Mads Pedersen is Latest Pro Cyclist to Sign ‘Forever Contract’: What’s Driving the Peloton’s Career-Long Deals
Cycling’s latest craze? Lifetime contracts. Pedersen joins Wout van Aert and Marianne Vos in the peloton's newest elite club.
Andrew Hood, aka “EuroHoody,” is European editor for Velo. Since joining the title in 2002, he’s been chasing bike races all over the world. He’s covered dozens of editions of the spring classics and the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia, and Vuelta a España, as well as numerous world championships in road, track, and mountain biking. He’s also covered six Olympic Games and reported on bike races across six continents. Beyond the Outside cycling network, his work has appeared in The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, Outside, SKI, Traveler Magazine, Washington Post, Dallas Morning News, and Denver Post. He’s a voting member of the Velo d’Or prize committee, and he’s appeared on CNN, NBC, NPR, and BBC. Chances are, if there’s a bike race, EuroHoody’s been to it, or will be going soon.
Cycling’s latest craze? Lifetime contracts. Pedersen joins Wout van Aert and Marianne Vos in the peloton's newest elite club.
Rohan Dennis given suspended sentence and driving ban after fatal incident involving wife Melissa Hoskins in December 2023.
All the latest updates, results, and breaking news from the year's first grand tour.
Tour de Hoody: Roglič hits new milestone, Vollering reclaims GC throne, Pedersen sprints into record books, plus yellow cards, goats, and chaos in Albania.
Pedersen and Lidl-Trek leave Albania flying high, Van Aert and Visma-Lease a Bike return to Italy searching for Giro salvation.
The new mark bests her previous hour record set in October 2023 when she became the first woman to breach the mythical 50-kilometer barrier.
All the latest updates, breaking news and results from the year's first grand tour.
Watch the 2025 Giro d’Italia live in the United States, Canada, and beyond on MAX, Eurosport, Discovery+ and more.
Tour de Hoody: How the Giro d'Italia could be the most exciting race of the season without Tadej Pogačar to obliterate the field.
Under the name 'super_bock,' a cycling fan is lighting up social media with a string of hilarious and delirious AI-generated reels.
Del Toro, Gee, McNulty headline a 7-rider North American contingent chasing pink, stage wins, and glory at the Giro d'Italia.
La Vuelta Femenina Stage 3: Echelons, tension, crashes, and a big sprint win.
Visma-Lease a Bike delivers Marianne Vos to the line for a sprint finish in a chaotic, crash-marred finale, Letizia Paternoster punches into race lead.
Sofia Gómez Villafañe and Mads Würtz Schmidt win the Traka 200 with decisive late-race attacks.
The 2025 Vuelta Femenina could be a blockbuster, with reigning champ Demi Vollering facing off against a resurgent Pauline Ferrand-Prévot.
The Dane dropped the hammer with more than 100km to go to win the men's edition, Migoń attacks late to make it two in a row in Europe's biggest gravel race.
The Traka 360 is underway and you can watch it live and follow the live tracker.
World champion reveals knee injury: ‘Sometimes it is hard to hear everything people are saying without having any clue what’s happening in our lives.’
Riders refuse race in downpour at the Tour of Turkey, while Geraint Thomas left gobsmacked by Tadej Pogačar at Liège-Bastogne-Liège: 'He's at another level.'
Europe's biggest gravel event takes over Girona as The Traka 2025 welcomes 4,500 riders across four brutal races.
British para-cyclist Tom Staniford chose to help others in what was his last ride before the excruciating decision to have a double leg amputation.
Paul Manning brings gold-medal pedigree both as a racer and a coach as he takes over for the retiring Gary Sutton as USA Cycling already begins building for the 2028 Olympic Games.
Analysis: WorldTour relegation/promotion tightens up as the action shifts into the points-rich grand tours. For teams on the bubble, every sprint is now a race for survival.
Evenepoel hits back after a journalist suggests his wife and her family might be affecting his performances: 'That is complete nonsense.'
The Dutch superstar revealed her menstrual cycle held her back from racing at full strength: 'I am a woman, sometimes you suffer with your hormones.'
Video: A rogue spectator disrupted Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes by briefly riding alongside the race leaders, the latest in a growing problem with fan behavior.
Remco Evenepoel fades to 59th at Liège-Bastogne-Liège after under-cooked star becomes undone: 'I haven't trained much, and that showed today.'
Pidcock leaves the Ardennes empty-handed and will reload for the Giro d'Italia: 'Quite disappointed about that actually.'
Brutal weather at Flèche Wallonne served as a stark reminder that cold, rain, and cycling's outdoor arena can upturn any marginal gain in an instant: 'I was wearing too much, or too little.'
After crashing out of Paris-Nice with a concussion, Vingegaard says he's fully recovered and focused on a Tadej Pogačar rematch: 'Leaving nothing to chance.'
Uno-X Mobility is pushing special-edition, one-off looks to new levels with a 7-Eleven-inspired kit and a special-edition Ridley that also pay homage to Eddy Merckx.
Vollering looked to be in the driver's seat only to have Pieterse bound past her for the victory: 'It was wait, wait, wait, and then attack.'
Coming off second places at Paris-Roubaix and Amstel Gold Race, an unforgiving Pogačar reminded everyone he's still king of the hill.
Life in the bike lane: Few places are as bike-friendly as Belgium, especially when you're on a city bike exploring pathways, cafés, beer halls, and cycling museums.
Powless began his pro career in 2018 thinking he would become a GC rider, then one brutal day across the cobblestones of northern France upended everything.
Tour de Hoody: Is winning the only thing that matters in professional cycling? Probably not, but it's usually the only thing that anyone remembers.
Pogačar takes another run at one of cycling's milestones with the 'Ardennes Treble.' With the Cauberg slotted in as the final climb at Amstel Gold, who can stop him?
Van Aert and Evenepoel go to the line in thrilling finale at Brabantse Pijl in comeback victory for the double Olympic champion: 'Incredible to open season with a win.'
Elisa Longo Borghini returns with a fury with a searing late-race attack to win Brabantse Pijl to fend off late chase: 'I felt very good.'
Evenepoel reveals nerve damage in the same shoulder he injured at Itzulia last year will require heavy taping: 'I'm for sure behind my top shape.'
Fan who struck Van der Poel with water bottle during Paris-Roubaix begs forgiveness: 'I'm glad he didn't crash. I've been really ashamed.'
Q&A with longtime coach Kurt Bogaerts on Pidcock's unbridled ambition, Giro plans, and the Ardennes rematch with Remco and Pogi.
Flamboyant double Olympic champion reveals he hit rock bottom after being 'doored' in December: 'I doubted a lot of my future.'
Watch: Check out new videos of the Pogačar crash and of a mechanic taking out a former Paris-Roubaix runner-up.
Tour de Hoody: Paris-Roubaix weekend saw records fall, yellow cards doled out, fines imposed, brutal crashes, flying highs, and riders missing time cuts.
Tadej Pogačar overcooked a corner, crashed and lost Van der Poel's wheel: 'If it wasn't for that mistake it would have been the two of us on the velodrome.'
Nils Politt says Pogačar's horsepower will translate well to the pavé: 'If you can attack like this on Kwaremont, then you can also do it in Roubaix.'
With a few key names missing, SD Worx-Protime starts as the five-star favorites: 'Everything has to be right to win.'
Pogačar opts for the Colnago V4Rs for cycling’s toughest day with a near-identical setup he used to win Tour of Flanders, except for one major tweak.
Van Aert finally gets lucky, Luke Lamperti tapped for Paris-Roubaix debut, dust bowl expected for women's race Saturday: 'It's going to be a very fast race.'
The Pogačar Express is thundering toward Paris-Roubaix but what if the best thing for the sport is that he doesn’t win Sunday?
UAE to unleash classics beasts Politt, Vermeersch, Wellens to support world champion Tadej Pogačar in Sunday's Paris-Roubaix debut: 'We have a very strong team.'
Explainer: How much do the winners earn for one day of racing in hell in cycling's most painful and grueling race at Paris-Roubaix?
Posh crowd in Monaco jeer Pogačar after tardiness to tennis match, Allan Peiper says Paris-Roubaix the ultimate challenge for former pupil: 'Better suited for Van der Poel.'
Imagine your first WorldTour race being the Tour of Flanders: That just happened to American rookie pro cyclist Colby Simmons.
Stat attack: Tadej Pogačar smashed Strava KOMs, claimed his eighth monument and won in the rainbow jersey to join elite company, all in the fastest Tour of Flanders ever recorded.
The American star wanted more from the spring classics and will not race again until the Critérium du Dauphiné: 'It wasn’t the best classics season for me.'
After last year’s mud-splattered carnage, some began asking if the Koppenberg was too much. At least this year the iconic climb will be tackled in dry conditions.
Two cyclists die after collapsing, a third is resuscitated, another air-lifted in popular Tour of Flanders amateur event that draws nearly 15,000 cyclists.
Video: Paced into the climb at 60kph by UAE teammates, Pogačar exploded up Oude Kwaremont like it was race day: 'I need to try to open a gap.'
Pogačar rails against social media and says he's not racing for revenge or to carve his legacy by targeting Paris-Roubaix: 'When I retire, I will not have any regrets.'
Tour de Hoody: MVDP and Pogi are neck-and-neck in the race for monument glory, so who is the best one-day racer?
The world champion is ready to rumble in mega rematch with Van der Poel: 'It will not be easy to beat him. I need to find a moment to open a gap.'
'I didn't think I could win until the final 100 meters': Out-numbered Powless outmaneuvers Visma-Lease a Bike in tactical nightmare.
Van Aert reveals that he didn't want his teammates to attack so they could deliver him to the line: 'I was afraid to be behind a teammate who attacked.'
Another yellow card, Pogačar seeing top support in Flanders return, Jorgenson slaps back at critics: 'Wout is one of the best in the world.'
Tour de Hoody: The spring classics are being rewired by space-age high tech, big data, carbo-loading, and fearless new tactics. Here's what's driving the monument makeover.
WATCH: Teams fish out bikes from ditch during Gent-Wevelgem Women, Wiebes hits 100 wins, Jakobsen takes a break for surgery.
Q36.5 and Tom Pidcock land Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España bids as UCI expands grand tour fields to 23 squads for 2025 to give teams and races more flexibility.
Lidl-Trek star celebrates Gent-Wevelgem to emerge as top threat for MVDP and Pogačar at Flanders and Roubaix: 'We believe we can win.'
Jorgenson backs Van Aert for Flanders revival: 'I have confidence he will be ready for De Ronde.'
Van der Poel outmuscles Pedersen and Ganna in chaotic E3 Saxo Classic that included 'unsporty' tactics and idiot fan behavior: 'We solved it quite well.'
Lidl-Trek superstar zeroes in on breakout monument victory by embracing old and new: 'This is the perfect setup.'
Tadej Pogačar's decision to race cycling's most notorious race at Paris-Roubaix has triggered a debate that it might be too perilous for a Tour de France winner: 'Any race can be dangerous.'
Tour de Hoody: Flanders Week opens without cycling's superstar, but it's a chance to revisit the Mathieu van der Poel-Wout van Aert rivalry.
WATCH: A video provides a rare, behind-the-scenes look at how the world No. 1 team plotted the race-breaking attack on the Cipressa.
World champion will not start E3 and Gent-Wevelgem and will take on cycling's hardest one-day race for the first time.
Once kings of the cobbles, will Soudal Quick-Step pack a bite again in the northern classics? ‘The Wolfpack mentality still lives.'
GC favorites Primož Roglič and Juan Ayuso saved the day in cold, miserable conditions to open the week-long Volta a Catalunya, Kuss loses nearly 3 minutes.
The UCI will revive the World Cup format going into the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, where track cycling remains a major medal event.