Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Friday, October 24, 2025
Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary | Our YouTube page
2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia
Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress; but I repeat myself. - Mark Twain
Bill and Carol McGann's book The Story of the Giro d'Italia, A Year-by-Year History of the Tour of Italy, Vol 2: 1971 - 2011 is available in print, Kindle eBook and audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.
Upcoming racing:
- October 26: Superprestige Overijse-Vlaamse Druivencross
Latest completed racing:
- October 14 - 19: Tour of Guangxi
- October 14 - 19: Tour of Holland
- October 19: Veneto Classic
- October 19: Japan Cup
- October 19: Chrono des Nations
- October 15: Giro del Veneto
- October 12: Paris-Tours
- October 11: Il Lombardia
- October 9: Gran Piemonte
- October 7: Binche-Chimay-Binche
- October 7: Tre Valli Varesine
Here's the post from Team Visma | Lease a Bike:
Team Visma | Lease a Bike were present this Thursday in Paris as the route for next year’s Tour de France was unveiled to the public. Among the highlights of the 21 stages are an intense first week in the Pyrenees and a double ascent of Alpe d’Huez in the closing stages.
”Overall the route looks nice. Of course we will have to analyse it further and dive into each stage, but there are defenitly a lot of mountains, which is good. We start the race with a team time trial, and we always put focus on those, so that’s a good opportunity to go for the stage win and also hopefully win a little time. I also think the intermediate stages look quite interesting,” Grischa Niermann, head of racing at Team Visma | Lease a Bike said after the presentation. Niermann further shared his thoughts on the final week:
”The mountains are spread out over the course, but it’s still quite backloaded with a hard last week. It looks like stage 20 will be the big queen stage of the race with multiple long climbs, so hopefully the fight for the yellow jersey will still be on by then. Croix de Fer and Galibier are beautiful but really hard. Alpe d’Huez is indeed also a very iconic climb, but stage 19 will be more explosive with a big showdown there, as there are no major climbs before. The Tour de France is always a hard a race, and next year will be the same. It could suit Jonas well, but again, we have to look further into the stages.”
Profile of Stage 20
When the 2026 Tour de France kicks off in Barcelona’s streets on July 4th, there will be no soft introduction to the world’s biggest bike race. It was already known that the opening weekend would begin with a team time trial finishing on the Olympic mountain, Montjuïc, followed by a hilly road stage the next day, which will also feature the climb. But the tough start doesn’t end there.
Content continues below the ads
Already on stage three, the race continues into the Pyrenees with a summit finish at 1,800 meters in Les Angles. More hilly stages follow before stage six finishes in Gavarnie-Gèdre, with the peloton tackling the mighty Col du Tourmalet along the way.
The first week concludes with a few flatter stages and a journey into the Massif Central, where week two begins with a stage that brings back fond memories for Team Visma | Lease a Bike. The finale in Le Lioran mirrors stage 11 of the 2024 edition, where Jonas Vingegaard claimed an emotional victory.
Stage 14 takes the riders on a loop through the steep Vosges Mountains, ending at Le Markstein just as in 2023, before the week wraps up in spectacular fashion. Stage 15 once again raises the difficulty level with a summit finish on the steep Plateau de Solaison, where Jonas Vingegaard and Primož Roglič crossed the line hand in hand at the 2022 Critérium du Dauphiné.
The third week features the race’s only individual time trial - a 26-kilometre test through rolling terrain, before the big finale awaits in the Alps.
Both stages 19 and 20 will, quite exceptionally, finish on the iconic Alpe d’Huez. The first Alpine day is relatively flat before the legendary climb, but stage 20 promises to be brutal: riders will face a staggering 5,600 metres of elevation gain as they tackle passes like Col de la Croix de Fer, Col du Télégraphe and Col du Galibier before climbing Alpe d’Huez again, only this time from the Col du Sarenne side.
The race will then conclude on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, where Montmartre once again features on stage 21. This scene of Wout van Aert’s memorable victory in 2025. In 2026, however, the riders will do an extra lap on the Champs-Élysées after the climb.
Content continues below the ads
Here's the 2026 Tour de France route report from Team Soudal Quick-Step:
Next year, the Tour de France will start from Barcelona, making it for the sixth time in the last decade that the Grand Départ is hosted by a foreign country. After that opening stage, a team time trial finishing atop the Montjuic, the peloton will spend two more days in Spain before finally entering France, where the sprinters will get their first opportunity only on stage five.
For the fast men and the breakaway artists, the next ten days should bring plenty of opportunities to shine, before the 3,333 km-long race will make way for the yellow jersey contenders. Plateau de Solaison – climbed from its most difficult side, where the gradients reach double-digit gradients – and Orcieres-Merlettes are sure to reshuffle the general classification.
The third week of the race will bring not one, but two summit finishes on the Alpe d’Huez, which returns after four years. The mythical ascent first used at the 1952 edition, when Fausto Coppi powered to a remarkable solo victory, will feature on back-to-back stages before the peloton travels to Paris for the final stage. There, the Montmartre climb is once again expected to bring fireworks, especially as it’s set to feature three times on the course – including with 15 kilometers to go – before the finish on the famous Champs-Élysées.
Valentin Paret-Peintre wins 2025 Tour de France stage 16 atop Mt. Ventoux. ASO photo
The man who conquered the legendary slopes of the Mont Ventoux last summer, Valentin Paret-Peintre represented Soudal Quick-Step in Paris at the route presentation and shared his thoughts on the route: “It’s a hard edition, but this doesn’t come as a surprise, because it’s the Tour de France after all. I look forward to the Plateau de Solaison, a steep climb not far from where I was born. It’s nice to see that we’ll have both the Galibier and the Alpe d’Huez next year, as there will be plenty of opportunities for the climbers, and I’m sure that the fans will appreciate the show.”
Content continues below the ads
Here’s the team’s news:
Three-time African champion Henok Mulubrhan has extended his contract with XDS Astana Team for another two seasons (2026 and 2027) after two years with the Kazakh team.
The 25-year-old Eritrean rider had a strong 2025 season. Henok began with a 3rd place at Muscat Classic, then went on to win a stage and take 2nd overall at the Tour du Rwanda. His most important success came at the Tour of Qinghai Lake, where he won the General Classification and a stage. He closed his season with a victory on the final stage of the Tour de Kyushu, also securing the points classification jersey.
Henok Mulubrhan wins the field sprint for third place in the 2023 Giro dell'Appennino. Sirotti photo
“Our team had an amazing season, and I’m very happy to have been part of it. I think these two years with XDS Astana Team have given me a lot – I’ve gained valuable experience, learned a lot, and found not only teammates but real friends. The family atmosphere in the team is not just a phrase – it’s true, and I’m happy to renew my contract. This season was good, but I want more – bigger victories and results. And I really want to ride the Tour de France, to proudly represent both my team and my country, Eritrea”, – said Henok Mulubrhan.
“Over the past two years, Henok has made great progress and become much more consistent. At races of a certain level, he’s almost always among the favorites, and the team can rely on him. But I also believe he has potential in bigger races. He’s only 25, and he has every opportunity to keep developing with us — not only in Asia, but also in Europe. He’s already achieved some solid results, and we’ll work together to make sure there are more”, – said Alexandr Vinokurov, General Manager of XDS Astana Team.
Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary