The two Canadian WT race are held in Québec this Friday and this Sunday.

On Friday, it takes place in Québec (the city) :

I would say the 216 km race is for punchers-sprinters. Last year, Matthews🇦🇺 won; it is his race : he won it 3 times, has been on the podium each of the last 6 editions + 2 other times previously.

This year, the circuit was modified a bit compared to previous editions.

On Sunday, it takes place in Montréal :

https://gpcqm.ca/en/grand-prix-cycliste-montreal/

This 209 km race offers a longer climb, opening the race and adding climbers and classicmen to punchers, with still a few sprinters. Pogatchar🇸🇮 won 2 of the last 3 editions, and he will be there on Sunday (as well as in Québec on Friday).

The circuit remains the same as previous editions.

This last week restarts from the ~~gree~~browneries of Galicia and heads to Madrid in the centre of the country, through Castile-and-Leon and the Sierra near Madrid, which requires several long transfers as the stages themselves do not progress much in the right direction. The Time Trial will be held on Thrusday in Valladolid.

Standings after stage 15

General

1. J. Vingegaard 🇩🇰 Visma
2. J. Almeida 🇵🇹 UAE – 48″
3. T. Pidcock 🇬🇧 Q36.5 – 2′38″
4. J. Hindley 🇦🇺 Bora – 3′10″
5. F. Gall 🇨🇭 Décathlon – 3′30″
6. G. Pellizzari 🇮🇹 Bora – 4′21″
7. M. Ricitello 🇺🇸 Visma – 4′53″
8. S. Kuss 🇺🇸 Visma – 5′46″
9. J. Lecerf 🇧🇪 Soudal-QS – 5′49″
10. T. Træen 🇳🇴 Bahrain – 6′33″

Lecerf enters top-10 thanks to the large breakaway on stage #15, which was given some 13 free minutes by the peloton. Ciccone drops despite being in the same breakaway, as he had lost a lot on the mountain stages.

Points

1. M. Pedersen 🇩🇰 Lidl-trek – 237 pts (+117)
2. J. Vingegaard 🇩🇰 Visma – 139 pts (+39)
3. G. Ciccone 🇮🇹 Lidl-Trek – 88 pts (+27)
4. E. Vernon 🇬🇧 IPT – 111 pts (=0)
5. J. Philipsen 🇧🇪 Alpecin – 105 pts (=0)

The composition of top-5 hasn't changed, but its structure has. After two relatively sluggish stages blocks in that respect, Pedersen finally created a significant gap by going into breakaways (and those weren't easy ones!) and grabbing many Intermediate Sprints, as well as winning stage #15. Vernon, who was previously going for I.S., didn't score a single point; neither did Philipsen (who wasn't).

Mountain

1. J. Vine 🇦🇺 UAE – 61 pts (+27)
2. J. Vingegaard 🇩🇰 Visma – 39 pts (+24)
3. L. Vervaeke 🇧🇪 Soudal-QS – 32 pts (+9)
4. J. Almeida 🇵🇹 UAE – 29 pts (+25)
5. J. Ayuso 🇪🇸 UAE – 26 pts (+6)
6. M. Soler 🇪🇸 UAE – 26 pts (+26)

Quinn and Nicolau left top-5. Vine kept on accumulating points in breakaways, to keep the two GC guys at bay. Soler scored all his points during this block.

Teams (rounded)

1. UAE 🇳🇱
2. Visma – 35′
3. Bora – 1h05′
4. Décathlon – 1h07′
5. Caja Rural – 1h24′

Soudal-QS, Astana and Bahrain follow closely. First and second places seem to be anchored now. The performance of the Pro Team Caja Rural is noteworthy. The bottom of the classification is occupied by a quatuor of French and Belgian teams, 5 hours and more behind, which do worse than the weak Burgos team reduced to 4 men (among said teams, only Alpecin is voluntarily only playing sprints).

This is a 6-day .Pro race. This year, it crosses 'horizontally' from the East coast of England to Cardiff.

PCS profiles page : https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/tour-of-britain/2025/route/stage-profiles

Stage 1 is located in Suffolk in the East of England.

Stage 2 stays in Suffolk, for a loop in the inner part.

Stage 3 starts in Buckinghamshire (technically South-East of England but practically north-west of London), goes into Hertfordshire for only a couple of miles and finishes in Bedforshire (north of London) after a circuit.

Stage 4 takes place in Warwickshire (West midlands) just next to Bbirmingham.

Stage 5 loops inside Monmountshire in Wales.

Stage 6 remains in Wales, in Monmountshire and Glamorgan.

This week (starting on Tuesday after the first rest day) will probably be the harder of all stages blocks.

First we come back to the Navarese Pyrenees, but then we travel westwards again, along the Atlantic coast, or more exactly for the climbs, along the Cantabrian range. Basque Country, Cantabria, Asturias and Galicia will be visited in order.

Standings after stage 9

General

1. T. Træen 🇳🇴 Bahrain
2. J. Vingegaard 🇩🇰 Visma – 37″
3. J. Almeida 🇵🇹 UAE – 1′15″
4. T. Pidcock 🇬🇧 Q36.5 – 1′35″
5. F. Gall 🇨🇭 Décathlon – 2′14″
6. G. Ciccone 🇮🇹 Lidl-Trek – 2′42″
7. L. Fortunato 🇮🇹 Astana – 2′47″
8. M. Jorgenson 🇺🇸 Visma – 2′49″
9. J. Hindley 🇦🇺 Bora – 2′53″
10. G. Pellizzari 🇮🇹 Bora – 2′53″
11. E. Bernal 🇨🇴 Ineos – 2′57″ and then 6 others riders before 4′30″

Points

1. M. Pedersen 🇩🇰 Lidl-trek – 120 pts
2. E. Vernon 🇬🇧 IPT – 111 pts
3. J. Philipsen 🇧🇪 Alpecin – 105 pts
4. J. Vingegaard 🇩🇰 Visma – 100 pts
5. G. Ciccone 🇮🇹 Lidl-Trek – 88 pts
6. D. Gaudu 🇫🇷 FDJ – 62 pts

NB : only Ciccone and Vingegaard swapped places since we arrived in Spain, otherwise the members and order of top-6 is the same as it was.

Mountain

1. J. Vine 🇦🇺 UAE – 34 pts
2. L. Vervaeke 🇧🇪 Soudal-QS – 23 pts
3. J. Ayuso 🇪🇸 UAE – 20 pts
4. S. Quinn 🇺🇸 EF – 18 pts
5. J. Nicolau 🇪🇸 Caja Rural – 16 pts
6. J. Vingegaard 🇩🇰 Visma – 15 pts

Teams (rounded)

1. UAE 🇳🇱
2. Visma – 6′30″
3. Astana – 14′15″
4. Soudal-QS – 21′30″
5. Décathlon – 25′45″

The website is in French.

I chose to keep Grand-Prix de Plouay as the main name, as it has changed and split in many different names and it is a PITA to know what is what.

On Saturday, that's the Women WT race, that they named the “Lorient Conglomeration classic”. It doesn't go near Lorient a bit, and there is no conurbation.

https://www.pco.bzh/4-jours-cic-plouay/grand-prix-lorient-agglomeration.php (yeah, the URL bears a different name again for the race)

Mischa Bredewold 🇳🇱 is the double titleholder.

On Sunday, that's the Men WT race. It used to be the Grand-Prix de Plouay, but now the Grand-Prix de Plouay is the 1.2 race that takes place on the final circuit between 11 AM and 4 PM, before the main race arrives on the circuit. So they renamed the main race “Brittany classic”.

https://www.pco.bzh/4-jours-cic-plouay/grand-prix-bretagne-classic.php

Last year, M. Hirschi (🇨🇭 UAE) won before P. Magnier (🇫🇷 Soudal-QS) and M. Cort (🇩🇰 Uno-X). Previous winners were V. Madouas (🇫🇷 FDJ) and W. Van Aert (🇧🇪 Jumbo-Visma). Only Cort and Van Aert will be missing this year.

There is no rest day to go across France from the Alps to Catalonia. This block of stages will see the first real mountain climbs, starting with with 2 half-Andorran stages. But the block actually opens on Wednesday with a flat Team Time Trial.

Standings after stage 4

General

1. D. Gaudu 🇫🇷 FDJ
2. J. Vingegaard 🇩🇰 Visma – s.t.
3. G. Ciccone 🇮🇹 Lidl-Trek – 8″
4. E. Bernal 🇨🇴 Ineos – 14″
5. T. Pidcock and 19 other riders – 16″

Points

1. M. Pedersen 🇩🇰 Lidl-trek – 78 pts
2. E. Vernon 🇬🇧 IPT – 76 pts
3. J. Philipsen 🇧🇪 Alpecin – 75 pts
4. G. Ciccone 🇮🇹 Lidl-Trek – 67 pts
5. J. Vingegaard 🇩🇰 Visma – 65 pts
6. D. Gaudu 🇫🇷 FDJ – 62 pts

Mountain

1. J. Nicolau 🇪🇸 Caja Rural – 11 pts
2. S. Quinn 🇺🇸 EF – 9 pts
3. A. Verre 🇮🇹 Arkéa – 8 pts
4. L. Vervaeke 🇧🇪 Soudal-QS – 8 pts
5. J. Vingegaard 🇩🇰 Visma – 5 pts

Teams

1. Visma 🇳🇱
2. UAE, Astana and Soudal – 2″

(Except for Visma, I wouldn't have given those team names if I had been asked; it's a bit of a surprise.)

Vuelta a España

This year, the Vuelta starts on Saturday from Italy, where the first 4 stages will be held, the 4^th^ finishing in France. Curiously, there is no rest day between this Italian sequence and the following stages in Spain. In spite of the presence of a high-speed train connection between the 4^th^ stage finish and the 5^th^ stage location, the transfer will be by plane.

There will be 1 time bonus sprint per stage. Depending on the stage, it will either be at one Intermediate Sprint or at the top of a categorised mountain climb.

For points classification: there will be 1 Intermediate Sprint per stage, rewarded by 20 points (only the first 5 riders score points). Concerning stages victories, only the very first and last stages bring 50 points; the rest (half-half) brings either 20 or 30 points; points are always awarded to the first 15 riders.

Mountain classification (white jersey with blue dots):

• 4^th^ cat. : 2 points (2 riders)
• 3^rd^ cat. : 3 points (3 riders)
• 2^nd^ cat. : 5 points (3 riders)
• 1^st^ cat. : 10 points (5 riders)
• HC : 15 points (6 riders)
• Angliru : 20 points (6 riders)

The 5 Pro-Teams engaged are: Q36.5, Lotto, IPT, and the 2 Spanish teams Burgos and Caja Rural. Kern Pharma who won 3 stages (!) last year was not invited.

Vingegaard (🇩🇰 Visma), who has yet to win something this year, is probably the favourite for GC, with Almeida (🇵🇹 UAE) as a contender. Carapaz cancelled his participation again, after cancelling his participation on the Tour of France... Outsiders could be Tiberi (🇮🇹 Bahrein), Gall (🇨🇭 Decathlon), Ciccone (🇮🇹 Lidl-Trek), O'Connor (🇦🇺 Jayco), perhaps Gaudu (🇫🇷 FDJ) if he suddenly returns to being a pro rider.

Pedersen (🇩🇰 Lidl-trek) will go for the green jersey and stage wins. I fail to see any contender or even outsider, as there are almost no top sprinter (but Philipsen (🇧🇪 Alpecin)) or 4x4 riders (but Pidcock (🇬🇧 Q36.5) ?) on the startlist.

So, not counting a race in Himalaya, there are ~~4~~, no 5! overlapping races this week in Europe, dividing the start lists.

Tour of Poland 🇵🇱: WT, Aug 4 to 8

For the second year in a row, this tour as changed from a flat race into a hilly / medium-altitude mountain race to address criticism and safety concerns. However teams are still considering and turning it into a sprinters' race (punchers' race at best).

Official website: https://www.tourdepologne.pl/en/

PCS page: https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/tour-de-pologne/2025

Vuelta a Burgos 🇪🇸: class .Pro, Aug 5 to 9

A balanced tour (meant as a preparation for the Tour of Spain) whose winner is however determined by one or two mountain stages.

Official website (in Spanish): https://www.vueltaburgos.com/es/

PCS page: https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/vuelta-a-burgos/2025

Watchable on the website of the local Spanish TV: https://www.cyltv.es/live/La8Burgos (try after 3 PM)

Tour de l'Ain 🇫🇷: class .1, Aug 6 to 8

A 3 days mountain race.

Official website (in French): https://tourdelain.com/la-course/

PCS page: https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/tour-de-l-ain/2025

Arctic race of Norway 🇳🇴: class .Pro, Aug 7 to 10

Depending on the year, this race tales in different areas in Norway, not necessarily above the Arctic circle. This year it is between the Lofoten islands and Tromsø. The winner is usually determined by one or two punchy final climbs.

Official website: https://www.arctic-race-of-norway.com/en/

PCS page: https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/arctic-race-of-norway/2025

The first part of the Tour of Portugal 🇵🇹, class .1, Aug 6 to 17

A race for mopeds.

Official website: https://volta-portugal.com/

PCS page: https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/volta-a-portugal/2025

Last winners:

• Powless🇺🇸 before Mohoritch in 2021,
• Evenepoel🇧🇪 before Sivakov,
• Evenepoel🇧🇪 before Bilbao,
• Hirschi🇨🇭 before Alaphilippe in 2024.

Evenepoel was expected to run for a 4^th^ victory, but his presence was cancelled.

Final part:

Sunday 27: 16:10–16:25 → 19:25–19:45

NB : today, the women stage will finish one hour before the men stage starts.

The Tour is back in Paris, but for the first time, a climb up Montmartre is included in the Champs Élysées loop.

Ruling point (art. 20.b): if it is/starts raining, the times are taken on the first/subsequent passage over the finish ligne.