The Sea Otter Classic 2026 has officially kicked off, and with it, we have a steady flood of new product launches. On Thursday, two brands chose the annual California cycling expo and race to reveal their new gravel bikes – and though both are trying to answer the same question about what a modern carbon gravel bike should look like in 2026, they have arrived at different conclusions.

One is a road brand's push into the gravel segment with a bit of a do-it-all bike, the other an update to a long-distance platform that has been around for many years. Yet they also share some specs. 

Both run a traditional round 27.2 mm seatpost, keeping aftermarket options wide open. Both are suspension-ready. Both have down tube storage. Both offer 1x and 2x drivetrain compatibility and accept tyres 50 mm or wider. Both are pitched at riders who want a single bike that can race, or simply ride for hours on end. We took a look at them both.

When Josh wrote from the Taipei Cycle Show just last month that the annual Sea Otter Classic would be where the 32" floodgates really opened, he wasn't wrong. At the opening day of the Californian cycling expo and LifeTime Grand Prix race, Teravail announced two tyres and a carbon rim in the new 32" wheel size, mainly aimed at gravel riders – and they are only one of the many brands introducing new 32" products at this year's expo. For the show, these were put on the new Salsa Fargo 32" steel and titanium models. And, for perhaps the first time, there is a small 32" bike.

2026 Taipei Cycle Show – 32″ tires, forks, wheels, and bikes are here

The floodgates to the new wheel size are about to open, but it’s still too soon to know exactly when.

Escape CollectiveJosh Weinberg

Now, we're starting to see 32" becoming more mainstream, making its way into larger manufacturers' product line-ups. However, there is still no clear consensus on the best way to create a 32" bike, rim or tyre, or whether its best use case is in gravel or mountain biking.

As some of the Salsa staff jokingly noted to Escape Collective at their Sea Otter stand about these being some of the worst 32" bikes we're ever going to make – alluding to the early days of development of the new larger wheel-size platforms – it's clear from the number of launches that many brands think that the only way to make the 32" stuff better is to get it out into the world.

The Camrock and Cannonball tyres

Imagine you're 26 years old, racing on the Club Loving Potatoes team in the Netherlands, dreaming of someday becoming a professional cyclist, but unable to really crack your potential. Your strength is climbing, but your team mostly does flat, lower-level races. A few years later, you've signed with a Continental team, GT Krush Tunap, and finally the opportunities trickle in, but you're still not really where you want to be, so after a year or so, you look online for a new coach, find a guy who seems like he knows what he's doing, and send him a message.

At the time, you had no idea that he was a coach for Visma-Lease a Bike, one of the best teams in the women's peloton. Within a few months, you've signed a WorldTour contract, a few months after that, you're on the start line of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, in the same jersey as Marianne Vos.

And to think, only a year before you'd considered quitting.

That is the story of how Femke de Vries found herself on Visma-Lease a Bike in 2024, in the biggest bike race in the world, alongside some of the very best in the sport. The Dutch team has, over the past couple of years, made a habit of picking up unknown riders, even from other sports, and making them into champions. De Vries is one of those in whom the team saw potential.

In February, De Vries finished third overall at the UAE Tour. It was the first time she was really able to ride for herself. The result came from months of preparation and dedication. She might not have climbed to the top step of the podium, but the result hints at what the 32-year-old is capable of as Visma-Lease a Bike embraces its position as a top women's team. De Vries' success stands out all the more considering that she was a Continental rider not all that long ago.

"It's a bit crazy, also for me to think back on that time and now, the difference is so big," De Vries told Escape Collective.

When asked about her path into the professional ranks, how she got to be one of Pauline Ferrand-Prévot's main helpers in the Tour de France in 2025, she laughed.

"Where to start?" she said.

Australia’s sole WorldTour team, Jayco-AlUla and its women's Liv-AlUla-Jayco counterpart, is actively looking for new investment and partners to replace the money provided by its founder Gerry Ryan who has admitted that he is likely to step back from the sport in 18 months time.

Speaking to the Stanley Street Social podcast, Ryan said that the 2027 season was probably going to be his last year involved in professional cycling, 16 years after he created the team in 2012.

The Union Cycliste Internationale has long held an ambition to see the sport of cycling globalise in all its disciplines. It is the role of the UCI’s World Cycling Centre – opened in 2002 – to make that goal come to fruition. As the latest step, WCC is primed to launch its ‘Global 2028’ initiative, which it hopes will be a catalyst to developing the next generation of stars from Africa, Asia and Central and South America. 

The programme builds upon a previous project known as ‘Africa 2025,’ which sought to invest in the development of young African riders ahead of the continent’s first World Championships in Kigali last year. Global 2028, which is the project's working title, “extends this vision to a global scale,” according to a UCI statement released earlier this year.

After a period of talent identification, the WCC will hold a series of training camps in Brittany, northern France, where six women and six men from around the world will be coached in a high-performance environment and take part in the competitive and varied Breton racing scene. Each camp is set to last for three months, with the first running from May to July and another beginning shortly after with a new set of riders and ending ahead of the Road World Championships in Montreal, September 20-27. Further camps will be organised over the following two years building up to the conclusion of the programme at the 2028 Road World Championships in Abu Dhabi, UAE. 

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Escape CollectiveDan Challis

Riders in the programme will come from what the UCI terms “emerging nations,” which are less-represented countries in the higher levels of the sport. These nations make up around 75% of those within the UCI’s jurisdiction. The WCC has appointed a talent scout to attend Continental Championships in Africa, Asia and South America over the past six months in order to select 12 riders for the first training camp. 

Creating a pathway

“The ultimate goal is basically having them come through our programme and then move upward, move upward up the pathway,” Jacques Landry, World Cycling Centre director told Escape Collective. "[We are working to] identify athletes, develop them and put them on teams elsewhere and then we can pick up other ones afterwards.”

In early March, organisers of the women’s Tour de l’Avenir revealed that the race’s 2026 edition had been cancelled. It was a hammer blow for emerging female road riders – the only standalone stage race for U23 women on the international calendar, gone, just three years after it began.

It had seemed like the U23 women’s road scene was moving in an encouraging direction. In addition to the Tour de l’Avenir’s growth, a standalone U23 women’s road race and time trial had been added to the Road World Championships, starting with Kigali 2025. No one would have argued that the U23 women’s scene was thriving, but there were more races at that level than there had been.

So what now? What does the future hold for the U23 scene now that its flagship race is gone? What does this mean for young riders who are trying to take that daunting step from U19s to the highest levels of the sport?

Collapse of a category

When the Tour de l’Avenir Femmes’ cancellation was announced, organisers claimed several reasons for the decision: a lack of women’s U23 teams; the fact many Tour de l’Avenir Femmes riders had already been racing at WorldTour level; and the “resources required” to run the race.

Donna Rae-Szalinski is the director of pathways at AusCycling, the governing body for Australian cycling. She says she was “deeply disappointed” by the cancellation of this year’s Tour de l’Avenir Femmes.

“It was just a great opportunity for them [young Australian riders] to gauge where they are against others in their age group on an international scale,” Szalinski told Escape. “And it was just that lovely bridge. It's a very big gap from U19 to WorldTour, and it was just a lovely, lovely bridge for anybody, but specifically the U23 Australians, because we have a strong emphasis in our female cohort on trying to acquire a university degree concurrently with their actual cycling career.

“The Australian scenario is more complex than European U23s because for our U23s, you can't concurrently be a bike rider and pursue an education, because you can't go back and forth from home to races, etc. So it is always a challenge.”

Loren Rowney is an Australian former road professional, co-host of Escape’s Wheel Talk Podcast, and a rider agent with The Team Cycling agency (formerly Wasserman Cycling). She echoed Rae-Szalinski’s assessment, saying the loss of L’Avenir is particularly significant for non-European riders.

“[L’Avenir] was the one big opportunity,” she told Escape. “That could be a launch pad for so many riders, and they're up against these already well-established U23s that are racing on pro level or in a WorldTour team. So it's really disappointing.

“It's like, why do you have this standalone U23 Worlds race – which is great; it's a great platform for the riders – but there's nothing else around it. Nothing. And you just removed the one tour where these riders had the opportunity to just have a real experience within their own category? It's mindblowing.”

With the Tour de l’Avenir Femmes cancelled, only a couple races remain on the U23 women’s calendar this year: the time trial and road race at Worlds in Canada, and the same at the European Championships. By contrast, the 2026 men’s U23 calendar features 26 separate events, not including the European and World Championships.

Broken pathways

The cancellation of the Tour de l’Avenir Femmes is only part of the problem. The race's demise also highlights that there aren’t as many pathways to the pro ranks as there once were, especially when it comes to some national programs.

“If you think of the programs that Spratty [Amanda Spratt] came through, Tiff Cromwell, Carlee Taylor, Gracie Elvin, myself – none of that exists,” Rowney said of the Australian context. “So that AIS [Australian Institute of Sport] program that we had for so long was such a good pathway for Australians to get to Europe, and actually, the USA used to also have a pretty good program that did two trips, just like the Aussies. Lots of talented US riders over the past generations came through that system. It just no longer exists. They [the national bodies] put the responsibility now on the cycling teams.

“AusCycling wants Olympians, right? Because Olympians are what gets funding. So they're supporting the U19s to a degree, but they need to support the U23s as well. I think that's lacking a bit. And that was actually the opinion of one of the managers I was talking to as well. He said, ‘It's just a shame we don't have these national programs anymore. There's really a gap there.’”

Rowney believes that the American criterium scene, which she and many other riders once used as stepping stone to Europe, also isn’t what it used to be.

“I think Lauretta Hanson's generation was the last generation that could still do a really good program over there; do some racing in Europe with the American Conti team, and get seen that way,” she said. “That pathway no longer exists.”

So what pathways are still open to emerging female road racers? Performing well in one of a handful of events is one avenue.

Almost six months on since the Belgian Competition Authority blocked a proposed maximum gear ratio test at the Tour du Guangxi, the UCI has formally appealed that decision with arguments heard today at the Brussels Court of Appeal. A ruling is expected by May 20.

The case stems from a complaint by SRAM, which argued the proposed test would have had a disproportionate competitive impact on its drivetrain systems as the only manufacturer without a compliant combination, while also challenging the lack of transparency, consultation, process failures, and overall lack of evidence to support the UCI’s safety rationale.

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The level of detail in the landmark ruling is far broader than a simple gear limit rule, and the fallout could reshape the balance of power between the UCI, the industry, and teams.

Escape CollectiveRonan Mc Laughlin

At the heart of the dispute is SRAM’s one-piece cassettes featuring a 10-tooth smallest sprocket. The UCI had, effectively and for simplicity, proposed a 54x11 limit rather than relying on gear checks and roll-outs before races. But when used with a 54-tooth chainring, SRAM’s 10-tooth sprockets exceed the proposed limit. In practice, this would have forced SRAM-equipped riders to use smaller chainrings, leaving them without a directly comparable top gear to 54x11 within SRAM's existing options and placing SRAM at a competitive disadvantage.

Ultimately, the proposed trial never happened, as the UCI was forced to back down on its plans in the wake of the BCA decision. Fast forward to today’s appeal, where the UCI, SRAM and the BCA all made arguments.

It’s been a few days since Paris-Roubaix finished and I’m still picking dust and dirt off me. It was, as it always is, absolutely insane. There is no other race like it. When you arrive into Roubaix and enter the velodrome, you look around you and everyone is so exhausted. It’s genuinely mad how fucked everyone is. It doesn’t matter if you’re an average WorldTour rider or one of the best, you leave all your oxygen out on the road. Look at the interview of Mathieu van der Poel after the finish where he could barely speak. Everyone’s in the same boat: they’re fucked. It’s what makes this race so special.

I’ve got to start by congratulating Wout van Aert on his win. He really deserves it and everyone in the peloton thinks so too. It’s not like he’s been short of success – this is a guy who won a sprint, time trial and mountain stage in the same Tour de France – but it feels like he’s been trying to win Roubaix forever.

I saw a social media post that was a screenshot of the moment on the Carrefour de l’Arbre where Pogačar slipped and Van Aert almost rode into some spectators. He was millimetres from clipping the leg of a fan. I think Pogačar was very lucky not to fall, but Wout was much more in control. The caption of the post was: the moment the universe decided that Wout van Aert had had enough bad luck. It made me laugh because I can promise you that every single rider in the peloton would have experienced the same situation multiple times. We just don't have cameras on us all day!

Bike show season is upon us, and Shimano has announced a few small but worthwhile updates. 

The Japanese manufacturer has built a reputation for being rather conservative when it comes to meeting emerging trends. Until now, its gravel-focused GRX range had forced riders seeking shorter cranks or larger chainrings to turn to alternative brands. Today, Shmano partially fills that gap. And yes, it’s about damn time.

In addition to new crank choices, Shimano also announced a new 2x11 option in its CUES range for budget road and all-road bikes. 

Let’s take a quick look. 

GRX crank things 

As recently covered in a comparison review between SRAM Force XPLR E1 and  Shimano’s new GRX Di2 1x, one negative to Shimano’s offering is its incredibly limited range of crank lengths and chainring sizes. 

Review: Shimano GRX Di2 1x versus SRAM Force XPLR E1

Battle of the latest 1x electronic gravel groupsets.

Escape CollectiveDave Rome

Its upper-tier RX820 crank was previously only available in 170, 172.5, and 175 mm lengths. If you wanted a 165 mm length, you’d need to step down to the cheaper and heavier RX610 crank. And if you wanted a 160 mm crank, well, you’d be looking at more expensive options from Rotor, Praxis, Cybrei, Appleman, Easton, or similar.  

Finally, Shimano has corrected this. You can now get the RX820-level cranks in 160 and 165 mm options, in addition to the pre-existing longer lengths. 

The Ardennes Classics are about to kick off in the Netherlands and Belgium in what will be the final stanza of this year's Spring Classics. It's not here yet though, and it wouldn't feel right to leave the Cobbled Classics behind without a photo gallery commemorating the most evocative race of the year: Paris-Roubaix.

If you haven't already, be sure to check out the in-depth coverage we've already published from the 2026 Paris-Roubaix and Paris-Roubaix Femmes. When you're ready, swipe or scroll down the page for a bumper gallery from the two races, courtesy of the ever-amazing Jered & Ashley Gruber.

Men's race