Froome, Carapaz, Matthews, Mohoric, Gee... - Which top riders still do not have a contract for 2026?

The 2025 season has come to an end but at this point in time, almost 200 riders from the World Tour and Pro-Team level remain without a contract for next season. Many will find a new home or renew with their current team, but with the end of October also come worrying or interesting questions - depending on the rider. We take a look at that list however which features some big names such as Richard Carapaz, Matej Mohoric and Chris Froome.

Froome of course, is unlikely to find a new contract, after having struggled through the last years of his career and recently suffering multiple fractures in a training accident. He has not officially retired, but an announcement is expected soon. Israel - Premier Tech, due to their sponsorship and problems that have derived from it over the past few months, has several riders in a tricky situation. Derek Gee, fourth at the Giro d'Italia, is still without a contract and there is no telling how the situation will unfold as he is in a legal battle with the team over the termination of his contract. The team's former Israeli national champion is also still without a contract and so is one of their head sprinters Pascal Ackermann.

But Ackermann was heavily linked to a move towards Team Jayco AlUla. But here a new problem emerges as the Australian team hasn't submitted their application towards the 2026 season and its earned UCI license, due to lack of bank guarrantees. This is most certainly the reason why the team hasn't confirmed the signing of Ackermann - who would go on to replace the departing Dylan Groenewegen - and the renewal of quality riders such as Michael Matthews, Anders Foldager, Felix Engelhardt, Davide de Pretto and more. But there are reasons to believe there are written agreements with the majority of these riders.

The other team with a particularly odd situation is Bahrain - Victorious, who still have several of its top riders with an open situation for 2026. Matej Mohoric, Vuelta a España revelation Torstein Traeen, Rainer Kepplinger, Jack Haig and Andrea Pasqualon are amongst those who on paper, could still leave the team. Even if this is unlikely, and the team is likely to announce most names all at once as staying with the team.

INEOS Grenadiers have the likes of Michal Kwiatkowski and Ben Swift amongst those who haven't signed a contract for 2026 alreeady, we've got South American veterans such as Esteban Chaves and Fernando Gaviria on the lookout... Richard Carapaz certainly has some sort of deal but surprisingly nothing has been confirmed yet for next season, which opens up some interesting possibilities.

With the cyclocross points also adding to the UCI points tally from 2027 onwards some teams could also benefit from the presence of riders such as Clément Venturini who can perform in both disciplines; and the same would apply to riders who perform either on the track or mountain biking, which this list includes more of.

Quality riders such as Florian Sénéchal, Iván Sosa, Victor Lafay, Sam Welsford, Luke Lamperti, Lukas Nerurkar, Archie Ryan, Rui Costa, Jensen Plowright, Henri Uhlig, Stefano Oldani, Matthew Walls and more are also still looking for a team.