Wheel Talk Newsletter: The contracts clock goes tick tick tick

Time is running out for the 76 WorldTour riders who have yet to announce a team for the 2026 season.

Tiffany Cromwell, a longtime member of Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto, is one of the 76 WorldTour or ProTeam riders yet to announce their plans for 2026.

Abby Mickey

Cor Vos

We are deep into the offseason. On the podcast this week, we dove into listener questions and played back some of our favourite moments from what felt like a packed season of racing. By November, some of the best moments become a web inside my head, with recent moments overshadowing highlights from the early season, so a look back was much needed. What were your 2025 highlights? Drop a note in the comments.

First things first: Pauline Ferrand-Prévot’s ankle

Pauline Ferrand-Prévot’s crash at Strade Bianche was so quick it was easy to miss. The remount was a product of years of off-road racing, but the aftermath has dragged on for the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift champion.

You can catch Ferrand-Prévot’s crash two and a bit minutes into this highlights package.

Shortly after the World Championships, Ferrand-Prévot called her season to focus on recovering from a lingering ankle injury incurred courtesy of the crash. It’s insane to think that she accomplished so much while still dealing with a nagging, unhealed injury, and what next season will bring if she can fully recover from it and match the form she displayed at the Tour this year.

The initial reports were that Ferrand-Prévot would have three weeks completely off, but after surgery she wrote on social media that the recovery will take longer than expected. “How to go from a high-level sports body to a sedentary one in the space of a few weeks,” she wrote.

It might not be planned, but Ferrand-Prévot is making the most of the time off. She dressed up as the Corpse Bride with her partner, fellow WorldTour pro Dylan van Baarle, over Halloween; the two are newly engaged as well.

Going into her second season back on the road, Ferrand-Prévot is eyeing another Tour victory as well as a strong Classics campaign. The Worlds is also on her radar, but not until 2027, although she will surely give Montreal a good go.

Transfer update

Just like the riders are enjoying their offseasons, so too are the press officers, so new transfers have been mostly quiet. The two main moves come from Human Powered Health, which added Nina Buijsman and Jante Koops to their 2026 team.

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