Team Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe: All for one?
The big bang failed to materialise: For the first time, Germany's currently only World Tour team is starting a season with the billion-euro drinks manufacturer Red Bull as its main sponsor. However, there was no transfer coup to report. The team will continue to be centred around 35-year-old Primoz Roglic, who won the team's first overall victory in the Tour of Spain last year. In the coming season, the veteran from Slovenia will lead the team from Raubling in Upper Bavaria in both the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France. "We came second in the Giro and won the Vuelta - so winning a Grand Tour is also the logical goal for 2025," says team boss Ralph Denk. Top cyclists such as Giro runner-up Daniel Felipe Martinez, 2022 Giro winner Jai Hindley and Aleksandr Vlasov will be at Roglic's side. The latter two will then be responsible for the Vuelta as co-captains. Overall, CEO Denk has strengthened the team selectively with the up-and-coming Belgian all-rounder Maxim van Gils, the classics and sprint talent Laurence Pithie from New Zealand, the pace-setting Spaniard Oier Lazkano and the Italian veteran Gianni Moscon. Three top German riders from recent years have left the team: Emanuel Buchmann moved to Cofidis, Lennard Kämna to Lidl-Trek and Maximilian Schachmann is continuing his career with Soudal Quick-Step. What is new is that Denk is also integrating an U23 team.
Tom Pidcock: One team, two bike brands
Unusual contract structure: Tom Pidcock has switched to the second-class team Q36.5 for the new season and is now the figurehead of the Swiss racing team. The all-rounder was unable to find a basis for further co-operation with his previous employer Ineos Grenadiers. The two-time Olympic mountain bike champion and former cross world champion has no plans to concentrate entirely on road racing in the future. In the team, he rides Scott racing bikes, while off-road he remains a partner of the Italian manufacturer Pinarello. Pinarello recently developed mountain bikes especially for Pidcock and the Frenchwoman Pauline Ferrand-Prévot.
Men's racing calendar: The World Tour is growing
There will be a new race in the most important racing series in 2025. The Copenhagen Sprint will make it into the World Tour at its premiere. The largely flat one-day race in Denmark should offer sprinters ideal terrain. The race series thus grows to 36 races (previous year 35) and 171 race days. The 18 World Tour teams have the right and obligation to start, the Lotto and Israel teams may (but do not have to) start in all races, Uno-X only in one-day races. The teams can each field eight (grand tours) or seven (all other races) riders.
Women's race calendar: The race calendar of the Women's World Tour
In future, there will also be a Milan-San Remo race for women - albeit on a much shorter route than for the men. As with the men's race, the Copenhagen Sprint, a flat one-day race, will also be part of the most important race series for women at its premiere. The Tour of Scandinavia is also set to take place again in the new season. The race was cancelled last year due to financial problems. While the top series is growing internationally, women's cycling in Germany remains a tender seedling. None of the major cycling races in Germany has yet added a women's race. Germany is not represented on the World Tour calendar. The most important races are the Tour of Thuringia and the one-day Women's Grand Prix in Stuttgart, both of which belong to the second-highest racing category, the Pro Series.
German professional cyclists: Five minus
Germany has seen a significant drop in the number of top professionals. Instead of 30, this year only 25 Germans are in the saddle with a World Tour racing team. Only Kazakhstan has recorded a greater decline: Team Astana has only two riders from the home country instead of ten (see news item below). France has the most professionals with 81 (previous year 80). The Belgians have increased considerably from 63 to 71 riders.
XDS Astana Team: Advertising medium for Chinese racing bikes
In the midst of the relegation battle in the World Tour, the Kazakh racing team Astana has tapped into fresh money: While team boss Alexandr Vinokourov's team was largely financed by Kazakh state holdings for many years, the Chinese carbon manufacturer XDS is joining as the new main sponsor for the new season. The company, which was previously only known as a producer for other bike brands, wants to expand globally and is also launching its previously unknown own brand X-Lab with team bikes.
Amstel Gold Race: Cancellation possible?
Scary moment at the end of the year: Even in a cycling nation like the Netherlands, the most important cycling races are on the brink - this was made public by the KNWU cycling association there, which saw the organisation of some cycling competitions in the coming year endangered due to a lack of police forces, including the most important race, the Amstel Gold Race. In the Netherlands, the NATO summit next summer will require a great deal of effort on the part of the security authorities. "We really understand it from the police's point of view, but it is extremely regrettable that the cycling races are the ones who suffer every time," criticised association director Maurice Leeser. They are now trying to replace the police with civilian motorbike escorts in the short term. Long-time race organiser Leon van Vliet emphasised: "We have been organising the race for almost sixty years, it cannot simply be stopped."
2.02 metres...
... is the tallest professional cyclist in the coming season: the Dane Mathias Norsgaard from Team Movistar, who is three centimetres taller than the German Max Walscheid, who is likely to be the heavyweight in the international peloton with a fighting weight of around 90 kilograms. The smallest professional cyclist is currently the Colombian Harold Lopez (XDS Astana) at 1.60 metres.
Tadej Pogacar: Record year follows record contract
In his own words, Tadej Pogacar does not know whether a more successful year than 2024 is possible for him in the future. However, his successes have earned him a contract that has never been seen before in cycling: the 26-year-old has extended his contract with the UAE Emirates-XRG team up to and including 2030 - according to the Italian daily sports newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport cash. The employment contract is also said to contain an exit clause totalling 200 million euros. At the team press conference, the Slovenian announced that his focus in the new season would be on repeating his Tour de France victory; in addition, he would like to compete in the Vuelta as a second three-week tour instead of the Giro. Other important goals: Victories at Milan-San Remo and the Road World Championships in Rwanda. He does not yet want to make his debut at Paris-Roubaix in 2025.
John Degenkolb: A perennial favourite
Even ten years after his triumphs at Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix, John Degenkolb still hasn't had enough of cycling. The 35-year-old from Oberursel has extended his contract until 2026 - in new colours: following a change of sponsor, his team will now be called Team Picnic PostNL (previously dsm-firmenich).
Plans for German professional team: Successful joining of forces?
Will Germany soon have a second professional team? The two German Continental teams rad-net Oßwald and REMBE Pro Cycling Team Sauerland have already announced a merger for the 2025 season. Joining forces, they will start the new cycling year as the Rad-Net Rembe Pro Cycling Team. The plans are ambitious. According to Jörg Scherf, team manager of the Sauerland team, the aim is to obtain a pro team licence (the second-highest international licence category) for the 2026 season and is therefore currently looking for a sponsor to finance the promotion. The big goal: to pave the way for German cyclists to compete in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Road World Championship 2025: Premiere in Africa
For the first time in the history of cycling, a professional road world championship will take place on the African continent. The individual time trial and road race competitions are scheduled to take place between 21 and 28 September 2025 and will cover routes in and around Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. In the cycling-loving country in the centre of Africa, tough climbing tests await the participants - the men's elite race measures 267.5 kilometres with 5475 metres of ascent, while the women's race covers 164.6 kilometres and 3350 metres of ascent. Another challenge: the cyclists also have to cope with the thinner air at around 1500 to 1800 metres above sea level.
Cancellara's Tudor Pro Cycling Team: Aspirant for promotion
As a professional cyclist, Fabian Cancellara was known for the fact that no matter how many obstacles were put in his way, in the end he prevailed. For several years now, he has been driving forward an ambitious cycling project in Switzerland: Team Tudor, which is owned by the 43-year-old Swiss and directed by Raphael Meyer as team manager. Together they want to reach the top of the world - a World Tour licence and a start at the Tour de France are the next big goals. The Swiss racing team has made some major upgrades for the new season: They have signed French crowd favourite and two-time road world champion Julian Alaphilippe (from Soudal Quick-Step) and Swiss all-rounder Marc Hirschi (from UAE Team Emirates). The team could soon spring a surprise: The Swiss parvenus are already considered candidates for a wildcard at the Tour de France this year. Prominent names are always welcome on the guest list there.
Bas Tietema: Thanks to YouTube to the Tour de France?
If you google the name "Tietema", you will come across a YouTube channel with lots of nonsense about cycling. Tour de Tietema is the name of the popular format in the Netherlands with around 180,000 subscribers. Now founder Bas Tietema wants to go to the Tour de France with two business partners and his own team, TDT-Unibet Rockets. The now 29-year-old Dutchman was once on his way to becoming a professional cyclist himself, finishing third in the Paris-Roubaix U23 race and riding in the national team with Mathieu van der Poel.
Injuries, illness and ultimately his attitude prevented him from becoming a racing cyclist. "Life as a professional cyclist was too monotonous for me. Training, eating, sleeping - I'm more of an entrepreneur," says Tietema. Seven years ago, he started the YouTube channel and travelled to the Tour de France with two buddies. The videos filmed there are particularly popular in the Netherlands. The trio is also popular with the professional cyclists - after all, in recent years they have given out free pizza to the pro cyclists after the final stage of the Tour, resulting in one of Tietema's favourite videos. Last season, Team TDT - the abbreviation stands for Tour de Tietema - started as a professional team for the first time and took part in the Amstel Gold Race straight away. "We want to ride the Tour de France with our team in 2027," says Tietema. He means that seriously.
Andreas Kublik
Editor
