CYCLING MARKET | INEOS has 22 riders signed for 2026, so which transfers are they preparing?

The peloton approaches November and whilst many are taking their much-deserved holidays or beginning their preparations towards the 2026 season, some riders - including a few top figures - are still left scrambling for contracts, either to remain in the World Tour or outright save their career. We take a look at some of the events of this past week as well as the riders whom INEOS Grenadiers may potentially sign to complete their 2026 lineup.

UAE Team Emirates - XRG confirmed the signing of Benoît Cosnefroy shortly after the previous installment of the Cycling Market and this Thursday another surprising move hit the market. First reported by Daniel Benson, the Irish sprinter Sam Bennett will be moving to Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team.

This marks yet another big market move for the Swiss team who has already signed lots of quality riders this winter including climbers Chris Harper and Eddie Dunbar from Team Jayco AlUla; and classics specialists such as Fred Wright and Brent van Moer. Like Tudor last year, Q36.5 is moving into a position where it currently has a World Tour-level lineup, and will be a tough competitor for others when it comes to the battle for the Grand Tour wildcards. Bennett's name adds more firepower to its sprinting block, which could work with a more modest calendar, but above all it adds more reputation towards a potential Tour de France debut - as Bennett is also a former green jersey at the Grand Boucle.

Furthermore three riders from top teams are leaving towards the lower divisions as Intermarché - Wanty's Hugo Page is joining Cofidis; Cofidis' Jonathan Lastra will be joining Euskaltel - Euskadi and Henri Vandenabeele of Lotto is moving to Team Flanders - Baloise.

Not much to mention this week but in the field of XDS Astana Team there is still some interesting movement, as the team only now managed to secure Simone Velasco for another two seasons, whilst also confirming Kazakh rider Anton Kuzmin.

Burgos Burpellet BH renewed with Greek star Georgios Bouglas; Caja Rural - Seguros RGA also managed to hold on to one of its leaders in the Kiwi Sebastian Berwick; Euskaltel-Euskadi, Team Flanders - Baloise and Team Polti VisitMalta each announced plenty renewals to secure their blocks for the 2026 season.

Benson has also reported that Q36.5 may lose its resident Irishman Rory Townsend, winner of the Hamburg Cyclassics earlier in August - a massive surprise victory at World Tour level - to Unibet Rose Rockets, another team taking a step up this year. Townsend could join the likes of Dylan Groenewegen, Wout Poels and Niklas Larsen who already promise a substantial increase in level and name for the French team.

Discussing INEOS Grenadiers currently, it continues to be interesting the lack of riders it has signed for the upcoming season. At the time being, only Dorian Godon, Kévin Vauquelin and Embret Svestad-Bardsend will join the team (whilst Theodor Storm is making the move up from the team's under-23 branch). There are at the time being only 22 names confirmed for the 2026 season, and the following riders do not publicly have a contract yet: Michal Kwiatkowski, Ben Swift, Lucas Hamilton, Brandon Rivera, Kim Heiduk and Michael Leonard. Kwiatkowski had been previously linked to a move towards Q36.5 too, but with the amount of signings and leaders it has gotten, it won't be easy to pull off another big-name signing.

There are reasons to believe Kim Heiduk and Michael Leonard would stay in the team taking into consideration their evolution this year, whilst Ben Swift would depend on his experience and years with the team. Brandon Rivera has also shown his career-best level this year, most notably carrying Egan Bernal through the mini Strade Bianche stage at the Giro d'Italia... But with Bernal's influence in the team diminishing, a departure could be taking place. Geraint Thomas, Caleb Ewan, Jonathan Castroviejo, Salvatore Puccio and Omar Fraile have all ended their season this year with INEOS as their final team.

The market is becoming more and more narrow and there are less names to sign. Could INEOS take advantage of Jayco AlUla's current situation? The Australian team did not apply for their World Tour license for 2026 in time due to the lack of bank guarantees, and whilst it's unlikely to carry consequences - only a delay - it has been argued that its riders would be free to sign new contracts for the time being. With the likes of Michael Matthews, Ben O'Connor, Luke Plapp and others in the team, we could still be in for another surprising transfer in the upcoming weeks...

But with eight spots left to fill, it's clear that new signings will be announced. Although not a lot of top names are left in the market. Interestingly their former rider Richard Carapaz still is, as is the case with riders such as Matej Mohoric, Victor Lafay, Luke Lamperti... Each of them could become a leader in the team, but contract extensions are not always made public and some of these could already be under a deal for the upcoming season.

And of course, what about Derek Gee? The Canadian is involved in a legal battle with Israel - Premier Tech, and there is no end or outcome in sight at the time being. Gee was heavily linked to the British team before the announcement of the termination of his contract, but it's hard to say which side of the coin will land. Sam Welsford had also been previously linked to the team, and without a true sprinter signing, the Australian could still be in the cards.

The likes of Rui Costa, Fernando Gaviria, Julien Vermote, Stefano Oldani, Torstein Traeen, Felix Engelhardt, Archie Ryan, Anders Foldager, Lukas Nerurkar, Jensen Plowright and Rainer Kepplinger are all riders on the market still at this point in time... There are lots of potential pieces to fit the puzzle together for 2026 but its unclear which path the British team will choose.