General News Thread

[Berniece]

Teams for the AlUla Tour:

https://twitter.com/x/status/2008589866272256403

View: https://x.com/thealulatour/status/2008589866272256403


The route is pretty much the same as usual, just in a different order. So the upgrade to 1.Pro didn't really come with any changes.

Milan vs Merlier, a ProSeries clash of the titans - AlUla Tour 2026

The promotion of the AlUla Tour to ProSeries status, for the sixth edition of the event launched in 2020 under the name Saudi Tour, comes with the first partici

www.thealulatour.com

Edit: I of course didn't read the article I linked myself. They actually redesigned the mountain stage - so despite the same name, they now approach the final climb from the opposite site. Haven't seen a more detailed profile yet, but it should be much easier.

It's still very similar to previous years. 3 sprint stages, 1 slight uphill sprint, and a small mountain climb. They reordered it though. 2 sprints, uphill sprint, sprint and mountain.

 

[yaco]

The sprint battles will be tasty with merlier and Milan. Jayco will want to well in this race and I suspect Double will be their pea in the GC.

 

[search]

It's still very similar to previous years. 3 sprint stages, 1 slight uphill sprint, and a small mountain climb. They reordered it though. 2 sprints, uphill sprint, sprint and mountain.

yeah, but what you call an uphill sprint, last year was actually very steep

now they climb up the descent instead, which should be somewhere around a steady ~5%

 

[ingsve]

I just noticed that all of Visma has entered vocal pronunciations of their names on PCS:

Team Visma | Lease a Bike 2026

Team Visma | Lease a Bike 2026 is a cycling team from Netherlands. Their main riders are Wout van Aert, Jonas Vingegaard and Simon Yates.

www.procyclingstats.com

Except Matteo Jorgenson who did not take it seriously and completely butchered his own name in a recent video from the team.

 

[Berniece]

Route for Volta Comunitat Valenciana has been somewhat announced. Their website already has the videos of the stages but not proper profile images...

 

[Cycling111]

Less hard route than other years.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2010979311772123488

View: https://x.com/i/status/2010979311772123488

 

[Squire]

Less hard route than other years.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2010979311772123488

View: https://x.com/i/status/2010979311772123488

GC Mads, or are those climbs at the end of stage 4 steep?

 

[Berniece]

GC Mads, or are those climbs at the end of stage 4 steep?

They are steep. Sections of 22%

 

[Netserk]

With the distances mentioned, it also changes the route from Taaienberg to the finish, not just before that.

found a map that shows they skip stationsberg, i also mapped the route:

E3 Harelbeke 2026

208.6 km, +2164 m. Bike ride in Desselgem, Vlaams Gewest

ridewithgps.com

 

[search]

The Tour has today announced the stages for the 2027 Grand Depart. Looks good to me

Press Kit

 

[Netserk]

same finish in cardiff as tour of britain last year, it seems

 

[YavorD]

Time to open TdF 2027 thread?

 

[Samu Cuenca]

So not too different from 2014 with two assumed sprint finishes and a harder one for puncheurs and GC riders. A climb closer to he finish on the flat stages may have been an improvement, but it obviously also depends on what we'll be getting once they reach France.

 

[hayneplane]

Long stage lengths for Stage 2 and 3 compared to what we usually get in the modern era.

Stage 2 looks an ideal chance for Matt Brennan to get stage and Yellow Jersey on home soil as it doesn’t look quite hard enough to bring Pogacar and any other punchy GC guys into pushing for the victory.

 

[Samamba]

Will be a stressfull few days

 

[Jan the Man]

Long stage lengths for Stage 2 and 3 compared to what we usually get in the modern era.

Stage 2 looks an ideal chance for Matt Brennan to get stage and Yellow Jersey on home soil as it doesn’t look quite hard enough to bring Pogacar and any other punchy GC guys into pushing for the victory.

Stage 3 is interesting if ridden hard. Given length of stage and general difficulty of terrain in last 150km (very little flat) then Caerphilly difficult enough to cause gaps especially if the main protagonist goes. Finish may be somewhere else in Cardiff than ToB finish judging by fact looks like 13km from
Top to finish which is slightly longer than ToB i think

 

[Strawberry_Jams]

From someone who used to live in Carlisle (mad that it is finishing there), to now living in Cardiff. You might as well call it the tour de me.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

From someone who used to live in Carlisle (mad that it is finishing there), to now living in Cardiff. You might as well call it the tour de me.

Keswick and Welshpool as stage starts are way more random, tbh. If you're starting from the Central Belt and heading into England down the west side of the Pennines then Carlisle is far and away the most obvious place to finish.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Will be a stressful few days

Not least for the commentators. Hawick and Trough in the first couple of days to catch out the unwary, then they hit Wales...

 

[Tim Cahill]

 

[Izzyeviel]

Not least for the commentators. Hawick and Trough in the first couple of days to catch out the unwary, then they hit Wales...

Thankfully the ones on Discoveryplus never leave the studio in Windsor. They are the lucky ones and get to avoid the english winter season.

 

[Brullnux]

same finish in cardiff as tour of britain last year, it seems

Harder run in before Caerphilly Mountain and twice the length, but yes. To be honest, I think Caerphilly is the best way to enter Cardiff anyway, so it's nicely designed. I doubt we'll get a random Kooij victory

 

[Brullnux]

Will be a stressfull few days

Narrow, twisty, bumpy roads with cat eyes and just always slightly up or down. Should be a good watch, though!

 

[ashhutch1997]

Although it's a nice few stages, the Welsh stage is a bit disappointing that they don't do either The Tumble, which is the most famous climb in Wales, with a great history in British Cycling. They also avoid Llangynidr Mountain as well, so the biggest and most well known climbs in Wales are being avoided.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

They are the lucky ones and get to avoid the english winter season.

You're aware that the Tour is in July? And that most of the distance in these stages is not in England?