The 2026 season is coming closer and closer and lots of riders remain without a contract for the 2026 season. Some do, but are not publicly revealed by their teams. But amongst those who aren’t known by the public to have a sitting contract for the upcoming year are the likes of Biniam Girmay, Richard Carapaz, Chris Froome, Derek Gee and Michal Kwiatkowski.

In the World Tour there are different situations developing. The Intermarché – Wanty riders are included in the 79-rider list, and it is still not certain at this point in time which riders will make it into the Intermarché-Lotto merger, which will inevitably lead to a difficult situation for those who don’t find a contract. Riders like Taco van der Hoorn, Gerben Thijssen and Georg Zimmermann are included in that; so is Biniam Girmay but the Eritrean has reportedly signed with the new NSN Cycling Team and an announcement is expected for soon.

Then there is EF Education-EasyPost, reportedly having 29 riders under contract for 2026, but publicly they only have 22. The American team does not share the contract duration of all its riders for an unknown reason, and the list suggests that riders such as Richard Carapaz, Archie Ryan and Lukas Nerurkar remain without a contract – whilst this is not actually the case and the team has already gathered in Spain.

We’ve got other riders present here such as Michal Kwiatkowski who is rumoured to extend his contract with INEOS Grenadiers; Fernando Gaviria who should join Caja Rural – Seguros RGA; Torstein Traeen who should join Uno-X Mobility and Florian Sénéchal who is heading to Alpecin-Deceuninck. However simultaneously, there are high-quality riders such as Ben Swift, Esteban Chaves, Ruben Guerreiro, Jack Haig, Sam Welsford and Clément Venturini who are legitimately still looking to find a team towards the 2026 season, and face the possibility of retiring too.

derekgee

Derek Gee’s future continues to be uncertain

At ProTeam level there is the very specific case of Derek Gee, who was put in a legal battle against Israel – Premier Tech due to the termination of his contract with the team. The team is no more, and its license has been bought out, which leaves Gee in further position of confusion. He looked set to sign with INEOS Grenadiers but the former owners of the Israeli team’s legal dispute is still in the way of the Canadian. IPT also has Chris Froome on the verge of retirement after many years without results and a recent crash which left him with extensive injuries.

Riders without an public contract for 2026

Order Rider Team Age PCS Career Points 1  KWIATKOWSKI Michał INEOS Grenadiers 35 11508 2  CARAPAZ Richard EF Education – EasyPost 32 8343 3  CHAVES Esteban EF Education – EasyPost 35 6205 4  GAVIRIA Fernando Movistar Team 31 6099 5  GIRMAY Biniam Intermarché – Wanty 25 4938 6  SWIFT Ben INEOS Grenadiers 38 4871 7  PASQUALON Andrea Bahrain – Victorious 37 4332 8  HAIG Jack Bahrain – Victorious 32 4305 9  SÉNÉCHAL Florian Arkéa – B&B Hotels 32 4237 10  CARTHY Hugh EF Education – EasyPost 31 3713 11  VENTURINI Clément Arkéa – B&B Hotels 32 3246 12  GUERREIRO Ruben Movistar Team 31 3115 13  ROTA Lorenzo Intermarché – Wanty 30 2904 14  THIJSSEN Gerben Intermarché – Wanty 27 2414 15  SMITH Dion Intermarché – Wanty 32 2413 16  ZIMMERMANN Georg Intermarché – Wanty 28 1983 17  HAMILTON Lucas INEOS Grenadiers 29 1942 18  VAN DER HOORN Taco Intermarché – Wanty 31 1845 19  VERMOTE Julien Team Visma | Lease a Bike 36 1650 20  ČERNÝ Josef Soudal Quick-Step 32 1595 21  WELSFORD Sam Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe 29 1472 22  HEPBURN Michael Team Jayco AlUla 34 1457 23  PEDRERO Antonio Movistar Team 34 1285 24  MARIT Arne Intermarché – Wanty 26 1249 25  TRÆEN Torstein Bahrain – Victorious 30 1233 26  GOGL Michael Alpecin – Deceuninck 32 1149 27  CEPEDA Jefferson Alexander EF Education – EasyPost 27 1034 28  COMBAUD Romain Team Picnic PostNL 34 1004 29  BARRÉ Louis Intermarché – Wanty 25 999 30  VAN HOECKE Gijs Intermarché – Wanty 34 979 31  SHAW James EF Education – EasyPost 29 917 32  RUTSCH Jonas Intermarché – Wanty 27 859 33  EDMONDSON Alex Team Picnic PostNL 31 854 34  GOOSSENS Kobe Intermarché – Wanty 29 801 35  RYAN Archie EF Education – EasyPost 24 773 36  SCOTSON Miles Arkéa – B&B Hotels 31 772 37  RIVERA Brandon Smith INEOS Grenadiers 29 763 38  GUERNALEC Thibault Arkéa – B&B Hotels 28 748 39  FOLDAGER Anders Team Jayco AlUla 24 727 40  BUSATTO Francesco Intermarché – Wanty 23 674 41  BONNEU Kamiel Intermarché – Wanty 26 667 42  VAN TRICHT Stan Alpecin – Deceuninck 26 634 43  BRAET Vito Intermarché – Wanty 25 607 44  NERURKAR Lukas EF Education – EasyPost 22 585 45  VAN BOVEN Luca Intermarché – Wanty 25 504 46  PLOWRIGHT Jensen Alpecin – Deceuninck 25 483 47  WALLS Matthew Groupama – FDJ 27 460 48  MACIEJUK Filip Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe 26 458 49  COLLEONI Kevin Intermarché – Wanty 26 450 50  RIES Michel Arkéa – B&B Hotels 27 410 51  HEIDUK Kim INEOS Grenadiers 25 387 52  UHLIG Henri Alpecin – Deceuninck 24 376 53  LE BERRE Mathis Arkéa – B&B Hotels 24 349 54  ARTZ Huub Intermarché – Wanty 23 315 55  RAFFERTY Darren EF Education – EasyPost 22 314 56  HOLLMANN Juri Alpecin – Deceuninck 26 268 57  HUBY Antoine Soudal Quick-Step 24 265 58  BOVEN Lars Alpecin – Deceuninck 24 245 59  BERHE Welay Hagos Team Jayco AlUla 24 241 60  VAN SINTMAARTENSDIJK Roel Intermarché – Wanty 24 222 61  DE POOTER Dries Intermarché – Wanty 23 221 62  STEWART Campbell Team Jayco AlUla 27 210 63  HELLEMOSE Asbjørn Team Jayco AlUla 26 199 64  DAVY Clément Groupama – FDJ 27 196 65  PAQUOT Tom Intermarché – Wanty 26 195 66  TU Sergio Bahrain – Victorious 28 181 67  ROOTKIN-GRAY Jack EF Education – EasyPost 23 151 68  THIERRY Pierre Arkéa – B&B Hotels 22 145 69  PALZER Anton Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe 32 145 70  VAN DER LEE Jardi Christiaan EF Education – EasyPost 24 131 71  EPIS Giosuè Arkéa – B&B Hotels 23 121 72  LEIJNSE Enzo Team Picnic PostNL 24 115 73  GUERNALEC Victor Arkéa – B&B Hotels 25 113 74  LE HUITOUZE Eddy Groupama – FDJ 22 111 75  FAURE PROST Alexy Intermarché – Wanty 21 106 76  EDDY Patrick Team Picnic PostNL 23 104 77  LOZOUET Léandre Arkéa – B&B Hotels 21 93 78  KUYPERS Gerben Intermarché – Wanty 25 47 79  TODOME Yuhi EF Education – EasyPost 23 36

ProTeam riders 

Order Rider Team Age PCS Career Points 1  FROOME Chris Israel – Premier Tech 40 14659 2  SOSA Iván Ramiro Equipo Kern Pharma 28 2352 3  ABERASTURI Jon Euskaltel – Euskadi 36 2319 4  CONTI Valerio Team Solution Tech – Vini Fantini 32 1949 5  GEE Derek Israel – Premier Tech 28 1918 6  JANSEN Amund Grøndahl Uno-X Mobility 31 1560 7  TAMINIAUX Lionel Lotto 29 1402 8  TIZZA Marco Wagner Bazin WB 33 1231 9  FABBRO Matteo Team Solution Tech – Vini Fantini 30 1012 10  DE TIER Floris Wagner Bazin WB 33 1007 11  VAN ROOY Kenneth Wagner Bazin WB 32 978 12  CARBONI Giovanni Unibet Tietema Rockets 30 954 13  RAJOVIĆ Dušan Team Solution Tech – Vini Fantini 28 900 14  FORTIN Filippo Team Solution Tech – Vini Fantini 36 836 15  SCHWARZMANN Michael Israel – Premier Tech 34 789 16  BEULLENS Cedric Lotto 28 728 17  ERIKSSON Lucas Tudor Pro Cycling Team 29 689 18  WEEMAES Sasha Wagner Bazin WB 27 570 19  STOKBRO Andreas Unibet Tietema Rockets 28 568 20  TSARENKO Kyrylo Team Solution Tech – Vini Fantini 25 496 21  VAN DE PAAR Jarne Lotto 25 476 22  CURRIE Logan Lotto 24 409 23  JACKSON George Burgos Burpellet BH 25 406 24  VIVIANI Attilio Team Solution Tech – Vini Fantini 29 397 25  REYNDERS Jens Wagner Bazin WB 27 396 26  VAN POUCKE Aaron Team Flanders – Baloise 27 313 27  BABOR Daniel Caja Rural – Seguros RGA 26 286 28  BOMBOI Davide Unibet Tietema Rockets 25 266 29  BALMER Alexandre Team Solution Tech – Vini Fantini 25 246 30  ANGULO Antonio Burgos Burpellet BH 33 233 31  DE CASSAN Davide Team Polti VisitMalta 23 216 32  FERNÁNDEZ Miguel Ángel Equipo Kern Pharma 28 188 33  MEENS Johan Wagner Bazin WB 26 183 34  DE VYLDER Lindsay Team Flanders – Baloise 30 176 35  GONZÁLEZ Roberto Carlos Team Solution Tech – Vini Fantini 31 139 36  SCALCO Matteo VF Group – Bardiani CSF – Faizanè 21 134 37  GEENS Jonas Team Flanders – Baloise 26 126 38  INKELAAR Kevin Unibet Tietema Rockets 28 118 39  LÓPEZ DE ABETXUKO Andoni Euskaltel – Euskadi 26 111 40  VILLA Giacomo Wagner Bazin WB 23 98 41  SAMUDIO Carlos Team Solution Tech – Vini Fantini 28 81 42  PINAZZI Mattia VF Group – Bardiani CSF – Faizanè 24 78 43  IACCHI Alessandro Team Solution Tech – Vini Fantini 26 65 44  BONIFACE Lucas Team TotalEnergies 25 54 45  VANDEVELDE Yentl Team Flanders – Baloise 25 53 46  CLYNHENS Toon Team Flanders – Baloise 24 43 47  MATTHYS Louka Wagner Bazin WB 25 27 48  AZPARREN Enekoitz Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team 23 23 49  HUYET Baptiste Unibet Tietema Rockets 25 20 50  DELGADO David Burgos Burpellet BH 25 17 51  MEO Felix James Team Solution Tech – Vini Fantini 28 13 52  BONILLO Iker Euskaltel – Euskadi 22 11 53  GERITS Vince Team Flanders – Baloise 28 10 54  KULSET Magnus Uno-X Mobility 25 8 55  PHIPPEN Logan Team Novo Nordisk 33 0 56  PERCRULE Doriand Team Novo Nordisk 26 0 57  VAN PETEGEM Axandre Wagner Bazin WB 23 0