<\/p>\n
But that victory didn\u2019t catapult him to the Maglia rosa as
\nit was supposed to, instead he was usurped by Isaac del Toro has UAE\u2019s number 2
\nbehind the world champion Tadej Pogacar.<\/p>\n
2025 was defined by turbulence, especially the public
\nrupture with UAE Team Emirates-XRG late in the year. The quote that cut through
\neverything was blunt: \u201cIt’s like a dictatorship,\u201d Ayuso said as the split
\nbecame front-page new. He also insisted, \u201cWe’d made an agreement that it would
\ncome out after the Vuelta was over,\u201d as the team confirmed his departure to
\nLidl-Trek whilst he was still racing in Spain.<\/p>\n
In a new team, with big names already present, the Spaniard
\nneeds to show his best form, without anyone noise off of the bike. Ayuso needs
\na year where the racing does the talking: a stable leadership role, a clean GC
\nrun, and fewer headlines that have nothing to do with watts.<\/p>\n
Primoz Roglic<\/p>\n
Rogli\u010d\u2019s 2025 is the strange kind of underwhelming that only
\nhappens to a rider with his palmar\u00e8s. He still proved he can win at the top
\nlevel, including taking overall victory at Volta a Catalunya, but the season\u2019s
\ndefining memories tilted toward frustration and vulnerability, not control.
\nOnce again, crashes derailed Roglic.<\/p>\n
The Giro d\u2019Italia, in particular, felt like a slow
\nunravelling. On stage 15, when the race started slipping away, he reduced it to
\nsurvival: \u201cI\u2019m just happy that I finished.\u201d Two days later he abandoned the
\nrace after another crash, as his hopes of a second Giro win went up in smoke.<\/p>\n
Then came the Tour de France build-up, where Roglic\u2019s own
\nwords became a talking point. \u201cIf I’m honest, I don’t care now, really,\u201d he
\nsaid, trying to defuse the obsession with a first Tour GC win. He followed it
\nwith a line that sounded like pride and a shield at once: \u201cI won some races,
\nI’m f****** proud of it, we just try to enjoy it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roglic doesn\u2019t need to prove he\u2019s great, he needs to prove
\nhe can still build a full season around a big target without it collapsing
\nunder crashes, inconsistency, or ambiguity. In 2026, \u201cenjoy it\u201d can\u2019t be the
\nplan. The plan has to be finishing, contending, and making one of the Grand
\nTours his again.<\/p>\n
But, there is a chance that Roglic is now the number 3 at
\nBORA. With Remco Evenepoel arriving, and Florian Lipowitz on the rise, can
\nRoglic stamp his authority on the team this late in his career?<\/p>\n
Christophe Laporte<\/p>\n
Laporte\u2019s \u201cunderwhelming\u201d 2025 comes with an asterisk,
\nbecause it wasn\u2019t about form, it was about not having a season at all.
\nCytomegalovirus wiped out his spring, and with it the part of the calendar
\nwhere he\u2019s most valuable: cobbled Classics, hard one-day races, and the Tour
\nsupport role where he\u2019s become elite. \u201cRight before I was supposed to go on an
\naltitude training camp at the end of January, I started feeling unwell,\u201d
\nLaporte said. \u201cTests showed that I have the cytomegalovirus. Since then, I’ve
\nbeen recovering, and you have to take things day by day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Team Visma | Lease a Bike were forced into indefinite
\nupdates, and even the public messaging carried a sense of uncertainty. Grischa
\nNiermann summed it up: \u201cWe hope he’ll get back in shape and be able to train as
\nquickly as possible. But, for the moment, he’s not 100% yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why 2026 is enormous for Laporte. He doesn\u2019t just
\nneed a win or two, he needs continuity. He\u2019s the kind of rider whose value
\ncompounds across a season: the legs that show up every week, the positioning,
\nthe reliability in chaotic finales. After a lost year, he needs to re-establish
\nhimself as the version of Laporte teams plan Classics campaigns around, not the
\nrider everyone keeps waiting to see again.<\/p>\n
Biniam Girmay<\/p>\n
After winning the Tour de France points classification in
\n2024, Girmay went into 2025 carrying the kind of expectation that changes how
\npeople judge your season. If you\u2019re the green jersey guy, \u201csolid\u201d isn\u2019t the
\nstandard anymore. But, now a year and a half on from his history making Tour de
\nFrance, Girmay has not won a race since.<\/p>\n
The Tour itself looked like it took a real toll, mentally
\nand physically. One quote from Paris captured exhaustion more than
\nsatisfaction: \u201cI\u2019m totally f**ked, to be honest. I just want to sleep two days
\nin a row, full gas.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now he\u2019s stepping into a new project for 2026, and his tone
\nis clearly about reset and hunger. \u201cI\u2019m really happy to be here, especially
\nwith a new atmosphere and a new beginning, for me and for the team,\u201d Girmay
\nsaid after joining NSN Cycling. He also laid down the mindset that makes 2026
\nfeel urgent: \u201cTo be honest, I never look back at what I achieved. I always look
\nto the future,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A rider with his profile can\u2019t go two seasons without a
\nproper statement win. In 2026, he needs to turn that \u201cnew beginning\u201d into
\nresults, not just podiums, but a big Classic or major sprint victory that
\nreminds everyone 2024 wasn\u2019t a one-off peak.<\/p>\n
Maxim Van Gils<\/p>\n
Van Gils is a perfect example of how quickly cycling can
\nmove. One year you\u2019re the fresh threat, the next, you\u2019re trying to get your
\ntrajectory back on track. The numbers underline the drop, he has lost over 160
\npoints in the UCI rankings. And early in the season he was caught up in the
\n\u00c9toile de Bess\u00e8ges chaos, abandoning after the now-infamous incident involving
\na car on the course, the kind of disruption that can derail momentum before
\nspring even properly starts.<\/p>\n
What makes 2026 interesting is that Van Gils sounds like
\nsomeone who\u2019s processed 2025 as a lesson, not an excuse. \u201cIf the spring goes
\nwell, the plan is to ride the Tour.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 2025 I didn’t ride a Grand Tour and I specifically asked
\nthe team to do one now. They agreed immediately. If I am in good form, I think
\nI can be an added value for the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Van Gils doesn\u2019t need to become a GC rider. He needs Ardennes-level
\nsharpness, consistency across the spring, and at least one signature result
\nthat tells the sport his ceiling is still what people thought it was. But, like
\nRoglic, will he struggle to rediscover his best in a Red Bull \u2013 BORA \u2013 Hansgrohe
\nteam packed full of stars?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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