Watching the peloton - Professional Road Racing thread 2026

[Rás Cnoic]

The Vuelta is coming up, and who will be riding it is still up in the air, but another race that runs in parallel with it is the Tour L'Avenir (Tour of the Future). It's usually 7 or 8 stages, mostly in France. Tadej won it in 2018, Del Toro in 2023, and Seixas in 2025. This is the biggest development team race in the world. Other countries have big development stage races but this is the one that every UWT team manager will be watching, looking for talent. It's on HBO Max and starts on 8/20.

L'Avenir always worth a watch. Couple of years ago the young star was Cian Ujtebroeks and a bidding war ensued. If memory serves he went to Boro for big money then in a messy messy acrimonious divorce jumped ship to Visma less then a year later. But it never worked out and he was quietly sold on to Moviestar. He's good but not the Pog challenger everyone was hoping. At that young age the numbers are only part of the story.

Speaking of Pog, he's riding the Vuelta - cue a collective groan from every Basque, Catalonian and Spanish stage hunter!

 

[Rás Cnoic]

L'Avenir always worth a watch. Couple of years ago the young star was Cian Ujtebroeks and a bidding war ensued. If memory serves he went to Boro for big money then in a messy messy acrimonious divorce jumped ship to Visma less then a year later. But it never worked out and he was quietly sold on to Moviestar. He's good but not the Pog challenger everyone was hoping. At that young age the numbers are only part of the story.

Speaking of Pog, he's riding the Vuelta - cue a collective groan from every Basque, Catalonian and Spanish stage hunter!

In horse racing where weight is everything, apprentice jockeys (under 23) get to ride with reduced weights to encourage trainers to give them a shot in races. But for a number of them who don't shine in that period and build a winning reputation, they face a very uncertain future once they hit 23 and the lead weights are back on. The young riders at the baby Giro and L'Avenir remind me of that. Especially since Pog came along. Now even juniors (under 18) are practically pros. Lot of pressure.