It’s Tour time, baby! Pez prognosticates that the most important stage in this Grand Boucle may well be the very first one, the team time trial in Barcelona — so Mike devotes much of this edition of EuroTrash to its novel format, the backdrop, and of course the contenders. It’s an almost all-Tour Eurotrash, harking back to 1986, when LeMond beat an insufferable Hinault, and looking ahead to this year’s Official Bike of the Tour. TDU sneaks in, as well as some Canadian racing, and…a Ride of the Week on trails? In July — in Pez, home to “What’s cool in road cycling”? You be you, Mike…

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TOP STORY

• Tour Time: Barcelona’s TTT Throwdown Kicks Off Tour de France 113

RACE NEWS

• The Tour’s Sixth Sense: LeMond & Hinault in 1986
• Barcelona Waited 123 Years For This
• Bianchi Releases First Official Tour de France Bike
• 2027 Santos Tour Down Under: A Three-Day Sprint to the Finish — And a World First for the Women

TEAM, RIDER AND CYCLING NEWS

• UCI Publishes 2025 Annual Report
• Coles-Lyster Completes Comeback With Second Canadian Title
• Tick Tock: Pro Cycling’s Very Expensive Wrist Game

MIKE’S RIDE OF THE WEEK: TUMALO FALLS

VIDEO

• Pez’s Top 3 Beers – Coming in at #1….

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Tour Time: Barcelona’s TTT Throwdown Kicks Off Tour de France 113

We’re nearly there: Independence Day in the U.S., which is celebrating its 250th birthday — and Incandescence Day in Barcelona as an innovative team time trial promises to set off fireworks on Stage One of the Tour de France (on its 113th birthday).

Spain’s only hosted a Grand Départ twice before (San Sebastián in ’92, Bilbao in 2023). The race sticks around Catalonia for three days before the peloton points itself at the Pyrenees. (After getting fully up to speed on Stage 1, be sure to check out Pez’ full Week 1 Preview.)

(h/t to our partners at WielerFlits for the deep-dive reporting that anchors this preview.)

The Course: Sagrada Família, Then Pain

Stage 1 rolls out from Parc del Fòrum on Barcelona’s north shore, sprints down to Port Olímpic, U-turns back along dead-straight roads, then threads into the city center past the Sagrada Família and Parc Joan Miró. Pretty!

Then it gets nasty — and fun. The final kilometers send the teams up Montjuïc (1.1km at 5.1%) via Plaça d’Espanya, cresting into an 800m wall at ~7% to the finish at the Olympic Stadium. Postcard start, brutal finish…peak ASO.

Stage 1 — Saturday, July 4 | Barcelona–Barcelona | 19.7km TTT | Start 17:05 local

New Format, New Chaos

Here’s the twist: this isn’t your grandfather’s team time trial. ASO has ditched the old rule where the time of the fourth (or fifth) finisher counts for the whole squad. Instead, every rider gets their own individual time.

Translation: if a GC leader’s still got snap in the final kilometer and rides away from his own teammates, he banks a margin on his own. Expect the unexpected, expect chaos, expect a dozen different approaches, most of them stark alternatives to the classic rotating-paceline strategy. I’m looking forward to the team that goes full-leadout train for its sprinter — who then launches its strongman into the final pitch. Philipsen-to-van der Poel, anyone?

Who Wins the Opening Statement?

Stage win and first yellow jersey are nice, sure, but the real story is what this TTT reveals about the GC armies before a single mountain stage. Here’s how the contenders stack up.

Visma | Lease a Bike — the Favorites(?)

Stacked with time trial horses and battle-tested cohesion, Visma might be the team to beat here. Jonas Vingegaard needs a clean getaway, and he’s got the engine room to deliver it: Matteo Jorgenson, Bruno Armirail (an absolute weapon in this format), Victor Campenaerts, Per Strand Hagenes, and a recovered Edoardo Affini.

Team Visma | Lease a Bike: Jonas Vingegaard, Matteo Jorgenson, Victor Campenaerts, Bruno Armirail, Sepp Kuss, Edoardo Affini, Per Strand Hagenes, Davide Piganzoli

The receipts back it up: Visma steamrolled the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes TTT even after losing van Aert early and despite a Ben Tulett puncture….But. But I’m not convinced. They’re down van Aert for the entire stage (and the entire Tour), and on a short, explosive climb, Jonas is no Tadej. Team strength notwithstanding, I’m with the oddsmakers on this one (see below).

UAE Team Emirates XRG — My Favorite

Here’s what I can’t wait to see: Tim Wellens, Brandon McNulty, Nils Politt and Florian Vermeersch teeing up Isaac del Toro, who…launches Tadej Pogačar? Or who fires the first bullet of this Tour, by way of declaring himself co-leader? Could we see the teammates squaring off, wheel-to-wheel up the final 800 meters?

I’ll make the popcorn! (No butter, sprinkled with Brewer’s Yeast.)

UAE Team Emirates XRG: Tadej Pogačar, Adam Yates, Nils Politt, Florian Vermeersch, Felix Großschartner, Brandon McNulty, Isaac Del Toro Romero, Tim Wellens

Alpecin-Premier Tech — My Sneaky Pick

This squad has nowhere near the depth that we see on Visma or UAE, but they do have firepower in Silvan Dillier, Edward Planckaert, and Emiel Verstrynge, and they have the fastest stage race sprinter in the world in Jasper Philipsen. Mathieu van der Poel showed real TT legs at the Tour de Suisse, losing to Pogačar by a single wheel revolution. Can he last the full, final 800 meters? That’s only about ⅓ of the Oude Kwaremont, and he’s done pretty well there.

Alpecin-Premier Tech: Ramses Debruyne, Silvan Dillier, Tim Marsman, Jasper Philipsen, Edward Planckaert, Mathieu van der Poel, Emiel Verstrynge

Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe

Remco Evenepoel, the best time trialist on the planet right now, leads a squad built to support him: co-leader Florian Lipowitz, Mattia Cattaneo, Jan Tratnik, Tim van Dijke, Maxim Van Gils. Same question here: will Remco and Lipo duke it out up the final climb?

Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe: Remco Evenepoel, Florian Lipowitz, Mattia Cattaneo, Nico Denz, Tim van Dijke, Jai Hindley, Jan Tratnik, Maxim Van Gils

Lidl-Trek

Not quite Tier 1, but still a TTT powerhouse: Mads Pedersen (former Danish TT champ), Mathias Vacek (riding the form of his life), an always-confident Quinn Simmons, and Derek Gee-West for extra muscle. Throw in GC men Juan Ayuso and Mattias Skjelmose and this is a stacked eight. The question, though: Who’s the finisher? I assume it’s Ayuso, who seems intent on playing the lead role, but Skjelmose might have something to say about that.

Lidl-Trek: Juan Ayuso Pesquera, Mads Pedersen, Mattias Skjelmose, Mathias Vacek, Quinn Simmons, Carlos Verona Quintanilla, Toms Skujins, Derek Gee-West

Netcompany INEOS

Arguably just as scary as Lidl-Trek on paper. Two-time TT world champ Filippo Ganna sets the tone, with Kévin Vauquelin, Dorian Godon, Thymen Arensman and the uber-experienced Michał Kwiatkowski all capable of moving the needle against the clock. But is that all to launch…Carlos Rodriguez, who’s been riding like a shadow of the guy who finished on the Tour podium?

Netcompany INEOS: Filippo Ganna, Carlos Rodríguez Cano, Michał Kwiatkowski, Thymen Arensman, Kévin Vauquelin, Dorian Godon

The Dark Horses

• Decathlon CMA CGM — prodigy Paul Seixas, TT cannons Daan Hoole and Stefan Bissegger, plus old reliable Tiesj Benoot. Don’t sleep on it.

• Soudal Quick-Step — no true TT specialist, but Ilan Van Wilder, Jasper Stuyven, and Dutch champ Dylan van Baarle are solid links in the chain.
• Jayco AlUla — historically strong in this discipline, with Luke Plapp, Michael Matthews, Mauro Schmid, and Ben O’Connor on the roster. This crew looks a notch below the big two (or three, or four…) this year, but TTT specialists have surprised before.
• Long shots worth a glance: EF Education-EasyPost (Ben Healy, Alex Baudin, Kasper Asgreen), Movistar (Raúl García Pierna, Pablo Castrillo, Cian Uijtdebroeks), Bahrain Victorious (Antonio Tiberi, Matej Mohorič).

Top 10 Overall Ranking Heading Into Barcelona

Stage Win Odds (Cyclingflash Predictions)

This isn’t investment/gambling advice but…I’m betting the long odds on MVDP.

Forecast

It’ll be warm in Barcelona (low 30s°C/high 80s°F) but after Europe’s heatwave, this will prove mercifully cool compared to the 40°C scorchers. Still, with just a light breeze in the forecast, the earlier teams may have a slight advantage.

Mike’s summary thoughts: ASO (Tour de France organizers) get a lot of grief, but their willingness to try new routes and rejigger rules keeps the Tour fresh. I believe this new format will be the spark that sets the 2026 on fire — but it could also lead to Pogačar wearing the Maillot Jaune for 21 straight stages. 

Still…I’m here for it. Pass the popcorn.

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RACE NEWS

 

Barcelona Waited 123 Years For This

The Tour de France doesn’t do subtle entrances, and Barcelona just proved it. Thursday evening’s team presentation happens next to the Sagrada Familia, finally finished this spring, Tower of Jesus and all, blessed by Pope Leo XIV three weeks ago. At 172.5 meters, Gaudi’s basilica sits just shy of Montjuïc’s summit on purpose. The man wanted man’s work below God’s. The Tour, apparently, agreed to play along.

Wednesday morning got heavier still: Cardinal Juan José Omella said Mass in the basilica’s crypt, where Gaudi himself is buried, calling cycling “a true lesson in humility” before entrusting the peloton’s health to a couple of Virgins. Not a bad send-off.

This is only the fourth time the Tour’s touched Barcelona, and the first Grand Départ. Christian Prudhomme calls it settling a historic debt, and the receipts back him up: René Privat won here in ’57, José Pérez Francés broke away for 200-plus kilometers in his hometown in ’65, Thor Hushovd beat two Spaniards in the rain in 2009. Now Montjuïc gets a team time trial and the first yellow jersey of 2026.

Two homegrown debutants carry the local flag: Abel Balderstone and Joel Nicolau, both Caja Rural-Seguros RGA lifers, both suddenly relevant after strong 2025s. Movistar, the grand old institution of Spanish cycling with 43 Tours and seven overall wins to its name, swapped its usual white for blue for the occasion, Sagrada Familia detailing included, and handed the ambition to Belgian debutant Cian Uijtdebroeks, who’s quietly eyeing a top 10.

Meanwhile, kids from five Catalan cycling clubs grilled Carlos Verona, Nicolau, and Marcel Camprubi at Palau Sant Jordi on sleep schedules and suffering. And Sergi Lopez-Egea, covering his 36th Tour, gets his tray for 35 editions served. Barcelona’s biggest sporting day since ’92, he says. Hard to argue.

 

The Tour’s Sixth Sense: LeMond & Hinault in 1986

For its 2026 version, the Tour de France is celebrating Grands Boucles in years that ended in “6”. The final one’s a classic: 1986, when Bernard Hinault “supported” Greg LeMond’s bid to become the first American winner. [Quotes are mine and intentional. —Mike]

 

Bianchi Releases First Official Tour de France Bike

The Tour de France has named its official bike, and it’s a bike from…Italy.

Not only that, but it’s not Celeste Green. It’s yellow — appropriately.

Granted, many a Tour icon has ridden a Bianchi, from Coppi and Gimondi to Pantani. These days one Tour team — Bahrain Victorious — pedals Bianchis.

To celebrate the collaboration, Bianchi has unveiled a highly limited-edition Tour de France version of its new Specialissima RC which “honours that epic history whilst continuing to push the boundaries of modern performance.”

Bianchi has produced just 113 individually numbered versions of the Specialissima, to commemorate the 113th edition of the race. Throughout the 2026 race, the official bike will be displayed prominently for fans and guests to enjoy every day at the official Tour de France start village and at Casa Bianchi (Corso Garibaldi 65, Milan).

While indeed predominantly jaune, the bike’s artwork integrates some pretty badass elements of the other jersey colors: green, polka-dot, and white (which was a little easier to include). An official Tour de France logo is emblazoned on the seat tube, while the down tube features individual numbering under the clear coat.

Given all that, the “suggested retail price” of €12,900 seems almost reasonable. It’s a beaut.

 

2027 Santos Tour Down Under: A Three-Day Sprint to the Finish — And a World First for the Women

For those who are looking beyond three weeks in July, to one in January…The Tour Down Under “summer” showcase returns January 16-24, and while the men once again get the full six-stage banquet, the real headline is the women’s race format — for the first time, they’ll share three full stages head-to-head with the men, on the same roads, same finish lines, same day.

The men roll out with the traditional buildup: Stage 1 from Henley Beach to Gumeracha (164.9km), Stage 2 out and back in Angaston through wine country (145.6km), and Stage 3 from Lobethal to Campbelltown (166.2km) — three days to sort the legs before things get serious.

That’s where the women join the party. From Stage 4 onward, both pelotons tackle identical courses, staggered by roughly 90 minutes:

• Race Day 4 – Fri 22 Jan: Glenelg to Victor Harbor, 144.7km. Men off at 10:40am, women at 12:10pm.
• Race Day 5 – Sat 23 Jan: Christies Beach to the Willunga Hill summit, 116.4km. The queen stage for both fields, men first up at 10:40am, women at 12:10pm.
• Race Day 6 – Sun 24 Jan: Norwood to Stirling, 136.2km, closing out the race for both categories on the same afternoon.

Willunga Hill remains the make-or-break climb it’s always been — now doing double duty as the decisive test for both the men’s and women’s GC battles on the same day, a first for the event and a genuinely novel wrinkle for a race that’s been running the same script for two decades.

Six stages for the men, three (longer, tougher) stages for the women sharing real estate with the dudes. Racing in January!

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TEAM, RIDER AND CYCLING NEWS

 

Another Blow to Visma as Kielich Suffers a New Fracture

Just when things were looking up, they’ve fallen apart again for Timo Kielich.

The 26-year-old Belgian crashed out of In Flanders Fields back in the spring with a broken collarbone, then turned his Giro d’Italia start into a genuine race against the clock. He made it — and made it count, grinding into crosswinds for kilometer after kilometer as one of Jonas Vingegaard’s key positioners en route to overall victory in Italy.

It looked like Kielich had finally turned the corner. He hasn’t.

A training crash last Saturday sent him down onto the same shoulder that had only just finished healing from that collarbone break. The diagnosis: a fresh fracture, this time even closer to where the old one had been.

Kielich broke the news himself on Instagram, calling it a “really unfortunate fall” and confirming he’s off the bike for at least two weeks before restarting his buildup.

It’s a frustrating setback for both rider and team — Visma | Lease a Bike loses a proven road captain just as the season hits its stride, and Kielich is left chasing form yet again instead of building on it.

 

UCI Publishes 2025 Annual Report

Just in time for the Tour de France, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) has released its 2025 Annual Report and financial statements, marking a year defined by the federation’s 125th anniversary.

The headline 2025 event was the UCI Road World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda — the first edition held on African soil — which drew massive crowds and global viewership. The UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Valais, Switzerland, also stood out, combining multiple disciplines across six venues ahead of the 2027 UCI Cycling World Championships in Haute-Savoie Mont-Blanc.

On safety, the UCI advanced its Agenda 2030 goals with new measures including a yellow card system for men’s and women’s road racing. On integrity, results management for anti-doping was shifted to the International Testing Agency. The World Cycling Centre also opened new development satellites in Rwanda and Malaysia.

Institutionally, David Lappartient was re-elected UCI President for a new four-year term, with Management Committee and commission renewals following.

Financially, the UCI posted a modest net loss of CHF 1.5 million — better than expected for a non-Olympic year — with reserves well above the federation’s minimum threshold.

Full report: uci.org

 

Coles-Lyster Completes Comeback With Second Canadian Title

Maggie Coles-Lyster sprinted to her second Canadian road race title in Saint-Georges, Quebec, capping a 107.6 km race defined by attacks, counter-attacks, and a tense uphill finish.

The 27-year-old Human Powered Health rider held position through a chaotic final lap before launching her sprint 250 meters from the line on a rising false flat, fending off the field to pull on the Maple Leaf jersey for the first time since 2022.

But the real story is the road that got her here. Last summer, Coles-Lyster faced surgery for flow limitation in the iliac artery (FLIA) — a condition that put her season, and her career trajectory, in real doubt. Since then, with support from her team’s staff and the Human Powered Health Performance Labs, she’s rebuilt steadily: a win at the Tour Down Under Women’s One Day Race, a stage podium at the Giro d’Italia Women, and now a national title that she calls a “full circle moment.”

The win arrived through smart positioning rather than raw firepower. With a breakaway of seven unable to fully cooperate, Coles-Lyster’s group reeled it back in, setting up a bunch sprint that favored her instincts. She stayed near the front through the late corners, watching for late attacks that never quite materialized, then made her move with conviction.

It’s a fitting result for a team with deep Canadian championship pedigree — Coles-Lyster now joins a list that includes Denise Ramsden, Joëlle Numainville, Leah Kirchmann, Allison Beveridge, and Katherine Maine. For her, wearing the colors again next season means even more after the year it took to get back.

 

Tick Tock: Pro Cycling’s Very Expensive Wrist Game

Heading into the Tour de France, there’s another competition brewing — not on the Pyrenean ascents or in the closing meters of sprint stages, but on…riders’ wrists.

Exhibit A: Over the last year, both Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogačar rolled up, to start lines sporting Richard Mille watches worth many a Colnago — and they wore them on the perilous terrain of Paris-Roubaix. 

The RM 67-02 Automatic Extra Flat boasts a footballer’s price, not a cyclist’s: somewhere between $300,000 and $500,000. Let’s hope these guys insure their timepieces: Pogačar’s already lost one to a hotel-room thief at Paris-Nice (never recovered, still out there ticking on someone else’s wrist), and Mark Cavendish had two lifted at knifepoint. We read these stories about a team’s fleet of bikes being pinched; seems a lot easier to snag a single watch, worth about the same.

Meanwhile, over in the “we’d rather sponsor the whole operation than just a wrist” camp, Tudor didn’t stop at putting its shield on jerseys. The brand backs Fabian Cancellara’s WorldTour team outright, and buried in the sponsor list sits the team car: Mercedes-Benz. So while MVDP and Pogi are out there individually endorsing timepieces mid-race, Tudor’s quietly ferrying its entire roster around Europe in German luxury sedans. Different flex, same instinct.

Now the kids are getting in on it too. Paul Seixas, all of 19 and already the most talked-about Frenchman in the sport since forever, has added Breitling to a résumé that already includes a Basque Country stage-race win, a Flèche Wallonne title, and Tour de France debutant status at the youngest age in nearly ninety years. Breitling chairman Georges Kern called him one of cycling’s greatest young talents on Instagram, which is the sort of praise usually reserved for riders with a few more Grand Tour starts to their name. Seixas, for his part, called it “an immense honor” to join the Breitling Squad: precision, adventure, all the usual watch-copy virtues, now attached to a teenager who hasn’t finished a Tour yet. 

 

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Which brings us to the notable holdout: Jonas Vingegaard. Here’s a man who’s beaten Pogačar at his own game more than once, currently hoping to do so again, and yet somehow rides around with nothing more ostentatious on his wrist than a bike computer. No Richard Mille, no Breitling, not even a modest Tissot cameo. For a rider dating his career to unassuming small-town Denmark and a diet of humility, it tracks, but surely some Swiss watchmaker is missing an opportunity here. But it likely doesn’t matter: Jonas just doesn’t seem like that kind of guy.

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MIKE’S RIDE OF THE WEEK: TUMALO FALLS

Posting an all-trails ROTW on the eve of the road cycling’s Super Bowl may seem like an odd decision, but this is a special ride, and it’s best taken in the early summer.

From home I rode to the Phil’s Trailhead, and then along some flowy trails…

up, up, up, past some stunning views…

…to Tumalo falls, which is actually a series of cascades taken by Tumalo Creek.

Up high the trail is more of a hiking trail, replete with rocks and roots — and hikers — which made for a hike-a-bike slog. But those views made it all worthwhile.

I’ll be back on the road for the next ROTW, but felt this one was worth sharing!

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PEZ VIDEO

• Pez’s Top 3 Beers – Coming in at #1….  That first beer you have at the airport on your way to Italy  (Stay tuned to all my Italy trip reels – or jump on over to the PEZ Instagram page to see /em now

 

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