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Skalniak-Sójka tops Jackson in a photo finish at the first women's Maryland Cycling Classic
Agnieszka Skalniak-Sójka (Canyon-SRAM-Zondacrypto) won the first ever women's race at the Maryland Cycling Classic on Saturday in a photo finish with Alison Jackson (EF Education-Oatly).
Skalniak-Sójka and Jackson jumped clear of the peloton alongside Jackson's teammate Clara Emond and Emma Langley (Aegis Cycling Foundation) late in the race and then battled for the win in the sprint. Skalniak-Sójka went first on the finishing straight and just barely held off Jackson in the end, with Langley rounding out the podium.
Dujardin proves fastest out of a small group to win the Maryland Cycling Classic
Sandy Dujardin (TotalEnergies) powered to his first pro one-day victory on Saturday in Baltimore at the Maryland Cycling Classic, the lone UCI ProSeries event in the United States and thus the highest-ranked race on the American cycling calendar.
The 28-year-old Frenchman was part of a high-powered breakaway that included some of the biggest names in the race, and he triumphed in a seven-rider sprint ahead of Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) and Marius Mayrhofer (Tudor).
Kate Courtney and Keegan Swenson win Marathon MTB World Championships
Americans dominated the 2025 Maraton MTB World Championships on Saturday in Switzerland, with Kate Courtney winning the women's event and Keegan Swenson the men's.
Courtney led for the entire 125 km race and crossed the finish line three minutes and 44 seconds ahead of Anna Weinbeer of Switzerland and almost five minutes ahead of Mona Mitterwallner of Austria.
Swenson was fourth at the first checkpoint but worked his way up to the lead halfway through the race. In the end, he won by 25 seconds over Samuele Porro of Italy and three minutes and 42 seconds ahead of Hector Leonardo Peaz Leon of Colombia.
The course boasted 5,025 metres of elevation gain, more than Leadville 100, which Courtney and Swenson also won earlier in the Summer.
Simac Ladies Tour: Bäckstedt wins stage 6 ITT, Wiebes holds onto overall lead
After winning the first four stages of the Simac Ladies Tour, Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) was finally knocked off the top step of the podium on Saturday, but was able to hold onto the overall race lead with one stage remaining.
Zoe Bäckstedt (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) won the fifth stage, a time trial, six seconds ahead of Christina Schweinberger (Fenix-Decuninck) in second, and 17 seconds ahead of Ellen van Dijk (Lidl-Trek) in third.
After four road stages, three of which ended in a sprint, the 10 km time trial ended with no major moves in the general classification. Previously, the most impactful stage was the third, when a group of 17 riders finished seven minutes and 45 seconds ahead of the peloton.
Wiebes, who finished ninth in the time trial 33 seconds behind Bäckstedt, held onto her lead by 48 seconds over Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek), who moved into second. Bäcksedt moved into third overall, 51 seconds down, and Megan Jastrab (Picnic PostNL) slipped off the podium into fourth on the same time as Bäckstedt.
2024 runner-up O'Connor abandons the Vuelta on stage 13
Jayco-AlUla's Ben O'Connor, who rode to second overall at the 2024 Vuelta a España, pulled out of this year's race on Friday's stage 13 before hitting the final climb, the Alto de l'Angliru.
O'Connor had lost considerable time on Thursday's stage 12, seemingly dealing with nagging pain after crashing earlier in the week.
Wiebes wins fourth straight stage at Simac Ladies Tour
Lorena Wiebes won again at the Simac Ladies Tour, her fourth straight stage at the six-stage race. This time, the finish was actually a close one, with Chiara Consonni (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) coming second behind the race leader and Shari Bossuyt (AG Insurance-Soudal) third.
Despite many attempts to take advantage of some brief crosswind sections, the fourth stage came down to a bunch sprint in Alkmaar. Wiebes leads by 30 seconds over Megan Jastrab (Picnic PostNL) and 34 seconds over Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) going into the time trial on Saturday.
Having been ridden to the top step of the Tour de France Femmes by Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, the new version of Cervelo’s lightweight race bike has hardly been a secret.
Now officially released, the new R5 boasts significant weight savings from its predecessor. Now, with a frame weighing a claimed 651 grams (size 56 cm) and a fork weighing 298 grams, the new frameset is 100 grams less than before, while an additional 150 grams is saved in the new one-piece HB18 handlebar.
The other notable update is in the geometry, where the fit numbers now match up to the company’s S5 aero bike. Speaking of fit, there are 15 different handlebar and stem size options, and Cervelo recently introduced a program that encourages dealers to change the bar (where a different fit is needed) at no extra cost.
With a single-tier frame, all options in the R5 range are high-end. At US$14,250 / €13,000 / AU$18,500 / £11,000, the top-tier R5 Red 1, built with SRAM Red XPLR 1x, is claimed to weigh just 5.97 kg (without pedals). Meanwhile, the lowest-priced option in the range is the R5 Force, priced at US$9,950 / €9,000 / AU$13,800 / £8,500. Framesets are priced at US$6,500 / €5,700 / AU$8,500 / £5,000.
Froome's crash injuries were worse than initially known
When Chris Froome was airlifted to a hospital last week after a training crash, his Israel-Premier Tech's medical update mentioned several serious injuries including multiple rib fractures and a pneumothorax. But as his wife Michelle told The Times, that wasn't the extent of the damage.
According to Michelle Froome, her husband also sustained a tear in the pericardium, the lining around the heart, a type of blunt-force trauma sometimes seen in car crashes. The injury can be life-theatening. "It was obviously a lot more serious than some broken bones,” Michelle said. “He’s fine but it’s going to be a long recovery process."
The extent of the injury raises more questions about whether Froome will race again professionally. Earlier this season he'd expressed his wish to continue in 2026, but he is out of contract after this season and has not been publicly linked to another team. The crash is the second incident in which he's sustained career-threatening injuries, after a fall during recon for a time trial at the 2019 Critérium du Dauphiné left him with a broken femur. [The Times]
US bike imports slide 25% due to tariffs
US bicycle imports fell 25% year-on-year in the first half of 2025 to just over four million bikes, with Q2 alone down 35% due to the new tariff rules that took hold, Bike Europe reports. China's June shipments dropped 74% from a year earlier, and the overall second quarter of 2025 exports from China were similarly down 55%.
Meanwhile, imports from Cambodia were up 80% year-on-year, and Taiwan held its place as the high-end supplier, exporting about 200,000 units in the first half of the year, with an average Q2 unit value of US$692 versus US$41 from China.
Zwift rolls out cheaper Click v2 controllers and a stack of autumn updates
Zwift has launched its new Click v2 controllers and a bunch of seasonal changes to its virtual training platform, including AI-powered recommendations and a big New York map expansion.
The new Click v2 set costs £50 / US$50 / €50 and bundles with the Zwift Cog v2 singlespeed trainer adapter, allowing for virtual shifting. The coin-cell powered controllers house menu navigation, steering, four action buttons, and virtual shifting, and Zwift says they now work on drop, flat, or aero bars. Click v2 will also ship with selected 'Zwift ready' smart trainers.
On the software side, Zwift is introducing AI ride recommendations (November), which feed you personalised routes and workout suggestions, RoboPacer sessions, and events based on your goals and recent training load. Zwift also says its post-ride "progress report" has been updated with clearer fitness, goals, and status summaries, and weekly goals can now auto-adjust.
World updates include the largest New York expansion for a while: 31 km of new roads and 16 rideable routes. Zwift also says its racing is now fairer with "score decay," which basically adjusts your form accordingly if you haven't raced in 30 days, optional categorisation by 30-day best score, and new anti-bot/anti-cheat detection.
Ornot NOT Cargo Bib Shorts
When Escape published the Collective Favorites article focused on bib shorts, a variety of folks responded with a desire to try Ornot's product. However, they were ruled out by many because of the presence of cargo pockets. Well, today, Ornot has released men's and women's NOT Cargo Bibs for the leg pocket-averse riders out there.
Constructed in the same way, with the same materials, as Ornot's Cargo Bibs, the Not Cargos feature recycled fabric, supportive compression, low-profile grip, and a high-density endurance chamois pad. And while side cargo pockets have been avoided, there are still two pockets stealthily placed on the back strap panel. NOT Cargo Bibs are available in black for men in sizes XS-XXL and for women in XXS-XXL with a "droptail" design. Pricing is US$208.
Scott updates its Addict endurance road bike
Scott has launched a new iteration of its flagship endurance road bike, the Addict. The Swiss brand claims that this bike takes "a fresh approach focused on comfort, versatility, and ride experience", and as such it is claimed to be 50% more comfortable than its predecessor.
The new Addict frame – which comes in the top-tier HMX and HMF carbon fibre layups – has clearance for 38 mm tyres, and features a new in-frame storage which is accessed from below the down tube, near the bottom bracket, plus mounts for a bolt-on frame bag.
Despite the Addict being the more endurance-focused version of the Addict RC (which we just reviewed), there are quite a few trickle-downs from that top-tier race bike. Scott says the Addict matches the RC's head-tube and bottom-bracket stiffness, and its fit is set so that riding the new Addict with 0 mm spacers mirrors the position of an Addict RC with 35 mm of spacers. It also retains the same 27.2 mm steerer standard used on the RC.
But unlike the Addict RC, the new Addict comes with a UDH dropout and with a two-piece cockpit as standard. Sizes range from 47 to 61, and compared to the previous generation Addict, the 2026 model comes with a 5 mm higher stack and 5 mm shorter reach. The bottom bracket drop is lower, and the chainstays are 2 mm shorter at 418 mm.
There are six models available in the lineup. Four of them come with the HMF carbon frame, while the Addict Premium and Addict 10 get the HMX layup. Pricing starts at £2,249/2,599€/US$2,799 for the Addict 50 model, and goes up to £6,500 / 7,500€ / US$7,700 for the Addict Premium.
Lorena Wiebes cannot be stopped at the Simac Ladies Tour, wins third straight stage
Lorena Wiebes of SD Worx-Protime won her third straight stage at the Simac Ladies Tour on Thursday. This time, the race leader sprinted to victory from a group of 17 that got away from the peloton early in the race thanks to some strong winds. At the finish, the gap to the lead group was over seven minutes ahead of the peloton.
Megan Jastrab (Picnic PostNL) continued her stellar run at the WWT stage race, finishing second on the stage, and Amalie Dideriksen (Cofidis) finished third. With the result, Jastrab moved into second overall, 20 seconds down, with Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) in third, 24 seconds behind Wiebes.
A lot of GC favourites who missed out on the move are likely out of contention for the overall win going into the fourth stage. Riejanne Markus, who had gained time on her rivals on Wednesday, will not be able to make up over seven minutes on Wiebes in the 10 km time trial on Saturday. Cat Ferguson (Movistar) was one of the top riders for the overall in the first group, along with Margaux Vigie (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Lily Williams (Human Powered Health).
Pidcock vents frustration after protests derail stage 11 of the Vuelta
Tom Pidcock vented his frustration after stage 11 of the Vuelta a España was called off 3 km from the finish line due to protests, denying him a shot at a stage victory in Bilbao.
"It's hard to describe the disappointment, to be honest," he said, as Domestique reports. "I felt like today was my day, I feel like there should always be a finish line, we are not riding a fucking sportive, are we?"
Pro-Palestinian demonstrations had already impacted this Vuelta but they saw a significant increase in intensity on Wednesday, when organizers decided that there were to many protestors at the finish line to safely race.
"Putting us in danger isn't going to help your cause, that simply isn't going to help what they are protesting for," Pidcock said. "Everyone has got the right to protest whatever they want, but putting us in danger is not the way forward." [Domestique]
Lorena Wiebes wins again at Simac Ladies Tour
Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) won the second stage of the Simac Ladies Tour on Wednesday after winning the opening stage on Tuesday. The stage was split due to crosswinds, and a group of nine riders came to the line together. Second behind the race leader was Clara Copponi (Lidl-Trek), while Megan Jastrab of Picnic PostNL finished third.
Lidl-Trek swapped their sprinters for the stage, with Elisa Balsamo performing the leadout for Copponi. Other riders in the group included their teammate Riejanne Markus, one of the strongest time trialists in the bunch, as well as Linda Zanetti and Maria Giulia Confalonieri of Uno-X Mobility. Margaux Vigié was the sole representative of Visma-Lease, a Bike to make it up the road.
Wiebes initially had three teammates in the move with her. Femke Markus finished at the back of the group of nine, and Barbara Guarischi and Elena Cecchini finished 18 and 23 seconds behind after some significant work for their leader.
Cat Ferguson brought the peloton across the line 44 seconds behind the Wiebes group.
Polar has introduced a new Loop "wellness" band that tracks activity, heart rate and sleep without a screen or a subscription.
The Loop logs steps, active time, workouts, and sleep using Polar’s Precision Prime sensor, then syncs to the free Polar Flow app to present the data. The band allows for activity tracking either manually or automatically, and can store up to four weeks of data offline. The claimed battery life is up to eight days.
The concept closely mirrors screen-free wearables like the Whoop band, but Polar's has made its band a one-time purchase costing US$200/£150/180€, whereas Whoop requires an ongoing membership for its metrics. [Polar]
No Worlds for reigning champ Kopecky
Reigning world road champion Lotte Kopecky will not be defending her title in Kigali, Rwanda, next month. The Belgian national team released its Worlds roster selections on Tuesday, with Remco Evenepoel headlining the men's team but without Kopecky on the women's side. The 29-year-old enjoyed an early success this year with her third career victory at the Tour of Flanders, but injuries took their toll on her later-season goals and she struggled to make an impact at the Tour de France.
"We need to give Lotte plenty of time to recharge, unwind, and sort things out," said coach Ludwig Willems, as Sporza reports. "Then I'm convinced we'll see an improved version of Lotte in the foreseeable future."
Wiebes unbeatable as Simac Ladies Tour opens
To exactly no one's surprise, Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) won the opening stage of the Simac Ladies Tour, dominating a bunch sprint after 11 laps of a sprinter-friendly circuit around Leuven, Belgium on stage 1, but only after a late catch of a persistent breakaway.
Lidl-Trek was active early and often with breakaways but it was Visma-Lease a Bike's Margaux Vigie and Pfeiffer Georgi (Picnic-PostNL) who eventually went clear with 28 km to go and dangled off the front until they were caught just 200 meters from the line. Elisa Balsamo and Clara Copponi rounded out the podium for Lidl-Trek. Stage 2 is another circuit, 125.4 km around Gennep, with a profile that favors the fast finishers.
Pinarello has released a full update to its F-series road bikes – the F9, F7, F5, F3, and F1. The new framesets feature trickle-down tech from the Italian brand's flagship race bike, Dogma F, which was launched last year, while the rest of the lineup remained unchanged.
Now, the updated F-series gets the same, lighter E-TICR headset with refined cable routing, a new aero headtube, slimmer ONDA fork, and a redesigned rear triangle claimed to improve stiffness and handling.
Away from the frameset, the Talon Fast integrated cockpit has been revised, with a compact Aero KEEL bottom bracket with 32mm tyre clearance, and a front-positioned seat clamp for a cleaner aesthetic and better protection from sweat and dust.
Three framesets span the range, with the F9 and F7 employing T900 carbon, the mid-range F5 and F3 use T700, while the entry-level F1 adopts T600 carbon, aimed at reducing cost and increasing compliance.
Groupset options are Shimano Dura-Ace, Ultegra, and 105 Di2, as well as SRAM Force AXS, paired with wheelsets from Pinarello's in-house brand MOST and DT Swiss, depending on the model.
As far as weight is concerned, Pinarello claims 7.4kg for the F9 through to 8.5kg for the F3 (F1 weight was not communicated ahead of launch).
Prices start at €3,400 / £3,000 / US$3,250 for the F1 and top out at €11,000 / US$11,000 for the F9 (not available in the UK).
Ayuso: 'I was quite tired and couldn't help the team much'
João Almeida lamented a lack of team support in the aftermath of stage 9 of the Vuelta a España, but fellow UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider Juan Ayuso told reporters that he was unable to offer much assistance.
"I was quite tired and couldn't help the team much. I'm not in the fight for the overall, so there's no point in pushing for the sake of pushing," Ayuso said, as Marca reports. "I wouldn't have been there. Pushing for five more minutes makes no sense." [Marca]
De Lie sprints to Bretagne Classic victory
Lotto's Arnaud De Lie has put his fraught start to the 2025 season well and truly behind him, this weekend adding the Bretagne Classic to recent Renewi Tour overall victory.
The dynamics of the French WorldTour one-day vary year on year, with solo winners almost as likely as a reduced sprint, and late-summer weather often playing a role. The elite men got away with significantly better conditions than the women 24 hours earlier, and perhaps because of that, the bunch that contested the finale was still unusually large.
That said, they nearly lost out to a strong quartet comprising former winner Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ), Maxim Van Gils (Red Bull-BORA hansgrohe), Louis Barré (Intermarché-Wanty) and McNulty (UAE Emirates XRG) who led into the final kilometre, but they were caught after failing to spread the work.
The numerous sprinters present still had teammates on hand despite the frantic run-in. Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike) was first to launch hard and fast as the road lifted towards the line, but De Lie timed it perfectly to surge ahead of the Dutchman, who faded enough to let a fast-finishing Emilien Jeannière (TotalEnergies) slip through to snatch second on the line.
Jenny Rissveds and Luca Martin take XCO World Cup wins at Les Gets
Two weeks out from the World Championships in Switzerland, Jenny Rissveds and Luca Martin took big wins at the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in Les Gets, France.
Rissveds' victory in the elite women's event was a definitively dominant display from the freshly minted European continental champion who went solo in the first lap. Alessandra Keller took second a minute 12 seconds later, with Samara Maxwell taking third.
The men's race was more hotly contested, with Frenchman Luca Martin, Luca Braidot and Mathias Flückiger duking it out at the front. They were briefly joined by Mathieu van der Poel in the later laps, but the Dutchman couldn't hold on for long after a tough chase lasting over an hour. Braidot was the first to attack at the start of the final lap, but home favourite Martin rallied.
Van der Poel finished sixth in the end, while fellow multi-terrain superstar Puck Pieterse scored 10th in her return to MTB.
Elite women's top 5
Jenny Rissveds 1:12:01
Alessandra Keller +1:12
Samara Maxwell +1:32
Rebecca Henderson +1:38
Martina Berta +1:51
Elite men's top 5
Luca Martin 1:22:03
Luca Braidot +0:12
Mathias Flückiger +0:19
Alan Hatherly +0:32
Simone Avondetto +0:45
'I don't have to train, I get to ride my bike': Arnaud De Lie reborn
A week after holding off Mathieu van der Poel to take the Renewi Tour title, his biggest win to date, 23-year-old Arnaud De Lie has reflected on his tough start to 2025.
"In the winter, when training started, everything was going well. Then I got sick," De Lie told Het Laatste Nieuws in an interview published 30 August. "That wasn't so bad in itself, but for some reason, I was hit hard afterward ... I lost the desire to exert myself and my love for cycling. At the top level, that's fatal. All the pieces have to fall into place before you can perform."
De Lie took his first victory of the season at the beleaguered Étoile de Bessèges, but his spring was derailed by struggles intermittently attributed to overtraining and mental fatigue. He was back to strong form in time for the Tour de France, five times appearing in the top seven, and then it was time for the Renewi Tour.
"I feel like I'm making physical progress, but even more importantly: I look at the sport differently," De Lie said of what's changed. "I don't have to train, I get to ride my bike. During that difficult period, it was a battle every morning to get up and get on my bike to go training. But I had to find that little spark again ... And now I'm reaping the rewards. Every morning I know I'm going to have fun on the bike." [Het Laatste Nieuws]
After his recent success on home soil, De Lie's next race is Sunday's Bretagne Classic, then he heads to happy hunting ground for the Canadian one-days, returning to the GP Québec two years after winning on debut.
Isabella Holmgren dominates Tour de l'Avenir Femmes
20-year-old Canadian Isabella Holmgren has been crowned winner of the third edition of the Tour de l'Avenir Femmes, reversing the fortunes of herself and Frenchwoman Marion Bunel who got the better of the Canadian in 2024.
Holmgren pulled on her first yellow jersey after a dominant victory in the opening day's Prologue, taking a 17-second lead out of a three-kilometre uphill time trial to Tignes 1800. The Under-23 mountain bike world champion then kept out of trouble until the race returned to the mountains proper, going head to head with U23 French national champ Bunel on the short stage 5a where the pair took two minutes 46 seconds out of nearest rival Talia Appleton of Australia.
Holmgren outkicked Bunel for the win at La Rosière, then made it a double day with stage 5b, a 10.3-kilometre mountain time trial. The yellow jersey took over a minute out of next-best Appleton, with Bunel 1:11 down in third but easily holding on to second overall.
Paul Seixas is the first French Tour de l'Avenir winner since Gaudu
Decathlon-AG2R's young Frenchman Paul Seixas has joined an elite club of cyclists to have won the Tour de l'Avenir, or Tour of the Future, often considered the foremost gauge of senior potential on the under-23 calendar. Other winners include Tadej Pogačar, Egan Bernal, David Gaudu, Nairo Quintana, Laurent Fignon, Miguel Induráin and Greg Lemond.
Seixas was one of the handful of riders on the startlist who have already made the step up to WorldTour, indeed the 20-year-old has already finished in the top 10 at the Dauphiné. He came into the Tour de l'Avenir, then, as one of the top favourites, despite illness keeping him from his planned altitude camp earlier in August.
Wins in the uphill time trials that book-ended the race laid the foundation for his victory, along with consistent performances in the mountains, where his main rival Jarno Widar – Belgium's prolific 19-year-old GC hopeful – stamped his claim for the title, going back to back on stages 5 and 6a, and ultimately securing second overall. In third place was 20-year-old Norwegian Jørgen Nordhagen, one of Seixas's WorldTour contemporaries over on the Visma-Lease a Bike squad.
Final GC Top 5
Paul Seixas (France) 18:51:01
Jarno Widar (Belgium) +0:40
Jørgen Nordhagen (Norway) +0:44
Lorenzo Finn (Italy) +0:47
Maxime Decomble (France) +1:20
Froome 'recovering' after surgery following training crash
Chris Froome (Israel-Premier Tech) is "in good spirits" and on the mend after undergoing surgery to treat injuries sustained in a training crash that left the four-time Tour de France winner with numerous broken bones and a collapsed lung.
"We can confirm that Chris has successfully undergone surgery following his recent injuries," read a post shared to his social media accounts. "The procedures went as planned and Chris is currently recovering in hospital unde the care of his medical team."
Sarah Roy to retire after Simac Ladies Tour
Sarah Roy announced on Friday that the Simac Ladies Tour will be her final race as a professional cyclist. Roy has been racing for over a decade, with wins at the Navarra Classic, Tour of Britain, and Bretagne Tour. She won the Australian National Road Race in 2021, one of her top results to date. Her first big win was at the Simac Ladies Tour in 2016, when she took the fourth stage from a group of 14 while racing for Orica-AIS. She raced for the Australian team from 2015 to 2021 before joining Canyon-SRAM for two years.
Roy spent the 2025 season with EF Education-Oatly, where she stepped into the role of a mentor. Next week, she will return to the Netherlands, where she rode for her first UCI team, Team Futurumshop.nl, back in 2013.
Canyon CEO steps down as founder Roman Arnold takes leadership role
Canyon has announced that its founder Roman Arnold will return to an operational role as the company's executive chairman from 1 September, following the departure of current CEO Nicolas De Ros Wallace.
De Ros Wallace joined the German direct-to-consumer brand in 2022 after a career at Nike, and is said to leave "by mutual agreement". Speaking to Bicycle Retailer and Industry News, Canyon confirmed that Arnold will take on De Ros Wallace's responsibilities, with no plans to appoint a new CEO.
Arnold founded Canyon in 1996 and sold a majority stake to Belgian investment firm Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (GBL) in 2020, while keeping about 40% share of the business. In the press release, Arnold said he is returning to strengthen Canyon's roots and shape its future.
During De Ros Wallace’s tenure, Canyon's annual sales doubled to nearly US$934 million. But more recently, the brand has faced headwinds: GBL substantially devaluated its Canyon investment at the end of 2024, and reported the company's first-half 2025 sales down 5%, EBITDA down 30%, and it made a net loss of US$5.8 million.
FDJ-Suez sign Lauren Dickson through 2027
FDJ-Suez announced on Thursday the addition of Lauren Dickson to their 2026 team. The British rider signed a two-year deal with the French team after turning heads at the Tour of Norway in June. The contract is Dickson's first with a WorlTour team. She rode for Handsling Alba Development team in 2025, and guest rode for the same team in 2024. Dickson is new to the road scene, having only started racing in 2024. She comes from a trail running and triathlon background.
"I am very excited and honoured to be turning professional with FDJ-SUEZ for the next two seasons. I really admire their racing style, team spirit and professionalism. Combined with their investment in performance development and their ambitions, it is the ideal place to continue learning and progressing while giving my best for our leaders," Dickson said in a statement from FDJ-Suez.
Twenty TotalEnergies bikes stolen overnight
The wave of mass bike thefts in pro cycling continued overnight as Team TotalEnergies reported that 20 of its ENVE bikes were stolen from their hotel at the Tour Poitou-Charentes en Nouvelle Aquitaine. The French ProTeam was forced to scramble replacements ahead of the stage three time trial.
The theft follows similar incidents in recent weeks: Visma–Lease a Bike lost 18 bikes at the Vuelta a España, while Cofidis suffered two separate thefts during July. The thefts represent a serious financial and logistical blow, but TotalEnergies has pledged to take the start line regardless.
