Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Friday, January 30, 2026
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2025 Tour de France | 2025 Giro d'Italia
The air of ideas is the only air worth breathing. - Edith Wharton
Bill & Carol McGann's book The Story of the Tour de France, Vol 1: 1903 - 1975 is available in print, Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.
Current racing:
- January 28 - February 1: Challenge Ciclista Mallorca
Upcoming racing:
- January 31: Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race
- February 1: GP Cycliste de Marseille - La Marseilaise
- February 4 - 8: Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana
- February 4 - 8: Etoile de Bessèges
Latest completed racing:
- January 29: Surf Coast Classic Race cancelled
- 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
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We posted the report from winner Team Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe with the results.
Here's the report from third-place Team Jayco AlUla:
The first team time trial of the season ended with a brilliant third place for Team Jayco AlUla today at the Trofeo Ses Salines, after a strong showing over the tricky 23.8 kilometre course.
The ‘purple train’ finished just 17 seconds behind the winning team, pacing themselves over the fast and untechnical first half, before a more challenging second half of the race. After a U turn, at the 11 kilometres split, a strong headwind put all teams to the test and proved to be the section where the race was lost or won.
The Australian squad worked well to maintain a high speed and steady pace, keeping the riders together for the most part, before one final big effort towards the finish line, riding themselves onto the podium to display a real team effort.
Jasha Sütterlin:
“I think today was a super result for us at this time of the season. The first part of the race went smoothly with a high speed and everybody did a really good job until the U turn into the head/crosswind section to the finish. The guys started to do some short pulls to keep the speed high, me and Matthews tried to then do the pulls as long as possible that everybody could recover and we managed to stay all together for as long as possible towards the last 5km. In the end, we lost three guys and we managed very well to keep the speed and then finish on the podium in third place.”
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David McPartland – Sport Director:
“We’re very satisfied with our race. All our riders did their job, and we showed that we’re working hard for the future. It was an important race, especially in view of the Tour de France TTT, because there aren’t many opportunities to race together in a team time trial event during the season.”
Team Jayco AlUla racing to third place.
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Here's the team's announcement:
From this season, Team Visma | Lease a Bike Women will be strengthened with a new sports director: Joppe de Heij. The 24-year-old Dutchman joins from Unibet Tietema Rockets and started at the yellow-and-black squad in January.
De Heij began his career as a sports director with at a Dutch junior team, before quickly moving to Unibet Tietema Rockets. He was also active as a rider with a club team in The Netherlands before stepping into his role as sports director.
Joppe de Heij
The young Dutchman deliberately chose to work with the women's team. “Women’s cycling is on the rise. That really appealed to me. In addition, Team Visma | Lease a Bike is one of the biggest teams in the world, which makes it very special to work here,” De Heij says. He took the initiative to reach out to Head of Coaching Jacco Verhaeren: “I know Jacco from the UCI sports director course. Everything happened much faster than I expected. In January, I attended my first training camp in Spain, where I was warmly welcomed by both riders and staff. It’s a great group, and I felt at home very quickly.”
De Heij is still young and relatively new as a sports director, and he’s eager to learn as much as possible. “This is only my third year as a sports director. My goal is to gain as much experience as possible and learn from Rutger, Jan, Jos and Maarten,” he explains. De Heij is looking forward to the Setmana Ciclista Valenciana, his first race as a sports director: “Of course, it’s a bit nerve-wracking, but I’m really excited. Valencia is a great race to start with.”
Rutger Tijssen, team manager of Team Visma | Lease a Bike Women, emphasizes that De Heij is a valuable addition to the team: “Joppe is a young, ambitious sports director who wants to learn a lot, but he already brings some experience.” Initially, De Heij will act as an assistant at the major races while also leading smaller races independently: “We will give him the time and space to develop into a fully-fledged sports director. I’m convinced he will be a great addition to our existing team.”
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