Jake Germann

🐺Tuesday Howl🐺 Tuesday Howl #10: American Werewolves Rising🧵 1/ 2026 US Pro Cycling Mid-Year Review As we hit the halfway point of the calendar (not season apparently lol) — and right before the Tour de France sucks the oxygen of the news cycle for three weeks - I thought it would be a good time to take stock of the American Men's season so far. I’ve only been down the cycling rabbit hole since March of this year, so it's required me to do some extra homework. As of June 10: World Tour wins: 4. Different American winners: 10. It looks like expectations heading into this year were solid but measured for this smaller-but-talented group. Halfway through the year, I think it's been...promising? #UCI #ProCycling #TdF2026

What is your favorite meme of these 4? I know there are many more, so maybe I'll do a round 2.

🇨🇭🇩🇰 Tasty Side Dishes To Sunday's Main Course 🧑‍🍳 The cycling world will be rightfully focused on Stage 8 of the Tour Auvergne but don’t miss these two fun one-day races, that per usual, I just learned about! GP Gippingen in Switzerland (thanks @MaschBasch ) Last year American Neilson Powless @EFprocycling took a solo win here — now his young teammate Luke Lamperti lines up. Luke has done well in the classics - 2nd Bredene Koksijde, 3rd Nokere Koerse in 2025 + strong 2026 results so far. May the force be with him! Copenhagen Sprint in Denmark Flat, chaotic bunch sprint through the Danish capital. One young 🇺🇸 Colby Simmons ALSO @EFprocycling gets a shot. And maybe we finally get the pure, no-nonsense sprint battle we were all hoping for in the Giro? Big guns: Philipsen, Merlier, Meeus, Milan & Groenewegen. Full course of cycling on the menu - let's enjoy it my cycling friends! 🇺🇸🐺 #GPGippingen #CopenhagenSprint #TourAuvergne

🇮🇹Giro Next Gen 2026: 2 Americans & Future⭐️'s Special thanks to @LosBrolin as I've been made aware that @gironextgen starts tomorrow (June 14-21). I've learned this is the premier U23 stage race — 8 stages and a major launching pad for the next wave of Grand Tour contenders and WorldTour stars. For example last year's runner up 🇦🇺Luke Tuckwell is (still) in yellow at the @tourauverhalpes I’m obviously new to Next Gen racing (and racing in general in reality), but I’m curious because this pipeline clearly shapes future American and overall Tour presence in the big races. The American riders this year: - Braden Reitz @DCT_NewGen  – young climber from Ohio stepping up into pro development - Noah Streif @ef_aevolo  – strong against the clock with a solid junior background I did a little research and learned the most impressive U.S. result here belongs to Joe Dombrowski, who won the overall back in 2012 (plus multiple stages). That victory was a stepping stone in his career before he turned pro with teams like Sky and Cannondale. Non-American names that stand out to me (not because I have insider insight, just from what keeps popping up as I follow cycling): 🇮🇹Lorenzo Finn @RBH_ProCycling – recent U23 World Champ and big favorite 🇫🇷Aubin Sparfel @DCT_NewGen  – punchy and consistent 🇧🇷Henrique Bravo @soudalquickstep  – explosive Brazilian climber who’s been turning heads I'm genuinely curious who many of you are watching especially from the non American realm? Would love to hear your thoughts! 👇 #GiroNextGen #NextGenCycling #AmericanCycling #tourauvergnerhônealpes

🐺 The Test, The Statement, and The Verdict (gosh I'm so dramatic with these titles sometimes lol) The race formerly known as the Critérium du Dauphiné has apparently decided that if one name is good, three names are better. So now that we're heading into the final weekend of the Tour Auvergne Rhône Alpes, why not preview all 3⃣ remaining stages? But honestly… what a race it's been so far! (although @BenjiNaesen claims he fell asleep during stage 2) - Alex Baudin absolutely living his best life in yellow - Prince Charmig in stage 2 - Visma and Matteo Jorgenson winning the TTT - Captain America Quinn Simmons with America's 4th World Tour win of the season - on Stage 4 And then...Wout van Aert. One minute he might need a ride home in the team car, the next he's dropping everyone in a sprint lol. Put away the knives, Wout fans - I'm kidding - it was a fantastic win! Now we arrive at the final 3⃣ stages where the GC fight begins. Jorgenson. Ayuso. Del Toro. Skjelmose. Healy. Onley. Vauquelin. Wout....anyone else? One rider we can probably rule out is João Almeida, who is currently training for a Vuelta stage win? But we all know who everyone will be watching the most: Paul Seixas (did you know he's 19?🙃) I'm not a predictions expert like some of you but here's how I see the final 3 stages: Stage 6⃣: The Test Prediction: Small gaps. No decisive moves. Everyone still watching everyone else. Stage 7⃣: The Statement Prediction: Jorgenson tries to control it. Ayuso and Skjelmose have numbers. Del Toro looks for the explosive moment. But the biggest move of the weekend comes from Seixas. Stage 8⃣: The Verdict Prediction: Full GC fireworks. Duh lol. As for who wins the race? No clue! I just hope it’s a good (and safe) final 3 days! But I would LOVE to hear your thoughts on how it all shakes out! 👇 (don't be afraid, it's not a contest) 🇺🇸🐺 #TourAuvergneRhoneAlpes #CyclingTwitter #PaulSeixas #MatteoJorgenson #IsaacDelToro #JuanAyuso #WoutVanAert🐺

Wednesday Howl: Yellow Card Edition 🟨🐺 Welp… this one kind of bombed😂. I'm not even close to the 48-entry mark (8 lol). But - I’m not pulling the plug quite yet since we’re still ~24 hours from kickoff. Maybe we'll get a Quinn Simmons like sprint to the line? Speaking of which, where are all my American friends on this at least?! 👉 Full rules + how to play are in the original post. If you want in, just drop your picks here: x.com/CyclingWerewol… Hey @LeCyclismebelge @SOreillette @RuedaPedal @BenjiNaesen @Koersklap tagging a few of you out of despair lol (and sorry) Deadline: June 11, 2 PM CDT. 🇺🇸🐺

🐺Tuesday Howl🐺 Tuesday Howl #8: Cycling x World Cup Crossover Well, here goes nothing. Hoping this goes over better than Wout did in the TTT at the Dauphine today...😬 With the US hosting the 2026 World Cup and the Tour de France starting up soon (25 days!), I want to try something fun: a low-commitment prediction contest. If we hit at least 48 entries (the number of teams in the 2026 World Cup), the winner will get their choice of ONE of these two excellent books (your choice): - The Cycling Iceberg by @NoahvPutten - The Ball Is Round: A Global History of Soccer by @Davidsgoldblatt How to Play: Reply with one World Cup team + one Tour de France cyclist (General Classification). Scoring: (lower total = better): World Cup team: Final tournament position. Finish in the Top 4 (final/3rd place game) → 1 to 4 points. 1st place = 1 pt and so on. If the team crashes out before the final 4 (doesn't matter when), it's automatic 5 pts. TDF cyclist: Final GC position. DNF = you're out (too complicated otherwise) Example 1: You pick Brazil + Paul Seixas → Brazil crashes out (5 pts) + Seixas 2nd in GC (2 pts) = 7 pts. Example 2: You pick Spain + Juan Ayuso → Spain finishes 1st (1 pt) + Ayuso 5th in GC (5 pts) = 6 pts. Tiebreakers (2): - Closest to Matteo Jorgenson final GC position (smallest difference in placing). - Score of World Cup Final (will use if Matteo DNF) - If it looks like we will still have a tie, I'll pick another tiebreaker such as final score of 3rd place game Rules: - One entry per person - Using multiple accounts will result in disqualification - Do not post the same entry repeatedly - Deadline is June 11, 2p (CDT - kickoff of first game) - Gotta be following me to be eligible I wasn't sure about the "follow" thing. I don't want this to come across as a follower grab, but it makes sense to see the updates. Not like I get paid for my 200 followers lol. I will create/post a spreadsheet with entries (your picks will also remain visible in the comments). Prize will only be awarded if we reach the 48-entry threshold (or at least get close). If we fall short, I’ll still crown a winner. So probably me and 3 other people (hi mom!) as I'm sure most of you will scroll right over this. Since I have a small audience, if you think this is fun please consider passing along to others. Comment "Team + Rider + Tie Breakers" below! Here is an example: 👇 England Remco Evenepoel Jorgenson GC: 14 World Cup Final: 3-2 🇺🇸🐺 #TourDeFrance #WorldCup2026 #ProCycling #TDF2026 #FIFAWorldCup

Stage 1 of the race formerly known as the Dauphine is in the books. A pretty quiet and straightforward day overall - especially compared to the drama in today’s Women’s Giro where Demi Vollering stormed back to take the overall win. Definitely a #WatchTheFemmes moment!👏 On the American side, a big early blow...😬Matthew Riccitello was dropped early and abandoned with what appears to be food poisoning. Hope it’s an isolated incident and the rest of the team stays healthy. Tough luck for him and @decathloncmacgm — this looked like a great chance for Riccitello and Seixas to get a good trial run ahead of the Tour. Get well soon, Matt! The 🇺🇸🐺of the day was Kevin Vermaerke — great late attack and finishes 4th on the stage! Matteo Jorgenson came home safely with the GC group, Sean Quinn just behind them, while Quinn Simmons rolled in a dozen minutes back. Looks like Simmons is positioning himself for breakaway opportunities in the days ahead. Tomorrow’s stage could definitely suit an aggressive rider like Simmons. Good chance for a break - especially with the TTT coming up in Stage 3. Or maybe it’s also a day for Wout van Aert before Visma shifts its focus to Jorgenson and the GC later in the week? Do you think it’s a real chance for the breakaway tomorrow or will the GC giants wake up and come ready to play? As always, would love to hear your thoughts although rarely does anyone do so lol 🤷‍♂️ 🇺🇸🐺 #TARA #Dauphine #WoutVanAert #QuinnSimmons #Vollering #GirodItaliaWomen

🇺🇸Double Dipping in Belgian Classics🇧🇪 Obviously the big stories right now are the Women’s Giro wrapping up and the Men’s Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (formerly the Dauphiné) kicking off with an absolutely loaded start list. I’ll dive deeper into that race with a post early tomorrow (try to contain your excitement lol). But don’t sleep on a couple of other one-day races happening June 7 with two 🇺🇸 riders each based on what I can find on provisional start lists. Dwars door de Westhoek (Women) Abigail Miller @UAETeamADQ Kaia Schmid (O’Shea Red Chili Bikes) Brussels Cycling Classic (Men) Riley Sheehan @NSNCyclingTeam Colby Simmons @EFprocycling Riley and Colby are both looking to bounce back from recent setbacks. Sheehan literally flipped into the guardrail in the final stage of the Tour de Wallonie after being in strong contention all week, while Colby is returning after a minor injury setback and aiming to regain competitive form. Rooting for strong (and safe) rides for them all! 🇺🇸🐺 #USACycling #DwarsDoorDeWesthoek #BrusselsCyclingClassic

🇫🇷 Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Preview: The Fall and Rise of Juan Ayuso? 🇪🇸 I've been watching the TV show "The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkens" lately, and a big part of the show is that potential isn't what people remember. Reputation is. Which brings me to Juan Ayuso. If I'm being honest, Ayuso has been an easy rider for me to criticize. Not because of a lack of talent - it seems like few riders of his generation have more of it. But because there always seemed to be something ELSE going on with him. Questions about teamwork particularly irked me. Moments where things didn't go his way. Illnesses, crashes, bee stings (yeah...), bad luck, bad timing. Fair or unfair, the narrative became bigger than the results. So heading into the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, he's the rider I'm most interested in watching. And that's saying something for me! Of course I'm really excited to see how the Americans perform. Let's go boys! I really want to see how Matteo Jorgenson does as he works his way back from injury. I'm also intrigued by the hype surrounding some guy name....Paul...Paul Seixas? I'm curious to see Isaac del Toro's return, João Almeida's form, and how things develop between Ayuso and his Lidl-Trek teammate Mattias Skjelmose. But Ayuso alone is the guy I keep coming back to. Can he finally turn his talent into a body of work that changes the conversation around him? Now at Lidl-Trek, with leadership responsibility and a long-term commitment behind, the opportunity is his. No Pogačar. No UAE hierarchy. Just a chance to prove what kind of rider he really is. This race won't define his season. But it might tell us whether the conversation around Juan Ayuso is finally about to change, especially as we head toward the Tour. What do you think? Is this finally Ayuso's moment - or are the same questions (and more bee stings) going to follow him for another season? #TourAuvergneRhoneAlpes #JuanAyuso #ProCycling #CyclingTwitter #CyclingCommunity #LidlTrek #MatteoJorgenson #PaulSeixas #IsaacDelToro

🇮🇹Stage 15 Preview: RIP…but the Giro must go on 🪦 I think Stage 14 officially ended the GC battle. Vingegaard took pink on what looked like a casual Sunday ride. But we’ve still got an ACTUAL Sunday sprint stage left — and Milan finishing in Milan feels almost too scripted ✍️ 🇫🇷 Paul Magnier (🇺🇸Laredo Paul) lost cyclamen to Narváez and wants to take it back. Jonathan Milan is also massively due…but I don’t trust the Giro luck this year. So I’m backing the man with the tree-trunk thighs: 🇳🇱 Dylan Groenewegen 🚀 Maybe the Unibet Rose Rockets @rockets_cycling content has me fully brainwashed at this point. Thanks @BasTietema 😂 Who’s your pick for Stage 15? 👇 #Giroditalia #Giro #Stage15 #Groenewegen #Vingegaard

@HugoDaniel_23 Some of the best stories are the support riders! I love the big stars but guys like Caruso, Sepp, Piganzoli, Rex, etc. are easy to root for!

Top 10 for Artem Schmid at the @4JDDunkerque ! Great week overall for the @NetcompanyINEOS rider. 🇺🇸🐺

Sepp beats the pink jersey. I believe he gets it now correct? 😂 In all seriousness massive respect to Eulalio and all the 🇵🇹 fans! #Giroditalia #Eulalio

This is something that I find interesting in cycling as I get more into it. It's kind of amazing to me that a break can be NINE MINUTES ahead! And then you basically get 2 races in way. Although I don't imagine there will be much GC action behind with the mountain stage tomorrow.

The Best? of Cycling X This Week (May 17–22) Ok, trying something new on here. Obviously there’s a lot of us posting good (or in my case, not so good) content. There are so many stories to keep track of in a week just about the various men’s and women’s races, plus the random chaos that shows up along the way. So I thought: why not end the week (Friday) with an overview of some of the top or most interesting stories from Cycling X. Normally I’d start with the racing, but this week the number 1 story was… - Victor Campenaerts becoming the undisputed main character of Cycling X after the entire peloton basically confirmed he’s Mr. pee bottle. 🍼x.com/laflammerouge1… - Next up, the TT helmet memes reached peak status. Cycling fans spent the entire week comparing helmets to, among other things: dolphins, vacuum cleaners and kitchen appliances. 🐬x.com/CiclistaParvo/… - Tadej Pogačar being spotted training with Juan Ayuso was not on many people's bingo cards. ❌x.com/lucasaganronal… - And of course Benji Naesen finishing Harry Potter and I think people were ready to assign riders Hogwarts houses. 🪄x.com/BenjiNaesen/st… Now, to the actual racing stories! - Jonas Vingegaard allegedly “still sick” which is why he isn't destroying the field this Giro...yet? 🤒x.com/faustocoppi60/… - Jhonatan Narváez pulling off the unofficial “hat trick” of appearing in literally every important race prediction this week and going forward now. 🏒x.com/As_Ciclismo/st… - Eulalio somehow STILL in pink. But I think we all agree it ends on Stage 14 tomorrow. 🩷x.com/prestigelisten… - Mischa Bredewold descending while Lorena Wiebes with back to back sprint wins (so far). 🌬️x.com/Bredeworld/sta… - Artem Schmid - need I say more? 🥇x.com/LeMondestGruel… What were some of your favorite racing story of the week? And more importantly… what was your favorite non-racing cycling story? 👇🇺🇸🐺 #CyclingX #CyclingTwitter #GirodItalia #WomensCycling #UCI #CyclingMemes #RoadCycling #Pogačar #Vingegaard

🇺🇸 American Preview: Vuelta a Burgos Feminas 🇪🇸 @VueltaBurgos The Spanish 4-stage race starts today and features rolling roads, hills, and likely a decisive showdown on the final climb to Lagunas de Neila. From what I can find haha. Thanks to @MaschBasch for keying me into the race🙌 3⃣US riders in the race: Megan Jastrab (@UAETeamADQ ) Caroline Wreszin (@Auber93Cyclisme ) Allison Mrugal (@MayenneCycling ) Expect the GC fight to center around these 3⃣ 🇮🇹 Évita Muzic, 🇳🇱Elisa Balsamo, and recent winner 🇳🇱Mischa Bredewold. Hoping to see some Americans in the mix starting with @JastrabMegan on Stage 1! Can one of these riders add to the American wins list this week? Drop your thoughts 👇 #VueltaaBurgosFeminas #WomensCycling #ProCycling #WTWomens #Cycling

🐺 Just stumbled on this race thanks to @CalCiclismo : the Ronde de l’Isard! 🇫🇷 Been digging around online and wow — this race has some serious history. First held back in 1977, it’s a proper mountain classic for young riders. Nearly 50 editions in, it’s known as one of the toughest U23 stage races in France. It looks like lots of future World Tour riders have launched their careers here including 🇺🇸 @MatteoJorg (4th overall), Ben Healy (stage winner) and Pavel Sivakov (winner) to name a few. The best part about this race to me is that Team Winston Salem (unfortunately not on X) is lining up for it. An American team (with a couple Canadians), here's a quick look at the roster for the race: Owen Cole 🇺🇸 Nathaniel Gervez 🇺🇸 Adrian Groman 🇺🇸 Hubert Lamothe 🇨🇦 Caleb Maxham 🇺🇸 Carl Truffer 🇨🇦 Owen Cole is the stand out as the rider of the group with the strongest pedigree and previous results. Former US U23 National Road Race Champion, ex-UAE Team Emirates Gen Z rider, and already with strong stage racing performances (including a 2nd overall at Redlands Classic @redlandsClassic this year). He’s the obvious leader and protected rider for this race — the one most likely to deliver a strong GC or stage result. For a development team like Winston Salem, the goals are experience against the top Euro U23 squads, keeping Cole safe early, and then seeing who can go deep when the real suffering starts. A top-15/20 GC (or better) for Cole would be a great result. Rooting hard for these guys! 🇺🇸🇨🇦 #RondeDeLIsard #U23Cycling #TeamWinstonSalem #OwenCole

Jonathon Narváez just won his THIRD stage of the Giro d’Italia....and here I am STILL celebrating Artem Shmidt winning Dunkerque yesterday because it brought American men’s riders to THREE total wins on the entire 2026 season. Three! And only two of those are actually World Tour wins because Shmidt’s was “just” ProSeries. Still a huge win in my book though. The U.S. is obviously still nowhere near Belgium, Slovenia, Denmark, Team UAE, or France — a country that appears to have crash-landed onto Planet Cycling with its young alien Paul Seixas with an entire second line of killers right behind him lol. To which with Paul Magnier and the whole “born in Texas” thing I've been hammering...since he has four wins this season (including two Giro stages) by the laws of desperate US cycling math, America now has five wins instead of three....right? 🙃 At this point, give me your best guesses on total wins for MEN's 🇺🇸 riders by the end of 2026!👇 And no, don't count "Laredo Paul" in the total.... #GirodItalia #WorldTour #ProCycling #AmericanCycling #PaulMagnier #CyclingTwitter

🇮🇹Stage 10 ITT wrapped up in the @giroditalia The surprise of the day for me was 🇺🇸 Will Barta ripping to 14th! Not only a strong ride, but he put serious time into fellow American and pre-stage favorite Magnus Sheffield, who ended up in a somewhat disappointing 31st (over a minute back). I'm learning fast that Barta has always been a proper time trialist — multiple US Nats medals, a near-miss Vuelta TT win by one second (2020) — but this feels like a big result and #tudorprocycling has to be happy. Fellow Americans Sepp Kuss came in 52nd and Larry Warbasse 62nd — both solid and about where you'd expect them to be. And credit where it’s due: 🇵🇹Afonso Eulálio hanging tough onto the pink jersey! What was most surprising to you? - Will Barta finishing 14th - Magnus Sheffield in 31st - Jonas Vingegaard in 13th - Eulalia hanging onto pink - Or something else Would love to hear your thoughts and reactions! 👇 #Giro2026 #GiroDItalia #GiroITT #ProCycling #Vingegaard #Eulalio #Ganna