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We're back, baby!
Road racing season is underway - let's get this party started!
Katy Madgwick
January 17, 2025
SPONSORED BY CICLOS MAJOR
Hey there cycling fans and welcome to the first edition of the newsletter to take place entirely in 2025. It’s a momentous one as not only does it feature all the usual news and chat, but it contains the first official road racing result of the 2025 season – alright, it may just be one day’s worth of racing, but we are officially underway and I couldn’t be more excited for everything that’s to come.
A warm welcome to all my lovely new subscribers, thanks for allowing me the privilege of popping up in your inboxes to say hi twice monthly, it’s a leap of faith to add another email to your load, but I hope it’s one you’ll be glad to have taken.
As usual there’s plenty to round up, so let’s begin.
ON THE WEBSITE
To start with today, here’s a post I wrote earlier this week about the riders we can look forward to seeing back in action in 2025, after a season (or more) in which they’ve struggled to be at their best for their key goals.
Our team preview series continues, with Rémi Massart looking at the prospects of every team in the men’s and women’s World Tour for the new season. Here are the latest episodes - click the links to read more.
WOMEN: FDJ SUEZ, Fenix-Deceuninck, Human Powered Health
Keep an eye out for more of those in the next couple of weeks.
Away from my own website, some of my freelance work has found its way out into the world this week. In part 2 of this deep dive for Cyclist digital, on the quest to find a healthy balance in the pro peloton, I wrote about the increasing pressure on the women's side of the sport. With views from a manager, a DS and a rider, it's a long read, and forms an interesting counterpoint to the problems that the men’s peloton are experiencing (read part 1 here to find out more about it).
ON THE POD
The first On Yer Bike podcast of 2025 features Sanny and I rounding up all the news, talking Giro d’Italia, new kits, and the UCI’s proposed ban on race celebrations.
You can find it wherever you get your podcasts!
NEWS! HERE IS SOME NEWS!
TOP STORY: 2025 programmes revealed
The past couple of weeks has seen a slew of media days and announcements surrounding the main goals of team leaders from a variety of teams. While we’ve yet to hear from INEOS Grenadiers, Jayco-AlUla and Lidl-Trek, and the women’s teams have been generally quiet, here are some of the headlines:
VISMA ANNOUNCE PLANS – the top story this week comes fresh from the Visma-Lease A Bike media day, where the team confirmed the goals for their leaders. Jonas Vingegaard will take on the Tour de France as expected in search of his third victory, and he opts to ride a second Grand Tour, but instead of the Giro d’Italia, as had been rumoured, he will ride La Vuelta Espana. He also confirmed his participation in a selection of top week-long build-up races including Paris-Nice, Catalunya and the Criterium du Dauphine. All in all, he will face Tadej Pogačar for around 50 race days this season which is unprecedented, and promises to be truly fascinating.
Wout van Aert, Simon Yates and Olav Kooij will all head to the Giro d’Italia. On the women’s side, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot confirmed she would be 100% focused on the Tour de France Femmes, and would support Marianne Vos in the Classics, and Vos stated her intention to try and win the first women’s Milano-Sanremo.
TOM PIDCOCK of Q36.5 Pro Cycling didn’t announce his full programme, but confirmed that he will start his season at the AlUla Tour on 28th January, and perhaps more significantly, that he will skip the Tour de France in 2025, as the team have not received a wildcard to the race. He was philosophical about this in interviews, and discussed to possibility of riding one or both of the other two Grand Tours, while his main focus will be on one-day racing.
SOUDAL-QUICKSTEP confirmed that Mikel Landa would lead the team at the Giro d’Italia. There was a vote of confidence for their top sprinter, European champion Tim Merlier, too – he extended his contract with the team to 2028, and was named in the squad for the Tour de France, where he will go for sprint stages while Remco Evenepoel targets the GC.
GROUPAMA-FDJ confirmed the aims of their team leaders, with David Gaudu targeting the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France, and Guillaume Martin riding the Tour and Vuelta.
STOP PRESS: Hot off the press, Mads Pedersen has confirmed in an interview with Danish media today that he will not target the Tour de France in 2025 - instead he’ll ride both the Giro and Vuelta, in addition to his Classics campaign.
TOP STORY: Remco’s early season in doubt
While Remco Evenepoel’s schedule was announced at the Soudal-QuickStep media day, it’s since been thrown into doubt following a complication with his recovery from the van door incident that sees him side-lined from the early part of the season.
The double Olympic champion had been due to begin his season at the Ardennes Classics, before taking on the Criterium du Dauphine ahead of his main goal of the summer, the Tour de France. However, he has since revealed he is suffering with nerve damage in his injured shoulder, which could hamper his recovery.
TOP STORY: Giro d’Italia route and line-up news
After a delay that saw the route presentation move from pre-Christmas to post, this week the routes for both the men’s and women’s Giro d’Italias were announced by organisers RCS.
There’s plenty to chew on in terms of the routes. The men’s will begin in Albania as expected, with three stages before a rest day as they relocate to the Italian mainland. From there, a true tour of Italy takes place as the race travels round the country, taking in many familiar cities and mountain ranges along the way. With two time trials totalling just over 40km, and only three five-star mountain stages, two of them packed into the final two stages before Rome, it’s arguably a balanced if somewhat underwhelming route, yet with neither Tadej Pogačar, Jonas Vingegaard or Remco Evenepoel present, this potentially opens the door for a really spicy GC battle – more on that in today’s Final Thought.
The women’s route is well-balanced too, beginning with a time trial and with a mix of sprints, hilly stages and mountains, with summit finishes that should really shake up the GC battle. Hey, both races may still be months away, but I’m already excited.
BITESIZE CHUNKS OF NEWS, YUM!
Nike sponsors FDJ SUEZ – in landmark news for the women’s side of the sport, Demi Vollering’s personal sponsor, Nike, jumped on board with her whole team, FDJ SUEZ, as casual apparel provider. It’s a huge leap forward for the visibility and credibility of the women’s side of the sport, and let’s hope it’s the first of many more big brands to add their support.
In further apparel news, Tom Pidcock and his new team revealed their new kit for 2025, and it’s pretty stylish I think?
Perennially late to the party, but actually early by their standards, EF Education EasyPost/Cannondale were one of the final teams to release their new kit to the world. Pink, of course, and with a harlequin/argyle design depending on who you ask, the kit is stylish as always though perhaps lacks a little of the quirkiness that has set them apart in recent years. As usual though, they clearly had a great time filming the promo shots.
OH HAPPY DAY
Celebrating the lighter side of the sport…
It has to be said that team social media output and content creation has been steadily improving in recent years, and there’s no better time for those teams who are engaged with this side of things to lean into it than team training camps. I love a bit of training camp content, riders are relaxed, and it gives us an opportunity to really get a sense of the atmosphere within a team.
This kind of connection can really make or break a fan’s relationship with a team – engagement reinforces and solidifies support, and there’s no better example of it than EF Education EasyPost/Cannondale who are very good at bringing fans behind the scenes. Here’s a video from their current training camp – it’s so heart-warming to see the team interacting, awkward team building activities and all (and if you don’t love Cédrine Kerbaol after this, then I will be very surprised).
Props also to Lidl-Trek and FDJ SUEZ for also producing plenty of this kind of content - I’ll do my best to share some of the best bits in each edition to showcase the teams who are really winning the game when it comes to fan engagement.
Groupama-FDJ’s social media team are another good example of a team who provide regular, quality content – this hype video for the new season really caught the eye this week.
MORE OF THIS SORT OF THING PLEASE, CYCLING TEAMS!
ROAD RACING RESULTS ROUND-UP
Oh yes, we are BACK BABY!! OK, I’m not going to lie to you, this edition of the RRRR is not exactly going to be a long one given we’ve had checks notes ONE DAY of road racing so far this season, but hey, let’s throw in Aussie nationals and we’ll have a bit more to talk about, OK?
If you’re new to this newsletter my commitment in this section is to try and round up ALL the road racing results from UCI .1 level races and above – it gets tricky as the season gets busier but hey, I’m going to enjoy the fact that I have one SINGLE race day to write about today, as it’s the only time this will ever be this easy!
GOING (DOWN) UNDERGROUND
Yes, we’ve kicked off in Oz with road nationals taking place in Perth, and there were new winners all around in the road race, and also in the women’s time trial, where Brodie Chapman won her first elite women’s ITT title, while Luke Plapp took back control of a jersey he had surrendered to Jay Vine in 2024, in the men’s ITT.
Plapp had the opportunity to do the double in the road race after breaking away with his teammate Luke Durbridge, but he let Durbridge go ahead and take glory and his first national title, at the age of 33 – an amazing teammate to many riders through the years, Durbridge was a very popular winner. The women’s road race saw an upset, with Liv-AlUla-Jayco development team rider Lucinda Stewart winning the race, also from a breakaway. The 20-year-old stunned with an impressive ride and promises great things in the future.
And so we begin. The UCI WWT kicked off TODAY in Australia, in fact I have stage 1 of the women’s Santos Tour Down Under on in the background as I write this, though I’m about 12 hours behind real time.
Stage 1 of the women’s Santos Tour Down Under (17 Jan). We’re back! It was honestly a bit of a thrill to see the riders roll out in Adelaide for the first day of racing of 2025, and though it was a very quiet and cagey opening to the race, it was great to see the new colours of the women’s peloton, and to take a look at some of the riders who will be protagonists in the season for the first time.
With the first 50km of the race relatively quiet, the complexion of the race changed completely at 50km to go. With lone leader Alyssa Polites of the Australian national team taking the maximum points on the only categorised climb of the day, she dropped back having secured the QOM jersey, and the attacks began from the main peloton, and a new lone breakaway rider found space, Ceratizit-WNT’s new recruit Daniek Hangeveld.
Hangeveld led the race alone after that, building a lead of three minutes with less than 25km remaining, and it would become a race against time for the bunch, if they hoped to bring about a sprint finish. Chloe Dygert upped the tempo for Canyon//SRAM, but there seemed to be hesitation from some of the other teams who were reluctant to lend their support to the chase. By the time FDJ SUEZ and AG Insurance-Soudal added their power to the chase effort, there were just 17km remaining in the race and Hangeveld maintained a two-and-a-half minute lead, and was looking good for the win.
With 5km to go, Chloe Dygert’s immense power saw her able to move clear of the bunch and take matters into her own hands, and Amber Pate (Liv Jayco AlUla) gave chase, drawing others after her, but with 1:10 still standing between the chasers and Daniek Hangeveld with 3km remaining, it was too little too late. Hangeveld took her first World Tour win and a famous victory for Ceratizit-WNT after 50km in the solo lead, while behind her FDJ SUEZ’s Ally Wollaston won the sprint from the bunch.
I’ll be back to round up the rest of this race in the next edition of the newsletter.
CYCLOCROSS DISPATCH 1-13 JANUARY
Plenty more cyclocross action to bring you up to speed on since last we spoke, and once again, I can smugly fold my arms, sit back in my chair and put my feet up as I’ve already done the heavy lifting, with the final instalment of my Christmas Cross Diaries over at the website – featuring all the races from Baal, Koksijde, Gullegem and Dendermonde:
The following weekend the elite circuit took a break for National Championships around Europe, and there were some interesting results, though very little of the action was available to view live. Some selected results:
In the UK, Cameron Mason successfully defended his British title for the third consecutive year, while in the women’s race, Xan Crees took a surprise victory, as predicted by Peter Barnes in his preview for the website.
Belgium saw the enduring reign of Sanne Cant come to an end, as the veteran hangs up her cleats at the end of this season, so the women’s title was up for grabs, and was won by Marion Norbert Riberolle. In the men’s race, Thibau Nys went solo on the final lap to take his first national title – though we may not see the Belgian tricolore sadly, as his European champions jersey will take precedence.
The Dutch women’s titles went to Puck Pieterse, who scored her second elite national title ahead of Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado, and Tibor Del Grosso pulled off a double win, as he grabbed both the U23 and elite titles in the men’s race.
Arkéa-B&B Hotels enjoyed a double victory at Pontchateau, as Amandine Fouquenet and Clement Venturini were victorious in the French nationals, with Decathlon-AG2R’s Léo Bisiaux winning the U23 title.
After that, the always well-attended second tier race, the Cyclocross Otegem (13 January) saw Toon Aerts claim his first victory of the season, in a four-up sprint against Laurens Sweeck, Joran Wyseure and Eli Iserbyt, while Sanne Cant did the same for the women, ensuring she would enjoy at least one final victory celebration in her retirement year.
This weekend we are back on the UCI World Cup circuit, with sunny Spain the destination – if you are new to cyclocross, or haven’t seen it, Benidorm is relatively new to the circuit but has provided two years of scintillating racing – don’t miss it!
FINAL THOUGHT – Men’s Giro d’Italia GC wide open (ish)
It may still be a full five months until it kicks off, but this year’s “Vuelta”, will be the Giro d’Italia. What do I mean by that? Well, if you can remember back as far as last year’s Vuelta a Espana, you’ll remember the usual chaotic racing, mad breakaway wins, Ben O’Connor almost doing the job on GC, but Primoz Roglič having the beating of him in the end. OK, it wasn’t that close in the end, but with no Tadej Pogačar, Jonas Vingegaard or Remco Evenepoel, the illusion was there at least, that the overall win was there for the taking, despite the presence of a certain senior Slovenian who was in the hunt for his fourth victory at a race he loves.
The Giro d’Italia is shaping up to be a similar style of GC battle this coming year. But this type of GC battle isn’t for everyone, if the social media vibes are to be believed. There have been rumblings about a ‘weak’ field of GC competitors, but quite honestly, that can only mean ‘no Tadej, Jonas or Remco’ because outside of them, there is set to be a host of top competitors in attendance, and though Roglič will once again go into the race as favourite, the Giro itself can be chaotic, and so can Roglič himself.
Whether or not you enjoy a GC without the absolute cream of the crop, there’s no denying it’s an intriguing prospect. With the two Yates twins leading their respective teams, along with Juan Ayuso, Dani Martinez and Jai Hindley all presenting strong back-up options for their respective teams, there’s also the likes of Richard Carapaz, Mikel Landa, David Gaudu, Romain Bardet, and Derek Gee who’ll be hoping to impose themselves on the race, along with leaders from INEOS Grenadiers, Lidl-Trek and Jayco-AlUla yet to be announced, there’s no reason to believe it won’t be a thriller.
The route is back-loaded as usual which can often lead to cagey, defensive racing in the first two weeks (see 2023’s edition) but with the other two Grand Tours basically locked out, this is the one opportunity for someone different to do something incredible, and to add a huge victory to their palmares.
For me, a head-to-head between the top riders at one Grand Tour is great, but two is more than enough for me to be honest. I appreciate I might be in the minority, but I like a mix in my GC battles throughout a season, and with the Giro missing the very highest echelon, there’s every reason to believe it could be a thriller (or Roglič will win by about three minutes). Now just the small matter of a spring Classics season to go, until we get there!
THE LAST WORD
Phew! That was a lot? This is always a busy newsletter but when we have cyclocross season and road season crossing over, it gets even more padded. If you’re still reading you are a legend! Thanks for sticking with me. (If you’ve just skipped to the end to see how ridiculously long this thing is, that’s fine too, I appreciate you nonetheless).
If you’d like to support my endeavour to continue to bring you unique, nuanced and informative FREE cycling content consider buying me a coffee. Want to really show your commitment? Why not pick up a casquette, tote bag or bidon from the WBR shop or even consider upgrading your membership at the site to a paid membership (there are perks, I promise!)
Thanks for reading, have an amazing weekend wherever you are in the world, and see you next time.
Cheers,
Katy