Spin Cycle is Escape Collective’s news digest, published every Monday and Friday. You can read it on the website (obviously) or click here to have it delivered straight to your inbox.
Hello!
Welcome back to Spin Cycle.
We have a real jumble of oddities for you today. Matteo Jorgenson has shaved his hair off, the Santos Tour Down Under is feeling a different kind of heat, a heavy metal band is helping fund USA Cycling and Simon Yates is blocking people on Twitter.
What more could we possibly need?
The last Air Jorgen ⬇️
Visma-Lease a Bike’s 2026 launch event on Tuesday saw various riders announce their programmes for the season (including Jonas Vingegaard confirming his Giro-Tour double attempt) but the biggest reveal was Matteo Jorgenson’s shaved head.
It’s no surprise he’s gone for the full monastic look (Aang from The Last Airbender-esque, no wait … Air Jorgen!) judging by his recent comments about the four-year contract he signed last summer.
“I needed to feel sustainable in this job that I could do it at this level for four more years before I signed a piece of paper that was committing myself to doing that, and so it took me a long time to actually agree to my extension,” he said.
“It was proposed to me early in the year, and it took me months and months to feel right about it. That was just a result of thinking and seeing how I could keep doing this because I think it takes a lot of sacrifice to be a cyclist. I was very aware of that this year in how much I’m giving up in other parts of my life. I wanted to feel right with that, and it felt like a huge moment when I signed the piece of paper for me personally.”
Vingegaard was equally thoughtful in his press conference on Tuesday, talking about how aiming for the Giro d’Italia has given him renewed energy and is the race he “would like to do”, thus giving him fresh motivation to follow the Italian Grand Tour up with the Tour de France. He also revealed that Visma sat down at the end of last year with the express goal of shaking things up for the team as they seek to knock UAE Team Emirates off their perch.
Given that both of these riders were being open about the demands placed on them by the sport, Simon Yates was also an obvious topic of discussion, with uncertainty still surrounding his exact reasons and thought process behind the decision to retire.
“I also have a lot of respect for his decision, because I think it doesn’t come from nothing,” Vingegaard said. “I mean, he lost his motivation, and the sport is also very hard to be in. I think for everyone it’s a very demanding sport, and also for me. I’ve also been close to burning out.”
“He was always very present in all the races and training camps I was with him at,” Jorgenson added, saying the news came as a shock. “We talked about whether anyone was surprised, whether anyone got the feeling he was checked out, and none of us really can say that, because he was so professional and he was the full Simon Yates in every race he was at.”
Santoss Tour Down Under 🦘
WorldTour racing returns this weekend with the Tour Down Under. As Australia towels itself off following a heatwave that saw temperatures above 40°C, satire merchants The Juice Media have released their latest Honest Government Ads video about TDU title sponsor Santos, highlighting the energy company’s various controversies.
But sarcastic online videos aside, the real news ahead of the race is that current and former Australian riders have come out in opposition to Santos’ continued sponsorship of their home race.
This post is for paying subscribers only
Subscribe now
Already have an account? Sign in
Did we do a good job with this story?
👍Yep
👎Nope