Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Wednesday, March 18, 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
Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy. - William Butler Yeats
Bill and Carol McGann's book The Story of the Tour de France, 2019: A Year of New Faces is available in both Kindle eBook and audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.
Current racing
- March 18: Danilith Nokere Koerse
- March 18: Milano-Torino
Upcoming racing:
- March 19: GP de Denain
- March 20: Bredene Koksijde Classic
- March 21: Milano-Sanremo
- March 23 - 29: Volta a Catalunya
Latest completed racing:
- March 8 - March 15: Paris-Nice
- March 9 - 15: Tirreno-Adriatico
- March 7: Strade Bianche
- March 4: Trofeo Laigueglia
- March 3: Le Samyn Classic
- February 25 - March 1: Giro di Sardegna
- March 1: Faun Drome Classic
- March 1: Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne
Content continues below the ads
Here’s the team’s post:
Tadej Pogačar aims to improve on his past podium placings in the first Monument of the season, backed up by the likes of Isaac del Toro and Jan Christen
UAE Team Emirates-XRG is delighted to announce its team for the first Monument of the season, with Tadej Pogačar set to continue his tilt at one of cycling’s most-prized crowns, Milano-Sanremo. After a captivating edition in 2025, anticipation will be high to see the world champion race in Italy once more.
There, the 27-year-old will be joined by the in-form Isaac del Toro, who comes fresh from winning a memorable edition of Tirreno-Adriatico. Together, the pair will form a formidable front-line for UAE Team Emirates-XRG, with Del Toro having already taken stage and overall victories at both the UAE Tour and Tirreno-Adriatico in his flying start to the year.
Ready to drop the hammer for the Emirati squad, a powerful supporting crew will be in tow for Pogačar and Del Toro in the 117th edition of Milano-Sanremo.
Jan Christen, Felix Grossschartner, Brandon McNulty, Domen Novak and Florian Vermeersch round out the seven-man squad that will be led in the team cars by Sports Directors Andrej Hauptman and Marco Marzano.
Looking ahead to his sixth crack at the race known as La Classicissima di Primavera, Pogačar was in high spirits, having won his first race of the season in Strade Bianche.
Pogačar: “It’s no secret that Milano-Sanremo is a race I would love to win. I think it suits me well but also suits a lot of the other top guys. I see that as a good challenge.
“I’ve done a lot of recons on the Poggio and it’s a climb I know very well. The team was exceptional in Strade Bianche and if we can repeat that performance, anything is possible for us. The competition will be high as always but we’re used to that and we’ll do all we can for a result. I hope for a great day of racing and that we can put on a good show for the fans.”
Milano-Sanremo is a race that Pogačar has become synonymous with in recent years, thanks not to a victory (as of yet), but for his daring attacks and clear desire to win. Once known as the Sprinters’ Classic, Pogačar and others like him have turned this race into a must-see event of the year.
With their determination to make the racing selective and reduce the chances of a bunch sprint deciding the honours, the likes of Pogačar and Mathieu van der Poel have ripped up the Sanremo script in recent years. In no edition was this more apparent than last year’s race, in which the pair went off the front with Filippo Ganna on the penultimate climb of the day.
It was the first time that the race-winning attack had gone clear on the Cipressa in decades, with Pogačar’s UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad producing a vicious lead-out for a stinging Pogačar attack. Such was their speed that Pogačar went up the Cipressa in under nine minutes, something once thought impossible.
Thanks to that move, and the subsequent collaboration between Pogačar, Van der Poel and Ganna, the three came to the line on the Via Roma in Sanremo.
It was Van der Poel who triumphed that day to take his second Milano-Sanremo crown, but the three riders each played their part in a truly remarkable edition.
Mathieu van der Poel wins the 2025 Milano-Sanremo ahead of Filippo Ganna & Tadej Pogacar. La Presse photo
For Pogačar, it was the Slovenian’s fifth crack at the race, and it was arguably the closest he has come to victory. Already a winner of ten Monument Classics and five Grand Tours, Pogačar first rode Milano-Sanremo in 2020, taking 12th place on the day.
Since then, the world champion has made the race a priority and finished fifth, fourth and third in the following years. Indeed, Pogačar has finished on the third step of the podium in both of the last two years, and will be determined to stand on the top step before his career is out. Just Milano-Sanremo and Paris-Roubaix are missing from Pogačar’s palmarès, of cycling’s five hallowed Monuments.
Standing at 301.6km long, including the neutral start, Milano-Sanremo is the longest outing of the WorldTour season, and this year’s route, as ever, is dictated by tradition. The usual Tre Capi climbs of the Capo Mele, Capo Cervo, and Capo Berta are followed by the Cipressa-Poggio double, before 5.4km of racing remains from the top of the Poggio to the Via Roma in Sanremo.
Neither the Cipressa nor the Poggio are climbs that would ordinarily trouble a professional rider, but coming after 275km of racing from Milan, their impact is by now legendary. The Cipressa has historically softened the legs before potential race-winning attacks are made on the Poggio. Of course, Pogačar, Ganna and Van der Poel ripped up this script last season, and all of a sudden, anything is possible in the final hour of racing.
The 117th edition of La Classicissima di Primavera will take place on Saturday, 21 March, and Pogačar’s UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad will be ready.
Content continues below the ads
Here’s the team’s news:
Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico are behind us, and the peloton returns to Belgium tomorrow. The Nokere-Denain-Bredene triple header is just around the corner. Sports director Pieter Vanspeybrouck looks ahead: “It will be important that we race actively.”
With Baptiste Veistroffer, Joshua Giddings, Mathieu Kockelmann, Milan Menten, Roel van Sintmaartensdijk, Steffen De Schuyteneer and Lionel Taminiaux, Lotto-Intermarché will line up with a strong block at Nokere Koerse. And that will be needed, Vanspeybrouck knows. “Nokere is always an open race. The cobbled sections encourage aggressive racing, and this edition will be no different. It will be important to stay involved and be attentive at the front so that we are never forced to chase. That role is for Baptiste, Roel and Mathieu… Milan Menten can save himself for the sprint, while Steffen De Schuyteneer will have a free role as a sprinter.”
Lionel Taminiaux (head down on the right) wins stage one of the 2024 Tour of Guangxi.
"Cedric Beullens was initially also on the start list for Nokere, but he returned from Tirreno-Adriatico slightly ill. He will be replaced by Lionel Taminiaux. After his crash at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, where he broke his collarbone, Taminiaux is now set for his second race. He already raced at GP Vermarc last weekend.
"After Nokere Koerse, it’s time for GP Denain. For Arnaud De Lie, it will be his first race since Tirreno–Adriatico. He will be joined by Felix Ørn-Kristoff, Milan Menten, Sébastien Grignard and Halvor Dolven. Toon Aerts will also start his road season in Denain, while Robin Orins returns after injury. “With Arnaud De Lie at the start, other teams will naturally be looking at us more,” Vanspeybrouck explains. “Denain is always a difficult race to control. In the first hundred kilometres it’s still manageable, but after that it becomes harder. Who is still there? Who has gone up the road? It will be about keeping the gaps as small as possible and shaping the race ourselves.”
"On Friday, the Bredene–Koksijde Classic is on the programme. “There we are mainly targeting Vito Braet. He already performed very well in Paris-Nice and now has had a few days of rest. Last year he finished fifth in Bredene- it’s definitely a race that suits him.”
Content continues below the ads
Here’s the team’s post:
“After finishing the first stage of the AlUla Tour, I went back to the hotel and said to myself, ‘You made the right choice.’ I couldn’t wait to get in the car the next day,” says Alessandro De Marchi.
The Italian former professional rider, who turns 40 this year, has been competing in his first races as a sports director for Team Jayco AlUla in recent months.
His was a long professional career: 15 seasons, including victories at the Tour de France, the Vuelta España, and two days in the pink jersey at the 2021 Giro d’Italia. His debut as a sport director was in Saudi Arabia at the end of January, before competing in several races in Italy, including Strade Bianche and Tirreno-Adriatico in March.
A 2025 shot of Alessandro De Marchi checking out the Strade Bianche race course. Sirotti photo
On the eve of the final stage of the “Race of the Two Seas,” he talks about how he continues to discover new aspects of his job. “Tirreno,” De Marchi explains, “has become a great testing ground, with a real routine. Maybe it’s because it’s my first WorldTour stage race, but the pace is really intense.”
Learning by doing
There are many things to know and adapt to in his new role and De Marchi’s new life is a continuous “learning by doing”. His experience as a former pro rider is helping him, but what’s new is the great sense of responsibility he feels toward the riders.
“You’re in the race to help them by giving them as much information as possible. After all, you can’t do much from the car, and for that very reason, even with that little, you have to be timely and super precise. You can’t afford to give imprecise and incomplete information.”
He’s also perfecting his driving, a key part of being a sport director. “I’m learning that you have to be relaxed and confident while driving, otherwise you risk hurting someone,” says De Marchi.
During the race, there can be moments of great confusion, but generally, a professional rider knows how to behave in a race.
“When you hear a horn, you know something’s happening behind you. Maybe a rider is coming, or a car wants to overtake you; that’s the most complicated moment,” he says. “Compared to my generation, the younger riders are a little more undisciplined; sometimes they move in the group differently than you expect. You need to be very careful.”
Preparation is essential
A typical day for a sports director doesn’t have much downtime. You leave the hotel by bus for the start, race meeting, team presentation, radio checks, and then the stage begins.
“Normally, race directors prepare for the race in the afternoon [before the race],” explains De Marchi, “and send the presentation to the riders for any comments.”
The day before, logistics must be ironed out, including feed locations, who does them and what goes in each bidon. The following morning, the PowerPoint presentation is completed. If there have been route changes or weather changes, they must be updated. Then the race meeting begins, which can last 20 to 40 minutes, depending on the type of stage. There’s a lot to do at the start location. After the race, on the way to the hotel, the stage debriefing takes place, and then everything starts again.
“Time is really limited, so it’s crucial to prepare for the race when you’re at home. You have to study each route in detail – the team uses an app called ‘VeloViewer’ – to get to know it blindly. In some cases, you go and reconnoitre the points that seem more complicated, and then you have to take into account the wind, the weather, and the type of road.”
Talk to the Riders
A good sports director must talk to the riders. For De Marchi, communicating with the athletes and staff is crucial. “There’s not much free time,” he emphasizes, “and I want to use the little time I have left to talk to the entire team, starting with the riders.”
"The morning meeting before the start is a good opportunity for discussion, but it can’t be the only one. “I like talking to the athletes in the days leading up to the race and then spending each evening in their rooms to exchange impressions of the day and discuss goals for the following day.”
For the Italian, feedback from the riders is essential, as is maintaining a strong relationship between sports director and athlete.
“What I’ve learned from my experience,” De Marchi continues, “is that sometimes just talking and exchanging opinions solves many problems and allows the rider to give their best.”
New knowledge
De Marchi will return home from the Tirreno-Adriatico with new knowledge. For the first time, he drove the second car, which usually takes the lead, the one that goes ahead of the peloton up to the first feed zone – usually in the first 50km of the race – and relays any useful information to the first car.
After the feed zone, the second car lines up behind the bunch. “When I see a rider in trouble,” De Marchi smiles, “I think back to when I was in trouble too, and I usually help them even though I shouldn’t. Sports directors usually help each other, even though there are moments where competitive fury prevails and there’s a bit of a battle between the cars.”
This is just the beginning for De Marchi and there’s plenty more to look forward to and glean from in the season ahead.
“For me, it’s like starting from scratch,” he says. “It reminds me of my first year as a professional, when I didn’t have any specific expectations, but was ready to experience every race as a chance to learn as much as possible.”
For this reason, he’s very happy to have a very varied race calendar, starting with the AlUla Tour and the races in Italy, as well as races such as the Belgian Ardennes classics and the Vuelta España. Step by step.
Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary