4 Bike Races This Month That Pack Oversized Impact on 2026

Cyclocross worlds are done. The Australian summer is already fading into memory. Training camps are wrapping up, and the super-fans loitering in cafés are finding the roads are pretty quiet.

February is when cycling’s real road season begins.

From southern Spain to the Middle East and back to Belgium, the racing itch and competitive juices are shifting into overdrive in the elite men’s calendar with season debuts, big-signing rollouts, and new-kit makeovers.

Nobody’s at full boil yet. The season-defining objectives are still circled in red for April, July, and beyond.

But for me, this first wave of races is among the most interesting of the entire season.

Some pundits argue that the racing season is too long or lacks a through-line narrative. Not me. I think cycling’s sprawling, organic, and sometimes chaotic racing calendar is just fine.

I dig a good cyclocross race and the off-season trade gossip, but by February, I am jonesing for my racing fix.

And luckily, the month is packed full of quality events that will pour jet fuel on the season’s narrative lines in elite men’s racing.

And for 2026, we have plenty: Can Tadej Pogačar stay on top? Was the multi-million-euro bet on Remco Evenepoel worth it? How many more monuments can Mathieu van der Poel win? Will hard-luck Wout van Aert finally win a big one?

It all starts now.

Here are the days I have circled on the calendar for February. Not because they decide the season, but because of what they will reveal. Let’s dive in:

UAE Tour (February 16-22)

I’ve covered early iterations of this race a few times, and at first, I was not a fan. Long, hot, flat, boring, or so it seemed in its earliest editions. Don’t get me wrong. Everything in the UAE is waaaay over the top, and I did manage to find one of the best hotel bars in all the uber-rich kingdom.

To its credit, the UAE Tour has grown up nicely over the years, and now includes one of the best early-season fields, with a mix of top sprinting stars and GC names blowing out the cobwebs.

Add some wicked echelons, and this race really tells you who’s flying early.

It’s like a sprinter’s world championships, and the GC field in 2026 is one of the best of the spring, with Evenepoel and Vingegaard eyeing each other up in what could be their only matchup before the Volta a Catalunya and the Tour de France.

Add Isaac del Toro, and the UAE Tour will deliver the best GC throwdown so far in 2026.

History: Launched in 2019, the new race stitched together the Dubai and Abu Dhabi tours to create the Middle East’s first WorldTour event.

Why it matters in 2026: With three of the top 5-ranked riders in the UCI world ranking, the GC field is arguably the best of any early-season stage race. With two mountaintop finales and an individual time trial, fewer big-name sprinters are coming. Jonathan Milan should take a few wins. Without three-time winner Pogačar, UAE Emirates-XRG will be under pressure to win in front of the team’s well-funded backers.

Our pick: Evenepoel. There’s always big pressure on the top stars to perform, and even though Del Toro will be racing for sponsor honor on home roads, the 12.2km time trial in stage 2 should give Evenepoel a handful of seconds against the Mexican and Vingegaard. With the way he’s flying out of the gate in 2026, Evenepoel should have the legs to take the win.

Last winners:

2025 – Tadej Pogačar

2024 – Lennert Van Eetvelt

2023 – Remco Evenepoel

2022 – Tadej Pogačar

2021 – Tadej Pogačar

2020 – Adam Yates

2019 – Primož Roglič

Jaén Paraíso Interior (February 16)

One of my favorite new races on the calendar, Jaén Paraíso Interior is Spain’s answer to the white roads of Italy.

Swap out the green hills of Tuscany for the backdrop of one of the world’s largest olive-growing regions, and you’ve got one hell of a race.

Some big names have already won here since its debut in 2022, and it’s quickly emerging as one of the most important early-season gut-checks on the calendar.

Heavy winter rains could impact the route this month, especially on some of the clay-like soils that turn to muck in the wet.

With a gigantic bronze olive as one of cycling’s wackiest trophies, what’s not to love?

History: Created as Spain’s counter to Strade Bianche in 2022, the race is contested on gravel sectors across the UNESCO-recognized “mar de olivos” olive groves.

Why it matters in 2026: The race will be missing a big name like Pogačar or Van Aert, but the race is drawing a solid field to consolidate its spot as a February must-see.

Our pick: When there’s dirt, it’s hard to bet against Tom Pidcock. He’ll be making his season debut in year two of Project Pidcock, coming off an altitude training camp in Chile. Pidders for the win.

Last winners:

2025 – Michał Kwiatkowski

2024 – Oier Lazkano

2023 – Tadej Pogačar

2022 – Alexey Lutsenko

Volta ao Algarve (February 18-22)

I always tell friends, if you want to get close to the pros, don’t go to the Tour de France. OK, no one is going to pass up on the chance of going to the Super Bowl of cycling.

But if you really want to press the flesh with the pros, head to races like the five-stage Volta ao Algarve.

There is only a smattering of fans hanging around each stage, and it’s easy to get those selfies and autographs.

The green hills of the Algarve serve up some of the best riding terrain in all of southern Europe.

And the five stages always deliver solid racing with a few big names adding it in their program.

History: Dating back to 1960, the race was a largely Portuguese affair until race organizers started to draw top teams about 25 years ago.

Why it matters in 2026: Just call this the big rollout party after one of cycling’s most tumultuous transfer seasons in years. Derek Gee and Juan Ayuso debut at Lidl-Trek, Matthew Riccitello shows off his new colors at Decathlon CMA CGM, and Kévin Vauquelin at Ineos Grenadiers.

Our pick: None of the “Big 4” are here, but this should be a pretty good race between Almeida, Ayuso, Richard Carapaz, Florian Lipowitz, and Riccitello. With his TT chops, it’s hard to bet against Almeida for the win just ahead of Lipowitz.

Last 10 winners:

2025 – Jonas Vingegaard

2024 – Remco Evenepoel

2023 – Dani Martínez

2022 – Remco Evenepoel

2021 – João Rodrigues

2020 – Remco Evenepoel

2019 – Tadej Pogačar

2018 – Michał Kwiatkowski

2017 – Primož Roglič

2016 – Geraint Thomas

Omloop Nieuwsblad (February 28)

For die-hard cycling fans, this is when the real racing season truly begins.

It’s always Het Volk to me, and despite the name change to the region’s leading newspaper Omloop Nieuwsblad (they’ve even taken out “Het” in the official name for 2026), the one-day classic of mud and muck is old-school, smash-mouth classics racing.

It typically delivers hard-man racing conditions, with cold, rain, wind, and nasty cobbles to keep things brutally Belgian.

With the big classics just weeks away, Omloop really gets things going. Some course tweaks for 2026 will spice things up even more.

Somewhat surprisingly, a big win at Omloop doesn’t necessarily provide a hint of who will shine during Flanders Week. Of course, it’s not even close to monument distance, and the big guns are just starting to rev up their engines.

But this one is definitely circled on my calendar as must-see TV.

History: Founded in 1945 as Omloop van Vlaanderen, the race was launched by Flemish daily Het Volk as a direct counter to the Tour of Flanders. After Het Volk merged with Het Nieuwsblad in 2009, the race was rebranded as Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and has been run by Flanders Classics since 2010.

Why it matters in 2026: Fingers crossed, but it looks like Wout Van Aert will be able to race. Despite his ankle injury that kept him out of the cyclocross worlds, progress is encouraging. Even if he’s not at top race speed yet, putting in some race-speed kilometers will bode well for the spring classics.

Our pick: This will be a big hit-out for new kids like Arnaud De Lie, Paul Magnier, and Matthew Brennan. There’s a sliver of hope that Mathieu van der Poel will be at the start line. If he’s there, all other bets are off.

Last 10 winners:

2025 – Søren Wærenskjold

2024 – Jan Tratnik

2023 – Dylan van Baarle

2022 – Wout van Aert

2021 – Davide Ballerini

2020 – Jasper Stuyven

2019 – Zdeněk Štybar

2018 – Michael Valgren

2017 – Greg Van Avermaet

2016 – Greg Van Avermaet