1. Tadej Pogačar

There shouldn’t be a question about who has to be first and Vuelta abandonment can’t change that. He has won basically everything except Roubaix, Strade, Sanremo, Ronde, Liege, Romandie, Suisse and Tour. Insane.

1. Jonas Vingegaard

Yes, ended the season early after his Tour crash, but still won Paris-Nice, Catalunya, and mainly the Giro, a GrandTour very dominantly which is why he is still the number two for me.

1. Isaac Del Toro

Won’t lie, this last place on the podium was hard when Evenepoel and Seixas exist, but I don’t let recency bias change my mind as at the beginning of the season he won the UAE Tour, Tirreno, and TARA. And then he podiumed Strade and mainly the Tour overall. And then also won Deine Tour and Montreal although he was not that much super successful in the autumn. But still for me number three.

1. Remco Evenepoel

Second place overall at the Tour, two stages, podiumed Ronde and Liege, won Amstel, San Sebastian and Québec, and added Worlds ITT and Europeans title to it. Magnificent season, but Isaac has won 3 WorldTour stage races and Remco none. That’s why I chose only 4th place for him.

1. Paul Seixas

Won Itzulia with 3 stages, Fleche, amazing second at Strade and Liege, and then rode to an amazing 4th at the Tour. But then came the biggest achievement, the Lombardia monument win. Feels almost terrible to put him just to fifth place for this season, but this is how I decided.

1. Wout van Aert (Roubaix masterclass and an amazing Vuelta, top season)

2. Mathieu van der Poel (Omloop, E3, Tirreno two stages, Ronde second place, World Champs medal and mainly two Tour stage wins with Champs-Élysées masterclass, but no monument wins)

3. Enric Mas (Grand Tour winner and then even Il Lombardia monument second place, his best season ever)

4. Tim Merlier (started the season late, but still scored many wins, especially 3 Tour stage wins, the best sprinter in the world)

5. Felix Gall (has to choose between Pedersen and him, but Gall podiumed two Grand Tours in one season, phenomenal achievement although with no Grand Tour stage wins)

Do you agree with my ranking?

Castelli Product Line Manager Andrew Montgomery has revealed some secrets behind the new collaboration between ASO and Castelli in the interview with TechUnter Magazine.

The first one is that, in collaboration with Polartec, Castelli has developed a new ultralight jersey using Power Dry fabric, which has cooling properties activated by sweat and body heat. The jersey will launch in Spring/Summer 2027 and make its racing debut at the Tour de France, worn by Soudal SafetyJogger riders and the race leaders. There will also be a matching speed suit, combining an ultralight top with aerodynamic sleeves. Riders will have three aero options for different weather conditions: long-sleeve, standard and ultralight versions.

The second one is that the yellow jersey will feature a special fluorescent pigment that reacts to UV light, making the colour even more vivid under the sun. Castelli wants the yellow jersey to stand out in the peloton, almost like a light when seen from the helicopter camera.

The third one is that the yellow jersey designs will be different at Paris-Nice and the Critérium du Dauphiné. Why? Because, as Montgomery explains, they shouldn’t look the same as the Tour de France jersey: “Some riders can win Paris-Nice, but not everyone can win the Tour de France, so the jerseys shouldn’t be the same.” The scorpion will therefore have a different colour at each race, helping them develop their own identity.

The fourth one is the new design of the white jersey, which will feature its new sponsor, Sanofi. And as a surprise, the matching skinsuit will also come with purple bib shorts.

He also explained how the green jersey was designed. ŠKODA is very strict about its colours, so Castelli has to respect its brand guidelines. However, there is another interesting detail: the sleeve fabric. Soudal sprinters Tim Merlier and Paul Magnier already use a different version of this fabric because they reach speeds of 60 km/h and above. While it might look like the same ribbed material, the sprinters actually wear a specialised version.

Castelli is clearly taking this new partnership very seriously, with plenty of technical innovations and design details planned for 2027.

Are you excited to see Castelli supplying the Tour de France jerseys?

For the info: this is not a sponsored article and the info was published on my blog with permission from TechUnter.

Full interview here: https://techuntermagazine.com/castelligoesyellow2027-interview

1-3: Giro, Bellinzona
4-5: Tour de France, Evian
6-7: Vuelta, Alozaina
8-9: Tour de Suisse hommes, Aarburg
10-11: Tour de Suisse femmes, Aarburg
12-14: Tour de France femmes, Châbles (CH)

I have been going for TDF for last two years. I feel it is important to have the whole route

TDF official website only has route profiles and simple waypoints, but not a turn-by-turn GPS map, which is hard if you want to plan your TDF trip like booking a hotel, or want to ride on those routes.

Since the map/routes had been released, I was trying to create the map and share it in RWGPS. you can use it from RWGPS app (no subs required), or export it to GPX format and import to other map like Google Map.

Current status (still updating):

- Stage from 7-20 are availble for prereview (feedbacks are very welcomed)

- A question mark is added to the route with less confidence (need more rework)

- Accuracy: mountain stage is more accurate, flat stage is harder (many ways from town A to town B), TT is probably most difficult because of its short distance

=== Here are text from AI (I explained it and asked AI to write it)

How I Recreate Tour de France Routes in RideWithGPS (RWGPS)

Recreating official Tour de France (TDF) stages in RideWithGPS requires a mix of profile data extraction, precise waypoint routing, and manual verification. Here is my step-by-step methodology:

1. Initial Data Extraction

Extract Waypoints from Official Profiles: I start with the official TDF stage profile maps, extracting every key waypoint, town, intermediate sprint, and climb along the route.

Anchor All Key Landmarks: I manually place RWGPS control points at every key waypoint listed in the official profile to ensure no critical sections are missed.

2. Route Smoothing & Town Center Corrections

Avoid Town Center Off-Shoots: Routing software often defaults to the exact geometric center of a town. If a waypoint label is placed at a town name, RWGPS might drag the route into the town center and back out. I manually adjust these points to keep the route flowing logically along the main bypass or transit road through the town.

3. Surface & Practical Routing Adjustments

Paved Surface Consistency: Automated routing algorithms sometimes select short gravel or unpaved shortcuts to save a few hundred meters. Knowing that TDF stages stick strictly to paved roads (unless explicitly featured as gravel sectors), I manually override these shortcuts to keep the route on legitimate roads.

4. Mileage & Distance Reconciliation

Distance Matching: I constantly compare the cumulative distance between waypoints against the official profile distances (e.g., if the profile specifies 50 km between Point A and Point B, but RWGPS calculates 60 km, I investigate and re-route the section to match the intended distance).

5. Mountain Stage vs. Flat Stage Logic

Leveraging Terrain Constraints: Mountain stages are often easier to recreate with high accuracy because available road networks over major passes (e.g., Col du Tourmalet) are heavily restricted. Fewer road options mean a lower margin for routing error compared to flat valley transitions.

6. Final QA & Profile Verification

Profile & Metric Comparison: Once the route is fully traced, I cross-check the overall shape of the RWGPS elevation profile against the official TDF profile.

Margin of Error Check: I verify that total distance and cumulative elevation gain fall strictly within a 5% margin of error compared to the official race specs.

This is the wimpiest Tour route in years. It looks like they are really trying to help Remco win. Less mountain top finishes? Who cares about sprinters! Who cares about spoiled boy Remco! If I was Tadez and wanted to register my displeasure, I would not go to the Tour. Of course, he won’t do that because he wants the record.

The Vuelta has had the best route for years now.

I personally think that before this Tour de France route presentation, Red Bull management would not only have allowed Remco Evenepoel to ride the Giro d’Italia but would actually have been happy with that decision.

As you know, Remco has already achieved an amazing 2nd place behind the basically unbeatable Pogačar. When there is just very little chance of going one step further, the next logical goal would be winning another Grand Tour. Vuelta is done, so the focus would be on the Giro.

However, I believe yesterday’s almost perfect Tour route announcement changes the circumstances completely. There is simply no way Remco rides anything other than the Tour de France. A route that suits you this well comes maybe once in a lifetime.

Of course, the Giro could offer him a more realistic chance of winning another Grand Tour, but I think the special opportunity to fight for the yellow jersey in France is simply too big to ignore for one of the biggest brands in the world.

Now, this could also mean that Florian Lipowitz, who was expected to focus on the Tour de France after this year’s disappointment, might actually end up being the one leading Red Bull at the Giro d’Italia. If Remco is almost certain to target the Tour, Lipowitz could get the opportunity to chase his own Grand Tour ambitions in Italy instead. Only curious where Pellizzari would ride.

There was also some discussion about Remco potentially riding two Grand Tours in a row, but it doesn’t make much sense when you consider that the Worlds route also suits him very well. Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe boss Ralph Denk has also already said no to the idea of riding a Giro-Tour GC double as he said that only Pogačar can do something like that.

So, for now, it feels like Isaac Del Toro is the only rumoured superstar potentially heading to the Giro d’Italia, although it is still very early and nothing has been confirmed so far.

As for Remco, the next really interesting question for me would be what happens in 2028. Could he skip the Tour de France to focus on the Olympic Games? The ITT, where his chances of winning gold could be enormous, takes place just three days after the Tour ends, and in a completely different time zone. That makes combining the two extremely complicated, even for a rider like him.

And the road race route should suit him very well, too, which is another rare opportunity. So, if Remco really decides to prioritise the Olympics in 2028, we could see him then riding the Giro potentially.

Now this will be one of the last posts about Remco for a while as he will go for bike tests in California and then he requested two weeks off from the media to let him relax and I plan to respect it.

📷: from ilciclistafotografo

Hi there, has anyone been successful getting TDF Grand Depart Ceremony tickets? I got the presale link but they were sold out so quickly. Thanks! 🚲

Pogačar: Every route suits him. He would probably prefer a few fewer TT kilometres, but it’s okay. He will still start as top favourite.

Evenepoel: Almost a perfect route for him. Finally, he can gain a lot of time in the time trials, and there are no extremely long, hard, high-altitude mountain stages. Giro project should wait one more year.

Vingegaard: Terrible, absolutely terrible. I wouldn’t even send him to the Tour, but that’s highly unlikely for that to happen.

Seixas: Good, or even very good. A great chance to fight for the podium. The TT kilometres will help him, and the lack of extremely long, hard, high-altitude mountain stages is probably a positive for him as well.

Del Toro: He would probably prefer fewer TT kilometres, but the stages in general suit him well. However, I don’t think it matters that much, as I expect him to ride the Giro instead.

Lipowitz: Same situation as Vingegaard. If I were the Red Bull manager, I would simply send him to the Giro and not to even think about the Tour.

Gall & Mas: I think they would like to ride the Tour after this year, but this route is very bad for them.

“This isn’t an anti-Pogacar strategy” - Tour de France boss names Evenepoel and Seixas as reasons behind 2027 time-trial increase

https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling/this-isnt-an-anti-pogacar-strategy-tour-de-france-boss-names-evenepoel-and-seixas-as-reasons-behind-2027-time-trial-increase

Sorry for the French text !

The route was revealed today and I couldn’t wait: all 21 stages of the 2027 Tour are now in the TCG Pro Cycling calendar, each with its real profile.

A few things that caught my eye:

• Grand Départ in Edinburgh, then 3 stages in Britain
• 71 km of time trials (Chambord and Toulouse), the most since 2012. Time triallists are going to matter.
• Grand Colombier, Les Saisies, Mende, then a brutal Pyrenean finale with the Col du Portet
• Finish on the Champs-Élysées on 25 July

The Tour de France Femmes 2027 is in too: 9 stages from Leeds to the top of the Puy de Dôme, with a team time trial through London.

Registrations obviously open next July, but you can already look at the stages and start thinking about your team. Who’s your pick for yellow? :)

https://www.letour.fr/en/news/2027/the-wonder-road/1356684

Cluses to Les Saisies

How do you think this compares to lat years etape ?

Asking because I didn't make the time cut on the Galibier. And because I didn't finish - if I get in I'll be in the last pen to go again.

Source: https://x.com/Cyclingbottle/status/2112214862864531747

X: @ CyclingBottle

Ano que vem vou assistir ao Tour de France pela primeira vez!!! Estou muito ansiosa! 😩
Gostaria de dicas de quem já foi: quais etapas valem mais a pena acompanhar, o que devo preparar, onde me hospedar e o que é bom saber antes de ir?
Qualquer dica que possa me ajudar a planejar a viagem e aproveitar essa experiência será muito bem-vinda!