“Extremely frustrating”: Vuelta peloton criticised for neutralising final day circuit that “didn’t seem that bad”; UCI ‘toothcomber’ Jan-Willem Van Schip calls it quits + more on the live blog
"Riders can't unite on actual safety issues"
Stop all the clocks, cut off the live tracker, prevent the rabid ‘cyclismo’ tweeters from sharing their juicy opinions.
Grand Tour season is over, for both the men and the women and, in an unexpected turn of events it’s the men’s season that has given us the most diverse set of jersey winners.
📊👕12 jersey winners of the 2026 GrandTours:
🏆GC
🇮🇹🩷🇩🇰Vingegaard
🇫🇷💛🇸🇮Pogačar
🇪🇸❤️🇪🇸Mas💨Points
🇮🇹🟣🇫🇷Magnier
🇫🇷🟢🇩🇰Pedersen
🇪🇸🟢🇧🇪van Aert⛰️KOM
🇮🇹🔵🇮🇹Ciccone
🇫🇷🔴🇪🇨Carapaz
🇪🇸🔵🇨🇴Buitrago👶Youth
🇮🇹⚪️🇵🇹Eulálio
🇫🇷⚪️🇲🇽del Toro
🇪🇸⚪️🇬🇧Onley— Cycling Statistics 📊 (@StatsOnCycling) September 13, 2026
We also have only one rider who appeared on the podium of two Grand Tours this year, and it’s neither Jonas Vingegaard nor Tadej Pogacar, but Felix Gall. The Austrian putting together comfortably the best season of his career to date.
There aren’t the words here to aptly describe Saturday’s insane mountain stage, not least because there also weren’t the images on the television telling us what was going on, with there seemingly only being enough TV motorbikes to cover two groups on the road.
In short, the first GC attacks began with 100km remaining, the leaders were repeatedly isolated and Sepp Kuss attempted to do a Simon Yates and catapult himself up the GC whilst the favourites behind looked at one another. It worked, moving up from 11th to 5th overall, whilst Primoz Roglic repeatedly set-up attacks only to lack the punch, before Felix Gall on the final climb managed to distance both him and even Enric Mas, though not by enough to reclaim his second place overall. Oscar Onley meanwhile suffered a difficult day and dropped to sixth overall, though he held on to his white jersey of best young rider. Oh, and Mikel Landa won! A beautiful, rather emotional sight…
Then came yesterday’s stage, a Montmartre-esque final day in Granada comprising a slow ride from the suburbs before laps of a circuit with a climb up towards the Alhambra Palace. It was intended to be a firecracker involving all the main protagonists, only we then received the news that the times would be taken before the finish and that none of the race’s bigwigs needed to contest the stage.
The end result was a peloton of the favourites led round rather sedately by Movistar, whilst around 30 riders broke free to contest the stage that was won, impressively, by Tobias Halland Johannessen.
It’s becoming a trend in cycling for riders to demand neutralisations in any city centre circuit. We saw the same thing when the Giro d’Italia visited Milan in May, and we’ve now seen it two years in a row in Paris, even though the weather this year was dry.
From the sofa yesterday, it was hard to know what could justify the neutralisation. The streets were a little narrow, but road furniture was well sign-posted, the descent of the climb was long but on a wide, looping road. The weather was clear, warm, but not scorching hot.
This has all prompted much discussion as to the future of final stages, and also the use of ‘safety’ as an argument for when a peloton doesn’t want to race, and would maybe rather spend longer doing this sort of thing…
YouTuber Benji Naesen wrote the longest critique of the neutralisation:
“I’m extremely frustrated and demotivated that riders can’t unite on actual safety issues that matter but regularly use their leverage with organisers and the UCI on symbolic GC neutralisations that don’t move the needle.
“Riders are wearing helmets that only have to adhere to the most basic safety specifications.
“Unlike other sports, there’s no comprehensive health screening and prevention policy related to RED-S. Stakeholders (UCI and teams) quarreled for 2 years over data ownership of GPS tracking, indirectly stalling the implementation of these safety devices.
WorldTour races still include downhill lead-ins to mass sprint finishes despite Lappartient saying that shouldn’t be happening, multiple years ago.
“Money that was meant to be used for rider safety, was used by the UCI to fight a court case against SRAM, and the CPA seemingly decided that without internal vote on whether the riders are OK with that money being spent there.
“Extreme Weather Protocol for extreme heat is a well-designed system, but wasn’t applied on Sierra de la Pandera when the red temperature band was hit. Those are some of the many issues where riders need a united stance, and stand up for their safety, but they don’t.”
well, as far as last stages go, that could’ve been an email. either gc neutralise all final stages of grand tours going forward or don’t (aside from things like extreme weather) but let’s not randomly bring it up the day before for a circuit that really didn’t seem that bad
It will remain baffling to fans that these things are being discussed the day before the stage. If a moratorium on GC-relevant final stages in Grand Tours is the sport’s desire, put it in the UCI regulations. Or, organisers, make every last stage a TT.
— Daniel Friebe (@friebos) September 12, 2026
Food for thought. For what it’s worth, I understand the argument people make that neutralising GC can improve the viewing quality of stages. But I think they’re wrong. The people who want to make a race of it can still make a race of it, but the idea that riders have a right to opt out of keeping up with everyone else is a bit nuts, particularly on a course that didn’t seem dangerous. Otherwise, where will it all end?
They should take times with 3 laps to go in the Mens World Championships Road Race.
— Donal (@Spelt_D_o_n_a_l) September 13, 2026
Farewell Jan-Willem
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For all the words said and written about Jan-Willem van Schip in the last year or so, it’s this rather pensive pose that symbolises the Dutch track-star turned road menace’s look ahead to a chapter beyond racing. Much to the relief of UCI commissaires.
I say menace, it depends how you look at these things. There are some similarities between Van Schip’s interpretation of UCI bike regulations and the pioneering aerodynamic positions adopted by Graeme Obree.
A quick look at our archive finds we first mentioned him back in 2021 when a race commissaire allowed him to race with his modified handlebars before the UCI intervened from afar and disqualified him from the Baloise Belgium Tour.
This would be a recurring theme. Most notably last year, he was disqualified from the Tour of Holland for using an upside down seat post, although the strangely long, narrow, aero-bar-esque handlebars coupled with his helmet and mad glasses certainly added to the aesthetic and lore that surrounded him.
After that incident prompted a lot of head-scratching, the disqualifications began piling up, once in May for some ‘puppy paws’, then again the following month for stuffing a bottle down his jersey front.
Incidentally, I ended up doing a deep dive on that last disqualification and concluded that the commissaires were unaware of the rules they were enforcing, with Van Schip attempting to make the most of regulations before a ban on bottle-stuffing came in the following month. Cheeky? Perhaps. But not illegal.
His retirement at the Six Day race in Rotterdam in December brings an end to this rule-bending and closes a chapter on some old-school innovation that the bosses didn’t like. It means the 32-year-old ends his career in the discipline where he became a two-time world champion.
It’s also the discipline where he headbutted riders in the Olympic Madison final and was subsequently disqualified from world championships for swearing at race officials. Swings and roundabouts, but I suspect the overwhelming feeling among race organisers will be one of relief.
Old inner tubes are useful!
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It's a shame that the final day neutralisation has distracted from the fact that this was one of the best GTs in quite a while, with all the jerseys in play right up to the penultimate day. It's certainly ridiculous to leave the decision on neutralisation until the evening before the stage but more generally, why not? It's only really a variation on the sprint safety zone, after all, and the final stages have effectively been neutralised (when they are not time trials) for a long time with the GC teams staying in touch until the safety zone and then letting the sprinters go. It was a great finish despite, or maybe because of, the neutralisation and it was rather nice for the winner's team to be able to ride in behind the peloton so that all the fans got a good look at them and could show their appreciation of the winner. If we want the excitement of narrow climbing finishes on the last day (as opposed to the, frankly, tedium of watching the peleton power up and down the Champs eight times) then it makes sense to arrange matters so that those who want the stage win can give us some thrilling racing without being encumbered by all the GC teams being forced to crowd the front. Everyone saying "God almighty, it's disgusting they've just decided not to race" is ignoring the fact that there are many times in a GT when the majority of teams will decide not to race, when they let a breakaway go, when the sprint teams are given free rein et cetera. The only thing I would disagree with was the removal of the final points at the finish, if the green jersey had still been in play that would have been unfair on the second placed rider. However, apart from tweaking that I thought it worked well and quite possibly gave us a more exciting finish than we would've had without the neutralisation.
@mjvande@pacbell.net Mike Vandeman, is that you?! https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/biking/trial-mike-vandeman/
@No Reply I had the same problem, but it seems to be sorted now.
@No Reply I had the same problem, but it seems to be sorted now.
@JMcWatt This may well be true. Nothing drives me crazy more than cosmetic updates and facelifts that don't really bring any new value about. Maybe they do attract new customers, but also discourage existing ones. I was never a regular customer of CRC, but if I had been, I would surely have been mad seeing confusing changes. If I don't understand the website and have to re-learn the process anyway, why not switch to another shop?
It was such a small things that brought about the ruination of CRC, one decision made by the owners and management. In 2013 the decision was made to redesign the website, this change was the beginning of the end for CRC. They replaced a proven platform that had helped turn a Northern Irish bike shop into the world’s biggest online cycling retailer with a more complex system that never delivered the same growth. Sales momentum stalled, Wiggle overtook them, and within three years CRC was being bought by the rival it had once outperformed. This was very much the strategic mistake that broke the growth engine.
@Smoggysteve "I normally wouldn’t condone buying a cheap Chinese copy..." Actually, I think I'd go with the Seconda strap line here: "Beware of expensive imitations."
The survey is shite. I have got to a point where it will not let me continue because I have done everything correctly so far.
Yes, it uses the same technology that is used to prevent that behaviour by motorists...🙄
@SecretSam yeah, the same one you find in cars
1 thought on ““Extremely frustrating”: Vuelta peloton criticised for neutralising final day circuit that “didn’t seem that bad”; UCI ‘toothcomber’ Jan-Willem Van Schip calls it quits + more on the live blog”
It’s a shame that the final day neutralisation has distracted from the fact that this was one of the best GTs in quite a while, with all the jerseys in play right up to the penultimate day. It’s certainly ridiculous to leave the decision on neutralisation until the evening before the stage but more generally, why not? It’s only really a variation on the sprint safety zone, after all, and the final stages have effectively been neutralised (when they are not time trials) for a long time with the GC teams staying in touch until the safety zone and then letting the sprinters go. It was a great finish despite, or maybe because of, the neutralisation and it was rather nice for the winner’s team to be able to ride in behind the peloton so that all the fans got a good look at them and could show their appreciation of the winner. If we want the excitement of narrow climbing finishes on the last day (as opposed to the, frankly, tedium of watching the peleton power up and down the Champs eight times) then it makes sense to arrange matters so that those who want the stage win can give us some thrilling racing without being encumbered by all the GC teams being forced to crowd the front. Everyone saying “God almighty, it’s disgusting they’ve just decided not to race” is ignoring the fact that there are many times in a GT when the majority of teams will decide not to race, when they let a breakaway go, when the sprint teams are given free rein et cetera. The only thing I would disagree with was the removal of the final points at the finish, if the green jersey had still been in play that would have been unfair on the second placed rider. However, apart from tweaking that I thought it worked well and quite possibly gave us a more exciting finish than we would’ve had without the neutralisation.