In this cycling news roundup: a handy pronunciation guide for the Tour de France’s likely big-three — Vingegaard, Pogačar, and rising star Paul Seixas — arrives just in time for July. Laurence Pithie claimed overall victory at the Four Days of Dunkirk, while Tom Pidcock extended his MTB dominance with a fifth straight World Cup win in Nové Město. Yara Kastelijn took the Vuelta a Burgos Femenina overall, and the Lidl Deutschland Tour announced its 2026 route. Meanwhile, the Giro d’Italia was overtaken by its strangest controversy yet: “Pee-Gate,” with Victor Campenaerts at the center of a very unsavory bidon story.
TOP STORY
- The PEZ Guide to Pronouncing the Big Three
RACE NEWS
- Pithie Lives Up to his Billing at Four Days of Dunkirk
- Pidcock Earns a Win — in a Mountain Bike Race
- Kastelijn Crowns Herself Queen of Burgos
- Germany’s Premier Cycling Race Returns in 2026
- “Pee-Gate”: The Controversy Soaking the 2026 Giro d’Italia
TEAM, RIDER AND CYCLING NEWS
- UCI Launches Global Talent Development Program for Emerging Cycling Nations
- EF Pro Cycling Integrates Real-Time Core Temperature Monitoring
VIDEO
- Fidlock Bike Fastener Tech at Sea Otter
The PEZ Guide to Pronouncing the Big Three
It’s starting to appear quite likely that we’ll have three names repeatedly on our lips this July — three names that many of us English speakers don’t easily pronounce correctly.
I’ve done the hard work of figuring this out so that you don’t have to — and to save you the embarrassment of mispronunciation at your Bastille Day barbecues.
(I’m not suggesting that “Wout van Aert” is one of those names, though I will take this moment to correct a beloved-but-often-mispronouncing commentator: It’s not “Vout”; he’s a Belgian bike racer, not a Transylvanian vampire.)
Here, then, is the Pez pronunciation guide, in reverse order of how often we’re likely to say their names come Tour time.
Jonas Vingegaard: It’s “”YO-nuss VIN-guh-gawwww”.
Most everyone, even Weezer fans, manage to say “Jonas” right. The last name is the tricky one. Notwithstanding the pronunciation of same-said commentator, or an American former racer, it most certainly doesn’t rhyme with “indigo.” The trick is to swallow the last syllable, just like a woman on a train in Copenhagen taught me (true story). “VIN-guh-gawww.”
Paul Seixas: “Pohl SEHK-sahs.”
If we’re being strict, one should really Frenchify his first name as “Pohl,” not an Amerenglish “Pahl.” But again, it’s the last name that trips many of us up. I was thinking “SAY-shahs” — but I was thinking wrong. Turns out it’s “SEHK-sahs.” Yes, that makes it likely that before long, he’ll have a nickname along the lines of “Sexy Paul.” So be it.
Tadej Pogačar: “tuh-day poh-GAH-cha(r)”
We learned in last year’s interview with Peter Attia — back when we used to cite anything related to Peter Attia — that his first name is closer to a casual “today,” than “TAH-day.” Then: It’s very much not “POH-guh-char”. The emphasis is on the second syllable: “poh-GAH-char,” with the “r” barely pronounced, even slightly rolled.
Finally, a disclaimer: I’m no linguist, and I’m neither Danish, nor French, nor Slovenian; I’m just a guy, sitting in front of a computer, hoping to save my fellow English-speaking cycling fans from shame.
With that, back to the Giro — though I’m afraid there’s really no need to learn any names from that race but “Jonas Vingegaard.”
RACE NEWS
Pithie Lives Up to his Billing at Four Days of Dunkirk
A couple of years ago I started hearing about this young strongman-style sprinter named Laurence Pithie. He was going to tear it up, Wout-style.
Since then, we’ve heard…little from Laurence. Until this week.
He showed his mettle and lived up to his billing up in the Hauts-de-France, where the roads are flat, the winds are mean, and the cobbles bite back, at the 2026 Four Days of Dunkirk. The still-young Kiwi of Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe took the pink jersey on Stage 1 and never let go, wrapping up his first professional stage race victory.
The race had everything a true fan of the northern classics school could ask for. Pithie — who did win another race recently, albeit a lesser one, Rund um Köln — took Stage 1 in an uphill sprint. Stage 2 was a different story — a five-man break caught the sprinters’ teams napping, with 25-year-old Victor Papon of Nice Métropole Côte d’Azur outsprinting his companions to claim a maiden professional win. The kid from Nice had been in the move since kilometer 13 — cheeky, committed, and deserving every second of it.
Then came the cobbles. Stage 3 hit the Paris-Roubaix pavé at Arenberg, and it was Norway’s Rasmus Tiller (Uno-X Mobility) who rode clear of the select group in the final kilometer to take the stage honors, with Pithie showing his cobbled classics pedigree by finishing second.
On the final day into Dunkerque itself, Red Bull–BORA bookended the race perfectly — Jordi Meeus took the stage sprint ahead of teammate Danny van Poppel, while Pithie survived a crash and a mechanical to seal the overall.
Dunkirk 2026: a proper race for proper bike racers. Chapeau, Laurence.
Top Ten — 70th 4 Jours de Dunkerque, courtesty of Pro Cycling Stats
Pidcock Earns a Win — in a Mountain Bike Race
Mountain Bike content in Pez? Sure — when it’s a roadie crossover story.
One does get the sense that Tom Pidcock would just as soon stick to the dirt: While he’s ridden to several solid results over the last year, including a very strong showing at last year’s Vuelta, he’s been nowhere near as successful on his road bike as on his mountain bike: Sunday the Brit won the Cross-Country World Cup in Nové Město na Moravě, Czech Republic, for the fifth time in his career, pulling away from his competitors on the second lap and then soloing to victory, ahead of Luca Martin and Filippo Colombo.
The race in Nové Město na Moravě, is the second round of the World Cup, and a household name in mountain biking. The first edition of this race was in 2009, and just two years later it was already part of the World Cup. The riders trace a beautiful course lies through the Czech forests — Pidcock doing so faster than anyone for the last five editions. Those five straight wins equal legend Nino Schurter’s record .
Pidcock started modestly, as French stars Mathis Azzaro and Luca Martin traded race leads, but on the second lap the Olympic champ unleashed a decisive attack. After three laps, the lead over first pursuer Martin had already grown to around twenty seconds.
The Frenchman remained dogged and kept Pidcock within sight, but ultimately fell short. He soloed to another victory in Nové Město na Moravě, ahead of Martin and Colombo, who rode to third place.
Rumor has it that Mathieu van der Poel has been chomping at the bit to put his wheel on the line of a mountain bike race again this season, but for now, crossing over remains the province of Tom Pidcock.
Kastelijn Crowns Herself Queen of Burgos
The 2026 Vuelta a Burgos Femenina delivered a thrilling conclusion to the eleventh edition of the race, with Dutch climber Yara Kastelijn of Fenix-Premier Tech claiming a memorable overall victory in the Spanish province of Burgos.
The four-day WorldTour stage race was decided on the brutal final climb of Lagunas de Neila, where Kastelijn escaped a group of GC contenders alongside Évita Muzic of FDJ United-SUEZ. The two riders forged clear together, but Kastelijn then attacked 1.3km from the finish to leave Muzic behind, soloing to victory atop the iconic summit.
The final general classification saw Kastelijn take the win in a time of 13:20:14, with Muzic finishing second at 16 seconds and Spain’s Usoa Ostolaza of Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi third at 24 seconds. Kastelijn also took the mountains classification, underscoring her dominance across the race’s hardest terrain.
The victory was a landmark moment for the 27-year-old. It was her first overall win in a UCI Women’s WorldTour stage race, the culmination of years of consistency at the top level. After the finish, Kastelijn said, “I just kept believing” — a fitting motto for a rider who had long shown the potential to win at this level.
The 2026 edition marked a return to the iconic Lagunas de Neila summit finish, a favourite of the race’s earlier years, delivering the high-mountain drama that has made the Vuelta a Burgos Femenina one of women’s cycling’s most cherished spring races.
Germany’s Premier Cycling Race Returns in 2026
The Lidl Deutschland Tour is back, running from 19–23 August 2026 across five thrilling stages through some of Germany’s most scenic regions.
The race opens with a short, technical prologue in the Hessian spa town of Bad Orb, designed to shake up the general classification from the very first day. Stage one then covers 216 kilometres to Schwäbisch Hall — the longest of the tour and its debut as a host town — featuring 3,000 metres of climbing through the Spessart.
Stage two heads westward to Offenbach an der Queich through charming wine country, with a flatter second half expected to set up a bunch sprint. The queen stage on 22 August tackles another 3,000 metres of climbing through the Palatinate Forest, highlighted by a double ascent of the iconic Kalmit, before finishing in Bad Dürkheim.
The race concludes in Heilbronn — a first in tour history — with a compact 156-kilometre circuit featuring steep climbs and multiple fan-friendly laps through the Stromberg-Heuchelberg Nature Park.
Sporting director Fabian Wegmann promises a race for every type of rider: “I expect the race to remain wide open right up until the final day.”
“Pee-Gate”: The Controversy Soaking the 2026 Giro d’Italia
Professional cycling has seen its share of scandals, but the 2026 Giro d’Italia has produced one of the most peculiar in memory — a controversy now dubbed “Pee-Gate.”
After Stage 9, race organizers issued a striking official statement warning riders that urinating into water bottles and discarding them on the roadside was strictly forbidden, citing respect for the image of cycling and the Giro d’Italia itself.
The bizarre workaround apparently emerged because several riders had already been fined for relieving themselves in view of spectators — a violation under UCI regulations. Seeking an alternative, some riders improvised with their bidons.
The concern wasn’t just aesthetic. Fans routinely chase down discarded water bottles as coveted souvenirs, meaning an unsuspecting spectator could receive a very unpleasant surprise.
Suspicion quickly fell on one rider. Belgian cyclists Oliver Naesen and Arjen Livyns both pointed the finger at Visma-Lease a Bike’s Victor Campenaerts as the likely culprit.
Campenaerts eventually confessed via video from the team bus, though he framed it as a considerate solution rather than an offensive one. He explained his reasoning was to avoid urinating on spectators or in someone’s front yard given the large crowds lining the roads.
Cycling, it seems, never stops surprising.
TEAM, RIDER AND CYCLING NEWS
UCI Launches Global Talent Development Program for Emerging Cycling Nations
The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and its UCI World Cycling Centre (WCC) have launched the UCI World Cycling Talent (UCI WCT) program, aimed at identifying and developing promising young cyclists from emerging cycling nations across Asia, Africa, Oceania, and the Americas.
The program builds on the UCI Africa 2025 initiative, which prepared African athletes for the 2025 UCI Road World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda, and expands that model globally. Phase 1 launched April 20, 2026, with 12 athletes from 11 countries — Afghanistan, Belize, Bolivia, Ecuador, Eritrea, India, Namibia, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Uganda, and the United Arab Emirates — currently training and racing in Brittany, France under UCI WCC colors.
Athletes in Phase 1 are based in Josselin, France through June 14, competing in regional races including the GP de Nantes, Tour de Loire-Atlantique, Tour des Mauges, and Essor Breton. A second phase runs July 11 to September 13, incorporating some returning athletes alongside new participants.
The program provides coaching, structured race schedules, and professional support infrastructure typically unavailable to riders from smaller cycling nations, with the goal of creating pathways to the professional ranks. UCI WCC Director Jacques Landry cited Eritrean rider Tsige Kyros’s top-10 finish in the junior women’s road race at the 2025 World Championships as evidence of the model’s effectiveness.
UCI President David Lappartient said the program is intended to address the imbalance in development opportunities between established and emerging cycling nations.
EF Pro Cycling Integrates Real-Time Core Temperature Monitoring
EF Pro Cycling has added real-time thermal monitoring to its race-day performance framework through the CORE Thermal Sensor, which tracks riders’ internal body temperature continuously and non-invasively during competition and training.
Previously, staff relied on indirect indicators such as heart rate and power output to assess heat strain. The CORE sensor provides direct measurement of core temperature, enabling the team to identify riders under excessive thermal load earlier and adjust cooling and hydration strategies accordingly.
Performance Director Nate Wilson noted that the key shift lies in how the data is operationalized — integrated alongside traditional metrics to inform real-time decisions rather than used in isolation. The team is also applying individual thermal response profiles to personalize heat preparation protocols, given that athletes adapt to heat differently under identical conditions.
CORE’s Endurance Performance Lead Aline Barre noted that prior to the sensor, continuous non-invasive core temperature measurement was not available to teams, limiting the ability to move beyond generalized heat training or cooling prescriptions.
EF Pro Cycling links CORE data with environmental and race execution metrics as part of a broader performance system.
PEZ VIDEO
Richard and I checked out a lot of cool new tech at Sea Otter last month. Here’s something downright groundbreaking: Fidlock’s magnetic-mechanical fastening systems.
Gotta Comment, thought or suggestion? Drop us a line at Content@PezCyclingNews.com
The post EUROTRASH: PEZ Helps You Pronounce the Big Three appeared first on PezCycling News.
