CYCLING MARKET | Is UAE about to seal the deal on the winter's most unlikely transfer?

The 2025 road season has officially ended and the riders seeking to get new contracts no longer have a chance to show their worth - on the road that is, as other disciplines continue to provide opportunities. At this point in time a few teams work to secure their current riders into 2026, however a few riders are still on the market and UAE Team Emirates - XRG may be about to confirm one of the most unlikely.

The end of Arkéa - B&B Hotels meant that a lot of its riders became free agents and lots of them were quick to be picked up - although most of the main figures had already secured its future. Ewen Costiou, perhaps the biggest of the remaining names has joined Groupama-FDJ, young Norwegian Embret Svestad-Bardseng will join INEOS Grenadiers in a quite surprising move; whilst Laurens Huys and Simon Gugliemi will join French continental teams Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur and St Michel - Preference Home - Auber93 respectively.

We've had Unibet Rose Rockets change sponsor this week and also announce the signing of two climmbers whom they hope to see perform next year and provide the team with better chances of having wildcards - including the very ambitious plan of already taking part in the Tour de France. Wout Poels will be racing his final season with the Dutch team whilst Czech Tour stage winner Janis Peter is an absolute 'steal' from the ProTeam.

Soudal - Quick-Step has signed Laurenz Rex after the transfer of Edward Planckaert fell through; Israel - Premier Tech announced more names after the departure of its main sponsor, with Ryan Mullen and Pau Martí adding firepower for the newly-promoted World Tour team; Uno-X signed Anthon Charmig from Astana whilst the Kazakh team signed Marco Schrettl; Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team confirmed the promotion of French supertalent Aubin Sparfel to the World Tour team in 2027 and in the continental ranks we've had a very interesting move in Mexico's Cesar Macias who performed very well this year, moving over to Burgos Burpellet BH.

The main news of the week is perhaps the potential signing of Benoìt Cosnefroy by UAE Team Emirates - XRG. In the French team we've seen the retirement of Nans Peters whilst Victor Lafay is also undecided; Now another quality French name's career is on the limbo but there is a team that is willing to take a big risk on him and it's UAE. According to Gazzetta dello Sport's Ciro Scognamiglio, the transfer is actually a done deal with only the announcement left.

The 30-year old has spent his entire career with the French team and has won races such as the GP de Québec, Bretagne Classic and a whole host of French classics and stage-races. He has been a true king of the French calendar but is also a type of rider that is no longer able to succeed in modern cycling often, as he is a pure puncheur in a world of climbers who can now do the short efforts just as well or better. Cosnefroy is an outlier in the peloton, and a rider with 21 pro wins including the GP du Morbihan this year.

However he started the season only in early April at the Tour de Romandie due to a knee injury, won the GP du Morbihan two weeks later, and ended his season on the 1st of June. He intended on racing the Tour de Suisse but crashed and abandoned right on the first day and his knee injury resurfaced, effectively ending his season there on contract year, with 13 race days. It's a very complicated situation for the Frenchman but perhaps a miracle in disguise as he may join the likes of Tadej Pogacar and other classics specialists such as Tim Wellens and Jhonatan Narváez.

This move would come as a huge surprise but in a way fitting as a healthy Cosnefroy is still a proven winner on the smaller races, and UAE carries the habit of having an incredibly extensive calendar to provide opportunities for many of its riders, and Cosnefroy could be a rider who is able to add even more to the already shocking number of wins they've obtained this season.

Movistar waited a long time until it announced many of its agreed renewals, and in a bang featured six of its male riders straight away to form a coherent block into the 2026 season. Nairo Quintana is the biggest name as the Colombian adds another year at World Tour level, but the team also renewed its new head sprinter Orluis Aular until 2028, Nelson Oliveira, Jorge Arcas, Albert Torres, and Jefferson Alveiro Cepeda.

UAE Team Emirates - XRG has also extended the contract of Tim Wellens all the way into 2027 after this year he seemingly shown his best ever level, and continues to perform at the top despite the emergence of new generations, whilst the team secured Nordic firepower in Vegard Stake Laengen and Julius Johansen for another season.

XDS Astana Team have renewed with Max Kanter and Henok Mulubrhan; TotalEnergies with Mathieu Burgaudeau; Tudor Pro Cycling Team with Roland Thalmann, Caja Rural - Seguros RGA with Iuri Leitão whilst in the women's field SD Worx only now secured Marie Schreiber in its ranks for the future.