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"The situation is becoming a bit untenable," says van Schip's manager
Jan-Willem van Schip's manager at the Azérion-Villa Valkenburg team, Johan Berghmans, told Sporza that the team can not longer absorb the cost of van Schip's repeated UCI rule violations.
"We are just a small Continental team, you know," he told Sporza. "We are absolutely not Visma or whatever. Everywhere Jan-Willem races, it almost always costs us 1,000 Swiss Francs in fines. As a team, that is unsustainable."
"For us, the situation is becoming a bit untenable," he said.
Van Schip was disqualified once again from a race this week. He stuffed a bottle down the front of his jersey, which the race jury deemed illegal under Rule 1.3.032, which bans anything that changes the morphology, or shape, of the rider. It's essentially a rule banning fairings.
"Ultimately, we have to work with Jan-Willem," Berghmans said. "He needs to get out of that grey zone. No one benefits or becomes happier there. He needs to move to the green zone and ride a bike like any other rider, but that is very difficult with him.
"As a team manager, you want to focus on your entire team. In that stage, I ended up spending half a day dealing with one rider and the jury, and we don't want that anymore. It costs too much money and energy, and it doesn't pay off. You always lose to the UCI."
EVOC launches bikepacking bag collection
Bikepackers have a new option for bags as EVOC, maker of travel cases and packs, has launched a complete new collection for ultradistance races and rides. The modular system encompasses a complete range from handlebar to frame bags to seat bags to panniers and all shares the same straps and mounts.
There are two lines in the collection, developed with women's Transcontinental Race winner Jana Kesenheimer: Ultra is for the minimalist doing timed ultradistance events, while Explorer is a more rugged system designed for ambitious adventures. Bar and seat pack and pannier bags feature a drybag-style rolltop closure, while frame bags use waterproof zippers. There are various sizes, and there's even an insulated option for keeping perishables from perishing. US MSRP ranges from US$30-$215 depending on the bag, and the collection is available now. [EVOC]
'Ridiculous': Ayuso scoffs at question on leadership hierarchy with Skjelmose
Juan Ayuso's mid-contract move last offseason from UAE Team Emirates-XRG to Lidl-Trek initially ruffled some feathers with his new team's own homegrown talent, Mattias Skjelmose. But at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Ayuso wasn't having it when a reporter asked if the race was settling the leadership issue.
"To be honest, these questions for me are ridiculous," a clearly annoyed Ayuso replied when asked if the race gave the pair answers on their cooperation and relative strength. "I mean, we're both teammates and we're both here to help each other and whoever is strongest will put out the result. I don't see any dilemma," he said.
The pair crossed the line together on stage 3's critical team time trial and sit fifth and sixth on GC, tied at 47 seconds behind leader Alex Baudin of EF Education-EasyPost and around 30 second behind other GC hopefuls like Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) and the Netcompany-Ineos duo of Kévin Vauquelin and Oscar Onley.
Tadej Pogačar named one of Time's 100 most influential people in sports
Pro cycling boosters like to talk about the sport's global reach, but when it comes to lists of wealthiest and most famous sportspeople, racers rarely make the cut. But four-time Tour de France champion Tadej Pogačar is one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in sports.
The list, published today, does not rank athletes from 1-100 but rather places them in categories: Icons, Titans, Innovators and Leaders. The definitions are not laid out and seem fairly squishy (what makes an athlete an Icon rather than a Titan?), but Time places Pogačar in the Icon category, a rarified group that also includes generational greats of other sports like Lebron James and Mikaela Shiffrin. As Sean Gregory writes in the short entry, Pogačar "can win anywhere on two wheels," noting his prowess across Grand Tours and one-day cobble races as well as time trials. Pogačar is the only cycling figure to make the list. [Time]
Remco Evenepoel reveals his threshold power in new training video
Remco Evenepoel posted a video to his YouTube channel where he revealed his threshold power ahead of next month's Tour de France is 425 watts. In the video, which covers two days of Evenepoel's routine at an altitude camp in Tenerife, the Tour hopeful is shown with Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe coach Dan Lorang doing intervals on Mount Teide and discussing goals.
"With 420 [watts] we would be under threshold," Lorang tells his charge after taking a blood lactate reading. "425, we are somewhere there when we talk about the long effort, so it's perfectly matched." Evenepoel is on a 68-day break between his last race – Liège-Bastogne-Liège on April 26 – and the July 4 start of the Tour de France.
Aside from intel about Evenepoel's power curve, the 22-minute video is worth a watch to see how Evenepoel approaches recovery and, especially, fueling (he uses the Food Coach app, which interestingly is a product developed by rival Visma-Lease a Bike team). And it may be the last time we see Lorang in a Remco video, as the coach is moving on to Lidl-Trek where he'll take a substantially similar role there.
€10,000 in fines at Auvergne's TTT
Tuesday's team time trial at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes turned out to be costly for some teams in more ways than one, and presents a small lesson before the opening TTT at July's Tour de France. Not only did Jayco-AlUla, Lotto-Intermarché and TotalEnergies lose time, but all three teams were handed hefty fines by the UCI for breaking technical rules around bike inspections.
Fines of 3,000-3,500 CHF were assessed against each team after directors failed to present team bikes for technical inspection in the allotted window. At time trials, riders must present their bikes to commissaires for inspection at least 15 minutes from the start, and once the bikes are inspected, they can't leave the start area. The UCI rulebook lists fines of €500 per rider, which is why the fines were so large for a team time trial.
LA Olympics organizers confirm road race start and finish
The 2028 Summer Olympics is still more than two years away, but organizers confirmed two details this week of the highly anticipated road race courses. The men's and women's starts will both be on the Venice Beach boardwalk, and the finish will be at the iconic Griffith Park in downtown Los Angeles.
That tracks with more detailed course information seen in February by Escape Collective. Organizers haven't released other details including the exact location of the finish, but somewhere at or near the Griffith Observatory is likely, which means the race would finish atop a roughly 5 km climb that averages 6-7%.
SRAM to expand manufacturing in Portugal
SRAM plans to build a new full-product manufacturing facility in Coimbra, Portugal, expanding its European production and reducing its reliance on Asian supply lines, according to a press release shared by the company today.
The new, purpose-built site will span 25,000 square metres (270,000 square feet) and house assembly, testing and quality operations, allowing SRAM to produce its "full component portfolio" – more than 7,500 individual parts – in Europe for the first time. The company currently serves European customers largely from Taiwan.
SRAM already has an existing site in Coimbra housing its chain manufacturing, as well as Zipp wheels and Time pedal assembly. It employs more than 300 people. Those chain, pedal and wheel assembly operations will stay in their current separate facilities, while the new investment is expected to create more than 500 jobs.
Phased operations at the new plant are due to begin in 2028.
Vauquelin questions decision to wait for Onley in TTT
Kévin Vauquelin and Oscar Onley were left wondering what might have been on Tuesday after Onley dropped his chain inside the last 10 km of the stage 3 team time trial at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. The Netcompany-Ineos squad waited for Onley after the mishap, losing a few precious seconds, and they ultimately finished second on the day behind Matteo Jorgenson's Visma-Lease a Bike team.
After the stage, Vauquelin weighed in on the decision to wait for his teammate.
“If we wait for someone, whether they’re supposedly strong or not, we lose a huge amount of time. As some commentators have pointed out, we might have lost 15 or 20 seconds, because you lose an enormous amount of time going from 80 kilometers per hour down to 55 kilometers per hour and then back up to 80 kilometers per hour, it’s really enormous," he said on camera. "I think that wouldn’t have been my strategy. We’ll have a debrief with the team afterwards and see how things go."
Pirelli adds 55 mm widths to Gravel RH and RM tires
Tour Auvergne: Jorgenson and Visma win the stage 3 TTT
With less than a month to go before the opening team time trial at the Tour de France, Matteo Jorgenson and Visma-Lease a Bike put down a marker on Tuesday's stage 3 TTT at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Jorgenson set the fastest time on the day for Visma as he rolled over the line alone in Perreux, taking full advantage of a new format taking individual times for riders instead of using the traditional fourth-rider-over-the-line approach.
Jorgenson and Visma were 12 seconds faster than the time of runner-up Netcompany-Ineos, whose pairing of Oscar Onley and Kévin Vauquelin crossed the line together in another strong showing for their team after they won the TTT in Paris-Nice. EF Education-EasyPost finished a surprising third, allowing race leader Alex Baudin to maintain his grip on the leader's jersey for another day.
Van Schip DQed from Ronde l'Oise over bottle in jersey
Jan-Willen van Schip (Azerion-Villa Valkenburg) has been disqualified from yet another race. This time, the 31-year-old Dutchman – DQed from the Tour of Hellas last month over his positioning on the handlebars – was kicked out of the UCI 2.2-rated Ronde l'Oise on Sunday's stage 4.
Officially, the reason for his DQ was "non-compliant clothing" but Van Schip said in a social media post that he was DQed for stuffing a water bottle down his jersey.
Charmig takes his first WorldTour win on stage 2 of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Anthon Charmig (Uno-X Mobility) soloed out of the breakaway to take the biggest win of his career on Monday's stage 2 of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
The 28-year-old Dane was in a group of seven escapees that hit the day's final climb, the Côte de Saint-Vidal, with a substantial advantage to the bunch. Attacks whittled the group down and then he launched clear near the top, going over the summit alone, and then building his gap on the mostly downhill run to the finish.
Charmig took his first WorldTour win with a hefty gap of 40 seconds over Henri-François Renard-Haquin (Picnic-PostNL) and Vlad Van Mechelen (Bahrain Victorious). Stage 1 winner Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost) finished safely in the peloton to retain his overall race lead.
EF's Mikkel Honoré stable in intensive care after heavy crash
EF Education-EasyPost should have been celebrating after Saturday's 1.1-ranked Heistse Pijl. Young British powerhouse Noah Hobbs took his first pro win in very good conmpany, sharing the podium with Søren Wærenskjold and Milan Fretin, however, the team's thoughts were elsewhere as Mikkel Honoré was taken off the race course in an ambulance.
As of Sunday late morning, the Dane is in a stable condition but remains in intensive care.
"We were involved in several crashes in the final stages, the last one was with Mikkel,” sports director Ken Vanmarcke told WielerFlits at Sunday's Brussels Cycling Classic. "He fell really hard and is still in intensive care at the hospital the day after. Mikkel is stable, but he has broken seven ribs, three vertebrae, and his collarbone. He is also dealing with a collapsed lung. That is quite difficult; it will be a long rehabilitation."
Van Aert starts first race since Roubaix bandaged up after TT training crash
Wout van Aert is making his return to racing at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes this weekend, his first appearance since winning Paris-Roubaix in April as he prepares for the Tour de France next month. However, he did not start in optimum condition having crashed in training six days before stage 1.
"I fell in training on Monday, I can't hide that," Van Aert told Sporza at the start in Vizille, where he was showing off bandages to his right knee and elbow. “It was due to a moment of inattention, my own fault. I was training on the time trial bike when I suddenly lost control of my handlebars and fell to the ground."
Van Aert is at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes with most of the squad set to support the absent Jonas Vingegaard at the Tour that starts in four weeks. Most of the stages are better suited to the team's GC leader Matteo Jorgenson than someone with Van Aert's particulars, but he's not ruling out his own chances.
"There won't be many opportunities for non-climbers. But there are a few difficult rides where it is a bit flatter in the final. There I can take my chance in the sprint or with a breakaway.”
Giro Queen Stage shortened to 1 km before Finestre summit
The Giro d'Italia Women's queen stage 8 has been significantly shortened due to an unstable ice sheet. The race director announced that the stage would finish 1 km before the top of the Colle delle Finestre, cutting more than 25 km from the race.
⚠️ UPDATE FROM RACE DIRECTION
Due to an unstable sheet of ice that could fall onto the road, for safety reasons the stage will finish approximately 1 km before the Colle delle Finestre GPM. . ⚠️ AGGIORNAMENTO DELLA DIREZIONE CORSA
The announcement was made when the pink jersey group was about 7 km from the summit, and when they were expecting to continue racing for another 35 km, descending off the Finestre and then up the finishing climb to Sestriere.
This story is still unfolding ...
Vuelta España Femenina moves to September in 2027
One of the subjects covered at this past week's UCI Management Committee meeting (2-4 June), was the 2027 racing calendar for both men's and women's WorldTour. Among the approved dates is the news that the Vuelta España Femenina is moving from early May to September, "immediately following the men's event."
The exact dates have yet to be confirmed, but with the men's Vuelta a España spanning 4-26 September in 2027 – shifted to make space for the Haute-Savoie 'Super Worlds' (24 August-5 September) – we can make an educated guess, with number of stages likely to be the only variable affecting dates.
This further spreads out the major stage races after the Giro d'Italia Women's move for 2026: there will be nine weeks between next year's Giro and Tour, and a likely seven weeks between the Tour and Vuelta. It also makes the Vuelta Femenina the penultimate Women's WorldTour event on the calendar, closely preceding the Tour of Chongming Island (12-14 October).
Women's 'grand tours' 2027
29 May-6 June – Giro d’Italia Women
30 July-7 August – Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift
Dates TBC (late Sept.) – Vuelta España Femenina by Carrefour.es
UCI intends to make last-resort legal appeal over suspended gear limit protocol
The UCI gear limit saga rolls on. Cycling's governing body is preparing to make one last appeal to the Belgian Court of Cassation (the highest national court), three weeks after news broke that the Brussels Court of Appeals had dismissed the UCI's appeal against the suspension of its gear limit protocol handed down by the Belgian Competition Authority (BCA) in October of last year.
"Recommended by SafeR, the maximum gear ratio test was intended to gather riders' views on the relevance of introducing gear ratio limitations in professional road cycling as a means of improving safety," reads the document summarising the UCI Management Committee's conference from 2-4 June.
"In light of the Brussels Court of Appeal's decision, and concerned by both the very low threshold applied by the BCA for imposing interim measures and the limited scope of the Court of Appeal's review in the appeal proceedings, the Management Committee confirmed the UCI's intention to lodge an appeal before the Belgian Court of Cassation."
Evenepoel's race-free Tour prep questioned as his new Tarmac SL9 is spotted in France
A month ago, Remco Evenepoel and Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe revealed his training-only approach to the Tour de France, a change in his programme that was due to include the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes that starts this weekend. With Evenepoel training around Calpe, Spain, his team quietly announced its roster for the artist formerly known as the Dauphiné on Thursday, not including the Belgian leader. However, Evenepoel's avoidance has been called into question after one of his bikes was spotted among the team's equipment at the Tour warm-up event.
The new Specialized Tarmac SL9 is one of many new models making their debut in France this week, and CyclingNews revealed on Friday afternoon that one amongst them not only had a gold chain favoured by the double Olympic champion, but a name sticker (curiously positioned) on the underside of the frame's downtube.
Whether the presence of his bike means anything more than it being housed in the mechanics van pre-Tour is doubtful, but it wouldn't be the first time this season that Evenepoel has caused a storm in a teacup with a last-minute change of plans. [CyclingNews]
Nedbank Gravel Burn adds team competition to 2026 race
The Nedbank Gravel Burn will introduce a Teams Classification at its second edition, run 25–31 October 2026 across South Africa's Eastern Cape. Organisers say it is the first major gravel stage race to introduce a formal team competition.
The seven-day, 750km solo race stays the core, with the full $150,000 USD prize purse going to individual riders, split equally between Pro Men and Pro Women. Teams field four riders, with the top three counting daily.
Among the first professional teams confirmed is Scott SRAM, managed by Thomas Frischknecht, will be led by Nino Schurter, alongside a 36ONE-backed South African road squad. Founder Kevin Vermaak said, “The timing is a major factor. At Traka and Unbound this year, a dominant Specialized Off-Road pretty much defined the racing dynamics. In the latter half of the Nedbank Gravel Burn race last year we had riders out of GC contention forming alliances and racing in support of a clear leader. It’s obvious that gravel racing has evolved – it’s inevitable that races will soon feature several major teams. And this is particularly true for the stage racing format. Developing a platform that provides incentives for teams is a natural progression. Independent ‘privateer’ racers formed the foundation of professional gravel racing, adding to the ‘freedom’ and charm of gravel. We recognise that the emergence of ‘superteams’ is a threat to that. That’s why we opened the Teams Classification to all to help level the playing field, where they may form ad-hoc teams to compete with the more formal outfits.”
Ben Oliver secures Modern Adventure's first GC win
29-year-old New Zealander Ben Oliver powered to his second stage win of the week at the Tour de Wallonie on Friday, and with it, he secured the overall victory in the UCI 2.Pro-rated event. That marks a first ever general classification victory for his team, Modern Adventure, in its inaugural season.
Oliver took the lead after winning stage 2 and held on through to the end of the race, winning the fifth and final stage to seal the overall title ahead of NSN's Riley Sheehan and Lotto-Intermarché's Arnaud De Lie.
"We were put in a new position by winning stage two and taking the overall lead, and the guys all stepped up," said team co-founder George Hincapie in a press release. "In fact, not only did they step up, but they took control. Today they rode with confidence, they sat back all day, biding their time for the finish and in the end it paid off."
'Bruises and wounds all over' for Van der Breggen and Guarischi after Giro crash
SD Worx-Protime has released an injury status update on Giro d'Italia overall leader Anna van der Breggen and her teammate Barbara Guarischi after both riders hit the deck in a crash on Friday's stage 7.
"It turned out that Van der Breggen and Guarischi sustained multiple hematomas, bruises and wounds all over their bodies," read a statement from the team. "However, they show no symptoms of a concussion, but it will be a matter of waiting to see how they get through the night for the remainder of the Giro."
Van der Breggen said she she expects to be "feeling very stiff" for the start of Saturday's stage 8, but that she hopes to feel better after a night of rest as she looks to defend her GC lead on the Colle de Finestre.
Andy Bishop has passed away
Longtime former road and mountain bike pro rider Andy Bishop passed away this week after a battle with stomach cancer. Bishop was among the "second wave" of modern American pros to race in Europe, following early pioneers like Jock Boyer and Greg LeMond. A promising amateur racer, he debuted as a pro in 1988 with the powerhouse PDM team and went on to race for 7-Eleven and Motorola before switching to mountain bikes in the 1990s.
Bishop raced four Tours de France and numerous Monuments, won the 1995 Herald Sun Tour, then a two-week stage race, and competed at the World Mountain Bike Championships. He raced for the influential Gary Fisher off-road team alongside luminaries like 1996 Olympic gold medalist Paola Pezzo and Ryder Hesjedal, who would go on to win the Giro d'Italia.
After his racing career, Bishop settled in Vermont and became a highly respected teacher and coach. Among the athletes he mentored is two-time Olympic mountain biker Lea Davison. Bishop passed away June 2 at home in New Hampshire at the age of 61, surrounded by family. Escape Collective extends its sympathies and condolences to Bishop's family and friends.
Almeida still not fully fit, will not race Tour de France
João Almeida and UAE Team Emirates-XRG left room for the Portuguese all-rounder to line up at the Tour de France after he withdrew his name from the Giro d'Italia earlier this season, but the 27-year-old is still not feeling quite himself. Though he will make a long-awaited re-appearance at the Dauphiné this coming week, the Tour is not on the cards at this stage.
"To ride the Tour, you have to be in your very best shape. Otherwise you don't have much to hope for," Almeida told Portuguese sports newspaper O Jogo, though he did leave a crack in the door in case there are "problems in the UAE Tour team".
He went on to describe his return to training after a reported viral infection kept him from his season's main objective in Italy. "Finally I feel a little recovered and I notice that the training is also going better. What I had, I don't know exactly. In the tests I did, different values did emerge, but we never really understood what exactly was going on."
After the Dauphiné, Almeida is expected to race the Clásica San Sebastián and Vuelta a Burgos, both early August, before he heads to his fifth Vuelta later the same month where he will target the red jersey.
"Yes, that's what people are used to by now," Almeida said in response to the question as to his intentions in Spain. "The competition will be fierce, but for me a top-3 or top-5 place is no longer satisfying. After the Vuelta, of course, I also ride the World Championships."
Matthews returns to racing at the Dauphiné three months after disastrous training crash
Michael Matthews is set to return to the peloton this weekend at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, a.k.a. the Dauphiné, a little over four months after his last race and three months since a disastrous crash in training left him with a laundry list of injuries.
Matthews started his season in Mallorca, taking victory on his second race day at the GP Castellón, and third with his Jayco-AlUla teammates at the Trofeo Ses Salinas TTT, but his spring was then interrupted in early march by a crash that left him seriously injured: two broken arms, including an open fracture in his left, a fracture and severed tendons in his right thumb, and a sinus fracture in his face. He required multiple surgeries to fix both arms, and his rehabilitation was expected to be long and challenging.
But three months later, Matthews is ready to return to the bunch, with plans still in place to race his ninth Tour de France this summer.
Unno formally enters North American market
Mountain bike brand Unno announced today that it is formally making its bikes available in North America. The boutique Spanish brand has long been a darling of the sport for its innovative designs and engineering. But outside of a few sporadic dealer arrangements over the years, it's never had a presence in North America.
What form that takes, exactly, isn't quite clear but appears to involve a formal US office with dealer and warranty support. The press release was heavy on vibes and light on specifics, with Unno only saying it's "officially strengthening its presence in the US market." The brand warned not to expect a big rollout, saying if you expect "hundreds of dealers or warehouses full of bikes, you're looking at the wrong brand."
Cary Tatro will head the new office. The first bike available will be the 110 mm travel Horn, in limited numbers. Timing, models and pricing were not immediately available.
Orbea releases its 2027 Oiz XC bike
It’s seemingly a year of new 29er cross-country mountain bikes, and this week, it’s Orbea’s turn. With the model name now celebrating its 21st birthday, the new Oiz is said to offer a focused approach to improving stiffness without weight gain.
Most obvious is the rear shock that’s now tucked into the top tube, not unlike what Specialized did with its Epic World Cup, and more recently, the Epic 9. However, details such as a forged rocker link and stiffening bridge at the seatstays show the focus on stiffness.
Like many bikes in the category, the new Oiz is a touch steeper in the seat tube and slacker in the head angle (now 66.8º). Going against current trends, Orbea has shortened the chainstay length to 430 mm.
Welcomed changes include a move back to a post-mount caliper in the back, an English threaded bottom bracket, and a dropper post with adjustable travel. However, the bike does feature cable routing through the headset, plus a one-piece bar and stem,
Orbea will offer two tiers of carbon frame (OMX and OMR), with the lightest claimed to tip the scales at just 1,700 grams including shock (medium size). The Oiz features 120/120 mm travel front and rear, while customers can also opt for a longer 130mm fork up front. Senior tech editor Dave Rome is expecting to receive the new Oiz OMX for review soon.
Revel overhauls the Ranger
A year on from the return of Revel Bikes under its original owner, the Colorado-based company has overhauled its short-travel trail bike – the Ranger. Compared to the previous Ranger V2, this third-generation version sees a boost to 130 mm travel in the front, and 120 mm in the rear. Meanwhile, the tyre clearance has been bumped up to 29 x 2.6”.
The geometry now offers a slacker head angle (65.7°), steeper seat tube angle, lower bottom bracket, and size-specific chainstay lengths. Revel claims the frame is approximately 200 grams lighter than its predecessor, which should place it around 2,200 grams without shock.
That puts the Ranger outside the realm of pure cross-country race bikes, but so does its focus on the suspension. Here, Revel uses a newly optimised version of its “CBF” short-dual-link design, a system that’s not wholly unlike the DW Link or Santa Cruz’s VPP. The bike offers space for two bottles within the main triangle and has guided internal cable routing.
Complete bikes start from US$5,600, while framesets are available at US$3,700. More at Revel Bikes.
Mountain bike pioneer and innovator, Charlie Cunningham, passes
Charlie Cunningham, an early pioneer of mountain biking, has passed away at the age of 78. Cunningham was instrumental in the early growth of mountain biking and brought countless innovations to the cycling industry.
According to an Instagram post by Scot Nicol, founder of Ibis Cycles, Cunningham was the pioneer of oversized aluminium frame construction, wide-flange hubs, wider dropout spacing, roller-cam brakes, and was seen riding 1x drivetrains back in the 1980s. He co-founded Wilderness Trail Bikes (WTB) with Mark Slate and Steve Potts.
Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this time.
Lael Wilcox will try to break the overall Around the World record
In 2024, ultracyclist Lael Wilcox set a new Around the World record time for women, riding more than 18,000 miles across North America, Europe and Australia in 108 days. That would probably be enough for most people, but last year Wilcox revealed she was interested in targeting the absolute record, set by Mark Beaumont in 2017. That's more than a wish.
Wilcox announced today she will set out June 17, again from Chicago, Illinois with a goal to finish her ride before August 24. For those doing the math, that's 78 days, a full 30 days faster than her 2024 time. One difference: for the first time, she'll do an ultra-distance ride with full support, which should help speed things up.
But 78 days is still a major step up, and Wilcox will ride a different route. After the start in Chicago, she'll ride east to Halifax, Nova Scotia. After transferring to Lisbon, Portugal she'll push on to Istanbul and across central Asia via Kazakhstan and then southeast to Thailand before another transfer from Singapore takes her to Perth, Australia. She'll continue her eastern progress to Sydney and across to New Zealand before a final transfer to Anchorage, Alaska and the last leg home. To beat Beaumont's record, her goal requires an average pace of 240 miles per day, with an expected 16 hours a day average of saddle time.
