"I'd like to win a stage at the Tour de France": After 2024 heartbreak, Jayco AlUla rider looks for Tour revenge
Cycling
Still with no luck, the Swiss cycling is looking for a successor of Fabian Cancellara's cycling throne. While Stefan Küng came close to repeat his heroic feats, on his best days he still fell short of making the final step. Thus the baton is slowly being passed down to Mauro Schmid. The Jayco AlUla rider will soon turn 26, but it's evident that the double Swiss champion still has a lot of room for growth.
That Schmid would go on to defend his road title from 2024, was not a massive surprise. But not many predictors would place the Jayco AlUla rider above the likes of Küng against the clock. And ultimately, he indeed didn't beat the six-time Swiss time trial champion as the 31-year-old suffered an injury in the run-up to the race and did not start. But beating Stefan Bissegger, another world-class timetrialist, by one second was still an upset.
And it goes that Schmid enjoys the privilege to carry the Helvetic cross on his jersey throughout the whole season. "I have to say it's nice to be easily recognizable at the races," Schmid tells Bici.pro. "Winning the jersey once is already special, but repeating it the following year is something fantastic, and I can't wait to wear it again, at least for the first part of 2026."
"The time trial was a bit of a surprise for me too, but I was well prepared and arrived that day in the best condition. Moreover, being national champion in time trials has a certain prestige in our country: just think of what Küng and Cancellara have achieved over the last 25 years. The standard is always high, and it's nice to have this honor."
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Future of Swiss cycling
Of course, riders with the qualities of Fabian Cancellara don't come around in every generation. After the retirement of Spartacus, the Swiss cyclists were therefore a bit more in the background. In the meantimes, mountain biking came into the spotlight thanks to the excellent Nino Schurter. But the future of road cycling looks bright again for Switzerland, Schmid reckons.
"We've always had excellent talent, even in recent years, even though he's been spoken highly of. It's obvious that after someone like Cancellara, it's not easy to take over. For a few years, the level, especially on the road, hasn't been excellent, and Swiss riders' victories in road races have been fewer than expected."
"Many of my generation, in fact, have turned more to mountain biking, and road cycling has lost some of its popularity. Now, however, interesting young riders are emerging, and having two well-structured Swiss teams among the pros gives them the opportunity to mature without rushing and with more peace of mind."
The fruit of work is already beginning to take shape with the supertalent Jan Christen racing at UAE Team Emirates - XRG, revelation Jan Huber finishing 2nd at the under-23 World Championships and more interesting names coming through the youth ranks.
Jan Christen (left) has been making strides ever since his professional debut in 2023
"Something is already moving. It still needs some time, even though the current generation is already quite good, but in a few years we'll see the results. I'm convinced that, thanks also to the long-term projects of the two Swiss teams, our entire movement will benefit."
Revenge Tour
As for Schmid's nearest future, the man who will soon turn 26 should open his 2026 campaign at the Tour Down Under with Classics as the big goal of his spring. Afterwards, either Giro d'Italia or Tour de France could be on his schedule - that's yet to be decided.
"The calendar could be similar to the 2024 one, apart from a few small changes in February and March. As for the Grand Tours, I see myself more at the Tour, although I would love to come to the Giro. The only thing is that it's difficult to do well in the Ardennes and then be ready for three intense weeks in May."
Only Jonas Abrahamsen (left) stood between Mauro Schmid and his first Tour de France stage victory
Schmid already knows how it feels to win a Grand Tour stage from the 2021 Giro. In fact, it was the result that really opened up a path to the professional world for Schmid. But since then, he's yet to add another despite three close calls at Vuelta '24 and Tour '25. In particular the Tour defeat by the hand of Jonas Abrahamsen in a one-on-one sprint at the end of stage 11 in Toulouse was painful.
But regardless, Schmid doesn't give up on his dream: "I'd like to win a stage at the Tour de France. I'll definitely try again, but first I'll treat myself to a few days on the beaches of Bali to recharge my batteries."
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- lol yeahmij08-11-2026
- I know, their headlines can be so misleading. Pidcock had a great season with 5 wins. and some solid 2nds. no reason to take away from that with a fake headline.mij08-11-2026
- You can clearly see the the posture change from slightly sitting to again out of the saddle while changing of gears in the video of the sprintabstractengineer08-11-2026
- He has already beaten Pogi twice in the TDF. the achievement is over. He cannot beat Pogi now and he only has a few years left at the top. Win Giro and compete in the TDF, maximise palmares.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just looked again at the photo. Yeah I stand by that. If MS had fallen over in Brands direction I don’t even think she would have hit her. You must be a UCI race commissioner. I’ll be sure to check my sock height should I ever see you on a ride. Looks like everyone else on here sees what I see.mij08-11-2026
- I said looking at the photo it doesn’t appear she deviated. Chill out, not stating my word is the final judgement. Just commenting that based on the photo I don’t see it. And BTW the Dutch coach even said she didn’t impede her.mij08-11-2026
- Blah Blah Blah !frieders308-11-2026
- MS said she was changing gears so that caused her slight deviation. Nothing was intentional.frieders308-11-2026
- How can you use a photo post incident to judge the incident itself (which is not hard to find if you’re prepared to invest the same amount of time in searching as writing that comment? It’s harsh but technically right even though this or worse is not always sanctioned in every race. The two things that went against MS (who unfortunately for her would still have won without making her mistake) are that it was not a bunch sprint where there could have been an overlooked incident or mitigating circumstances explaining a deviation. Everything was focused on just those 2, Schreiber was riding beautifully balanced which made her sudden deviation look unnatural stroke as if it could have been in some part intentional whilst she was slowly drifting ever closer towards the barrier to a point that would have reached obstruction level. In her defence, it might have been the realisation she was heading towards that that made her react suddenly and caused the deviation involuntarily. In any case, congratulations to her for the ride of her life, in people’s minds she will be credited for it.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Good boy Obviously doesn’t need that much help dealing with pressure, as some have suggested. Wiser (and humbler) than many far further along their careers. About offering him the moon, recently someone came up with an explanation of the downfall of a football great (either referring to Maradona or Portuguese Ronaldo) saying it was kind of normal after coming back from the moon, except that others, including some who actually did go to the moon like Armstrong (Neil in case anyone is too switched off to realise) didn’t go through any of the same motions after coming back. A lot of how you deal with situations has less to do with the situation than with your character.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
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