Who are the top WorldTour riders still without contracts for 2026?

The demise of Arkéa-B&B Hotels, the fusion of Intermarché-Wanty and Lotto, and the since-allayed doubts over Jayco-Alula’s future have all served to increase the uncertainty in the transfer market in recent weeks.

There are also some major pieces in the puzzle yet to fall into place. Derek Gee’s attempt to extricate himself from Israel-Premier Tech has not been resolved, while Biniam Girmay has indicated that he is unlikely to remain at a merged Intermarché-Lotto squad. Their eventual moves will have a domino effect on the rest of the market.

The composition of the revamped Lotto will also have an impact, with riders like Louis Barré and Edoardo Sepulveda yet to confirm if they are staying or going. Meanwhile, a number of riders who have secured positions for 2026 have yet to issue a formal announcement. But as things stand, these are ten of the biggest names yet to confirm their 2026 plans.

It remains to be seen if the Tour of Guangxi was the final act of Fernando Gaviria’s professional career. On the last day in Nanning, the Colombian lined up for the start several metres off the back of the peloton, giving the impression of a man eager to be alone with his thoughts, though he didn’t join the guard of honour for retiring riders, which indicates he still has designs on being in the peloton in 2026.

A year ago, Movistar waited until November to extend Gaviria’s contract, but a late reprieve seems highly unlikely this time, with Marca reporting that he will not return in 2026. Gaviria hasn’t won a race since the opening stage of the 2024 Tour Colombia and he wasn’t seriously considered for a Grand Tour this past season, where his best result was fourth on a stage of the Tour of Belgium.

Gaviria was an electrifying talent when he burst into the WorldTour a decade ago, but the returns have been steadily diminishing ever since he left QuickStep for UAE back in 2019. He’s only 31, however, and a team might be willing to take a punt later in the winter.

Public information about contracts at EF Education-EasyPost isn’t always readily available –Richard Carapaz and Archie Ryan both have deals for 2026, despite what Procyclingstats maintains – but Daniel Benson has reported that Esteban Chaves is indeed leaving Jonathan Vaughters’ team after four seasons.

It’s almost a decade since Chaves came within a whisper of winning the 2016 Giro d’Italia and he finished that season with victory at Il Lombardia. Injury and illness meant he never quite scaled the same heights again, though he popped up with two more Giro stage wins for GreenEdge before joining EF in more of a road captain role four years ago.

Chaves has yet to make any public announcement about his future. He will turn 36 in January and in a contracting job market, he might be left without a team.

Of all the riders still without a contract for 2026, Jack Haig is the most surprising, and it’s surely only a matter of time before the Australian’s future at the top level is confirmed. He is still only 32, still one of the most reliable climbing domestiques in the peloton and only four years removed from a podium finish at the Vuelta a España.

At the Tour de Pologne in August, Haig indicated to Domestique that he was unlikely to remain at Bahrain Victorious and that he had no alternative yet lined up for 2026. At that point, it seemed only a matter of time before his new team was announced.

According to Daniel Benson, Haig has already agreed terms with a team for 2026, and Ineos appears the most likely destination.

The Spaniard has been a mainstay at Cofidis since joining in 2018, racking up three stage wins at the Vuelta a España along the way. By the time he lined up at this year’s Vuelta, Herrada knew his time with Cofidis was likely coming to a close, and he confirmed as much at the end of a season hampered by injury.

In September, Herrada confessed to AS that he had nothing concrete lined up for 2026, but the 35-year-old delivered an upbeat note about his prospects of remaining in the sport on Instagram last month.

“It’s time to renew motivation, my body and above all my mind asked for a change of air and so we will do it,” he wrote. “More news coming soon.”

The Frenchman is another rider who should imminently deliver news on his future. Lafay has endured two years of wretched luck since his stage win on the 2023 Tour de France, and he has been openly mulling retirement, but he showcased his quality in the final weeks of the season, most notably with his second-place finish at the Tour of Guangxi.

That performance showed that Lafay – still only 29 – has a place in WorldTour racing if he still wants it, but he confessed to Domestique that it was still ‘50-50’ on whether he would remain a pro after his contract with Decathlon-AG2R expires in December.

Lafay hinted at the prospect of moving on to another sporting discipline, but there is firm interest in keeping him in the WorldTour. On the final day in China, Lafay indicated that he had two options in mind, and he would take a couple of weeks before making a decision.

Between mergers and delayed WorldTour applications, this has been a complicated year to seek a contract, and Sam Welsford is among the riders still waiting for confirmation of his landing spot in 2026.

The sprinter will leave Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe after two underwhelming seasons, but the speed that caught the eye during his time at DSM hasn’t disappeared. Ineos had reportedly agreed terms with Welsford earlier in the year, but the deal was reportedly paused once Dave Brailsford returned to the fold.

Jayco-Alula could offer an escape for Welsford, as Dan Benson reported on Monday, particularly if Ineos end up paying compensation to the Australian for walking back the deal.

After spending his entire professional career in the GreenEdge set-up, Lucas Hamilton joined Ineos on a one-year deal last winter. The Australian lined up in support of Egan Bernal at the Giro d’Italia, but illness forced him to withdraw from the Vuelta a España, with Ben Turner stepping in to replace him.

Hamilton ended his season with a long stint in the break at Il Lombardia, but he has yet to confirm his 2026 plans. Still only 29 and with a resume that includes overall victory at the Settimana Coppi e Bartali and fourth overall at Paris-Nice in 2021, Hamilton will expect to remain in the peloton next season, but nothing has yet been announced.

The affable Belgian has been here before but that doesn’t make it any easier. After an unhappy sojourn with Cofidis in 2020, Vermote began the following year without a team, but he kept training in hope and he was picked up by Alpecin in March of that year, although he would miss the entire season due to a combination of COVID-19 and toxoplasmosis.

Vermote returned to the fray in 2022 as a valuable domestique for Mathieu van der Poel, but he was deemed surplus to requirements in 2023, and he spent the year racing at amateur level. Remarkably, he returned to the WorldTour in 2024 in the colours of Visma | Lease a Bike, and he enjoyed two seasons with the Dutch squad.

Although Visma opted against renewing his contract, Vermote still holds out  hope of remaining a pro rider next year, though he knows his task is complicated by the Intermarché-Lotto merger and his own advancing years. “They all think they'll miss out on the next Pogacar or Remco,” Vermote told Het Nieuwsblad of a WorldTour recruitment policy increasingly focused on youth.

The Briton showed considerable resilience to claw his way back to the WorldTour after an ill-starred spell at Lotto as a youngster. In four years at EF Education-EasyPost, Shaw has been a consistent performer and always a willing attacker.

Although Shaw was selected for both the Giro and Vuelta this year, he was informed early on that he would be surplus to EF’s requirements for 2026. The 29-year-old looked a man on a mission at the Vuelta, regularly getting up the road, but after ending his season at the Japan Cup, he confirmed that he is still looking for a team for next year.

“Due to the somewhat rocky nature of the career I’ve had I know what it’s like to lose a dream career and gain it back again,” Shaw wrote on Instagram. “So if there are any teams out there looking for a rider please do get in touch. Thanks for reading this far you must have a lot of spare time to make it to the end.”