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Not a small race at all, but I was very impressed with the way Brennan and Lund Andresen got over the hill in the Mapei Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.
I was also impressed with the way they managed to keep it all together in the final, with Brennan being perhaps a little too eager to close gaps and stay at the front. Maybe that's what cost him the victory in the end.
Majorcan races
OK, so Evenepoel has decided to crush the small Spanish 1.1s, like UAE's almost-winner of the Tour of Italy was doing last year on Spanish and Italian 1.1s, depriving small World Teams and all Pro Teams of any chance to compete for the win.
I truly hope that the teams categories and the races categories will be reformed one day, so that most 1.1 are protected from most World Teams, and Pro Team and Conti riders have a chance to battle.
That's the only sport I know where, all year long (and not only during a Cup event), 2^nd^ and 3^rd^ division players/riders have to face the top of the 1^st^ division in every match/race. Just imagine that you are a second division French or even Austrian football club, and you have to play and get a beating by Madrid, Munich and Liverpool every bloody week, without a local championship to play where you face other clubs of your level and win every other week on average. This is nuts.
Professional cyclists are a refreshing bunch: it is 2026, and after the previous 2 days, you can still find a few riders who relay Evenepoel! 😆
Another easy win for him, after getting angry at the motorbikes, getting angry at a Movistar rider, and probably getting angry off camera too. He pretty much won in the same way as yesterday: breaking away in a descent, and then growing the gap on the flat against 8 riders... As he hadn't dropped Rondel yet, he climbed the last climb faster than anyone too (yesterday he went easy on the last one as he reached it with a 2 minutes gap), dropping him as soon as a couple of hundred metres after the climb started, as Rondel was burned by simply staying in the Belgian's wheel on the flat.
Tomorrow, Evenepoel won't take part in the last Majorcan race tomorrow; unfortunately, it is for sprinters.
I find it so incredibly boring to see a phoenomen ride alone for 30+ kms. Give me a good sprint any day.
First French race: Grand Prix la Marseillaise (raced on Sunday the 1st)
It was a pleasant surprise. The removal of the Route des Crêtes could let us fear a bore fest with a massive sprint in the end. But as the race was shorter it got more nervous and uncontrollable. It still ended in a massive bunch sprint but there was 70 km of action since the final section of the Espigoulier climb, as the traditional scenario of a breakaway of small riders 2-3 mn ahead was broken as Décathlon pulled the peloton hard and caught the breakaway just at the bottom at the descent. Then until the end, there were many attacks, many groups splitting, rejoining, splitting again, pushing, letting go, etc. Lapeira did a significant 1-man breakaway but he is no Evenepoel and was caught as soon as the road started rising a bit for the last climb. Mifsud attacked twice in this last climb; the first time he caught Lapeira but was caught up by the peloton soon after, the second one near the top brought him and two other riders almost under the flamme rouge! Unfortunately, while Mifsud (now Polti) and Hardouin (Roubaix) gave all they had from the attack til the end, one of those 3 riders (Mariault from CIC) was more interested in sabotaging the breakaway. This attitude turned out to be utterly stupid as nobody in his team scored a single point in the end... The stubborn Mifsud however managed to stay in the bunch and score a couple of points.
Tour of Oman
stage 2 (8/2/2026)
A breakaway developed at km 2 (there was a bit of fighting this time), with Alrahbi (🇴🇲 Oman selection), Goszczurny (🇵🇱 Visma), Gelders (🇧🇪 Soudal-QS), Marsman (🇳🇱 Alpecin) and the lone escapee from the Muscat Classic 2 days earlier: Veistroffer (🇫🇷 Lotto-Intermarché).
190 km to go: good luck!
Before the first climb (Fanja), the gap was 4 minutes. On top, the order was 1. Goszczurny 2. Veistroffer 3. Marsman, just 3 yards ahead of the other two. In the descent after the top, Gelders stopped on the side of the road. And the Oman fellow was dropped. Gelders didn't finish the stage (why? the heat perhaps).
In the peloton, Jayco followed by UAE were leading during the climb.
So, only 3 men left in the breakaway and 100 km to go (with only 3 minutes left)...
A few miles later, Goszczurny obediently follows the instruction on the official race sign, telling to make 3/4 turn of the roundabout by the right in order to go left. The others two disobey the sign, and cut by going directly left. The Polish rider is thus dropped, but they immediately wait for him.
75 km to go, only 1mn45 left. 60 km, 1mn30.
The Intermediate Sprint 50 km from the goal is gifted to Goszczurny by the other two. Strangely, soon after, the gap is announced as 3mn45 again!
Then comes the main climb (almost 4 km at 9% on a freaking highway). The 3 men manage to stay together, Goszczurny gets those points too. Behind, Jayco, Cofidis and Astana lead the peloton in the beggining of the climb, a few riders are dropped, then it is back to Jayco and UAE leading.
After the downhill, with 33 km to go, the gap is 2 mn. About the same 25 km from the line. Several teams like Total, Jayco and Tudor accelerate the chase, the peloton is basically in single file. 20 km to go, still a bit more than 1mn30 to catch.
1mn15 at 15 km. The last climb is as steep as the previous one, but much shorter, and on a normal road. However, it is followed by an uphill false flat.
In the peloton, Double (Jayco) attempts an attack. He doesn't manage to create any gap. The front of the peloton is disorganised.
1 minute at the top (14 km to go). After leaving the Mountain points to Goszczurny gain, Veistroffer uses the false flats to attack.
The final mile is another climb, 5-6% only this time.
One Uno-X leads the chase. Replaced by UAE (Yates)when he drops.
Veistroffer reaches the last 2 km with a gap of around 40 seconds. Goszczurny and Marsman are caught by the peloton.
Baptiste Veistroffer (🇫🇷 Lotto-Intermarché)manages to stay about 15 seconds ahead of the sprinters!!! Mulubhran (🇪🇷 Astana) winning the peloton's sprint.
190 km of breakaway today, after 150 km solo two days ago...
Stage 3
I just saw the very beginning.
Veistroffer did it again! I saw the Uno-X leading the peloton immediately reaching for his radio, and imagined what he said: "Hey Boss! The leader of the race attacked at km 0. There was no such plan in our morning briefing. What do I do?" 😆
His little group was chased and caught after perhaps 4 or 5 km. Then 1 km farther he tried again, without success. Another 2 km, one more try. And one more at km 10, with a Total; and when they're caught, he tries again, and this time a large group breaks away.
edit:
So, Veistroffer didn't feel it was a true breakaway, there were too many people in it polluting his clean air. After 10 km in this large group, he attacked again, 4 guys and then 2 more followed him, and the real breakaway was formed.
These breakaways are not a stroll in the park like they often are for most of the distance: here, the guys are pushing pushing pushing for hours. Pacher (🇫🇷 FDJ) was dropped 40 km from the line; he wasn't attacked, it was on the flat, he just couldn't relay nor even keep a wheel to stay in the line any more.
The breakaway was caught in the beginning of the final climb. They could have been lucky and benefitted from the mass crash in the peloton a few miles earlier, but that crash happened in a roundabout, and a small half of the bunch had chosen to ride on the right of the roundabout and was unaffected as the crash happened on the left side of the roundabout.
Anyway, that was an extra 180 km spent in a breakaway for Veistroffer. The battle with Vercouillie is intense 😀
Stage 4 (10/2/2026)
Damien Touzé (🇫🇷 Cofidis) crashed on that day. I didn't see it. However, he suffered internal injuries, and as a result he won't ride again this year, and this may also be the end of his pro carrier. 😨
Muscat Classic (Oman, 6/2/2026)
During 150 km, the camera bike followed a guy in red lost on a motorway across the desert – Veistroffer (🇫🇷 Lotto-Intermarché).
Astana tested the peloton in the first of the last two climbs, about 20 km from the line, and caught Veistroffer.
In the last climb, Double🇬🇧 launched the first attack for Jayco, followed by two guys including the almost local UAEan UAE rider Jasim Al-Ali🇦🇪 who completely blew up after a while.
Then the decisive attack saw A. Yates🇬🇧 (UAE), Plapp🇦🇺 and Schmidt🇨🇭 (both Jayco) drop everyone. Yates🇬🇧 lead the climb, and Plapp🇦🇺 the descent. Plapp🇦🇺 almost killed the breakaway when arriving on the short flat section, but Yates🇬🇧 told him he was alone against 2 Jaycos, so one of them should better pull 😀 Schmidt🇨🇭 won the sprint against Yates.
Scaroni🇮🇹 (Astana) preceded the peloton by a few yards.
First French rider came just after the top-10. First rider from a French team 15^th...
Le Samyn (Tuesday 3/3/2026)
It appears that Van Aert (🇧🇪 Visma) would finally start his season there, just a couple of days before going to the Strade Bianche.
It looks like he will be the only 'big name' on the race (or do we count Groves (🇦🇺 Alpecin) or Kubish (🇸🇰 Unibet) as big names?), but former winners Rex (🇧🇪 Soudal-QS) and Hofstetter (🇫🇷 NSN) should be present in the large peloton: 25 teams including 9 WT for a 1.1!
It appears that Van Aert (🇧🇪 Visma) would finally start his season there
Yeah, well, kinda.
He got a puncture 10 km from the line. He and a teammate dropped from the peloton waiting for their car. Except that the cars weren't behind the peloton. So they switched bikes, but as they didn't do it by stopping right behind the bunch, but dawdled for a long while, they were far behind the peloton when they finally stopped and switched... And then he stopped again to get his second bike from the car... So he never came back...
Next stop for him is Strade Bianche on Saturday. That should mean even more punctures, with his luck 😃
I didn't follow very accurately the race. I know that Hagenes (🇳🇴 Visma) stayed ahead of the peloton for around 30 km, never getting much gap, but still he wasn't caught up the last km. Cofidis accelerated on the last (?) cobbled section, they didn't quite break away but there was a split somewhere behind; unfortunately they stopped when they saw there were other riders in their backwheel, and so did those other riders, so that group was very soon caught up by the rest of the peloton; it could have been something, but no, a mass sprint finish was written.
Do we know if Groves is ok after crashing on sunday? I also wonder if Decathlon considers adding Tobias Lund to the start list, he's clearly in great shape.
No Laporte (🇫🇷 Visma) today. Visma seems to specialise in illnesses.
Do we know if Groves is ok after crashing on sunday?
Oh, I didn't know he was part of the crashes. I watched a bit of Kuurne-Bruxelles-K last night, but it may have happened earlier than the parts I watched.
At this time of the day, he hasn't been pulled off start lists yet.
edit: Are you positive he crashed? The only written bits I could find seem to lean toward the hypotheses that he didn't have the legs and just disappeared as Girmay did.
Tour of Andalusia (stage 1, 18/2/2026)
Spoiler
I was surprised to see Laporte (🇫🇷 Visma) win a mass sprint. Already in his final days in Cofidis, his role had diversified, he had started to turn into a classic rider rather than a sprinter; and this option increased once he joined Visma. Even before that, his best performances were after a hard race, in groups with very few sprinters or none at all; he won very few mass sprints, even at medium level.
Tour of Andalusia (stage 3, 20/2/2026)
Spoiler
Today, Laporte (🇫🇷 Visma) missed the victory because of his own leadout Zingle🇫🇷 who got in his way when he moved aside in the end of his launching effort. He still finished 3^rd^ on the same line as the first two.
Penhoët (🇫🇷 FDJ) was coming fast, but it is a law of nature that Penhoët can never win, therefore Fretin (🇧🇪 Cofidis) suddenly appeared on the other side between Laporte and the fence to snatch the victory.
Oh, and Crabbe (🇧🇪 Flanders-Baloise) who surprised everyone by winning a stage on the Star of Bessèges, scored a couple of UCI points again by finishing 5^th^, before Aranburu🇪🇸 and Pidcock🇬🇧!
Tour of Algarve (stage 2, 19/2/2026)
Spoiler
This Seixas🇫🇷 is truly something. He was pulling Ayuso🇪🇸 and Almeida🇵🇹 (which are now in different teams) most of the time in the final climb, and still beat them in the end. For his first race of the year... against a very decent field of opponents...
Almeida🇵🇹 was really struggling all along that climb. It was not just his usual painful start. I mean, 'struggling'... those 3 guys dropped everyone else, even though a few riders like Onley🇬🇧 and Ricitello🇺🇸 managed to come back close in the end.
Seixas🇫🇷 didn't get the leader jersey, because Ayuso🇪🇸 intelligently did several bonus sprint in this stage and the first one, ending up in the same total of time bonus as Seixas. So, it was a matter of ranking, and Ayuso🇪🇸 finished in the first half of the bunch on the first stage while the young Frenchman was musing at the back.
Tour of Algarve (stage 3 ITT, 20/2/2026)
Spoiler
Seixas🇫🇷 again showed a very good TT, 4^th^ at only 13 seconds behind the winner Ganna (🇮🇹 Ineos), better than Vauquelin, Küng and especially Almeida🇵🇹 who came only 30 seconds later. Onley🇬🇧 and Ricitello🇺🇸 are pushed back 1 mn away.
Unfortunately for him, the second best today is Ayuso🇪🇸, therefore the Spaniard consolidates his first place in GC (for only 7 seconds though, I think, so the final GC is still open between those two riders).
Very impressed with him this week, he's the real deal. He's only 19 too, so if he doesn't do well in a GT in the next 3 years that's probably fine and nothing to worry about. Lovely to see such a great French talent!
It depends what 'doing well' means, but I reckon he can already do well on a Tour of Spain this year. If they put him on the Tour de France, it will be much more uncertain of course.
Last year he already did very well on the 8-day long Dauphiné (had he not fallen on the last climb of the last day, he would have finished 6^th^!). Then he was the best Frenchman on the 270 km WC race in Rwanda despite not being the chosen leader, and got the bronze medal behind Pogatchar and Evenepoel on the 200 km EC race on the following week. Oh, and looking at the stats, I had forgotten that less than a week later, he was in the tiny group for 5^th^ place in the Tour of Lombardia, with Del Toro, Vine and Pidcock.
I mean: long, hard stages/races (battling with big names on top of that) do not seem to be a problem for him; and neither does a large week of continuous stage racing (it doesn't get much longer than that on a GT before the first rest day). Very unlike Lenny Martinez who has shown his limits many times as soon as racing days start pile up, if you will.
Despite his good 2025 year, it's the first time he crosses a line first on a pro race (and that's a .Pro race which is fashionable for good climbers to start a season, not a .1 or a race which is a bit scorned these days).
His own video debrief of Stage 2 final climb, subtitled in English, and with excerpts from the race:
https://twitter.com/decathloncmacgm/status/2024584478895612384
It is quite different from mine, because I saw it in the middle of the night and I most certainly fell asleep in the last miles 😜 So trust him, the video, and not my account!
I am pretty sure they're sending him to the Tour de France. The logic seems to be that in the giro or the vuelta people will expect him to make a result, in the tour not so much so in a sense it's easier for him to do the tour and get it over with and ride with less pressure. Not sure I follow it completely, but it's the plan anyway, so...
Tour of Algarve (final stage, 22/2/2026)
Spoiler
Well, Ayuso🇪🇸 wasn't annoyed by Almeida🇵🇹's train, he didn't suffer from Ricitello🇺🇸's acceleration, he wasn't dropped by Seixas🇫🇷's attack, and he won the stage, consolidating his final victory, while no difference could be made between the leaders. Earlier, Ayuso🇪🇸 had put all chances on his side by scoring another 1 second bonus: he took the race really seriously.
Who is that Gloag🇬🇧 within these 6 best riders???