It’s PEZ’ cycling news roundup — forecasting this week’s UAE Tour, reflecting on a busy week of racing, and ruminating on your favorite injured riders’ recovery after an injury-plagued winter. Remco? Wout? Demi? Jonas? Mads? They’re all here as the skiing, surfing, resting and rehab are all but over and we dive into everyone’s favorite part of the year: Desert racing!
TOP STORY
- Mike’s Stage-by-Stage Predictions for UAE
RACE NEWS
- Trashy Roundup: All of this Week’s European Racing
- Paris-Roubaix (Hauts-de-France) — New Name, New Teams
- History on the Cobbles: Women Claim Prime Time at Paris-Roubaix
TEAM, RIDER AND CYCLING NEWS
- Who Starts When? Recovery Updates for Van Aert, Pedersen, Vingegaard & Mas
- New Dad Neilson Powless Prepares for Season’s Launch
AND…MIKE’S RIDE OF THE WEEK
Mike’s Stage-by-Stage Predictions for UAE
Paraphrasing Pope John Paul, of all the unimportant early-season races, the UAE Tour is the most important.
It became less important recently when Jonas Vingegaard declared that he’d miss the race, thanks to injury, or illness, or his coach departing, or…something? (See below) So: Remco for every non-pure-sprinter’s stage?
That would be too easy. In a nothing-prognosticated, nothing gained spirit, here are my — eTrashMike’s — stage-by-stage predictions, plus a few bonus attempts at prescience.
Stage 1: Mostly flat with a 5%, 500 meter kicker. Jonathan Milan. He’s looked vulnerable at times, but on a grinding finish lacking top competition, he’s your best bet. 
Stage 2: Dead flat, 13K time trial. Josh Tarling. You read it here: The stage is too short for Remco to fully flex his aero-bullet position and strength. Tarling picks up the win and the race lead.
Stage 3: Mostly flat — and then a killer 13.2 kilometer, 8% climb to Jebel Mobrah that gets steeper towards the summit. This has Isaac del Toro written all over it. He’ll distance Evenepoel and the others in the closing kilometers and take the overall lead.
Stage 4: Up and down all day, with a long, gradual descent to the finish. Watch for Remco, angry about the previous day’s result, to attempt a signature unfollowable surge on one of the day’s shallow climbs — but he won’t stay away. Instead, Lidl-Trek’s Derek Gee-West will power a TTT-style chase, leading to another Milan victory.
Stage 5: Desert flat. Sam Welsford rides his TDU-inspired confidence (and a powerful Ineos leadout) to the win. 
Stage 6: A lot like Stage 3 — ultra flat, and then the uneven ascent to Jebel Hafeet. On this less-steep final climb, Remco Evenepoel hangs with del Toro and powers to the win on one of its flatter sections — but not by enough to take the GC.
Stage 7: Super-duper flat. I’m picking Alpecin’s Gerben Thijssen, mostly because taking Milan or Welsford again is too obvious.
Bonus Predictions
- Podium: del Toro for the win, followed by Evenepoel, then Gee-West.
- Sprinter’s Green Jersey: Milan
- Nairo Quintana will attack and fade in both stage 3 and stage 6.
- Antonio Tiberi will narrowly miss the podium after leading up much of the Stage 6 ascent.
- The new Modern Adventure squad will try to power GC-shredding echelons, but neither the team nor the winds will prove strong enough.
And one, big general prediction: We’ll enjoy some moments from this week’s racing, but camera shots of slim crowds and barren landscape will have us pining for the Classics.
RACE NEWS
Trashy Roundup: All of this Week’s European Racing
This week saw men’s and women’s racing in France, Spain and Portugal. Catch up on the sprints, the climbs and the breakaways here!
American Matthew Riccitello announced his arrival at Decathlon CMA CGM and continued his ascent through the GC ranks with triumph at the Tour de la Provence. Raised in perpetually warm Tucson, Arizona, the 23-year-old nonetheless kept it hot on the snowy queen stage atop the snow-covered Montagne de Lure, outdueling INEOS Grenadiers’ Carlos Rodriguez in a tactical two-up sprint finish. Riccitello held his overall lead through the final stage to claim the three-day race, marking a strong start to his tenure with the French squad.
Sunday’s Clasica de Almeria belonged to Biniam Girmay, who powered to victory in Roquetas de Mar with a perfectly executed sprint. After his NSN Cycling Team delivered a flawless leadout through a chaotic, crash-marred finale, the Eritrean sprinter secured his second win of the season, beating defending champion Milan Fretin and Matteo Moschetti to the line.
In women’s racing, Demi Vollering proved unstoppable at the Setmana Ciclista Volta Femenina de la Comunitat Valenciana. The FDJ United-SUEZ rider defended her 2025 title with commanding performances, including a remarkable 19-kilometer solo breakaway on the opening stage. She added a second stage victory in Valencia to seal the overall crown ahead of Maëva Squiban and Mie Bjørndal Ottestad.
Portugal’s António Morgado made it back-to-back victories at the Figueira Champions Classic, outsprinting Alex Aranburu in a two-rider finish after his UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammate Brandon McNulty sacrificed his chances by driving the pace. Pau Martí rounded out the podium at the home race for the 22-year-old Portuguese rider.
Paris-Roubaix (Hauts-de-France) — New Name, New Teams
Evidently we’re supposed to start calling one of cycling’s truly iconic races, Paris-Roubaix, by its new moniker: “Paris-Roubaix Hauts-de-France.”
Since those in the know often call it “P-R,” do we now have to use “P-R-H-D-F?”
Sigh. Cycling is one sport where tradition has often stood up to the convention-bending influences of money — mostly because there’s much less money involved than in, say, football, football, or F1 — but now we see a venerable institution adding its primary financial backer (the region’s governmental authority) to its 130 year-old name.
What’s next — sponsors’ logos on riders’ jerseys? (Irony intended)
Not everything new is eye-roll-inducing: We’re happy to see a couple of new teams invited to P-R: Unibet Rose Rockets, which has thus far failed to receive a Grand Tour bid, will ride the cobbles, as will upstart American team Modern Adventure. Maybe George Hincapie will finally get his win on the Roubaix Velodrome!
History on the Cobbles: Women Claim Prime Time at Paris-Roubaix
The 123rd edition of the Queen of the Classics returns on April 12, covering 258.3 km with 30 brutal cobbled sectors spanning 54.8 km. Early carnage is expected as the first four sectors hit in rapid succession near Briastre, creating unmatched cobble density that could shatter the peloton before the legendary Arenberg.
History will be made as the women’s race runs on the same day for the first time. Starting from Denain, the peloton tackles three additional sectors, including the decisive four-star Haveluy, bringing total cobbles to 33.7 km of bone-rattling mayhem.
But here’s the game-changer: the women finish at the velodrome in prime time at 6:20 pm, claiming the spotlight they deserve. After five editions building toward this moment, the queens of the cobbles finally get top billing at cycling’s most legendary one-day race.
Five events. One weekend. Classic cobblestone carnage awaits.
TEAM, RIDER AND CYCLING NEWS
Who Starts When? Recovery Updates for Van Aert, Pedersen, Vingegaar & Mas
This was supposed to be the season it all came together: injury-free showdowns in the Classics, and at the Tour. Nothing in the way of high-profile, all-in competitions between Pogačar, van Aert, van der Poel and Pedersen at MSR, Flanders and Paris-Roubaix — and Pogi and Vingegaard (and Evenepoel) at the Tour de France.
Alas: cycling has a way of spiking one’s dreams.
Preseason crashes involving several of cycling’s top names appeared to send us towards yet another season of Pogačar domination, with sprinklings of contention from van der Poel.
HOWEVER.
However, thanks to the miracle of modern medicine (see: Vonn, Lindsey), all riders, whether recovering from road rash or full-blown fractures, are on track for full, if delayed seasons. Check out their recovery status here — and then watch for these riders this spring! (Knock, knock…)
- Enric Mas doesn’t compete in the same tier as the others mentioned here, but he’s always good for a low-level GC run — and he does share their unfortunate status of having crashed heading into the season. While he’ll miss the UAE Tour, his Movistar Team is confident he’ll line up for the Volta a Catalunya in late March.
- Mads Pedersen was looking like the best bet to challenge the Pogi/MVDP lock on one-day races (and perhaps to vie for the Green Jersey). Don’t count him out! After fracturing his left wrist and right collarbone (ouch!), surgery immediately afterwards put him on a track to return this spring — possibly as soon as Milan San Remo, slated for March 21.
- Wout van Aert — aka the unluckiest man in cycling — is the only rider on this list to have suffered a lower-body injury — an ankle fracture, suffered in the cyclocross race at Mol — but has come back most quickly: He was riding the trainer within days and outside within a week, and logged 100-mile rides the following week. He’s voiced optimism and confidence; we should see him line up February 28 at Omloop.
- Jonas Vingegaard suffered no structural injuries when he crashed in training, but followed the fan-induced incident with illness, and then losing his coach. (Maybe Jonas is the unluckiest man in cycling…). He’s vowed to be back to contest the Giro-Tour double at full strength; we should see him first at Volta a Catalunya.
New Dad Neilson Powless Prepares for Season’s Launch
Neilson Powless returns to racing at the Tour de la Provence on Friday after a 12-week off-season extended by knee tendonitis. The 29-year-old cyclist initially took time off following his son Remy’s birth in October, but a November injury disrupted his training plans.
At Provence, Powless will support teammates Luke Lamperti in sprints and Michael Leonard on climbing stages, racing alongside four EF Education-Aevolo development riders. “I’m not really going for a result myself but it’s really motivating to help my teammates,” he said.
His 2025 schedule includes Italian races near his Nice home, followed by Belgian classics including E3, Paris-Roubaix, and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Powless aims to be competitive by the Flemish classics, viewing his extended break as beneficial for freshness.
The injury marked his longest time away from sports, but knowing recovery was inevitable helped him stay focused. “Racing is what excites me the most,” Powless said.
MIKE’S RIDE OF THE WEEK
PEZ’ EuroTrash will always be about professional bike racing (principally in Europe, unless the cycling world changes dramatically), but in hopes of making this coverage a bit more accessible, I (eTrashMike) will start sharing a Ride of the Week.
Initially these will be my rides — quick reflections on my week’s cycling highlight, Strava link included. I look forward to sharing others’ rides — my PEZ colleagues’, and…yours, dear reader!
This week’s ride is the Paskenta 100, an underground race held every Super Bowl Sunday in and around Chico, CA. It’s fast, it’s aggressive, it’s entirely unsanctioned!
Check out my Strava post here, and a full writeup on my Substack. Enjoy!
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