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Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,

Wednesday, July 29, 2026

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A doctor can bury his mistakes but an architect can only advise his clients to plant vines. - Frank Lloyd Wright

Les Woodland's book The Olympics' 50 Craziest Stories: A Five Ring Circus is available in print, Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Current racing:

July 28 - 30: Tour de l'Ain

Upcoming racing:

• August 1: Clasica San Sebastian
• August 2: Circuito de Getxo
• August 3 - 9: Tour of Poland
• August 4 - 8: Vuelta a Burgos
• August 13 - 18: Arctic Race of Norway
• August 16: Cyclassics Hamburg

Latest completed racing:

• July 4 - 26: Tour de France
• July 26: Vuelta a Castilla y Leon
• July 8 - 12: Tour of Austria
• June 24 - 28: National Championshps
• June 17 - 21: Tour de Suisse
• June 17 - 21: Baloise Belgium Tour
• June 7 - 14: Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
• June 14: Copenhagen Sprint
• June 14: GP Gippingen/Canton Aargau
• June 10: Circuit Franco-Belge
• June 7: Brussels Cycling Classic
• June 1 - 5: Ethias-Tour de Wallone

We posted the report from second-place Alberto Dainese's Team Soudal Quick-Step with the resuilts.

Here's the report from fourth-place Matteo Milan's Team Groupama-FDJ United:

The Tour de France may be over, but the cycling season is far from finished. On Tuesday, Groupama-FDJ United Cycling Team was already back in action at the Tour de l’Ain, where the opening stage unsurprisingly came down to a bunch sprint. Hampered as he launched his effort, Matteo Milan had to settle for fourth place, with two mountainous stages now on the horizon.

Noah Hobbs wins stage one.

With the adrenaline of the Tour de France barely faded, the racing calendar resumed on Tuesday with the opening stage of the Tour de l’Ain. The race got underway with a relatively flat 160.9-kilometre route from the Parc des Oiseaux in Villars-les-Dombes to Bourg-en-Bresse.

“It was quite a strange day,” explained William Green. “We did a good job early on making sure a small breakaway went clear. Unfortunately, Tom wasn’t feeling well this morning and couldn’t start, so we were down to five riders, including Matteo [Milan] and two riders from the development team. Because of that, we didn’t really want to ride during the day. Behind the initial five-man break, TotalEnergies and EF Education-EasyPost controlled the race but chose to keep the gap between 1’20 and 1’30. Midway through the stage, other teams capitalized on that to reduce the gap and launch many attacks. A second breakaway formed with three strong riders. Up until then, we hadn’t really had to use the team, but it became crucial to control that fresh breakaway. Baptiste Grégoire and Johan Blanc took care of that, before Brieuc [Rolland] made the final effort in the final to bring the gap down.”

The work of Groupama-FDJ United gradually reduced the leaders’ advantage, which had hovered around one minute for much of the stage, to just twenty seconds with around ten kilometres remaining. “With teams of only six riders, and many of them focusing on the overall classification, some are always reluctant to contribute,” added William. “I think we rode a good race. We only started controlling at the right moment, towards the end, when the situation became more dangerous. Other teams didn’t want to ride, but in the end it didn’t change the approach to the final. We had planned just for Johan to support Matteo in the final, and he executed his role perfectly.”

With four kilometres to go, the Swiss rider brought the peloton back to the last remaining escapees while continuing to protect his Italian sprinter. “Johan kept Matteo in a great position over the final six kilometres, and Matteo entered the last two kilometres exactly where he needed to be,” confirmed William. From there, the Italian had to fend for himself in the final sprint. “Matteo did a really good job,” continued the New Zealand sports director. “The idea was for him to be well positioned just before the final roundabout, with 900 metres to go. At one point he may have been a little too far forward, but he adapted well and dropped back slightly so he wasn’t too far in front. I think he managed his positioning really well.”

With 500 metres remaining, the 23-year-old was sitting fifth wheel, ready to launch his sprint. “The plan was for him to go earlier in the closing few hundred metres,” William explained. “But Noah Hobbs had the same idea and came from behind with a bit more speed, which slightly blocked Matteo. Over the last 100 metres, Matteo managed to get back up to speed and close the gap again, but it was just too late.”

The Italian rider therefore had to settle for fourth place on the day, only a few centimeters away from second. “Physically, I think he could have won,” said William. “It’s still a very positive performance. He hasn’t raced much this season and has had very few opportunities to sprint, so this is probably his best performance in Europe. It’s really encouraging to see him achieve this in his first race back.” Over the next two days, Matteo Milan will look to repay his teammates’ efforts on terrain far more suited to the climbers. “It’s pretty clear that we’ll be riding for Brieuc over the next two stages with the general classification in mind,” concluded William. “Wednesday’s stage suits him well, and I expect a small group to fight it out for the win. We’ll see how the race unfolds, but he’s feeling good and we’re highly motivated.”