the Inner Ring blog

Uno-X sign Sven Erik Bystrøm for 2026, the 33 year old is currently at Groupama-FDJ and will be a road captain for the team

Thanks. A rider can sit and celebrate their team mate’s win as long as they don’t block others for sprinting to places, for points etc

possible yellow card... but depends on decelerating and endangering

possibly but technically celebrating is allowed, it's the decelerating and obstructing others that is the issue, don't think it stopped Vendrame but still

...he turned pro just a three weeks short of his 27th birthday and was doing local races in France in 2022, having crossed over from triathlon and trail running and he belongs to a "club" with friends dedicated to sport and Belgian beer La Chouffe.

Tom Donnenwirth (Groupama-FDJ) wins Stage 1 of the Tour de l'Ain, gets his first pro win ahead of team mate David Gaudu...

update: Christen not leader, Lapeira stays in yellow. The GC was neutralised after the crash and so while Lapeira crossed the line eight minutes down, all riders credited with same time. Vacek DNF along with Baroncini, Doull, Boven and Grondin.

Looks like Lapeira has finished, but 8 mins down

The TV commentators said Christen and have gone off air now but... it should be Langellotti on timing. No sign of Vacek in the results for the day, there was a Lidl-Trek rider in the crash

that's what the TV commentators said... before going to a long ad break, back on air now, will see what happens

Top-10 on Stage 3 of the Tour of Poland. Jan Christen (UAE) is the new race leader

Ben Turner (Ineos) wins Stage 3 of the Tour of Poland

exactly, if all the paramedics and ambulances are busy they can't attend to further incidents if they happen so race gets halted

Matteo Moschetti (Q36.5) wins Stage 2 of the Vuelta a Burgos, photofinish needed. Top-10

Tour of Poland stage halted, race neutralised now

...TVP said "Niewiadoma" crashed too... but not Kasia, it means "unknown" as in some more riders they couldn't identify. Majka has made it back already, peloton looks to be easing up.

Majka, Bilbao and race leader Lapeira among others crash in the Tour of Poland

ah, missed it at the time. Sivakov also says Visma rode like they were helping UAE at times

Reading Vélo magazine and Pavel Sivakov says Pogačar's attack early on Hautacam wasn't planned. On the team bus that morning Pogačar was joking about doing the same as they did on the Domancy climb in the Dauphiné... Narvaez took this literally and led out him like a sprint at the foot of the climb

still some good riders there but also some who in the past they'd have moved on to another team to make room for hungrier ones. One or two good signings could make a difference but it's almost getting late for this

Bulgaria to Host Giro d'Italia Start in 2026 Bulgaria will host the start of one of the biggest sporting events, Giro d’Italia (Tour of Italy),  in 2026, said Tourism Minister Miroslav Borshosh during a joint briefing with Sports Minister Ivan P...

2026 Giro to start in Bulgaria reports the country's news agency www.bta.bg/en/news/spor...

exactly, seems one year left of the deal (as there was with Evenepoel until he was bought out). Belgian newspapers talking of Merida and Scott

maybe, he's a solid rider in March as well as July but they have some experienced older rouleurs already, want to see where they go next.

Merlier is delivering and Magnier is promising. But at their best they won a lot and a lot of them won. This part will be harder to recreate

...HLN 📰 reports they've received several million in compensation from Red Bull; but they might have had extra revenue from their existing sponsors to retain Evenepoel the last time around, that risks drying up. It'll be a challenge to rebuild the team while retaining (or reshaping) its identity.

It's won't be as arithmetic in reality next year... but if you subtract Evenepoel's points from Soudal-Quickstep for the past few years the team resembles a mid-ranking World Tour squad, it'll be interesting to see where they go next without their home-grown hero...

he's very likely being paid as one next year

exactly. Lipowitz to the Giro for experience? But they're a German team with a fast-improving German star, if not next year then the year after he'll want ultimate leadership. Lots of other cascading events too, eg Quick-Step set lose their bike sponsor

Remco Evenepoel signs with Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, via team press release

Isaac del Toro crashed in the final metres, taking Giulio Ciccone with him