This is big picture stuff. Riders reach a good level in GC standings and in nearly every stage race in 2025 have a bad day. I am confident that O’Connor can do a decent GC in the TDF.
Some confusion about whether Plapp is riding the TDF. he denies this, however, why is he at altitude. You dont need altitude to ride the Tour of Austria. Think Groenewegen can just about win the new Danish sprint tomorrow. Finally, Schmid goes in the break in the wrong stage. Should have been in the break that Quinn won and today.
Lastlty Welsford off to Ineos. jayco were never super keen on this deal, hence there low contract offer.
That is very disappointing and sort of beats the major purpose of the Pro Velo League. It seems the stagiare role is up for grabs at Jayco, so I would give the role, to the second placegetter in the competition. Its also disappointing because I rate Ward as a rider. I wonder if Jayco are any chance to get to Tuckwell who is leading the Baby Giro. Finally, I suspect Rafferty may be joining Jayco from the development team. I base this on Jayco congratulating Brennan on their twitter account and then fellow Irishman Dunbar leaving an audio message.
Jayco must be related to Ineos who suffer the same problem with young British talent. I do believe that if a rider is in your development team then you should get first crack at their services when they join the WT. I assume Ward will cope some flack from within the Aussie cycling community because i doubt Sophie Marr will decline he replace in the women’s conti team in 2026. You may as well open up eligibility for the spot in the proVelo league to overseas riders.
A sprinter for 2025 will be an issue for Jayco. Groenewegen got a super offer from Astana which he will take. There is not much available unless you can find a hidden gem from the under 23’s.
You may have noticed the UCI released the WT calendar for 2026. The interesting thing is that Australian dates are TBC, which I believe is a possible shuffling of dates between Cadel’s and the Aussie Nationals. And of course they have to fit in the Herald Sun Tour.
This is the best possible team Jayco could select. Groenewegen, Plapp and Schmid can win a stage and O’Connor can do a good GC. Plapp is an interesting case in that he denied he was going to the TDF, and I suspect there was some arm twisting by the team. Anyway the TDF could be the making of Plapp.
I suspect Jayco will have a weakened team in 2026. They’ve been a bit slow in making decisions on riders. Groenewegen seems to be off to Astana. The team made Dunbar wait and he’s off to Tudor or Q36.5. The team has also made Engelhardt wait who has improved this year and should have won the german nationals except for inexperience. They missed out on Wright, Haig, Kooij and Welsford. They have Covi coming in who is a good signing and Drizners is likely to join.
Anyway, Bling is back on the bike. They caught his potentially serious illness early, so I imagine if the medicine is working he will be racing by August. it was a good weekend watching the Nationals which always throws up surprise results. Fancy a club team dominating the Italian Nationals where they had three in the top 10 including the winner.
Plapp put out a vlog detailing his participation in the TDF. He got 24 days notice and he has a new partner.
The way things are moving Jayco will have a pro-conti level squad in 2026. Now harper and Zana are out joining Groenewegen and Dunbar as well as missing out on a number of targets.
Its been said for years that Jayco needed Aussie riders to be leaders. WELL they have Matthews, Plapp and O, Connor as Aussie riders and yet they are still losibg riders. Lost 4 GT stage winning riders in one off season. Anyway they have plenty of budget to attack 2027. Finally, Groenewegens new team will be the shock of the season.
