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Articles by Caley Fretz
Lidl-Trek announces 15-rider junior team for 2027
Nov 5, 2026 Lidl-Trek announces 15-rider junior team for 2027 Lidl-Trek has announced its 15-rider junior squad for 2027. The team will race under German registration, and more than half of the riders are from Germany. Most of the riders will keep racing for their club teams in their home countries and join Lidl-Trek Junior Racing for major races. “We don’t want them flying every week. We want to keep them focused on their studies and in their own environment,” team manager Markel Irizar said.
World champion Laura Stigger and Specialized split after eight years
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UCI releases 2027 World Series schedule
A shorter calendar with fewer North American stops for next year. Mountain Bike News & Racing Mountain Bike World Cup Caley Fretz 29th Oct 2026 The full calendar for the 2027 Whoop UCI World Series was released Thursday, detailing a shrinking in the overall number of stops for both cross-country and downhill, as well as a pivot away from multiple North American XC rounds. Did we do a good job with this story?
Lidl-Trek launches a women’s development team for 2027
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Danish pros, including Mads Pedersen, testify in image-rights case against HBO Max
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Why Mads Pedersen is suing HBO Max
Caley Fretz 28th Oct 2026 Kristof Ramon When it comes to publishing an athlete’s likeness, what exactly is editorial, anyway? That question is at the center of a lawsuit filed with the Maritime and Commercial High Court in Copenhagen by five professional cyclists, plus seven athletes from outside cycling, claiming that HBO used their images to advertise its coverage of the 2024 Paris Olympics without their consent or payment.
Colombo outsprints Beers, Preen solos to stage 2 win at Nedbank Gravel Burn
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How to attend the 2027 Tour de France: The complete guide
Caley Fretz 23rd Oct 2026 Caley Fretz, Cor Vos, and Gruber Images You need to go to the Tour de France, at least once. Stand on the roadside and feel the wind rise as the peloton whips past, as if it's created its own weather system; wander just past a finish line and come within feet, maybe inches, of the pros as they search for their team bus; hang out on a mountain all day, wine and cheese in hand, with thousands of fellow cycling fans. The Tour is incredible.
I'm worried my Cannondale might outlive Cannondale
Caley Fretz 21st Oct 2026 Caley Fretz Do you have one? I have one. A bike I’ve had since I was 14. It’s raced crits, in cyclocross national championships, been turned into a singlespeed, then a two-speed, fenders on, fenders off, ripped through downtown with piddly little lights after beers at the Downer and trudged through snow to the old VeloNews offices for a decade’s worth of winters. Everyone has a Cannondale story.
Ganna signs with Lidl-Trek, terminating Netcompany-Ineos contract
Ganna signs with Lidl-Trek, terminating Netcompany-Ineos contract Filippo Ganna has joined Lidl-Trek on a three-year deal through 2029, terminating his Netcompany-Ineos contract early. The Italian time trial specialist had one year remaining on his contract with Netcompany-Ineos but opted to expedite his departure after eight years with the team. Ganna is the eighth signing for the German squad as it transitions from the Luca Guercilena era to new leadership under former rider Andy Schleck.
Track star Richardson pulled from Worlds amid misconduct investigation
Track star Richardson pulled from Worlds amid misconduct investigation Matthew Richardson was Great Britain's surest bet at the track world championships this week, but he is instead on his way home. British Cycling withdrew Richardson from its Worlds squad following a report in The Times that claims the 27-year-old is under internal investigation for serious misconduct, including alleged racial abuse.
Escape Collective tire testing: A simple guide to picking the best road tire
Caley Fretz 19th Oct 2026 Ronan Mc Laughlin Three hundred and four. That's how many times Ronan Mc Laughlin rode the same stretch of Irish road between April and June. That's about 430 km of riding, generating 73 usable test runs and, finally, 8,000 words of copy on this here website. You really should read all 8,000 of them, the full tire testing methodology and deep dive into the outcomes. That story is all about the process, and the why and how behind the numbers. This story is not.
The perfect layback: How Jarno Widar beat Pidcock and Jorgenson
Members Only The small thing Jarno Widar did exceptionally well. News & Racing Analysis Jarno Widar Tom Pidcock Matteo Jorgenson Caley Fretz 6th Oct 2026 Cor Vos Sometimes, and particularly in Italian autumn as the leaves begin to fall and things begin to slow down, it's important to take a moment to appreciate a small thing done exceptionally well. Jarno Widar, 20 years old, won the Tre Valli Vallesine today.
Stages' new SB200 smart bike is built to wobble
Oct 5, 2026 Stages' new SB200 smart bike is built to wobble A bit of wobble (intentional) and a lot less weight headline Stages new SB200, the first major launch from the company since it was purchased by Giant last year. The new SB200 (US$2,399 / £2,199 / €2,399) is the brand's first new smart bike since the SB20 helped launch the category in 2019.
Sit down, City fans. Let me tell you what it was like to be an American cycling fan after Lance
Caley Fretz 1st Oct 2026 Where were you for Oprah? I was at the Tour Down Under. With the time change, it was Friday, January 18, 2013. Around lunch. I was in the press room, and we gathered around an iPhone as the man everyone in that room knew had been lying to us for years finally told somebody the truth. I was never a Lance Guy. But I knew plenty of Lance Guys. I have friends who were Lance Guys, maybe even still are.
Philippe Gilbert has a race radio idea
Sep 30, 2026 Philippe Gilbert has a race radio idea Speaking to the podcast Le Peloton, retired pro Philippe Gilbert suggested a solution to the decades-old race radio debate: give two riders per team an earpiece, rather than the whole squad. “What I proposed was having a maximum of one or two riders per team acting as captains,” Gilbert said. “We’d have a leader and a captain, that would be interesting." Those two riders would have the responsibility to communicate to the rest of their teams.
Pogačar won't race the Euros, for real this time
Pogačar won't race the Euros, for real this time After a string of claiming that Tadej Pogačar was set to make a shockingly quick return from his Vuelta a Espana crash injuries, we finally have clarity: he was not named to Slovenia's European Championship squad. So he's not racing, and will not defend his European title. Primoz Roglič, who animated last weekend's Worlds road race, will lead the Slovenian men's contingent.
Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney signs for Lidl-Trek
Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney signs for Lidl-Trek Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney has officially signed for Lidl-Trek on a contract that runs through the 2028 season, her new team announced Tuesday. Niewiadoma-Phinney claimed overall victory at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift in 2024 and has finished on the podium four other times. "I am super excited about the next two years.
How Team USA won the Worlds before it started
by Caley Fretz Sep 27, 2026 More from Caley Fretz + Matteo Jorgenson sat in pre-Worlds training camp across the border in Vermont and tapped way at a plan, the sort his team usually makes for him. Tactics, some analysis. An American winner was his goal, whether it was him or not. On an overcast, blustery Sunday in Montreal, his countrymen followed it nearly to the letter. Brandon McNulty became the first American to win an elite world road championship since Lance Armstrong in 1993.
How Ashlin Barry went off script and won U23 Worlds on his 19th birthday
News & Racing The 19-year-old went up the road on lap two, against his team's plan, and he stayed there to become the first American U23 world champion. by Caley Fretz Sep 25, 2026 More from Caley Fretz + Cor Vos The crowd sang happy birthday as Ashlin Barry jumped up on the podium on Friday, all six-foot-three of him, half-Canadian, half-American, but with the stars and stripes on his shoulders.
Rapha CEO Fran Millar has left the company
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Derek Gee out of home world championships
Derek Gee out of home world championships Derek Gee has withdrawn from his home Worlds, according to Cycling Canada. The Canadian from Osgoode, Ontario was set to lead his nation in the men's elite road race on Sunday, but will be unable to start after a crash at the GP Montreal. He will be replaced by NSN's Guillaume Boivin.
Ezra Caudell is awake and off ventilator eleven days after Philly Classic crash
Ezra Caudell is awake and off ventilator eleven days after Philly Classic crash Modern Adventure's Ezra Caudell is awake and off the ventialtor for the first time since his crash at the Philadelphia Cycling Classic eleven days ago, his team announced via a press release on Thursday. Caudell sustained significant injuries in the crash, including a concussion and severe chest trauma.
WTB launches aero gravel tires with claims of 13 watts saved
WTB launches aero gravel tires with claims of 13 watts saved WTB has launched three new tire models, each claiming significant aerodynamic efficiency gains thanks to updated sidewall shaping. The tires were developed with Stromm, the aero shop behind this crazy road bike, and the purported gains are significant.
Philly Classic set to return in 2027
Philly Classic set to return in 2027 The Philadelphia Cycling Classic will be back in 2027, according to a social media post from the race's organizers. The post on Instagram is simply a carousel of images with "The Classic lives on. 2027" written across them. No additional detail has yet been provided. The Classic returned this year after a 10 year hiatus and was by all accounts a roaring success, bringing back the atmosphere and quality racing that made the race so popular more than a decade ago.
And on this day, we shall Alabelieve no more
by Caley Fretz Aug 21, 2026 More from Caley Fretz + Gruber Images I will remember for the rest of my days the roar that went up as Julian Alaphilippe turned left onto a narrow road in Pau, the final short, sharp climb of a time trial that was supposed to be his downfall. On his narrow shoulders the maillot jaune sat, for stage upon stage, over mountains that should have stripped it, and now through the race of truth.
Police affidavit details crash that killed two Milligan cyclists
Police affidavit details crash that killed two Milligan cyclists A newly released police affidavit claims that there is "no physical evidence" that John Benfield, 69, the man charged with two counts of vehicular homicide in the deaths of Haylan Engdahl and Brayden Rogers, hit the brakes before crashing into the group of eleven Milligan College cyclists.
Celebrating 20 years of “The Long Game” with Durango Devo
Young riders participate in a Durango Devo push bike practice at Oxbow Park. (Courtesy Durango Devo) DURANGO — In the winter of 2005, Chad Cheeney walked into the Durango Arts Center wearing a Fort Lewis College football jersey and a clip-on tie over his collar. Beside co-founder Sarah Tescher, the 20-year-old held a clipboard and pitched a handful of local families on a new concept for youth mountain biking. "The parents thought I was a little loose," Cheeney recalled with a laugh.
NSN's Finlay Tarling dies following Volta a Portugal crash
News & Racing Tarling was 19 years old and crashed in stage eight of the race. by Caley Fretz Aug 14, 2026 More from Caley Fretz + Finlay Tarling, a rider with the NSN Development team, has died following a crash on stage 8 of the Volta a Portugal, the race announced Friday. Tarling was 19.
Junior TT champ Arens makes mid-season swap away from Picnic
Junior TT champ Arens makes mid-season swap away from Picnic Junior time trial champion Megan Arens has terminated her contract with Picnic Post NL by mutual agreement and will ride for AG Insurance-Soudal, according to a statement from her new team.
The Long Game: 20 years of Durango Devo
Durango Devo coach Rob Nichols watches a high school gravity group. (Courtesy Aleks Gajdeczka/Durango Devo) Winter, 2005. A small handful of Durango bike families got a call, told to meet at the Durango Arts Center. They sat around a few small tables and in walked Chad Cheeney after co-founder Sarah Tescher’s introduction, barely past 20 years old, wearing a Fort Lewis Football jersey, fake tie clipped loosely against his collar, hair slicked over, clipboard in hand. Like a coach from the movies.
Did Kasia get pushed into the barriers? Questions and quotes from stage 7
by Caley Fretz Aug 8, 2026 More from Caley Fretz + Gruber Images What a difference 24 hours makes. Yesterday, Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney was on top of the world, pulling on yell0w, her first-ever Tour stage win in hand. Demi Vollering was slumped over at the top of Mont Ventoux, farther from victory than she had been when the day started, but behind a different rider. Today, they've swapped. Vollering in yellow, Niewiadoma-Phinney in second, a mere eight seconds back.
Did Vollering and Reusser mark themselves out on Ventoux? Questions from Stage 7
Tour de France Femmes The race leader asked Vollering to stop attacking, but would it have made any difference? by Caley Fretz Aug 7, 2026 More from Caley Fretz + Gruber Images, Cor Vos Fortune favored the bold on Friday, as Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney tore up the slopes of Mont Ventoux and took enough time out of Marlen Reusser and Demi Vollering to slip on the yellow jersey on the barren top of the Giant of Provence.
Tour Femmes: Vollering pushes GC contenders to the brink in stage 5
by Caley Fretz Aug 5, 2026 More from Caley Fretz + On a medium mountain stage most tipped for a breakaway, we instead found out who thinks they can win this Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. The true contenders came out to play while the defending champion faltered. No longer on the list of contenders is Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, the defending champion, who lost 2:35 after cracking when Demi Vollering attacked on the Cat 3 Col de Durbize.
The sprinter you should never write off writes herself back into yellow
by Caley Fretz Aug 1, 2026 More from Caley Fretz + Gruber Images Two years ago, in Rotterdam, Lorena Wiebes was supposed to win, supposed to pull on the first yellow jersey of that Tour. It was written in stone, we all assumed; the best sprinter in the world was obviously going to dominate a sprint stage on home soil, in front of thousands cheering in orange. In the end, she did not. This year, in Lausanne, Wiebes was not supposed to win.
Did Decathlon show Seixas he should stay?
by Caley Fretz Jul 27, 2026 More from Caley Fretz + Gruber Images It took nearly 2,500 meters of climbing, an entire hors-catégorie climb, and most of the Col du Télégraphe before one of the biggest men in the peloton finally cracked. Daan Hoole, all six-foot-four of him, was still there when the GC group thinned to 80, then 50, then 40 — present, just in case, for whatever Paul Seixas might need.
ITA responds, but doesn't explain its overnight Tour tests
by Caley Fretz Jul 20, 2026 More from Caley Fretz + EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France — The International Testing Authority (ITA) has responded to the growing furor over its pair of overnight anti-doping tests at the Tour de France early Sunday morning, but did not fully explain why those tests took place.
Remco's gamble pays off
by Caley Fretz Jul 20, 2026 More from Caley Fretz + IBIS BUDGET WITH RATS, France — Zak Dempster stood at the bottom of the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe bus steps, still in his team polo, and tried to explain a bike race that stopped resembling the one his team planned for about eight kilometers from the top. "This morning, we mainly set out with the idea of securing Remco's place on the podium," he said.
What really caused Vingegaard's crash?
by Caley Fretz Jul 19, 2026 More from Caley Fretz + Let's make one thing clear: The crash that took Jonas Vingegaard out of the 2026 Tour de France was a racing incident. It was not due to a middle-of-the-night anti-doping wakeup and subsequent sleep loss, as Tadej Pogačar speculated in his post-race press conference, nor was it really the fault of the TV motorcycle riding in front of the peloton and slowing at the wrong time, as was posited by Visma-Lease a Bike sports director Marc Reef.
Anti-doping comes for Pogačar and Vingegaard in the middle of the night
by Caley Fretz Jul 19, 2026 More from Caley Fretz + Anti-doping authorities conducted unannounced doping controls for Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar early Sunday morning, disrupting the sleep of the Tour de France's leading duo. Vingegaard was tested first, around 2 am, and testers arrived at Tadej Pogačar's door at 5 am. Both riders confirmed the tests and timing in the Tour's mixed zone prior to Sunday's major mountain stage.
Why Vingegaard keeps pulling for the men who beat him
by Caley Fretz Jul 19, 2026 More from Caley Fretz + Gruber Images, Cor Vos Sepp Kuss did what he could, putting on the grimace we've all gotten to know over the past few seasons, sunglasses propped into his helmet, his tell that this is everything he's got. Behind, a group of the race's top favorites hung on: Lipowitz, then Pogačar in yellow, then Kuss's teammate Vingegaard, then Seixas, Del Toro, Evenepoel, Ayuso.
Mauro Schmid rides the wave
by Caley Fretz Jul 17, 2026 More from Caley Fretz + Cor Vos BELFORT, France — Mauro Schmid’s teammates keep reaching for the same idea, expressed in different words. "He's the Swiss Army Knife," Luke Plapp said of his Jayco-AlUla teammate after stage 13 of the Tour de France.
What week one of the Tour told us, and what's coming up
Here's your Rest Day Ledger. by Caley Fretz Jul 13, 2026 More from Caley Fretz + Did we do a good job with this story?
A stone in Tom Pidcock's shifter and a stage 9 podium
Tour de France A tiny rock nearly ended Tom Pidcock's stage 9, but a spare button kept him in the mix. by Caley Fretz Jul 12, 2026 More from Caley Fretz + Tom Pidcock kicking the everloving s— out of his rear derailleur was probably not the image that drivetrain sponsor SRAM was hoping for out of stage 9, but the American component brand can rest easy: This was an act of God, or at least freak physics. And in fact, a key attribute of SRAM's shifters ended up saving the day.
Everyone is losing their minds over Paul Seixas, except Paul Seixas
by Caley Fretz Jul 10, 2026 More from Caley Fretz + Gruber Images, Cor Vos We are getting a sense, seven days into the Tour de France, that the most relaxed contender for the podium is the rider who should be anything but. The nineteen-year-old, the next great French hope, perhaps the only man in France not on his own hype train, Paul Seixas. With the Pyrenees behind us, the real story isn't whether Seixas can climb with the favorites, as he's already shown he can.
Torstein Træen and the two kinds of luck
by Caley Fretz Jul 9, 2026 More from Caley Fretz + Kristof Ramon, Cor Vos PAU, France — The yellow jersey sat on the ground in the middle of a Tourmalet corner, hunched over, and put his hands on his head in that universal physical expression of "what have I done?" A moment's inattention on a descent is all it took. Uno-X Mobility teammate Anders Halland Johannessen took the normal racing line into one of the Tourmalet's many switchbacks: a late brake point, start wide, cut in, end wide.
A doomed breakaway is its own sort of success for hard-luck Lotto-Intermarché
by Caley Fretz Jul 8, 2026 More from Caley Fretz + Cor Vos, Gruber Images PAU, France — Rarely has a mission been so doomed as Baptiste Veistroffer's was in stage 5 of this Tour de France. Nobody thought he was going to win Wednesday's stage. Not his Lotto-Intermarché team, not the peloton that let him go without a second thought, and probably not even Veistroffer himself. On a day drawn up for the sprinters, a lone breakaway on the flatlands to Pau put the doom in doomed.
Pogačar, who gives no gifts, gives a gift
by Caley Fretz Jul 5, 2026 More from Caley Fretz + Gruber Images A throng encircled the UAE Team Emirates-XRG bus, where Tadej Pogačar cooled down on a stationary trainer. For once, they weren't there for him, a fact he seemed to enjoy. They were waiting. One handed him a Mexican flag; he draped it over his shoulders, then led them in another iteration of the cheer that had risen a handful of times already in the last five minutes. "Pogi, hermano, Tadej es Mexicano," the crowd yelled.
Twelve seconds, two years in the making
Tour de France Jonas Vingegaard is back in yellow with a narrow margin, and the first hint that the legs might truly be back. by Caley Fretz Jul 4, 2026 More from Caley Fretz + Gruber Images BARCELONA – Twelve seconds. That's the margin Jonas Vingegaard put into Tadej Pogačar in the opening stage of the Tour de France on the streets of Barcelona on Saturday. In the thick, tattered ledger of a three-week race, it is almost nothing.
Oscar Onley is officially out of Tour with shoulder injury
Oscar Onley is officially out of Tour with shoulder injury Oscar Onley will not race the Tour de France this year, his Ineos-Netcompany made official on Thursday. The 23-year-old, who finished 4th at last year's Tour, crashed in the Tour of Auvergne Rhone Alps (formerly Dauphiné) a week and a half ago and suffered a significant shoulder injury. He flew into a ravine on a descent during stage 6 and was caught in a tree prior to rescue.
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