Searching for a future – The riders still without a contract for 2027

The transfer market has been in full swing since August, with dozens of riders changing teams all across the peloton, and dozens more extending with their current teams. Many of these deals are done as early as the spring, with other decisions continuing to be made through the summer.

But as the off-season, the winter and the new year rapidly approach, October marks the time when those riders who don’t yet have a contract for next year start to worry.

Primož Roglič

‘Where is Primož Roglič racing in 2027?’ is perhaps the biggest question in cycling right now, with the Slovenian characteristically coy about his future. We know that he won’t be continuing with Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe in 2027, but whether he’ll race on at all is not even clear at this point, with Roglič suggesting that it was possible Il Lombardia could even be his last race.

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Various outlets and journalists have linked him with several different teams, including Lotto-Intermarché and Tudor, and there are multiple teams in the peloton that would surely be interested in signing the multiple-time Grand Tour winner and current European TT champion. But so far, the 36-year-old hasn’t been officially tied down to any team, and we don’t know where, if anywhere, his signature will land for 2027.

Roglič is in a better position than most, because it seems like he definitely has options on the table – he can certainly continue racing if he wants to – but that doesn’t mean that it’s an easy decision to make. A lot of other deals might be hanging on the outcome of Roglič’s transfer, too, so this is a significant contract to follow at this late point in the window.

Tao Geoghegan Hart

Former Giro d’Italia winner Tao Geoghegan Hart has never quite been the same since his crash and severe injuries sustained at the Giro in 2023, and though Lidl-Trek put their faith in him with a three-year contract, he hasn’t been able to rediscover his Grand Tour-winning level since then. Now, six years after he took home the maglia rosa, it’s not clear whether we’ll see him in the peloton at all next year.

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Earlier in the year, the prevailing talk around the paddock was that Geoghegan Hart was set for a quiet retirement, but more recently, Daniel Benson has reported that a move to EF Education-EasyPost could be on the cards.

Nothing has been confirmed yet, though, and if a deal hasn’t already been signed, his run of DNFs in the last months won’t have helped in getting something across the line. Geoghegan Hart was once one of the best riders of his generation, but will now likely take a pay cut at the very least, if he does want to continue in the peloton.

Lucinda Brand

Lucinda Brand recently confirmed her exit from Lidl-Trek, opting to stay with Baloise Verzekeringen–Het Poetsbureau Lions cyclo-cross but giving an answer about her future on the road. In an Instagram post at the time, she suggested there was news coming on that subject, so it seems likely that she does indeed have a road contract for 2027, but it’s yet to be announced.

An extremely experience and successful racer who is clearly still firing on all cylinders, it seems unlikely that Brand would struggle to find a spot for 2027, but the fact that nothing has been announced yet could point to her looking wider than the WorldTour for her future.

James Knox

After nine seasons in the WorldTour, James Knox may be facing the end of the road this season as he has struggled to find a new team, with no extension forthcoming at Picnic PostNL after the expiry of his one-year contract.

“Of course I wish I did have something,” he told Cyclingnews at Il Lombardia. “I would still cross my fingers, but the reality of the situation with cycling now, with limited space for the WorldTour teams, many, many quality riders, a lot of focus on points, and younger riders coming through with guaranteed contracts from development teams… I think it’s become a situation where it might be hard for me to get anything for next year. I don’t know what will come of it.”

Though not a prolific winner himself, Knox has established himself as a dependable climbing domestique, but that’s perhaps one of most competitive areas on the transfer market, and as a result, it might be a premature end to his road career this winter.

Gaia Realini

Gaia Realini agreed to depart Lidl-Trek this year despite having a year left on her contract, and whilst she reportedly has interest from other teams, nothing is confirmed yet, and we’re still waiting to hear the exact details of her future.

Often, if riders are leaving teams early, it’s because they have a better offer somewhere else already, but it’s not always as clear-cut as that. Sometimes things simply aren’t working out, or the team want to free up space to bring in another rider by striking a deal with an existing one to leave early, so such an exit doesn’t always mean that something else is already lined up.

A talented climber with plenty of potential, Realini seems primed to find a new home, but we’ll wait to see where.

Tom Van Asbroeck

Belgian veteran Tom Van Asbroeck is a mainstay of the professional peloton, and the winner of Classics like Binche-Chimay-Binche as well as a respected Classics road captain, but at 36 he’s joining the legion of older riders who would like to continue their careers, but struggle to find a spot to do so.

Van Asbroeck told Het Nieuwsblad that he was expecting his contract to be renewed for 2027, but things changed when NSN received “an opportunity the team couldn’t pass up” and his future with the team came at the expense of a new signing.

“I hope for the team’s sake that they have made the right decision, but it leaves me with a bitter feeling,” he said. “It is strange that I was deemed good enough for a Tour selection and numerous major races, but now there is suddenly no place for me anymore. That is contradictory and particularly confronting.”

Alexy Faure Prost

At the other end of the spectrum from Van Asbroeck, there are riders who are only just starting their careers but find themselves faced with an early hurdle of not having a team. This seems to be the situation facing France’s Alexy Faure Prost, who joined Picnic PostNL this year but is facing retirement at only 22.

“There’s only one step between being among the world’s best in your category, being courted by the biggest teams, and being forgotten while being even stronger than before,” his girlfriend wrote in an Instagram post that Faure Prost collaborated with.

“Finding another contract back or simply renewing for another year on the same team is becoming more and more impossible. No, ending a professional career at 22 is not normal. Behind all the training data and contract money, there is always a human, not a robot.”

Will professional sport understand one day that taking young people from junior ranks to the highest level is also about accompanying them? Not just putting them in races. I sincerely hope that a team gets this message and that it’s way too early for you to stop showing your talent.”

Neo-pros must be given a minimum of two years on their first contract, but after that, many face uncertain futures and the harsh reality of the world of future talent, where if you don’t prove yourself at a young age, you might not be able to continue at all.

Asbjørn Hellemose

As the chances of finding a contract get narrower and narrower, many riders have started to come to terms with the fact that this may be the end of the road for them, and have started sharing their stories on social media. Asbjørn Hellemose did that over the weekend, confirming he won’t be continuing with Jayco AlUla next year.

“With how the transfer market looks at the moment, I will most likely not continue as a WorldTour rider at all,” the 27-year-old Dane wrote on Instagram after Lombardia.

“At the moment, I’m not sure what’s next for me. When the season is over, I will have time to sit down calmly and reflect on what the best next step for me will be. What I do know is that I’m extremely proud of what I have achieved with my talent and a lot of hard work. Four years in the WorldTour, with participation in one Grand Tour, one World Championships and four Monuments as some of the highlights. Who would have thought that when I was still a teenager living in Denmark?”

Hellemose’s situation is far from unique, and is a sad one where riders don’t get the heartfelt send-off that other retiring (by choice) riders did at races like Il Lombardia and Paris-Tours, but are forced out of the professional peloton when they feel they still have more to give.

Other riders without a confirmed contract

Connor Swift will stay with Netcompany Ineos next yearChloe Dygert is likely to return to her US racing roots and ride for Virginia’s Blue Ridge-TWENTY28Ben O’Connor is set for a return to Decathlon CMA CGM after two years with Jayco AlUla, with Laurens De Plus and Pavel Sivakov also headed for the French teamDanny van Poppel has a contract to stay with Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, Daniel Benson has reported

That said, there are also plenty of riders without a confirmed spot for 2027 who almost certainly are in the search for survival right now.

Human Powered Health and Uno-X Mobility are both full for 2027, with riders like the Pikulik sisters, Kasia Ragusa, Ingvild Gåskjenn and Alberte Greve currently all contractless for next year

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