Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Monday, January 26, 2026

Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary | Our YouTube page
2025 Tour de France | 2025 Giro d'Italia

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal. - Elizabeth Cady Stanton

---

Les Woodland's book Tour de France: The Inside Story - Making the World's Greatest Bicycle Race is available in print, Kindle eBook and audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Upcoming racing:

• January 28 - February 1: Challenge Ciclista Mallorca
• January 29: Surf Coast Classic
• February 1: Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race

Latest completed racing:

• January 17 - 25: Tour Down Under
• January 25: Classica Comunitat Valenciana 1969-GP Valencia
• January 1: GP Sven Nys
• December 30: Superprestige Diegem
• December 29: Trofee Loenhout-Azencross
• December 26: World Cup Gavere
• December 23: Superprestige Heusden-Zolder
• December 14: World Cup Namur
• November 16: Trofee Hamme-Flandriencross
• November 1: Trofee Oudenaarde-Koppenbergcross
• October 26: Superprestige Overijse-Vlaamse Druivencross
• October 14 - 19: Tour of Guangxi
• October 14 - 19: Tour of Holland

---

Tour Down Under stage five team reports

We posted the organizer's report with the results.

Here's the report from stage winner Matthew Brennan's Team Visma | Lease a Bike:

Matthew Brennan has secured Team Visma | Lease a Bike’s first victory of the season. The 20-year-old Brit was the fastest in the final stage of the Tour Down Under, following excellent lead-out work from his teammates on the challenging finish in Stirling.

Matthew Brennan wins Tour Down Under stage five. Sirotti photo

“I’m really happy with this win,” Brennan said after the race. “The past week didn’t always go as we hoped, and results were hard to come by. But as a team, we worked hard every day and gave 100 percent in every stage. To see that rewarded today is really special.”

In the final stage of the Australian stage race, four riders broke away early. The breakaway built a maximum lead of four minutes but ultimately played no significant role in the finale, thanks to controlling efforts from Team Visma | Lease a Bike and others.

On the last local circuit, the race opened up as several riders tried to launch attacks. Four riders managed to escape from the peloton, but strong teamwork from the Dutch squad reeled them back in during the final kilometer. Brennan then confidently finished off his teammates’ work with an impressive sprint victory.

Sports director Jesper Mørkøv also praised the squad’s effort. “Today the team was rewarded for the hard work they’ve put in all week. Things didn’t always go our way in the past week, but we kept working hard as a team. Today, the squad delivered fantastic work, and Matthew once again showed how strong he is on tough finishes. It’s a perfect way to close the week.”

Looking ahead to several major targets in the spring, this win is an important step for Brennan. “This victory gives me a lot of confidence for the races coming up in spring. It’s been a learning week, with its ups and downs. But today, we did everything we needed to do, and that gives me a lot of confidence,” the young Brit concluded.

Here's the Tour Down Under stage five report from GC second place Mauro Schmid's Team Jayco AlUla:

Mauro Schmid secured second place overall at the Tour Down Under while Team Jayco AlUla won the best team classification after five days of racing.

The Australian squad went into the final stage with the Swiss champion in second place on the general classification and despite a hectic last day of racing, the team walked away with the runner up spot.

Mauro Schmid racing in stage five. Sirotti photo

After yesterday’s breakaway antics, Luke Plapp was once again up the road around Stirling as he escaped with two other riders in the opening laps of the race.

The trio gained a maximum advantage of almost four minutes as, behind them, a kangaroo caused a crash in the peloton. Despite the chaos, the bunch eventually hauled Plapp and the attackers back with two laps to go.

Counter attacks were immediately launched with Team Jayco AlUla keeping a close eye on proceedings as they looked to keep Schmid’s place on the podium secure.

The day ultimately came down to another sprint finish with the squad and Schmid keeping out of trouble to finish the opening WorldTour race of the year on the podium.

Mauro Schmid:
“The day started off quite ok, it was nice to have Plapp in the breakaway. But then the last hour was pretty hard and also the heat, it was not like yesterday, but it was still pretty hot.

:The last hour was quite tough, but I’m happy. The boys supported me super well all day and it’s nice to take home the second place on the GC, I think that’s a very good result for us.”

Mat Hayman (Sport Director):
“We come to TDU to win, but when you come up against somebody like Jay Vine with the form that he’s in, he was clearly the best on the Corkscrew and that set up his GC. Mauro was very, very consistent across the week and had great support from the team and had a great ride. To get second is big step for him.

"Ben also snuck into the top-10 today and we won the teams GC, so there’s a lot of positives to take out of this week with Michael Matthews also winning in Europe, and now we’re looking forward to next week at Cadel’s.”

Here's the Tour Down Under report from GC third-place Harry Sweeny's Team EF Education-EasyPost:

After six days of tough racing, Harry Sweeny and his teammates wrapped up their first WorldTour stage race of the year with a podium. The Australian rider placed third place overall, earning his best WorldTour stage race result to date.

Harry recognized that this result came after a tremendous amount of support from his teammates.

“Today we used every single man that we had,” Harry said. “I can’t thank them enough. I had special legs but the boys have been amazing this week and I know what usually goes into fighting for a leader like this because I do it day in, day out most of the year so I can’t thank them enough and I’m really happy with the result.”

While Harry knew he was capable of a strong result at the Tour Down Under, it was a big change for him to put his hand up and nominate himself as the GC leader.

The final GC podium, from left: Harry Sweeny (3rd), Jay Vine (1st), & Mauro Schmid (2nd). Sirotti photo

“It’s actually a bit difficult, like telling the boys, ‘Where are you? You need to come, you need to come, you need to do this’ is not usually the style that I have. I’m usually just doing it for someone else so it’s a bit of a mindset shift but it's something that I’m learning to do. Everything’s a learning curve in cycling, especially at the WorldTour level,” he said.

“If you told me a month ago I’d be on the GC podium, it would be a surprise,” Harry told reporters just ahead of the podium ceremony. “But the week leading in, I felt really special and I had some really good legs and it was the first time in a long time that I’ve asked to ride for myself. I had the team’s blessing and the whole team’s support.”

The final stage saw the EF Education-EasyPost squad racing to protect Harry’s GC position on a course consisting of eight laps around the town of Stirling, totaling nearly 3,000 vertical meters.

“It was a hard day,” Harry said. “It was a really hard day. In the end we had to use the whole team. They did an amazing job. I truly couldn’t have done it without them today. I can’t thank them enough.”

With the conclusion of the men’s race, this caps off a great season opening for the team with both Noemi and Harry. Congratulations to both squads on a fantastic block of racing in Adelaide!

And here's the Tour Down Under report from GC third-place and points classification winner Tobias Lund Andresen's Team Decathlon CMA CGM:

Tobias Lund Andresen:
“Today, there was a risk that the race would be really difficult, but we kept control of the breakaways. I felt good in the final despite the heat, and Callum Scotson and Nicolas Prodhomme positioned me well. I was hoping for victory today, but I'm still satisfied with a podium finish in a WorldTour race. Overall, it's a great performance to win the points jersey; it shows consistency, not just mine but that of the whole team. I wouldn't have achieved this result without my team-mates, so it's a very good start for me with my new team. I'm proud of my team-mates, the confidence they have in me, everything they give for the team and the work they do for me.”

Tobias Lund Andresen wins stage one. Sirotti photo

The information:
Antoine l'Hote discovers the WorldTour
The young rider from Nord avoided the pitfalls on his WorldTour debut. He rode well in the prologue (20th) and then took on the role of team-mate to Nicolas Prodhomme and Tobias Lund Andresen, supporting them at key moments.

The figure: 5
The number of top 5 finishes achieved by the DECATHLON CMA CGM team during this week's race. After Pierre Gautherat's fifth place in the prologue, Tobias Lund Andresen raised his arms in the first stage, before taking the second step of the podium in stages three and four. The week ended with Tobias taking third place on the final stage.

Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary