A 2025 thread to discuss all things cycling related such as upcoming tours, world championships, debates and news anything to with the world of cycling.

The last year of the Tour on Freeview :cry: Better try and catch as much of it as I can.

Cycling Calendar:

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/calendar

With Eurosport closing and content moving to TNT, meaning a standard subscription for cycling fans for example goes from £6.99 to over £30 a month.

Australian sprinter Caleb Ewan has signed a one-year contract with British team Ineos Grenadiers for the 2025 season.

 

The 30-year-old has won stages at the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a Espana, and has twice finished on the podium at the prestigious Milan-San Remo one-day Monument.

 

He joined Australia's Team Jayco–AlUla in 2023 and won four races last year.

 

Ewan, who has 63 professional wins overall, says his move to Ineos can help him rediscover his best form.

 

"In 2025, my goal is to return to winning big races," he added.

With Eurosport closing and content moving to TNT, meaning a standard subscription for cycling fans for example goes from £6.99 to over £30 a month.

Tao Geoghegan Hart has spoken out on this, and good on him to be honest. We really need cycling to get back onto Freeview.

Tao Geoghegan Hart has spoken out on this, and good on him to be honest. We really need cycling to get back onto Freeview.

Or even that show the Tour de France on Quest.

Just noticed that this year's World Cycling Championships will be in Rwanda - that will certainly be interesting to watch!

Giro d'Italia starts in a few days' time - I've not been paying too much attention to who the contenders are (or if I can even watch it on Freeview) but should be interesting to see how everyone's looking this year.

Two days into the Giro and Roglic already in pink - will it be him by the end of the race or will he suffer yet more misfortune? Pedersen was unlucky to lose the pink jersey, only a second behind him!

A mass crash on stage six of the Giro d'Italia forced several riders to pull out as Mads Pedersen retained the pink leader's jersey after organisers neutralised the general classification battle.

Australian Kaden Groves of Alpecin-Deceuninck sprinted to victory in Naples to win the 227km stage in four hours 59 minutes and 52 seconds as he pipped Belgium's Milan Fretin and Frenchman Paul Magnier on the line.

Denmark's Pedersen finished more than five minutes behind to remain at the top of the overall standings, with Slovenian rider Primoz Roglic 17 seconds behind and Czech Mathias Vacek a further seven seconds adrift in third place.

However, the real drama occurred earlier when former Giro champion Jai Hindley was forced to abandon the race after a crash which left several competitors unseated.

The Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe rider, who won the event in 2022, had to withdraw, having come off his bike following a pile-up in slippery conditions with around 70km to go on the stage into Naples. The Australian received treatment by the side of the road for his injuries and was not able to resume.

Stage Six Results:

1. Kaden Groves (Aus/Alpecin-Deceuninck 4h 59m 52s

2. Milan Fretin (Bel/Cofidis)

3. Paul Magnier (Fra/Soudal Quick-Step)

4. Max Kanter (Ger/XDS Astana)

5. Giovanni Lonardi (Ita/Team Polti-Visit Malta)

6. Maikel Zijlaard (Ned/Tudor Pro Cycling Team)

7. Martin Marcellusi (Ita/VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizane)

8. Luca Mozzato (Ita/Arkea-B&B Hotels)

9. Matevz Govekar (Slo/Bahrain Victorious)

10. Olav Kooij (Ned/Team Visma-Lease a Bike)

General classification after Stage Six:

1. Mads Pedersen (Den/Lidl-Trek) 20hrs 11mins 44secs

2. Primoz Roglic (Slo/RBH) +17secs

3. Mathias Vacek (Cze/Lidl-Trek) +24secs

4. Brandon McNulty (USA/UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +31secs

5. Isaac Del Toro (Mex/UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +32secs

6. Juan Ayuso (Spa/UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +35secs

7. Max Poole (GB/Team Picnic PostNL) +43secs

8. Antonio Tiberi (Ita/Bahrain Victorious) +44secs

9. Michael Storer (Aus/Tudor) +46secs

10. Giulio Pellizzari (Italy/Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +50secs

First GC stage proper today! Juan Ayosu takes the stage and Pedersen finally cedes pink for good to Primoz Roglic.

1. K Asgreen (Den/EF Education-EasyPost) 4hrs 4mins 40secs

2. K Groves (Aus/Alpecin-Deceuninck) +16secs

3. O Kooij (Ned/Visma-Lease a Bike) Same time

4. O Aular (Ven/Movistar)

5. S Oldani (Ita/Cofidis)

6. M Maestri (Ita/Polti VisitMalta)

7. D Gee (Can/Israel-Premier Tech)

8. T Pidcock (GB/Q36.5 Pro Cycling)

9. R Carapaz (Ecu/EF Education-EasyPost)

10. M Honore (Den/EF Education-EasyPost)

General classification after Stage 14:

1. I del Toro (Mex/UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 50hrs 37mins 55secs

2. S Yates (GB/Visma-Lease a Bike) +1min 20secs

3. J Ayuso (Spa/UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +1min 26secs

4. R Carapaz (Ecu/EF Education-EasyPost) +2mins 7secs

5. P Roglic (Slo/Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +2mins 23secs

6. D Gee (Can/Israel-Premier Tech) +2mins 54secs

7. D Caruso (Ita/Bahrain Victorious) +2mins 55secs

8. A Tiberi (Ita/Bahrain Victorious) +3mins 2secs

9. E Bernal (Col/Ineos Grenadiers) +3mins 38secs

10. T Arensman (Ned/Ineos Grenadiers) +3mins 45secs

Great to see Del Toro in pink still - I'd never really heard of him before this Giro started but always good to see less prominent cycling nationalities doing well.

What a bananas end to the Giro! Simon Yates, in third place and a minute and a half down, took five minutes out of Del Toro and Carapaz on the final mountain of the Giro, whilst they just marked each other and seemingly let him get away. I guess it's a sort of redemption following the same thing happening to him back in 2018!

Del Toro finishes in second in his first real stab at a Grand Tour - hopefully a start to a long and successful career for him. Just has to hope there isn't too much jostling for team leadership at UAE with all the riders they have.

Finally finished watching the Dauphiné - Pogacar really looks unbeatable, he could win the Tour by a country mile this year. Interesting to see Lipowitz crash the Big 3 party by ending up on the podium as well!

Remco Evenepoel is leaving Quickstep this year and joining Red-Bull Bora. A somewhat bizarre choice given that Bora already have Lipowitz and Roglic with Tour ambitions, and now they're having another join the fold!

The final stage of the Vuelta a Espana has been abandoned after pro-Palestinian protesters entered part of the course in the centre of Madrid.

Protesters knocked down barriers and occupied the road at several points on the course including Gran Via, where cyclists were due to pass multiple times.

More than 1,000 police officers had been deployed on to the streets of the Spanish capital, with demonstrations expected.

Danish cyclist Jonas Vingegaard, who led going into the 21st and final stage, has been declared the winner.

Britain's Tom Pidcock - of Q36.5 Pro Cycling - finishes third, behind UAE Team Emirates-XRG's Joao Almeida.

So in the cycling 'relegation battle', it looks like Uno-X will be going up and Cofidis down then, assuming the Lotto-Intermarché merger goes as expected. Arkea are out of the picture now, and Lotto and Israel-Premier Tech had promotion well in the bag.

Although today I've heard that Premier Tech have pulled out of sponsoring Israel. They've already committed to step away from the Israel brand following all the shenanigans this year so who knows what they'll end up being called!

Looks like Q36.5 and Tudor Pro will be the 'best two second division teams' that get into all the Grand Tours, so another shot at the Tour for Pidcock next year?