From 85 to 80 race days: Cycling’s ten busiest riders of 2026

According to ProCyclingStats, which counts every UCI race day a rider starts, Veistroffer led the 2026 rankings and would have raced even more given the chance. The top ten is dominated by domestiques and breakaway specialists, with seven riders competing in at least two Grand Tours. By comparison, Pogačar raced just 44 days, Mathieu van der Poel 45 and Paul Seixas 48.

Baptiste Veistroffer began his season at the Tour Down Under on 20 January and did not stop racing until the Tour of Guangxi on 18 October, the final day of the WorldTour calendar. Even his remarkable tally of 85 race days does not tell the full story. The Frenchman told La Dernière Heure that he also competed in Belgian kermesses not included on the UCI calendar.

His schedule continued to grow throughout the year as he stayed healthy and took every opportunity to race. “There is nothing I love more than racing,” he said.

That enthusiasm also brought results. In February, Veistroffer won a stage of the Tour of Oman after spending 183 kilometres in the breakaway. He later spoke to Domestiqueabout his unusual journey from engineering for the French Navy to the professional peloton.

His Tour de France debut followed in July, where he spent 144 kilometres alone in the breakaway on stage 5 and earned the combativity award three times.

Thirty of his race days came in Asia, including appearances at the Tour of Hainan and Hong Kong Cyclothon. Having extended his contract with Lotto Intermarché for another two seasons, Veistroffer is spending his off-season on a 21-day bikepacking trip through Cambodia and Vietnam.

Liam Slock made it a Lotto Intermarché one-two at the top of the rankings, recording 83 race days during the most successful season of his career.

The 26-year-old Belgian claimed his first professional victory at the GP Gippingen in June, crashing as he crossed the finish line, before making his Tour de France debut the following month.

Slock has spent six years in the Lotto structure, having progressed through the development team. A regular member of the team's Classics squad, he has become accustomed to long days at the front of the peloton in races such as Paris-Roubaix and Scheldeprijs.

His time at Lotto comes to an end this winter as he prepares to join Bahrain Victorious on a two-year contract. There, he will reunite with former teammate Alec Segaert, who won a stage of the Giro d'Italia in 2026.

“This is a new step in my career, and I am immensely looking forward to developing further in this new environment at Bahrain Victorious,” Slock said when the move was announced. Bahrain performance manager Rod Ellingworth described him as “a powerful rider”.

After Lyme disease disrupted his 2025 campaign, Georg Steinhauser returned to form in 2026 with one of the busiest schedules in the peloton.

The 24-year-old German finished third overall at Paris-Nice, where he also secured the white jersey, before completing his first Tour de France and lining up at the Vuelta a España.

A full spring campaign, two Grand Tours and further racing in the autumn took Steinhauser to 83 race days, level with Liam Slock.

It was also his final season with EF Education-EasyPost after five years with the American team. Steinhauser, who claimed a Giro d'Italia stage victory in 2024, will join Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe on a multi-year contract in 2027.

The move reunites him with Florian Lipowitz, with whom he raced for two years before either rider turned professional.

“I am really excited about the next years with Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe,” Steinhauser said when his transfer was announced.

Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet has spent much of his career hovering around the fringes of the Tour de France top ten, close enough to contest the general classification but often far enough behind to find opportunities in breakaways.

The 33-year-old Frenchman once again took on a demanding programme in 2026, completing both the Tour de France and Vuelta a España on his way to 82 race days.

One of the more experienced riders in the French peloton, Martin-Guyonnet was a key figure for Groupama-FDJ United during a difficult campaign. The team managed just 12 victories, its lowest total in 25 years.

He will leave Groupama-FDJ at the end of the season to join Lotto Intermarché, returning to the Wanty side of the merged organisation where he previously raced.

With Arnaud De Lie and Lennert Van Eetvelt departing, Martin-Guyonnet will bring experience to a reshaped squad that also includes the busiest rider of 2026, Baptiste Veistroffer.

At just 23, Darren Rafferty is the youngest rider in the top five and the second EF Education-EasyPost representative among the ten busiest riders of 2026.

The Irishman, who hails from Dungannon, joined EF in 2024 after winning the Giro della Valle d'Aosta with Hagens Berman Axeon. He quickly made an impression, claiming the Irish national road title in his debut professional season before completing his first Grand Tour at the Vuelta a España.

EF chief executive Jonathan Vaughters has spoken highly of Rafferty's potential, describing him as a “headline rider” following testing at the team's performance laboratory.

The team has backed that assessment with an extensive racing programme, giving the young Irishman valuable experience across the calendar.

With EF reducing its budget for 2027 and losing Richard Carapaz, Georg Steinhauser and Markel Beloki, Rafferty could take on greater responsibility next season.

Rémy Rochas has established himself as a reliable mountain domestique at Groupama-FDJ United, combining his climbing ability with one of the heaviest racing schedules in the peloton.

Standing just 1.64 metres tall and weighing 51 kilograms, the Frenchman is a pure climber. He joined Groupama-FDJ in 2024 after three seasons with Cofidis and has since become a regular presence in the team's mountain squads.

In 2026, Rochas was one of the team's key climbers at the Giro d'Italia, having twice finished inside the top five on stages of the Italian Grand Tour the previous year. He also rode the Vuelta a España, with two Grand Tours and a busy programme of French and Italian stage races taking his season total to 81 race days.

Despite that workload, his future remains uncertain.

Groupama-FDJ have already signed 29 riders for 2027, but Rochas is among three members of the current squad, alongside Paul Penhoët and Enzo Paleni, whose contracts have yet to be renewed. He is 30.

José Manuel Díaz was one of three ProTeam riders to reach 80 race days in 2026, underlining the demanding schedules faced by riders outside the WorldTour.

The 31-year-old Spaniard, from Jaén, has been a fixture at Burgos Burpellet BH since joining the team in June 2022.

Díaz had previously won the Tour of Turkey overall in 2021, but his career was thrown into uncertainty when Gazprom-RusVelo lost its licence in March 2022, leaving him without a team.

Four years later, he remains an important figure in the Burgos squad. In March, he claimed victory at the Clàssica Terres de l'Ebre, finishing off a strong team performance on the climb to Paüls for his second win in Burgos colours.

He went on to ride the Vuelta a España for the third time, adding another Grand Tour to an already extensive calendar.

For Spanish ProTeams competing across a wide range of races, experienced climbers such as Díaz remain essential throughout the season.

Xabier Mikel Azparren combined a demanding 80-day racing schedule with a milestone season that saw him make his long-awaited Tour de France debut.

The rider from San Sebastián joined Pinarello-Q36.5 in 2024, with his younger brother Enekoitz later following him to the team.

He demonstrated his time trial ability throughout 2026, finishing second at the Spanish national championships, just four seconds behind Pablo Castrillo, and placing 11th in the opening time trial at Tirreno-Adriatico.

But the highlight came in July, when Pinarello-Q36.5 made its first appearance at the Tour de France with Tom Pidcock leading the team.

“Going to the Tour has been the dream of my life. I will try to find my chance and my day,” Azparren said before the Grand Départ in Barcelona.

He followed his Tour debut with an appearance at the Vuelta a España, where he recorded sixth and tenth places on individual stages.

Pinarello have since strengthened their squad with the signings of Giulio Ciccone and Mauro Schmid, among others, as they pursue promotion to the WorldTour in 2027.

Valentin Paret-Peintre entered 2026 with greater opportunities at Soudal Quick-Step following Remco Evenepoel's departure to Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe.

The French climber had already established himself as a Grand Tour stage winner, claiming victory at the Giro d'Italia in 2024 before conquering Mont Ventoux at the 2025 Tour de France.

In January, he committed his future to Soudal Quick-Step by extending his contract until 2028, and acknowledged that Evenepoel's exit would create more opportunities for other riders to step forward.

Paret-Peintre returned to the Tour de France as part of a squad focused on stage victories rather than the general classification, before taking on a second Grand Tour at the Vuelta a España.

His best opportunity for another stage victory came on stage 13 of the Vuelta, where he reached the finish alongside Wout van Aert but was beaten in the sprint.

“You can't beat Van Aert in a sprint,” he admitted afterwards.

The two Grand Tours helped take the 25-year-old's season total to 80 race days.

Mathis Le Berre quickly became one of TotalEnergies' busiest riders after joining the French ProTeam for 2026 following the collapse of Arkéa-B&B Hotels.

The 25-year-old, from Saint-Brieuc, raced 80 days across a packed calendar that included Paris-Nice, the Tour de France and the Tour de Langkawi.

He spent the opening stage of Paris-Nice in the breakaway in pursuit of points for the mountains classification, before finishing seventh at the Roue Tourangelle and eighth overall at the Tour du Limousin.

In July, Le Berre completed the Tour de France in 76th place. He later travelled to Malaysia for the Tour de Langkawi, where he was selected to support Jordan Jegat.

His development was identified as a priority by TotalEnergies general manager Stéphane Heulot, who sees potential in a rider who won the Tour de Normandie in 2022 and wore the polka-dot jersey at the Critérium du Dauphiné in 2024.

Le Berre's busy season came against a backdrop of uncertainty for the team. Title sponsor TotalEnergies is leaving at the end of 2026, while several leading riders, including Jegat and Anthony Turgis, have already secured moves elsewhere.

The team has applied for a ProTeam licence for 2027 as it looks to secure its future.