Intermarché-Wanty's Arne Marit settled for third place in Marche-en-Famenne
We had a super strong line-up with very fast and powerful guys
Many teams tried to attack and shake things up in the final
but our riders did an amazing job with positioning; Ale (Romele)
and Cees (Bol) were incredible in the finale
The results we've achieved this week are really satisfying for all of us
and I believe they motivate each of us to keep performing at our best
Lotto Famenne Ardenne Classic offered the field a 186.7km race in and around Marche-en-Famenne
followed by shorter hilly circuits that included a 3.4km climb over Côte de Roy each lap.
The early breakaway included Baptiste Vadic (TotalEnergies)
Luke Tuckwell (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe Rookies)
Stijn Appel and Robbe Mellaerts (BEAT Cycling Club) and Jasper Haest (VolkerWessels Cycling)
The breakaway only ever gained two minutes on the field, led by Alpecin-Deceuninck and Intermarche-Wanty
that slashed their lead to just 45 seconds as the race entered the final 50km
The eight riders were ultimately reeled in just outside of 30km from the finish line
especially over the Côte de Roy on the last lap
the peloton was all together on the run-in to the final
and Israel-Premier Tech lined up their riders in the closing kilometre
but it was Kanter who was fastest to the line to take the day's win
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race coverage and growth of women's professional cycling – before becoming Deputy Editor in 2023
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Alexander Vinokourov's team are making the impossible rather quite possible
But while everybody else was writing Alexander Vinokourov’s team off
the former Olympic champion and his staff were plotting the great escape
snapping up points-scoring riders like Diego Ulissi
and hiring a data analyst to prepare a calendar that would take them to Australia
Africa and Europe in their relentless pursuit of chasing that golden WorldTour ticket
Just over three months into the 2025 campaign
only UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Lidl-Trek have scored more UCI points this season than XDS-Astana
the team in blue have reduced their gap to the team in 18th place (now Picnic PostNL) to under 900 points
What once seemed unattainable is now only plausible
It's not even like Astana have been prolific in winning bike races so far this season
with eight victories below WorldTour level before finally grabbing a stage win in the UCI's top tier at the Tour de Romandie
but we have riders with the capacity to win races
and it’s up to us to adapt the strategy,” the team’s sports director Dmitriy Fofonov told Rouleur
is motivated from the beginning of the season – we’ve shown that in races – and when we go to races we’re there to be in the best position to win
you have no problem scoring points."Astana aren't naive: they know they don't have a superstar within their ranks
But that doesn't mean thousands of points cannot be harvested each month
“If you look at the composition of the team
[Jonas] Vingegaard or [Mathieu] Van der Poel
"We have some data and a data analyst who works with the team more and more and tells us which races are easier to take points in
put our best riders there to collect points and then we will have more chances to win.’ As directors we need to adapt in the race as well when you’re racing for points – the strategy is a little different
you take the responsibility to take a risk
but sometimes we prefer to be seventh or eighth."
Astana have been scoring points on various continents
Dutch veteran Wout Poels joined Astana on a one-year contract
with the specific task of ensuring that his fifth top-tier team of his career retains their WorldTour licence
“I knew when I signed for the team that they needed points
and in the end it’s pretty simple: as a bike rider you want to get good results
and by getting good results you get points
so not a lot has changed for me,” the 37-year-old said
“At the beginning of the year the team scored a lot of points and in quite a lot of one-day races we finished with two or three riders in the top-10." This fixation on points is new to Poels
I never looked at the points before – I didn’t know what points you got for what race
‘ooo points!’ I look at the dynamics of it all
It makes it a little bit more interesting.”
Before the Grand Tour season gets underway with the Giro d’Italia – a good GC result and a few stage wins would significantly bolster any team – Astana wanted to position themselves as close as possible to 18th place
“We’re confident we’re moving forward," Fofonov said
"Let’s go like we’re going now and there’s not a reason why it won’t work
The other teams aren’t sleeping – it's a competition – but we try to show ourselves in the best way.”
Should Astana not pull off the salvation job
they can look to Lotto and Israel-Premier Tech as recent examples of teams who were relegated but bounced back
with both teams almost guaranteed to return to the WorldTour in the next cycle; what’s more
their regular wins have meant that they’ve had an automatic invite to all three Grand Tours
But Fofonov won’t even entertain that thought
We’re thinking that we’re going to do it.”
fearsome mountain passes and a Balkan Grande Partenza
Rouleur takes a look at the contenders to win the Maglia Rosa in Italy this month
All the essential information about the first Grand Tour of the year
While the former Olympic and World champion is relishing new ventures in retirement
she is keen to ensure more support is in place for those..
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and the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation arrived in the capital city of Astana
beginning a State visit to the Republic of Kazakhstan at the invitation of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev
2008 by the Ministry of Information and Communications
Email: vietnamplus@vnanet.vn
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Proces du 13-November : ce que ces hommes opaques ont dans la tete
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Blanditiis optio incidunt eum omnis ratione error temporibus iure porro esse
Integer consectetur quam eget ipsum dictum accumsan
Donec non lectus id risus rutrum ullamcorper sit amet vel nulla
Harold Tejada finishes second overall as XDS Astana finish off a strong week in Turkey
It was a fast and hectic sprint on the wide roads of İzmir to bring the stage race to a close, and despite an organised lead-out from Uno-X Mobility, it was a searingly fast Malucelli that crossed the line first, beating Alexander Kristoff into second
Giovanni Lonardi (Polti VisitMalta) took third
The Italian's win marked Astana's fourth win of the week
and taking home the overall through Wout Poels
and they also secured second on GC with Harold López.
Picnic PostNL's Guillermo Juan Martinez completed the GC podium in third.
so I'm super happy," Poels said after stage 8
"I think the team did a really good job [to defend the jersey]
despite stage 8's fairly flat profile there was still a motivated breakaway group of initially eight riders that rode hard to try and disrupt the sprinters' plans
With 50km to go, stage 2 winner Tibor Del Grosso (Alpecin-Deceuninck) joined the breakaway and looked to add some impetus to the leaders
at which point the leading riders started attacking each other in an attempt to stay away
mainly led by Del Grosso and Zeb Kyffin (Unibet Tietema Rockets)
Del Grosso in particular tried to keep things rolling
slowly whittling down the leading group as riders gave in
but ultimately the leaders were swept up by the peloton with 4km to go to set up for the expected sprint
"I knew before this race that there were not a lot of real opportunities for the sprinters
and the first day – and also we had the leader's jersey so I needed to help my teammate during the race," Malucelli explained at the finish
"I tried to save a lot of energy during the week
it's more important to be fresh in the last kilometres
I thought all week about these last two stages
but today I did everything perfect and finally I won."
Matilda is an NCTJ-qualified journalist based in the UK who joined Cyclingnews in March 2025
she worked as the Racing News Editor at GCN
and extensively as a freelancer contributing to Cyclingnews
She has reported from many of the biggest events on the calendar
She has particular experience and expertise in women's cycling
She is a graduate of modern languages and sports journalism
Kazakhstani team fully in charge of GC after impressive display in Selçuk
The Colombian attacked from an elite GC group to catch and pass solo attacker Giovanni Carboni (Unibet Tietema Rockets) with 1.1km left to run of the 156km stage
Poels also jumped from the group to catch and pass Carboni inside the final kilometre
The Dutchman crossed the line in second place
while Johannes Kulset (Uno-X Mobility) rounded out the podium
Picnic-PostNL's GC hopefuls Guillermo Juan Martinez and Frank van den Broek were unable to make an impression on XDS-Astana despite working hard on the lead-in to the closing 4.2km
A group of around 25 riders hit the final climb of the day after a group of 12 went clear on the previous climb (3.6km at 7.9%) inside the closing 20km
Jakub Otruba (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) struck out alone at the front on the lead-in to the final climb
The Czech rider went clear with 8km to go and battled on alone up the mountain
holding a 25-second lead at the start of the ascent
Carboni made his move at 2km to go and passed Otruba 500 metres later
but López and Poels were on hand to prevent the Italian from taking the victory
Poels and López remain at the top of the overall standings heading into the weekend's concluding stages
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Dani has reported from the world's top races
She has interviewed many of the sport's biggest stars
and her favourite races are the Giro d'Italia
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
your roundup of news items from across the world of cycling
We keep this post updated throughout the week so that you can stay informed on all things bike racing
Here is what is making the headlines this week …
The final stage of the Presidential Tour of Turkey was won by Italian fast man Matteo Malucelli
securing XDS-Astana’s fourth stage win of the week as the team also wrapped up first and second overall with stage 4 and 6 winners Wout Poels and Harold Martín López
Their fourth stage winner was Lev Gonov who joined his WorldTeam colleagues from the XDS Astana Continental Team
Though the Tour of Turkey is a relatively modest bike race
it’s proven extremely valuable to the Kazakhstani WorldTeam
which takes away 355 UCI points with its final GC results alone at the 2.Pro race
including the five awarded to Fausto Masnada who finished 27th overall
This brings them ever closer to the top 18 teams vying for WorldTour status in the next cycle in what has been a very lucrative 2025 so far
Australian WorldTeam Jayco AlUla has announced the team that will take on the Giro d’Italia from next weekend
describing the squad as having “dual ambitions” for the first Grand Tour of the season
Headlining the squad will be Chris Harper for GC
while Filippo Zana and Luke Plapp will lead the team’s quest for stage results
Making their Giro debuts will be young trio Felix Engelhardt
the latter two racing their first Grand Tours
with Michael Hepburn and 2022 Giro KOM Koen Bouwman rounding out the lineup
Notably absent is Italian veteran and former pink jersey wearer Alessandro De Marchi who announced last month that he will retire at the end of the season
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and her Visma-Lease a Bike teammates hoped for a steady start to the Vuelta Femenina on Barcelona's fast TTT course
but as the clock began to count down towards the Dutch team's effort
with one rolling off after dodging through the volunteers lined up at the top of the ramp
and Imogen Wolff resorting to darting onto the course from the vehicle entrance
Visma-Lease a Bike lost 21 seconds over the 8.1-kilometre course
and 15 seconds to key GC rival Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez)
How the organization of a Grand Tour can be SO amateur
Is the jury sleeping while checking our bikes?!!!" Ferrand-Prévot wrote in a since-deleted Instagram story
"We were there 20 min before the bike check and 2 of our girls didn't make it on time
We kept saying to the jury we had to go but seems they were in chill mood
So much preparation and effort for nothing."
Taking place over four days in the surroundings of the cycling Mecca that is Girona
The Traka is a Gravel Earth Series event that has drawn the sport’s best and brightest to the trails
tracks and paths – “a paradise of gravel.”
In the three main events
PAS Racing dominated the podium with Tobias Kongstad and Karolina Migoń winning the 360
and former road pro Mads Wurtz Schmidt taking the men’s 200
Specialized riders also thrived on Girona’s gravel with off-road superstars Sofia Gómez Villafañe and Sina Frei winning the 200 and 100 respectively
Lachlan Morton was aiming for the Traka 360 days after announcing his participation in this year’s Unbound XL – read Josh Weinberg’s interview with Morton here at Escape Collective – but after breaking his wheel about 150 km in
the Australian hitched a lift from a local back to Girona
this time taking on 17.1 km on the edge of Lake Geneva
and with the top three separated by just three seconds
the overall title was up for grabs along with the stage
World and Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel scorched to victory in the time trial 12 seconds faster than a motivated João Almeida
whose effort was nonetheless good enough to put him into the overall race lead
Overnight leader Lenny Martinez did better than many expected he would on the TT bike
It was a busy day of racing with other winners including Alison Jackson who took Gracia Orlová after building a lead with stage 2 victory and fifth in the stage 3 ITT
never finishing outside the top 9 in five stages
and Martina Fidanza scored her first win in the yellow and black of Visma-Lease a Bike at the Festival Elsy Jacobs à Luxembourg
XDS-Astana capped off a hugely successful week with first and second at the 1.1-ranked Lotto Famenne Ardenne Classic via Max Kanter and Cees Bol
Elia Viviani is back to winning ways for the first time since the 2023 Tour of Guangxi
taking stage 7 victory ahead of Alexander Kristoff at the Presidential Tour of Turkey
The 36-year-old Italian went without a team at all for the first seven weeks of 2025 after the conclusion of his second stint at Ineos Grenadiers
He was ultimately rescued from obscurity by ProTeam Lotto who offered him a one-year deal in exchange for his wealth of experience and UCI points-gathering ability in sprints
A week out from the start of the first Grand Tour of the season
Tudor Pro Cycling has announced their confirmed lineup with Michael Storer the outright leader
Marc Hirschi had been expected to make his Giro d’Italia debut
but he’ll now sit the race out after a disappointing spring campaign
Storer will have the support of three relatively experienced teammates in Larry Warbasse
the latter a key climbing domestique in the Australian’s recent success at the Tour of the Alps
Joining them are four debutants in Yannis Voisard
The 2025 Giro is the Swiss team’s second-ever Grand Tour and the first of two they’ve received wildcard invites to this season, the second being the Tour de France where Julian Alaphilippe will headline. [Tudor]
Women’s WorldTeam FDJ-Suez has announced the contract extensions of two key riders in Vittoria Guazzini and Amber Kraak
securing their futures through 2028 and 2027 respectively
24-year-old Guazzini is in her fourth season with the French squad
during which time she’s scored a handful of wins
including the under-23 ITT world title in 2022 and Le Samyn 2024
and she’s reigning elite Italian TT champion
She’s also been prolific on the track as part of the Italian Team Pursuit lineup
but the 30-year-old Dutchwoman has proven herself as a highly valuable teammate on all terrains
Young Frenchman Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) took his second WorldTour win of his career and of 2025 on the penultimate stage of the Tour de Romandie
out-punching João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) in the final dash to the line after riding together for the last 4 km of the climb to the Thyon 2000 ski resort
but with only two seconds over Astana’s Lorenzo Fortunato – third on the stage – and 3 to superior time trialist Almeida
not to mention the three others also within a minute of the leader
Martinez may have his work cut out on the final day’s 17.1-kilometre Geneva time trial
Marta Lach (SD Worx-Protime) got the Festival Elsy Jacobs double-header of one-days underway with victory from a five-rider sprint
Lach scored back-to-back wins in both the Garnich and Luxembourg circuits
Amid reports that steel giant ArcelorMittal will lay off steelworkers in northern France
labor leaders could call a strike to coincide with stage 3 of the Tour de France between Valenciennes and Dunkirk
the proposed work stoppage could see hundreds of protesters blocking roads
"I respect the Tour de France and those who love it
but there is an economic and social emergency here," said Jean-Paul Delescaut
"Metal affects everyone. Including bicycles. If by July 7, we haven't been gathered around the table to talk about nationalizing the steel industry, there will be no yellow jersey in Dunkirk." [La Voix du Nord]
Melbourne-based custom framebuilder Bastion has unveiled its new premium road platform
like all of Bastion’s framesets since its inception
is constructed of 3D-printed titanium lugs joined by filament-wound carbon fiber tubes – but this time with an increased focus on aerodynamic performance
The Archetype also features an increase in tire clearance (up to 34 mm) and UDH compatibility
the bike represents a significant reduction of aerodynamic drag of 18-25 watts (0–15° yaw angles) at 50 km/h over the company’s former flagship (and fairly traditionally-shaped)
And price? Deep breath: chassis only from AUD$22,000/US$15,000/€13,000; complete bikes start at AUD$36,000/US$23,000/€21,000. [Bastion]
Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) described the challenges of facing high expectations and criticism in the media during a Classics campaign where she was also battling a knee injury
But sometimes it is hard to hear everything people are saying about you without having any clue what’s happening in our lives," she wrote
"We set goals, but that doesn’t mean we’ll succeed them all. In the end we lose more than we win." Matt de Neef has more on the story. [Instagram]
The Ineos Grenadiers have revealed their roster for the upcoming Giro d'Italia
where Egan Bernal and Thymen Arensman will headline the squad
Supporting those GC leaders will be Brandon Rivera
Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) powered to his first WorldTour win in two years on stage 3 of the Tour de Romandie
The 29-year-old Australian attacked out of a reduced field in the finale and held on to win two seconds ahead of Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) and João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)
Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost) finished on the same time as those chasers to retain his overall race lead
XDS-Astana's domination of the race continued as Harold López (XDS-Astana) won stage 6 with his teammate – and the GC leader – Wout Poels just behind
Johannes Kulset (Uno-X Mobility) finished third on the day
Canyon Bicycles has started selling some of its of entry-level urban
and recreational bikes through Amazon in North America
As reported by Bicycle Retailer and Industry News
the brand said the move aims to reach new customers while keeping its premium models exclusive to Canyon.com
The bikes sold on Amazon include the Grail:ON CF 7 AXS e-gravel bike (US$5,599)
Shimano has announced it will discontinue its Milremo custom clothing brand and scale back its wider apparel offering
The move ends the Japanese brand’s 25 years of investment in cycling clothing and will lead to 13 job losses
Shimano said it will continue to offer a limited apparel range
and that production and delivery of its AW 2025 collection will go ahead as planned
Shimano reported its component sales were up 15.6% in the first quarter of 2025 after a challenging 2024
Hunt has overhauled its Aerodynamicist Carbon Disc range
adding three new wheelsets that feature front and rear-specific rim profiles spanning 34/34 mm
All are aerodynamically optimized for 28 mm and 30 mm tires
Those rims all feature a hooked clincher/tubeless rim bed with a 22 mm internal width
Hunt is offering each wheelset in a choice of lighter carbon fiber spokes or lower-priced bladed steel spokes
now featuring Hunt’s 40T ratchet ring system (a close
but not compatible copy of DT Swiss’s Star Ratchet) and now roll with Enduro Abec 5 bearings
Hunt is claiming its wheels beat key competitors of equivalent depths in the wind tunnel
Complete wheelset weights start from just 1,175 g (34/34 depth with carbon spokes)
with the heaviest combination claimed to be 1,468 g (54/58 depth with steel spokes)
Prices start from £1,150 / US$1,450 / €1,400
A rain-soaked fifth stage of the Tour of Turkey initially saw stretches neutralized
but after riders protested the idea of continuing in inclement weather
the stage from Marmaris to Aydın was called off entirely
Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla) proved fastest in a reduced sprint at Eschborn-Frankfurt on Thursday
taking his first victory of the season in the WorldTour-level one-day race
The Australian veteran was a convincing winner ahead of Magnus Cort
whose Uno-X Mobility train had controlled the finale only for Matthews to surge past
Jon Barrenetxea (Movistar) rounded out the podium
Lorenzo Fortunato secured XDS-Astana's first WorldTour win of the year
soloing clear of a small breakaway group in the finale of stage 3 and holding on for victory
Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost) took second on the day with Junior Lecerf (Soudal-Quick-Step) in third
and Baudin now leads the general classification
Picnic-PostNL was sitting near the danger zone in the three-year UCI rankings that determine which squads will have WorldTour status in 2026
and after a quiet first few months of the year
Cofidis has leapfrogged the team and a flying XDS-Astana is not far off
Coach Matt Winston pointed to injuries that have kept some riders from performing as a cause of the team's early-season woes
"The situation is a bit tricky, but if those riders return, we can pick up the thread again," Winston told Wielerflits
He also said that Picnic-PostNL is not planning to alter its approach despite the threat of relegation
We focus on our tasks and on our process," Winston said
"We can only control what is within our power and that is in the race
We have to make the race and ride as a team."
Giro d'Italia organizers have announced that stage 21 of the Giro d'Italia will pass through Vatican City in honor of Pope Francis and to mark the Jubilee
a yearlong celebration in the Catholic Church
The peloton will enter the Vatican during the neutralized start
shortly after rolling out from the Baths of Caracalla in Rome
"Rome will once again offer a spectacular finale for the Giro d’Italia
crossing iconic landmarks known worldwide," said Giro director Mauro Vegni
strongly desired by Pope Francis during the Jubilee Year
adds a special emotional value to this stage
GPS giant Garmin reported an 11% rise in first quarter revenue for 2025
built partly on a bump in net sales in its Fitness division
a 12% boost over the same period from 2024
President and CEO Cliff Pembie nodded to economic and trade concerns saying that “recent developments in global trade have created an atmosphere of uncertainty” but said the company remains optimistic due to its “vertically integrated and highly diversified business model.” Garmin devices are made in a variety of locations
which manufactures a range of outdoor products including vehicle racks and bike travel cases
reported a 10% increase in net sales in the first quarter of 2025
But CEO Mattias Ankarberg sounded a warning about what he called a “challenging US market,” and last week the company announced it would close a facility in Longmont
Ankarberg said that despite having two US factories
tariffs would spur price increases for the US market
After one British up-and-comer took Tuesday's prologue at the Tour de Romandie
another sprinted to victory on stage 1 as Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease a Bike) took a convincing win in Fribourg
Aurélien Paret-Peintre (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) secured runner-up honors on the day with Artem Shmidt (Ineos Grenadiers) in third
It's Brennan's fourth victory of the season for the first-year pro
in addition to two wins riding for Visma's Continental development team
Over at the Tour of Turkey and relevant to the relegation battle mentioned above
with Wout Poels winning stage 3 ahead of teammate Harold López
with Guillermo Martínez (Picnic-PostNL) in third
Poels now leads the general classification ahead of those same two riders
decades-long effort to encourage cycling by adding bike lanes and other infrastructure
the City of London – the roughly one square mile district in the center of Greater London – has reported its largest-ever jump in ridership
ridership rose from 89,000 people a day to 139,000
Cyclists now make up more than half of all traffic in the City of London during peak commuting hours
while air quality has improved and motor vehicle traffic has declined by a third
The milestone means the City has met three key targets six years ahead of schedule
While the City of London has a small geographic footprint and few residents
nearly 700,000 people work within its borders
and the ridership changes there are broadly indicative of changes in the Greater London area
Argon 18 has overhauled its Dark Matter gravel bike
increasing its tire clearance to 57 mm and refreshing the geometry
There's support for both 1x and 2x drivetrains, suspension forks and dropper posts, and you get a T47 bottom bracket, bash guard, and extra mounting points on the fork. The Dark Matter comes in three builds starting from £3,500 / US$3,650 / €3,995 up to £6,500 / US$6,650 / €7,395. [Argon 18]
one of the largest bicycle suppliers to the US mass market
has stopped all imports of bikes and components from China
told Bicycle Retailer and Industry News (BRAIN) that the company could be forced to stop production at its South Carolina factory if tariffs are not eased in the next month
Kent supplies bikes to major US retailers, including Walmart and Target. Its South Carolina facility was opened in 2014 and assembles bikes and builds wheels using imported parts. [BRAIN]
Remco Evenepoel expressed his frustration with Belgian television commentator Ruben Van Gucht after Van Gucht shared a rumor he had heard that Evenepoel financially supports the family of his wife Oumaïma Rayane
Her parents do not owe their prosperity to anyone
Certainly not to me," Evenepoel wrote on Instagram
Let me explain something to you: If anyone has helped
it is more likely to be our in-laws who have always done everything to support us and make us stronger
I don't know where you get your stories from
Or is it difficult for you to believe that a Moroccan family has simply worked hard and is well-off
That says more about your limited worldview than about reality."
Samuel Watson was a late call-up to the Ineos Grenadiers Tour de Romandie roster, but that did not stop him from storming to his first ever WorldTour victory in the prologue
The 23-year-old Brit narrowly bested Ivo Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) by less than a second
with Iván Romeo (Movistar) taking third in the 3.4 km time trial
XDS-Astana continued a trend of racking up UCI points as Lev Gonov sprinted to victory on stage 3 ahead of Lander Loockx (Unibet Tietema Rockets) and race leader Tibor Del Grosso (Alpecin-Deceuninck)
Red Bull already sponsors a team and several individual riders
and now the Austrian energy drink company is set to lend its branding to intermediate sprints at the upcoming Giro d'Italia
Organizer RCS and Red Bull have announced that 19 of the 21 stages of the race will feature a Red Bull-sponsored sprint point offering bonus seconds
The "Red Bull KM" will start and finish with some all-important brand visibility for Red Bull
and two bonus seconds will be awarded to the first three riders across the line at the end of the thousand-meter stretch
many of the Red Bull KMs are probably going to be contested by breakaway riders
but there could be at least a few days where the bunch is involved and thus the general classification battle potentially impacted
All of the mass-start stages in the Italian Grand Tour will feature the sponsor-supported chance for bonus seconds
leaving just the two time trial stages (2 and 10) free of Red Bull KM battles
After a Liège-Bastogne-Liège victory that tied him for third most Monument wins all time
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) acknowledged that taking on such a full Classics slate each year might not be sustainable
An amateur in UAE Team Emirates kit rode onto the Liège-Bastogne-Liège course and pedaled alongside riders in Sunday's women's race
drawing confusion from the riders and the ire of commentators and viewers before a roadside marshal managed to halt his progress
The BBC reports that British Paralympian Sam Ruddock
who has competed in cycling and athletics events
The 35-year-old had been visiting with the intention of attending WrestleMania
and he also posted an Instagram story that day
According to reports, he did not check out of the hostel where he was staying but left his belongings in the room. [BBC]
Under-23 cyclocross world champ and emerging road talent Tibor Del Grosso (Alpecin-Deceuninck) won stage 2 of the Tour of Turkey on Monday
The 21-year-old Dutchman proved fastest in an uphill sprint in Kalkan
besting Giovanni Lonardi (Polti-VisitMalta) and Lander Loockx (Unibet Tietema Rockets) to win the stage and take the race lead
It was a fast and hectic sprint on the wide roads of İzmir to bring the stage race to a close, and despite an organised lead-out from Uno-X Mobility, it was a searingly fast Malucelli that crossed the line first, beating Alexander Kristoff into second
and they also secured second on GC with Harold López
Picnic PostNL's Guillermo Juan Martinez completed the GC podium in third
With 50km to go, stage 2 winner Tibor Del Grosso (Alpecin-Deceuninck) joined the breakaway and looked to add some impetus to the leaders
and the first day – and also we had the leader's jersey so I needed to help my teammate during the race," Malucelli explained at the finish
Results powered by FirstCycling
Wout Poels of the XDS Astana Team won the 60th Presidential Cycling Tour of Türkiye on Sunday
The 37-year-old Dutch cyclist topped the overall general classification lead with a cumulative time of 23 hours
Poels' teammate Harold Martin Lopez ranked second
while Team Picnic PostNL's Guillermo Juan Martinez finished third
The Dutch cyclist earlier powered to a victory in Stage 4
known as the "Queen Stage" for its challenging climbs
Cyclists raced 1,153 kilometers (716 miles) in eight stages that began last Sunday in the southern Turkish resort city of Antalya
riding through renowned tourism hotspots such as Kemer
and Cesme before reaching the finish line on Sunday in the Aegean city of Izmir
The 2025 edition saw 161 cyclists from 23 teams across 13 countries and three continents competing
The race was broadcast live internationally on Eurosport and domestically on TRT Spor
helping to showcase Türkiye's beauty and cycling culture to a global audience
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Lorenzo Fortunato solos to his team's first WorldTour win of the year as XDS-Astana continues to storm up the rankings in an effort to avoid relegation
the third-highest ranked team in men's bike racing this season had yet to win any WorldTour events in 2025 – but Lorenzo Fortunato has now proved at the Tour de Romandie that
XDS-Astana can actually win at the highest level in their relegation-resisting rampage
The 28-year-old Italian soloed clear of a strong breakaway group to close out an intriguing stage 2 with a victory ahead of Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost) and Junior Lecerf (Lotto)
XDS-Astana entered the 2025 season with a huge deficit to make up if they wanted to claw their way into the sport's top 18 teams and thus secure their position in the WorldTour for the next cycle
the UCI's current promotion/relegation framework gives WorldTour bids to the top 18 teams in the sport over a three-year cycle
meaning that top-division teams ranked lower than 18th get relegated and second-division teams within the top 18 get promoted
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Central Asia’s largest airline group Air Astana JSC and its subsidiary FlyArystan has released its financial results for the quarter which ended on 31st March
What was particularly notable was that Air Astana registered strong revenue and EBITDAR growth in a season that is traditionally seen as a weak one
the airline group’s total revenue and other income rose by 10.4 percent to US$292.4 million compared to where it was in the same period in 2024
EBITDAR increased 37.1 percent to US$59.9 million
significantly higher than the US$43.7 million seen at the end of Q1-2024
EBITDAR margin improved by 4.0pp to 20.5 percent
while ASK went up 13.5 percent to 4.7 billion
and RPK increased 13.9 percent to 3.8 billion
unit revenues continue to be managed ahead of unit costs
extending the positive trend from Q4-2024 despite the seasonally weaker quarter
partly because of fare increases which were made to reflect the Tenge depreciation
being phased in during the first quarter though the full effect of fare adjustments will be recognised from Q2 onwards
the quieter Ramadan period fell entirely in Q1 this year and
will have no effect on financials in the ongoing second quarter
CASK went down by 5.7 percent to US$6.09¢
driven primarily by lower fuel costs and the reduction in Tenge denominated costs
group passengers carried aboard were up 7.1 percent
closing at two million at the end of the first quarter
0.3pp improvement in average load factor to 81.5 percent
Air Astana Group CEO Peter Foster remarked that the findings show how the airline had a positive start to 2025
spurred on by the addition of popular new routes
Foster declared: “These results were achieved despite the Tenge depreciation and earlier Ramadan this year
driven by particularly strong international growth across key markets in Asia
Our network is growing with 15 new routes launched in 2025 to several popular business and lifestyle destinations
These flights have been added where demand is strongest
building on the 21 new routes launched last year across growth regions such as Vietnam and the Gulf
We are also improving connectivity with the two global mega markets on our doorstep.”
Foster further pointed out that the airline commemorated two decades of service between Kazakhstan and India with the launch of a new service from Almaty to Mumbai
Air Astana is slated to add Yining as its fifth destination in China
Foster said: “The MoU signed with China Southern Airlines for a comprehensive set of codeshares
creates additional opportunities for tourism
and enhanced cultural ties between Kazakhstan and China
and will strengthen our foothold in this important mega market and be a growth driver for Air Astana.”
Air Astana has expanded its fleet to 60 units
thanks to the delivery of five A320 family aircraft at the beginning of this year
two of the three remaining E2s have now been phased out
largely concluding the airline’s fleet simplification plan
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Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson got his indoor season off to a winning start at the Astana Indoor Meet for Amin Tuyakov Prizes – the opening World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting of 2025 – in the Kazakh capital on Saturday (25)
But there was a slight fright as the 23-year-old grimaced over the line in the 60m and limped momentarily in the aftermath of a final he won in a time of 6.56
denied agonisingly by just 0.005 by Noah Lyles last summer in Paris
had marked himself out as a serious threat to the US sprinter yet again in 2025 with a season-opening 6.48 outdoors back in Jamaica last weekend
A week on after a 32-hour journey to the Kazakh capital
struggling with his start in the heats and again looking forced in his running but it was still enough to take a deserved win
Thompson was slow out of the blocks but still booked his place in the final comfortably with 6.58
He let out a roar as he was announced to the crowd for the meeting’s finale
and then he used his power to take a clear win
Hopes of a duel with 2021 Olympic 200m champion Andre De Grasse were denied
The Canadian had always warned that 60m was probably too short a distance for him and he had to make do with fifth place in the final as Oman’s Ali Anwar Baluchi was second to Thompson and Japan’s Shuhei Tada third in 6.60 and 6.62 respectively
been the star attraction in the women’s 60m hurdles but
did not take up her place in the eight-woman line-up because of injury
Yuri Tanaka clocked a personal best 8.05 with a big dip to the line ahead of Finland’s Nooralotta Neziri and Klaudia Wojtunik of Poland
clocking 7.18 for a comfortable win while twin sister Tina
struggled in the latter stages and had to make do with third
like compatriot Thompson coached by Stephen Francis
were separated by Portugal’s Lorene Bazolo
The women’s 3000m was a testament to youth as a 16-year-old Marta Alemayo out-kicked her fellow Ethiopian Shito Gumi
to shatter the world U18 best for the distance
The world U20 cross-country champion sliced more than six seconds off the mark
The teenager had tried to force her way into the lead by going up the inside but
she showed age-defying maturity to go round the outside to take the win
Marta Alemayo wins the 3000m in Astana (© Alexey Gubanov)
Chase Jackson had looked a class apart going into the shot put and so it proved
the only athlete capable of throwing beyond 19 metres
Her second-round effort of 19.13m was an early world lead and proved a strong start to 2025 having endured the disappointment of failing to qualify for the final of the event at the Paris Olympics last year
a double Olympic relay medallist last year
held off the challenge of Chidi Okezie to win the 400m
His time of 46.47 was an improvement of half a second of his run in Luxembourg just a few days earlier
World and Olympic medallist Sada Williams of Barbados navigated her way through the field on the second lap of the women’s 400m to win in 53.51
Just two centimetres separated the top three in the men’s long jump
as Lester Lescay’s 7.91m took the win ahead of US duo Marquis Dendy and Isaac Grimes
who cleared two metres back in 2021 and was a 2022 world indoor medallist
could only finish fourth in a women’s high jump competition which Japan’s Nagisa Takahashi won with a clearance of 1.88m
was won by Luis Castro for Puerto Rico after clearing 2.15m
Astana is one of nine Gold level World Indoor Tour events in 2025
with the series also taking in the likes of Boston
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Analysis: WorldTour relegation/promotion tightens up as the action shifts into the points-rich grand tours
The heat is on. The UCI’s latest team rankings, updated through the spring classics, confirm things are tightening up in the race to secure 2026-2028 WorldTour licenses
in now what’s the second time the relegation/promotion battle is playing out in the peloton
several teams on the bubble are getting nervous
The latest rankings — set from cumulative points from the past three seasons — sees rumblings at the bottom end of the list that could have major implications in the race for WorldTour salvation
Where do things stand coming out of the spring classics and going into the points-rich grand tour season
While UAE Emirates-XRG and Visma-Lease a Bike continue their duel as the sport’s top “uber teams,” and the top 10 are all but locked in
it’s the bottom six where the drama is playing out
Relegation and promotion might be a relatively new wrinkle in pro cycling
but it’s already changing the way teams race and strategize
It’s at the bottom of the rankings where things are getting tense
Intermarché-Wanty is hanging tough in 16th place
but the real tension begins right behind them
In the latest rankings, Cofidis clawed its way up one spot into 17th
That’s impressive considering the long-suffering French team is racing without headline talent
Right on the bubble now is Team Picnic PostNL
The Dutch team is being squeezed from both sides, with Cofidis moving up, and the surging XDS Astana Team nipping at its heels
The Kazakh squad catapulted two spots in the latest rankings into 19th
and is now about 1,000 points behind Picnic
XDS looked dead in the water at the start of 2025
Only UAE and Lidl-Trek have scored more in 2025 so far
and Astana has scored 4,000 more points than the Dutch squad this season alone
still within striking distance if it has a spectacular second half of 2025
which includes a return to the Tour de France
which looks destined to slip out of the WorldTour league
it dipped to 21st and is moving in the wrong direction
It’s clear that XDS and Cofidis are not racing to win as much as racing to stay alive
That dynamic is one of the major criticisms of the UCI’s promotion/relegation system when UCI president David Lappartient introduced it five years ago
Teams are targeting races to rack up points
often steering clear of long-shot breakaways or risky tactics in favor of hitting the top 10 for maximum points impact
Critics argue that this conservatism dulls the racing spectacle
Two teams that were relegated at the end of 2022 — Lotto and Israel Premier Tech — both seem to have a lock on promotion back into the WorldTour
both seemingly safe for a return to the top league
Meanwhile, we continue to hold on our place in the Top-3 of the @UCI_cycling World Team Ranking!#XDSAstanaTeam pic.twitter.com/way8RXZsya
— XDS Astana Team (@XDSAstanaTeam) April 29, 2025
Team Picnic PostNL sport director Matt Winston insists his squad isn’t panicking yet
Speaking to Wielerflits at the Tour of the Alps
where the team placed two riders in the GC top-10
Winston also admitted it’s racing with one eye on the rankings
“If you put pressure on them, they will make mistakes,” Winston told Wielerflits
“We don’t have to worry about what all the other teams are doing
because then we’ll go really crazy and then that pressure will come
“We’re not going to throw away a victory to have someone in 7th place and 9th place
that’s not what we want,” Winston said
“But in some races we might go with multiple riders for the UCI points
if we feel that we have no one who can really compete for the win
Then we can choose to hunt for UCI points with multiple riders.”
After its first iteration caught a few teams off-guard coming out of the 2022 season
teams have adjusted how they are racing going into this latest round of license allocation
Proponents say the promotion/relegation system — modeled after the European soccer system — infuses more urgency into teams that sometimes seemed to be going through the paces in many events
Critics say even a few ill-timed crashes or illness to a key rider can unfairly torpedo an entire organization’s chances and mortgage its future
Some behind-closed-doors talks could see further tweaks to the system going into the next round in three years from now
every squad is pushing for maximum performance in every race because the stakes are enormous for teams that lose out
Losing WorldTour status means potentially losing major sponsorships
many of whom have clauses allowing contract termination if a team drops out of the top league
IPT threatened legal action after it was relegated out of the WorldTour
but the team was thrown an olive branch after the UCI ruled that teams that rank in the top-2 in the ProTeam second-tier season rankings see invitations to all the WorldTour races
1️⃣2️⃣@Movistar_Team : 3.702
26º @BurgosBH : 1.382
27º @CajaRural_RGA : 1.266
29º @EqKernPharma : 1.000
33º@euskaltelteam : 625
Semana 17 pic.twitter.com/IWbiY62tC0
— UCI Points & Rankings (@Ranking_UCI) April 28, 2025
The first is the golden ticket of a top-18 WorldTour license for 2026 to 2028
The top two teams at the end-of-season ProTeam rankings mean wildcard access to cycling’s biggest races
but four teams are within 1,000 points of each other
It’s no mystery that the teams fighting for WorldTour licenses are among the least-funded in professional cycling
What’s it like to be an American cyclist living in France
Watch to get professional road cyclist Joe Dombrowski’s view