Welcome to Daily News, your roundup of news items from across the world of cycling. We keep this post updated throughout the week so that you can stay informed on all things bike racing, tech, industry, culture, advocacy, and more.
Here is what is making the headlines this week …
Monday, February 10, 2025
- Pogačar recons Roubaix cobbles
- Kooij's Tour dreams leave his future at Visma-Lease a Bike uncertain
- Wildcard hopefuls acknowledge high stakes of invitations
- Winner's Circle: Gaudu climbs to the race lead in Oman
- National e-sports champions crowned in four countries
Pogačar recons Roubaix cobbles
Tadej Pogačar is set to start his 2025 racing season one week from now at the UAE Tour, but he was already making headlines on Monday simply by going for a training ride. The world road champion and former Tour of Flanders winner spent the day reconning some key cobbled sectors of the Spring Classics – including the Trouée d'Arenberg of Paris-Roubaix.
"Guess the place," Pogačar wrote to caption an Instagram video of him riding the famous Arenberg Trench, apparently shot by teammate Tim Wellens. Pogačar had already spent the morning riding parts of Tour of Flanders route.
The UAE Team Emirates-XRG captain has said that adding another win at the Tour of Flanders is a key goal for his spring campaign, but he has never raced Paris-Roubaix. Monday's training ride would certainly seem to suggest that he is considering making his debut in the French one-day in April, although it could just be that he likes keeping people guessing.
Daniel Benson wrote on X that UAE's Joxean "Matxin" Fernández said that "Paris-Roubaix remains off Pogačar's race programme for 2025 at this moment in time."
Kooij's Tour dreams leave his future at Visma-Lease a Bike uncertain
Like most sprinters, Olav Kooij is hoping to one day put his speed on display at the Tour de France, but as Visma-Lease a Bike focuses on Jonas Vingegaard's yellow jersey dreams, it is not clear whether there will room on the team's Tour roster for Kooij any time soon. For now, Kooij is set to race the Giro d'Italia this season, and racing director Grischa Niermann has told Sporza that Kooij's future with the team after his contract expires this year is unclear.
"I cannot say at the moment that Olav will definitely stay with our team 100%," Niermann said. "It is about opportunities and money, we will discuss that during the season." [Sporza]
Wildcard hopefuls acknowledge high stakes of invitations
As second-division teams await word of wildcard invitations to the Grand Tours for 2025, Wielerflits spoke to a few of the highest-profile ProTeams to provide some context for what those invitations mean for the teams that are not guaranteed participation in the sport's biggest events.
TotalEnergies sports director Thibau Macé summed up what is at stake for his team as it waits on the ASO to decide who to invite to the upcoming Tour de France: "We are a French team. We have French sponsors. For the French, the Tour is one of those two or three top events in the world that we drop everything for, along with the World Cup and the Olympic Games. All the riders, teams and sponsors want to be part of that. If that doesn’t work out, it’s a disaster for us." [Wielerflits]
Winner's Circle: Gaudu climbs to the race lead in Oman
David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) ascended to victory and the GC lead on Monday's stage 3 of the Tour of Oman. The 28-year-old Frenchman outkicked Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates XRG) by one second at Eastern Mountain, with Damien Howson (Q36.5) taking third on the day, five seconds back. Gaudu now has a six-second lead over Yates in the overall standings with two stages to go.
The Asian Continental Championships are underway this week as well. Uzbekistan's Yanina Kuskova (who races for Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi most of the season) took the women's individual time trial title ahead of the UAE's Safia Alsayegh and Japan's Tsuyaka Uchino.
National e-sports champions crowned in four countries
The world of e-sports cycling continues to expand with national championship races in four countries the last two weeks. In the US, Hayden Pucker delivered a dominant display, sealing victory with a 20 km solo break. Kristen Kulchinsky defended her title to become the second back-to-back winner in four USA Cycling-sanctioned e-sports national championships. Thomas Thrall and Tiffany Penner took the Canadian national championship wins. In Denmark, Julie Marckmann Sørensen also clinched her second straight title, while Asger Paaske Frederiksen took the men’s title. Mike Sōderstrom and Johannes Randrop Keldig claimed Swedish national titles.
Three of the four races were hosted on MyWhoosh (Denmark was on Zwift), and Denmark and Sweden’s events were also shown on broadcast TV in the respective nations. –Chris Schwenker, e-sports correspondent
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