With the Tour of Guangxi accounted for, the 2026 men’s road cycling season has come to a close.
After ten months of WorldTour racing, Tadej Pogačar tops the year-end UCI rankings for the sixth year in a row, having built up a total of 9,331 points in 2026. That’s just 2,000 points clear of second-placed rider Remco Evenepoel and third in line Isaac del Toro. They could be considered the three best riders of the 2026 calendar, but there’s more to the season than that.
Today, we’ll be fielding an all-star team of the eight best riders from 2026. The candidates have been chosen to reflect the general narrative of the season, factoring in 2026 achievements, UCI points and growth from previous years. Just think of this as your team of the year, and a team is what it is, it’s not just the eight riders at the top of the UCI rankings, we’ll be choosing a GC leader, Classics riders, sprinters and support riders from the cream of the crop in 2026..
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates XRG)
Xavier Pereyron
It’s a no-brainer to pick Tadej Pogačar. To be honest, I should have banned him from this selection process, but here we are.
The Slovenian was unbeaten in stage races this year – at least, the stage races he finished – meaning he completed the season with a Grand Tour victory and three Monuments. Given he was so dominant, it’s impossible to look past him as the best rider to pick as a GC leader.
Sure, Jonas Vingegaard also went unbeaten in his completed stage races, but there’s no real argument to be had here. Pogačar is the best rider in the world.
Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step)
Xavier Pereyron
After choosing Jonathan Milan as my top sprinter last year, I have backed Tim Merlier as the all-star team’s dedicated sprinter in 2026.
The Quick-Step man had a near 100% hit rate in sprints this year. He’s only lost five of the sprints he’s contested this year – mostly to Olav Kooij, mind you – which doesn’t dampen his 14 wins this season. The only rider with more is his teammate Paul Magnier, who ends the year with 15 wins.
Whether it be Classics, stage races or Grand Tours, Merlier rose to the occasion at them all, and to be honest, he looked head and shoulders above his opponents at many.
Merlier has been incredibly consistent since joining Soudal Quick-Step in 2023. This year might not have been his most dominant, but the sprinting field has fragmented in 2026 more than in previous years. Merlier has nonetheless been the constant throughout this period.
Jasper Stuyven (Soudal Quick-Step)
A.S.O./Charly López
What’s a sprinter without his leadout man? And for the second year running, I have paired up my sprinter of the year with his own leadout man.
Jasper Stuyven proved to be the signing of the season in my opinion. Fresh in Quick-Step colours, the Belgian started the Giro, where he piloted Paul Magnier to three stage wins and a points classification victory. Then at the Tour, Stuyven acted as the final leadout man for Merlier, who also scored three stage victories. In football terms, Stuyven clocked six assists at Grand Tours this year.
We can’t forget his Classics performances either. With a third place at Paris-Roubaix, plus top tens at the Tour of Flanders and Milan-San Remo, Stuyven offers good bang for your buck.
Gregor Mühlberger (Decathlon CMA CGM)
Unipublic / Cxcling / Naike Ereñozaga
It’s not been a big year for domestiques. The fact that Isaac del Toro could contend for the best domestique prize says it all.
On the whole, it feels as though everyone has been scared of Tadej Pogačar or Jonas Vingegaard. Domestiques feel redundant when those two launch a move with 50km to go.
Nonetheless, contenders could have included Davide Piganzoli for the job he fulfilled at the Giro, Pablo Castrillo for wingmanning at the Vuelta or Isaac del Toro for poaching a podium while on lookout duties. My domestique of the year is Gregor Mühlberger, however.
The Austrian was fantastic at the Vuelta, teeing up Felix Gall for attacks throughout the race’s first two weeks, back when Decathlon looked like the only team willing to shake things up. Mühlberger could have contended for the top ten overall, but he was forced to abandon ahead of the race’s final week. The Vuelta wasn’t his only success either, with a strong domestique performance also posted at the Giro earlier this year. It’s no wonder he managed to land a joint move with Gall to Lidl-Trek.
Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike)
Xavier Pereyron
For the Classics, I could have gone with Mathieu van der Poel, although his 2026 form looked the most fragile it has been for some seasons now. I could have gone for Remco Evenepoel after his bold Flemish discovery in the spring. Heck, I could have picked the Tour’s green jersey winner Mads Pedersen in order to strike two birds with one stone.
However, after something of an off-year in 2025, Wout van Aert returned from injury this winter as one of the best all-rounders in the sport. For that, he has to be considered one of the best riders of 2026.
Of course, Van Aert’s magnum opus this year came at Paris-Roubaix. However, the Belgian was consistent all spring long, with a podium finish at Milan-San Remo, a fourth at the Tour of Flanders and a second place at Dwars door Vlaanderen. This was later backed up by stage wins at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, albeit just before he was forced to skip the Tour de France.
Besides Van Aert’s ability to underpin a Classics squad and deliver sprint wins on tougher profiles, he can also slot into the role as leadout man. That was made evident at this year’s Vuelta, where he acted as the bodyguard for five-time stage winner Matthew Brennan. Despite taking more stages, Van Aert would bag the green jersey too, having gone in breaks and made the selection on tougher days.
That versatility is what Van Aert is known for, and we may have lost sight of that before his rampant return this year. Maybe all it took was for his ankle to be snapped or for him to launch his own mobile network. Who knows.
Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM)
Xavier Pereyron
Last year, I smuggled several GC names into the final selection. This year, I’ve limited it to two GC riders.
I’ll let you in on a secret. I was split between choosing Remco Evenepoel and Paul Seixas. On one hand, you have a rider who finished second at the Tour de France, won the rainbow jersey against the clock and finished the year with a European title to his name. On the other, you have a kid who finished fourth at the Tour, finished on the podium at Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Strade Bianche, then won a Monument. That’s before I mention that Seixas is the only one of the two to have won a WorldTour stage race this year.
It’s a tantalisingly close call, but I have sided with the 20-year-old from Lyon. Seixas has shown that he might be the closest thing we have to a Pogačar slayer. We saw that at both Strade and Liège, when he was the first rider in years to follow the yearly long-range attacks on the Monte Santa Marie and La Redoute.
Although his debut Tour only resulted in a fourth place, Seixas was a strong force in GC. He was up there at TARA and he dismantled the field at Itzulia Basque Country. Don’t forget the bronze medal against the clock at the UCI World Championships and the Flèche Wallonne win either, or the frenzy of hype he stirred up around every corner of the 2026 calendar.
This guy is the future, but he is also the present. Seixas will surely get a mention in next year’s list (and the year after’s), but you can’t deny that he has shaped the outcome of 2026.
Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla)
A.S.O./Morgan Bove
Last year, my wildcard was Cristian Scaroni. The Italian scored an absurd amount of UCI points and managed to win a Grand Tour stage. For almost the exact same reasons, Mauro Schmid ends up on my list this year.
The Swiss rider ends the season 13th on the UCI rankings, above the likes of Enric Mas, Giulio Ciccone, Mattias Skjelmose and Matteo Jorgenson.
Schmid has been climbing well in 2026, evidenced by an overall victory at the Tour of Oman and a string of podium finishes on Tour de France stages. Pair this with his engine and ability to make key selections, and it’s clear that this guy becomes one of the best all-rounders in the bunch.
His 2026 performances have landed him on a big-money deal at Pinarello Q36.5 next year. Reports suggest the Swiss rider will be on a salary of €2 million per year at his new home. However, I reckon Schmid would have been a lethal domestique at a squad like UAE, Red Bull or Visma. Surely this guy has the hallmarks of an annoying domestique de luxe.
Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility)
Unipublic / Cxcling / Antonio Baixauli
We’ve gone even more rogue with our eighth and final pick: Tobias Halland Johannessen.
The Norwegian has been something of a constant in the 2026 calendar, resulting in a seismic shift in the UCI rankings, leaving Halland Johannessen as the ninth best-placed rider in 2026.
Halland Johannessen didn’t necessarily take a huge leap forward this year, he just remained consistent across the calendar. A podium at Itzulia Basque Country, top fives at both TARA and Tirreno-Adriatico. He finished inside the top five on four Tour de France stages and helped support his teammate Andreas Leknessund to a first Grand Tour victory. That was all topped off with a stage victory of his own on the final stage of the Vuelta a España.
How does Halland Johannessen fit into this squad? Well, he’s something of an everyman when the race goes uphill. He can get into the breakaway, contend for Classics, and ride for GC. He’s a jack of all trades this guy.
Honourable mentions
Chris Auld
Making a final selection of eight was far from easy. Some riders had to miss out. Here’s our chance to sing their praises.
In a GC department, we could have gone for Jonas Vingegaard, who seemed untouchable during the spring, winning Paris-Nice, the Volta a Catalunya and the Giro d’Italia in dominant form. When pitted against Pogačar though, it feels like an easy choice to make.
Similarly, Giulio Pellizzari could have snuck in as a back-up GC leader. The Italian was a real asset to Red Bull this spring, with several impressive performances at week-long stage races. His GC performance at the Giro might have let him down, but his domestique work for Jai Hindley proved Pelizzari might be more versatile than first imagined.
Ben Healy managed to make the cut last year. In his place, Tom Pidcock could have fit in. The Brit was painfully consistent this year, despite missing a big-name victory in 2026. His skillset also gives us two bites of the cherry, following a Monument podium and a Grand Tour top ten in 2026.
Mathieu van der Poel fans, I hear you seething. The Dutchman was on my list last year, but not in 2026. Despite winning Omloop Nieuwsblad and E3 Saxo Classic, Van der Poel faced his weakest Classics season since 2019. For the first time in five years, there were no Monuments to report this spring. Sure, bad luck ruled him out of Paris-Roubaix, but he just seemed a little below his usual standard. I’m just hoping this line of argument helps us to look past the two stage wins he picked up at this year’s Tour de France.
I didn’t even get to justifying Evenepoel’s exclusion or spinters like Mads Pedersen, Jonathan Milan or Paul Magnier, who I admit was the ‘winningest’ fastman of the season. Alas, it’ll give them something to work on for next year.