The countdown is on
Pro cycling closes in on the showpiece event of the year
Hey there readers. I feel an apology is due. Every time I start a post, I feel that way. My consistency is frankly not what I’d like it to be. I could give you a list of excuses as long as the average sized human arm, because 2026 has been a bit of a shit show by comparison with your standard annum, but you don’t want to read my excuses. You signed up to read my thoughts on the world of pro cycling, and as such, I feel it’s high time I expressed some of those in the form of a Substack post. Here goes then…
Things about cycling I’ve been thinking about lately…
I’m not calling it a preview. I don’t have the time or mental capacity to put together any such thing at the level of detail required to do a decent job, and plenty of reputable sources out there are doing just that. This was going to be a post with a few random thoughts but it turns out that when you’re writing about cycling at the end of June, all thoughts lead to the Tour, no matter how random. As such, this post is divided into three: a reflection on one of the major stories at this year’s men’s race, a consideration of the contenders ahead of the women’s, and an overall contemplation of the broadcast coverage, specifically in the UK. Let’s start with France’s nascent hope…
Seixas’ turbulent Dauphiné dress rehearsal offers more insight than a win would have
The Seixas experiment continues at pace, and with the Tour de France just over a week away now, many fans invested in the story of his meteoric rise may be unsettled by his withdrawal from the Tour Auvergne-Rhone Alpes two weekends ago following a crash that left him unable to complete the race (yes I know I called it the Dauphiné in the title, because that’s what it is, the end).
The week was billed as a dress rehearsal for Seixas, ahead of what will undoubtedly be the most mind-blowing experience of his brief 19 years, as the chaotic circus of La Grande Boucle detonates on him in July. Though he DNF’ed the race, the dress rehearsal served its purpose, in a number of more subtle ways: a greater press presence than the earlier season races he’d attended; a chance to race a team time trial, in preparation for stage 1 in Barcelona; and the opportunity for the young Frenchman to practice a prudence in his racing style that we’ve previously not seen. Following in the footsteps of the exuberant, attacking style of his primary rival Tadej Pogačar, the Lyon native’s youthful energy and raw talent has seen Seixas easily find his way off the front of races, dropping rivals at will, but in preparation to ride his first three-week Grand Tour, it was an exercise in restraint that was required in the Alps.
Three weeks of racing takes its toll and a Grand Tour is a brand new reality for Seixas to grapple with: reigning himself in will be vital, and he managed it well. He stayed close to his rivals and used his teammates effectively, keeping his prodigious talent under wraps. He wasn’t able to make the difference over his primary rival Isaac Del Toro the one time the two went head-to-head on stage 6, but it’s probably not worth reading too much into this. There was a sense of the pair waiting for the final huge double-header in the mountains to fully open the taps.
That never happened, unfortunately. The next day, disaster struck. Seixas crashed early in the stage on a descent, in a moment he described as ‘idiocy’, and spent the rest of the day fighting back to the front of the race, using his team incredibly well, then completing the final climb alone in a truly gutsy effort, one which saw him collapse into his father’s arms in exhaustion at the finish line, blood leaking from both elbows. He withdrew from the race the following morning. His injuries, though superficial, were too severe to be worth pushing himself through a difficult final stage.
His wounds will heal, and though he was hyped as the pre-race favourite, his withdrawal from the race should not be seen as a missed opportunity. The lessons learned under the strain of adversity will be far more valuable to Seixas than a week spent coasting at the front of a lesser race. The rollercoaster of a Grand Tour is an experience which cannot be replicated, but the various events of the race formerly known as the Dauphiné will go a long way to filling in some of the gaps in the French hopeful’s racing resumé.
As for Del Toro’s dominance, ahead of his debut at the Tour, it confirms - in case we weren’t already sure - that the UAE Team Emirates line-up will be an ominous prospect. With Pogačar in the best form of his life (in his words), winning by a ridiculous 6:32 margin at the Tour de Suisse last week, it’s not outlandish to state that the yellow jersey is already his, barring incident or accident. Beyond that remains a very real possibility that the team could also challenge for second place. Jonas Vingegaard has proven he’s ready, following his emphatic Giro victory, and will as usual be the favourite for runner-up. The Red Bull pairing of Remco Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz is a bit of an unknown quantity, with Remco opting out of build-up races, and Paul Seixas is riding in his first Grand Tour with an immense amount of pressure of his shoulders. Despite the range of potential second-place finishers, Del Toro looks as good a bet as any one of them, to do a one-two for UAE.
Will this Tour be one for the ages? Personally, I don’t think so. It feels more like a step on the path to something more nuanced in the future; so long as Pogačar is in his pomp, we’re only going to see one outcome. It’s the Tour, of course – there will be many a side quest, fun moment and surprise stage winner to keep us interested throughout the three weeks – stay with me for more on my plans to bring the action to you.
Dynamics in women’s peloton continue to fascinate ahead of Tour
There’s an impending sense of doom lurking at the periphery of the women’s cycling fandom this year. Formerly the dominant force in the bunch, Team SD Worx-ProTime’s dominion has been reduced down to one dimension this year – Lorena Wiebes’ imperious and unrivalled sprinting prowess – and yet the rise of FDJ United in their stead could perhaps be viewed as troubling to fans who were looking forward to a broader spectrum of winners after the great 2025 transfer reshuffle.
Demi Vollering has followed up a turbulent couple of seasons with a rock solid first half of 2026, and with victories in cobbled Monuments, Ardennes classics, stage races and Grand Tours, she is well on her way to recording her most successful season yet, and looks almost unbeatable in days featuring serious climbing.
This record will be somewhat marred if she is outperformed on the roads of France in August, however. While Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney has had a quieter year she can never be ruled out of peaking for the biggest race of the year. Marlen Reusser is on the rise, having recently shown her resilience to win the Tour de Suisse. Anna van der Breggen has proven she is returning to her former strength, and rising star Paula Blasi is already a force to be reckoned with in her first full season as a pro. Elisa Longo Borghini is still dangerous on her day, and the likes of Niamh Fisher-Black, Sarah Gigante, Cédrine Kerbaol, Kim Le Court, and more lurk on the periphery, capable of springing surprises and upsetting big names if circumstances go their way
The greatest challenger however, for Vollering and the rest, will be the reigning champion. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot’s single-minded focus on winning the Tour should scare every rider in the bunch. She may not have had the spring success that she enjoyed last year in her first season back, but she still managed to record podium finishes at Flanders and Roubaix, and while she was anonymous at the Vuelta, the lack of race days on her 2026 record thus far simply means she’s been out of sight, preparing towards her biggest goal of the year. Seeing the different routes taken as the women head towards the biggest race of the year is fascinating, but speaking at Rouleur Live last year the Frenchwoman was unequivocal in her commitment to winning her home Grand Tour, and if her preparations last year were meticulous, this year she threatens to be on another level again.
Whatever happens, the women’s race promises to be far more intriguing in GC terms than the men’s – but when it comes to the Tour, there’s nothing new there.
Free-to-air ‘solution’ for UK viewers is a diluted substitute
Following the loss of the ITV coverage of the Tour de France, this week TNT announced a partnership with Channel 5 to bring Grand Tour highlights free to air for UK viewers, along with plus full coverage of the 2027 Grand Départs in the UK.
It’s good news of course. Some coverage is better than no coverage. But it’s still pretty frustrating in other respects. The way the news has been reported in some UK cycling media makes it sound like the problem is solved. Highlights are good, but it’s nothing like the level of coverage that we have enjoyed free-to-air up until this year. This diluted offering will appease casual fans, but it leaves the more committed cycling fans stranded and disconnected. We are perhaps a small minority. A dying breed, perhaps, if nothing more can be done. Across Europe, fans can watch every minute of the men’s Tour de France (not all of the women’s, granted, which is a separate issue). It’s a crying shame that British cycling fans won’t be able to watch stages in their full glory, as much of the excitement of a Grand Tour stage takes place from flag drop – personally I adore a good breakaway formation, and on those days where a breakaway fights for the win, it’s often front-loaded in terms of action. So much nuance is lost to partial highlights, and though the ITV crew were top notch at creating the narrative of each day’s action in their package, I’ve not found the same to be true from the Eurosport (latterly TNT) offering, which tends to show just the final section of the stage, often missing much of the all-important context.
I proposed a project to try and bring audio coverage to a British audience – a kind of audio-based watch-a-long type scenario – a ‘Test Match Special’ for cycling, for those familiar with the excellent BBC cricket show. Unfortunately it’s too late to pull together anything meaningful now, and in addition, the audience for it is no longer as broad, given the latest news - some fans really will be happy enough with just an hour of highlights a day, and therefore garnering the funding needed to make it a worthwhile venture will be next to impossible.
Maybe this year I will just be enjoying the race as a fan, after all. I’m planning on upping my game on this Substack though – a daily post, perhaps one every other day depending on how it goes – and I hope viewers unable to watch stages in full will find the kinds of details within these newsletters that they would miss in a highlights package, alongside broader analysis and opinion on the action.
If you’d like to support me in this endeavour, you can buy me a coffee, or upgrade your subscription to a paid tier, helping me to justify my unemployment during the biggest event on the calendar. It would be greatly appreciated - just click the button below - I’m reducing prices for the duration of the Tour de France as a special offer.