It’s our pre-Classics cycling news summary, taking a moment during this lull to ask you, our readers: Who will be cycling’s premier rider after Tadej Pogačar? Plus we look not-so-far ahead, to Saturday’s Omloop het Nieuwsblad; south, to the Tour du Rwanda — and inside my garage, where I’ve been heat training. But don’t worry…we’ll get back to classic EuroTrash in no time!
TOP STORY
- Reader Poll: Who’s Up After Tadej?
RACE NEWS
- Visma’s 1-2 Punch at Omloop: Brennan & van Aert
Tour du Rwanda 2026: Four Stages Down (and I Miss it Already)
TEAM, RIDER AND CYCLING NEWS
- Van der Poel Launches Spring Campaign at Omloop
- Powless to Miss Classics for Knee Surgery
MIKE’S RIDE OF THE WEEK
- Heat Training on Rouvy
READER POLL: WHO’S UP AFTER TADEJ?
In Monday’s EuroTrash we featured young riders whose top-tier performances in early-season races appear auspicious: Maybe, we proposed, one of these youngsters might soon have a shot at winning major races: Classics, or even the Tour de France.
So this week we ask you, our readers: Who has the best shot?
Which is to say: Barring accident, injury or illness, which rider in today’s peloton — besides Pogačar — will first stand on the top step of the podium?
Will Paul Seixas realize his home nation’s dream and become the first Frenchman since Hinault to win the Tour? Or will Isaac del Toro get there first? Will Remco exorcise his mountain demons and leverage his aero bullet-ness — or maybe Ayuso’s new Lidl lease on life is real, and will translate into Tour success?
We leave it to you. Please respond to the poll below: We’ll track your responses — and we’ll hold you to them — however many years it might take to get our answer.
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.
RACE NEWS
Visma’s 1-2 Punch at Omloop: Brennan & van Aert
Visma | Lease a Bike is hoping to erase recent memory of a trouble-ridden early season by bringing two powerful puncheurs to the Classics opener, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad: up-and-comer Matthew Brennan and veteran Wout van Aert.
Heading into the 2025 Classics season, Brennan surpassed even the lofty expectations that his team and the public held for the promising young rider, winning GP de Denain and the challenging Volta a Catalunya, and riding very strongly at Paris-Roubaix.
While Brennan will also ride Sunday’s Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne (Mike’s note: I just can’t believe these guys who ride back-to-back Classics!), his teammate will focus solely on Omloop, before riding Le Samyn on March 3rd. Visma’s typically coy management and PR teams haven’t named a team leader for Omloop, but you can bet they — like we — are rooting for van Aert: Most of us last saw the Belgian on the road when he won the final Tour de France stage into Paris; now, having recovered remarkably rapidly from an ankle fracture suffered in a cyclocross race, any spring success would write a compelling comeback story.
Of course, hopes and dreams may well be moot, now that van Aert’s longtime rival Mathieu van der Poel has announced that he will line up at Omloop (see below). Far from recovering from injury, when we last saw the Dutch rider, he was trouncing all comers at the cyclocross World Championships, and his relative silence since suggests he’s taken his Classics season run-up seriously.
As cycling fans, we’re just hoping for a good race.
Tour du Rwanda 2026: Four Stages Down (and I Miss it Already)
Those of you who followed my dispatches from Kigali last September — standing shoulder to shoulder with Rwandans on a cobbled hill, hollering for every rider regardless of their flag — will understand why the arrival of the Tour du Rwanda in my feed felt like running into an old friend. The Land of a Thousand Hills hosted the world last fall, and pulled it off impeccably. Now it’s hosting the world again, in a rather different register — and the race is already delivering.
Stage 1 set the tone: Itamar Einhorn of NSN Development Team took the sprint in Rwamagana after 173 kilometres from Rukomo, edging young Spaniard Hodei Muñoz of Soudal Quick-Step Development. Stage 2 brought a second straight win for NSN, this time through Pau Martí, who took the bunch sprint in Huye. Two stages, two wins for the same team — the kind of early dominance that makes a race director nervous and a neutral fan curious.
Then came Stage 3, and the race cracked open beautifully. Dutch rider Jurgen Zomermaand of Picnic PostNL attacked on the descent toward Rusizi and held on to win — the kind of audacious move that would have had the crowds along those hillside roads erupting, much as they erupted for Pogačar and Evenepoel and Healy just a few months ago. Zomermaand also pulled on the leader’s jersey, with teammate Matteo Vanhuffel slotting into second: a Picnic PostNL one-two.
Stage 4, Karongi to Rubavu: Belgian Matthijs De Clercq (no relation to Tractor Tim, as far as I can tell) won the sprint, but Germany’s Moritz Kretschy did just enough to claim the overall lead.
Four stages still to go. I’ll be watching from home this time — but watching closely.
TEAM, RIDER AND CYCLING NEWS
Van der Poel Launches Spring Campaign at Omloop
Following an intensive preparation period, Mathieu van der Poel has announced his early-spring schedule.
It’s a familiar plan, one that leaves us fans who were hoping he might make a run at Strade Bianche disappointed. But looking at these first four races and beyond, to Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, there’s plenty of room for exciting results — and showdowns with Tadej Pogačar.
Powless to Miss Classics for Knee Surgery
On Monday, Neilson Powless underwent a successful operation to remove inflamed tissue from his left knee. He will require eight to twelve weeks to recover from the surgery. The American is disappointed to miss the classics, but encouraged that he is now on the road to full health.
“At least now we can say that the problem is solved and I can move forward with a clear path of recovery,” Neilson said.
“It is extremely disappointing to be missing out on the classics. I was excited to try some new races this year. I had a plan of races I wanted to target and do well in, so this is a big disappointment. This spring will be a recovery period for me.”
Knee inflammation hampered Neilson throughout the winter. After delaying the start of his season, he was able to put together a block of pain-free training and make a return to racing at the Tour de la Provence; however, pain returned on the third stage of that race, and Neilson was forced to stop.
EF Pro Cycling Head Doctor Jon Greenwell expects Neilson to make a full recovery and be ready to resume training in eight to twelve weeks.
“Surgery to remove the inflammatory tissue gave us a much better chance of a permanent fix,” Greenwell said. “The operation went well, and after the eight- to twelve-week recovery window, Neilson will be able to return to riding with no long-term impairment from the injury.”
MIKE’S RIDE OF THE WEEK: HEAT TRAINING ON ROUVY
Not every ride can be an epic underground 100-mile race or a spectacular climb overlooking the ocean. Sometimes you just have to grind out the miles — in your garage.
Looking for some edge as I move into the latter half of my 50s, and not being willing to give up drinking beer, I’ve added heat training to my regimen. No continuous body temperature monitors here: I just layer on two sweatshirts, tights, a scarf and a hat and get good and sweaty.
The fan is off and there’s warm water in the bottle.
Allow me to be blunt: It sucks. But my first time on lifelike Rouvy helped, as did the smooth ride on my Wahoo Kickr Core. And since my Rouvy course was in virtual Sweden, I pedaled to ABBA’s tempos.
And: no complaints about the weather. It’s been raining — but no blizzard conditions here in Northern California. I’ll be riding outside soon enough.
Winter temps got you down? Check out this video review of Hotel Dory, a premier bike hotels located in Riccione on the Adriatic Coast, and start dreaming of a warm cycling vacation in Italy!
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