Wait — isn’t there supposed to be a calm before the Tour de France storm? This has to be my biggest EuroTrash yet: Tadej Pogačar strolled through a shortened Tour de Suisse, raising as many questions about the race’s future as it answered about his form. The women’s edition, by contrast, was a five-day fight, settled only when Marlen Reusser defended on home roads. Jasper Philipsen earned overall honors at the Baloise Belgium Tour the hard way: winless through four stages before delivering when it counted. Florian Lipowitz ended a 711-day drought with two stage wins and the Tour of Slovenia overall. Tom Pidcock won in Andorra. And in Charleston, Quinn Simmons made it three straight US national titles while Kate Courtney crashed the roadies’ party entirely. Phew!
TOP STORY
- A Shorter Stage Race? No Problem for Pogačar…but Still a Problem for the Tour de Suisse (and Cycling)
RACE NEWS
- Reusser Reigns in Switzerland (and the Women’s Race Delivers What the Men’s Didn’t)
- Stars, Stripes, and Surprises in Charleston
- Philipsen Earns Overall Victory the Hard Way at Baloise Belgium
- Lipowitz Makes His Statement in Slovenia
- Pidcock’s Pyrenean Statement
- National Champions Slated for 2026 Lloyds National British Road Championships
TEAM, RIDER AND CYCLING NEWS
- Frightening Crash Ends Žigart’s Tour de Suisse
- L’Etape du Tour: The Everyperson’s Chance to Ride a Tour de France Stage
- Tour de France Renews Partnership with Qhubeka Charity for 2026
- Sarah Ruggins Shatters End-to-End Europe Record — For Any Gender
A Shorter Stage Race? No Problem for Pogačar…but Still a Problem for the Tour de Suisse (and Cycling)
The Tour de Suisse made a bold bet this year: Shorten the race from eight days to five, tighten the format, inject some innovation, and maybe, just maybe, attract the kind of field that would produce real drama.
Budgets in tier-two European races are no longer what they once were (not to mention those elsewhere; it wasn’t long ago that we were suggesting that the now-defunct Tour of California would one day rival the Giro). This was evident earlier in the season at the Tour de Romandie, where racing went ahead despite financial losses. The shortened Suisse format was the organizers’ answer: leaner, punchier, more marketable.
Then Tadej Pogačar showed up, and the experiment lasted approximately one climb.
On stage 1, with 71.5 kilometers still to go, Pogačar simply rode off the front of the peloton. None of his potential challengers even attempted to follow. He looked genuinely surprised to find himself alone. By the finish, the race was over in everything but paperwork. Three stage wins, a final margin of 6:32 over Richard Carapaz — a fine rider, but emphatically not the caliber of rival Pogačar faces in July. Vingegaard, Seixas, the true GC threats? Off elsewhere, racing their own programs, building toward the Tour de France in their own manner.
The one genuine moment of tension arrived in the stage 4 time trial, where Mathieu van der Poel sat in the hot seat for a long, long time, only for Pogačar to pip him by 0.31 seconds. A flicker of competition, though most certainly not for the General Classification.
None of this is Pogačar’s fault. He races hard, he races to win, and he’s very, very good at it. But there’s a structural problem forming in the sport: top riders race less often and more selectively, the marquee fields concentrate at marquee events, and second-tier races face a choice between shortening their formats to attract stars or running full editions without them. Either way, the race loses, as does cycling.
My suggestion? Fewer races, especially those in what was once the off-season: early spring and late fall. Let the season proper start with Omloop, and end with Il Lombardia. Eliminate some smaller mid-season races to concentrate both sponsor dollars and racer quality. Otherwise we’re just going to lose more top-tier racers to training camps, and see more diluted competition.
GC Top Ten — Tour de Suisse, courtesy of Pro Cycling Stats
| # | Rider | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | POGAČAR Tadej | UAE Team Emirates – XRG | 15:08:43 |
| 2 | CARAPAZ Richard | EF Education – EasyPost | 6:32 |
| 3 | VACEK Mathias | Lidl – Trek | 6:53 |
| 4 | FOSS Tobias | Netcompany INEOS | 7:34 |
| 5 | VAN WILDER Ilan | Soudal Quick-Step | 7:51 |
| 6 | MCNULTY Brandon | UAE Team Emirates – XRG | 7:53 |
| 7 | RICCITELLO Matthew | Decathlon CMA CGM Team | 8:48 |
| 8 | ROGLIČ Primož | Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe | 9:23 |
| 9 | HIGUITA Sergio | XDS Astana Team | 9:26 |
| 10 | LEMMEN Bart | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | 9:44 |
RACE NEWS
Reusser Reigns in Switzerland (and the Women’s Race Delivers What the Men’s Didn’t)
While the men’s Tour de Suisse unfolded as a Pogačar coronation from the opening climb, the women’s edition spent five days producing exactly the kind of racing we fans hope for: Drama, mistakes, lead changes, a ten-second margin going into the final stage — and a Swiss world champion defending on home roads. Great stuff! (Though a logistical hiccup made for a slightly embittered result.)
Stage 1 opened with a breakaway on the Triangia, where Femke de Vries and Lauren Dickson escaped on the descent and battled to the line, de Vries narrowly winning the sprint to claim her first professional victory. A fairytale opener — and the race had only just started warming up.
Stage 2 into Locarno saw Elisa Longo Borghini go solo on the final climb to take the win and the yellow jersey, helped considerably by Marlen Reusser and Kasia Niewiadoma missing a turn in the chase and losing valuable time; it was the second significant logistical hiccup this season, reminiscent of the missed turn at Strade Bianche. Stage 3, meanwhile, went to Zoe Bäckstedt with a scorching long-range sprint in Bad Ragaz.
Then came the pivot. On stage 4, world champion Reusser stormed to victory in the Aarburg time trial and took the yellow jersey in the process. She began the queen stage with just ten seconds over Longo Borghini, a margin that forced the Italian to attack in the mountains to reclaim the lead.
She tried. It wasn’t enough. On the Col de la Croix — 19 kilometres at seven percent, climbed twice — Reusser rode away with a quartet that steadily extended its lead, and by the time Longo Borghini lost contact with seven kilometers remaining, the overall was settled.
Reusser took the stage and secured her third home GC victory, with Cédrine Kerbaol second overall and Niewiadoma-Phinney third. The men’s race was a formality. This one was a fight from start to finish (which is precisely why women’s racing deserves more of your attention).
GC Top Ten — Tour de Suisse Women, courtesy of Pro Cycling Stats
Stars, Stripes, and Surprises in Charleston
You asked yourself: Charleston, West Virginia to host the USA Pro Road National Championships? Well I’ve been to Charleston — on a couple of business trips — and as I jogged around the city, all I could think was, This would be a great site for a bike race.
That was 2021, just emerging from the pandemic. It’s 2026, and here we are: celebrating a successful long weekend of racing, including two very different road champs.
On the men’s side, Quinn Simmons has become as close to a lock as we see in bike racing (except, um, for Tadej Pogačar). For awhile in this year’s version fellow World Tour warrior Kevin Vermaerke seemed up to the fight, but on the penultimate lap up the Wertz climb (the road I jogged up and considered how perfect it would be for a race-winning attack — really!) Simmons launched his move and simply rode away from a seven-rider lead group. He crossed the line solo with a two-minute advantage; no shrinking violet, the flame-coiffed and -bearded Simmons fired off three imaginary pistol rounds and raised three fingers to mark his third straight national title. Behind him, Vermaerke edged Larry Warbasse in the sprint for silver. “I knew as long as I could make it to the point where everyone else was tired, there was a good chance I could get away,” Simmons said. “I’m happy to be flying the flag all of July again.” The guy clearly relishes wearing the Stars and Stripes during the Tour de France — enough that he’s willing to fly back and forth between Europe and the U.S. to earn it.
The women’s race was a different story entirely. Kate Courtney — whom I remember from my kids’ days in the NorCal Mountain Bike League, from which she’d recently emerged — has clearly, successfully made the leap to the road. She initially tested the field on lap four’s Bridge Road climb, establishing a chase group of five that spent the rest of the race clawing back a solo leader Paige Onweller When the move came, it came from Courtney: she sprinted clear of road veteran Lauren Stephens with 700 meters to go, with Grace Arlandson rounding out the podium.
“I am new to the game, so I had to be both smart and strong,” Courtney said, crediting Skratch Labs founder Dr. Allen Lim and director Rachel Hedderman for helping navigate road racing tactics she was still learning. The experiment, it’s fair to say, is going extremely well. Earlier this spring she won a stage at the Tour de Feminin in the Czech Republic. Now she’s a national champion. She’s said her goal is to vie for a medal at the L.A. Olympic Road Race in 2028. I say: Bring it on!
Philipsen Earns Overall Victory the Hard Way at Baloise Belgium
If Jasper Philipsen needed a confidence boost heading into the Tour de France, five days of racing in his Belgian backyard have delivered it…though not without making him sweat for it.
The 95th edition of the Baloise Belgium Tour assembled a world-class sprint field, with Philipsen joined by Tim Merlier, Olav Kooij, and Biniam Girmay all sharpening their Tour de France form on familiar roads. The race dropped the traditional individual time trial this year, making bonus seconds and survival in the hills the deciding factors — a format that would test a pure sprinter’s nerve all week long.
It started badly enough; early on it was looking like the week might be a disaster for Jasper: Girmay took the opener in Scherpenheuvel-Zichem, then Merlier claimed stage 2 and the race lead in Knokke-Heist. Philipsen was the fastest man in both finishes who didn’t win, a maddening position for a rider of his calibre. Then came the Durbuy queen stage, and Alex Aranburu seized it with a commanding climb of the Mur de Durbuy, taking the overall lead in the process. Stage 4 into Aarschot went to Kooij in a blanket sprint, with Philipsen again having to settle for third.
Through four stages, the Belgian hadn’t won a thing. He’d placed in nearly everything, but on his own roads, in front of his own people, the stage victories kept slipping away.
Going into the final stage, Philipsen sat just two seconds behind Aranburu in the GC, and the finale around Hoeilaart suited him perfectly. When it mattered most, he delivered, taking the stage and the overall in one move. A GC win for a sprinter: always a notable result.
For the rider who owns the Green Jersey conversation more than anyone of his generation, this is exactly the form statement the Tour de France needs. The sprint train is loaded. The legs are there. July can’t come soon enough.
Top Ten — Baloise Belgium Tour, courtesy of Pro Cycling Stats
Lipowitz Makes His Statement in Slovenia
We’ve seen nearly every GC contender make a statement leading into the Tour de France: Tadej’s made a few statements, including last week’s Tour de Suisse; Jonas made his at the Giro. Del Toro’s was emphatic at the Dauphiné. Seixas’ mad post-crash chase could even be seen as a different kind of statement. And now we’ve heard from last year’s third podium finisher, Florian Lipowitz.
The Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe climber arrived in Slovenia with a point to prove: his last victory had come 711 days prior, a drought that felt increasingly conspicuous for a rider of his caliber. He leaves with two stage wins, the overall title, and a pre-Tour confidence injection that couldn’t have been better timed.
Red Bull controlled the race from the gun. Laurence Pithie handled the sprint stages early on, keeping the jersey in-house while the climbers waited for their moment. That moment arrived on the queen stage — 183 kilometers from Kranj to Kranjska Gora, finishing atop the Vršič Pass, a brute of an HC climb at 12.6% average. Lipowitz and Pellizzari rode clear together, crossing the line hand-in-hand for a Red Bull 1-2, with Jakob Omrzel finishing 1:26 back.
The final stage was supposed to be a formality. Fausto Masnada had other ideas, jumping in the break, collecting bonus seconds and briefly moving into the virtual race lead, forcing Red Bull to chase on a day they’d have preferred to manage. They managed it anyway. On the Trska Gora — ten kilometres from the finish — Lipowitz attacked, took the remaining mountain points, and rode clear to solo into Novo mesto alone. Pellizzari finished second overall, Omrzel third.
Last July, Lipowitz stood on the Tour de France podium looking like a rider still finding his ceiling. It seems unlikely that he’ll emerge any higher on that podium this year — but after this week, it seems a bit more possible.
GC Top Ten — Tour of Slovenia, courtesy of Pro Cycling Stats
Pidcock’s Pyrenean Statement
Tom Pidcock has been doing things his own way in 2026, and Sunday’s win at the Andorra MoraBanc Clàssica suggests it might just be working. Racing on what he calls his adopted home roads, the Pinarello Q36.5 man outsprinted Carlos Verona and Sepp Kuss atop the Coll de la Botella to take one of his most significant road victories since joining the Swiss squad.
It’s been a characteristically unconventional build-up to July. A knee injury sustained in a scary crash at the Volta a Catalunya disrupted his spring campaign, though he still managed wins at Milano-Torino and the Tour of the Alps. Then, rather than plugging away on the tarmac, Pidcock did what Pidcock does: he went mountain biking. At Nové Město in late May, he claimed his fifth career XCO win at the Czech venue, matching Nino Schurter’s record of victories on the same course. It was far from comfortable, as Luca Martin pushed him to the limit throughout, closing to within 10 seconds with two laps remaining, but Pidcock held on. “That was probably my hardest win here,” he admitted afterward.
A mild viral infection then forced him to skip the Tour de Suisse, sending him back to the Andorran hills to train before today’s one-day hit-out. The course, at 125 kilometers, over 4,000 meters of climbing, and finishing atop the Coll de la Botella, promised fireworks, and it delivered: An elite group emerged on the final slopes, with Sepp Kuss initially seeming untouchable. But, cooperating with his teammate Chris Harper, Pidcock clawed his way back, and outsprinted Carlos Verona for the victory.
Is he Tour-ready? It depends, I suppose, on his expectations. With racers scattered among a wide range of events (including training camps), the competition in Andorra was watered down; while we once talked of Pidcock as a true GC threat, any forecasts placing him in the ranks of Pogačar, Vingegaard, and even Seixas seem lofty and unlikely. Still, Pidcock is an exciting and unpredictable rider; I bet we see something surprising from him somewhere during the Tour.
Top Ten — Andorra MoraBanc Clàssica, courtesy of Pro Cycling Stats
National Champions Slated for 2026 Lloyds National British Road Championships
Sixteen previously crowned elite national champions on the road are among the ones to watch at the start line for the 2026 Lloyds National Road Championships, which start June 25 in Wales.
Hometown favorite Zoe Backstedt (CANYON // SRAM Zondacrypto) will return, after taking home the striped jersey in the elite women’s time-trial last year, as well as an impressive sixth in the elite women’s road race.
Millie Couzens (Fenix-Premier Tech) will defend her women’s road race crown. She will face stiff competition in a strong field, including three-time road national champion Pfeiffer Georgi (Team Picnic PostNL), Morven Yeoman (DAS-Hutchinson), Imogen Wolff (Team Visma | Lease a Bike), Cat Ferguson (Movistar Team), Anna Henderson (Lidl – Trek) and Flora Perkins (Fenix-Premier Tech).
Sam Watson (NetCompany Ineos) will look to defend his title in the men’s road race but will face a stacked field, including Adam Howell (Bourg-en-Bresse Ain Cyclisme), former national champ Ben Swift (NetCompany Ineos), reigning under 23 national champion Matthew Brennan (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) and Ethan Hayter (Soudal Quick-Step).
Cyclocross star Cameron Mason (Alpecin-Premier Tech Development Team) will return to Aberystwyth to defend his open circuit championship crown, while Kate Richardson (Handsling Alba Development Road Team) will also return as defending champ among the women.
To discover the routes of all three stages of this year’s Lloyds National Road Championships in more detail, and more information about the race, host venues, and participating teams, please click here.
TEAM, RIDER AND CYCLING NEWS
Frightening Crash Ends Žigart’s Tour de Suisse
A brutal moment unfolded at the end of Stage 2 of the Tour de Suisse Women when Urška Žigart went down hard in the finale. The AG Insurance–Soudal rider lost both hands off the bars after hitting a speed bump in the final kilometer, bringing down several other riders in the process.
According to her team, Žigart was treated by race medical staff at the scene before being transported to hospital for further assessment. After a series of examinations, she was diagnosed with a fractured jaw, with no other injuries detected. It was, as one observer put it, as frightening as crashes come — and the road furniture responsible for triggering it immediately drew sharp criticism from within the peloton.
The crash occurred out of view of television cameras, with local reports indicating at least four riders were caught up in the fall near the start of the final kilometre. Žigart had been riding in a chasing group at the time, having dropped off the lead group on the day’s climbs.
After the incident, she was seen talking on the phone, apparently with fiancé Tadej Pogačar, who confirmed he would continue in the men’s race, with UAE Emirates-XRG stating the team’s primary focus remained on her health and well-being.
The team’s medical staff are now evaluating the best course of treatment. A full recovery timeline has yet to be announced.
L’Etape du Tour: The Everyperson’s Chance to Ride a Tour de France Stage
Ever dream of riding a stage of the Tour de France?
If that stage went over the Col de la Croix de Fer, Col du Télégraphe, Col du Galibier and Alpe d’Huez, would you be more or less interested in riding that stage?
This year’s Etape du Tour de France will mimic the beastly Stage 20 of this year’s Tour. 16,000 amateur riders will take on the challenge, hailing from 79 different countries.
To learn more, check out the Etape website; it’s still possible to register, though you’ll need to jump through a hoop or two. And for the full array of facts and figures about ‘lEtape, you can view the full fact sheet here.
I know I’d love to give it a shot. Message me if you’re interested in registering for 2027!
Tour de France Renews Partnership with Qhubeka Charity for 2026
The Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift have announced the continuation of their long-standing partnership with Qhubeka, the African bicycle charity, ahead of this summer’s races.
Now in its eighth year with the men’s race and fourth with the women’s edition, the partnership has already put more than 2,500 bicycles into the hands of schoolchildren across southern Africa. The programme connects to the Tour’s broader “A Bicycle for All” initiative, which works to increase cycling access for pupils across France while supporting Qhubeka’s Scholar Mobility programme internationally.
The announcement coincides with the designation of Stage Fourteen (18 July) as “Qhubeka Day,” one month from today. The stage, departing from Mulhouse — a certified Cycle City of the Tour de France — will be dedicated entirely to celebrating the charity’s work.
A highlight of the day will be Qhubeka founder Anthony Fitzhenry unveiling a new bicycle model years in the making. Designed in Africa specifically for African conditions, the bicycle prioritises durability and near-zero maintenance.
Fitzhenry credited the partnership with delivering measurable improvements in school attendance and academic performance, affirming that the bicycle remains a genuine vehicle for social change.
Sarah Ruggins Shatters End-to-End Europe Record — For Any Gender
British cyclist Dr Sarah Ruggins has broken the outright world record for cycling the length of mainland Europe, completing the 6,000-kilometer route from Tarifa, Spain to Nordkapp, Norway in 13 days, 20 hours and 27 minutes.
The Cirencester-based rider beat the previous outright record — set by Dr Ian Walker in 2019 — by more than three days, finishing at mainland Europe’s northernmost point on Friday, June 19. Her journey crossed nine countries and accumulated approximately 30,000 meters of climbing, with daily efforts of up to 22 hours in the saddle, roughly 11,000 calories consumed, and just three hours of sleep. Temperatures ranged from 35°C in southern Spain to below freezing in the Arctic Circle.
En route, Ruggins also set a new women’s world record for the greatest distance cycled in seven days, covering 3,364.08 km to surpass the previous mark of 3,258.38 km set by Alexandra Meixner in 2021.
It is her second outright world record. In May 2025 she set the fastest time for the John o’ Groats–Land’s End–John o’ Groats route, making her one of very few women to hold an endurance record previously set by a man. She now holds two.
What makes Ruggins’ story remarkable extends beyond the numbers. As a teenager she developed a rare neurological disease that left her unable to use her limbs. She only began cycling in 2023.
“To me, this record proves that women can compete alongside men at the elite level,” she said, “and I hope it’s a powerful statement to every woman who wants to try.”
PEZ VIDEO
PEZ SEz: Descending Santa Rosa Road at Nova Eroica California on Campagnolo Levante gravel wheels – One of my first full length ride videos testing a new GoPro. If you have nothing better to do for 45 minutes – then check this out…
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