At least five Irish riders are in with a chance of riding Tour de l'Avenir this year despite the recent news the race will be contested by trade teams rather than national squads representing countries from all over the world.
The event, regarded as the U23 Tour de France, has often been the only chance Ireland's top U23 riders had to ride a stage race in Europe in the green of Ireland. And news national teams were losing out - though they are not entirely scrapped - was a setback for many young Irish riders.
However, 17 development trade teams have now been confirmed for the U23 edition and four of those squads have Irish riders - five in total - among their rider rosters this year.
There is also still time for NSN Development Team to confirm it is starting. It is the only World Tour-linked U23 development team with an Irish rider on its roster, Patrick Casey, not on the list of confirmed starters.
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For now, the four top tier U23 development teams with Irish riders on the books to confirm they will ride are:
- Bahrain Victorious Development Team | Seth Dunwoody
- Team Jayco AlUla | David Gaffney, Adam Rafferty
- Decathlon CMA CGM Development Team | Conor Murphy
- Lidl-Trek Future Racing | Liam O'Brien
Last year there were 27 teams in the race and that means there is still room for another 10 teams to confirm their participation in the 2026 edition. It will unfold over nine stages from August 19th to 27th.
The race organisers, A-Velo, which has assistance from the Tour de France, has reiterated some national teams will continue to ride the race. These will be announced in the spring, alongside some "continental federation" teams.
Reverting to pre-2007 character
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Tour de l'Avenir has moved towards development trade teams, at the expense of national teams, because so many World Tour and ProConti teams now have U23 feeder squads. They have, in large part, replaced national federations in developing young talent.
It means the change to the character of Tour de l'Avenir is simply a reflection of the changes that have happened organically in cycling in recent seasons, especially over the past five years.
The list of development trade teams confirmed for the 2026 edition, as well as the four listed above, is as follows:
Development Team Picnic PostNL, EF Education-Aevolo, INEOS Grenadiers Racing Academy, Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe Rookies, Soudal Quick-Step Devo Team, Tudor Pro Cycling Team U23, Visma-Lease a Bike Development, UAE Team Emirates Gen Z, XDS Astana Development Team, Groupama-FDJ United CT, Lotto-Groupe Wanty, Movistar Team Academy and Alpecin-Premier Tech Development Team.
The race was previously always contested by young riders from trade teams, meaning it is effectively now reverting to its old model with these latest changes. For example, when Nicolas Roche won a stage and led Tour de l'Avenir back in 2006, he was riding for Cofidis and not Team Ireland.
Roche's father, Stephen, also won a Tour de l'Avenir stage, in the 1981 edition. He was riding for top pro team Peugeot at the time and had already won six pro races in what was his debut season, including the overall and TT stage at Paris-Nice.
The nature of the race changed in 2007, when it became part of the UCI U23 Nations Cup. And it has been contested by national teams ever since.
With the scrapping of the U23 Nations Cup, starting this year, the race organisers have now been granted a 2.2U status for the event, meaning it remains an U23 stage race. But it will now be contested primarily by trade teams, as well as some national selections.
