units, feature carbon fibre lever blades, titanium handlebar clamps and run on CR1632 batteries. They also claim to feature a horizontal master brake cylinder to facilitate braking with one finger, something the latest SRAM equipment also offers.

The flat mount brake callipers use a monobloc design and ceramic pistons, whilst the system itself runs on mineral oil. Shimano pads and BH90 hydraulic hoses are compatible, which should make things user-friendly for owners and shops.

Weight-wise, Rotor claims the system is in line with its closest competitors, though no weights are given in the attached press material. However, the Madrid-based brand explains that the addition of the brand's already light CNC-machined cassettes and carbon Aldhu cranks provides an advantage weight-wise over competitors' components.

There will also be a Rotor Uno app, available for iOS and Android users, to allow owners to pair and customise the groupset. Metrics from the existing Rotor Power app will also be incorporated into the system in the future.

It's an interesting development, but pricing, accessibility and most importantly, performance, will dictate whether or not the latest incarnation of the Uno groupset sinks or swims.

The president of the Gran Canaria council has warned that the Spanish island would not host the expected final stages of the 2026 Vuelta if Israel-Premier Tech takes part in the race, and the Barcelona Sports councillor has said the city does not want the team at next year's Tour de France Grand Depart in the city.

Israel-Premier Tech is expected to secure a WorldTour licence in 2026 and so will have automatic invitations to the sport's biggest races. However, smaller non-WorldTour races like O Gran Camiño and other Spanish early-season races are able to choose which team they invite.

The five-stage O Gran Camiño is held in Galicia, in northern Spain. The 2025 edition of the race was held in late February and won by Israel-Premier Tech's Derek Gee, but race organiser Ezequiel Mosquera made it clear he does want the team to defend their victory in 2026. Gee has not raced for Israel-Premier Tech since the summer and has unilaterally terminated his contract.

"Right now, any organisation where they competed last year will be asking themselves the same questions we are," Mosquera, the head of the company that runs O Gran Camiño, told the Spanish EFE news agency.

Mosquera attended the Vuelta a España, when Pro-Palestine protesters disrupted the race and even sparked the early end of several stages, including on the final day in central Madrid.

The Spanish Prime Minister publicly supported the protests and has called for Israel to be banned from global sport. Protesters were already present at this year's O Gran Camiño, but didn't disturb the racing.

In October 2023, a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, sparked Israel's ongoing military campaign in Gaza. So far, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, at least 64,000 people have been killed by Israeli attacks, with much of Gaza being destroyed.

"It's not an easy situation for anyone," Mosquera said, describing the Vuelta protests as "extremely tense" and "very difficult to manage" for riders, directors, and the organisation. He intends to apply "rigour" and "maximum objectivity" in his decision.

O Gran Camiño could change dates for 2026 and be promoted to the ProSeries category, which would award more ranking points and attract bigger teams.

"We want to continue protecting what we have; we're proud of what we've built in just four years," he said as the UCI prepares to reveal the 2026 race calendars at the Road World Championships in Rwanda.

All riders in all categories will be equipped with a GPS tracking device at every event at the Worlds, with the tracking system enabling full monitoring of rider positions and speeds.

The system will hopefully avoid a repeat of Muriel Furrer's tragic death at the 2024 World Championships in Switzerland after she crashed into trees and was not seen by race officials or medical services.

The GPS tracking system will be in place in all road races, individual time trials, and team time trials in both men's and women's pelotons at the elite, under-23 and junior levels of racing in Rwanda.

The UCI has previously tested the system at the Tour de Romandie Féminin in August with one rider per team equipped with the device. However, the test didn't go fully to plan after five teams were disqualified on the first day of racing following a dispute over the GPS devices.

Visma-Lease a Bike, Canyon-Sram Zondacrypto, EF Education-Oatly, Picnic-PostNL, and Lidl-Trek were disqualified from the race after they disagreed with the UCI over various aspects of the system's implementation – including safety, consent, and liability.

The implementation of the technology is expected to go ahead without any similar disputes in Rwanda, however, as the races are managed by the UCI and will be contested by national federations rather than professional teams.

"The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) has confirmed it will deploy a GPS rider tracking system to enhance rider safety at the 2025 UCI Road World Championships, which will be held in Kigali, Rwanda, from 21 to 28 September," the UCI announced as the first riders arrived in the Rwanda capital Kigali for Sunday's opening time trials.

"This initiative is part of ongoing efforts of the UCI and SafeR to enhance the safety of professional road cyclists. The GPS safety tracking technology to be used in Rwanda was tested during the three stages of the Tour de Romandie Féminin, in Switzerland, which enabled it to be refined."

The system will allow the UCI to fully monitor riders across all races in Rwanda, allowing for swift reaction in the event of a crash.

"This system, operated from the UCI Road World Championships control centre, will enable real-time monitoring of data regarding the position and speed of the entire peloton, thus allowing for immediate identification of any unusual situations, such as a rider suddenly stopping on the course," the UCI stated.

"In such a case, the rider's exact position will be transmitted to the relevant parties in the convoy – organisers, UCI Commissaires, medical and security services – so that appropriate measures can be taken without delay."

UCI President David Lappartient hailed the introduction of the system and thanked those who have contributed to its development.

"The UCI, together with SafeR and in close collaboration with all stakeholders of professional road cycling, is constantly working to improve the safety of riders. The introduction of a GPS safety tracking system for riders is important and necessary progress in this regard," Lappartient said.

"Thanks to this system, any incident or accident that might have gone unnoticed can be quickly identified, and it will be possible to assist the person concerned as quickly as possible by mobilising those already on the ground and the emergency services.

"I would like to thank everyone who contributed to the development of this new safety device, as well as the National Federations that will inaugurate it during the 2025 UCI Road World Championships in Kigali."

Subscribe to Cyclingnews to unlock unlimited access to our coverage of the first-ever UCI Road World Championships on African soil. Our team of journalists will bring you all the major storylines, in-depth analysis, and more directly from the action in Rwanda as the next rainbow jerseys are decided. Find out more.

When the race you're organising is the World Championships, you can have fairly high hopes that many of the world's very best riders will be there, because one of the sport's top accolades is up for grabs: the rainbow jersey.

However, even at the Worlds, there are always riders missing, for a great variety of reasons, and that's no different for the 2025 World Championships in Rwanda. Hosting the Road Worlds in Africa for the first time ever in what is set to be a landmark event, everyone would have been hoping for a blockbuster list of riders to line up in Kigali, too.

Many of the biggest stars will be there for the road races next weekend, with Tadej Pogačar and Remco Evenepoel headlining the men's race, whilst Demi Vollering, Elisa Longo Borghini and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot will battle out for the women's title.

However, plenty of riders won't be there. Initially planning to go, Jonas Vingegaard pulled out recently, ending the hopes of the iconic Pogačar-Vingegaard rivalry at a World Championships. Former rainbow jersey Mathieu van der Poel will also be absent, as will his long-term foe Wout van Aert. On the women's side, defending champion Lotte Kopecky won't be seeking a third term in the rainbow jersey, and prodigious one-day racer Puck Pieterse won't be there, either.

Despite the number of big names who will be in Kigali, a lot of attention has been paid to the growing list of riders who won't, and it can't be denied that several stars will be missing.

The reasons for riders skipping these Worlds are numerous. The logistics and expense of getting to Rwanda has seen many European federations – especially those strapped for funding anyway – forced to send reduced delegations. The hard courses have turned others off, with the climb-packed road races just not suitable for many – there's no point in Mads Pedersen or Lorena Wiebes racing, for example, and Biniam Girmay only latterly decided to race for Eritrea.

The normal issues like injury, fatigue and busy schedules come into play, too, as does the fact that the European Championships fall directly after the Worlds – some have chosen to prioritise that, with racing both on different continents a tough ask. With the Worlds taking place in Africa, there is also the added issue of worries about illness, vaccinations, the risk of malaria – and side effects from anti-malarials.

Whatever each rider or nation's personal reasoning may be, we're facing a World Championships where the lack of certain stars is a big talking point, and – anecdotally, at least – seems to be a bigger quantity than previous Worlds, especially in the era where we're used to seeing the big names race against each other repeatedly in a season.

Everyone would like to see that at Worlds, too, and the absence of certain riders has largely been painted as a negative thing, but is it, actually? To answer that question, we need to consider a few different factors.

The impact on the racing

The main concern that many fans will have is that having fewer big stars will make for less exciting or less dynamic racing, with fewer riders there to challenge for rainbow, and indeed challenge the top favourites, who are – at least in the elite men's race – somewhat predetermined.

In the elite men's road race, the consensus has been for months that it is defending champion Tadej Pogačar's race to lose. The current world champion and four-time winner of the Tour de France hasn't experienced even a shred of the so-called rainbow curse, winning Strade Bianche, the Tour of Flanders and Liège-Bastogne-Liège this year, and is the clear favourite to take another world title in Rwanda.

With Pogačar clearly so far ahead at the top of the list of favourites, there certainly was a hope that some of the riders who have pushed him closest this year – such as Jonas Vingegaard and Mathieu van der Poel – would be in Rwanda to duel him again, but they're not. The likes of Remco Evenepoel, Isaac del Toro and Juan Ayuso will be there, and will be formidable opponents, but they aren't such iconic, long-standing rivals to Pogačar. For every top rider missing, it does seem to increase the chance that Pogačar will just run away with another world title in Kigali, which, while impressive, isn't always the most thrilling or tense of spectacles.

In the women's race, the impact will be less, as many more of the top riders are going, and there isn't one clear favourite. In fact, that favourite might have been Lotte Kopecky, given her versatility and ability on punchy courses like the one in Kigali, so in that race, the absence of the reigning world champion may in fact make things more open. Amongst Vollering, Longo Borghini, Ferrand-Prévot and Kim Le Court-Pienaar and others, it's very hard to pick a single favourite, and that is a good thing for the races.

So, in the case of Rwanda, the assumption that missing stars equals less exciting racing is not really an easily applicable rule. And in fact, the volume of missing riders, with not just certain names not going but whole teams cutting their quotas, could actually make the racing more open and more exciting. More on that next.

More spots for lower-ranked nations

For all that there may be some disappointment from fans and organisers about the number of missing riders and reduced teams, there are some silver linings when riders or nations don't fill their quotas. When this happens, the UCI is able to reallocate spots to lower-ranked nations, who may previously only have been able to send one rider per category.

The World Championships qualification system is complex, and subtly different for every category, but essentially, UCI nations ranking defines how many riders nations can enter for each event, with extra spots for continental champions and other ways for nations that aren't ranked high enough but have one rider ranked well to get in, too.

To take the men's road race as an example, the top 50 nations may enter between eight and one riders in their teams, plus one rider from nations with a rider ranked 1 to 200 in the individual ranking that didn't already qualify, and spots for Olympic, world and continental champions if they have not already qualified a spot through their nation, plus six riders for the host nation.

The system is generous, and sees many riders and nations able to enter, but the spots for all the lower-ranked nations are still limited to just one rider, which is little to go up against super teams of eight riders. However, if the 200 spots on the start line don't get filled, due to nations not filling their quotas, spots are opened up for the lower-ranked nations to bring an additional rider.

There technically isn't a provision to then enter nations that hadn't already qualified – spots are reallocated to nations in the top 50 already – but the UCI is also at liberty to invite up to three non-qualified nations to a World Championships, which can be made easier if other quotas aren't filled. With full confirmed start lists not out yet, we reached out to the UCI to confirm if these invites were used, but haven't received an answer yet.

However, from looking at the start list, several nations that aren't in the top 50 will be on the start line for the men's road race and other events: Belize, Grenada, Kenya, Guyana, Nauru, São Tomé and Príncipe, and others.

Had every top team filled their automatic quota, there wouldn't have been space on the start line for these nations, so in many ways, the absence of some riders and teams has paved the way for what will be one of the most diverse World Championships yet – really embodying what these Worlds in Rwanda signify.

This will all, in its own way, also have an impact on racing. Not that we're expecting smaller nations' second riders to be challenging Pogačar and Vollering, but the distribution of riders across teams will make the peloton much harder to control, and more akin to an Olympic Games peloton, where fewer teams are able to dominate proceedings.

What's more, more riders will be in the race seeking opportunities, which should make especially the earlier part of the race more attacking, and more dynamic, which could be a real issue for the bigger teams, who will have to spend more matches to control things. And so conversely, the lack of big names may actually make things more exciting.

Disrespect from European riders?

Though there may be plus sides to big nations not filling their quotas, or indeed a positive impact on racing, there is a less tangible, less racing-focused element to consider, and that's optics.

It's not lost on anyone that it's the first Road Worlds in Africa where the topic of riders skipping the event is a major talking point. Even when the World Championships took place in Wollongong, Australia in 2022, that was a minor question, and some nations also sent reduced delegations, but it wasn't a topic on the same scale as it is now. Australia is much, much further away from Europe than Rwanda, has a higher cost of living, and would have been just as logistically challenging for European federations, if not more.

So, that riders seem to have an easier time opting out of the Rwandan Worlds than the Wollongong event does raise some questions, namely whether the event being held in an African, non-Western country has been a factor in riders opting out of these Worlds. Of course, it must be noted, that hundreds of riders are going with no issue, and many have already been in Rwanda on recon trips, so there is no widespread issue at play here.

For some African riders, and riders from various non-European nations, who are used to travelling to faraway countries and spending a lot to do so just to be able to race, there is a certain level of disappointment that many European pros aren't returning the effort, or see what hundreds of riders do every year as too much of an imposition.

Whether riders, especially white European ones, should also be doing more to get behind an African event and the diversification of the sport is probably much too complicated a question to answer, but what we can see is this: many top riders remain pragmatically focused on racing and results, more so than what an event means to the wider picture. That even a rider like Biniam Girmay was planning not to race, despite being the global face of African cycling, must demonstrate that riders' decisions are more based on racing factors than any wider significance or sentimentality we as outsiders might ascribe to an event.

That's not to say the Worlds in Rwanda are not going to be significant – it's a huge moment for cycling in Rwanda and wider Africa, and the future of major sporting events on the continent as a whole – but for the top athletes, they are just that: a World Championships. Which riders will judge based on whether they think they have a chance of winning – or helping a teammate to win – and if it fits into their schedule.

Certainly, other factors may come into that, such as valid ones about cost or schedules, as well as some less valid ones, like preconceived ideas about an unfamiliar country, but riders skip World Championships every year, and it shouldn't be taken as a slight on these Worlds that riders are doing that this year too.

Indeed, rather than focus on those riders who aren't in Rwanda, as the Worlds begin, it's time to focus on who will be there, which is a list of many top riders across all the categories and disciplines. What's more, the missing riders have opened the door for riders from smaller nations who may not always get a chance, and a more diverse, more open peloton.

The favourites are still the favourites, and we'll still see Grand Tour and Monument winners battling for rainbow, maybe even in a more dynamic way, so in the end, a few missing stars won't be anything to worry about.

Subscribe to Cyclingnews to unlock unlimited access to our coverage of the first-ever UCI Road World Championships on African soil. Our team of journalists will bring you all the major storylines, in-depth analysis, and more directly from the action in Rwanda as the next rainbow jerseys are decided. Find out more.

USA Cycling confirmed that TrainingPeaks Virtual would serve as the new virtual platform for the both the Echelon Racing League and Esports Nationals, with a commitment through 2028 for the national championships.

“We are grateful for the opportunity to continue our partnership with Echelon Racing League for this due to their commitment to hosting premier esports races. By having these events hosted on TrainingPeaks Virtual, we have the ability to create real-life courses and let our members race some of the most historic road events that the US has ever had in real life," said Kyle Knott, national events director for USA Cycling.

The governing body also announced that TrainingPeaks Virtual could be used on Thursday, September 18 for a preview of the 31-mile USA Cycling Gravel Nationals route, which will showcase more than 40 divisions of competitors on Saturday, September 20, in La Crescent, Minnesota for 2025 titles.

TrainingPeaks Virtual offers GPXplore as a new feature to allow individuals to see routes virtually from their own GPX files. TrainingPeaks Virtual also offers realistic racing engagement bringing drafting and cornering to life, which made it a good fit for the Echelon Racing League, which serves as the national calendar for qualification at US Esports Nationals.

“This season, we’re excited to return to our roots by collaborating with USA Cycling and ERL race promoters, showcasing longer-format races, and emphasizing accessibility, all while competing on a platform recognized as the most true-to-life virtual racing experience with uncompromising standards for fair play," said Eric Hill, president of the Project Echelon Promotions, which organises the League. Hill also directs the UCI Continental team Project Echelon Racing, which endorses the League.

Founded in 2020, the Echelon Racing League held five races across two months last season using MyWhoosh as the virtual racing platform, culminating in January 2025 with league championships and a final payout of a $10,000 elite prize purse. This year sponsor merchandise will replace a cash purse.

Like last year, riders wanting to participate in the US Esports National Championships will be required to have competed in at least one race in the Echelon Racing League. This year's league will offer omnium scoring for one-day races, and points after each three-day stage race.

Last year's winners of the Echelon Racing League were USA's Hayden Pucker for elite men and Lisa Hermansson of Sweden for elite women.

The first year of the Echelon Racing League was 2020 and used the RGT Cycling platform. Both the league and USA Cycling moved to Zwift in 2023, which had been used for the UCI Cycling Esports World Championships for several seasons.

Halt for Zwift Academy

Zwift, which continues as a leading platform for indoor training and virtual experiences, recently produced its own elite series with a broadcast and prize purse, and also supported a development academy.

However, ZwiftInsider disclosed in July that Zwift would not continue hosting the Elite Zwift World Series this fall. Then it was confirmed by Escape Collective this week that the business would end their elite esports programmes, including the global talent ID competition for road cyclists.

In March, the Zwift Academy launched pro careers for Emily Dixon, a 19-year-old from Australia for a place with Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto, and Noah Ramsay, a 22-year-old Canadian with a spot on Alpecin-Deceuninck's development squad.

The most successful Zwift Academy winners so far are Jay Vine (now with UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Neve Bradbury (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto), who both won their spots into the WorldTour in the COVID-19-affected finals in 2020.

Echelon Racing League 2025-2026 calendar

• November 1-2, 2025 - One Day Classics
• November 14-16, 2025 - Stage Race
• November 29-30, 2025 - One Day Classics
• December 12-14, 2025 - Stage Race
• December 27-28, 2025 - One Day Classics
• January 9-11, 2026 - Stage Race
• January 31-February 1, 2026 - USA Cycling National Championships

In 2025, however, after a long wait, there is finally no longer a 'race within a race', with the under-23 women receiving their own separate races, at separate distances, and – most importantly – with separate teams, so nations can send dedicated under-23 squads.

Unlike in the men's U23 events at Worlds, the women's TT and road race are open to riders currently on WorldTour and ProTeams, as long as they're younger than 23, so there is some really stacked competition, including riders who have already won at WorldTour level.

The first of the two women's under-23 events gets underway on Monday, September 22, with the time trial. The 22.6km course is a shortened version of the elite route, taking in just one ascent of the Côte de Nyanza climb (2.4km at 5.5%) instead of two. Towards the finish, they'll also tackle the Côte de Kimihurura, which is cobbled, 1.3km long, and with an average gradient of 5.8%.

Despite the climbs, their fairly modest lengths and gradients shouldn't make this a climbing TT, and the strong specialists are still the riders you should expect to see at the top of the results sheet.

Topping the list of favourites early on is undoubtedly Great Britain's Zoe Bäckstedt. Bäckstedt is the British national TT champion, and has won two other TTs so far this year, including one at WorldTour level, when she beat riders including Ellen van Dijk on stage 5 of the Simac Ladies Tour.

Bäckstedt has already been World and European champion at under-23 and junior level, and is by far the most decorated time trialist on the start line. She's also only doing the TT, not the road race, so it's clear where her focus is, and likely that anything other than the gold medal and a rainbow jersey would be disappointing for her.

However, despite Bäckstedt's favourite status, there are plenty of other strong riders who will be trying to push her to her limit in Kigali.

The likely toughest opponent is Spain's Paula Blasi, who has burst onto the scene this year, making a mid-season step up for UAE Team ADQ's development squad to their WorldTour outfit after some stellar results on the road and gravel.

Most of those have been on the road, and the Spanish rider will be thinking about the road race mainly, but she also won a WorldTour TT when she powered to the win on the opening stage of the Tour de Romandie Féminin, an uphill prologue. This bodes well for the climbing challenge on Monday.

Viktória Chladoňová (Slovakia) was second in the junior women's TT at last year's Worlds, and though she is still only 18, she has been impressive this year for Visma-Lease a Bike, and will revel in the chance to be amongst it in the U23 category.

Marie Schreiber (Luxembourg) had to pull out of the Tour de l'Avenir Femmes before the time trial, so didn't get to show off her abilities there, but this year won the elite time trial at the Games of the Small States of Europe, and is strong in the discipline.

A rider who did perform well at the l'Avenir TT, though, was Belgium's Lore De Schepper, also taking seventh in the elite TT at Belgian nationals, so she'll be a rider who will be hoping for a good day and a time that can trouble the podium.

As for new names and riders to watch, keep an eye out for Benin national Charlotte Metoevi. She's been preparing for Worlds by training in Wyoming and making her debut at the Maryland Cycling Classic, and should be hoping for a good result here, under the coaching of Rwandan cycling star Adrien Nyonshuti.

Also pay attention to Rwanda's Jazilla Mwamikazi, proudly representing the home nation, but also a formidable rider who has been racking up wins with the World Cycling Centre team. Tactics and technique have been her weak point, but the 21-year-old reportedly has some very impressive numbers, which she should be able to show off in the time trial.

Subscribe to Cyclingnews to unlock unlimited access to our coverage of the first-ever UCI Road World Championships on African soil. Our team of journalists will bring you all the major storylines, in-depth analysis, and more directly from the action in Rwanda as the next rainbow jerseys are decided. Find out more.

It's been a steady reconnection to cycling, through gravel, mountain and 'cross, for the two-time US U23 cyclocross national champion since illness and injuries left her struggling.

"I came out of retirement, or whatever you want to call it, because I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it. I wanted to prove that I was still tough and capable and powerful. And I have this belief in myself again that I maybe have never had," Noble told Cyclingnews.

"So I realized recently that I already accomplished the thing that I came here to do, but I don't feel done. I feel like I'm just getting started. So I guess the goal is to take it as far as I can go, but with my time off and the healing and growth that I did in the interim, there's part of me that wonders if I can be the best I've ever been."

As a junior and under-23 rider, Noble hit the spotlight as a rising talent during eight seasons on the cyclocross circuit in the US and then in international competition. By 2013, she had won her first junior national title at in cyclocross and the next year won mountain bike titles in Super Downhill and short track cross-country, before winning her first elite women's UCI races as a junior.

After back-to-back US U23 national titles in 2016 and 2017, plus her first of two Pan-American Cyclocross wins, she then earned a silver medal for U23 women at the World Championships in Bieles, Luxembourg. She was set to make waves as an elite rider, or so it seemed.

In 2018 she earned a bronze medal in XCO at US MTB Nationals and then lined up for the 2018-2019 'cross season, taking eight wins and six more podiums before some tough rounds at World Cup races. However, after finishing outside the top 20 at Cyclocross Worlds in February 2019, she was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease and told Cyclingnews previously that her "drive to win was gone, my energy was gone".

"When I was super young, I always raced mountain [bikes]. It wasn't until I was a teenager that I started doing 'cross. I was really just starting to do what I wanted to do when I stopped racing."

She continued with some mountain bike events and in the spring of 2021 she crashed in a US Pro Cup mountain bike race in Arkansas, suffering three fractures in her spine. She announced several months later that it was time for an "indefinite" break from racing. That break lasted three long years, when she made a return at a couple of US cyclocross races on the east coast last year.

"It feels crazy to say, I'm almost 30 and I didn't race for three years. But I don't know what's stopping me," she declared. "At the moment, I feel like I've found a lot of strategies that are working for me to keep it at bay.

"I'm so in awe of the sport as a whole. But during my hiatus, I started doing enduro and downhill racing, so it's really helped the confidence factor, wow. So maybe that's the New England mountain bike tie, that is the gravity component."

She's also mixed gravel into her repertoire. She began her full-time job as a digital specialist with marketing agency Q+M at the start of 2025, which included client work for SBT GRVL. In June, Noble completed the 79-mile SBT GRVL amateur race while serving as a mentor with the GRVL Femmes Team Challenge.

"When the Gravel Femmes started, obviously Q+M part of that process, I was asked if I want to do [ride] the event, and I said the only way that I would really want to do it would be if I could lead a team. That's where the mentorship component started," Noble told Cyclingnews in June at SBT GRVL.

"It's been cool to see the Gravel Femme initiative evolve, from how do we get more women on the start line all the way to where we are now."

Gravel Femmes teams included three or more riders, opening registrations to an otherwise sold out event, and providing captains - Noble, former pros Alison Tetrick and Christie Tracy among them - to nurture a new experience of building to complete a gravel race. Noble said her team had riders doing their longest ride ever as well as making comebacks from injuries, so their goal was to "finish and be happy".

Based in Massachusetts, Noble spent much of her summer on long gravel rides in New England, and supporting the JAM Fund with their Grand Fundo Charity Gravel Bike Ride. She stepped into 'cross racing for just four races last year, but now has made the switch back for a dedicated fall campaign.

She last won the C1 race in Rochester in 2017, finishing that season as the elite women's silver medalist at CX nationals in Reno, Nevada. She'll line up with new sponsor Salsa Cycles on Saturday at Rochester Cyclocross, a course at Genesee Valley Park packed with obstacles, include a modified cobbled section and technical climbing features at Double-Trouble and The Wall.

Lining up in Rochester alongside Noble are four riders at the top of the USCX standings after the opening C1/C2 weekend at GO Cross - Maghalie Rochette (SRAM-Seeker), Manon Bakker (Crelan-Corendon), Sidney McGill (Lastig Off-road Racing) and Caroline Mani (Velomafia).

On a recent Instagram post, she emphasised that the feeling she gets at the start line makes her happy to race again: "Racing has always been the reward. Love the opportunity to play and let the hard work run wild. I love to remind myself that I choose to do this. I’m grateful for every opportunity to go deep in this wonderful sport."

The first World Championships held in Africa comes with its own challenges, all outlined by the Belgian team doctor Kris Van der Mieren, who has said, "We started preparing for this World Championships a year ago."

Speaking to Het Laatste Nieuws, Van der Mieren outlined the range of measures the Belgian squad will be taking in Rwanda as they aim to challenge for more rainbow jerseys with Remco Evenepoel.

"Vaccination isn't mandatory, but it is strongly recommended. There's been little discussion; there are no anti-vaxxers among them," Van der Mieren said.

Team members have taken a range of vaccinations, including for hepatitis A, tetanus, diphtheria, whooping cough, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, typhoid, Het Laatste Nieuws reports.

Evenepoel was vaccinated last winter in order to avoid any potential side effects interfering with his racing calendar, while he and his teammates – and the team staff – will also be taking malaria pills every night and for a week after the competition ends.

"Most tropical diseases are spread by mosquitoes. Prevention is key," Van der Mieren said.

"It's spraying and applying sunscreen 24/7. I'll also advise everyone to wear light-coloured clothing: it's supposed to deter mosquitoes more than dark clothing."

The precautions don't stop with vaccines and tablets, however. Extra measures to prevent any possible spread of illnesses will be taken too, including a no shaking hands rule and Van der Mieren bringing double the usual amount of hand sanitiser.

The team's caution also extends to avoiding relying on local tap water. There'll be plenty of bottled water to hand, while they'll also make extensive use of boiled water – for cooking, to wash vegetables, and for ice, too.

"The [water] quality isn't guaranteed. So, we're not taking any risks. Washing is fine, but for everything else, we'll use bottled water or boil the water first," Van der Mieren said.

"One of our soigneurs, Andy Heindryckx, runs his own catering business at home and is obsessed with hygiene. A refrigerator left open too long, a buffet that's no longer the right temperature, vegetables or fruit that haven't been washed properly: Andy keeps an eye on it all."

Van der Mieren's biggest fear is rabies, even if the chances of anyone contracting the deadly virus next week would seem to be minimal.

"That's my biggest fear. My only real fear, actually," he said. "The chance of someone being bitten by a dog with rabies is minimal, but if it happens, and it's a serious bite, the emergency response is on. Then it's immediate repatriation.

"An untreated infection is always fatal, but if you catch it quickly and treat it intensively with the right medication and wound care, it doesn't have to be fatal. But that's specialist work."

Subscribe to Cyclingnews to unlock unlimited access to our coverage of the first-ever UCI Road World Championships on African soil. Our team of journalists will bring you all the major storylines, in-depth analysis, and more directly from the action in Rwanda as the next rainbow jerseys are decided. Find out more.

This is far from the first time that additional tech has been shoehorned into the best cycling glasses. Those with long memories will recall the Oakley Thump, which lasted long enough to see a second version spawn (the Thump 2), both of which had an inbuilt MP3 player (remember those?) and in-ear headphones that hinged down from the temples.

I never tested those, but I did test some smart glasses from Engo that had a built-in head-up display that paired with my bike computer, and they were quite terrible, really. Bulky, difficult to use, the sunglasses aspect wasn’t brilliant, and the user interface was baffling to the point of madness.

Why, then, am I somewhat confident the Oakley Meta Vanguard will be any different, when smart glasses have come and gone in the athletic space countless times before? Well, there are several reasons.

They don’t look horrendous

Much as cycling glasses are about performance, for most of us they are just as much about style. The Meta Vanguard actually look decent, and for a lot of people the fact they have an ‘O’ on the temples is going to be as big of a selling point as anything else. Like it or not, Oakley is the biggest name in sports eyewear, and the fact that these have such a brand name behind them will do wonders for initial cut through compared to the slew of small start-ups aiming to ‘disrupt the industry’.

Prizm lenses

First and foremost, these are a set of sunglasses, and being available with Prizm lenses, specifically the incredible Prizm Road option, will be a boon for those who value optical performance.

Surprisingly, given how many of Oakley’s top models don’t have swappable lenses now, the Meta Vanguards do, so if they take off the initial suite of four lens options, they could well blossom into a wider selection to take in low light, fishing, golf, and the myriad other options in the Oakley range.

Sensible headphones

I ride with music on for more or less every ride, and while personally I don't like bone conduction headphones (because I am a fiend for bass) I do appreciate that they are a safer option and a lot more sensible for only intermittent use, for when one might be interacting with the built-in Meta AI.

My opinion on AI integration into everything is that I mostly hate it, but I am swimming against the tide somewhat in that I don’t have a digital assistant in my home and prefer to simply have a think for myself.

Features designed for the Stravaholics and the Instagram generation

In the same way that I find it odd that people use LinkedIn as actual social media (no, please don’t tell me about what you learned about B2B sales from your child’s 8th birthday party), I also find those who use Strava as such a little odd, too. For me, it’s simply an activity log, but for a great many, it’s a way of showing what you’ve been up to.

The integrated 12 megapixel camera, mounted above the nose bridge, may raise some concerns about unwanted filming at run club, but I’m sure the fact that one can automatically overlay your riding clips with the stats from that particular moment will be a huge draw for those of us who spend our free time watching Descent Disciples videos and wondering if we could do the same.

Likewise, while they are expensive ($499), there are enough people who have been on Instagram from the early days and are now hooked on sharing everything, with enough cash spare, to make these more viable than they would have been years ago, before total social media ubiquity.

What I think is maybe unnecessary

I’ll preface this closing section with the heavy caveat that I have never used Meta AI glasses. Maybe it’s amazing to be able to ask your glasses to take a photo, but as someone who still enjoys the thrill of 35mm film and has a healthy disdain for Mark Zuckerberg, I am perhaps not the target audience. Voice commands, nevertheless, are here to stay, and this system is no doubt safer than fishing a camera or phone out of your jersey while hammering along at 40km/h, so I’ll remain neutral on that one.

The Garmin integration is perhaps the only feature that truly baffles me. Anyone spending 500 dollars on a set of cycling glasses already has a bike computer, and in the time it takes you to ask ‘Hey meta, how am I doing?”, before waiting for it to tell you “One again, Will, your average power isn’t matching what you tell your friends it is”, you could simply… glance down at your computer screen.

There is an LED status light inside, primarily for the camera, but this can apparently be programmed to sync with certain metrics from your Garmin head unit to tell you how hard you’re working. Further details are a little hazy, but I imagine it’ll be a simple green/red rather than a full spectrum, but you never know.

Despite this, I think they’ll probably actually land better than all other smart glasses thus far, for the reasons above, and because they’re backed by EssilorLuxottica, the parent company which produces basically every pair of glasses you can think of, and Meta, a multi-billion dollar tech company.

But until now, there hasn't been a dedicated electric gravel bike - something many brands now offer - in its lineup.

That changes today, as the Wisconsin brand has launched its first-ever e-gravel bike in the form of the Checkpoint+ SL.

Whilst Trek offered its popular Domane, one of the best endurance bikes, in an electronic form with clearance for up to 38mm tyres, the Checkpoint+SL offers a dedicated e-gravel platform.

We don't cover too many electric bikes here at Cyclingnews, but I've ridden three electric gravel bikes in recent times, most recently the monster Canyon Grizl: ON. All three have slapped a big smile on my face as they ate up the rough stuff.

Many roadies are still a little funny about e-bikes, in my opinion, but the best line I've heard yet on them so far is this: "Do you ever see a rider step off an e-bike without a smile on their face? No."

I tend to agree, a good e-bike will put a grin on your face, and this looks like another good option.

The Checkpoint is Trek's all-rounder, adventure gravel bike, and it sits alongside the racier Checkmate.

Trek claims the Checkpoint+ SL electric version offers the same gravel credentials and comfort, only equipped with a TQ HPR60 mid-mounted motor, which is located at the bottom bracket area of the bike.

The neat TQ motor means this bike, at a glance, looks pretty close to your standard non-electric gravel or road bike, something that seems to be a key selling point these past few years.

The TQ HPR60 is said to provide a range of up to 50 miles paired with a 360Wh battery and 60Nm of torque, as well as a 350-watt max power output. There's a neat top tube-mounted digital display and mode shift buttons at the levers for a seamless e-experience.

The battery itself weighs a claimed 1.835kg and, like most sleek drop bar e-bikes, is located in the down tube of the bike; an additional bottle cage-mounted range extender is also available.

Trek says the bike should let riders say yes to the group ride, and just generally venture into unfamiliar or unknown terrain more easily. Speaking from my own experience, it's easier to see 'what's down that road' when you have the zip of a motor to lend a hand.

Comfort is never a bad thing off-road, and Trek cites a comfortable gravel endurance geometry as well as smoothing from the Isospeed rear suspension system to smooth out rough chatter. The 50mm tyre clearance will also help riders add speed and comfort, as we found in our CN Labs gravel tyre rolling resistance test.

Elsewhere, there are various mounts for frame bags, fenders and a rear rack, dropper and RockShox Rudy suspension fork compatibility, with one model coming equipped with a RockShox Rudy fork.

The frame is also UDH hanger compatible, which should save effort should you ever need to replace it.

Checkpoint+ SL bikes will be available in three model tiers and three colours. There will be SRAM Force and Rival mullet builds alongside a Shimano GRX-equipped SL5 model. The SL 7 AXS bike will come with a suspension fork as standard.

Checkpoint+ SL 7 AXS - $7,999 / £6,500 / €5,999
Checkpoint+ SL 6 AXS - $6,599 / £5,000 / €5,999
Checkpoint+ SL 5 - $5,999/ £4,500 / €4,999

Marijn van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost) opened the sprint hoping to snatch the race lead from stage 1 winner Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ), but missed the bonus seconds after fading to fifth.

Grégoire continues as race leader, with Vendrame moving into second on the same time as Van den Berg, with March Hirschi (Tudor Pro Cycling) in fourth at six seconds.

A 168.4-kilometre stage 2 of the Tour of Luxembourg from Remich to Mamer took place under sunny skies and pleasant temperatures.

In the opening kilometres, a seven-rider breakaway went clear with Baptiste Gillet (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Jonas Geens (Flanders Baloise), Victor Papon (Wagner Bazin WB), Loïc Bettendorff (Hrinkow Advarics), Pedro Pinto (Efapel), Morang Mil (Luxembourg) and Malte Hellerup (Coloquick) making the move.

Their lead reached over four minutes in the first hour and then gradually fell over the final 100 kilometres. Hellerup was the first rider dropped on the Montée de Mariendallerhaff with 43km to go.

Then, 10 kilometres later, Morang let go before they entered the two 15km finishing circuits. With just 42 seconds on the peloton, Pinto was the next dropped with 28km to go as the escapees began to feel the pressure.

The four remaining riders worked together but couldn't hold off the Alpecin-Deceuninck-led chase. At the bell with 15km to go, the peloton could see the quartet and came through the line 25 seconds behind them.

Knowing the catch was inevitable, the peloton stepped off the gas for a few moments but sped back up and caught the four riders inside 5km to go.

EF Education-EasyPost led into the final kilometre for Van den Berg but were overtaken by Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale. However, Van den Berg wasn't waiting for the final 200 metres and hit out early hoping the slightly downhill sprint would be in his favour.

But with a headwind, the move was the wrong decision, and he faded, letting Kockelmann of Luxembourg steal the win over Vendrame and Donnenwirth.

Results

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The 33-year-old French rider recently trained for three weeks at altitude in Andorra and feels fresh and motivated despite her intense first season of WorldTour racing with Visma-Lease a Bike.

"I feel good. I'm happy to finish the season in this state of mind and in this physical shape," Ferrand-Prévot said during a sponsor event, according to L'Equipe.

Last year, after the Olympic Games, I was mentally and physically tired. It was hard to keep going, whereas now, I feel like I'm still good despite the victories in Roubaix and the Tour de France."

The women's 164.6km road race course includes 11 laps of the hilly Kigali course and so an elevation gain of 3,350 metres, but the women will not race over the Mur du Kigali.

It should suit a climber like Ferrand-Prévot, who also has excellent bike handling skills. Her major rivals include Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy), Demi Vollering and Anna van der Breggen (Netherlands), Kasia Niewiadoma (Poland) and perhaps Ashleigh Moolman (South Africa).

"I have nothing to lose at the World Championships. It's a bonus. If I perform, it's great. If I'm not so good, it's not the end of the world. I'm going with the ambition of doing the best possible; there's no pressure.

In 2024, Ferrand-Prévôt took time away from the sport after winning a gold medal in the mountain bike race at the Paris Olympics. She has only raced for 26 days on the road in 2025 and so is still mentally and physically fresh.

"I was a little doubtful, thinking that it's weird to still feel good now," she said.

Last year, I put a lot of pressure on myself for the Games, where, for me, there was no other option than to win. This year, the goal was more to prepare for the Tour as well as possible and to be more mentally free.

"I managed the aftermath well because the before and during were a little more liberating. Then I also went to the altitude in Andorra on my own for three weeks. It also did me good to be able to spend that time alone to finish my preparation."

Ferrand-Prévôt will enjoy two days at home in Monte Carlo and then travel to Rwanda with the French team on Saturday. Athletes competing in the time trials are already in Rwanda, with other riders arriving early next week.

"These two days at home will do me good. My coach told me to unplug and enjoy a more normal life," Ferrand-Prévôt said.

Ferrand-Prévôt is part of a strong French team that includes Léa Curinier, Cédrine Kerbaol, Juliette Labous, Marie Le Net, Evita Muzic, and Maëva Squiban.

"When you see the names, it's clear that I think we have the strongest team. That's also why I decided to participate. The girls are all at the very highest world level. It's going to be interesting to see what we can all do together.

"It's not just about me, and it will be interesting to see how the Dutch race. Obviously, there will be a little more marking, but that might give us the opportunity to send someone else up front."

Subscribe to Cyclingnews to unlock unlimited access to our coverage of the first-ever UCI Road World Championships on African soil. Our team of journalists will bring you all the major storylines, in-depth analysis, and more directly from the action in Rwanda as the next rainbow jerseys are decided. Find out more.

The Frenchman beat out Lukaš Kubiš (Unibet Tietema Rockets) and Milan Menten (Lotto) to the line in Košice after his Soudal-QuickStep teammates provided the final lead-out.

The mass sprint finish came at the end of the 169.4km stage from Svidnik, with late attackers Paul Double (Jayco-AlUla) and Bart Lemmen (Visma-Lease A Bike) caught 16km from the finish line.

Magnier's win, his eighth of the season, sees him extend his overall lead after two stages of the five-day race. He leads Kubiš by eight seconds, while Menten lies third overall at 16 seconds down.

Results

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The 2025 UCI Road World Championships take place in Kigali, Rwanda, starting on Sunday September 21 and finishing a week later on Sunday September 28.

There will be a total of 13 events, with time trials and road races across the men’s and women’s categories and the Elite, U23, and Junior age groups, plus the Team Time Trial Mixed Relay.

As well as being the first Road Worlds to take place in Africa, it’s also the first time there’ll be a dedicated U23 Women’s category – for the past three years a winner was selected from the Elite field.

There are a couple of high-profile absentees, including former Elite World Champions Mathieu van der Poel and Lotte Kopecky, but otherwise, there’s a stellar cast of names eyeing up the iconic rainbow bands that the world champions wear for the following 12 months.

Reigning road race world champion and four-time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar is there alongside Remco Evenepoel, who has won both the road race and time trial in the past. On the women’s side, former road race world champ Pauline Ferrand-Prévot is looking to add to her astonishing rainbow collection, while the woman she beat to the Tour de France Femmes crown, Demi Vollering, will be a key rival for the ever-strong Dutch squad.

Wondering how you can tune in? Read on for all the information on how to watch the cycling World Championships online, on TV, and from anywhere.

Can I watch the World Championships for free?

As ever, the cycling 2025 UCI Road World Championships are free to watch in numerous countries.

The UCI is offering free live streaming of all events on its YouTube channel. This is geo-restricted in those countries that have a dedicated broadcaster for the event, which includes the UK, US, Canada, and Australia.

In the UK, public broadcaster the BBC continues its commitment to showing cycling’s various World Champs for free, with live coverage spread across BBC TV channels, the red button, and the BBC iPlayer streaming service.

Additionally, numerous free-to-air broadcasters, including Sporza in Belgium and RAI in Italy, will be showing the action in Kigali.

Watch Road Worlds from anywhere

Travelling outside your home country this week? Don't worry about the geo-restrictions most streaming platforms use. You can always employ a VPN for a safe way to access your streaming accounts from another country.

A Virtual Private Network is a piece of software that sets your IP address to make your device appear to be in any country in the world. Provided it complies with your broadcaster’s T&Cs, you can use a VPN to unblock your usual streaming services from anywhere in the world. What's more, it helps with playback speeds and is a huge boost for your general internet security.

There are loads of great VPN options out there, but our colleagues at TechRadar say NordVPN is the best overall for its streaming capabilities, security features, and price.

Watch the 2025 Road World Championships in the UK

Fans in the UK have a choice then it comes to watching the cycling World Championships, the BBC or TNT Sports via Discovery+.

The BBC is the UK’s public service broadcaster and consistently shows World Championships across cycling’s various disciplines.

The biggest events may make it to the main BBC One and BBC Two channels on terrestrial TV, while the more minor events can be found on the red button and the BBC iPlayer streaming service.

Watch the 2025 Road World Championships in the US

Fans in the USA can watch the 2025 UCI Road World Championships on the Flobikes streaming platform.

Flobikes has a more limited offering for US customers compared to those in Canada but it’s the broadcast partner for UCI events.

You can take out a subscription for $29.99 for the month, or $150 for a whole year.

Watch the 2025 Road World Championships in Canada

As in the US, fans north of the border in Canada will find the cycling Road Worlds action live on Flobikes.

In Canada, a monthly sub is CA$39.99, while an annual pass costs $203.88 and includes most races you could want to watch through the season.

Watch the 2025 Road World Championships in Australia

Stan Sport will be broadcasting all the UCI Road World Championships action in Australia.

Standard plans start at AU$12/month but you will need the AU$20 sports add-on to watch the cycling.

2025 UCI Road World Championships: Schedule

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The "Comisión Estatal contra la Violencia, el Racismo, la Xenofobia y la Intolerancia en el Deporte - the State Commission against Violence, Racism, Xenophobia, and Intolerance in Sport - proposed the sanctions after reports by the Spanish police after stage 12 to Los Corrales de Buelna, stage 14 to La Farrapona (stage 14) and stage 15 to Monforte de Lemos.

It appears the commission has still to consider protests that occurred later in the Vuelta a especially during the final stage to Madrid, when protesters invaded the roads in central Madrid, forcing organisers to end the stage prematurely.

The Commission focuses on the prevention of violence in sporting events and more usually deals with acts of violence and abuse in Spanish football stadiums.

The Commission said that 17 people face fines of between € 3, 000 and 4,000 and six-month bans from attending sporting events.

This year's Vuelta was hit by a growing number of Pro-Palestine protests, with many contesting the presence of the Israel-Premier Tech team in the Spanish Grand Tour.

Stage 11 to Bilbao was neutralised with three kilometres to go due to protests, and then stage 16 was indeed at the foot of the final climb after protestors invaded the road with three kilometres to go.

Riders voted to neutralise the racing if there were more protests. The time trial was shortened as a precaution, and then the Madrid stage ended early to avoid the mass protest in the Spanish capital.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez publicly supported the Vuelta protests in support of Palestine and then called for Israel to be banned from competing in international sports, like Russia was after it invaded Ukraine.

In October 2023, a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, sparked Israel's ongoing military campaign in Gaza. So far, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, at least 64,000 people have been killed by Israeli attacks, with much of Gaza being destroyed.

The protests in Madrid turned violent, with barriers piled up on the road and scuffles with police. So far, there have not been similar violent protests at other professional races, but protests are expected as the situation in Gaza worsens.

"I've never experienced so much hatred. There was absolutely no attention being paid to anything. It was all about destroying things," Visma-Lease a Bike team manager Richard Plugge said after his team celebrated Jonas Vingegaard's overall victory at their service course in the Netherlands on Tuesday.

"I thought it was really intense. Riders were being attacked. At one point, someone was pulled off their bike. As far as I'm concerned, the UCI should have given the Vuelta more support much earlier.

"This is almost something that transcended the sport. Something was happening in Spain. Normally, there are always demonstrations with respect for the sport. I expect that will continue in the final races of the season."

Cyclingnews has spoken with managers, riders and agents across the globe to understand the working conditions of male Continental riders in 2025. The third-tier is the breeding ground of many young talents – 17 professional teams now have their own Continental teams which operate as development squads – but there remains an overriding sense of desperate athletes, many of them students or working part-time jobs, being preyed upon, sucked into the trap of being promised a world that doesn’t exist.

“So many teams say that they have plans to be a [second-tier] ProTeam, but most of it is nonsense,” said one rider who wished to remain anonymous. “It comes from people who seem like legitimate businessmen, giving their speech to young riders who haven’t had the life lessons to know anything different. I often feel like riders are exploited for the love of sport and sold a dream that isn’t a reality. It’s really unfair.”

Bound by the rules

There are 91 registered Continental teams across Europe in 2025, with traditional cycling nations France (12) and Italy (10) boasting the most. Riders on third-tier teams will occasionally rub shoulders with riders from professional teams in lesser-ranked events, but they are not allowed to compete in WorldTour races – it’s for this reason that some races, like the Tour of Britain, have never applied for WorldTour status as then it would exclude the host country’s Continental teams.

Unlike with WorldTeam and ProTeam squads that are registered with the UCI, all Continental teams are regulated by their national federations. What that means is that they are bound by the rules of their respective countries, as opposed to the UCI. And that explains why wages and conditions vary greatly depending on the country.

In most Western European countries – the heartlands of cycling – there is a minimum wage that Continental teams have to pay their riders, as set by each national federation. In France, where riders are treated as professionals and not amateurs, the minimum salary in 2024 was €25,000; and in Belgium, it’s €24,674 for full-time riders, and €12,337 for riders under-25, students or those deemed as part-time employees. Not all federations make that amount publicly available, but Cyclingnews has been told that the figure in the Netherlands, which has eight teams, is €600 per month, and in Italy it’s closer to €300.

Of the several sources that Cyclingnews spoke to, the consensus was that riders on European Continental teams outside of France and Belgium are generally paid between €11,000 and €22,000 a year, with the mean salary being somewhere around €14-15,000. Development teams, which have grown in popularity and tend to scoop up the best young talent, will pay less – often not much more than €12,000.

Minimum wages in the 22 of the 27 European Union member states who have one range from €551 per month in Bulgaria to €2,704 in Luxembourg. The Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and France – countries with a combined total of 35 Continental teams – all have minimum monthly salaries between €1,802 and €2,193. Typical Continental cycling wages, then, are clearly inferior.

It wasn’t too long ago that top riders in Portugal – home to a thriving domestic scene, including the Volta a Portugal which is sometimes referred to as the ‘fourth Grand Tour’ – could command wages of between €60,000 and €70,000. Similarly, at the height of the UK scene between 2015 and 2019, the biggest names were said to be pocketing up to £50,000 a year, roughly the equivalent of €70,000 back then.

Those extraordinary amounts are partly to blame for the collapse of domestic UK racing, with the number of British Conti teams reducing from seven to zero. “That destroyed the British scene,” commented one rider who rode in the UK at the time. “They blew their budgets, and it wasn’t sustainable.”

One thing that hasn’t changed from a decade ago is that younger riders on teams not affiliated to professional outfits often race without being remunerated. “In Estonia, the minimum salary is around €800 a month, but in our team we have many youngsters who don't receive a salary,” said Mihkel Räim, of Quick Pro Team.

The 32-year-old has been racing mostly for Continental teams for the past 12 years, though he did ride in the WorldTour for Israel Start-Up Nation in 2020. “There is no rule we have to pay them, and they agree to that. They get expenses paid, of course, so we give them a bike, a place to live if they need it, food and prize money. This is the deal for most young riders on European teams.”

Some things are covered, other things are not

Expenses: Some things are covered, other things are not. British rider Harrison Wood, who spent two years at Cofidis until his release last season, is racing for one of Portugal’s nine Conti teams this year, Anicolor-Tien 21.

The 25-year-old earns around €12,000 a year, a minimum wage that “four to five riders on all the Portuguese teams will be getting,” he said. Highlighting just how tight finances are, though, Wood has had to secure three sponsors for the team to participate in the Tour of Britain.

“We lost a main sponsor at the start of the year, so we haven’t got the budget we anticipated,” he said. “Without the sponsors I got for the Tour of Britain, we wouldn’t have been able to make it to the start line.”

Wood always has his expenses covered when with the team, but he has to pay his own way to races – a policy that is common among most teams. On some teams, riders are given a set fee each month, often around €500, to cover their expenses. If there’s a shortfall, they have to pay it themselves.

Many riders report issues with delayed wages or being reimbursed for expenses, and it’s not uncommon for money to be paid to a rider from different bank accounts, as teams scramble around to find the necessary amount.

One rider, who did not wish to be named, said that they had a “pile of receipts from this year of what the team owes me, plus prize money from races, but I have no idea when – or if – it’ll ever get paid.”

South African rider Callum Ormiston rode for the now-defunct Global 6 United team in 2023 and 2024. The team, which was first registered in New Zealand and then Luxembourg, had a number of serious financial problems, leading riders like Ormiston to seek out additional sources of income.

“I didn’t get paid at all by Global 6, so had to find personal sponsors throughout the year,” he said. “I had my flights paid for the year and hotels at races thanks to the organisers, but that was it. The rest of the travel I covered myself, and I bought my own food if we needed stuff. I only stayed because the calendar was good.”

'Word is spreading that there is good money to be made from racing in China'

Ormiston is now riding for The Hurricane & Thunder Cycling Team, one of 15 Continental teams in China. The country has a thriving and developing cycling scene, counting 13 UCI races and a strong domestic competition, the highlight being the China Pro Cycling League. “They’re throwing money at the sport and it's only going to keep on growing,” Ormiston predicted.

The situation in China for younger riders is similar to that in Europe: many will have their essential expenses covered, but won’t receive payment for riding. Older, more experienced and better riders, however, will get paid between €1,000 and €4,000 a month. The best in China are earning more than the minimum salary of ProTeam riders, which is set at €35,392 for employed riders, and €58,043 for self-employed riders. It’s little surprise that riders from across the globe are moving to China in increasing numbers.

“China is super cheap – you can have a good meal for €1-€2 – so I’m able to save most of my wages. Word is spreading that there is good money to be made from racing there,” Ormiston said. “The racing is also really good – the Pro League is strong, and there’s loads of UCI races. It’s the first time I’ve really felt like a professional rider.”

Prize money is also good. Räim and the Estonian-registered team Quick Pro have a Chinese backer and therefore race frequently in Asia. “We raced the Trans-Himalaya [in August] and you got $5,000 USD for a stage win, and $20,000 USD for winning the GC,” Räim said. “That’s way better in Europe, where you basically pay to race. If you win, you might get €800, but after tax, UCI fees, and splitting it with other riders, you might only get €100. which is honestly nothing nowadays in Europe.”

Räim cautions against the idea, though, of Chinese teams being willing to pay over the odds. “The prize money is good, and they have money to spend, but they don’t waste it,” he said. “It’s not a paradise. Some guys are on €4,000 a month, but not many guys get that type of money. You get some riders who have been on ProTeams asking for minimum WorldTour salaries but they’re not going to receive that.”

In total, there are 61 Continental teams in Asia and Oceania, with Japan (10) and South Korea (6) being the other hotspots. There are seven African teams and 19 teams in the Americas, but it is China that is making the biggest moves and attempting to take a slice of the European-dominated pie. “I think in the next five years it’s going to get even bigger,” Räim said.

Impressive racing calendar pitted against low wages

As the 2025 season nears its completion and preparations for the next one start to begin, the outlook for riders on Continental teams in most countries, with the exception of France and Belgium where there are more stringent labour laws, is unlikely to differ too much.

By agreeing to ride for third division teams, a rider is taking advantage of a potentially impressive racing calendar that pits them against professional riders, while accepting a life of low wages and very possibly even dipping into their own savings to get by. It’s certainly not an existence that promises wealth.

“You’re constantly battling to keep your head above the water, and it can have a serious mental toll on you,” one rider said. “For many years, it was definitely costing me more than I was making.”

Räim would like to see the UCI enforce a ruling on each of its national federations to instigate a minimum salary policy, but he has little faith it’d ever happen.

“It’s unfair because we’re in the same race, riding the same kilometres, and have the same risks as ProTeam or WorldTour guys. OK, one might be a superstar who is better, but a job is a job,” he said. “It would be nice if one day all Conti guys got at least something, but I don’t see it happening, not with the prices of everything going up. It’s never been harder to run a Conti team.”

Evenepoel, who has won the time trial world title in each of the past two seasons, is the favourites to do so again this weekend, and he'll also compete for a second road race title in the Rwanda capital Kigali on the following Sunday.

After that, he will quickly travel to France, where he'll take on the UEC Road European Championships, where he'll bid for a second time trial title and a first elite road title.

Evenepoel told Sporza from Brussels airport that he's well up for the challenge of winning "as many jerseys as possible", having recently spent time at a post-Tour of Britain training camp in Calpe, Spain.

"I was able to do everything I needed to do perfectly. It was a relaxing ten days. I trained well and have a good feeling about it. I'm ready to go," Evenepoel said, travelling with Belgian coach Serge Pauwels and his time trial teammates, Florian Vermeersch and Ilan Van Wilder.

"We can use today as a recovery day and then fit in two more good training days. Then we should be fine.

"Rwanda is going to be a unique experience. I'm really curious about what the crowds and the course will be like. I'm pretty open-minded, so I'm not stressed about that."

With no Filippo Ganna on the start list for Sunday's hilly time trial, Tadej Pogačar will line up as Evenepoel's main challenger on the hilly 40.6km route in Kigali.

Evenepoel said that he's anticipating the battle for the rainbow jersey and also singled out Pogačar's trade teammate Jay Vine as one to watch, with the Australian recently finishing second at the Vuelta a España stage 18 time trial.

"When Pogacar sets his mind on something, it's a sign that he feels ready for it. I'm looking forward to the battle. Hopefully, it won't be a close one, but he's a nice extra challenger," Evenepoel said.

"There are other strong men, of course. Jay Vine, for example, is in good shape. But it's up to me to defend my rainbow jersey."

A win on Sunday and a third time trial world title would represent a perfect start to Evenepoel's championships challenge, with the 267.5km road race and then two days of racing in the Drôme-Ardèche region of France up next.

"I won't be home right away, because I'm still racing the European Championships, which immediately follow the World Championships. I'm just going to try to give my best in every race and hopefully come home with as many jerseys as possible.

"Of course, there may be the occasional bad day, but I have prepared well enough to be ready for two weeks of competition.

"I won't be doing much training in between, either. That makes sense, to be in the best possible position at the start of each race. The plan that has been drawn up is well structured."

Today is one of those days, because in just a few short days, Swiss cross-country mountain bike legend Nino Schurter will race his final ever World Cup XC event in his native Switzerland. His bike sponsor, Scott, has created a seriously special custom bike to honour the former Olympic XC and 10-time world champion.

Scott is calling this bike the Spark RC X N1NO. The Spark is a full suspension XC bike that's all about speed. Schurter has raced on Scott bikes for the entirety of his career, and the brand, plus long-time sponsors SRAM, have teamed up to create a custom bike to honour Schurter's final race.

Like Geraint Thomas' final custom-painted Pinarello Dogma F that we covered recently, there are nods to Schurter's biggest wins, and there are a lot of them. The Swiss rider has Olympic medals in all three colours, ten world championships, nine overall world cup titles, 36 individual world cup wins, seven national championships and a European title to his name. You have a palmares like that, you get off the charts custom bikes to ride.

Schurter rides his last World Cup XC race in Lenzerheide this Sunday, after competing in his final ever World Championships last weekend. We don't know yet whether he will continue to race outside of World Cups, but the legacy he leaves in MTB XC racing is assured forever.

Cycling is a sport with hundreds of narratives playing out at any one moment. The likes of Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Demi Vollering (FDJ-SUEZ) will grab the headlines during this World Championships, but there will be so many more stories to tell of African riders competing in the biggest race of their lives.

Here, Cyclingnews highlights eight African riders to look out for during the Kigali Worlds, from favourites and outsiders, to future prospects and those with remarkable stories.

Kim Le Court-Pienaar (Mauritius)

Coming into these World Championships, Kim Le Court-Pienaar is undoubtedly Africa’s biggest rainbow-band hope. The AG Insurance-Soudal rider has had quite a remarkable year; becoming Africa’s first Monument winner at Liège-Bastogne-Liège in April, before winning a stage at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift and holding the yellow jersey for four days. Now, her focus is on winning the women’s elite road race in Kigali on a course that will suit her.

Le Court-Pienaar has truly joined the elite echelons of the women’s peloton this season, but her route to the top couldn’t be much more different to many of those she is now competing against. Born in Mauritius, Le Court-Pienaar moved to South Africa as a child. With financial help from her family, she first made the leap to race in Europe as a teenager in 2015, but had to return to South Africa the following year after struggling to make ends meet, despite competing in some of the biggest races in the world.

After years racing mountain bike, the now-28-year-old made it back to Europe for the 2024 season, with AG Insurance-Soudal taking a chance on her. She’s known to be a determined and mentally strong figure. She puts that down to the fight that she has had to get to where she is.

"Coming from so far and coming from a country with very, very little opportunities has put me in a different headspace than I think most girls in that bunch," she told Cyclingnews last year. "I think I want it a lot more."

After the year that she has had, Le Court-Pienaar will start the women’s elite road race among the favourites.

Natnael Tesfatsion (Eritrea)

With Tadej Pogačar and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) firm favourites for the men’s elite road race, it’s difficult to see how any African riders will be able to compete for top honours over the brutal 267km elite road race course.

Movistar’s Natnael Tesfatsion will likely be among the strongest African riders in the men’s race and with Biniam Girmay saying that he will ride in a support role, Tesfatsion could be Eritrea’s leader. Tesfatsion was sixth overall at the Tour de Wallonie in July, finished as runner up at the Cadel Evans Road Race last year, and recently finished third at the Memorial Marco Pantani. He is also a two-time winner of the Tour du Rwanda, so he knows these roads well. He has a reputation as a solid climber with an extremely fast finish, but will need to put in the performance of his life in Kigali to secure a result.

Tesfatsion was given his big break in Europe with the Qhubeka development team in 2019 after the team spotted him racing well in China for an Eritrean club team, Eritel. After two years, the team wanted Tesfatsion to remain with the development squad for another season, but he was keen to push on, securing a move to Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec before moving on to Lidl-Trek and then Movistar.

Charles Kagimu (Uganda)

Ugandan Charles Kagimu will be hoping to put in an impressive ride during the hilly 40.6km men’s elite time trial on the opening day of the championships.

Kagimu is a double African time-trial champion, winning his first title in 2023 on Luke Rowe’s 2022 Ineos Grenadiers TT bike after training with the team in their January training camp that year as part of a development programme that Ineos supported at that time in Kenya.

The 26-year-old, who rides on the road for Team Amani, gained further notoriety by being the final finisher of a tough edition of the Olympic Games road race in Paris, having spent the first 190km in the breakaway and fought off flu just to get to the start-line. "It was really mind-blowing to see such crowds," Kagimu told Cyclingnews after the finish. "They just gave me a lot of motivation to finish the race."

Jazilla Mwamikazi (Rwanda)

Over the past three years, the UCI World Cycling Centre has been scouting and developing young talent across the African continent, giving the cream of the crop the opportunity to race and be part of training camps in Brittany as part of an initiative they have called ‘Africa 2025’. Dozens of riders have moved through this project, which aimed to enable African riders to be competitive at the Kigali Worlds.

Rwandan Jazilla Mwamikazi has been among the riders who have made the greatest strides forward during this time. According to World Cycling Centre coaches, the 20-year-old showed ability when she started with the programme, but was technically and tactically lacking.

This year, Mwamikazi has become unrecognisable from the rider who first joined the project. She has been a dominant force in local races in Brittany, winning almost every local race she competed in this summer. "Where she started from and where she's at now, I think she's not even close to her full potential yet," says World Cycling Centre Performance Director Clint Hendricks.

Mwamikazi then went on to race the Tour de l’Avenir Femmes where she finished a solid 47th overall and became Rwandan national champion this year. Also a competent mountain biker, Mwamikazi will target the first edition of the standalone women’s under-23 road race in Kigali.

Tsige Kahsay Kiros (Ethiopia)

Tsige Kahsay Kiros was the youngest rider to compete in the 2025 edition of the Tour de l’Avenir Femmes. Riding her first UCI race in Europe and still technically a junior, having just turned 18 in April, Kahsay was able to mix it with riders way beyond her level of experience throughout the seven stages. She eventually finished 22nd on GC, unremarkable at first glance, but in reality it was a stunning result for the young Ethiopian.

Kahsay will now go into the junior women’s races at the World Championships as something of a dark horse on a course that suits her perfectly and on roads that will be much more familiar to her.

At home in Ethiopia, Kahsay has been a dominant force in both junior and elite racing over the last couple of years. She has been guided in part by former WorldTour rider Tsgabu Grmay, who told Global Peloton during the Tour de l’Avenir Femmes that "she's always giving us a surprise. Excited for what she can do in the future. But definitely she has motivation and she wants to be a WorldTour rider and she's really a fighter."

Joshua Johnson (South Africa)

After starting to race at the age of 9, Joshua Johnson has emerged as one of the most promising riders to come out of South Africa in recent years. The rider from Durban was inspired to ride by his mountain biking father. Johnson followed a similar course in his early years before turning to the road, winning national titles through the age groups, becoming junior time trial champion this season in his first year at that level.

Johnson joined Team GRENKE-Auto Eder for this season, the junior feeder team of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, and has raced a healthy European calendar. He was 16th at the junior E3 Saxo Classic in March and has followed that up with a series of solid results.

Johnson will race the 22.6km junior men’s time trial at the World Championships and in a three-man South African team in the road race.

Yoel Habteab (Eritrea)

In 2022, Yoel Habteab became just the second Eritrean to win the African Continental junior men’s road race title, following in the footsteps of Biniam Girmay, who was the first to win it four years earlier. Habteab followed that up the same year with a solid 28th place at the World Championships in Wollongong, his first UCI race outside of Africa.

Habteab is a rider who can climb and sprint well, important traits which can be found in many young riders from Eritrea. Few get the opportunity to develop those skills in Europe, but Habteab is one of the exceptions, signing for the German Bike Aid team at the start of the 2024 season. In the last two seasons, Habteab has raced across Europe, Asia and Africa, picking up top-10s in races such as the Tour de l’Ain and several King of the Mountains competitions.

The parcours in Kigali suits Habteab to the ground and he is likely to lead the Eritrean squad in the men’s under-23 road race. With several European nations opting not to take their under-23 squads due to cost and logistical challenges, the opportunity is open for a rider like Habteab to steal a big result.

Florence Nakagwa (Uganda)

Florence Nakagwa was the first female cyclist to join the Masaka Cycling Club in Uganda. She has spoken about how the culture in the East African country holds women back from sports, but she was inspired by her father and brothers to pursue a career in cycling.

Now, she races in Europe with development team Canyon-SRAM-zondacrypto Generation, a team that exists to give opportunities to riders from non-traditional cycling backgrounds. Since Nakagwa joined the Masaka club, they have seen a wave of interest from young women wanting to join, and several club members will be racing in Kigali in their national colours.

It took almost a year for Nakagwa to secure her visa to travel to Europe, but she eventually made it at the start of this year. The 21-year-old has struggled to adjust to European racing this season, but will be motivated to do well in the under-23 road race in a World Championships that is less than 400km away from her home town.

Subscribe to Cyclingnews to unlock unlimited access to our coverage of the first-ever UCI Road World Championships on African soil. Our team of journalists will bring you all the major storylines, in-depth analysis, and more directly from the action in Rwanda as the next rainbow jerseys are decided. Find out more.

While many brands start out by creating an all-round gravel bike before producing a race model, Factor has taken the opposite approach, but hopes the Aluto will have a broader appeal, covering racing, training, exploratory gravel riding and endurance riding.

More stable, but still lively

The Aluto isn’t simply a slimmed-down Ostro Gravel, but has a geometry of its own that, while derived from the Ostro Gravel, is distinct. The head tube angle is a hair slacker by 0.3º, and the bottom bracket drop has been increased by 4mm in a size 56. This, combined with identical length chainstays to keep the rear end feel the same, gives a longer wheelbase by 6mm. Small changes, but these should make the bike feel more planted and stable at higher speeds, and a slightly higher stack at the front end by 5mm should mean it’s easier to fit a broader range of riders.

The frame itself also takes its design cues from various models across the Factor range. The top tube is derived from the lightweight O2 VAM, though in this case it has a set of bosses built in for a bento box. The seat stay insertions, suitably dropped down the seat tube, mirror those of both the new Monza and that wild prototype that hasn’t been released yet, but that we’ve already tested in the wind tunnel.

Like the Monza, it also features a downtube storage box in the slender downtube, and on the underside, another pair of bosses are in evidence for those who need additional water or tool storage. While it certainly isn’t as aero-optimised as the Ostro Gravel, the head tube is still a slight hourglass shape, whilst still allowing room for full internal cable routing and a traditional round steerer, and the tube shapes still exhibit the classic truncated aerofoil cross sections that have become the norm in bike design in the last decade or so.

Tyre capacity has also been increased over the Ostro Gravel. The Aluto has been optimised for a 45mm tyre, but the fork can fit a 52mm, and a 47mm can be crammed into the rear triangle for those subscribing to the ‘wider is faster’ doctrine.

An all-new cockpit and dropper compatibility

The Aluto will also ship with an all-new cockpit from in-house component brand Black Inc. The HB05 follows the same design language as the HB04 that appears on the Monza, but adds 14mm of flare, reduces the drop to 115mm, and reduces the reach to offset the increasing reach of modern shifter hoods.

Interestingly, despite the growing trend on almost all new bikes of ditching the round seaport, the Aluto has a traditional setup with an external clamp. This should help with rear-end compliance as well as being easier to live with and less likely to slip, but it also makes the bike dropper-post compatible, which will be a boon to those prone to technical descending or cosplaying as Matej Mohorič.

Personally, I'm a big fan of this move. Yes, there will be some aero downsides, but for the generalist, it's great. It's less prone to gumming up with muck, and opens up the possibility of suspension seatpost use, too, for really rough terrain.

SRAM UDH compatibility is confirmed, and the frame is electronic and hydraulic only, though it does retain 2x compatibility, which is an increasingly uncommon sight in modern gravel bikes. Factor says it’s to allow customers to choose their ideal setup, whatever it may be.

Finally, the paint, which is offered in two guises inspired by Open Class Dakar vehicles, Raptor Blue and Quattro Grey.

The bike will be available as a frameset in sizes 49-61 for $3,999/€4,699/£3,999, or as a full package with Black Inc. Thirty Four wheels, 45c Goodyear Connector tyres and SRAM Force XPLR for $6,999/€8,399/£6,999 or Red XPLR for $8,699/€10,499/£8,699.

Luckily for you, I have had an advanced copy of the new Aluto already and have given it a couple of decent rides so far. Not enough to bring you a full review just yet, but watch this space.

There will be 49 riders from 36 nations taking to the starting ramp located at the BK Arena in central Kigali. They will embark on a 31.2km race against the clock that finishes at the Kigali Convention Centre.

The elite women will tackle 460 metres of elevation along the course that includes three climbs; twice over the Côte de Nyanza with 2.5km at 5.8% on the way out and 4.1km at 3.1% on the way back toward the finish. They will then climb the cobbled Côte de Kimihurura, which is 1.3km at 6.3% and also used on the city circuits during the road races later in the week.

The reigning Olympic champion and last year's world champion in the individual time trial, Grace Brown of Australia, will not be participating in this event, having retired at the end of last season.

That opens the door to a host of riders to watch, some in contention for the rainbow jersey and some who will be representing their nation at this history-making event.

Marlen Reusser (Switzerland)

Marlen Reusser is the reigning Swiss time trial champion and has had a long history with this discipline at the World Championships. Although she earned three medals, two silver and one bronze, she has never won the world title.

She was forced to drop out of the event mid-race in 2023, as one of the top favourites, citing burnout at the end of the season, and she did not start the event in 2024 after a season marred by a crash at the Tour of Flanders and then COVID-19.

Reusser's track record in the individual time trial, on the whole, is remarkable, having finished in the top three of every single event she has finished in the last five years.

This will mark her first race since she was forced to abandon the Tour de France Femmes in July due to illness. However, prior to that race, she had a strong season, finishing second overall at Setmana Ciclista Valenciana and the La Vuelta Feminine, before winning overall titles at Vuelta a Burgos, Tour de Suisse, and finishing second at the Giro d'Italia.

Chloé Dygert (United States)

Another individual time trial powerhouse, Chloé Dygert, is a former two-time world champion in the discipline, securing the rainbow jerseys in 2019 in Yorkshire and 2023 in Glasgow.

She appeared to be on her way to winning another time trial world title in Imola in 2020, but a horrific crash saw her go over the guard rail on a high-speed descent, and she suffered a serious leg injury.

In addition to her road cycling world titles, she is also an eight-time world champion and Olympic gold medallist in track racing.

Last year, Dygert secured the bronze medal at the Zürich Worlds and will be looking to reclaim the rainbow jersey in Kigali.

The course is hilly, but Dygert showed her strength in hilly time trials when she won her first elite world title in the discipline in Yorkshire.

Anna Henderson (Great Britain)

Anna Henderson has not cracked the top three in the individual time trial at the Worlds, but she is a two-time national champion and secured the silver medal at the Olympic Games in Paris last summer.

She hasn't had too many opportunities to compete in the time trial this year, but she was part of the winning team at the team time trial that opened the La Vuelta Femenina.

She was second at the British National Championships behind Zoe Backstedt, who is competing in the under-23 event in Kigali.

On another standout year, Henderson was sixth in the opening time trial at the Giro d'Italia, where she won stage 2 and wore the maglia rosa.

Xaverine Nirere (Rwanda)

As the host nation, the Rwandan national team will field three riders in the individual time trial led by national champion Xaverine Nirere.

The team will also include Diane Ingabire, runner-up in the national championships and who races for Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto Generation, and third place in the national championships, Violette Irakoze Neza, who races for Ridley.

Xaverine Nirere primarily competes in Africa, having won her nation's Heros Cycling Cup, and won a stage and finished second overall at the Migration Gravel Race. She secured two medals at the national championships and won the overall title at the Pupkewitz Megabuild Windhoek Tour in Namibia.

Demi Vollering and Anna van der Breggen (Netherlands)

The Netherlands lines up with two potential podium contenders with former Tour de France winner Demi Vollering and former world champion Anna van der Breggen.

Vollering, who has not competed in a time trial this year, has always been a strong time trialist, but it has never truly been her main focus, tending to place her attention on being an all-rounder in the Classics and Grand Tours.

She has had some exceptional time trials, however, securing the silver medal at the Zurich Worlds and winning the time trial at the Tour de France last year. She was also second, behind her then trade teammate Reusser, in the final time trial at the 2023 Tour de France, where she won the yellow jersey.

Van der Breggen has secured five medals in the time trial and the world title in 2020 in Imola. She is also a two-time national champion in the discipline, but having only recently come out of a three-year retirement, she will be a dark horse for this event.

The only other time trial that she has competed in this year was at the Giro, where she finished fourth.

Cédrine Kerbaol and Juliette Labous (France)

French national champion, Cédrine Kerbaol, has earned her place at her third World Championships after a strong season where she finished eighth overall at the Tour de France.

Earlier in the season, she won the national title for the second time in her career, beating compatriot Juliette Labous.

Both riders are the strongest time trial list of their nation, with Labous finishing second in the national championships, but having represented France at the Paris Olympic Games, where she was just off the podium in fourth.

She has steadily worked on her time trial over the last five years and has finished three times in the top 10 at Worlds.

Antonia Niedermaier (Germany)

Antonia Niedermaier will represent Germany in the time trial as the national champion. She has competed in one other time trial this season at the Giro d'Italia, where she was fifth overall.

An all-rounder, Niedermaier excels in many areas of the sport, but she has proven her strength at previous world championships, finishing fourth last year and 11th the year before that in Glasgow.

This time trial course will cater to her climbing strengths, with three climbs to contest; this could end up being one of her best time trials.

Hermionne Ahouissou (Benin)

Two-time Benin national champion, Hermionne Ahouissou, lines up as one of the stronger time triallists in Africa.

She arrives at this world championships having just competed for her national team at the Maryland Cycling Classic in Baltimore, the first time an African national team has competed in a UCI event in the US.

Although she did not finish that race, it was undoubtedly a learning experience to test her legs against the combined national and international peloton at a high-level event.

Brodie Chapman (Australia)

Brodie Chapman has big shoes to fill, lining up as the defending nation in the worlds time trial, off the heels of Grace Brown's winning performance in Zurich last year. Chapman can certainly hold her own in a time trial, proving as much by winning the Australian national title in January.

Like many of the women racing in this event, she has only done two other time trials this year with her trade team on the European circuit. She knows what it means to win a world title, though, having been part of the national team that secured the gold medal in the mixed team relay last year.

She was also third in the time trial at the Giro and second in the time trial at the Thüringen Ladies Tour, seventh in the event at the Tour de Suisse, second in the time trial at the Vuelta Extremadura, and part of the team that won the opening team time trial at the Vuelta last year, all last year.

Aurelie Halbwachs (Mauritius)

Racing for Mauritius, Aurelie Halbwachs is the reigning time trial champion from the African Games, securing her gold medal last summer in Accra, Ghana, ahead of Ese Lovina Ukpeseraye of Nigeria and Lucy Young of South Africa.

Her compatriot Kim Le Court-Pienaar has put Mauritius on the map this summer, where she won a stage and wore the yellow jersey at the Tour de France.

Halbwasch will join Le Court-Pienaar in the mixed team relay and the elite women's road race later in the week.

Subscribe to Cyclingnews to unlock unlimited access to our coverage of the first-ever UCI Road World Championships on African soil. Our team of journalists will bring you all the major storylines, in-depth analysis, and more directly from the action in Rwanda as the next rainbow jerseys are decided. Find out more.

The Frenchman shut down a strong charge by Marijn van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost), who could make the pass on the stiff finish on a ramp that reached 18% gradient. Marc Hirshi (Tudor Pro Cycling), the overall winner of the 2023 Tour de Luxembourg, trailed for third.

With 300 metres to go, Grégoire launched his charge from the peloton, using every part of his body to conquer the climb. In a post-race interview in French, he said he knew he had the power to win the stage today, his fourth victory of the season, and he said his team put him in position to take the first leader's jersey.

"I knew I was the favourite. I knew I had the power to win today," Grégoire said, his performance Wednesday coming off a GC win at Tour of Britain Men.

"We had come to check out the finish on Tuesday with my teammates, and I really liked it," he added. "I knew it could suit me, and I was motivated to go for the win today. I didn’t hesitate to ask the team to take control of the race, and that’s what we did.

"I probably launched my sprint too early, but I didn’t really have a choice. I felt Tom starting to fade a little at 350 meters, and when he pulled off at 300 meters, I found myself in front, in the wind, and there was no turning back. I could feel Marijn behind me, I could see his wheel during the sprint. I managed to kick again in the last 100 meters so he couldn’t come past, and it worked!

"I was scared, it really came down to suffering, but that makes the victory even sweeter. We really raced like a great team today. The general classification will be decided largely in Saturday’s time trial. We’ll think about that when the time comes. There are a lot of great stages on this Tour of Luxembourg. Today’s was one of them, that’s done, now we’ll focus on Friday’s stage."

His Groupama-FDJ squad worked hard, along with EF Education-EasyPost, to set a strong tempo in catching the final riders that were part of the day's breakaway of six with 11 kilometres to go.

A midweek start for the five-day Tour de Luxembourg included many of the same hills that were part of the country's road national championships. Four climbs were spread across the 152.8km route, with a set of three in the first 82km and Côte de Stafelter (3km at 6% average) setting up the final 9km into Luxembourg at Fëschmaart, the same finish as last year.

The Spuerkeess Bonus Sprint, positioned 51 km from the finish, will be a strategic opportunity for the GC contenders. A second intermediate sprint in Mersch (23.9 km from the finish)

The race began at Place Guillaume in the heart of Luxembourg's capital, a cloudy day with weather not a significant factor. A trio of small, uncategorised in the opening 36km saw a group of six - Quentin Bezza (Wagner Bazin WB), Mats Berns (National Team Luxembourg), André Carvalho (Efapel Cycling), Mil Morang (Lotto Kern-Haus PSD Bank), Malte Hellerup (ColoQuick) and Andrea Pietrobon (Polti VisitMalta).

After the opening two KOMs, Montée de Putscheid (2.4km at 9.6%) and Côte de Bourscheid (3.5Km at 7%), the gap for the leaders moved under 2 minutes.

Once off the third climb, Côte de Eschdorf (2.8km at 8.1%), the group tackled an uphill intermediate sprint in Mertzig, Berns no longer in the bunch and Pietrobon ratcheting the pace to hold the gap for now five leaders at 1:45.

With 10km to go on a lumpy path to the Mersch for more points in the sprint classification, Pietrobon and Morang moved away from Bezza, Carvalho and Hellerup for a two-rider charge.

Through the line, the Italian took the top points, but the gap to the peloton had faded to under one minute with under 25km to race as three of the eight WorldTour teams in the race pressed the chase - Lidl-Trek, EF Education-EasyPost and Groupama FDJ.

In the distance, riders could see glimpses of the tall buildings of the capital as the final kilometres through the countryside. Just short of the rise to begin the Côte de Stafelter, the lead duo's day at the front was over.

From there, the WorldTour teams took over at the front, positioning team leaders for the final uphill charge and the first leader's jersey.Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ)

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The Belgian shot out of the peloton as they caught late attacker Victor Lafay (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and held off second-placed Emilien Jeannière (TotalEnergies) and Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) in third.

"It's a great feeling after a victory, especially in a new arena. It's a part of Wallonie and I'm Walloon, so it's amazing for me and my team," De Lie said.

"I might have been a bit too far back at the start of the final climb but I managed to win the race, so I'm happy with that."

The 187.1-kilometre ProSeries race started in Dison, where a five-rider breakaway went clear that would stay away for most of the race.

The move included Edoardo Zamperini (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Kamil Gradek (Bahrain Victorious), Martin Urianstad Bugge (Uno-X Mobility), Kenny Molly (Van Rysel Roubaix), and Bram Dissel (BEAT).

On the Côte d'Ermeton (1.8km at 3.6%) with 36km to go, the peloton had the breakaway in sight, but even though Dissel was dropped and dangling ahead of them, they weren't ready to catch the escapees quite yet.

That came with 16km to go as the peloton prepared for the final two climbs, the Tienne aux Pierres (3.1km at 4.8%) and the last kick to the Citadelle de Namur (3.1km at 4%).

Tudor won the fight to be at the head of the peloton as they made the hard turn onto the cobbles that signal the start of the final climb, but Tim Wellens was also at the head of affairs for UAE Team Emirates XRG along with Girmay.

It was Lafay who made the early move and had a solid lead before Alpecin-Deceuninck and Cofidis gave chase. When Lafay's legs gave out, De Lie launched a furious acceleration to take the win.

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A select peloton stayed together despite the late attacks and then Soudal-QuickStep led Magnier into the rising cobbled road to the finish line. Magnier used his power and sprinting skills to surge away on the front and won by several bike lengths.

He beat local rider Lukáš Kubiš (Unibet Tietema Rockets) and Joppe Heremans (VolkerWessels).

Magnier pulled on the first leader's jersey after taking his seventh win of the 2025 season.

"It's a very nice feeling to win. We came with a strong team and I'm really happy to take first win and the GC," Magnier said.

"The team did an amazing job controlling all day. It was hard to control all of the attacks but we did it. I needed to be in a good position into the last corner before the cobbles. I did that, so I'm happy to win."

"It's been a very good season so far, I've made good progression in the sprints and the team helped and supported me with that. I'm the leader for the sprints and we hope there will be four sprints but it'll be hard to control all day. Our sponsor Janom is from Slovakia, so we want to make them proud."

How it unfolded

The opening stage of the Tour of Slovakia was a rolling 141km ride that included two loops and a final 40km circuit after a visit to the finish area.

Four riders bravely went on the attack early and formed the break of the day - Łukasz Owsian (Mazowsze Serce Polski), Oscar Nilsson-Julien (Equipe continentale Groupama-FDJ) and Michal Schlegel (Elkov-Kasper). They opened a gap of 1:15 with 122km to go and extended it to 2:00.

However, Soudal-QuickStep and Visma-Lease a Bike were determined to control the racing.

The early break of the day was eventually caught with 30km to go on the short but steep Kurov climb. Tom Gloag (Visma-Lease a Bike) surged across to the front of the race and so sparked a series of attacks on the ride to the finish.

A front peloton of 40 riders formed during the aggressive racing as riders tried to avoid a sprint finish. Gloag, Bart Lemmen, Matisse Van Kerckhove and Cian Uijtdebroeks all launched attacks, forcing Yves Lampaert to chase every move for Magnier.

Australia's Logan Currie (Lotto) was the last to launch strong attacks but he was also pulled back before Soudal-QuickStep took control and prepared a text-book lead out for Magnier to do his thing on the riding finish.

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Despite being up against tough opposition in Jonas Vingegaard, João Almeida and Jai Hindley, and being a relative newcomer to serious Grand Tour GC campaigns, Pidcock defied even his own expectations to finish third, his best overall across three weeks.

Top 10 or, ideally, top five had been Pidcock's goal at the start in Turin, trying to make improvements after an abortive GC attempt at the Giro d'Italia earlier this year, where he finished 16th, but his new team were Q36.5 instead rewarded with a podium, a rare achievement for a ProTeam.

Only in the first year of their partnership after Pidcock's move from Ineos Grenadiers, the new environment is clearly working for the Brit, and his team are already thinking about how they can turn third into a win.

"This is only the Vuelta, but it’s a step in the right direction for Tom with the numbers he was doing," Pidcock's long-term coach Kurt Bogaerts told The Cycling Podcast. "I think his body got a signal that it can recover during stages."

A former winner atop Alpe d'Huez, Pidcock has long been a proven climber, but with more focus on one-day races and mountain biking in recent years, his abilities across three weeks of racing were not well-studied until this Vuelta.

However, based on this early podium, Bogaerts thinks the 26-year-old has Grand Tour winning potential, though recognises there still is a gap to close.

"We are three minutes from the winner," he said, referencing Pidcock's deficit to Jonas Vingegaard. "And now we know that if we will potentially win a Grand Tour one of these days, we need to close a minimum of three to four minutes. I think that’s an achievable gap."

That is a belief Pidcock himself shares, too, unlocking whatever wasn't working for him previously at Ineos Grenadiers.

"The work we've done and the shape the team has got me in gives me more confidence than ever that I can win a Grand Tour," he said.

"It’s probably the biggest achievement of my career so far… this third place feels like a win. But it also makes me believe I could fight for more in the future."

With the positive signs, clear belief and growing expectations all there, the question for Pidcock is what's next.

Q36.5 have already made significant investment in his Grand Tour support for the future, bringing riders like Chris Harper and Eddie Dunbar on board for 2026, plus signing Classics riders like Fred Wright to ease the pressure on Pidcock during the Spring.

For Pidcock, his team, and every other rider, the Tour de France may be an ultimate goal, but Q36.5 certainly aren't going to rush towards that, and aren't even guaranteed an invite in 2026, given their status as a ProTeam.

"I don’t think we need to go next year to try to win it, or only to go for the podium," Bogaerts said about the Tour.

Instead, Pidcock and co.'s post-Vuelta path will be about harnessing what went right at the Spanish Grand Tour, and how they can harness that to close the gap to the top.

"I think we will try to copy this and analyze this event in detail. What can we do better? And what do we do well already?" Bogaerts said. "Let’s make it achievable, the progression."

Dubau-Prévôt delivered a time of 4:14:07 on the 110km course in the Pyrénées with over 2,000 metres of climbing, finishing more than four minutes ahead of her nearest rival in the elite women's category, Houffa Gravel winner Nicole Frain (Ridley Racing). Karolina Migoń (PAS Racing) was less than four minutes further back in third.

Bardet won his second UCI gravel series event, the retired WorldTour racer taking victory at Monsterrando in Italy – covering the course in 3:34:34. He was nearly five minutes faster than runner-up Hugo Drechou (Numéro 31 par Café du Cycliste) while Adne Koster (Giant Liv Benelux Offroad) was 51 seconds further back. Petr Vakoc (Canyon) managed to fight his way back to fourth after an ill-timed puncture.

66 Degrés Sud - Pyrénées Catalanes Gravel Tour is among the final group of UCI Gravel World Series qualifiers for the World Championships in Bolero from October 11-12. Dubau-Prévôt and Dorian Gordon won the the first French series race of the season in June, Wish One Millau Grands Causses.

Bossuyt tested positive at the 2023 Tour de Normandie Féminin. She opted for a contamination defence and blamed dairy products made from French cow milk. Cyclocross rider Toon Aerts was also banned for two years after their positive test was confirmed.

Now 25 and riding for AG Insurance-Soudal, Bossuyt made her comeback this summer and was twice sixth in the Tour de France Femmes stages.

She made the key selection on the climb to the Namur citadel in the finale of the Grand Prix de Wallonie Dames and then won a small group sprint, beating Karlijn Swinkels (UAE Team ADQ) and Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek). Line Lippert (Movistar) was fourth.

"When Lippert attacked on the Citadel, I couldn't immediately follow. I tried to ride at my own pace but I also had to recover from the effort. Then it was time for a sprint," said Bossuyt.

“It was a really tough climb, but luckily I can now close a very tough and difficult period."

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Vingegaard rode to the entrance of the service course in 's-Hertogenbosch, wearing his red race leader's jersey and riding his special red Cervélo bike. Team staff held flares and congratulated the Dane on securing the team's third Grand Tour victory after Simon Yates won the Giro d'Italia and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot won the Tour de France Femmes.

No official celebrations are planned in Denmark and Vingegaard is expected to spend time at home before riding the road race at the European Championships in France on October 5 and then Il Lombardia on October 11. Like his Vuelta rival João Almeida, he has opted not to ride the World Championships in Rwanda.

Vingegaard is already harnessing his success of 2025 as motivation for 2026.

He has hinted he would like to ride the Giro d'Italia at some point to complete his Grand Tour triptych but seems keen to take on Tadej Pogačar yet again in the 2026 Tour de France.

Pogačar dominated this year's Tour but Vingegaard hopes to build on some improvements. from the Vuelta.

"I believe that when I was at my level in the Vuelta, I also demonstrated a really high quality of racing," Vingegaard told Feltet.dk after the improvised Vuelta podium ceremony in Madrid on Sunday night, which was suggested by Tom Pidcock's family, with other teams then invited and the makeshift podium created with a race backdrop and cooler boxes as the podium steps.

"It's clear that I had some bad days in the Tour, which I still struggle to explain. However, when I was on my game, he couldn't ride away from me, so I feel I've closed the gap to him from last year."

Vingegaard rode the Tour-Vuelta double for the second time in his career this year and seems to have fully recovered from his terrible crash injuries of 2024. He now has more confidence for the future.

"Yes, I think so. I also believe the Tour de France gave me some belief and hope," he said.

Vingegaard won the Vuelta as the pro-Palestine protests intensified. The final stage was ended before riders could reach central Madrid after the final kilometres was invaded by protesters.

Vingegaard has always shown understanding for the position of the protesters but wanted the Vuelta to fish safely.

"At no point was I really in danger. I also didn't see them run into the road in front of me. The organisers did a good job," Vingegaaard told Dutch television channel NOS, refusing to enter the political debate that exploded due to the protests.

"Everyone has the right to demonstrate. I hope everyone got away unscathed, because it looked quite violent," he told Sporza.

"I do hope we can continue to do our job in the future. Teams and organizers invest a lot of time and money in it, so it would be a shame if we couldn't finish the races. For now, it seems to be limited to Spain."

Twenty-three-year-old Piganzoli will step-up to WorldTour level in 2026 after three seasons with Polti VisitMalta. Piganzoli is part of the same generation as Giulio Pellizzari and finished third in the Tour de L'Avenir behind Isaac del Toro and Pellizzari in 2023.

Piganzoli won the Tour of Antalya in 2024 and was second in this year's O Gran Camiño and the La Route d'Occitanie in the French Pyrenees. He finished 13th in the 2024 Giro d'Italia and 14th this year. He was third in last year's Giro dell'Emilia behind Tadej Pogačar and Tom Pidcock.

"This is a big step in my career,” Piganzoli said when Visma announced his signing.

I’m excited to race for a new team and to meet all the new teammates and staff. I was really drawn to the project at Visma-Lease a Bike because I believe I can truly continue developing here as a GC rider.

"There’s so much expertise in this team: experienced riders, top equipment, strong support staff, and more. Step by step, I want to keep growing as a general classification rider."

He will join Visma-Lease a Bike's development group within the WorldTour set-up, that includes Cian Uijtdebroeks, British sprinter Matthew Brennan, Jørgen Nordhagen, and Niklas Behrens. Piganzoli will eventually play a role alongside Grand Tour leaders Jonas Vingegaard and Matteo Jorgenson.

"Davide is a rider in whom we see a lot of potential,” said Head of Racing Grischa Niermann.

"He will initially strengthen our Grand Tour squad in a supporting role, but he will definitely have opportunities of his own as well. We want to grow with him to the next level as a GC rider, and we’re happy he chose us and our project."

Visma have also signed French rouleur and national time trial champion Bruno Armirail from Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, Filippo Fiorelli from VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè and Timo Kielich from Alpecin-Deceuninck.

The team has lost sprinter Olav Kooij to Decathlon, while Dylan van Baarle will move to Soudal-QuickStep and Tiesj Benoot to also goes to Decathlon in 2026.

Cyclingnews will cover all of the 2026 cycling transfers from around the men's and women's pelotons with news, analysis, and an updated transfer index, to make sure you don't miss a thing this transfer season.

The Continental Grand Prix 4 Seasons tyre is actually an evolution of sorts of the old GP4000 S II race tyre from the brand, but beefed up and designed to be far more puncture resistant, almost to the same level at the Continental Gator Hardshell it shares its Duraskin outer layer with. Both are winter road bike tyres, with the aim of providing increased puncture protection over roads that are more likely to be debris-strewn.

Where things differ are that the Grand Prix 4 Seasons have far better traction in the rain, and a far more supple overall feeling that leads to a tyre that feels nowhere near as sluggish. It can’t compete with the rapid rolling of the pricier sibling, the GP5000 AS TR, but for a mix of hard wearing, decent performance, and reasonable value, it’s a truly superb training tyre that can venture out on some faster paced group rides.

Design and specifications

The Continental Grand Prix 4 Seasons tyre is quite similar in its make-up to the Gator Hardshell tyre but with a few key differences. Construction starts with a total of 5-plys of casing, designed to reduce the incidence of anything penetrating all these layers to reach the inner tube within. On top of this, a sixth ply is present in the form of the same Duraskin layer that is found on the Gatorskin tyres, going from bead to bead and visible externally.

Atop this, not one, but two layers of Vectran breaker has been added. This is similar in construction to a Kevlar vest, being a mesh of densely woven and difficult to penetrate. It is also wider than what can be found on the likes of the GP4000 S II this tyre is based on, or the more modern GP5000 AS TR tyres. Finally, the tread uses not the top tier Black Chilli compound, but a Black "Max Grip Silica" which is designed to be better for wet weather grip, extended tread life, and greater suppleness specifically in colder conditions.

It is not tubeless or therefore hookless compatible, instead it’s a tube-type clincher only. Sizes start at a very classic 23mm, with 25, 28, and 32mm options available.

Performance

First things first, as always, fitting the tyre. Being a clincher tube type tyre, clearances are not as tight as tubeless offerings. This made fitting these to the 21mm internal width test wheels – Shimano 105 ones, if you're curious – an absolute breeze. No faff with sealing tyres and removing valve cores. Fit and pump, job done. Pumped up to 80psi (a bit higher than you’d generally want to go for tubeless to avoid pinch flats) these 28mm tyres came in at 30.54mm, a fair bit larger than advertised but with plenty of clearance in the Cannondale Topstone frame I use.

In terms of construction and feel, there are a lot of similarities between the Grand Prix 4 Seasons and the Gator Hardshells. The Duraskin outer layer is present on both giving the gridded patterning. Meanwhile the tread follows a similar shape and size, but the Grand Prix 4 Seasons have a tackier feel to the tread and deeper grooving in them.

A common misconception is that the grooves in road bike tyres are there for water displacement, which isn't the case. The more grooves you have the more the tyre tread can deform with each rotation, which heats up the rubber and allows it to grip better. It's why grooves tend to be on the shoulders, with slick centres.

Wet and colder are areas where these tyres perform far better than their more rugged reptilian sibling, offering a good level more grip. I think that has little to do with the tread pattern and far more to do with the tread construction itself. This tyre is a little long in the tooth, but it’s built around the fantastic GP4000 II tyres, one of the previous GOATs of road race tyres. It’s not the BlackChilli compound, but this advanced rubber tread, the Black "Max Grip Silica", is far better than the more basic compound found on the Gatorskin range.

Even though these are not advertised as being as rugged as the Gatorskin tyres, they interestingly feature double the puncture belt protection, using a double Vectran Breaker to ensure the chances of any glass or thorns penetrating the casing is minimal. Indeed testing across hedge trimmings, foul weather roads smothered in filth, and roadside broken bottles, not only did I not get a single puncture, but the tyres are still in very good condition. Tread wear has also been limited over the 600-700km of testing on rough roads and even the odd gravel trail, with the wear indicators looking still relatively fresh and pristine.

What most impressed me about these tyres though is how supple there are relative to the Gators, and even compared to some tubeless competitors that can be run at lower pressures. They are slightly more jarring over rough surfaces than some, namely the Pirelli Cinturato Velo, but I was running those at 5-10 PSI lower, so that’s to be expected. Those tyres also came up even wider in the same advertised size.

The only area where these tyres are not quite so effective is wet weather grip when out of the saddle climbing up steep inclines. Frankly this is an area where most tyres struggle save for race tyres in warmer conditions. When you balance up the performance metrics with where these tyres are advertised in the competitive market, overall they punch above their weight. They’re not the lightest, but that’s to be expected with this level of protection, and the size range is not the broadest, but they are admittedly well in need of an update to being tubeless and cover 35-40mm sizes.

Value

The curse of this pretty impressive performance for a four seasons tyre that rolls pretty well, while being close to bomb proof, is the price. Clincher tyres are generally cheaper than tubeless options, looking at the likes of the Goodyear Eagle Sport and Gator Hardshell. The GP 4 Seasons however are up there with some higher end race tyre offerings. They exceed the price of the new Specialized S-Works Turbo tyres, and beat the Pirelli Cinturato Velo by £5.

There are more expensive rugged offerings, such as the Continental GP5000 AS TR, but they are exceptionally fast rolling to the point where they beat several race day tyre offerings. What impresses me about the GP 4 Seasons is that the performance in and of itself is solid. I could happily use these tyres for faster paced group rides without worrying. I would not say that about the Gatorskin Hardshell tyres. But when you consider the durability and puncture protection, that performance becomes all the more impressive given the relative performance of similarly durable tyres.

These would by no means be my choice for most racing situations, but I admittedly did use them in the Cicle Classic UCI race back in 2018. For those that don’t know, this is a road race, but spends a good amount of time on field tracks around Melton Mowbray, so resilience is key there. I suffered no punctures, instead I crashed into a hedge out of the lead group, but the tyres performed admirably.

This does also highlight though that these tyres are somewhat in need of an update. Tubeless would make them more resilient to punctures overall, and likely improve the suppleness and rolling resistance further. Wider tyre sizes would also be ideal to fit into that all-road category of market with 40mm road tyre clearances. But for what they are, how rugged they are, and how they perform, these are actually a reasonably good value pair of tyres.

Verdict

The Continental Grand Prix 4 Seasons is a true four seasons tyre. The puncture resistance and durability is up there as one of the best, but whereas many tyres with this capability forfeit performance, the GP4S maintains it. They are not up to the levels of race tyres, but not so handicapped that they are out of the question for faster paced riding.

As the old adage goes, to finish first, first you must finish. With these tyres, there’s little chance of not being able to finish due to any tyre faults. However, this performance and durability combination comes at a price, and this tyre is sorely in need of an update. Tubeless compatibility and wider size offerings would make this an even more attractive prospect.

The 3,350 metres of elevation gain in the elite women's 164.4km race, held on city circuits, and the 5,475 metres in the elite men's 267.5km race, which includes a longer extension loop, feature cumulative ascents, cobblestone climbs, and an altitude of between 1,493 and 1,771 metres at their highest points.

The courses call for a special type of rider who is an exceptional climber, but who is also explosive and technically savvy, and so, at first glance, offer little room for surprises.

A closer look at the additional variables reveals that the composition of pelotons and competing national teams, along with targeted reconnaissance, acclimatisation, and understanding the local roads and racing environment, could significantly influence a script torn up in Kigali.

A race of attrition

The courses are expected to favour the powerful climbers, and neither the elite women's nor elite men's race is expected to be an open affair, but rather could end up coming down to varying degrees of selection.

The elite women's race will feature 11 laps of a 15.1km city circuit for a total of 164.4km and 3,350 metres of elevation gain, with its highest point at 1,493 metres. There are two climbs on the circuit: the Côte de Kigali Golf climb, 800m at 8.1% halfway around the local circuit, and the decisive Côte de Kimihurura climb, 1.3km at 6.3% on the circuit close to the finish, which is cobbled.

A deeper dive into the course design shows a Classics-style women's race - think along the lines of GP de Plouay, Amstel Gold Race and possibly even the Richmond World Championships (but at altitude).

"I like it. It's really nice. It's the type of route that suits the type of rider that I am; explosive and cumulative, so I liked it. I was happy when I saw it," said Ashleigh Moolman Pasio, who will represent South Africa in the elite women's race and previewed both courses during a training camp last November.

"It's definitely going to be a race of attrition because there isn't a lot of recovery. We are racing on a city circuit which has two climbs that aren't particularly big or long, but they keep coming in close succession, so there isn't a lot of recovery in between … this will be constantly up and down."

The elite men's race features the same 15.1km city circuits, nine at the start and six at the end, along with the additional challenge of a mid-race extension loop that boast three more climbs; Côte de Péage, which is 1.8km at 5.9%, Mont Kigali is the longest climb at 5.9km at 6.9% and peaks at 1,771 metres altitude, and the famed Mur de Kigali, which is only 400m but features unruly cobbles and is punishingly steep with an average of 11%. The peloton will race a total of 267.5km with 5,475m of elevation gain.

"The extension part of the loop is pretty insane, and it changes the whole nature of the course. So it would be more of a pure climber," she said. "The climb in the middle, for the men's course, is really something, and it is a proper climb."

Asked if she would have liked to have seen the extension loop added to the women's course, Moolman Pasio said, "In the case of a women's race, it would be beneficial to someone like me because it would be more selective, of course, but having said that, I still believe the women's course will be hard enough as it is."

Multiple-time Tour de France stage winner Biniam Girmay will represent Eritrea at the World Championships, likening the elite men’s course to that of the Monument Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

“I know Kigali well, especially some of the roads we do in [Tour du] Rwanda and at the African Championships, many of the climbs,” he said. "So, Liège-Bastogne-Liège but with some cobblestones, it's like Liège-Bastogne-Liège climbs, which are longer, so these are shorter and steeper and with pavé, but it is also technical roads. So, very technical and intense for 260km, and then add the altitude.”

Girmay said the course will not suit his abilities as a rider, but that he will be supporting his teammates at these Worlds. “For me, the World Championships are actually the only chance to wear the Eritrean jersey. It's always great to be able to represent for my country,” he said.

“It would be great if I could get into the breakaway. It's been a long time since I was in an early breakaway. It would be great if I could show my worth while I'm there. It will be a nice experience. I do want to do 'something.' It's a tough course, especially on the local lap, so we will see what I am capable of doing to give support.”

'They're like you would ride on in Belgium' – Unruly cobbles add extra challenge

There are two notable cobblestone sections incorporated into the course design, and having ridden on them both, Moolman-Pasio compared them to some of the famous cobbles of the Spring Classics from races like the Tour of Flanders and Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.

"They are cobbles. There is a lot of Belgian history in Rwanda, maybe not all good history, to be honest, but I believe there is a Flemish influence to the cobbles. They are like you would ride on in Belgium," she said.

The first of the cobblestones is positioned along the Côte de Kimihurura ascent featured on both the elite women's and elite men's races at the end of the city circuit, which has the potential to make for a captivating finale to both races.

Moolman Pasio compared these cobblestones to those of the Bosberg, a cobbled climb that has been part of the Tour of Flanders final, and also features in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.

"The [Côte de Kimihurura], the final climb before the finish, would be more comparable to Bosberg because you can see quite far ahead. It is not twisting and turning, so you can see far ahead. It is not the worst of Belgian cobbles, but they are still like Belgian cobbles," she said.

The men will also contest with the Côte de Kimihurura cobbled ascent on each lap of the circuit, but they also face another set at the Mur de Kigali, which Moolman Pasio said was among some of the roughest cobbles she has experienced.

"It will be different for the men's race because they also have the terrible cobbles on the Mur de Kigali, that are comparable to some of the worst cobbled climbs like the Koppenberg, or even worse than the Oude de Kwaremont, to be honest," she compared to both ascents of the Tour of Flanders. One of the more important factors concerning these cobbles, she said, will be each rider's choice of tire pressure.

"I am quite glad we don't have to do those ones. The steepness of the climb would be well-suited to me but for a small rider, you would have to think of your tire pressure for those cobbles, and the men are only doing it once, so that is a challenge; if you have this one climb, and it is in the middle of the race, you can't really compromise your tire pressure too much but then it does make the climb difficult."

Cobbled climbs plus altitude equals a delicate balancing act

Cobbles, climbs, and now altitude; and you end up with a delicate balancing act when it comes to training and preparation for these Rwanda World Championships.

The highest points of the race: 1,493 metres for the women and 1,771 metres for the men, might not seem high when compared to the 2,000 metres-plus high mountain passes of the Grand Tours, but Moolman Pasio argued that anyone hunting the rainbow jersey will have been acclimating at those specific altitudes.

"The interesting thing is that you need to consider altitude as part of your preparation. It's not the highest, but you definitely need to acclimatise to be good on a course like this one. It's not necessarily super high altitude, but everyone who is going there to be competitive will be doing altitude training right now (early-mid September - ed.) because we want to be acclimatised. We will need to be doing explosive efforts consistently between 1,400 and 1,500 metres [for women's peloton], so you need to be acclimatised to that elevation," said Moolman-Pasio, who spent time training at a similar altitude in Font-Romeu, near Andorra in the Pyrénées ahead of the Worlds.

She also noted some of the additional obstacles of higher-speed interval training while at altitude, and some of the compromises a rider would need to make to get the best of their altitude camp.

"It's an interesting one because, often, a challenge of being at altitude, doing training at altitude, is that you can't necessarily train as explosively as you would be able to at sea level, so that it's going to be the challenge; how everyone manages training for an explosive course but at the same time acclimatising to altitude. That can be a sensitive or delicate balance; to recover well enough and make sure that you are not putting yourself into a hole and overtrain."

While some athletes have gone to Rwanda to preview the course since it was announced last year, Moolman Pasio believes that most of the contenders who compete on the WorldTour, mainly in Europe, will have opted to prepare at altitude destinations closer to home.

"I'm training at Font-Romeu altitude in France, close to Andorra. I was specific about this choice because I didn't want to be on a super high mountain where you had to either drive down to get to a lower altitude or constantly climb up a long mountain to get home," she said.

"We are not preparing for a Grand Tour - and it's a bit different for the men because they have a longer proper climb in the middle - but for the women, we are training for a Classic-style course, but we need to be acclimatized to the altitude.

"So, it was intentional not to go to Andorra, but to go to Font-Romeu, where the altitude is a little bit less at 1,800 metres, enough to acclimatize but still in a good location where I can prepare well and train explosively."

Rwanda has a multitude of suitable places to train and prepare for these Worlds, too, and some athletes and competing nations will have taken advantage of their resources to prepare along the abundance of mid-altitude locations near Kigali.

Moolman Pasio believed that some athletes might have preferred to train closer to home to avoid the hassle of extensive travel and the risk of contracting a stomach bug from contaminated water while abroad. She noted the importance of opting instead for bottled water as a precaution.

"That was the reason, for myself, I decided to come early [November 2024], to explore my options, there are great places to train in Rwanda, and to acclimatise but the risk was too high with water quality, and even malaria, and that type of stuff, so I decided to do a more conservative approach like most European countries," she said, pointing to her own experience with a stomach bug during her final day of training last November in Kigali.

"That will be a challenge for everyone, that is very real; you have to be careful with the food and water because you really could get sick if you're not careful."

Attendance, local knowledge and massive crowds

There are variables such as the peloton size and attendance, local knowledge of African racing that Moolman Pasio factors into her predictions for the elite women's and elite men's road races.

She noted that due to some nations opting not to send full teams, the make-up of the peloton might feel more like the Olympic Games, where quotas determine the number of riders competing for the various nations, and make the size of the fields much smaller than in WorldTour races or previous World Championships.

While the start lists for the two elite road races have not yet been confirmed, Moolman Pasio said it will be interesting to see which nations control the races; where it might typically be countries like the Netherlands, Belgium or Italy, for example, these races could play out in a whole new, and somewhat unexpected way.

"I'm uncertain about what the peloton will look like in Kigali, because some nations are only sending two riders, and we are not going to have the same sort of field we are accustomed to in Europe or other World Championships in terms of the strength in numbers that other dominant cycling nations usually have," she said.

"I think it will be more of an Olympic Games feeling with the teams being smaller. I'm yet to see a start list, but there will be reduced numbers and a slightly different feeling. In that respect, it could be interesting in terms of the control of the race.

"In the past, on a course like Kigali, you wouldn't worry too much about an early breakaway because it would come back at some point, because the stronger nations would be organized and bring it back. But now we need to think more along the lines of the Tokyo Olympic Games, because it is possible that a break goes away and we don't have the same organized teams or team numbers to bring it back."

Moolman Pasio also pointed to the handful of nations that will be aiming to make the most of these Worlds, that will undoubtedly want to form early breakaways in both the elite women's and elite men's road races, but also in the other categories competing during the week.

"It is a selective course, in that it will accumulate over time, so that will be interesting. There will be plenty of African nations that are there to have the best race they can and put on a show, and there will be plenty of riders in an early breakaway," she said.

"It will be interesting to see how that game is played between the more dominant cycling nations and the more opportunistic nations, of which I would place the African nations, because they will be looking for opportunity."

While there are a handful of favourites that are competing, riders like defending champion Tadej Pogačar of Slovenia and double Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel of Belgium, or former Tour de France winner Demi Vollering from the Netherlands and reigning Tour champion Pauline-Ferrand-Prévot from France, these Worlds might indeed cater to several riders from African nations, including herself and Kim Le Court-Pienaar from Mauritius. And while Girmay is a confirmed starter, he has stated that he will be working to support his Eritrean teammates.

"It's always nice to have one symbol in your continent and country, and at the end of the day, it is important to think about the future of cycling in Africa and Eritrea," said Girmay, while pleased Rwanda will host this event, also would have preferred a course design that offered an opportunity to more riders.

"It's nice to be there to represent and to show them respect and to show them that it is possible, if they give 100% and work hard, it is possible. From my side, it is nice to give people hope and to tell them that anything is possible."

Moolman-Pasio explained, too, that while the course suits her, she will also have more experience in racing in Africa than some of her top competitors.

"It's not home because I am from South Africa, but I will have more experience and be more accustomed to racing in Africa because of having done the African Championship titles, and stuff like that. I really feel like it does seem like a home advantage racing in Rwanda," Moolman-Pasio said.

The organisers of the Rwanda Worlds have built a city circuit, not just to challenge the pelotons, but to host millions of fans who are anticipated to come out to watch, all week, and especially the elite road races on the final weekend.

"It's just Africa, and the crowds are going to be an experience for everyone. It will be crowds like Flanders, but African crowds, a different flavour," she said. "There is a vibe that you just don't get in Europe ... and I love that vibe; it's more of a hustle happening. In Europe, things are very controlled; that is the difference, and we thrive in that energy. It will be a real vibe, but a totally different vibe, because we are Africans. It will be a different atmosphere, but a vibrant atmosphere."

Subscribe to Cyclingnews to unlock unlimited access to our coverage of the first-ever UCI Road World Championships on African soil. Our team of journalists will bring you all the major storylines, in-depth analysis, and more directly from the action in Rwanda as the next rainbow jerseys are decided. Find out more.

Caleb Bottcher and Jennifer Tave (SpeedBlock p/b Terun) captured solo victories at the second round in the United States of the UCI Gravel World Series, Mammoth TUFF.

The Californian event, new to the series, played out on a course with a total elevation gain of 7500 feet (2,286m) and women's elite winner Tave set a time of 5:20:05 over the 88 mile (142 km) course to defend her title. That was a stunning 25 minutes ahead of her nearest rival Rachel McBride who came second while Sofia Schugar was under a minute further back in third.

In the elite men's race at Mammoth Lakes it was a tighter finish, with the 24-year-old Bottcher breaking through to the gravel racing top step, the New Zealander beating second-placed Lance Haidet by 24 seconds while Darren Fahy crossed the line two minutes further back.

"I’ve been knocking on the door for a while now and today I stepped right on through," said Bottcher in an Instagram post after claiming the win. "You’re stronger than you think and the good days will come."

Mammoth TUFF was one of two UCI Gravel World Series races taking place over the weekend, the other playing out in France at 66 Degrés Sud - Le Gravel. The qualifying events for the UCI Gravel World Championships in Bolero are quickly dwindling, with Sea Otter and the UEC Gravel European Championships next weekend the final opportunities.

It's true that when Pogačar attacked last year with 100 kilometres to go in Zurich, that was effectively his Slovenian teammates' job done for the day. They could easily have climbed off and gone to watch him ride to victory from the comfort of the Slovenian team bus.

Novak points out that defending a title, rather than going for it the first time, will make for a fresh series of challenges. So, too will the demanding Rwanda course and racing at altitude.

For Pogačar, there is the added sense of responsibility that riding for the number one rider in the world automatically brings. Particularly when that rider has been wearing a rainbow jersey for the last 12 months.

"Last year it was like that," Novak told Cyclingnews about his 'easy' role in Zurich as Pogačar completed his solo attack.

"But this year, we will see how it's going. I think the course is pretty good for him, so we will try our best to win it again.

"It's hard to say if the course will be more difficult, really it's the riders who make a race hard. There's certainly a lot of climbing, like in a Classic, and by the end in those races, after 200 kilometres not a lot of riders still have the legs."

In any case, as Novak says, a rider as versatile and powerful as Pogačar - and who showed excellent form in Canada - can shine on any kind of terrain, regardless of where the race takes place.

"When Tadej plans to be ready, he's ready," Novak said. "I think he needs a few race days and that pace to open up the engine, and then we'll see.

"You know Tadej, he can win almost every day, and I think he will come in the best shape. We have quite a good team, and we'll try to bring him into the best place possible so he can go for the win."

Novak is not totally certain of where he'll fit in the Slovenian order of battle on Sunday, 28, in Rwanda.

Given the absence in Africa of Slovenian stalwart Jan Tratnik - the last teammate to stay with Pogačar in Zurich before he blasted off and who has something of a team captain's role in the squad - there may need to be some alterations.

Primož Roglič, Matej Mohorič, Luka Mezgec, Gal Glivar, Matevž Govekar, Jaka Primožič and Matic Žumer will also compete in the road race.

"I don't know specifically what my job is but I think I'll start pulling after 150 kilometres and try to make some selection and then we will see," he said.

"We've lost a lot with no Jan Tratnik because he's a strong rider and he's got some problems with injuries right now. But we will see how the race is going. Maybe I will need to take his place. In any case, everybody will try their best and we'll try to win."

Apart from his own talents, Novak has the advantage in a World's team of being a trade teammate at UAE Team Emirates-XRG.

"I know Tadej very well, especially in the races, what he likes to do and when and how he works best.

"It's special to race at Worlds because with the National team it's always a bit different. In UAE, we know each other, and in the National team there are other riders you don't know so well."

Discussions to finalize the details of the Slovenian strategy, such as the role to be played by Roglič, will be made "once we get there."

"We haven't talked about that yet," Novak said.

After an exceptionally hard Vuelta, Novak admitted that he is not in as good shape as last year, but he's confident that, as he puts it, "I'll step up for the Worlds.

"It'll be special to be racing in Africa, but also it's special racing for Tadej in these kinds of events too. I'll try to do as much as possible for him, and that's what matters."

Last year, after victory in the World Championships, he said, while Pogačar was logically given a hero's welcome on returning to Slovenia, for him, it was back to business as usual in other races. But that didn't - and doesn't - alter the sense of achievement at being part of a massive success for his country's cycling, he added.

"For me, it was normal, but with Tadej it's very different. I went directly to a race in Croatia, and when you don't go home directly, it's always a bit of a comedown.

"But for me, racing with Tadej is a dream situation - always. It's sometimes more pressure when you race, but you also feel very proud."

The 238-kilometre route takes in the Madonna del Ghisallo in the reverse of its usual direction, descending into Bellagio then onto Lecco, where the route runs alongside Lake Como.

Leaving the short, the route takes in a relentless series of climbs, first at Roncola after 100.9 kilometres of racing. The route on Valico di Valpiana has gradients up to 17%, making for a tough mid-race selection.

These ascents plus more at Berbenno, Dossena, Zambla Alta and Passo di Ganda make for a total of 4,400 metres of climbing. It was on the descent into Selvino with its 19 switchbacks that Pogačar made his move two years ago.

The climbing isn't over after the Passo di Ganda, as the Colle Aperto pitches up to 12% with 4km to go before a long, wide run-in to the finish.

"The alternation between Como and Bergamo has now become a tradition, guaranteeing spectacular racing at the highest level," race director Stefano Allocchio said.

"For this edition, we decided to bring back the 2023 route, a selective and fascinating course featuring many of the race’s historic climbs. We expect an extraordinary turnout, both from riders and the fans lining the roads, confirming the unique charm of this Monument Classic".

The climbs

• Madonna del Ghisallo, km. 38.3
• Roncola, km. 100.9
• Berbenno, km. 129
• Passo della Crocetta, km. 161.9
• Zambla Alta, km. 174.7
• Passo di Ganda, km. 206.6
• Colle Aperto, km. 234.8

Tour of Chongming Island information

The Tour of Chongming Island will hold its 16th edition from October 14-16.

Tour of Chongming Island History

The Tour of Chongming Island was one of the first races cancelled from its original May spot on the calendar due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic in 2020. 

Although the three-day race was supposed to be part of the UCI's revised late-season calendar that year from October 23-25, it did not make a return and has been on a hiatus for three seasons.

The Tour of Chongming Island is traditionally a sprinter's affair with three pan-flat stages that cater to only the fastest women in the peloton, such as Kirsten Wild, Jolien D'hoore, Chloe Hosking, and defending champion Lorena Wiebes - all previous winners.

Tour of Chongming Island 2025 Route

To be announced.

Tour of Chongming Island 2025 start list

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Gree - Tour of Guangxi 2025 information

Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto) scored a major victory in the 2024 Tour of Guangxi at the end of the WorldTour series. The Belgian bested Oscar Onley (DSM-PicnicNL) by five seconds with Alex Baudin (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) third.

The Gree - Tour of Guangxi returned in 2023 after a hiatus of several years, with Milan Vader (Jumbo-Visma) winning the overall title that year by six seconds over Rémy Rochas (Cofidis) and Ethan Hayter (Ineos) third at 11 seconds.

Enric Mas was the last rider to win the overall title back in 2019.

The event joined the WorldTour calendar in 2017 and is current in its fourth edition. Tim Wellens won the inaugural event with Gianni Moscon winning the race in 2018.

Gree - Tour of Guangxi 2025 route

The Tour of Guangxi closes out the 2025 WorldTour series with six stages and opportunities for every type of rider. The opening stage around Fangchenggang has a short, sharp climb to disrupt the sprint lead-out trains in the final 25km, while stage to from Chongzuo to Jingxi features a category 3 ascent with 35km to go before a flat finish.

More climbing comes on stage 3 to Bama, with the final climb coming with 13km to go and a category 2 ascent punctuating stage 4 to Jinchengjiang with 36km remaining.

The sol summit finish comes on stage 5 to Nongla Scenic Spot with ramps up to 14.8%. The final stage's circuits around Nanning has a short but steep climb each lap before a flat finish.

Gree - Tour of Guangxi 2025 start list

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Information

• 2025 Il Lombardia
• 2025 Il Lombardia route
• Il Lombardia past winners

The 'race of the falling leaves', Il Lombardia, closes out the 2025 World Tour one-day races and the bulk of the European calendar with the 119th edition of the race.

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) is expected to return to try to win his fourth edition in a row after his triumphs in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024.

The Il Lombardia 2025 route suits him well, as it is exactly the same course as in 2023.

Il Lombardia history

Il Lombardia was first held in 1905, named Milan-Milan and won by Italian Giovanni Gerbi. Fausto Coppi won the race five times (1946-1949, 1954), surpassing Alfredo Binda's previous record of four wins (1925-1927, 1931). Pogačar could tie Binda this year as the current rider with the most Il Lombardia wins with three.

Il Lombardia 2025 teams

• Alpecin-Deceuninck
• Arkéa-B&B Hotels
• Bahrain Victorious
• Cofidis
• Decathlon AG2R la Mondiale
• EF Education-Easypost
• Groupama-FDJ
• Ineos Grenadiers
• Intermarché - Wanty
• Lidl-Trek
• Movistar Team
• Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe
• Soudal Quick-Step
• Picnic-Postnl
• Jayco Alula
• Visma-Lease a Bike
• UAE Team Emirates XRG
• XDS Astana
• Israel-Premier Tech
• Lotto
• Uno-X Mobility
• Solution Tech-Vini Fantini
• Tudor Pro Cycling Team
• VF Group-Bardiani CSF- Faizane'

Team GB are fielding selections in almost every category, but will not be represented in either the elite women's road race or the elite or U23 men's time trials.

In the men's road race, Pidcock and Onley come fresh from their respective third at the Vuelta a España and fourth at the Tour de France, and will be among the contenders on the tough, climb-filled course in Kigali.

They'll be joined by Mark Donovan, Oliver Knight, James Knox, Bjorn Koerdt, Fred Wright, and former Tour du Rwanda winner Joe Blackmore. None of those riders has opted to also ride the TT, with GB's foremost time trialist, Josh Tarling, still recovering from a back injury.

Anna Henderson is the only elite woman Great Britain is sending to Rwanda, where she will be a medal favourite for Sunday's time trial, after her silver medal at the Paris Olympics last summer.

With the likes of Pfeiffer Georgi out injured and a particularly hard course in Kigali, GB won't be on the start line of the women's road race, with several other nations also sending reduced selections to Rwanda.

However, GB are sending full teams in many of the other age categories, with serious medal hopes, particularly in the newly-separated U23 women's category, where junior world champion Cat Ferguson will be a top favourite for the road race, whilst Zoe Bäckstedt could take home the rainbow jersey in the time trial.

Ferguson will be supported by fellow WorldTour riders Imogen Wolff, Flora Perkins, and Millie Couzens, and UAE Team ADQ Development rider Eilidh Shaw.

Despite the UCI ruling this year that WorldTour and ProTeam riders could no longer race in the men's U23 categories at Worlds, this doesn't apply to the women's races – run separately for the first time in 2025 – so many Women's WorldTour riders will be in action.

In the junior road races and time trials, junior world TT champion Dylan Sage and Liège-Bastogne-Liège Juniors winner Harry Hudson lead the men's selection, whilst the women will be led by Erin Boothman and Arabella Blackburn.

Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe Rookies rider Callum Thornley will be the sole U23 men's rider in the selection, riding the road race.

GB will also not compete in the mixed relay TTT, an event they took bronze in in 2019.

"The event provides a tough course that will ask a lot from our riders, but I am confident that, as ever, they are up to the task and will bring home some fantastic results," said performance director Stephen Park.

Park pointed to busy racing schedules as a reason some categories had not been filled, but praised the opportunity for GB to send strong teams for the younger age categories, where they will hope to be amongst the medals.

"The event in Rwanda offers huge development opportunities for our younger riders to get a taste of racing at this level, while pushing our elite riders to their limits, and I have no doubt these championships will deliver a true spectacle that will showcase bike racing at its best."

Great Britain selection for Worlds 2025

Elite men

• Joe Blackmore 
• Mark Donovan 
• Oliver Knight 
• James Knox 
• Bjorn Koerdt 
• Oscar Onley 
• Tom Pidcock 
• Fred Wright 

Elite women

• Anna Henderson (TT only) 

U23 men

• Callum Thornley (road race only)

U23 women

• Zoe Backstedt (TT only) 
• Millie Couzens (TT and RR) 
• Cat Ferguson 
• Flora Perkins 
• Eilidh Shaw 
• Imogen Wolff 

Junior men

• Max Hinds (TT and RR) 
• Harry Hudson 
• Matthew Peace 
• Dylan Sage (TT and RR) 

Junior women

• Arabella Blackburn  
• Erin Boothman (TT and RR) 
• Gabriella McHugh  
• Abi Miller (TT and RR) 
• Mabli Phillips 

Subscribe to Cyclingnews to unlock unlimited access to our coverage of the first-ever UCI Road World Championships on African soil. Our team of journalists will bring you all the major storylines, in-depth analysis, and more directly from the action in Rwanda as the next rainbow jerseys are decided. Find out more.

Pogačar will target the elite men's time trial on Sunday, with Remco Evenepoel his biggest rival, before staying in Rwanda for the elite men's road race on Sunday September 28.

Pogačar won the road race world title in Zurich last year with a long solo breakaway and a dominant performance. Slovenian national coach Uroš Murn is quietly hoping Pogačar can complete a rare double in Rwanda, with the tough circuits for both races expected to suit him.

"Our first goal is of course to repeat last year's success. Everything that comes along will just be an addition, we mustn't be greedy," Murn told Slovenian television before preparing to travel to Rwanda on Wednesday.

"This year will be harder than last year, because all the national teams will be attacking only us."

Pogačar arguably faces a difficult task to retain his road race title in the 267.5km, 5,400m elevation gain race.

The likes of Tom Pidcock (Great Britain), Giulio Ciccone and Giulio Pellizzari (Italy) and Juan Ayuso (Spain) all showed their form at the Vuelta a España, while Julian Alaphilippe (France) impressed by winning the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec and Evenepoel showed some form at the Tour of Britain.

Pogačar also faces' internal' rivalry from his UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammates such as Jay Vine (Australia), Pavel Sivakov (France) and especially Isaac del Toro (Mexico).

Before the Canadian WorldTour races, Pogačar hadn't raced since the Tour de France and so was looking for answers about his end of season form.

"I want to peak for the World Championships," he said before the races, using the days in Canada before the races to complete an extra block of training.

Pogačar was only 29th at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec after he and the peloton failed to catch Alaphilippe and a few others who attacked with 75km to go in order to anticipate any late attacks from the Slovenian.

It was Pogačar's worst result in a one-day race this year and he and UAE Team Emirates-XRG raced hard in Montréal to ensure they were in the thick of the action. Pogačar attacked with 35km to go, waited for Brandon McNulty, and then generously gifted the American victory. For Pogačar it was more important to have regained his form.

"It was a fantastic day, as always here in Canada. I love racing here. I'm happy that I'm in great shape, and I'm even happier that Brandon won," he said, admitting he

“Before coming to Canada, I was a bit worried that my form wasn't great, because I was sick all week leading up to it. I couldn't do all the training as planned. That's why I was a bit apprehensive about this.

"In Quebec, my legs weren't great, but I raced well there and found some rhythm. In training and in Quebec, I regained my motivation and confidence. Looking back, I'm glad I went to Canada.”

Subscribe to Cyclingnews to unlock unlimited access to our coverage of the first-ever UCI Road World Championships on African soil. Our team of journalists will bring you all the major storylines, in-depth analysis, and more directly from the action in Rwanda as the next rainbow jerseys are decided. Find out more.

"Philadelphia is proud to welcome back one of the world's greatest sporting events," Mayor Parker said. "Get excited, everyone – the Philadelphia Cycling Classic is back! This world-class event will again put Philadelphia on the global stage in 2026, and it will go well beyond next year's celebration.

"An exceptional, experienced team is in place to build on the legacy of this event for many years to come. To the people of Philadelphia and the region: this race belongs to you. Whether you're a cyclist, a neighbor, a business owner, or a fan, this event is for you, and it's going to be extraordinary!"

The race, due to take place on August 30, 2026, is sponsored by AmeriGas Propane and owned by Race Street Partners, whose organisation includes former Michael Nutter, the city's former mayor, along with Eric Robbins and Carlos Rogers, with Robin Morton returning as race director.

"This is Philadelphia's race; it is the people's race. It is open and free for all to engage with and enjoy. We are grateful to our friends at AmeriGas, who embraced this vision wholeheartedly and joined us as the title sponsor. There are so many Philadelphians who remember growing up with this race, and we are beyond excited to be bringing it back in spectacular fashion for generations to come."

The race's first edition came in 1985, and for 30 years, 'Philly' - and its companion women's race, the Liberty Classic, were a mainstay for North American riders and international competitors alike. The Liberty Classic came in 1994 and ran through 2012.

Starting on Logan Circle in the shadow of the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art made famous in the movie "Rocky", the Philadelphia Classic ran the length of Kelly Drive into Manayunk, where riders tackled a brutal ascent of the Manayunk Wall with pitches up to 17% before returning via Lemon Hill.

The climbs served as natural amphitheatres for watching the race and turned into massive parties during the day-long event.

Eric Heiden won the inaugural race, which also served as a de facto US Pro national championship for the men. Often confusing for fans when a non-US rider won the race, the national championships were separated from the race in 2006.

Winners included stars like Lance Armstrong, Sean Yates, George Hincapie, Fred Rodriguez, and André Greipel, along with women's winners such as Petra Rossner (six editions) and Ina Teutenberg (five wins).

In 2013, the race changed hands and finished atop the Manayunk Wall, but it only lasted three more years before the organisation was unable to secure enough funding.

USA Cycling CEO Brendan Quirk expressed excitement at the race's return.

"We are delighted that this storied race is making its comeback," Quirk said. "Its return says so much about America's longstanding connection to world-class road racing. Philadelphia holds a special place in cycling history in this country – the caliber of athletes from all over the world who competed there is legendary. So, welcome back, Philadelphia. We can't wait to be there with you in August 2026."