Tom Pidcock's Pinarello on the verge of securing two more riders - Amongst them, a re-emerging former World Tour climber
Cycling
The transfer market is moving before the start of the 2026 Tour de France, and one of the first deals to surface directly affects Caja Rural-Seguros RGA. The Spanish team has worked well with some of its riders and brought out the best from Sebastien Berwick, but the Australian is set to depart towards Pinarello - Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team.
Journalist Daniel Benson’s report lands on the very eve of the Tour de France, a race both riders approached on the back of strong early-season form, albeit with very different outcomes when it came to Caja Rural’s final selection.
In Sebastian Berwick’s case, the Australian does make the eight-man roster chosen by Caja Rural-Seguros RGA for the Tour de France. The 26-year old was at NSN Cycling Team earlier in his career but stepped down from World Tour a few years ago.
He moved to Caja Rural in 2024 and this year he has re-emerged amongst the best. He was the winner of the Tour of Turkey and was recently also a Top5 finisher at the Tour of Slovenia - making him a viable wildcard to win a stage during the ongoing Tour.
The second rider is Jan Castellon, whose current situation is different. Despite an equally notable start to the year, he did not make the cut for the Grande Boucle. His best result cited so far was 11th overall at the highly-contested Tour Auvergne Rhône-Alpes, a performance that was not enough to secure selection.
Sebastian Berwick in the colours of Caja Rural
Read also
A tough market blow for Caja Rural
For Q36.5, backed by Pinarello, adding Berwick and Castellon is a major move in the transfer market. The team secures two of Caja Rural-Seguros RGA’s standout riders, strengthening its roster with a view to 2027.
After the signing of Chris Harper and Eddie Dunbar last winter from Jayco, the Swiss team seems to have dealt a blow to another rival team, whilst improving their own capacity in the mountains. This is part of a larger trend of transfers, in the backdrop of an increase in budget.
The deal also reads less positively for the Spanish side. Losing both riders means parting with two pillars on which Caja Rural-Seguros RGA aimed to build its sporting project for 2026–2028. There is still the entire 2026 season to race, and Berwick will tackle the Tour de France with the team, but their future already seems set.
Previously, the Swiss team has already been heavily connected with Tom Crabbe, Tommaso Dati and Pavel Bitnner - all young and versatile sprinters that will improve the team's depth across a multi-faced calendar.
Equally, the team was rumoured to have put an offer for a €13-million salary deal with Paul Seixas for upcoming years.
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.
claps 6visitors 4
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- I think that they're not really used to dealing with this type of incident in a cyclocross race, and the situation has been magnified because it was a race for a championship title. It's very unfortunate that the race had to be decided in this way.
santiagobenites07-11-2026 - Seriously why do they keep doing stupid things like this. Its one thing to relegate when the placings are minor, when the action is blatant. But when it is ambiguous, why dont they at least take advice from some higher up to avoid embarrassing themselves. This is similar to the Halland goal when his teammate was clearly offside and interfered in play and VAR gave them the goal. if you dont have evidence you cannot convict. Even for doping they have these rulesabstractengineer07-11-2026
- Why does cycling have to benefit at the expense of car driving? Almost all the riders I’ve ever encountered drive, in fact, cycling as a pro or competitive sport is hardly possible without driving.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- So all those who went to watch, including all from abroad, waled there, spent nothing? Most places hosting events of the sort manage to make it worthwhile. If it was so obviously fruitless, don’t you think by now they’d have run out of hosting candidates? Why do you think the Tour can command such high prices for departure and arrival locations? If it didn’t bring anything locally they’d have to pay to get authorisation to use cities.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- What a travesty ! That little deviation did nothing to impede Brand !frieders307-11-2026
- I also wanne beat Pogacar in the tour but it aint gonne happen. Jonas unfortunately getting dropped by del toro and seixas several times this TDF and jonas team is very weak and joinas on way down, it aint happening thats clear. its also clear it only happened cause Pogacar was hurt and had a broken wrist that time everytime both full strenght its not close we just have to be honest about it :/miguel07-11-2026
- They do this but literally let cars on courses to run over riders.mij07-11-2026
- Looking at that photo she appears to be several feet from her. I’m not sure how that impeded brands sprint.mij07-11-2026
- I hope you are wrong but I suspect you will be proved correct. It might do something for Scottish tourism - although due to logistics the route skips the most spectacular parts of Scotland. It will bring in short term money no doubt, but will cycling overall in the U,K benifit? I doubt it. Even at £2 a litre the bits love thei cars,Cyclingsbestfan07-11-2026
- Lucky to not get disqualified
leedorney07-11-2026
Loading
3 Comments