From Evenepoel to Ayuso: The transfers that could define the 2026 season

Remco Evenepoel was always going to be number one. What he achieved at Soudal Quick-Step since being taken into the ranks by former boss Patrick Lefevere as a teenager has been absurd. His transfer to Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe was announced in early August, and the team is now looking to build a solid support network around Evenepoel to ensure he pushes on to achieve even bigger things - but can he?

Many professional cyclists would be made up with even just a fraction of what Evenepoel has achieved, so will not winning a Tour de France yellow jersey define him? Of course not. The expectation that many people hold about this transfer is that they assume it is all or nothing for the Tour, when it really isn't. This transfer allows Evenepoel to be well supported by a strong cohort of riders by a team with a pretty hefty budget. 

The lack of mountain support at Soudal Quick-Step proved to be an Achilles heel, however, it must be stated that things did change in his final years with the team when the Belgian squad picked up some shrewd transfers

What stands out the most about this transfer is the potential to bring out the unleashed, spring classics Evenepoel, and Red Bull certainly have the riders to support that. Perhaps not in 2026, but could we one day see Evenepoel go head-to-head with Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogačar at the Tour of Flanders?

The current French national road race champion Dorian Godon is crossing the Channel to join the British squad Ineos for the 2026 season. Godon is a rider who loves to get himself involved when the going gets tough, as seen at the French Championships, where he out-kicked Romain Grégoire and Kévin Vauquelin in Les Herbiers. 

Not only that, Godon also was a Classic winner at De Brabantse Pijl in 2023, when he got the better of Ben Healy in a quite brutal but beautiful race around the Flemish Brabant.

Godon also holds the ability to become Ineos' reduced bunch sprinter along with Ben Turner, with the prime example of his ability in those situations being his two stage victories at the Tour de Romandie in 2024, which really started the Decathlon AG2R renaissance. Can Godon inspire to continue the Ineos revival in 2026?

Sticking with the theme of French riders and leaving Decathlon AG2R, Bastien Tronchon departs from one French team to another as he joins Groupama-FDJ for the 2026 season. Groupama-FDJ have added some solid additions with Tronchon the pick of the bunch, particularly because he was the type of rider they needed. A proper real gritty hard-working engine who holds the potential to get in the mix for high placings in reduced bunch situations, whilst also being able to score real results in the classic's.

If you recall back to Tro-Bro Léon in May, Tronchon won the absolute slugfest of a race, in the torrential downpour across an awesome and attritional racing parcours. That race perhaps served as a preview to what we can expect to see from Tronchon in 2026 as Groupama-FDJ look to get back to achieving some top Classics results after losing some top talent in that department in recent years.

A brilliant pick-up for Tudor pro cycling as they bring Stefan Küng home to the Swiss team for the 2026 season. Küng, a rider with a solid Classics track record over the course of his professional cycling career with numerous top 10s in the Tour of Flanders and other spring Classics will only add greater depth to that Tudor roster with riders such as Julian Alaphilippe and Marc Hirschi making the switch to the red and black of Tudor in recent years.

There may be some slight question marks surrounding his 2025 season, where Küng hasn't quite shown his tremendous ability with just a few top 10s over the course of the 2025 season.

With this transfer to pastures new, it is an almost forgone conclusion that Küng will get back to his ways in 2026 and he will spearhead Tudor's cobbled Classics squad.

A cracking pick up for Q36.5. In an alternate universe, we'd be talking about Fred Wright as a multiple Grand Tour stage winner, as he came so close to glory in both the 2022 Tour de France and then the 2022 Vuelta a España, with two second places on stages. 

The former British road race champion (2023) has had a mixed final season with the Bahrain squad, his best result coming in stage 2 of the Dauphiné, where once again, he came second. 

Wright is part of a new influx of talent joining the Q36.5 ranks for 2026, and he is the pick of the bunch, with the talent he possesses. It will be interesting to see the British duo of Tom Pidcock and Fred Wright working together in future Grand Tours and Classics races in the forthcoming year. Can Wright go the one step further than second place and achieve glory at Q36.5? We think so.

Visma | Lease a Bike have secured a future Grand Tour challenger here, there is no question about that. Since coming through the Kometa rankings in the 2021 season, the 23-year old Italian has scored some solid results with his notable GC victory at the Tour of Antalya his maiden general classification of his career as of yet. 

In the 2025 and 2024 editions of the Giro, Piganzoli has been on the cusp of scoring a top 10 in the general classification finishing 14th and 13th, respectively.

It remains to be seen how Piganzoli will fit into the 2026 Visma squad in the Grand Tour department, but there would be no harm in his development if he has to spend a year or two as a domestique, similar to the development pathway of multiple Tour de France winner, Jonas Vingegaard.

Decathlon CMA CGM means business. Signing an elite and proven sprinter, with the potential to go on and win stages at the Tour de France which should be the aim. The lack of opportunity for Kooij to go to the Tour was perhaps a barrier to the Dutchman signing a contract extension at Visma | Lease a Bike.

With twelve victories to his name in 2025, including two stages at the Giro d'Italia, that expertise to get the job done in the sprint department has been something in which Decathlon were lacking in recent years after the downturn in form from Irish sprinter, Sam Bennett.

A blockbuster of a move. With Ayuso and UAE agreeing to shred his long term contract after what appeared to be a civil divorce after a long period of disagreement between himself and the UAE management.

In 2026, Ayuso will have a free rein to pursue his own ambitions. That much is certain. A real bite at the Tour could be an option for Ayuso but he is not quite on the level to challenge Pogačar and also Vingegaard and Evenepoel. If he reaches his elite potential then this transfer can have a big upside to Lidl-Trek who have signed a future challenger for a Grand Tour, but they will have to remain patient.

When this transfer was announced I think we all had to look at our screens again and see if a parody social media account had fooled us, but it was of course real. A mutual parting of ways was the reason of Uijtdebroeks' departure because he felt like his goals were blocked. Now Uijtdebroeks, like Ayuso, will have a free rein to chase his own goals at Movistar. However, Enric Mas could stand in the way of any immediate Tour ambitions, though his recent injuries might open the door for Uijtdebroeks.

This transfer is one in which you would definitely mark down for the future, because Uijtdebroeks, of course, has Grand Tour contender potential but the big question is if he is able to turn all of the little niggles he had at Visma | Lease a Bike.