The start of August brings the cycling transfer season, where riders and teams can announce their signings and contracts for the next year.
The major moves, like Remco Evenepoel to Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, are the ones that make the headlines, but there are hundreds of transfers each year, at all different levels.
Stagiaires are young riders who will ride for a team on a trial basis between August and December, to gain racing experience and try to prove their worth for a full contract – read on for a full explanation, and the rules around stagiaires.
What is a stagiaire?
‘Stagiaire’ is the French word for ‘intern’, and that basically sums up what a stagiaire stint is: a rider is essentially interning for a team, riding for them on a trial basis to gain experience and race kilometres.
Like an internship, there isn’t always a promise of employment or a full contract at the end of a stagiaire period.
Some will ride as a stagiaire to essentially get a head start on their WorldTour career with a team they’ve already signed for – think Cat Ferguson racing for Movistar at the end of last year when she’d long been signed for 2025 – but many will go back to their old team, or a different lower-level team.
However, they can also develop into full contracts, for the season to come or a future one, and these stagiaire periods are important for gaining relationships and connections with teams.
Whilst stagiaire rides are primarily to gain experience in races, it’s not unheard of for riders to find success whilst riding as a…
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