Cycling Market - INEOS lose another leader; Pidcock to be joined by British national champion; America's top team grows
CyclingSaturday, 19 September 2026 at 06:00
Ben Turner and Ethan Hayter are amongst the British riders noted as changing teams at the end of 2026. There is a lot of movement with several transfers, high-value rumours and even the return of former cyclocross World Champion Fem van Empel to professional cycling.
Since the previous instance of the Cycling Market, lots of renewals have taken place from teams wanting to secure their future - and prevent rival teams from developing.
Tudor Pro Cycling Team was particularly active, revealing the renewal of the following riders: Fabian Lienhard, Arthur Kluckers, Florian Stork, Marius Mayrhofer, Arvid de Kleijn, Alvaras Mikutis and Fabian Weiss. The Swiss team effectively assured a big part of their block for the 2027 season.
Team Visma | Lease a Bike secured the contract of Tim Rex, a rider who was particular importance during the spring classics and Giro d'Italia as a domestique.
From the Vuelta a España, Alessandro Romele signed a new deal with XDS Astana Team who saw the birth of another top racer.
Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe renewed with Ben Zwiehoff, Lidl-Trek renewed with Tom Skujins and Andreas Kron of Uno-X Mobility has also signed a new deal.
Contract extensions since previous Cycling Market:
| Published | Rider | Team | Until |
| 2026-09-18 | SCHWEINBERGER Kathrin | Human Powered Health | 2027 |
| 2026-09-18 | KRON Andreas | Uno-X Mobility | 2029 |
| 2026-09-18 | THÉOT Killian | Van Rysel Roubaix | 2028 |
| 2026-09-18 | TENDON Arnaud | Van Rysel Roubaix | 2028 |
| 2026-09-17 | BUIJSMAN Nina | Human Powered Health | 2028 |
| 2026-09-17 | ALZINI Martina | Cofidis Women Team | 2027 |
| 2026-09-17 | LIENHARD Fabian | Tudor Pro Cycling Team | 2028 |
| 2026-09-17 | KLUCKERS Arthur | Tudor Pro Cycling Team | 2028 |
| 2026-09-17 | CONTTE Tomas | Aviludo - Louletano - Loulé | 2027 |
| 2026-09-16 | COLES-LYSTER Maggie | Human Powered Health | 2028 |
| 2026-09-16 | STORK Florian | Tudor Pro Cycling Team | 2029 |
| 2026-09-16 | MAYRHOFER Marius | Tudor Pro Cycling Team | 2029 |
| 2026-09-16 | SKUJIŅŠ Toms | Lidl - Trek | 2028 |
| 2026-09-16 | ROUSSEL Elyne | St Michel - Preference Home - Auber93 | 2027 |
| 2026-09-16 | ZWIEHOFF Ben | Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe | 2028 |
| 2026-09-15 | FRANZ Heidi | St Michel - Preference Home - Auber93 | 2027 |
| 2026-09-15 | CIPRESSI Carlotta | Human Powered Health | 2028 |
| 2026-09-15 | LELANDAIS Rémi | Bourg-en-Bresse Ain Cyclisme | 2027 |
| 2026-09-15 | DE KLEIJN Arvid | Tudor Pro Cycling Team | 2028 |
| 2026-09-14 | PRIMOŽIČ Jaka | Hrinkow Advarics | 2027 |
| 2026-09-14 | BETTENDORFF Loïc | Hrinkow Advarics | 2027 |
| 2026-09-14 | RIŠKA Richard | Hrinkow Advarics | 2027 |
| 2026-09-14 | BARCELÓ Fernando | Caja Rural - Seguros RGA | 2027 |
| 2026-09-14 | DE JONG Thalita | Human Powered Health | 2028 |
| 2026-09-11 | MERLÖV Ville | BHS - PL Beton Bornholm | 2027 |
| 2026-09-11 | VAN BELLE Lisa | Team SD Worx - Protime | 2028 |
| 2026-09-10 | VERMEEREN Junne | Minimax Cycling Team | 2027 |
| 2026-09-10 | LINTHOUDT Jade | Minimax Cycling Team | 2027 |
| 2026-09-10 | NOTHUM Gwen | Minimax Cycling Team | 2027 |
| 2026-09-10 | ANTIKAINEN Heidi | Minimax Cycling Team | 2027 |
| 2026-09-10 | ROMELE Alessandro | XDS Astana Team | 2028 |
| 2026-09-09 | SQUIBAN Maeva | UAE Team L'IMAD | 2029 |
| 2026-09-09 | GIGANTE Sarah | AG Insurance - Soudal Team | 2027 |
| 2026-09-09 | KADLEC Milan | Kasper crypto4me | 2027 |
| 2026-09-09 | GRANGIER India | St Michel - Preference Home - Auber93 | 2027 |
| 2026-09-08 | REX Tim | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | 2029 |
| 2026-09-07 | WEISS Fabian | Tudor Pro Cycling Team | 2029 |
| 2026-09-07 | MARTURANO Greta | UAE Team L'IMAD | 2027 |
| 2026-09-07 | MIKUTIS Aivaras | Tudor Pro Cycling Team | 2029 |
Official signings
Lots of teams have revealed several signings over this past week and a half, and several of them are quite meaningful. Lidl-Trek are perhaps the most important, with three signings on the men's side. On the women's team, they announced the move of both Blanka Kata Vas and Arlenis Sierra.
On the men's side, the signing of Decathlon duo Felix Gall and Gregor Muhlberger. The Austrian duo have raced the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España both at their top level this year, and boost the German team's already packed GC contender block even further. Georg Zimmermann of Lotto-Intermarché has also joined its ranks.
There is Groupama - FDJ who also announced the signing of three riders: Lorenzo Crescioli from Polti; Emillien Jeannière and Alexandre Delettre from TotalEnergies who appear to be more and more likely to come to an end this winter.
Bahrain - Victorious have also signed a deal with Cristián Rodríguez, ninth at the recent Vuelta a España; and Mercan'Tour Classic winner Ibón Ruiz from Equipo Kern Pharma.
Netcompany sits on the losing end this week with the departure of two riders. Artem Shmidt is leaving towards NSN Cycling Team; whilst most importantly Ben Turner has left towards Soudal - Quick-Step.
Guillaume Martin has signed with Lotto-Intermarché; Caja Rural - Seguros RGA have signed Marc Brustenga of Kern Pharma and surprisingly Sergio Higuita from Astana who will team up with compatriot Fernando Gaviria; whilst Uno-X Mobility have already signed one of Alexander Kristoff's brothers Felix-Orn Kristoff who raced for Lotto.
Ben Turner is leaving Netcompany INEOS to race for Soudal - Quick-Step
On the women's side there are also pretty meaningful moves. Above all else, the signing of Fem van Empel by FDJ - Suez. The former cyclocross world champion - on three occasions - announced a departure from pro cycling last winter, without knowing if a return was to happen.
The deal, all the way into the end of 2027, comes with immediate effect and should see her back in the cyclocross field already this winter - having returned from a provisional retirement at age 24.
Besides Sierra and Vas' transfers to Lidl-Trek; Team SD Worx - ProTime also announced the signing of Cédrine Kerbaol and Rachele Barbieri into 2027.
Rumours
Although only one month remains to the season, some meaningful moves are still yet to be made in the market. Some are a matter of time to be made public, but new potential transfers have been rumoured over the past week. Daniel Benson, Ciro Scognamiglio, Wielerflits, Het Laatste Nieuws and Het Nieuwsblad often contribute towards a hub of market activity that creates a clear picture.
The previous has reported on three potential signings for the American Modern Adventure Pro Cycling team: Australian national champion Pattrick Eddy; Josh Burnett and Owen Cole.
Tao Geoghegan Hart, after a section of lackluster years at Lidl-Trek, is set to move on with a deal with EF Education-EasyPost.
Tudor Pro Cycling Team is likely to take in yet another classics specialist and rouleur in Nico Denz; whilst Pinarello - Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team may be preparing another big move.
Read also
After his near-miss at the Vuelta a España, just barely missing out on the first stage win behind Tadej Pogacar, Ethan Hayter revealed he did not yet have a team for 2027.
It is rumoured that he might join Pinarello, a deal that could benefit both sides immensely - with the British time trial champion set to try and prove his worth at this Sunday's time trial world championships.
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
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Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
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- This is an informative article, but some of the sentences are very hard to read in English. The following is an example: "Although only one month remains to the season, some meaningful moves are still yet to be made in the market. Some are a matter of time to be made public, but new potential transfers have been rumoured over the past week. Daniel Benson, Ciro Scognamiglio, Wielerflits, Het Laatste Nieuws and Het Nieuwsblad often contribute towards a hub of market activity that creates a clear picture. The previous has reported on three potential signings for the American Modern Adventure Pro Cycling team: Australian national champion Pattrick Eddy; Josh Burnett and Owen Cole." Just get a native speaker or, if that is too expensive, an AI to translate/correct them for you.SuperConfexYokoOno20-09-2026
- I should have guess Mr shoot his mouth off and no research would comment without knowing. Yes on any given year there are 75-100 countries that participate in the world championships. Which is why I said 80. So they’re really good when comparing to all 80. Not as impressive on this list. If you don’t understand how percentages work, and don’t want to do the research, LMK. I’ll explain it for you.mij19-09-2026
- Why should you check about who someone actually is before making comments based on their looks alone? Really??? That’s your excuse? So do you also look at pictures of Black people and make assumptions on looks alone? Who are you to say it is easy money to have one’s picture taken? How many photo shoots have you done? Note to you I’ve been in them. Not for me. But it is grueling for everyone. And of course you have nothing to say about the many other positive attributes of her. You judge on looks alone and use your morals to castigate her. You’re pathetic.mij19-09-2026
- Couldn’t agree more. Demi frequently uses her platform to promote good, thinking back to all the moments she’s raised mental health awareness, eating disorders, inspiring the younger generations to ‘dream’, and now (as she has done many times before) advocating for women’s sport. I’m relieved to see a few members on this forum agree with her, but am slightly concerned by the few users who clearly don’t; some users who I didn’t expect to have such narrow-minded opinions.anonymouscyclist19-09-2026
- Oh dear... we all knew what would happen when Mou got news of it... 3 days later
Rafionain-Glas19-09-2026 - 0:02.5 is 2.5 seconds, not 0.02Rafionain-Glas19-09-2026
- 80 huh? I don’t know how many are in the all- time list and I don’t even know what this list actually represents because it doesn’t correspond to well-labelled ones that include a description of what is or is not included (which would be a more interesting discussion than this one) but I can tell you on the modern list of SENIOR (ie no U23 or other categories) road racing champs there are already 38 different current countries (I specify specifically because if you start considering East/West Germany, Soviet Union, Che/Slo, Balkanisation, etc. things get messy).Mistermaumau19-09-2026
- Sydney Sweeney’s viral nude sports advert is good for womens sport overall. The “Just Sports” campaign, which features Sweeney nude while covering herself with various pieces of sporting equipment could also be good for cycling if Sweeney was naked on a road racing bike. There are quite a few women cyclists thar are just beautiful. Demi said: “For a long time, women have fought to be seen for what they can do, not for how they look.” ... Women should be saying: "We will fight for what we can do, and for how we look." There is nothing nicer than a high class professional female athlete with a beautiful body and a beautiful face. Just take a look at womens beach volleyball... or 100-meter and 200-meter runners... or womens long-jump... or womens gymnastics. I never watch men in these sports. Ad acta.PogiSloFans19-09-2026
- Racing road bikes is a dangerous sport, I've almost lost my life twice doing it. This was a complete tragedy, it shouldn't have happened. The driver of the van was told by spectators the race had passed, which it hadn't at that point as the broom wagon was still behind. For the UCI's part, they are about to implement a gps tracking system so every rider is accounted for within a given race, it probably won't happen until next year or maybe even the year after but it's coming.awp19-09-2026
- Why should I check? If you stoop to such a level with intact intellect you need a bloody good reason. Even Walter White didn’t have good enough reasons for selling out. Comparing and equating someone who uses their body to reach the peak of athleticism with someone who (with a lot of photographic work) shows off their body in order to make easy money? Sorry, you may have good intentions but that’s really warped. Next you’ll be telling women (and girls) they’re lucky they can earn money (and far more than men , for once) this way because there’s a demand, either real or supposed, from a mainly male audience.Mistermaumau19-09-2026
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