If they make the WorldTour next year, there’s work to be done at Jayco AlUla!

Did you know that Jayco AlUla has managed to win two WorldTour-level one-day races? At the beginning of the year, Swiss rider Mauro Schmid won the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race in Geelong, which is quite an achievement for an Australian team. Additionally, Michael Matthews won the Eschborn-Frankfurt race.

From March onwards, the team leader only rode one-day races, competing in the finals of races such as the Amstel Gold Race, Tour of Flanders, Milan-Sanremo, and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Other than that, it must be said that the team's performance in one-day races was relatively poor, although Alan Hatherly did win the Mountain Bike World Championships.

Then there were the tours, where Ben O'Connor had to replace Simon Yates, who went to Visma | Lease a Bike. The Aussie didn't quite manage that, although his magnificent victory in the queen stage of the Tour de France was still a pretty nice consolation prize. He also finished eleventh in that same Tour.

Other than that, Paul Double managed to save the day in the final months of the season by winning the Tour of Slovakia and the WorldTour race Tour of Guangxi in succession. The team also finished the Giro with stage wins by Luke Plapp and Chris Harper, which was more than satisfactory.

All in all, Jayco AlUla had a great season, with a few minor ups and downs. The real icing on the cake—which O'Connor did achieve the year before at Decathlon AG2R—was perhaps missing, which brings us to a final score of 6.3 for the team.

Jayco AlUla starts the coming season with a weaker selection on paper. With Dylan Groenewegen (Unibet Rose Rockets), the team's top sprinter, left, and Elmar Reinders and Max Walscheid, who are going for Lidl-Trek, will also be missed. Additionally, the team lost a significant amount of climbing power with the departures of Chris Harper, Eddie Dunbar (Q36.5), and Filippo Zana (Soudal Quick-Step).

In return, it gained experience, versatility, and attacking spirit with Andrea Vendrame, Dries De Bondt (Decathlon AG2R), Alessandro Covi (UAE Emirates-XRG), and Amaury Capiot (Arkéa - B&B Hotels), along with the youthfulness of Hamish McKenzie and Will Holmes from the U23 team. At the time of writing, the WorldTour license for next year has not yet been finalized so that further developments may be forthcoming. That will be necessary, because the team currently has only twenty riders.

Transfers in: Andrea Vendrame, Dries De Bondt (Decathlon AG2R), Alessandro Covi (UAE Emirates-XRG), Amaury Capiot (Arkéa - B&B Hotels), Hamish McKenzie and Will Holmes (Hagens Berman Jayco)

Transfers out: Dylan Groenewegen, Elmar Reinders (Unibet Rose Rockets), Max Walscheid (Lidl-Trek), Eddie Dunbar, Chris Harper (Q36.5), Alessandro de Marchi (quits) and Filippo Zana (Soudal Quick-Step)

For 2026, it will be interesting to see how Alan Hatherly develops on the road after coming from mountain biking. Last season, we already saw glimpses of talent from the South African, who may be able to show even more in his second year as a pro. Big leader Ben O'Connor will also want to get more out of 2026 than he did last season.

It will also be interesting to see how Koen Bouwman and Jelte Krijnsen perform. Neither Dutchman had a great debut season with the Aussies, but that's certainly not due to a lack of talent. Will they bounce back in 2026?