No racing during this week, but don’t worry, we have full EUROTRASH of all the news from the peloton.
TOP STORY
- Italian province of Trentino wants to organise the Super World Championships in 2031
Rider news:
- Chris Hoy opens up about metastatic prostate cancer
- Tadej Pogačar sees annual salary increase and buyout fee is 200 million
- Bjarne Riis has advice for Jonas Vingegaard on the Giro and Tour
- Flandrien of the Year for Remco Evenepoel
- Jarno Widar crowned ‘Flandrien van de Toekomst’ after a fantastic season
- Former teammate of Peter Sagan tests positive for CERA
- Tom Boonen talks about his bad crash in Abu Dhabi: “Skull fracture saved my life”
- Will Mathieu van der Poel ride cyclocross this winter?
- Will Tim Merlier go to the Tour next year?
- Tom Pidcock goes to watch Manchester United with INEOS Grenadiers
- Zoe Bäckstedt gears up for new cyclocross season
Team news:
- Stephen Cummings has left INEOS Grenadiers
- Bingoal stops sponsoring Pauwels Sauzen
- Rik Verbrugghe to join new Ridley team
- Cédrine Kerbaol signs with EF-Oatly-Cannondale
- Giovanni Lonardi will sprint with Team Polti Kometa for another 2 years
- Alex Volstad joins EF-Oatly-Cannondale
- Aidan Buttigieg signs for two seasons with Team Polti Kometa
- Aart Vierhouten leaves Q36.5 to return to the WorldTour
- FDJ and SUEZ extend partnership with women’s team
- Broken chains for Baloise Trek Lions at the European championships
Race news:
- Charles Liégeois Roastery CX supports cyclocross in Wallonia with the Challenge Bensberg
TOP STORY: Italian Province of Trentino Wants to Organise the Cycling Super World Championships 2031
Trentino is planning to apply to organise the Super World Cycling Championships in 2031. According to the local newspaper L’Adige. The Italian province reportedly has more than €21 million to spare to host the cycling event.
The Italian province of Trentino (Trente) will invest a lot in sport in the coming years, as they will also spend €15 million on the 2026 Winter Olympics and €14 million on the 2028 Youth Olympics. But the province has even bigger plans. Trentino also wants to apply to host the 2031 World Championships. “They are willing to invest €21.3 million,” writes L’Adige.
The last time the World Championships were held in Italy was in 2020, in Imola. Before that, there were Italian World championships in 2013 (Firenze), 2008 (Varese), 2004 (Verona), 1999 (Verona), 1994 (Agrigento), 1985 (Giavera del Montello), 1976 (Ostuni), 1968 (Imola), 1962 (Salò), 1955 (Frascati), 1951 (Varese) and 1932 (Rome). The next World champs will take place in Kigali (2025), Montreal (2026), Haute-Savoie (2027), Abu Dhabi (2028), Copenhagen (2’29) and Brussels (2030).
The last Super Worlds were in Glasgow:
Chris Hoy Opens Up about Metastatic Prostate Cancer
Two weeks ago, Chris Hoy, the six-time Olympic champion, made the shocking announcement that he has terminal cancer and only a few years left to live. In an extensive interview with the BBC, the 48-year-old track legend talked about his challenges.
Hoy has been told by doctors that he has about two to four years to live. For a long time, it was unclear what type of cancer it was, but it turns out to be prostate cancer. The cancer has now spread to his bones. Tumours have been discovered in his shoulder, pelvis, hip, spine and ribs. The diagnosis came out of nowhere for Hoy. “I had no symptoms, no warning… Absolutely nothing. The only thing I felt was some pain in my shoulder and ribs. I thought that was probably due to the fitness. It was the biggest shock of my life. I can still remember the feeling. I walked back home in a daze. I just could hardly believe it, let alone place it. It wasn’t until halfway through that I wondered where I was. Then I started thinking: how am I going to tell my wife Sarra and the children? It was like I had ended up in a nightmare. Later, I got the news that I was terminally ill and only had a few years to live. The moment you hear that, your whole life flashes before your eyes. It’s really unreal. I wanted to leave the hospital as soon as possible, away from all the misery. But then you realise that you can’t run away.”
For Hoy, a period of acceptance and chemotherapy then began. “The chemo sessions were truly hell. I wasn’t ready for such torture. During a session, I didn’t have those two hours in mind, but one minute. Then I looked at the seconds on the clock. If I could hold out for one minute, the next one would be fine too. It’s only in a situation like that that you discover how strong a person can be. What you’re capable of. Then you also immediately put cycling into perspective. ‘My God, that was actually just some fun,’ you realise. The stakes are much higher now. At the moments when I was riding for Olympic gold, it felt like life and death. But that is really the case now. But the principle is the same. What it is about is that you have to focus on things that you can control. And not worry about things that you cannot control.”
In November 2023, two months after his diagnosis, Hoy was hit hard again. His wife Sarra turned out to have a very active and aggressive form of multiple sclerosis (MS), a disorder of the central nervous system, which can cause neurological disorders such as loss of strength. The course of the disease can vary greatly, as can the symptoms. “At that time, only the children kept us going. We still want to be there for them. If I hadn’t had that goal, it would have been really, really difficult. But that’s why you’re a team as a family. You support each other. And that’s how we keep going. Sarra is doing well. There is treatment for her illness. She has medication to combat her illness and I also have medication for mine. So we can only count ourselves lucky, can’t we?”
Sir Chris Hoy may be terminally ill, but he is still a passionate cyclist. He is planning to create more awareness about advanced cancer with a bike ride next year. “What I especially want to do is to show that there is still hope. I realise that this does not apply to everyone, but look at me. Six months after the end of my chemo, I am back on my bike every day. I go to the gym and I am no longer in pain. When people talk about their battle with cancer, it is mainly a mental battle.”
The heartbreaking story from Chris Hoy:
Tadej Pogačar Sees Annual Salary Increase and Buyout Fee is 200 million
Tadej Pogačar recently extended his contract with UAE Team Emirates until the end of 2030. According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, the Slovenian will now receive a salary of 8 million euros per year. Teams that want to sign Pogačar would have to pay 200 million euros.
Pogačar was already signed by UAE until the end of 2027. The three-time Tour winner had an annual salary of 7 million euros, excluding bonuses, according to La Gazzetta. Although the same newspaper wrote in January of this year that it was 6 million. Now Pogačar’s contract has been rewritten and the World champion has signed an extension until the end of 2030. He will earn 8 million euros, excluding bonuses, per year for the next six seasons. This brings the total amount to 48 million euros.
It seems unlikely that Pogačar will not spend the full time of his contract with UAE Team Emirates. Other teams will want to try to sign the top rider, but it will cost them, according to La Gazzetta, 200 million euros.
In January, Pogačar already topped the then list of top earners of La Gazzetta dello Sport. In second place at the time was Primoz Roglič, who would reportedly earn 4.5 million euros per year at Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe in 2024 and 2025. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) receive an estimated annual salary of 4 million euros. Van der Poel, like Pogačar, recently extended his contract. It is unknown what the Dutch rider currently earns, because the bonus system is not know by La Gazzetta.
The top ten paid riders in the list of La Gazzetta from January also included Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike), Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) and Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers).
Pogačar comfortably well off:
Bjarne Riis has Advice for Jonas Vingegaard on the Giro and Tour
Bjarne Riis has given some advice to Jonas Vingegaard, who is considering the Giro d’Italia/Tour de France double in 2025. According to Riis it would be a good change. “But it is also risky,” Riis said in an interview with the Danish BT.
The rumours are that Vingegaard has for some time been considering combining the Giro and Tour in 2025, although the team ‘didn’t consider that realistic’. It is a combination that Tadej Pogačar successfully did last season. “I expect Jonas can do that too, if that is really the case. But if he wants to go for the Tour, I don’t think I would ride the Giro for that,” said Riis.
Riis also sees the risk of ‘the double’ for Vingegaard. “Visma | Lease a Bike obviously knows best how he can recover and how he will be at his strongest, but if the Tour is really his biggest priority, then I find it difficult to see him do the Giro first. Especially because he is not the defending champion in the Tour. If he had won this year, that would have been different.”
“But there are also a lot of things that they know and we don’t,” Riis says, explaining the difficulty of the situation. “It is difficult, and that is just my first instinct. And I must also not forget to say that there is nothing wrong with the boy wanting to try something different than he normally does.”
Riis does not believe that Vingegaard would choose the Giro because Pogačar will skip that race next season, and that he can then ride a better palmarès. “When you have won the Tour twice, I don’t think you think like that. In the game with these two riders, the Tour de France must be the first priority.”
Riis says no Giro for Vingegaard:
Flandrien of the Year for Remco Evenepoel
For the second time in his career, the 24-year-old was named best Belgian rider of the season
Remco Evenepoel picked up his second trophy of the off-season. Just one month after making it four Kristallen Fiets awards, the Belgian took the honours at the Flandrien of the Year Gala, which rewarded him for another standout season in the colours of Soudal Quick-Step.
In 2024, Evenepoel became the first male rider to win the road race and time trial gold medals at a single edition of the Olympic Games, successfully defended his ITT rainbow jersey in Zurich, and completed his set of Grand Tour stage victories at the Tour de France, where he took home the white jersey in addition to finishing an impressive third overall.
“Winning this prestigious trophy for the second time in my career is something that makes me proud, because it rewards what has been one of my best seasons since turning pro. I want to thank my family and my team for their continuous support and for believing in me, this wouldn’t have been possible without them. It’s something that motivates me to become even better and achieve more beautiful results in the Soudal Quick-Step and Belgian jerseys”, an obviously delighted Remco said.
Following Tuesday’s ceremony, Soudal Quick-Step cemented its position as the team that gave the most winners of the Flandrien of the Year since the event’s inception, with a total of twelve trophies won by six different riders: Paolo Bettini, Tom Boonen, Yves Lampaert, Remco Evenepoel, Michal Kwiatkowski and Julian Alaphilippe, the last two being recipients of the International Flandrien of the Year prize.
Another Flandrien trophy for Remco Evenepoel:
Jarno Widar Crowned ‘Flandrien van de Toekomst’ After a Fantastic Season
Jarno Widar (18) was crowned Flandrien of the Future in the U23 category during the ‘Gala van de Flandrien’. He received this recognition after an outstanding season in which he became the first Belgian ever to win the Giro Next Gen.
Jarno Widar can add yet another prize to his already impressive list of achievements. After winning De Kristallen Fiets award for Young Rider of the Year, he was now also named ‘Flandrien van de Toekomst’ in the U23 category at this evening’s gala show of the ‘Gala van de Flandrien’ in SILT in Middelkerke, Belgium. Widar received the award following a remarkable season. He made cycling history by becoming the first Belgian ever to win the Giro Next Gen, and he also secured overall victories in the Valle d’Aosta Mont Blanc and the Alpes Isère Tour.
“The Giro Next Gen was the highlight,” said a delighted Jarno Widar. “We had an amazing week with the team. It was a special year, but I aim to do even better next year. I will ride the Giro Next Gen and Aosta again, but I’m also aiming for the Tour de l’Avenir and the European Championships. I really want to win a jersey next season. I’m trying to get the most out of my career.”
With Jarno Widar’s crowning as Flandrien of the Future, the trophy remains in the hands of Lotto Dstny. For the past two years, Alec Segaert was the laureate.
Top young Flandrien – Jarno Widar:
Former Teammate of Peter Sagan Tests Positive for CERA
Daniel Vysočan has been provisionally suspended by the UCI. The 20-year-old Czech tested positive for the banned substance CERA, found in a doping test. Vysočan is under contract with Pierre Baguette, the team that Peter Sagan ended his professional career in June.
Vysočan’s positive test was on 25 September, two days before he rode the U23 World championships in Zurich. Shortly before that, the Czech rider had finished 16th in the Tour de l’Avenir in August and finished 6th in the Tour of South Bohemia (2.2) in his home country in early September. For Vysočan, 2024 was his second year with Pierre Baguette, which was called RRK Group-Pierre Baguette-Benzinol last year. This year, he rode both the Tour of Slovakia and the Tour of Hungary together with three-time World champion Peter Sagan, who retired as a professional cyclist in Slovakia.
CERA is a variant of EPO, a hormone that stimulates the production of red blood cells and increases the haemoglobin level in the blood. In the past, Riccardo Ricco, Davide Rebellin, Danilo Di Luca, Bernhard Kohl and Stefan Schumacher have also been caught using CERA. Ilkhan Dostiyev, who rode for Astana Qazaqstan Development team, also recently tested positive for CERA, he immediately confessed and the team terminated his contract.
Doping is still around – Daniel Vysočan:
Tom Boonen Talks About his Bad Crash in Abu Dhabi: “Skull Fracture Saved my Life”
It has been nine years since Tom Boonen had his bad crash in the Abu Dhabi Tour in 2015 and he is still experiencing the effects on a daily basis. The Belgian super-star suffered permanent hearing damage, but at one point the doctors even feared for his life. The now 44-year-old Boonen revealed this in an interview with Humo.
In the second stage of the Abu Dhabi Tour, things almost went horribly wrong for Boonen. “A piece of something hit Theo Bos’s front wheel. I had to swerve, but his handlebars hit my front wheel. I was catapulted from my bike and fell on the side of my head. My helmet was knocked off, causing the impact to land almost entirely on my temple. I was immediately unconscious and bleeding from my ear. At first, bystanders feared the worst. My Polish teammate Lukasz Wisniowski reportedly cried. Theo Bos also burst into tears, he was convinced that I was lying dead on the asphalt.”
Boonen then regained consciousness briefly for a few moments, but was eventually taken to the hospital. “The third time I woke up, I was strapped into the ambulance. I had a brain haemorrhage, a concussion and a fifteen centimetre fracture in my skull. I don’t remember anything from that day, everything was told to me later.”
The Classics specialist then spent two weeks in the Intensive Care Unit. There were fears for his life. “But my skull fracture saved my life. Because it ran through my ear, the blood could escape and no pressure built up on my brain. As a result, I had no permanent brain damage and I recovered quickly. My hearing was affected, but that saved me in a way: otherwise I wouldn’t be here anymore.”
Boonen eventually recovered, but never became one hundred percent himself again. The hearing damage he sustained in the incident is permanent. An operation would have entailed too many risks. The Belgian has now been able to come to terms with it. “Small things helped me the most, such as earplugs in bed: that seemed to move the buzzing more towards the centre of my head.”
“Over time, my brain seems to have adapted to it. The tone is still there, but I can often push it into the background. Also in bed: I usually sleep on my good ear, so that the bad ear is facing outwards, and then it bothers me less. In fact, my hearing loss is what bothers me the most. I like being in noise and commotion, but not in a room with a lot of hubbub: then I can’t follow conversations well. I have also learned to sit strategically at the table, always with my good ear facing the conversation.”
“For some people, that tone is so overwhelming that they have suicidal thoughts. The fact that I was able to get it under control quite quickly, I think, has a lot to do with my experience as a top athlete. Some things just happen to you, you can’t change them. One day I just decided that that buzzing tone shouldn’t rule my life. ‘Let it come,’ I said, and from then on things got better. So that’s possible, you shouldn’t lose courage.”
Boonen still suffering from a crash that happened 9 years ago:
Niels Albert Doesn’t Put Nys Level with Van der Poel and Van Aert, Yet
Thibau Nys won his first major international cyclocross title with the pros. The 21-year-old Belgian took the European title in Pontevedra, Spain on Sunday. Niels Albert is impressed, but does not see this as a new step in his development.
In his regular column for Het Laatste Nieuws, Albert looks back on the European cross championships and Nys’ performance. “Once again, the way he controlled the cyclocross on that Spanish Autovia appealed to me. Just like in Overijse, economical. Controlled. Constantly keeping an overview. And then striking beautifully and mercilessly at the right moment. Does this herald a new phase in his development as a cyclocross rider? I wouldn’t dare to push it that far. Okay, he wins a championship. But that was not a huge surprise. His biggest progress was made last summer with that series of nine victories on the road, more than half of which in the WorldTour.”
“Crossing a new threshold in cyclo-cross would mean: riding to the finish tomorrow with Wout van Aert and/or Mathieu van der Poel and beating him/them in the sprint,” believes the two-time World champion. “We are not going to place him at that level. Again: not yet. Because turn it or turn it how you want: at some point it will go in that direction. I am not talking about equaling, let alone surpassing. But certainly ‘coming close to’.”
“If Mathieu and Wout now appear at the start somewhere and one of them wins, we say: ‘Well, who else?’ With his big engine and tactical capabilities, I can see us doing that sooner or later with Thibau. It is simple: the strength and power that he develops on the road also make him grow further in cross. None of the assembled competition could dream of that for even one second,” Albert thinks.
Nys not at the level of Van der Poel and Van Aert:
Will Mathieu van der Poel Ride Cyclocross this Winter?
All cross fans want to know if Mathieu van der Poel will race in the coming months or not? According to national cyclocross coach Gerben de Knegt in an interview with WielerFlits, the six-time world champion does have cyclocross plans, but he is keeping his options open.
It is not yet clear what the coming months will look like for Van der Poel. “Will I start cyclocross? Maybe. If I knew, I would tell you”, the World champion said at the beginning of October, after his victory at the World Gravel Championships. “We still have to decide.”
National coach, De Knegt: “I haven’t heard anything concrete yet, let’s put it that way. And when he lets you know something, you never know for sure”, he says with a laugh. “Let’s see first.”
“He does have cyclo-cross plans, but the question is whether it fits”, De Knegt continued. “I’ll just wait and see. I understand his idea of skipping a cyclo-cross winter. Knowing him, he would rather not do two or three cyclo-cross races and then do the World Championship. If he does do cyclo-cross, he would like to do more. Then it will be busy again and that will put pressure on your road preparation. He will have to make that decision.”
The 29-year-old Van der Poel competed fourteen times last cyclo-cross season. He was only beaten once, in the World Cup in Benidorm, Spain, where he finished in 5th place, partly due to a crash. At the end of the 2023/24 cyclocross season he took a sixth rainbow jersey and is now only one World title away from Erik De Vlaeminck’s record.
Cross this winter for Van der Poel?
Will Tim Merlier Go to the Tour Next Year?
Soudal Quick-Step hopes to make a bid for the final victory in the Tour de France next year with Remco Evenepoel, but the team also has Tim Merlier on board. The sprinter hopes to participate in La Grande Boucle again in 2025, but has not yet made any clear decisions.
With seven potential sprint stages, it also seems like a Tour de France for the fast-finishers like Tim Merlier. The European champion wanted to participate in the Tour de France this year, but did not fit into the big picture. “Will I go to the Tour next season? I have not yet been informed”, Het Nieuwsblad quotes Merlier.
“I read that they were going to make the puzzle with me there. I hope my piece of the puzzle fits in. I would like to go to the Tour for a second stage victory and secretly dream of yellow. I hope that Bert Van Lerberghe (his lead-out man) can also join us, he can also play a role for Remco.”
Team manager Patrick Lefevere previously discussed Merlier’s chances of the Tour on Sporza. “Seven flat stages, you can’t ignore that, right? We need to think about that carefully. I don’t decide everything, but I would say that it should be possible. Very clear agreements need to be made. But Tim can pull his own weight, he’s a good guy and a lead-out like Bert Van Lerberghe can also protect Remco from the wind. Tim doesn’t feel too good to ride at the front either. I like the exercise. We can only select eight riders. It’s a puzzle for us. Is Remco open to that? Now he says yes. But tomorrow it might be something different. No, he says yes.”
Will Tim Merlier go to the Tour?
Tom Pidcock Goes to Watch Manchester United with INEOS Grenadiers
Tom Pidcock was due to leave INEOS Grenadiers, but now it looks like he will stay. The transfer to Q36.5 Pro Cycling eventually fell through and last Sunday he was with his teammates as spectators to watch Manchester United play Chelsea at Old Trafford. The match ended in a 1-1 draw. INEOS owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has bought shares (25%) in the English football club and hopes to resurrect the team. Sir Dave Brailsford, the former team manager of INEOS Grenadiers, is also involved.
Pidcock must have accepted the fact that he will be with the team for at least another year, although his contract runs until the end of 2027. If he had left, the INEOS Grenadiers were rumoured to be paying some of his wages in the new team, but that fell through. Pidcock’s transfer appears to have failed after negotiations between the rider and INEOS Grenadiers failed. The British team withdrew from negotiations with the Q36.5 Pro Cycling management.
There have been tensions between the rider and the team for some time. This became apparent in the run-up to Il Lombardia. INEOS removed Pidcock from the start list despite his good form. Pidcock showed his displeasure on social media.
Tom Pidcock has been watching Manchester United with his teammates:
Zoe Bäckstedt Gears Up for New Cyclo-cross Season
With the road season behind her, Zoe Bäckstedt will kick off an exciting cyclocross season on Sunday, 10 November. The CANYON//SRAM Racing rider brings her late-season solid form and enthusiasm to the starting line at Lokeren X²O Trophee. After an impressive end to the road season, with a stage win, third in the general classification and winning the youth classification at the Simac Ladies Tour, Bäckstedt feels well-prepared for the unique demands of cyclo-cross and is looking forward to the new season.
“The end of my road season was better than expected,” said Bäckstedt. “It excites me for the cyclo-cross season, knowing I have some good form for the first races. I just need to dial in the technical aspects, and I’m ready to go!”
This season, Bäckstedt’s program includes a packed UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup schedule, with a condensed lineup of races from mid-November until early February. This year’s program will feature multiple double-race weekends, which promises to bring intensity and valuable experience. With a young but steadily progressing career, Bäckstedt is eager to see how she stacks up against her top competitors. “This year’s World Cup program is condensed into less than 2.5 months. That means a lot of intense weekends with double days. I’ve still not had too many full cyclo-cross seasons at the elite level, but I look forward to seeing how I progress.”
A major highlight of Bäckstedt’s season is the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships, set to take place in Liévin, France on February 2, 2025. With a defending U23 title at stake, the British rider is motivated to give it her all. However, the goal for the season extends beyond any one race. “One of the biggest goals will be the World Championships, not too far from my home in Belgium and, fingers crossed, a course that I will find fun!” she said. “But most importantly for this season, it’s just to enjoy it and push all the way in each race. The road season didn’t go 100% to plan, so I want to take each race as it comes.”
Zoe Bäckstedt ready for cross:
Stephen Cummings has Left INEOS Grenadiers
Stephen Cummings has resigned as Director of Racing with INEOS Grenadiers. The former rider made the announcement after months of silence and uncertainty surrounding his position. The relationship between INEOS Grenadiers and the 43-year-old Cummings seemed to be strained for some time. He didn’t go to the Tour de France last season and was also absent from other races in the summer. The British team wouldn’t comment on the situation. Last month, the team announced changes to the technical staff for 2025, without mentioning Cummings.
INEOS Grenadiers was the dominant team in the peloton for years in the Grand Tours, but has been overtaken by Visma | Lease a Bike and UAE Team Emirates and the team has had to make changes.
The riders will be managed by new staff members next year. They are Kurt Asle Arvesen, who is a former rider and DS and was with Team Sky, Leonardo Basso, who rode for INEOS Grenadiers for several years, Tom Helleman is scientist and coach and comes from dsm-firmenich PostNL, Mehdi Kordi is a former track coach, will be Head of Performance Support and Innovation and Luca Oggiano is a leading expert in the field of aerodynamics. The team will soon present a new Head of Engineering and Technology, as well as several additional staff members. “This is a team with a proud and successful heritage. We are all determined to return to the top of the podium,” CEO John Allert said. “Our new performance structure and approach are essential to writing the next chapter.”
Stephen Cummings no longer with INEOS Grenadiers:
Bingoal Stops Sponsoring Pauwels Sauzen
The cyclocross team Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal will continue without main sponsor Bingoal. The gambling company will stop on 1 January 2025 as a result of the changing legislation in Belgium that prohibits gambling sponsorship in sports. The team of Jurgen Mettepenningen has found a temporary sponsor in fruit and vegetable company Cibel, which means that the team will continue as Pauwels Sauzen-Cibel Clementines.
According to Mettepenningen, the collaboration with Cibel is an interim solution. Jurgen De Witte (CEO of Cibel Clémentines) confirmed this at the press conference on Wednesday and said that it would be for a period of six months. During 2025, a company that is currently involved with football will join as the new main sponsor, it was announced. It is not yet known who this will be.
Bingoal will not completely leave the team. The betting company will remain a co-sponsor in a way that is permitted by the rules. Clothing sponsor Vermarc, L.Brador (Swedish company in work clothing) and Quick (fast food chain) will join the Pauwels Sauzen cyclocross team from 1 January 2025.
There has also been changes to the staff: Thomas Joseph will succeed Robby Cobbaert as team DS. The 27-year-old former Tarteletto-Isorex rider will join Mario De Clercq in the team management, and will mainly focus on the road season with the team around leaders Eli Iserbyt and Michael Vanthourenhout. Cobbaert left earlier this year to join the technical staff of Visma | Lease a Bike.
No Bingoal on the jersey next year:
Rik Verbrugghe to Join the New Ridley team
Rik Verbrugghe left Israel-Premier Tech as sports manager in September, but the 50-year-old former cyclist will be joining the new Ridley Racing Team.
Ridley Racing Team is the recently founded off-road team, with cyclocross riders Joris Nieuwenhuis, Felipe Orts, Daan Soete and Lore Sas. The team is very enthusiastic about Verbrugghe. “His years of experience and in-depth knowledge of cycling will play a key role in the ambitious plans for the future”, the team announced.
Ridley and Verbrugghe will provide more information about the exact role that Verbrugghe will play within the team at a press conference on Friday.
The new Ridley Racing Team, a provisional four-man selection with Dutch cyclocross champion Joris Nieuwenhuis as the main leader, should become an off-road team that combines gravel and cyclocross. The project should provide a new impetus in cyclocross. “The last few years you still had two cyclo-cross teams, with a whole bunch of crossers from the Roodhooft camp against them. And in December you had a different kind of season with Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert”, explained Richard Groenendaal, who is the Ridley Racing Team manager.
“But we don’t want to become a cyclo-cross team like we know them in Belgium, with a full cyclocross winter and then a road program in the summer. In addition to a full cyclocross program, many gravel races are also facilitated in the summer. That doesn’t exist in Belgium yet”, concluded Groenendaal.
Rik Verbrugghe to Ridley Racing:
Cédrine Kerbaol Signs with EF-Oatly-Cannondale
Team adds French cycling all-around super talent to roster in 2025
Tour de France Femmes stage winner and one of the biggest prospects in the peloton, Cédrine Kerbaol will race for EF-Oatly-Cannondale beginning in 2025. The 23-year-old French all-arounder is hoping to build on her best season yet and is eager to race in pink.
“This team was something I was always interested in,” Cédrine said. “There are a lot of strong riders here so I’m coming with expectations of doing big things with the team.”
A former U23 and elite French time trial national champion, Cédrine excels on a variety of terrain. In 2023, she earned a silver medal at the U23 individual time trial world championships and was the best young rider at the Tour de France Femmes. This season she added to her already impressive palmarès by winning the Vuelta CV Feminas, Durango-Durango, stage six of the Tour de France Femmes, Chrono Roland Bouge, and closed out her season with a solo victory at Tre Valli Varesine.
“Long, solitary efforts like a time trial or a breakaway are my main strength on the bike. That’s how I like to race. I’m a strong climber and, something I wouldn’t necessarily have said in the past, a strong descender too,” Cédrine said, referring to the downhill masterclass she executed to win a Tour de France Femmes stage this summer. “I try to be balanced. I try to be a bit of everything.”
As the first Frenchwoman to win a stage of the Tour de France Femmes, Cédrine has her sights set on her country’s grand tour.
“I love the Tour de France Femmes and next year the second stage starts in my hometown. I was born in Brest so that’s a really, really big target I’m looking forward to,” she said.
With each season more successful than her last, Cédrine credits much of her success to the lessons she’s learned from the times she’s come up short.
“There are always good things to learn from every situation,” she said. “Of course, when you win a race, you see that things can work a certain way. But when you lose there is plenty to learn. What can I do better next time? What mistakes do I need to not make again? That’s how you learn so much about yourself and about who you are. I find that in this sport, you learn a lot about psychology.”
For Cédrine, cycling is just as much about putting in the hours on the bike as it is about being mentally prepared and knowing herself.
“Racing is a physical challenge but also a mental challenge and I really enjoy this. My dreams are what motivate me. I like to keep my dreams to myself but I want to be the best rider I can be so I am always looking for the best way to get there and, of course, to also have fun,” Cédrine said.
The combination of growth and fun is precisely why signing with EF-Oatly-Cannondale appealed to Cédrine.
“The mood of the team is both familial but also professional. It’s important to me that I feel very comfortable in a team and with EF-Oatly-Cannondale, I really think I’m going to feel at home. And, of course, we’ll have fun! I’ll be back with Nina Berton who signed with the team earlier. She’s a really good teammate and a really good friend, also. I’m excited about this but, honestly, I’m excited about everything for next season,” Cédrine said.
EF-Oatly-Cannondale general manager Esra Tromp is equally excited to have Cédrine join the squad.
“Cédrine is a rider that fits with the DNA of the team. Her style of riding is exactly how we want to race. It’s exciting to watch how she will risk losing in order to give her all for a result. She is an impressive rider and still quite young. We both have big ambitions and I am confident that we will grow and achieve together. Cédrine’s strength and versatility make her the ideal rider to complete our 2025 roster,” Esra said.
Off the bike, Cédrine is passionate about science and nature. She has a degree in nutritional science and loves to read about science. When she has time at home in Brittany, she’ll often drive her van to the mountains to hike and ride.
It was her love of the outdoors and her energetic disposition that ultimately led her to cycling. Growing up in Brest, she took up surfing and dabbled in triathlon before she joined the local cycling club at age 14. Cédrine started out mountain biking and switched to the road within a year or two.
“Being outside is what I love about cycling and that it’s very, very hard,” she said. “I started cycling because I needed to put my energy somewhere and that’s still the case. This is a proper hard sport and I like to suffer.”
We’ll make sure you have some fun along the way, too! Welcome to the squad, Cédrine!
Cédrine Kerbaol to EF:
Giovanni Lonardi will Sprint with Team Polti Kometa for Another 2 Years
In 2022, he debuted with the team by winning the Clássica Comunitat Valenciana. This year, he secured his second victory with Team Polti Kometa (his first ever in a ProSeries race) in the third stage of the Tour of Turkey. Overall, 2024 has been his best season as he achieved a string of top-10 and top-5 finishes in sprints (including a 3rd place in the 11th stage of the Giro d’Italia) and won the points classification at the Tour of Antalya, dominated by his teammate Piganzoli.
Next week, sprinter Giovanni Lonardi will turn 28 and celebrate this step into full maturity with a two-year contract renewal: “I’m happy to continue with this team,” he says, “because I feel great here! The extension through 2025 and 2026 solidifies our mutual trust. I had other offers, but I decided to stay here and I’m certain it’s the right choice.”
Sporting Director Stefano Zanatta: “Lonardi is coming off a positive season where he’s competed well against top opponents. He deserved to win more and we’ll keep working together to increase that tally. We’re on the right track and re-signing a rider like him was an obvious choice.”
Alex Volstad joins EF-Oatly-Cannondale
‘I’m a sprinter but I’m a little bit punchy, too’
Two-time Canadian junior road race champion Alex Volstad will join EF-Oatly-Cannondale next season.
The eighteen year old scaled back track racing in 2024 to focus on road racing, and the change paid off. Alex made ten podium appearances racing across Europe and North America this past season, including successfully defending her junior Canadian road title and adding junior Canadian crit champion to her palmarès.
Alex is still learning where her strengths lie but she knows what she loves to do.
“Descending and sprinting. Anything that goes fast!” she said. “I would say I’m a sprinter but I’m a little bit punchy, too, so I can get over some of the shorter climbs pretty well. I’m developing into a classics type of rider.”
Growing up in Calgary, Alberta, Alex spent her winters speed skating and was looking for a summer sport when she had her first track session.
“I did a ‘try the track’ session in the velodrome when I was 10,” she said. “From there, I got into a kids’ cycling group and I was doing that for fun in the summers, alongside speed skating which was my main sport. Eventually I took the track a little bit more seriously and then I got into mountain biking a lot, plus cyclocross and road.”
As she realised her love of speed didn’t have to be confined to an oval, Alex spent more time riding outside.
“I love the outdoors. I just love exploring places and going as far as I can on my bike and meeting people from all over the world. Honestly, I don’t think anything else could have brought me this far across the world. It’s a unique experience and I just love it so much,” Alex said.
Still a teenager, Alex has navigated major life decisions, like whether to accept an offer to study engineering at university or become a professional athlete, with a maturity beyond her years. EF-Oatly-Cannondale general manager Esra Tromp immediately noticed this quality in Alex.
“I was impressed by her maturity,” Esra said. “She’s a young woman on a mission, who knows what she wants and what she needs. Alex has a really good sprint, has technical ability, and can read a race. Alex is super young. She’ll be a first-year elite next year so we need to make her a program that fits her development. Her great character and great physical capabilities make Alex a perfect addition for our team.”
Alex’s goals for 2025 are as down-to-earth as she is.
“Next year, I just want to learn as quickly as I can and to get the hang of elite racing,” she said. “I’ll help my teammates as much as I can and learn from them as much as I can. I think EF-Oatly-Cannondale will be a great team to help me develop. I can learn a lot from the experienced riders here and the bold style of racing inspires me a lot. I’m not nervous but I am buzzing!”
We’re buzzing too, Alex. Welcome to the squad!
Alex Volstad to EF:
Aidan Buttigieg signs for two seasons with Team Polti Kometa
Maltese rider Aidan Buttigieg will ride in the colours of the Italian team for the next two years, after his good role as a stagiaire in the final part of this season.
Three classics in September and October allowed Aidan Buttigieg to make his professional debut with Team Polti Kometa. An opportunity that was a success and is now confirmed with his incorporation in the squad for the next two seasons. A cyclist who will make a reality the projection of Malta not only as a tourist destination but also as a sporting potential, thanks to a partnership between country and team that is also reinforced for 2025.
“The beginning of the year will be a time to continue learning, to gain experience and to try to take advantage of all the competitions I compete in. All this without forgetting to help promote Malta in all countries and events, which is something that excites me,” says Buttigieg. “The breakaways, and even the opportunities that arise from these racing situations, will be my priority, always at the service of what my team-mates need.”
“Thanks to Visit Malta for their support for the team, to Ivan Basso and Valerio Agnoli, who have allowed something we have worked and strived for over many years to become a reality.” All that remains is the wish that this rider can grow in sporting terms in a project that will accompany that progression.
Stefano Zanatta, sports director: “Naturally, an athlete like Aidan is an ideal incentive to promote Maltese cycling and give prestige to a country that is supporting us more and more. Wearing the national champion’s jersey in competition is also a source of great pride. But beyond this, he is a rider who shows good numbers, he is a fast passista who will find his ideal place in our squad.”
Aart Vierhouten Leaves Q36.5 to Return to the WorldTour
Aart Vierhouten will be working for a WorldTour team again next year. The Dutchman has been a DS with Q36.5 Pro Cycling, but the former rider is leaving the Swiss team for a new job with Bahrain Victorious.
The 54-year-old Vierhouten was a pro rider for more than ten years. In the first years of his professional career, he rode for Rabobank and then Lotto (2002-2005), Skil-Shimano (2006-2007) and Team P3 Transfer-Batavus and successor Vacansoleil (2008-2009). He had victories in Groningen-Münster, Noord-Nederland Tour and the Ster Elektrotoer. Vierhouten retired at the end of 2009 at the age of 39, but he remained involved in cycling. The following year started working as a KNWU (Dutch Cycling Federation) national coach for juniors and U23 until 2013, Vierhouten then went to Vacansoleil-DCM as a DS.
After a few years out of the professional peloton, he returned in 2020 as a DS with the Danish ProTeam Riwal-Securitas. When that team disappeared, he moved to Qhubeka Assos. After the South African team stopped, Vierhouten moved to UAE Team Emirates to be in the team car behind Tadej Pogačar. Vierhouten was only with UAE for one season. He returned to Doug Ryder and his Q36.5 Pro Cycling team. Now Vierhouten is ready for a new challenge, because he will be working for Bahrain Victorious in 2025 with Pello Bilbao, Matej Mohorič, Phil Bauhaus and Santiago Buitrago.
Vierhouten will be joined by Max van der Meulen and Mathijs Paasschens who will be racing their first year with Bahrain Victorious in 2025. “With a mix of young, promising and more experienced riders, Bahrain Victorious has a great selection for the 2025 season. I am really looking forward to sharing my knowledge, experience and energy, in order to support the goals of the team.” Vierhouten saod.
Bahrain Victorious 2025 Team
Nikias Arndt
Phil Bauhaus
Pello Bilbao Lopez de Armentia
Alberto Bruttomesso
Santiago Buitrago Sanchez
Nicolo’ Buratti
Damiano Caruso
Roman Ermakov
Žak Eržen
Afonso Eulalio
Matevz Govekar
Kamil Gradek
Jack Haig
Rainer Kepplinger
Lenny Martinez
Fran Miholjevic
Matej Mohorič
Mathijs Paasschens
Andrea Pasqualon
Xavier Finlay Pickering
Daniel Skerl
Robert Stannard
Thomas Oliver Stockwell
Antonio Tiberi
Torstein Traeen
Sergio Tu
Vlad Van Mechelen
Alfred Wright
Edoardo Zambanini
Max van der Meulen.
Aart Vierhouten – DS with Bahrain Victorious:
FDJ and SUEZ Extend Partnership with Women’s Team
The French women’s team FDJ-SUEZ can count on financial support from its two main sponsors, FDJ and SUEZ. The team announced this on Monday.
The two sponsors are extending their commitment until the end of 2028. This means that the team has financial security for at least four more seasons. The team has been FDJ-SUEZ since 15 July 2022, after the team management, together with SUEZ, a French environmental company, managed to secure a new co-sponsor for the coming seasons. Main sponsor FDJ has been involved with the team since the start.
FDJ-SUEZ had thirteen victories last season, in the UAE Tour Women with Amber Kraak, Liège-Bastogne-Liège was won by Grace Brown and La Vuelta Femenina by Évita Muzic. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig, Marta Cavalli and Grace Brown are leaving, but Demi Vollering is joining the team. The top Dutch rider will lead the team from 2025. Specialized is also joining the French women’s team. The American bike company will pay a large part of the salary of the winner of the Tour de France Femmes 2023, according to WielerFlits. Specialized has been a personal sponsor of Vollering for some time. They will not sponsor the men’s Groupama-FDJ team.
FDJ – SUEZ 2025 Team:
Loes Adegeest
Nina Buijsman
Elise Chabbey
Léa Curinier
Coralie Demay
Eugénie Duval
Célia Gery
Vittoria Guazzini
Amber Kraak
Juliette Labous
Marie Le Net
Lauren Molengraaf
Evita Muzic
Eglantine Rayer
Alessia Vigilia
Demi Vollering
Jade Wiel
Ally Wollaston.
Demi Vollering will race with FDJ-SUEZ in 2025:
Broken Chains for Baloise Trek Lions at the European Championships
Baloise Trek Lions won gold with Thibau Nys at the European cyclocross championships in Pontevedra, but there were also some serious problems in the youth categories. Both Arthur Van Den Boer and David Haverdings lost their chance of a medal due to broken chains. Team manager Sven Nys said in an interview with Het Laatste Nieuws that there had already been some problems.
“We started the day badly with a lot of mechanical failure,” Sven Nys referred to the chain breaks of Van Den Boer and Haverdings. Van Den Boer could forget about a bronze medal in the juniors due to his broken chain, while Haverdings saw his chance of the U23 title disappear due the same problem.
“This season we are riding with a new derailleur group from SRAM, which we have already had problems with in training,” Nys explained. “They fixed those problems, delivered new chains and then the problem went away, but apparently not. We need to investigate that: chains are not supposed to break when a rider puts a lot of force on the pedals.”
After Van Den Boer and Haverdings’ misfortune, Sven Nys was afraid that his son Thibau would also have chain problems during the elite race. “I shouted at Thibau during every passage in the pits to be careful. ‘Don’t put too much force when accelerating. Your chain might break.’”
Caution was indeed required, Thibau confirms. “With two laps to go, I changed gear and my chain fell between the spokes and the cassette. I thought it was over for a moment, but it’s a matter of staying calm.” And he did stay calm. Nys junior stayed ahead of Felipe Orts, beating the Spaniard in the final lap and taking the European title.
Arthur Van Den Boer broke his chain:
Charles Liégeois Roastery CX Supports Cyclocross in Wallonia with the Challenge Bensberg
Team Charles Liègeois Roastery CX, the only professional cyclocross structure in Wallonia since 2020, reinforces its commitment to the promotion and development of cyclocross in the region. Together with its title partner from the Liège province, the team supports the organisation of the Challenge Henri Bensberg and rewards the best Woman and best Junior from Brussels or Wallonia in the final classification with an invitation for a training camp with the team.
The Henri Bensberg Challenge is the benchmark regularity criterion in Wallonia, organised for nearly twenty years with the support, among others, of the province of Liège. Composed of twelve events, the challenge is becoming increasingly successful with more than 2 800 participants last winter in the categories U8 to Masters C. The kick-off of the sixteenth edition took place on Saturday October 12th in Libramont, not far from the branch of Charles Liègeois Roastery.
The best Woman and Junior from Wallonia or Brussels in the final classification will have the opportunity to learn alongside the professionals and from the advice of double world champion Bart Wellens during a training camp with Charles Liégeois Roastery CX. In this way, the cyclocross branch of the structure of Jean-François Bourlart wishes to encourage young Walloon riders to practice the discipline. The initiative emerges in parallel to the existing projects of the Ardent Group Cycling Academy, which supports various Walloon youth clubs on the road with material and financial means.
Cédric WILLEMS (Secretary Challenge Henri Bensberg): “Since 2006, with the Challenge Bensberg we have been working tirelessly to develop cyclocross in Wallonia. Especially for kids, by offering free participation for all categories under 15 and by organising separate rankings for girls. The increasing number of participants, as we have seen again recently during the first race in Libramont, confirms the success of our approach. Thanks to the projects of Charles Liégeois Roastery CX, we can take our ambitions even further. Together, we are working towards a future in which cyclocross in Wallonia will become even more popular and where young talents will have the opportunity to develop. We are also happy to have the Charles Liègeois Roastery on board. Thanks to this new partner, we can make our races even more attractive for both participants and spectators. Together, we want to shape the future of cyclocross in Wallonia.”
Jean-François BOURLART (CEO): “Developing young cyclists, particularly in Wallonia and Brussels, has been a priority for Intermarché-Wanty for many years already. For several seasons now, the Ardent Group Cycling Academy has provided financial and material support to the development clubs which are affiliated to the cycling federation of Wallonia-Brussels. Our cyclocross team exists since 2020, but the talent pool in the south of the country remains relatively limited. We keep a close eye on the Bensberg challenge, so it’s only natural that we support young Walloon talent and offer them the opportunity to discover the highest level within our structure. I hope that thanks to this partnership with Charles Liégeois Roastery, we will be able to welcome many Walloon riders in the coming seasons, and professionalise this discipline in the south of the country.”
Calendar Challenge Henri Bensberg:
12/10 Libramont
20/10 Orp-le-Grand
27/10 Malmedy
1/11 La Reid
3/11 Soiron
9/11 Banneux
17/11 Soumagne
1/12 Hélécine
8/12 Flemalle
14/12 Hannut
22/12 Waremme
29/12 Verviers.
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