The pro cycling transfer market is nearing its final hour. Only a handful of names are left without a contract for the new season while teams look towards 2026, with team camps already under way.
Transfer announcements for the 2026 season have been trickling in since the beginning of August. As of the time of writing, over 100 riders on the men’s and women’s WorldTour have switched team colours for the upcoming season. Some have left financial sinking ships, others have searched out new leadership opportunities, while many are hoping for a plain old change of scene.
Today, we’ll discuss ten of the most exciting transfers for the 2026 season, from WorldTour heavy hitters to plucky underdogs who’ve well earned their entry into the sport’s top flight.
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Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels to Ineos Grenadiers)
Xavier Pereyron
With the fall of Arkéa-B&B Hotels, the squad’s 28-man roster was plunged into a mad rush to secure contracts for 2026. Among them, Raúl García, Cristían Rodriguez, Luca Mozzato and Ewen Costiou provide some intrigue, but Kévin Vauquelin had long been the rider underpinning the team’s survival over the past two years. In fact, he scored roughly a third of Arkéa’s total UCI points from 2025.
As such, the Norman was one of the most chased assets on the 2025/26 transfer market. For a while, he was reported to be in the crosshairs of Visma-Lease a Bike, Lidl-Trek and Decathlon. Instead, he took intense English classes and backed Ineos Grenadiers, a deal he verbally agreed to back in the spring. There was some hesitation in the summer following the news of the David Rozman scandal and the prospect of Arkéa securing a new financial backer, but he’d eventually settle on the British squad.
To me, Vauquelin is a Matteo Jorgenson in waiting. He’s got the potential to win week-long stage races, backed up with strong Classics legs and an aptitude for time-trialling. If he’s slotted into a similar role as Jorgenson at Visma, Vauquelin could become one of the most talented riders outside of the galactico ring. On the other hand, Grand Tour racing is something that still needs work. He could pick up another top ten at the Tour, but he’s not the yellow jersey winner that Ineos may have been fishing for.
Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike to Decathlon)
Tim de Waele/Getty Images
Ever since French retail giant Decathlon jumped onto the WorldTour as a sponsor in 2024, the team formerly known as AG2R have been desperately searching for a headline sprinter. They first rolled the dice with veteran Sam Bennett, but youth seems to be the new approach with the signing of Dutch 24-year-old Olav Kooij.
The former Visma rider has been one of the most promising sprinters in recent years, with wins at the WorldTour level since the age of 21. These victories include stages at Paris-Nice, the Tour of Poland and three Giro d’Italia stages. He’s yet to ride a Tour de France, having been sidelined for the team’s GC approach, which included fellow fastman Wout van Aert. While the Belgian has lost some of his top speed, Britain’s Matt Brennan looks to be the team’s newest toy, with proven versatility on his side.
By leaving Visma, where he spent years embedded in the development system, Kooij joins a beefed-up leadout train at Decathlon. This has a Benelux core, with new recruits Cees Bol, Daan Hoole and former Visma teammate Tiesj Benoot on board. The firepower on show here should be strong enough to bring Kooij onto a new level in 2026. Not just that, he may finally get to participate in the Tour de France.
Bruno Amirail (Decathlon to Visma-Lease a Bike)
Xavier Pereyron
One key theme in this year’s transfer market is the mass exodus of French riders from Decathlon. The team, which is now under new leadership, has been motivated by a transfer policy of internationalisation, leaving long-standing riders Clément Berthet, Bastien Tronchon, Dorian Godon, Nans Peters, Geoffrey Bouchard, Victory Lafay and Benoît Cosnefory out of contract. While many of those riders were scrambling for new homes, Bruno Amirail was quickly picked up by Visma-Lease a Bike.
Pyrenean-born Amirail has proven his versatility in recent years. He has finished inside the top 20 at both the Giro and Vuelta and has often found himself up the road in breakaways. He’s also been a loyal domestique at Decathlon, but lacked a headline leader to tow for.
In the day and age of superteams, Amirail is the perfect fit for a domestique role at a team like UAE or Visma. He’s strong enough in the mountains to regulate the pace most days, and his race instinct should be valued. With this, the French TT champ is likely to receive a call-up for the Tour de France, where he could play an integral role in Jonas Vingegaard’s title bid.
Sarah Van Dam (Ceratizit to Visma-Lease a Bike)
Szymon Gruchalski/Getty Images
Sarah Van Dam was one of the surprise breakthroughs in 2025. She was rooted inside the top ten at a handful of one-day races in the spring, which prefaced a top three finish at the WorldTour-level Itzulia Basque Country. After this breakout performance, she would land a top 20 at the Giro d’Italia, where she shone on punchier profiles.
Ceratizit, her former team, announced their closure early in the season, leaving Van Dam without a squad for 2026. Given her strong results, she was an enticing prospect for many, but ultimately settled for Visma-Lease a Bike.
At Visma, the Canadian could find herself on the start line of more Grand Tours, perhaps the Tour de France Femmes, where she’d be working for defending champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot. However, with Ferrand-Prévot’s stripped-back schedule, Van Dam could end up fighting for leadership duties at smaller stage races and one-day races.
Alberto Dainese (Tudor to Soudal-QuickStep)
Xavier Pereyron
After losing Remco Evenepoel to Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, Soudal-QuickStep have gone back to their roots and roped in a network of Classics specialists and sprinters. While the signatures of Jasper Stuyven and Dylan van Baarle highlight this, Alberto Dainese is a stand-out name for me.
The Italian sprinter was a young star at Picnic-PostNL, picking up three Grand Tour stages during his time at the Dutch outfit. Since his departure to Tudor Pro Cycling, Dainese lost his way. He’s added no further WorldTour wins to his palmares, and he failed to reach the top three on a Grand Tour stage over the two-year period.
Acknowledging this talent, Daniese could be the next sprinter to receive Soudal-QuickStep’s midas touch. In the past, the Belgian team has hired underutilised sprinters and transformed them into world beaters. Just think of Elia Viviani, Tim Merlier, Sam Bennett and second-generation Mark Cavendish. At 27, he should be reaching his peak, so there’s a lot to gain for Dainese in this proven environment.
In fairness, QuickStep’s a cut-throat team. There’s only room for one sprinter at the Tour de France – and that’s reserved for Merlier. Dainese could make the start line of the Giro or Vuelta, which could still prove fertile ground for the Italian. However, he’s still got to bat off the interests of teammate Paul Magnier next year. It could be hard for him to stand out, but QuickStep have always been good at giving their riders opportunities to shine.
Benoît Cosnefroy (Decathlon to UAE Team Emirates XRG)
A.S.O./Tony Esnault
Benoît Cosnefroy has been a cornerstone of Decathlon’s roster over the past decade. He first jumped onto the scene in 2017 when he claimed the under-23 world title in Bergen, immediately drumming up hype among French fans. Since his world title, he’s been a consistent figure in the French circuit. By that, he’s been a perennial winner in one-day races like the Tour du Finistère, Paris-Camembert and Grand Prix du Morbihan. On top of those, he danced away to wins at the GP Québec, Bretagne Classic and Brabantse Pijl.
After being targeted by both Groupama-FDJ and Ineos Grenadiers, UAE Team Emirates XRG won this transfer race. Cosnefroy will join Tadej Pogačar’s Classics core, adding another key asset to his one-day artillery. Yes, Cosnefroy has rarely been a domestique, but he’s shown brilliant potential in this role while working for Julian Alaphilippe in the French national team.
Above all, the Norman puncheur could be the next in line for a UAE-style makeover, following in the footsteps of Jonathan Narváez, Tim Wellens and Pavel Sivakov. Perhaps if he enters the Coupe de France, the team will be able to reach 100 victories next year (God help us).
Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates XRG to Lidl-Trek)
Harry Talbot
In one of the messiest breakups in pro cycling history, Juan Ayuso has severed his contract with UAE Team Emirates. The divorce was accelerated at the Vuelta a España, where Ayuso broke team orders and surrendered domestique duties in favour of his own chances. There was also a disagreement behind the scenes, which led to Ayuso describing the team as ‘a dictatorship’.
Apparently, Lidl-Trek had been sniffing for Ayuso before that race. Once the contract was ripped up, Lidl-Trek jumped in and offered Ayuso a deal that was said to be in the tens of millions. For this money, they’ll be expecting a Grand Tour leader. Unfavourably, Ayuso has a patchy Grand Tour record, but he has managed to podium the Vuelta in the past. Although his chances were few and far between at UAE, he still picked up stage race victories at Tirreno-Adriatico and Itzulia Basque Country during his time there. Chances are, he could do the same at Lidl-Trek
Lord knows how Ayuso will gel with Lidl-Trek’s existing roster of Jonathan Milan, Mads Pedersen and Mattias Skjelmose. The Dane has already shown some discontent over his own leadership duties, which will surely get squashed by the aspirations of Ayuso. What we do know is that Lidl-Trek want to rise onto a similar footing to Visma and UAE. Without a clear podium candidate amongst their ranks until now, Ayuso could justify the German supermarket’s investment in the sport.
Lauren Dickson (Handsling Alba to FDJ-Suez)
Olly Hassell/SWpix.com
Lauren Dickson is one of two Scottish signings on the Women’s WorldTour in 2026, alongside future Liv-AlUla-Jayco rider Erin Boothman.
Dickson’s path to the WorldTour is atypical for a British rider these days, having dodged the traditional developmental system. In fact, she only started focussing on road cycling in 2024 after competing at the national level in athletics and triathlon.
Riding for the domestic-level Handsling Alba squad, Dickson has lit up the UK race scene over the past 12 months. This culminated in a victory at the Lincoln GP, the pinnacle of the new Rapha Super League. The Scot has picked up top results outside of the UK as well, notably with a podium finish at the Tour of Norway, which was attended by WorldTour teams.
FDJ-Suez, the team of Demi Vollering, spotted this astonishing breakthrough and has secured the Edinburgher on a two-year deal. By joining the top-ranked team in the UCI rankings, Dickson could benefit from the gold dust sprinkled onto Vollering and co in 2025. She’ll also get the chance to learn from the best riders in the world, something that’ll be incredibly valuable for a relatively new convert to the sport.
Dorian Godon (Decathlon to Ineos Grenadiers)
Sebastien Salom-Gomis/Getty Images
Like Cosnefroy and Vauquelin, Dorian Godon was the subject of a closely contested transfer battle. Groupama-FDJ, EF Education-EasyPost and Ineos Grenadiers were all in the running, but the British team would prevail, perhaps as a sign of their future Frenchification hinted by TotalEnergies’ sponsorship deal.
These teams all acknowledged the Frenchman’s talent, with a significant amount of one-day wins and stage victories over the past few years. These wins, which include Brabantse Pijl and two stages of the Tour de Romandie, were mostly scooped up in reduced sprints, more often than not in horrid weather conditions. A hardy sprinter indeed, Godon has experienced great success at Decathlon, but was deprived of Grand Tour appearances or Monument starts. In fact, he hasn’t ridden any of those five Classics since 2022. In a crowd of French riders of a similar skillset at Decathlon, a change of home could be the key to bagging more WorldTour wins.
At Ineos, Godon will slot into an exciting one-day roster, backed up by the likes of Pippo Ganna, Axel Laurence, Magnus Sheffield and Sam Watson. With the bleu, blanc et rouge of French champion on his back, he’ll be easy to spot once he moves to Ineos in the new year.
Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck to UAE Team ADQ)
A.S.O./Thomas Maheux
Pauliena Rooijakkers occupies a unique space in the ecosystem of the women’s peloton, lingering just below the GC mainstays of Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, Demi Vollering and Kasia Niewiadoma. That said, she was only eight seconds away from winning the Tour de France Femmes in 2024 and has continued to score top five finishes in Grand Tours since.
Soon to be riding in UAE Team ADQ colours, I think of Rooijakker’s transfer as a Yates-like move. The 32-year-old is a consistent top ten rider, but she could easily double up as a luxury domestique capable of chasing her own leadership roles when they become available. With an improved training programme and mountain squad around her, she could improve greatly in the upcoming season, much like the Yates twins after they moved to UAE and Visma.
Like the British brothers, Rooijakkers will have to balance out her own leadership roles with supporting Elisa Longo Borghini – or Dominika Włodarczyk. However, the Dutchwoman should have the chance to anchor UAE’s squad at the Spanish block of racing, including the Vuelta Femenina, which her new Italian teammate usually skips.
