Lesser known races 2026 edition

[Tim Cahill]

Pure climber Yates trying to get out of the saddle on rough cobblestones like it’s angliru.

 

[Netserk]

always a lovely finish

vuelta should come here

 

[Dazed and Confused]

1	Pinarello Alessandro	NSN Cycling Team	14	20		3:39:03
2	Nordhagen Jørgen	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	5	12		0:01
3	Yates Adam	UAE Team Emirates - XRG	3	7		,,
4	Romeo Iván	Movistar Team		5		0:06
5	Juaristi Txomin	Euskaltel - Euskadi		4		0:16
6	Balderstone Abel	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA		3		,,
7	Herrada Jesús	Burgos Burpellet BH		2		0:31
8	Peña Jesús David	Efapel Cycling		1		0:32
9	Parra José Félix	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA				0:33
10	del Pino Jesus	Aviludo - Louletano - Loulé				0:35

Yates picks up the GC.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Nice win by Pinerello!


Cultural question:
What are those stone circles?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castro_of_Santa_Trega

 

[Coppi-Bartali]

Pinarello's first professional victory. This is a race for the Danes and a winning debutants.

 

[Brullnux]

Pinarello rode those cobbles incredibly well, does he have a CX or mtb background? Out of the front four he looked like the only one who knew how to deal with them

 

[ice&fire]

Nice win by Pinerello!


Cultural question:
What are those stone circles?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castro_of_Santa_Trega

 

[acm]

always a lovely finish

vuelta should come here

Definitely. That's a great climb.

 

[RedheadDane]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castro_of_Santa_Trega

ToS got there first.

Anyway, some more Danes* need to come to OGC next year, the Danish stage win tally is down to a paltry 11/21... pfff...

*Or just Cort and/or Vingegaard.

---

The Sun was shining in Loir et Cher, Keije Solen won the stage.

 

[Rob5091]

Pinarello and NSN get the stage win - Yates the GC so no surprise there. Visma team worked well but no cigar for their GC man.

Edit - nice warm up for Chumil before he's off to the Tour of Hellas (that's Greece in other words).

 

[Netserk]

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/54710663

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

Pinarello and NSN get the stage win - Yates the GC so no surprise there. Visma team worked well but no cigar for their GC man.

Edit - nice warm up for Chumil before he's off to the Tour of Hellas (that's Greece in other words).

That's sad, I was convinced it was a spelling mistake and it was the Tour of Helles which is a kind of beer. Probably I got confused by the Beer Race tomorrow.

Edit: Tour of Helles could be a nice medium mountain stage race in Bavaria actually, starting and finishing in famous places that brew Helles. Someone should pitch that.

 

[Rou]

Well, apparently they were 2-3 secs faster than Vingegaard when he did this climb in 2023.
Understandable considering we are in the middle of April while Jonas did it in February but still a solid performance especially from Romeo.

https://watts2win.eu/en/segment/165

 

[Brullnux]

"Not good," Yates said about the stretch of cobbles added into the final climb. "I like to climb out of the saddle. There's a perfectly good tarmac road next to this cobbled climb, so maybe next year we can go up there and it would be much nicer."

He is so so boring

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Anybody knows why tour du doubs was cancelled? It should be tomorrow but I just found out it's not happening. A shame.

 

[search]

Anybody knows why tour du doubs was cancelled? It should be tomorrow but I just found out it's not happening. A shame.

no money, but they plan to bring it back next year

https://www.estrepublicain.fr/sport/2025/12/12/le-tour-du-doubs-mis-en-sommeil-pour-faciliter-la-sauvegarde-du-vc-morteau-montbenoit

 

[Tim Cahill]

Word doing the rounds is that Crescioli told Theiler he wouldn't sprint for the win so he just carried on going, then he sprinted around him at the end, hence the drama at the finish.

4th today in Jura, good result, but I'll never forget!

 

[logeardaddy]

Jura has some beautiful scenery

Beautiful in winter as well. The start village of Bois d'Amont is just across the Swiss border from the vallée de Joux, home to anarchist watchmakers and great XC skiing.

 

[RedheadDane]

Salby won the final stage in Hainan.
Silva won the gold in the GC.

 

[Rob5091]

Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkiye starts on April 26 (Sunday) and stage 6 has this monster to finish off the race - Feslikan. Not quite as bad as Babadag but close!

 

[Top Climber]

The 68th Vuelta a Asturias (2.1) gets underway today. A four-day battle begins across the climbs and rolling terrain of Asturias.

Stage 1 » Oviedo › Benia de Onís (155.5km)

Stage 2 » Llanes › Pola de Lena (140.8km)

Stage 3 » Figueras (Castropol) › Vegadeo (157.2km)

Stage 4 (Final) » Lugones › Oviedo (152.2km)

Startlist: https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/vuelta-asturias/2026/startlist/startlist

The streams will be available from around 4:04 p.m. CET on Asturias TV --> https://www.rtpa.es/tpa-television

 

[Brullnux]

Nice route, but that startlist is probably one of the weakest I've seen for a 2.1 race

 

[Bkinn]

Probably the last chance of Nairo of get a win before retirement.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkiye starts on April 26 (Sunday) and stage 6 has this monster to finish off the race - Feslikan. Not quite as bad as Babadag but close!

Those Turkish monsters make make some iconic GT climbs look easy in comparison. This one is like Loze from the hardest side. On top of that Babadag is the hardest climb used in pro cycling, eclipsing monsters like Zoncolan, Finestre, Mortirolo, Angliru, Gamoniteiru and Grossglockner.

 

[Landeirovic]

Nice route, but that startlist is probably one of the weakest I've seen for a 2.1 race

Not ideal with Tour the Alps, Ardennes Classics, riders at altitude for the Giro+ Romandia start 2 days after final stage Asturias