Michael Leonard knows where he will be until next Sunday, but after that it’s anybody’s guess.
The up-and-coming Canadian is currently taking part in the Tour de Pologne, where Sunday’s race against the clock in Wieliczka and the chance to wear his Canadian National time trial jersey for the first time is something he’s anticipating with notable pride.
However, as the Ineos Grenadiers pro told Cyclingnews before the start of stage 2 of Pologne, he had no idea what races await him between now and the end of the season, while as for which team he’ll be racing in 2026, that information remained under wraps for now.
First in any case, was Pologne where Leonard said the opportunity to make his mark next Sunday was something very special.
“I’m really looking forward to it, I think I’ve had a fairly good season in time trials, and obviously it’s my first National Championships [jersey] so I’m excited to be wearing it on Sunday.”
After racing the Tour of Austria, Leonard has been at a two-week altitude camp with his return to racing at the Clásica San Sebastian, where he completed in 100th place after playing a team role. He followed with a transfer to Pologne, where he’s racing alongside local star and teammate Michal Kwiatkowski.
Travelling from western to central Europe can sometimes be a long and not necessarily straightforward transfer, but with Kwiatkowski to oversee their journey, it went well as Leonard said with a smile,
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“It was quite good. Kwiatkowski knows how to organise travel pretty well, so it was all smooth for us.
“I feel all right. After the altitude camp at San Sebastian I was a little flat, but I already started feeling a little better yesterday [Monday] and I’m hoping to get better through the week.”
While the 12-kilometre Pologne time trial is “definitely” a target for him personally, Leonard said the squad overall will be looking for a good GC performance with Magnus Sheffield, as well as stages.
“Hopefully we can race with some freedom and we can be on the front for all week.”
After that, though, Leonard is not certain where he will be racing, and as he puts it, he’ll be taking it “week by week, so I’m just focussed on here. Canada [the GP Montréal and GP Québec] would be good, it’s always nice to race at home,” while the Vuelta “is a possibility for everyone at this point, so we’ll see.”
He was even more cautious giving information about his future team and as the 21-year-old put it, “I don’t even known where I’ll be in two weeks, so I just want to focus on this week, and we’ll leave it like that.”
He did, however, confirm that he does have a clear idea of what his future will be, and when asked if he knew where he will be racing in 2026, he answered, “I do know, yes”.
According to Daniel Benson’s Substack, the most likely destination for the young Canadian in 2026 will be EF Education-EasyPost, although it remains unconfirmed for the moment. For now, in any case, Leonard is focussing purely on next Sunday.