Mike’s midweek cycling news roundup wonders whether how many more years races like Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico have left, considering the toll they take on riders. Still, those races offered some exciting racing, with attacks, cracks, and comebacks on wet roads and amid shellacking crosswinds. Plus the women continue to offer up exciting racing — and Mike’s Davis, California offers up a spectacular weekly group ride.
TOP STORY
- What I’ve Learned from Paris-Nice and Tirreno — So Far
RACE NEWS
- Vingegaard in Command After Four Stages at Paris-Nice
Tirreno-Adriatico: Del Toro Leads After Three Action-Packed Stages
Wiebes Makes History with Third Oetingen Victory
- La Vuelta Femenina 2026 Set for Epic Angliru Finale
TEAM, RIDER AND CYCLING NEWS
- The Rich Get Richer: Ineos Scores New Title Sponsor
MIKE’S RIDE OF THE WEEK
- The Davis Area Group Ride
What I’ve Learned from Paris-Nice and Tirreno — So Far
When I opened the Paris-Nice broadcast this morning, with about 40K to go (I’m on the West Coast; the time difference is a killer), my first thought was, “Why does anyone do these early season, one-week stage races?”
(Actually, my first thought was alarm at Bob Roll’s beard. My next thought pertained to the race.)
The Race to the Sun had evidently not yet reached the sun: Conditions appeared miserable. Crosswinds and crashes, I quickly learned, had sheared the peloton apart. GC favorites Juan Ayuso and Oscar Onley had crashed; Ayuso, the leader heading into the stage, was out of the race.
Several other top riders were down and out; by the end of the day, the DNF ranks would number twelve — plus three DNSs, left over from crashes the day before.
Twenty-four hours earlier I’d watched the final, similarly messy kilometers at Tirreno-Adriatico, where Matteo Jorgenson and Thymen Arensman both fell, and fell out of contention. A late gravel stretch proved especially treacherous.
Watching these stages it struck me that the days of second-tier, early-season stage races are numbered: Teams will always muster full squads, and star riders will always step up for the Monuments and other top-drawer one-day races; the earned notoriety is worth the effort and the risk. Teams competing to remain in the WorldTour will show up for the point-scoring opportunities, but the super- and near-superteams will wrap their stars in training camp bubbles, protecting them until races like Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders — and the Tour de France — roll around.
Today we still see riders like Del Toro and Vingegaard on these races’ start lists; expect them to follow Pogačar’s approach. limiting their schedules and opting to spend training blocks relatively safe — and at altitude. Perhaps these one-week races will become proving grounds for young riders — but Paul Seixas is at neither Paris-Nice or Tirreno, and you can bet that Ayuso won’t be back.
We’ve seen severe race-limiting scheduling before: remember Lance whittling his schedule down to 1-2 races, maybe showing up to the Dauphiné before lining up for the Tour? Of course, he was mitigating a different type of risk.
As a superfan, I’ll watch any race — but would be comfortable if the schedule shed a few events, if that makes it more likely that more top contenders can show for the biggest races.
(I wrote that last paragraph after seeing new news: Mads Pedersen won’t make it to Milan-San Remo. He fractured his collarbone in a tumble at Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana — a second-tier stage race.)
Alaphilippe always keeps it fun, though!
RACE NEWS
Vingegaard in Command After Four Stages at Paris-Nice
Hopefully on its way to sun-baked roads in southern France, the Race to the Sun has thus far delivered slippery tarmac and soul-crushing crosswinds — plus a few standout performances, including the Stage Four jersey-nabbing win by last man standing Jonas Vingegaard.
Stage 1 concluded in a bunch sprint in Carrières-sous-Poissy, where Luke Lamperti of EF Education-EasyPost surged to victory — earning his team their first win of the season, and himself the most notable victory of his young career. Lamperti emerged as the winner after — wait for it… — a late crash split the peloton.
Stage 2 proved equally chaotic. Max Kanter of XDS-Astana powered to his first WorldTour victory in a messy sprint into Montargis, delivered expertly by leadout man Mike Teunissen. Lamperti successfully defended the race lead.
Stage 3 featured a 23.5km team time trial, which Ineos Grenadiers won with Josh Tarling doing the lion’s share of the work. Despite the Ineos win, the GC lead went to Juan Ayuso of Lidl-Trek, thanks to the four seconds in bonies he had collected at an intermediate sprint the previous day. Kévin Vauquelin and Oscar Onley sat second and third overall. (Quick additional analysis: We’re seeing the return of the TT specialist. Ganna won the TT over at Tirreno; Tarling was Man of the Match in this TTT. Whereas not long ago we were seeing time trials won by GC contenders, we’re back to the narrowly-focused winning races of truth. “But what about Evenepoel?” you ask? Sorry Remco fans: He’s no longer a GC contender.)
Stage 4 turned everything upside down. Fierce crosswinds immediately split the peloton, and the slippery, rain-soaked roads caused multiple crashes — including one that forced overnight GC leader Juan Ayuso to abandon by ambulance, along with UAE rider Brandon McNulty. Vingegaard waited for the final Category 1 climb to Uchon, attacking with one kilometer to go. Despite being led through the final kilometers by teammate Tim van Dijke — this season’s early revelation — Dani Martínez had no answer, and Vingegaard crossed the line 42 seconds clear, simultaneously taking the stage win and the race lead. The Dane now leads Martínez by 52 seconds, with Georg Steinhauser — Man of this Match, thanks to a powerful solo effort — third at 3:20.
Thanks in part to the van Dijke brothers, Red Bull’s getting its money’s worth from its sponsorship this season.
With four stages still to come, Vingegaard looks firmly in control of his first Paris-Nice title. (And likely his only one — see above.)
Tirreno-Adriatico: Del Toro Leads After Three Action-Packed Stages
I’ve known that Paris-Nice is the Race to the Sun for a while, but I’ve just learned that Tirreno-Adriatico is the Race of the Two Seas. As the lesser of the two lesser March stage races, its organizers threw in some excitement-adding gravel — and excitement it added…
Stage 1 was a showcase for Filippo Ganna, who dominated the traditional 11.5km individual time trial in Lido di Camaiore, finishing in 12 minutes and 8 seconds at a blistering average speed of 56.2 km/h — the fastest TT of this young season. Teammate Thymen Arensman slotted in second, 22 seconds back, giving Ineos Grenadiers a commanding 1-2 for the stage and in the General Classification. (Per the note above: the first GC rider on the results list? Primoz, 30 seconds back in 11th position.)
Stage 2, a 206km run from Camaiore to San Gimignano, featured a dramatic gravel and uphill finale. Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) delivered a superb performance to take Classic-like stage, pipping Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), who finished second. Giulio Pellizzari came in third, suggesting that it’s time we start taking the 22 year-old seriously. As I wrote above, several GC contenders suffered crashes on the wet gravel roads, with Matteo Jorgenson and Thymen Arensman among those losing time. Del Toro’s second-place finish propelled him into the overall race lead.
Stage 3 was a wet, mostly mercifully uneventful 221km sprint stage from Cortona to Magliano de’ Marsi. Diego Pablo Sevilla launched an early solo break but was eventually reeled in, and the stage came down to a high-speed bunch sprint. Tobias Lund Andresen of Decathlon-CMA CGM, this season’s other early revelation, timed his effort perfectly, overpowering favorites including Jasper Philipsen and Jonathan Milan to claim a memorable victory. Del Toro finished safely in the peloton and extended his lead over Pellizzari to four seconds, consolidating his hold on the blue jersey ahead of the race’s harder mountain stages.
Wiebes Makes History with Third Oetingen Victory
Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) claimed a historic third triumph at the IXINA Leeuw-Oetingen p/b Lotto on Wednesday, but not in the sprint she is so renowned for — instead attacking on the Zavelberg to claim a more aggressive win.
The 140km Belgian semi-classic featured 19 cobbled sectors and six finishing loops, with the 7.1%, 600m Zavelberg climb coming just over 2km from the finish line in Oetingen. The peloton stayed largely together until around 60 kilometers, when echelons began to form.
Fleur Moors (Lidl-Trek) was the only rider able to follow Wiebes as she powered away in the final 3km, but settled for second as the Dutchwoman easily won the two-up sprint to the line. Megan Jastrab finished third.
The victory marks Wiebes’ first European win of the 2026 season, following her dominant showing at the UAE Tour, and serves as a powerful statement of intent ahead of upcoming Classics title defenses at Milan-San Remo and Gent-Wevelgem.
La Vuelta Femenina 2026 Set for Epic Angliru Finale
The fourth edition of La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es will take place from May 3rd to 9th, organizers revealed at a route presentation in the Galician port town of Ribeira on Monday.
The seven-stage race opens in Galicia, where punishing terrain will accumulate over 8,000 metres of climbing across the first four stages. Sprinters get their moment in Stage 3 into A Coruña, but the rest of Galicia’s roads will suit the climbers. Stage 5, a shorter run from León to Astorga, may look straightforward on paper, though treacherous crosswinds could yet shake up the general classification.
The race saves its biggest punches for Asturias. Stage 6 concludes atop Les Praeres — nearly four kilometer at an average 13% gradient — before the brutal Alto de Angliru delivers the decisive verdict on Stage 7. At 12.4 kilometers averaging 9.7%, with ramps reaching 23%, it will be the hardest finish in the race’s history.
Olympic champion and reigning Tour de France winner Pauline Ferrand-Prévot leads a star-studded entry that also includes Marianne Vos, Lotte Kopecky, and Marlen Reusser, promising a thrilling battle for the coveted red jersey.
The Rich Get Richer: Ineos Scores New Title Sponsor
That TTT win wasn’t their only good news this week: Once-and-former (and future, according to DS Geraint Thomas) superteam Ineos Grenadiers has secured a new title sponsor in a deal valued at 100 million pounds sterling: Danish IT firm Netcompany will step up into the significant sponsorship role, with Jim Ratcliffe staying on as team owner and Dave Brailsford still slotted as team leader.
MIKE’S RIDE OF THE WEEK:
THE DAVIS AREA GROUP RIDE
This is my hometown ride, starting and ending in Davis, California. It’s how I spend my Saturday mornings when I’m not traveling (and am training).
This was once the Wheelworks Ride, named for the shop where it started. Wheelworks was owned by the sadly late Steve Larsen, then a Davis celeb. Our local patron, he would command the ride of 100-plus with a velvet fist: gently brutal. Like most group rides, though, today’s “DAGR” isn’t what it was fifteen years ago: Now I see around 40 friends, mostly MAMIL/hitters.
We typically don’t allow aero bars, but Simona’s a national duathlon champ.
Still, it’s spirited, plenty fast for me, especially this time of year — hence my Strava title — plus as safe as a Saturday World Champs-like ride can be. And in the spring, the surrounding hills — green again, after being charred by fires five years ago — are stunning.
This time we let the fast group go. Not always!
If you’re ever near Sacramento on a Saturday, message me; I’d love it if you could join.
Here’s PEZ’ look at the last time we watched racers enter Siena — at the finish of the “Strade Bianche Stage” of last year’s Giro!
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