{"id":367620,"date":"2025-12-25T07:50:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T07:50:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/367620\/"},"modified":"2025-12-25T07:50:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T07:50:16","slug":"how-2025-pushed-pro-cycling-into-a-new-golden-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/367620\/","title":{"rendered":"How 2025 Pushed Pro Cycling Into a New Golden Age"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated December 24, 2025 10:52AM<\/p>\n

The 2025 racing season delivered another turbo-charged year of unexpected highs and never-ending thrills.<\/p>\n

From the rise of Isaac del Toro<\/a>, to Pauline Ferrand-Prevot<\/a>\u2018s road comeback and the consolidation of Tadej Poga\u010dar<\/a> as the 21st-century GOAT, the sport continues to rush into a new golden era.<\/p>\n

Halfway through the decade, it\u2019s time to admit that we\u2019re living in the best of times.<\/p>\n

Modern racing\u2019s never been this good. From cyclocross to mountain bike to road and gravel, the international racing scene is reaching a level of performance and unmatched star power that we might not ever see again.<\/p>\n

Like the stock market that refuses to stop setting new records, bike racing this year just kept accelerating in 2025.<\/p>\n

As everything in life gets faster and AI takes over, I also tried to reset a few things into a slower gear.<\/p>\n

Be it carving out time with friends and family, less social media, more quality, unplugging was just as important as staying plugged in. Here\u2019s my personal best of 2025:<\/p>\n

Camino de Santiago: All roads lead to \u2026
\n\"CaminoThe Camino de Santiago is one of Europe\u2019s top point-to-point routes. (Photo: Andrew Hood\/Velo)<\/p>\n

For those of us inhabiting the real world, not in an Instagram van-life dreamscape, carving out time for a bikepacking trip feels like a minor miracle.<\/p>\n

In 2025, I finally decided to stop making excuses and scheduled out a few days for some proper dusty-road wanderlust.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m absurdly lucky to live with one of Europe\u2019s great bikepacking routes literally passing within spitting distance of my front door.<\/p>\n

The Camino de Santiago<\/a> traces from the Pyr\u00e9n\u00e9es all the way to Galicia in northwest Spain \u2014 with a lot of variables along the way for Camino purists \u2014 drawing hundreds of thousands of peregrinos every year. Over the years, I\u2019ve ticked off big sections of it, from crossing the Pyr\u00e9n\u00e9es to Logro\u00f1o, and again over the western mountains into Santiago de Compostela.<\/p>\n

My challenge this summer was to finish off the middle chunk.<\/p>\n

This wasn\u2019t a full-on, weeks-long bikepacking epic<\/a>. The tent stayed at home, and I slept in cheap hostels. I jumped on local trains, went one-way on the rails, and then followed the yellow arrows back, with two or three days at a crack.<\/p>\n

I was still riding 70-plus kilometers a day, enough to get plugged into the slow, rolling Camino rhythm that makes the trip so unique.<\/p>\n

Everyone on the Camino is doing it for different reasons. Some spiritual, some because they love Spanish culture and history, others because it\u2019s a great excuse to spend a month walking or cycling on one of Europe\u2019s great routes.<\/p>\n

From Pog to PFP: These are the best of times
\n\"Pogacar\"Wherever Poga\u010dar goes, excitement follows. (Photo: Chris Auld\/Velo)<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been lucky to cover pro cycling since the 1990s, long enough to have seen the good, the bad, and the truly ugly. I missed the LeMond years but arrived in time for the chaos that followed. From the scandals to the Sky Train, cycling was a rollercoaster that never seemed to end.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why racing these days feels so incredible. Call it the super-team era, the Poga\u010dar era, or just cycling at full throttle, but arguably this is one of the best periods the sport\u2019s ever known.<\/p>\n

Every race is competitive, every team is pushing the limits of performance, nutrition, aerodynamics, and science.<\/p>\n

From Poga\u010dar to Van der Poel<\/a>, from Vollering to Kopecky, today\u2019s stars are more credible, faster, fearless, and bloody entertaining.<\/p>\n

Just about every date on the calendar, from the lowly early-season races to the year\u2019s peaks at the grand tours and world championships, there are no more preparation races. Every race is contested at full gas.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s fun to watch, and it just keeps getting better.<\/p>\n

Of course, that\u2019s not to say cycling doesn\u2019t have its problems, but after hanging around nearly three decades, this is the best I\u2019ve ever seen.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t wait for what 2026 has in store.<\/p>\n

Final Tour de France stage: Montmartre madness
\n\"PARIS,The final stage over Montmartre exceeded expectations. (Photo: Catherine Steenkeste\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

I was a bit of a curmudgeon when this idea was floated. Part of me still believes the sprinters deserve their coronation lap on the Champs-\u00c9lys\u00e9es.<\/p>\n

And I worried that throwing the Tour de France<\/a> up and over Montmartre would be too dangerous to be truly contested. I wasn\u2019t entirely wrong, because the organizers took the times before the final circuits, and by the business end, only a handful of riders were truly racing.<\/p>\n

Still, Montmartre was something spectacular.<\/p>\n

With the tight streets, the absolutely frenetic crowds, and an epic throw-down between Poga\u010dar and Wout van Aert, the stage was arguably the best finish to any Tour since Greg LeMond pipped Laurent Fignon.<\/p>\n

I still think the Tour should alternate between Champs tradition and Montmartre madness, but with the climb coming back next year, I\u2019ll happily eat my words.<\/p>\n

Pauline Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot: Lighting up the road
\n\"Ferrand-Prevot\"Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot exceeded expectations all season long. (Photo: Chris Auld\/Velo)<\/p>\n

What a delight it was this year to watch Pauline Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot<\/a> absolutely crush her return to road racing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hot off winning Paris gold in mountain biking in 2024, the queen of multi-disciplines wasn\u2019t supposed to blow everyone away in her road return, but she did.<\/p>\n

First Paris-Roubaix, then at the Tour de France Femmes<\/a>, this generational talent reasserted herself onto the pavement in jaw-dropping fashion.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t without controversy. In her quest for an ideal racing weight<\/a>, some questioned whether she put performance ahead of health. That tension has been at the heart of cycling since day one, and everyone knows the dangers of crossing the line.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m more inclined to believe Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot knew exactly what she was doing and worked closely with Visma\u2019s nutritionists and medical staff to manage the risk.<\/p>\n

Some suggested she wasn\u2019t a proper role model, but she\u2019s a professional, and especially pro bike racers, they live and thrive beyond the norm. That\u2019s the job.<\/p>\n

AI memes: The rise of Super_Bock
\n\"AISuper_Bock was one of the leading AI influencers breaking out in 2025. (Photo: Instagram screenshot)<\/p>\n

AI hit the peloton with head-spinning speed just like it swept across the entire globe in 2025. In cycling, teams used it for training, nutrition, and performance modeling, but with it came the inevitable AI slop and deepfakes. But a few gems stood out.<\/p>\n

Perhaps no one within cycling better captured the zeitgeist of the AI moment than the Instagram account Super_Bock<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When the first wave of AI-generated cycling videos started circulating on Instagram earlier this year, I almost fell out of my chair. From Van der Poel superimposed over Jean-Claude Van Damme to Van Aert crooning \u201cStaying Alive,\u201d his AI mashups nailed it.<\/p>\n

I reached out to the person behind the account<\/a>, thinking it would be some insider cycling computer nerd, and it turns out he\u2019s a middle-aged Portuguese super fan tinkering with AI tools in his spare time. His account continues to churn out hilarious content<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a sport that can sometimes take itself too seriously, Super_Bock was a welcome laugh in 2025.<\/p>\n

YouTube takes over my brain
\n\"YouTube\"2025, aka the year YouTube took over my brain. (Photo: Mateusz Slodkowski\/SOPA Images\/LightRocket via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Like a lot of people, I\u2019m using YouTube more and more in my daily media diet. Between doom-scrolling TikTok-style Shorts and disappearing into rabbit holes about the rise and fall of the Aztec empire, I\u2019m among its roughly 2.8 billion users, more than a quarter of the planet.<\/p>\n

Chances are, you are too.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s nothing new about YouTube, but 2025 marked the year it completely took over my brain.<\/p>\n

I use it for everything. Yesterday, it was a how-to video on changing the front light on my Euro-matrix car. This winter, it will feed my indoor training sessions. When I\u2019m done with replays of the Tour of Flanders, there\u2019s an hours-long series on the Cold War that I have queued up to help fill the bleak winter hours.<\/p>\n

I have a video bookmarked on how to remove pedals, just to make sure I don\u2019t botch it. It\u2019s also my go-to now for music, which is how a Style Council video of the band members riding bikes<\/a> hijacked my algorithm. I had that song stuck in my head for weeks.<\/p>\n

YouTube is now moving aggressively into live events. Already featuring such things as the Coachella music festival and select games from the NFL and MLB, the platform will livestream the Oscars for free starting in 2029.<\/p>\n

So how long before the Tour de France is live on YouTube?<\/p>\n

Getting back to reading
\n\"BooksThere are plenty of great cycling books. (Photo: Andrew Hood\/Velo)<\/p>\n

I\u2019m still old-school enough to try to read print. I\u2019ll burn through three or four books in a row, then get sucked back into the vortex of doom-scrolling.<\/p>\n

In 2025 was a bit of a turning point. I\u2019ve deleted Facebook and X from my phone, though YouTube and Instagram still lurk. Addictions are hard to break.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no shortage of great cycling books out there. Daniel Friebe\u2019s Merckx bio, Matt Rendell\u2019s The Death of Marco Pantani, Tyler Hamilton\u2019s The Secret Race, and Jeremy Whittle\u2019s chronicle of 1990s blood sport all stand out.<\/p>\n

This summer, I finally picked off Barry Ryan\u2019s excellent book The Ascent on the rise of Stephen Roche and Sean Kelly. I popped it into my beach bag and read it on weekend trips to the beaches of northern Spain. It\u2019s a wonderfully written account that recreates the magic of Irish cycling in the Anglo boom in the European peloton.<\/p>\n

One of my 2026 resolutions is to scroll less and read more. I\u2019ve started leaving my phone in my office overnight and opening a book before dozing off. How long will it last?<\/p>\n

Races get you places: Search for the perfect \u2018dame blanche\u2019
\n\"VueltaRaces get you places, and local cuisine is part of the journey. (Photo: Andrew Hood\/Velo)<\/p>\n

Where there\u2019s a paved road, somebody will contrive a reason to race a bike on it.<\/p>\n

With the racing calendar stretching from January to October, riders and sport directors will tell you it\u2019s an endless grind of transfers and ever-worsening hotels. Most people at the Tour de France cannot tell you what day it is, let alone where they are. The riders do know where the finish line is.<\/p>\n

Cycling\u2019s sprawling calendar takes the peloton to the far corners of the globe. And with it, the culinary delights of the world, at least for those of us on the sidelines who are not slurping down post-race ketones.<\/p>\n

After a long day of chasing bikes, there\u2019s nothing quite like quaffing a Belgian beer or sampling the local desserts. One longtime favorite is the dames blanche, a French-inspired ice cream sundae. In the Vuelta, it\u2019s that perfect paella, or in Italy, the morning espresso.<\/p>\n

Every year, I try to hit a new race in a new location. From the Arctic Circle to Down Under, there\u2019s always a bike race somewhere.<\/p>\n

This year, I missed Rwanda this year and felt the FOMO hard<\/a>. Chasing bike races can be a grind \u2014 believe me, no one\u2019s complaining \u2014 but it\u2019s that quiet moment before the day starts or after the last story is filed shared with colleagues that counts.<\/p>\n

Isaac del Toro: El futuro est\u00e1 aqu\u00ed
\n\"IsaacDel Toro confirmed his position at the elite of the men\u2019s WorldTour. (Photo: Chris Auld\/Velo)<\/p>\n

The emergence of Isaac del Toro<\/a> this season was nothing short of spectacular<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There are echoes of Tadej Poga\u010dar in the way he races, and the Slovenian\u2019s already tapped his teammate as heir apparent. Like Pogi, he\u2019s explosive and instinctive, yet packs the same humility and respect for his rivals.<\/p>\n

Not every rider detonates onto the scene the way Poga\u010dar did, and I actually expected Del Toro to do that in his rookie season in 2024. It didn\u2019t happen, but what we got in 2025 was even better.<\/p>\n

He started the Giro d\u2019Italia as a nominal co-leader behind Juan Ayuso<\/a> and Adam Yates, then quickly emerged as the most explosive rider in the race. A notorious tactical meltdown cost him pink, but the true Del Toro came out in the aftermath.<\/p>\n

In a revealing post-season interview on Spanish Eurosport, he accepted responsibility and vowed to take more control. We saw that play out late in 2025 with a torrent of wins, and he even traded blows with Poga\u010dar at worlds.<\/p>\n

There are so many new, exciting racers in the men\u2019s and women\u2019s peloton<\/a>, from Matthew Brennan to Kimberley (Le Court) Pienaar, it really sets up cycling for even more exciting years ahead.<\/p>\n

This year, the peloton turned the page on the \u201cBig 4\u201d and evolved into something even bigger.<\/p>\n

Mountain biking: Back where it started
\n\"FloridaSurprises await just about everywhere once the pavement ends. (Photo: Andrew Hood\/Velo)<\/p>\n

Near the end of the year, I finally pulled my mountain bike out of the attic. Since buying my first gravel bike back in 2016, it\u2019s been collecting dust, alongside my road bike.<\/p>\n

Great gravel starts practically at my doorstep, and I love how gravel blends road-like rhythm with instant access to farm tracks and open country.<\/p>\n

Just as important, it gets me off the roads. I feel more vulnerable than ever riding in traffic, and the fewer miles I log with cars whizzing past distracted drivers, the better. I know I could just as easily get hit by a car while walking across the street, but less time on pavement means fewer opportunities for something to go wrong at my expense.<\/p>\n

But when I finally dusted off the MTB, I remembered why it hooked me in the first place. A fall trip to North Carolina with its roots and vertical confirmed the thrill and hurt that only mountain biking can deliver.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s perfectly timed. The USA won its first elite men\u2019s World Cup title<\/a> with Christopher Blevins<\/a> in 30 years, and things will be ramping up for Los Angeles 2028 soon enough.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s time for America\u2019s first Olympic gold medalist in the discipline that Americans helped create.<\/p>\n