Welcome to Escape Collective. Please select your language.
Please note that this is an automated translation and it will not be perfect. All articles have been written in English and if anything appears to not make sense, please double check in English.
Max Poole had hoped to continue his 2025 campaign at the Vuelta a España, but Picnic-PostNL has announced that the up-and-coming Brit will miss the race after he was diagnosed with Epstein-Barr after abandoning the recent Tour of Poland.
"It’s been difficult few weeks trying to work out what the situation was and I appreciate the support the team has given me during this period," Poole said. "I’m pretty relieved to now understand the root of the problem as it means that I can start to focus on recovery and getting my health back on track. I’m really disappointed to miss the team at the Vuelta, and wish them the best of luck there."
Vink and McCarthy claim individual titles at $1 million MyWhoosh Esports stage race
The second edition of the US$1 Million MyWhoosh Championship wrapped up Tuesday, August 19, with verified results now in. The seven-stage event featured time-based GC, Team, KOM, Sprint, Masters, and a Young Rider Competition for all six categories.
On the men’s side, 346 starters battled across 273 miles (440 km) and climbed 17,388 feet (5,300 m). The women’s field saw 198 starters cover 211 miles (340 km) with 12,467 feet (3,800 m) of elevation gain – all for equal prize money.
After more than nine hours of racing, New Zealand’s Kate McCarthy claimed the overall elite crown in 9:05:10, adding Team and KOM titles to earn over US$25,500. Brazil’s Gabriela Guerra (9:08:49) and Sweden’s Camilla Ahlberg (9:12:59) rounded out the podium, while Swedish national road champ Mika Söderström sprinted her way to the green jersey.
The men’s elite GC went to fellow Kiwi Michael Vink (10:24:35), who also claimed the Team and Sprint competitions, pocketing more than US$24,000. Two-time World Champion, Germany's Jason Osborne (10:25:28), placed second overall and took the KOM, with China’s Yunfei Wu (10:29:03) securing the third step on the podium.
Parent company of Rondo, NS and Creme files for bankruptcy
Polish 7Anna Group, the parent company of NS Bikes, Rondo, Octane One, and Creme Cycles, has filed for bankruptcy on 18 August.
In a statement published across social media, 7Anna Group founder and CEO Szymon Kobyliński stressed that the filing is a legal formality rather than a shutdown. He said the company continues to produce new models, provide service and warranty support, and sell bikes while in talks with potential investors.
In the statement, Kobyliński described the past three years as "brutal," listing the series of setbacks the company has faced, including the collapse of a major Western European distributor, delayed financing from banks, the bankruptcy of major supplier Sprick, a cyber fraud case, and a client who accepted a shipment of bikes but refused to pay.
"We couldn’t take so many blows at once and needed help and time to reorganise," he wrote, adding that management had twice raised additional funding in efforts to stabilise operations. Now, the bankruptcy process is aiming to secure the long-term future of the brands.
Jasper Philipsen will headline Alpecin-Deceuninck at the Vuelta
Jasper Philipsen's status for the upcoming Vuelta a España was a question mark as he continued to recover from the crash that knocked him out of the Tour de France, but the fast-finishing Belgian seems to have come out of the recent Tour of Denmark and ADAC Cyclassics confident in his form. His Alpecin-Deceuninck team announced on Wednesday that Philipsen will make the Vuelta start in Turin, Italy, on Saturday.
"Alpecin-Deceuninck lines up with one clear goal: stage wins, just as we’ve done in the most previous Grand Tours we started," the team wrote on social media. "Jasper Philipsen leads our sprint train, supported by top lead-outs Jonas Rickaert and Edward Planckaert."
Vauquelin gets surgery after ankle fracture
Three weeks after he broke his ankle when he fell down a set of stairs, Kévin Vauquelin has undergone surgery to treat complications in the fracture, which his Arkéa-B&B Hotels team described specifically as a "tibiofibular interosseous membrane lesion."
How long the Frenchman will be out of commission remains to be seen.
Merlier wins Renewi Tour opener
Tim Merlier (Soudal-Quick Step) sprinted to a clear and convincing victory on the opening stage of the Renewi Tour. The 32-year-old Belgian bested compatriot Arnaud De Lie (Lotto) in the Dutch town of Breskens, with Juan Sebastián Molano (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) in third on the day.
Merlier now leads the general classification two seconds ahead of UAE's Rui Oliveira after the latter racked up a haul of bonus seconds in the "green kilometer" intermediate sprint point.
Richard Carapaz's late DNS from the Tour de France won't be the only last-minute change to his 2025 Grand Tour aspirations. The Ecuadoran had been slated to start the Vuelta a España on Saturday but his EF Education-EasyPost team said he will instead target the Road World Championships in Rwanda in September, followed by a series of Italian one-day events culminating in Il Lombardia.
Carapaz was forced out of his Tour plans by an intestinal infection, and in the announcement of his fall schedule change swapping the Spanish Grand Tour for a few one-day races, Carapaz's comments indicate the issue was more serious than a simple GI bug. "After the illness I had, I had to stop several times as I couldn’t train for more than two or three days at a time,” he said. “Now in Ecuador, I’m trying to get back to normal with training and continue moving forward with what we had planned. I’m almost fully recovered now.” Carapaz finished third overall at the Giro d'Italia in May but has not raced since.
Transfers roundup: Fred Wright to Q36.5
Transfer season continues apace with several WorldTour male pros on the move. Fred Wright will leave Bahrain Victorious – the only pro team he's ridden for – after six years to join Tom Pidcock at Q36.5 on a three-year deal. Wright is a familiar face in breakaways and has twice finished second in Grand Tour stages. He'll also bolster Q36.5's Classics team, with top-10 finishes at the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. "I feel we can offer him a final step to win again," said team manager Doug Ryder in a press release announcing the move.
Elsewhere, fellow British rider Lewis Askey will move from Groupama-FDJ to Israel-Premier Tech on a three-year deal, while there's a changing of the guard of sorts at Jayco AlUla as climber and double Vuelta a España stage winner Eddie Dunbar departs to join Wright at Q36.5, while former Giro d'Italia stage winner Alessandro Covi from UAE Team Emirates-XRG will replace him in Jayco's ranks. Both Dunbar and Covi are signed for two years.
Mathieu van der Poel will skip Road World Championships
Dutch multi-disciplinary phenom Mathieu van der Poel confirmed this weekend that he will skip September's Road World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda as he instead prepares for a shot at the mountain bike world title.
Van der Poel will race on the road this week with his Alpecin-Deceuninck team at the Renewi Tour in his return to competition from pneumonia that forced him out of the Tour de France. He said he plans to follow the Renewi Tour, which ends on Sunday, with a trip to the next round of the Mountain Bike World Series in Les Gets, France (August 28-31).
Thymen Arensman, a double stage winner at this year's Tour, will instead get leadership of the Dutch elite men's team on what is expected to be a tough, hilly course. Van der Poel, a seven-time World Cyclocross Champion and the 2023 World Road Champion, will be aiming for a first mountain bike rainbow jersey and a reset from his disastrous first World Series round this year at Nové Město, Czechia, in May, where he dropped out after two early crashes left him with a broken wrist. The men's XCO at Mountain Bike World Championships is September 14 in Valais, Switzerland.
Roglič on Evenepoel: 'I'm happy with his arrival'
Primož Roglič weighed in on his Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team's signing of Remco Evenepoel while in the Netherlands over the weekend for the Etten-Leur post-Tour criterium.
The Slovenian veteran has been his team's GC headliner since signing there last season, but teammate Florian Lipowitz has begun to emerge as a Grand Tour star and now Evenepoel is joining the fold as well. Still, Roglič is saying all the right things about his soon-to-be teammate, as Het Nieuwsblad reports.
"I'm happy with his arrival; he's special," Roglič said. "Remco has already won quite a few races, so I hope we can achieve great things together." [Het Nieuwsblad]
Michael Woods to retire at end of 2025 season
Michael Woods will end his career this year, closing the book on one of cycling’s great late-blooming stories.
The 38-year-old Canadian, who only turned to the sport at 25 after an elite running career, went on to win stages at the Tour de France and Vuelta a España, claim a Worlds bronze medal, and stand on Ardennes podiums. In 2019, he became the first person in history to finish a Tour de France and run a mile under four minutes.
In announcing his decision, Woods cited the toll on his health and time away from family, while expressing pride at what he achieved. “Considering I started this sport at 25 years old, on a $1,000 bike gifted to me by my parents, knowing nothing about it, is insane,” he said. “I managed to become one of the best cyclists in the world, and it is a journey I am damn proud of.”
Rory Townsend takes shock Cyclassics Hamburg victory from breakaway
The ADAC Cyclassics Hamburg is usually a playground for the peloton's sprinters, but once in a while, the party is spoiled by a breakaway or late move, and that's exactly what happened at the 2025 race as Rory Townsend (Q36.5) took the biggest victory of his career.
Rory Townsend was one of four riders to break free of the peloton early in the day, and after an aggressive finale with attacks in the break and peloton, the big-name sprinters were only just held at bay. The Irishman was the only rider not gobbled up in the last few hundred metres, surviving to take the win ahead of Arnaud De Lie (Lotto) and Paul Magnier (Soudal-Quick Step) from the peloton.
Bardet finishes 10th in UCI Gravel World Series debut
Two months after retiring from road racing at the end of the Critérium du Dauphiné, Romain Bardet made his debut at the UCI Gravel World Series in Halmstad, Sweden this weekend.
The 34-year-old Frenchman – still competing under the Picnic PostNL umbrella – finished 10th, 40 seconds after Dutchman Jordan Habets (Metec - Solarwatt P/B Mantel) soloed to victory at the end of the 136-kilometre race.
It was a double-Dutch victory in the elite events with Femke Markus (SD Worx-Protime) winning the women's race ahead of Australia's Nicole Frain (Ridley).
Movistar's Vuelta lineup takes another hit with Quintana joining Mas on the sidelines
Movistar's old hand Nairo Quintana might have expected a more free role at the upcoming Vuelta a España after Enric Mas was ruled out of the remainder of the season with thrombophlebitis, but the 2016 Vuelta champion has now been sidelined as he continues to recover from a crash at the Vuelta a Burgos earlier this month.
This was confirmed by Movistar team boss Eusebio Unzué speaking on Colombian radio network Antena 2, where he also revealed that Fernando Gaviria will not be part of the team's Vuelta lineup, making 2025 the first year since 2016 that the Colombian sprinter has not raced a Grand Tour.
The team is set to announce its Vuelta lineup on Tuesday, with Tour Down Under revelation Javier Romo and two-time 2024 stage winner Pablo Castrillo expected to be on the list.
Nino Schurter announces his retirement
Swiss cross-country MTB legend Nino Schurter has announced his retirement after 23 years of professional racing. The 39-year-old has picked out the UCI World Cup round in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, on 21st September for his final bow.
His final World Cup appearance will come a week after Schurter pulls on the national jersey for one last time at the UCI World Championships at Crans-Montana, the first of a Swiss double-header to close out a celebrated racing career, much of it at the very top of the sport.
Boswell and Gardner set new course records atop Mt. Washington
Illi Gardner crossed the finish line in 58:07, besting Kristen Kulchinsky’s 2024 record of 1:06:08 by a full eight minutes and placing sixth overall. Ian Boswell set a new men’s record of 50:18, narrowly eclipsing Phil Gaimon’s 2022 mark of 50:38.
Though just 7.4 miles (11.9 km) in length, the New Hampshire race climbs 4,678 feet (1,425 meters) with brutal gradients, with more than half of the climb pitches between 10–15%, extended sections between 15–20%, and a final 22% ramp to the summit.
Unpredictable weather is part of the challenge. At 6,288 feet (1,916 meters), the peak is the tallest in the Northeast and the site of the country's highest non-hurricane wind gust ever recorded (231 mph in 1934) and a record-setting wind chill of –108.4°F (-78C) in 2023.
2025 is officially Pedersen's most successful season to date after third stage win and GC title at Tour of Denmark
Mads Pedersen won the final stage of the 2.Pro-ranked Postnord Tour of Denmark, sealing the overall victory having led the race since day one. This brings his 2025 win tally to a career high of 13.
It was a dominant display all week from the Lidl-Trek captain. Stage 5's victory from a small group was the Dane's third of the week having got things underway on a dramatic stage 1, then he followed that up with an aggressive ride on the penultimate day that included over 50 km up front after bridging to the early break. Pedersen's efforts on stage 4 increased his lead from 10 to 58 seconds over Niklas Larsen (BHS-PL Beton Bornholm), but he didn't stop there, linking up with young teammate and stage 3 winner Jakob Söderqvist to dominate the final stage to Silkeborg, propelling the 22-year-old Swede into second for a Lidl-Trek GC one-two – what's more, four (out of seven) Lidl-Trek riders finished in the top eight.
Pedersen has hardly stopped in 2025, taking the disappointment of being passed over for Tour de France selection into an incredibly successful Giro d'Italia where he won four stages and the points classification. Next on his 2025 programme is the second Vuelta a España of his career, where he will aim to add to the three stages – and points class. – won on debut in 2022.
Stage 5 top 5
Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) 3:27:44
Axel Zingle (Visma-Lease a Bike) "
Jakob Söderqvist (Lidl-Trek) "
Matyáš Kopecký (Team Novo Nordisk) "
Søren Kragh Andersen (Lidl-Trek) +0:05
Final GC top 5
Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) 15:08:16
Jakob Söderqvist (Lidl-Trek) +1:28
Niklas Larsen (BHS - PL Beton Bornholm) +1:30
Lukáš Kubiš (Unibet Tietema Rockets) +1:50
Alec Segaert (Lotto) +1:59
Chabbey wins mountain stage as Žigart takes lead at Tour de Romandie Féminin
A strange Tour de Romandie Féminin resumed on Saturday with a 123.2-kilometre stage finishing up the Cat.1 La Tzoumaz (12.8km at 8.1%). At the end of an attritional final climb, Elise Chabbey (FDJ-Suez) launched off the wheel of Urška Žigart (AG Insurance-Soudal) a hundred metres from the line to take her first WorldTour stage win on home soil.
Stage 1 winner Paula Blasi (UAE Team ADQ) finished sixth after losing touch with the lead group 8 km from the summit, which was down to just Chabbey and Žigart by 4km to go, Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck) dangling a few seconds off the leading pair. As the Slovenian climber did the lion's share of pulling, she steadily worked away at her 17-second overall deficit after finishing second on day one, and from about halfway up the Tzoumaz, Žigart was virtual leader.
At just 15 seconds down on Žigart, Chabbey was also not far off the overall lead, but she settled for stage victory as the Slovenian moved into the yellow jersey. Chabbey now lies just eight seconds back in second overall, Kastelijn third at 13 seconds, then overnight leader Blasi fourth just inside a minute. This leaves the Tour de Romandie Féminin finely poised going into what is sure to be a dynamic final stage.
Stage 2 top 5
Elise Chabbey (FDJ-Suez) 3:29:52
Urška Žigart (AG Insurance-Soudal) +0:03
Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck) +0:06
Mireia Benito (AG Insurance-Soudal) +1:02
Steffi Häberlin (SD Worx-Protime) +1:10
GC after stage 2
Urška Žigart (AG Insurance-Soudal) 3:41:23
Elise Chabbey (FDJ-Suez) +0:08
Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck) +0:13
Paula Blasi (UAD Team ADQ) +0:58
Steffi Häberlin (SD Worx-Protime) +1:26
Laporte to return at Cyclassics Hamburg 315 days after last race day
Visma-Lease a Bike's loyal Frenchman Christophe Laporte is set to return to competition at Sunday's WorldTour one-day the ADAC Cyclassics Hamburg, a full 315 days after his last race in October 2024 – at the Autumn mini-Classic Paris-Tours which he won – due to a lengthy struggle with cytomegalovirus.
"It was the toughest period of my cycling career. I had never experienced anything like it before," Laporte said in quotes included in his team's announcement for the German one-day race. "This summer I have been able to train well, and I can’t wait to pin on a race number again. Building up my condition wasn’t easy after such a long break. In recent weeks, I have spent time with my teammates in Tignes. It felt fantastic to be part of the group again. I really missed that feeling."
Laporte returns as part of the defending team, albeit without 2024 Cyclassics champion Olav Kooij. Wout van Aert has been drafted in as leader in Kooij's place, reuniting a prolific partnership with Laporte.
"Seeing Wout ride solo onto the Champs-Élysées was truly magnificent – great for him and the whole team," Laporte said of watching the Tour de France, for which he was on the original lineup. "At the same time, it was frustrating at moments to watch races I would normally be competing in."
Gigante's brilliant 2025 brought to an end by broken femur suffered in training crash
Young Australian climbing talent Sarah Gigante has likely been ruled out of the remainder of the 2025 season after a training crash left her with a broken femur. This comes less than three months after her comeback after undergoing iliac artery surgery during the Aussie summer.
"My short but sweet stint as Sarah 3.0 was pretty good, so I figured the next step was to level up to Sarah 4.0," the AG Insurance-Soudal rider posted on Instagram on Saturday morning. "I’m super disappointed to have broken my femur in training on Thursday (ouch 😫), but the operation went very well and I’m already counting down until I can eventually ride again."
Gigante kicked off 2025 with a third-place finish on the opening stage of the Tour of Norway Women in late May, a positive sign of things to come. After a WorldTour season debut at the Tour de Suisse, the 24-year-old then headed to the Giro d'Italia, where two stage wins built the foundations to a GC podium finish and victory in the final mountains classification. Next came a call-up to the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift at which a runner-up finish on the Queen Stage, only beaten by overall winner Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, saw the Australian light up the biggest race of the year and positioned the climber among the favourites for this year's road World Championships, a major goal for Gigante.
"I was so looking forward to hopefully representing Australia at a hilly World Champs in Rwanda and to then finish off my season in Italy, but at least the four races I did this year were all great ones … and I sure know how to nail a comeback! For now, it’s time for some R & R and working on my mental resilience even more."
Richardson breaks his own 200 m flying start record
A day after setting a new world record in the 200 m flying start, Matt Richardson improved on his time of 8.941 seconds with a new, new world record of 8.857 seconds at the velodrome in Konya, Turkey.
"The first time was so nice, he had to do it twice," said British Cycling on Instagram after the 26-year-old track racer, who switched his nationality from Australian to British last year, set the new mark.
Paula Blasi wins opening time trial at Tour de Romandie Féminin
Paula Blasi of UAE Team ADQ won the opening uphill individual time trial at the Tour de Romandie Féminin on Friday with a time of 11 minutes 17 seconds. Urška Žigart (AG Insurance-Soudal) finished second, 17 seconds behind Blasi, and Juliette Labous (FDJ-Suez) was third, a further second behind.
The opening ITT was a 4.38 km long uphill race between only 63 riders after a number of teams were disqualified hours before the start. Stage 2 on Saturday will feature a 13 km long mountain top finish that will likely play a large role in the overall outcome of the three-stage event.
Richardson sets a new world record in the 200 m flying start
Matthew Richardson broke nine seconds in the 200 m flying start for the first time in history on Thursday, setting a new world record of 8.941 seconds. The British racer, who switched nationalities from Australia last year, had set a world record time in 2024 before it was surpassed by Harrie Lavreysen of the Netherlands.
Now, Richardson is back on top of the record books after riding to the first ever sub-9-second mark on a track in Konya, Turkey.
Norco launches Revolver 120 XC bike
The new Revolver from Norco is claimed to be the lightest full-suspension frame the Canadian brand has ever built, while still boasting a list of interesting features. Weighing just over 4 lbs (1.9 kg), including shock, the Revolver frame shaves weight by using a flex stay suspension design like other capable XC bikes in the segment, such as the Ari Signal Peak or Cannondale Scalpel 2 recently reviewed by Escape.
With 120 mm of front travel and 115 mm in the rear, Norco has designed the Revolver with size-specific geometry and carbon layup for a "top-of-class ride feel" across each of the five available sizes for riders between 5'1" and 6'6" (150-200 cm). And, yes, the Revolver can fit two water bottles in its front triangle. Framesets cost $US3,500 and full builds range from US$5,250 to $11,500.
1948 Vuelta winner Ruiz dies at age 100
Bernardo Ruiz, the first Spanish rider to finish on the podium of the Tour de France and winner of the 1948 Vuelta a España, has died at 100 years old.
Ruiz, born in Orihuela in the southwestern corner of the Valencia region, took his Vuelta title at the young age of 23 and went on to finish third behind Fausto Coppi and Stan Ockers at the 1952 Tour de France. Over the course of his career, he racked up stage wins at all three Grand Tours.
Soudal-Quick Step signs fast finisher Dainese
Alberto Dainese is joining Soudal-Quick Step on a two-year deal that adds more stagehunting firepower to a roster undergoing an overhaul as Remco Evenepoel moves on to Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe.
Dainese, 27, has spent the past two seasons with Tudor. Although his stint there has been relatively quiet from a results perspective, the fast-finishing Italian is not far removed from the three Grand Tour stage victories he racked up while at DSM-Firmenich, having won at the Giro d'Italia in 2022 and at both the Giro and the Vuelta a España in 2023.
Vollering will miss the Tour de Romandie due to illness
Tour de Romandie Féminin organizers have announced that Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) is a late scratch from the start list. Illness has forced the Dutchwoman to skip the race, which gets underway on Friday.
Vollering won the race in 2023 and finished second behind her then teammate Lotte Kopecky in 2024. Despite Vollering's absence, the start list will still feature plenty of big names, including Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM), Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek), and Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal).
Pidcock leaves the door open for a Vuelta GC bid
Tom Pidcock has long been seen as a potential GC contender in the Grand Tours, and as he prepares for his Vuelta a España debut with Q36.5, the Brit has left the door open for targeting the general classification in the race.
"My time trial still needs to improve a lot, but maybe I can aim for a top ten," he told De Telegraaf.
"Getting on the podium would be amazing, but winning a Grand Tour is the hardest thing in the world for me. I know what it's like to win a one-day race, but a Grand Tour? Phew, that's a different story." [De Telegraaf]
No. 6 Composites Gravel Correct Fork clears a 2.5" tire
No. 6 Composites, the component arm of New York-based No. 22 Bicycle Company, has just launched the carbon fiber Gravel Correct Fork, designed for gravel and adventure bikes. With an axle-to-crown distance of 430 mm, the fork can clear a large mountain bike tire up to a stated 29 x 2.5", and its suspension-corrected geometry is meant to be a direct swap for a 40 mm suspension fork.
Additionally, it features many of the accoutrements riders have come to expect in an adventure/monster gravel fork, such as fender mounts, 3-pack accessory mounts, dynamo routing, and versatile cable routing (semi-internal entering at the top of the fork leg, or fully internal entering at the steerer). Weighing in at approximately 500 g with an uncut steerer, the Gravel Correct fork costs US$595.
Currency and US tariffs hit Giant’s first-half results
Giant Group’s first-half revenue fell 12.4% year-on-year to NT$32.6 billion (US$1.1 billion), which the company has blamed on the stronger New Taiwan Dollar.
The Taiwanese company's second-quarter sales were down over a quarter to to US$524 million, and profits were further slumped by a US$7.7 million foreign exchange loss.
At the same time, Giant said its OEM sales in Europe grew nearly 30%, but own-brand sales slowed in China. In the US, Giant said demand was weaker due to tariffs and wider economic uncertainty. The company also ruled out building a US factory, citing to the lack of a domestic bike supply chain and higher labour costs.
The group will repurpose its Vietnamese plant, which was originally built for US exports, to supply the EU, which allows Vietnamese bikes zero tariffs from 2025.
