Christmas Holiday Quiz

1. Dressed in red, white and green these riders are ready to deliver. Why the outfit?

2. Dressed in red and white, two riders make their way through the snow. Can you name them and the race?

That Was The Season That Was
3. Who finished second on the UCI rankings for men, and for women?

4. Name the non-World Tour riders that won men’s and women’s World Tour races (one day races and stage races overall, daily stages excluded)

5. Milan-Sanremo is the longest race on the World Tour calendar at 289km, it even gets a special dispensation to exceed the regulatory distance cap of 250km and it took six hours and 22 minutes to complete. Which World Tour race this year lasted longer?

6. Which rider was unbeaten in bunch sprints this year?

7. Name a race that Pogačar started but didn’t win.

8. What was the highest altitude reached in a World Tour race this season?

Bike Tech

9. This year all teams in the World Tour used tubeless or clincher tires. Which was the last team to make the switch?

10. What’s the UCI’s regulatory minimum weight for a road bike?

Business pages
11. How many sponsors feature on the Visma-Lease A Bike team jersey and shorts?

12. Which World Tour bike brand used to be a weapons manufacturer?

History
13. There are 18 teams in the men’s World Tour for 2026. Name the oldest and youngest teams in terms of when the squad was registered for its pro cycling debut.

14. A 19 year old French neo-pro impressed, especially in late season races. “Is he serious?” asks the headline cropped from L’Equipe above. It’s not Paul Seixas but from 1953. Can you name the rider?

15. Michele Dancelli died this month. In 1970 he ended the 17 year drought of home winners in Milan-Sanremo. A long wait for home fans but what is the record streak in a men’s Monument classic without a home winner?

Celebs
16. Name a cyclist, active or retired, whose wife, husband or partner is more famous than they are.

17. Name a rider who appears in a TV ad campaign for a company that is not their team sponsor.

Chief commissaire
18. What changed with the rules about sprinting this year?

19. Who was the first person to get a red card from UCI commissaires this year?

20. Can a rider get an energy gel from a team car of another team?

Nicknames
21. Biniam Girmay is sometimes called “Bini” but who used this name, in a friendly way, long before him?

22. What have Arnaud De Lie and Isaac del Toro got in common?

New jobs

23. This hotel belongs to a recently retired star of the sport, which one?

24. Marc Chavet’s voice booms out over the Tour de France as the official speaker. He is an MC at the October presentation and recently did Decathlon CMA CGM’s presentation. What other sport does he commentate on?

25. After forced retirement following a positive doping test that found he’d laced himself with a banned hormone, what business has Miguel Angel Lopez gone into now?

When they were young

26. A school classroom where two boys pose with shades and machine guns. But who is that making an entrance?

27. He shot to fame this year but who is this from his youth?

Picture round

28. Name the rider from the pictures above

29. Name the rider from the pictures above

30. Name the rider from the pictures above

Go for it
As always there’s a mix of trivia and intrigue. Plenty should defy search engine engines and half the point is to supply Q&A as talking points so look out for the follow-up answers.

If you want to have a go in the comments below then put your best answers. Readers can collectively crowdsource their way together. The most correct answers get wins a small prize.

Small print: the deadline is midday Euro Time on Tuesday 30 December. The most correct answers wins and if there’s a tie then a name gets picked at random. As ever people can copy off each other which spoils the point. But the peloton of readers here often enjoyably collaborate and together there’s a way to get plenty of answers.

And if you want to deploy an eleventh hour copy-paste job… well that’s cycling for you where you toil only for some wheelsucker to sprint past. Merry Christmas and happy holidays…

33 thoughts on “Christmas Holiday Quiz”

  1. Merry Christmas Mr Ring & fellow commenters!
    I’ll do the early shift on this stage and get things going…some I know, some I don’t, and some I’ve guessed…

    1 – UnoX and Seven Eleven are part of the same Group of companies and operate service stations together
    2 – Michael Storer & Mauro Schmidt in Paris-Nice
    3 – MvdP & Demi Vollering?
    4 – Julian Alaphillipe, Rory Townsend
    5 – The Paris-Nice stage that got stopped halfway through?
    6 –
    7 – Amstel Gold & Quebec
    8 – The Colle Del Finestre?
    9 – Ineos?
    10 – 6.8kg
    11 – 14?
    12 –
    13 – Oldest = Movistar? Youngest = Arkea?
    14 – Jacques Anquetil?
    15 –
    16 – Tadej Pogacar or Urska Zigart (depending on which you think is more famous)!
    17 – Remco Evenepoel for Pizza Hut
    18 – Leadout riders have to continue their effort once they peel off the front
    19 – The Alpecin rider who tried to move up on the pavement and was denied by Ineos then crashed himself out? Can’t remember his name
    20 – Yes?
    21 –
    22 –
    23 – Kolobnev – the altitude hotel in Denia?
    24 –
    25 – Marijuana sales
    26 – Tadej Pogacar
    27 – Florian Lipowitz
    28 – Roman Greg Wire = Romain Gregoire
    29 – Paul (Magnier) twice = Paul Double
    30 – Sim One Conso Knee = Simone Consonni

  2. 16. Tiffany Cromwell is the obvious answer here, partner F1 driver Valterri Bottas. But since virtually every female rider has a WT or Pro Conti cyclist bf I’m sure there are many more.

  3. 1. Uno-X rebrands with their associated gas station convience store 7-Eleven, a throw back to the American team decades ago, during Liège‑Bastogne‑Liège

    2. Mauro Schmid (red & white) of Jayco-AlUla and Michael Storer (black & red) of Tudor at Paris-Nice.

    3. Jonas Vingegaard (between Tadej Pogacar and Issac Del Toro) and Lorena Wiebes (between Demi Vollering and Marlen Reusser)
    4.
    5.
    6. Lorena Wiebes

    7. Paris-Roubaix, MSR
    8.
    9. A French team, probably Cofidis, maybe Arkea B&B

    10. 6.8kg (~15lbs)

    11. 9 (minus Yellow B. which is the owner, not a sponsor?)
    12.
    13. Movistar (aka Banesto, Caisse d’Épargne) with Uno-X Mobility the youngest (?)
    14.
    15. MSR
    16.
    17. Nike and Demi; Jana and Tadej.
    18.
    19. Wasn’t it a moto commissaire that got carded?
    20.
    21.
    22.
    23. SP resort, Peter Sagan (https://www.sp-resort.sk/en/)
    24.
    25. Meat Bros. Selling steak and sausages!

    26. Tadej Pogacar

    27. German champion in biathlon, Florian Lipowitz

    28. Roman Greg Wire
    29. Paul Magnier
    30.

    @Davesta is good!

  4. The only one I got for certain was Paul Double! Perhaps it’s a good thing I can’t afford a subscription to watch the next season since I seem to have remembered almost nothing from the last one!

  6. 4. Imagine there were equite a lot e.g. Uno X , Lotto and Israel PT riders who won races e.g. Arnnaud de Lie, Søren Wærenskjold.
    16. Phil Deignan, Dylan van Baarle
    22. Early in career, both won hugely quantities by concentrating on lower category races.

  13. I have a strong reclamation against the 28., which can be found only by English-speakers with a strong accent (Australian ?).
    I guess the 21. should be Italian, but I don’t see who.
    14 should definitely be Anquetil. He was pretty serious, or not at all, depending on which side you ask the question…

    • SanLuca.cc has Col de la Loze at 2291m, and Julierpass used early in Stage 5 of Tour de Suiss at 2292m, but I wouldn’t know, I’ve never been to either.

      • Yeah, I hear you. I put the “~” because that number is from the TDF road book and they are not entirely precise (I think in some places this was rounded up to 3,000m). In this case it really depends on where they finished and not the actual pass or col. Also depends on who measured it!
        🙂

  18. 1 – Uno X Rebranded as 7-Eleven at LBL for Eddy’s birthday
    2 – Mauro Scmidt and Michael Storer Stage 7 Paris – Nice
    3 – Jonas Vignegaard and Lorena Weibes
    4 – Ben Healy, Laurence Pithie, womens Noemi Ruegg, Karlijn Swinkels, Silke Smulders
    5 – World Road Champs 6.21.20 but a shorter race
    6 – Lorena Wiebes
    7 – Amstel Gold
    8 – Col de la Loze 2304m
    9 – Cofidis
    10 – 6.8kg
    11 – 13
    12 – Orbea
    13 – Oldest Movistar youngest NSN Cycling Team
    14 – Paul Magnier
    15 – Frederik Guesdon PR 1997 28 years
    16 – Tiffany Cromwell more famous partner is Valtteri Bottas F1 Driver
    17 – Imogen Cotter Skoda Ireland
    18 – 3 second rule for time gaps, No celebration fines ie potential for DQ celebrating wins by slowing down blocking etc
    19 – Oscar Riesebeek
    20 – Yes
    21 – Aldo Bini (1915 – 1993)
    22 – Middle names means the same in their respective languages
    23 – Peter Sagan
    24 – Archery
    25 – Butchery
    26 – Tadej Pogacar
    27 – Florian Lipowitz
    28 – Roman Gregoire
    29 – Paul Magnier
    30 – Simone Consonni

  19. Hello, Mr. Inner
    Thank you for the fun and challenging quiz. I look forward to seeing the correct answers.

    1. For Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Uno-X revived the 7-Eleven team uniform. According to them, this was not only a tribute to cycling tradition but also a celebration of the strong partnership between Uno-X and 7-Eleven, both proud members of the REITAN family.
    2. Michael Stoller (TUD) and Mauro Schmidt (JAY) ascend to Auron, snow lining the road during the 7th stage of Paris-Nice 2025.
    3. • Jonas Vingegaard Hansen (TVL) finished in second place with 5944.14 points, behind the leader Tadej Pogačar.
    • Lorena Wiebes (SDW) finished in second place with 4326 points, behind the leader Demi Vollering.
    4. • Søren Wærenskjold (UXM-PRT): Omloop Nieuwsblad (1.UWT)
    • Rory Townsend (Q36-PRT): ADAC Cyclassics (1.UWT)
    • Arnaud De Lie (LOT-PRT): Bretagne Classic – Ouest-France (1.UWT), Renewi Tour (2.UWT)
    • Julian Alaphilippe (TUD-PRT): Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec (1.UWT)
    • Noemi Rüegg (EFO-PRW): Santos Tour Down Under (2.WWT)
    • Lotte Claes (ARK-PRW): Omloop Nieuwsblad (1.WWT)
    • Anne Knijnenburg (VWT-PRW): Tour of Chongming Island (2.WWT)
    5. The longest-lasting was the 3rd stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico on March 12, 2025. It covered 239 km and was won by Andrea Vendrame (DAT) with a time of 6:28:25.
    6. Lorena Wiebes (SDW)
    7. • World Championships ME – ITT
    • Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal
    • Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec
    • Amstel Gold Race
    • Paris-Roubaix
    • Milano-Sanremo
    8. The 18th stage of the Tour de France finished at the Col de la Loze at an altitude of 2,298 meters.
    9. Cofidis was the final holdout in 2024. But in 2025, they switched from Corima to using Campagnolo wheels.
    10. The weight of the bicycle cannot be less than 6.8 kilograms.
    11. Nine: Visma, Lease a Bike, Rabobank, SRAM, Cervélo, Nimbl, Food Coach, Jumbo and Skill.
    12. Orbea. Bikes weren’t the first product that made it to market under the Orbea name. Back in 1840, three brothers and a sister started Orbea, and pistols and other guns were their trade. It wasn’t until 1930 that Orbea started producing bikes.
    13. • The Oldest Team: Movistar Team, founded as Reynolds in 1980.
    • The Youngest: Bahrain Victorious, founded in 2017.
    14. Most likely, the headline refers to Jacques, who, at the age of 19, as a neoprofessional, won his first time trial, the 1953 Grand Prix des Nations, covering a distance of 140 kilometers.
    15. Paris-Roubaix: Now, France has a 28-year wait from 1997, when the winner was Frédéric Guesdon.
    16. Four of the many possibilities:
    • Urška Žigart whose partner is Tadej Pogačar, widely considered the biggest star in modern cycling.
    • Philip Deignan (retired cyclist), whose wife is Lizzie Deignan (née Armitstead), a former world champion and one of the most successful female cyclists in history.
    • Sierk-Jan de Haan (retired cyclist), whose wife is Anna van der Breggen, an Olympic gold medalist and multiple-time world champion, is considered one of the greatest female cyclists of all time.
    • Vincent Ragot (retired cyclist), whose wife is Audrey Cordon-Ragot, a multi-time French national champion.
    17. • Richard Carapaz: Banco Pichincha
    • Wout van Aert: Red Bull, Nike
    • Mathieu van der Poel: Nike
    • Remco Evenepoel: Pizza Hut
    18. • The three-kilometer rule for sprints was extended to five kilometers.
    • In bunch sprints, a gap of one second will no longer count as a time gap; a rider must now be three seconds behind the one in front to lose time.
    • Riders will no longer be allowed to celebrate before they cross the finish line.
    19. There are no red cards in UCI regulations. However, if we equate a dismissal due to the imposition of yellow cards, as in soccer, the first player to be penalized was Oscar Riesebeek, who received two yellow cards during the Baloise Belgium Tour and was consequently excluded from the race.
    20. Yes. Unlike mechanical assistance, there is no specific prohibition on feeding from another team’s vehicle, as long as the other rules are respected.
    21. Although there was an Italian cyclist whose last name was Bini, I don’t think that’s the answer. I would name Bini the Bunny, a rabbit that was somewhat of an internet star.☺
    22. Arnaud De Lie and Isaac del Toro share a common theme with their main nicknames: they are both referred to as a “bull” in different languages. Isaac Del Toro: El Torito (The Little Bull) and Arnaud De Lie: Le Taureau de Lescheret (The Bull from Lescheret).
    23. Peter Sagan. He owns the Hotel SP Resort located in Závodie, just 2 km from the historic center of Žilina in Slovakia.
    24. Archery. Chavet started with World Archery in 2013, when there was the World Cup final in Paris.
    25. López has opened Carnicos Meat Bros (IG @carnicosmeatbros), a butcher shop in Sogamoso, Boyacá; also, he runs a sports clothing store: IG @sup3rlopezstore
    26. Tadej Pogačar
    27. The German Florian Lipowitz participating in the Biathlon Alpencup in Obertilliach in Österreich, on March 19, 2017.
    28. Romain Grégoire
    29. Paul Double
    30. Simone Consonni

  20. 1. To celebrate Merxes 80bd at LBL that he won 7 times. Also to honour Dag Otto Lauritzen – Norway’s first Tour de France stage win in 1987. And as a celebration of the strong partnership between Uno‑X and 7‑Eleven, both proudly part of the REITAN family.
    2. Mauro Schmid – swiss champion and Michael Storer on Paris-Nice stage 7
    3. Jonas Vingegaard and Lorena Wiebes
    4. Søren Wærenskjold – Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
    Rory Townsend – Hamburg Cyclassics
    Lotte Claes – Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
    Noemi Rüegg – tour down under
    Anne Knijnenburg – Tour of Chongming Island
    5. Ronde van Vlaanderen, 6h30min
    6. Lorena Wiebes
    7. Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec, Amstel Gold Race
    8. col de la Loze 2298m
    9. Cofidis
    10. 6,8kg
    11. 5 on jersey, 4 on shorts
    12. Orbea
    13. Movistar – Uno-X
    14. Jacques Anquetil
    15. 26 years Paris Roubaix no french winner
    16. Dylan van Baarle
    17. Tadej Pogačar – Medex
    18. No celebration by leadout riders before the finish line
    19. Juan Pedro Lopez – tour down under
    20. No – Rule §2.3.010
    21. Aldo Bini
    22. Arnaud – the bull of Wallonie, Toro – El torito
    Both share bull in their nicknames
    23. Peter Sagan
    24. World Archery events
    25. he opened a butcher shop in Sogamoso
    26. Tadej Pogačar
    27. Florian Lipowitz
    28. Romain Grégoire
    29. Paul Double
    30. simone consonni

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