Oier Lazkano motivated but realistic with ambitions into cobbled classics: "We don't have a leader in our team who can compete with Pogacar, Van der Poel and Van Aert"
Cycling
Oier Lazkano is one of Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe's many signings and he will be quite ambitious into the coming spring. However, the Spaniard knows that even with a strong block it will be very hard to challenge the classics' top rider who simply look a level above the rest.
"Of course I will miss Movistar and all my friends at that team. For example, with my new team I have to be at the dinner table at 7 p.m. So early, typical for a team from the north," he jokes. "I'm very happy that I made the switch to Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe. The team has confidence in me and the same goes for me. This new chapter will offer me opportunities," the Spaniard shared with Sporza.
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Alongside the likes of Jan Tratnik, Laurence Pithie and the van Dijke twins, the Spaniard was signed to perform at his best in these races and after what he showed at Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne for example this year, he's proven to be a great contender - specially when the race features climbing, as is the case with the Tour of Flanders.
"I just really like racing in Flanders. Not because of the weather, because I don't like the rain. But because the classics guarantee spectacle. There is no fixed scenario and there are always surprises, even though we almost always ride the same course in Flanders," he explains. "I don't know why, but I prefer the Tour to Roubaix. I dream of being the first Spaniard ever to win Flanders' Finest."
"We don't have a leader in our team who can compete with Pogacar, Van der Poel and Van Aert. But we do have a very strong team across the board. We have to use that in a smart way. If I give it my all, the results with this team will come naturally. I don't want to pin a specific result on that. But of course you always want to win."
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Now with a team that pays more attention to the spring classics - the team also signed Maxim van Gils and Finn Fisher-Black as interesting contenders for the Ardennes and hilly races - Lazkano will look to add to his seven pro wins.
Jokingly, he was presented this year as the rider who would've liked to be a porn star, "but that's not true of course," he exlpains. "Before the start of the E3 Harelbeke, I was asked a stupid question and I gave a stupid answer to it. That also typifies me. I'm serious when I have to be and I also like to joke. The riders know that by now and so do the cycling followers".
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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.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
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)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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- He is boring
leedorney08-11-2026 - To Twoje przemyślenia te bla, bla :)
Dariusz08-11-2026 - Uwielbiam patrzeć, jak wyjeżdża na czoło peletonu i zaczyna się rzeź...
Dariusz08-11-2026 - Yeah, unreal.
parisbound0008-11-2026 - there needs to be space in life for pointless comments!Ketterechts08-11-2026
- That is a very lazy way of putting it but so far on this website it seems like everyone is happy to look at everything lazily, even things that annoy them intensely. All they want to do is state their feeling and position but ask most to analyse a problem or come up with solutions or improvements and you’re stunned by silence. Nobody even really knows how this all happens. It’s very simple and quick to just say the UCI did it but I bet you they didn’t, I bet you not more than 2 people were involved, more likely just 1. The UCI may be ultimately responsible but it is not their decision, this is about hierarchy, power and delegation. The fact that protest is possible also means it isn’t over and that MORE people could get involved for a thorough review which could throw up anything. It is highly likely it was a sole commissar who decided and has that power in a first round. Therein might lie the problem the UCI has to consider, is it acceptable to give so much authority to one single person when it is quite possible for them to have a natural bias or be too easily susceptible to imposed bias. Who is to say an individual in this position isn’t susceptible to collaboration with outside players with interests in the results, nations, families, teams, betting companies, etc. On the one hand we have sports where these problems have been worked on way more to reduce such problems, on the other hand we have sports with far stricter and more draconian rules not even concerning safety or obstruction that nobody really questions like false starts or stepping out of lane or zones in athletics. If cycling hastowork on itself, it would be good if protagonists (all kinds) would start doing a little more than just moaning over outcomes.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Yes, so why not make comments less pointless?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- What a race! I didn't expect Vanthourenhout to collapse like that, and Wyseure did take the fight to Nys, but there was no doubt at the end. I also wonder what Aubin Sparfel would be capable of were he to race in the elites now. In the U23 ranks he is making good work of Giel Lejeune, who himself is among the better riders in the elites, and a top 10 contender in the big races (3rd at Kleebergcross, 8th at Berencross and 5th at Heerderstrand). In the French Cup, Sparfel is significantly better than Romain Debord (8th at Koppenbergcross and 10th at the Euros) and Rémi Lelandais (12th at Koppenbergcross and 19th at the Euros).
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - There really was nothing in it. Schreiber was so much faster, and Brand was fighting to stay in the wheel in the sprint. Schreiber did move a bit, but to say she closed the door doesn't make sense because Brand couldn't enter it anyway, abd she wasn't impeded.
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
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