Jonas Vingegaard is the leading pick and today it feels like misfortune may be a greater threat to his chances of winning overall than any rival rider.
Plenty can come unstuck in the next three weeks and if it’s easy to imagine the winner, it’s harder to cite the names alongside him on podium in Rome so here’s a look at Vingegaard’s mission and the other contenders.
With the Giro d’Italia about to approach, a quick look at the team standings. There’s the three year promotion and relegation cycle far away on the horizon but also the one year rankings and based on these right now Bardiani-CSF could be starting their final Giro on Friday.
Paul Seixas is going to the Tour de France. The decision was taken last week and shared today. It always seemed likely but question of his participation as an ongoing story shows how he’ll face a lot of attention.
Here’s the 2026 Giro d’Italia guide. You’ll find all the stage profiles together on one page, along with a concise preview of each day as well as explainers on the rules for the mountains and points competitions; TV guide and more.
You can find this page during May at inrng.com/giro or via the menu at the top of the page.
How dependent is pro cycling on oil? The high price today ($125 a barrel) has repercussions for team budgets set last autumn.
Tadej Pogačar and Paul Seixas crest the climb of La Redoute together, the rest of the field trailing. Their teams had chased down a big breakaway and this climb was going to be the strategic point of the day as it has been in recent years. Unlike the last two editions, Pogačar this time found his match here as Seixas dared to follow and then matched him. But for the 19 year old Frenchman can do, he can’t bluff and hide the pain, it cost him to match the world champion and 20km later Pogačar would go solo for the win.
The curtain comes down on a thrilling classics season this Sunday. Liège-Bastogne-Liège is unlikely to see action from start to finish and if it did you couldn’t see it as it’s not live from start to finish either. But the final hour promises a lively battle with Pogačar facing a challenge from Remco Evenepoel and Paul Seixas and with this the hierarchy of world cycling is on the line in Liège. Possibly.
Every year riders say they want to target the Ardennes races, this period of racing in late April with hilly races in Belgium and beyond. It’s a trap.
Remco Evenepoel accelerates up the Cauberg. Both he and Mattias Skjelmose are looking at the road ahead but Romain Grégoire is fixated on the two riders in front of him as he is about to be dropped. With Evenepoel able to ditch the Frenchman finisseur here, all that would be left would be to out-sprint Skjelmose and this time there was no surprise. This was the moment the race was won.
An open race with Remco Evenepoel as the lone representative of the Unbeatables, can he take on the field and win? The Amstel marks an interlude between Sunday Monuments but makes for a fun race because it is so tricky and technical, as Tadej Pogačar discovered to his peril last year.