Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Wednesday, April 22, 2026
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People always say that I didn't give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn't true. I was not tired physically... No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in. - Rosa Parks
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Current racing:
- April 20 - 24: Tour of the Alps
- April 22: La Flèche Wallonne
Upcoming racing:
- April 23 - 26: Vuelta Asturias
- April 26: Liège-Bastogne-Liège
- April 26 - May 3: Tour of Turkey
- April 26: Giro dell'Appennino
- April 28 - May 3: Tour de Romandie
- May 1: Eschborn-Frankfurt
Latest completed racing:
- April 19: Amstel Gold Race
- April 15 - 19: Tour of Hainan
- April 14 - 18: O Gran Camiño
- April 17: De Brabantse Pijl
- April 19:
Tour du Doubsrace cancelled - April 12: Paris-Roubaix
- April 6 - 11: Itzulia Basque Country (Tour of the Basque Country)
- April 7 - 10: Région Pays de la Loire Tour
- April 8: Scheldeprijs
- April 5: Ronde van Vlaanderen
- April 4: GP Miguel Indurain
- April 4: NXT Classic
- April 3: Classic Adélie de Vitré
- April 1: Dwars door Vlaanderen
We posted the report from second-place Thymen Arensman's Team INEOS Grenadiers with the results.
Here's the report from stage winner Giulio Pellizzari's Team Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe:
With an impressive team performance, Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe set an exclamation mark on the second stage of the Tour of the Alps. Giulio Pellizzari secured the win and is the new race leader.
On the selective final climb of the 147.5 kilometre stage from Telfs to Martell/Val Martello, the riders from Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe were among the most active players in the race. After an attack by Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers), it was the Italian U23 world champion Lorenzo Finn who followed the Dutchman and thus paved the way for Giulio Pellizzari 's subsequent stage win. Pellizzari himself caught up with the leaders around three kilometres before the finish.
Giulio Pellizzari wins Tour of the Alps stage two. Sirotti photo
The team then showed perfect coordination in the finale: Aleksandr Vlasov, who had also caught up to the front in the meantime, opened the sprint and forced the competition to react. Pellizzari made perfect use of this pattern and prevailed over Arensman in the final metres. Behind him, Mattia Gaffuri (Italy, Picnic PostNL), Egan Bernal (Colombia, Ineos Grenadiers) and Vlasov completed the top five. Finn crossed the finish line just behind in sixth place. With Giovanni Aleotti (13th) and Ben Zwiehoff (16th), two more Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe riders finished the race among the front runners.
“It's an incredible day. I've ridden this race twice before and have already finished third and second in stages. So today's victory is all the better. I have to thank my team - everyone did an incredible job,” said a delighted stage winner Giulio Pellizzari at the finish.
Lorenzo Finn was also overjoyed: “That was a really good day for us. With Giulio's victory and several riders at the front of the race, we showed how strong we are as a team. For me personally, it was also a very good stage. Being able to keep up with such big names means a lot to me.”
Christian Pömer, the Sports Director on site, particularly emphasised the cohesive team performance: “A big compliment to the boys, who implemented our plan perfectly on the road. Lorenzo was outstanding when he was able to go with Arensman. And when Aleks came back and was the first to accelerate in the sprint, that was a game changer. Big respect to the whole team - and congratulations to Giulio. A perfect day.”
Giulio Pellizzari starts tomorrow's third stage of the Tour of the Alps as the overall leader. The 22-year-old also leads the points and young rider rankings. Additionally, Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe is at the top of the team classification after two days of racing.
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Here's the Tour of the Alps stage two report from third-place Mattia Gaffuri's Team Picnic-PostNL:
With the opening day of racing behind them, Team Picnic PostNL and the rest of the Tour of the Alps peloton rolled out of Telfs late this afternoon for the second day of action. Faced with some categorised climbs throughout the day and the only summit finish of the race, it was expected to be a battle on the slopes at the end of the stage.
Team Picnic PostNL were active from the start with the goal of infiltrating the day’s breakaway with Mattia Gaffuri, and through some good teamwork they did just that; as Gaffuri made it into a group of nine that formed at the head of the race. They worked well together and built up a gap that peaked at five minutes, but it looked as if the peloton had things under control when the gap had tumbled to only one minute and 30 seconds at 30 kilometres to go. However, Gaffuri’s group continued to push on the pedals and as they started the last climb their advantage was at just over one minute.
Mattia Gaffuri in an undated photo.
That meant the break couldn’t play any games, so with around five kilometres to go Gaffuri stamped on the pedals and the group diminished one-by-one, with the Italian eventually leading solo. Behind, the peloton thinned down further as the GC riders upped the tempo and Pellizzari bridged to Gaffuri with around one kilometre of climbing remaining, before another group joined over the top. From there, it was a cagey final few hundred metres and shallow downhill run to the line where Gaffuri showed a good turn of speed to take third place on the stage – a fine reward for a big day out in the breakaway, and his first ever .Pro level podium.
Gaffuri said: “It was the day plan to try for the break today. At first I was a bit hesitant because I wanted to test my legs against the guys from the peloton but in the end we decided it could be a good chance out front. I went in a group of nine guys and it was quite a nice group. The parcours was good for us and we had some tailwind too, so we managed to get to the final climb with one minute on the peloton. I realised that I had to go alone and tried to stay away from the bunch as long as possible. Some of the guys caught me near the top but I held on and it came down to a sprint from the group, where I could get third. I’m really happy with that, and I have to owe it to Phil that the plan to be in the break was the best one for the day.”
Team Picnic PostNL coach Phil West added: “We made the goal to get Mattia in the break as we felt like it could be a nice final for him with the climb at the end. Of course, you never know how things go and who would control the stage, as normally it could be a GC shootout on the first mountain stage of the race, and it sort of became that in the end.
"The aim though was always to try and find a good break. Today Mattia ended up in a nine man group which was ideal for this type of parcours. From there, Mattia focused on being efficient and calm throughout the stage, doing the work we needed to but not spending too much energy, so he could come into the final climb and ride his own effort. I’m happy with how we worked as a team today, as Mattia got some good support from the guys today to get into the break, and we could then manage the race a bit that way. In the end it was a really nice outcome with the podium, so we can be happy.”
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Here's the post from Team Soudal Quick-Step:
Mur de Huy. One of cycling’s most iconic climbs, which has become synonymous with Flèche Wallonne, another prestigious Classic that our team won multiple times. On Wednesday, the Mur de Hur awaits for another rendez-vous that promises to make again for one of the year’s most spectacular and breathtaking finales.
This year, as it celebrates nine decades since it held its first edition won by Belgium’s Philémon De Meersman, the race gets underway for the first time from Herstal, very close to Liège, and concludes after 200 kilometers, with the third ascent of the Mur de Huy (1.3km, 10%), on whose slopes the winner will once again emerge.
Steff Cras, Gil Gelders - a late replacement for Ilan Van Wilder, who has been struggling for fitness since picking up an infection in Tirreno-Adriatico - Junior Lecerf, Valentin Paret-Peintre - who spoke after finishing fourth at the Volta a Catalunya about the excitement of making his Flèche Wallonne debut this month - Mauri Vansevenant, Louis Vervaeke and Giro di Sardegna winner Filippo Zana will be the seven Soudal Quick-Step riders at the start of the season’s 18th World Tour race.
Junior Lecerf racing in stage 10 of the 2025 Vuelta a España. Sirotti photo
“Of course, the most likely scenario is a large group arriving at the bottom of the Mur de Huy and fighting for victory on those steep gradients, but we have riders who can also anticipate things and attack before in the hope of avoiding the traditional sprint on the Mur. As we said, we go there with a solid and versatile squad, and that gives us plenty of confidence in our chances of getting a good result”, said sports director Kevin Hulsmans.
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UAE Team Emirates-XRG posted this La Flèche Wallonne/Vuelta Asturias update:
With hills aplenty across both races, UAE Team Emirates-XRG is pleased to confirm its lineups for both La Flèche Wallonne and the Vuelta Asturias. First up on Wednesday, 22 April will be La Flèche Wallonne, with its trademark finish atop the Mur de Huy, before the four-day Vuelta Asturias gets underway on Thursday, 23 April.
At La Flèche Wallonne, UAE Team Emirates-XRG returns to a race it has won on two occasions through Tadej Pogačar, and finished third with Diego Ulissi in 2019. This time out, the team will be led by Sports Directors Andrej Hauptman and Marco Marzano.
The pair will call on the services of Mikkel Bjerg, Benoît Cosnefroy, Luca Giaimi, Rune Herregodts, Vegard Stake Laengen, Pavel Sivakov and Tim Wellens. The latter continues his return to racing after De Brabantse Pijl and the Amstel Gold Race.
Tim Wellens has a good day at the 2026 Clasica Jaen.
With the Belgian national champion’s jersey on his shoulders, Wellens was a winner of this year’s Clásica Jaén before his season got interrupted by a fractured collarbone. Six weeks on from his crash at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, the 34-year-old will hope to use Flèche Wallonne as another opportunity to sharpen his legs for the Emirati squad.
In both Cosnefroy and Sivakov, Wellens has two teammates more than capable of securing a good result on Wednesday afternoon. The former claimed third place at the Amstel Gold Race on Sunday, and can be confident of taking these strong legs into Wednesday’s uphill finish.
It will be on the Mur de Huy that the winner is decided at La Flèche Wallonne, with its cruel ramps of up to 20%.
Before this, however, the race will take its toll with the usual route of punchy climbs in the Ardennes. Beginning in Herstal, the race will head over the Trasenster and Les Forges, before taking in the finishing circuits that have come to define the modern race.
Now in its 90th edition, La Flèche Wallonne ends on a circuit that includes the Côte d’Ereffe (2.1km at 5%), the Côte de Cherave (1.3 km at 8,1%), and the Mur de Huy (1.3km at 9.6%). The peloton will face this circuit on three occasions, with the third and final ascent of the Mur de Huy taking the riders to the finish line.
Soon following La Flèche Wallonne, UAE Team Emirates-XRG will take on the four-day stage race, Vuelta Asturias. Running from Thursday, 23 April to Sunday, 26 April, the 2.1 race in Spain will see the Emirati squad combine experience and youth in its seven-man squad.
Filippo Baroncini, Julius Johansen and Adrià Pericas will lead the line from the WorldTour side, with the squad completed by a quartet of riders from the team’s Gen Z lineup. Those riders will be Abdulla Jasim Al-Ali, Mohammad Almutaiwei, Daan Dijkman, and Jaime Torres.
Dijkman made his debut for the WorldTour side at the AlUla Tour earlier this year, and the first-year under-23 has only gone from strength to strength, winning the U23 Liège-Bastogne-Liège on Saturday. It was a win earned the hard way, with the young Dutchman in a breakaway for 86km of the finale. Despite being caught by the peloton late in the day, the UAE Team Emirates rider triumphed in the eventual sprint, sealing the biggest win of his fledgling career to date.
Guiding the way from the team car will be the Sports Directors, Tomas Gil and Aner Moreno.
Although this will be the 68th Vuelta Asturias, it will be only the third time that UAE Team Emirates-XRG takes to the start line. With that being said, the race has proved fruitful for the team to date. The last two editions have both been won by UAE Team Emirates-XRG, first by Isaac del Toro in 2024 and more recently by Marc Soler in 2025.
This time round, the race will begin and end in Oviedo, with four stages that are unrelenting with their rolling parcours. Along the way, Benia, Lena and Vegadeo will play host to the finishes of stages 1, 2 and 3, respectively, before stage 4 tracks from Lugones to Oviedo.
Of the four, stage 3 looks the toughest on paper. Beginning in Figueras, Saturday’s stage runs for 157.3km to Vegadeo, with 3,408m of elevation gain to be dealt with. The final climb of the day stands at 4.6% for 3.3km, and tops out with 18km to go.
As Soler played to his advantage last year, this year’s route is wide open for attacking racing. No day has less than 2,300m of climbing, and there are no classic summit finishes, playing to the hands of those who like to attack from far out and race on the front foot. This should make for some exciting racing in the 68th edition of the Vuelta Asturias.