Teams & Riders NSN Cycling

[Leadbelly]

It remains to be seen whether NSN will move to be more of a Spanish/ Spanish speaking team or still retain most of their anglophone riders.

I don't see why they might not have one or two more Spaniards if the right rider wants to sign, but they're just as likely to sign one or two Italians or one or two Australians etc.

Arrieta would be an obvious target. Obvious for six teams unfortunately though according to recent reports, so that would appear unlikely.

Beloki is likely to extend.

Maybe Castellon who was linked with Jayco last winter. Not too many after that. At the end of '25 I might have said De la Calle, but he's not had a great start to the season.

 

[Leadbelly]

Well since today's stage at the TotA isn't too interesting so far, let's have a look at a few other transfer targets from the usual countries.

Australia: Hindley and O'Connor

I think these should be the big GC targets. A fair chance both are on their way out of their current teams and both not having great seasons so far. Hindley has been linked with Visma and he'd probably end up with better results there, but with less money (didn't they pay Yates ~750k?). BOC is a bit older, but is a better GT stage hunter.

New Zealand: Fisher-Black

Poor season so far. Only 24 but has been round the block with Visma, UAE and now Redbull. Probably more likely to move to a mid-level WT team unless his season continues in the same vein.

Great Britain: Watson(?), Koerdt and Poole

Watson doesn't seem very likely unless the new sponsors bring in a big name and Sam fancies a link-up with his old Groupama pals. We all know Picnic are in trouble. Koerdt is one bright spot. No big results, but consistent and could be a good dom. Poole could be "free" if Picnic don't get the rest of their WT licence duration. Do we want a rider with more medical question marks though?

US: August

Still only 20. Starting to get a few more results. Not sure what Benson had to say about him in his American transfer update.

Italy: Bagioli and Milesi

He's not really done it at Lidl, Bagioli, and surely they'll be looking at an upgrade themselves. Milesi was a bit of a headless chicken at times at the beginning of his time with Movistar. Seems to have turned a corner and could be a strong addition.

Belgium: Vansevenant

The LVE rumours I can't see happening. Mauri was listed as being not retained by Soudal. Maybe they could change their minds after his recent results, but hopefully we're after him too.

That's a few guesses anyway. No doubt though that a lot of teams will all be after the same riders, so you may have to take what's left over after the big teams have their choice.

 

[search]

Lutsenko is out of Romandie with illness. Not that it will make much of a difference with Pogacar likely to win all stages anyway, but some sign of things getting better wouldn't have hurt.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Lutsenko is out of Romandie with illness. Not that it will make much of a difference with Pogacar likely to win all stages anyway, but some sign of things getting better wouldn't have hurt.

Fortunately the team has George bennett, who has shown that there is no race that he won't do in 2026

 

[Leadbelly]

The team will be lucky to still be in the top-18 of the 2026-28 "league" after this week. The missing injured riders combined with the lack of depth in some areas is starting to show.

Strong was fifth or sixth in the sprint from the peloton in Frankfurt which would have been okay, but unfortunately the break wasn't caught in time and he actually finished ten spots lower.

Bennett did his thing in Romandie ie. looked okay for a couple of days and then dropped some places on the last two stages.

Verbrugghe with a strong second today for the devo team was the one bright spot. The chances of him moving up to pro level next year, whether with the main team or elsewhere, are looking good.

 

[Roku]

@Leadbelly Just scrolling through the latest posts:

Ghirmay (and his fans) is a frustrating guy. He had an excellent 2022 cobbled season - in which, incidentally, the whole Wanty was flying. Other than that, he is an average rider who might get placings on semiclassics, but don't expect him to get anything relevant on the big races.

Hirt had some decent performances on the high mountains this season. He is a diesel rider who is better on Grand Tours and multi-mountain hard stages. I think he will be fine in Il Giro, his dream race. Hopefully he gets his personal chance in a couple of breaks. Expect him to be good on the Passo Giau stage.