Sports Poets Society

Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6878034/2025/12/10/andres-iniesta-nsn-cycling-team/ By Jacob Whitehead Dec. 10, 2025 Football great Andrés Iniesta has launched the rebranded NSN Cycling Team in Barcelona. Iniesta, 41, founded NSN (Never Say Never), a sports and entertainment company, in 2018. It has partnered with Swiss investment firm Stoneweg to take over the former Israel-Premier Tech team in November . The 2010 World Cup winner described his childhood passion for cycling and announced his intention to “do beautiful things”. “I think for many people of my generation, cycling formed a part of our childhood,” the former Barcelona and Spain midfielder said. “I clearly remember a lot of afternoons with my friends and my grandad, watching stages of the Tour, Giro and Vuelta. In Spain, we’ve had a lot of great names in the cycling world, therefore it’s a sport and a passion that has accompanied me alongside football. “Of course football has always been st...

(Top photo: Getty Images) Jacob Whitehead July 18, 2025 - Updated July 20, 2025 Lille’s Opera House has gold leaf on the ceiling, the crimson carpet of an emperor’s robe, and some fifty cameras pointing towards Tadej Pogačar. Sitting, blinking, in the world champion’s jersey one day before the 2025 Tour de France, Pogačar only takes a moment to grow accustomed to his surroundings. Swiftly, he picks up his phone, turns his back to the room, and snaps a quick selfie. “Why did you do that?” is the first question he is asked. “Funny,” he replies simply, with a boyish grin. In this way, as in many others, the cycling world is now at the 26-year-old’s beck and call. Over the past five years, Pogačar has proven himself capable of winning almost any race on the sport’s calendar — Grand Tours, spring classics, the world championship. He is arguably the first cyclist to have transcended the sport since Lance Armstrong. After taking a three-minute and 31-second lead over Jonas Vingegaard on Wedn...