Dark days,

Hello to all my lovely subscribers, hope you’re all doing well out there in the far flung reaches of cyberspace. How in the world is it December, please? I was not two weeks ago banging on about missing cycling and lo and behold, the world of all things two-wheeled has woken up, and deigned to give us a fair old whack of news to cover in this week’s newsletter.

Cyclocross season has seen the return of its prodigal sons, Van Aert and Van der Poel, and the world of cycling sadly lost one of its longest serving professionals. I’ll keep the intro brief and launch headlong into the news, beginning with some of the headline stories from the past two weeks.

Tour de France breaks with Tradition

For 121 years, the Tour de France has finished in Paris, but in 2024, with the Olympics beginning just days after the Tour ends, the race will conclude elsewhere for the first time. For the first time since 1998, stage 21 will be a time trial, beginning in the sovereign state of Monaco and finishing in Nice. It will lend a whole different dynamic to the end of the Tour, with the usual ceremonial conclusion of the race scrapped for one year and the possibility that the GC will still be on the line right up until the final pedal stroke.

The reactions on social media varied wildly, with many expressing positivity about a perceived changing up of tradition, while others hated the news basically for exactly the same reason. Either way, it’s reportedly a one-off, with the final Champs-Elysée celebration stage returning in 2025, according to Christian Prudhomme, so we can all relax in the knowledge that they haven’t broken it forever, and the riders will be back to quaffing champers arm-in-arm by 2024.

B&B Hotels Fail to Secure Sponsorship

The last month has seen a major reversal of fortune for the French team, from the press conference that never was, in which the team had planned to announce Mark Cavendish, to where they find themselves now, without a sponsor and forced to drop down to continental level, sacrificing an almost nailed-on Tour de France wildcard and all but guaranteed to lose the majority of their riders in the process.

The saga began with the announcement of Carrefour as a title sponsor for the team back in July and an injection of money that would see them become the most lucrative French cycling team and propel them ahead of many World Tour teams.

It wasn’t to be however.

With the worst news confirmed earlier this week, that the team could not secure the sponsorship required to maintain its pro team status, riders were told they were free to look for other teams. The exodus began shortly afterwards, with mountain bike specialist Victor Koretzsky completing the BORA-Hansgrohe roster on Tuesday morning. The remaining riders and team staff will have an uncertain winter ahead as they look to secure other positions. 

The team have also confirmed they will not push ahead with the new women's team, leaving riders such as Audrey Cordon-Ragot also looking for a new home in 2024.

Kiwis on the march as Brits jump ship

The British continental scene is in dire straits of late, with just WiV Sungod and Trinity remaining following the dissolution of Ribble Weldtite. Sungod announced some major changes in personnel, with a number of their most loyal servants departing for New Zealand team Bolton Equities Black Spoke, following their promotion to UCI pro level.

The Kiwi team already boast a range of homegrown talent, including track and road multi-disciplinarians Aaron Gate and Campbell Stewart, and they have recently acquired the services of Jacob Scott, Matt Bostock and Rory Townsend from WiV Sungod, the three making the step up from continental to pro level after a number of years on the British team. I'm really looking forward to seeing what they can produce in 2023.

WiV Sungod had plenty of good news too though, as they made a series of announcements, including that Ribble head man Col Sturgess would join their staff, while Finn Crockett, Chris Lawless and Zack Gilmore all join as riders.

Bitesize chunks of news, YUM!

• In a confirmation of cycling’s worst-kept secret, Remco Evenepoel announced last week that he would indeed be heading back to the Giro d’Italia in 2023, to take on a course that has over 80km of time trialling, and will boast a broad range of GC contenders. The 2022 Vuelta winner and World Champion automatically becomes the favourite for the race. He hasn’t confirmed as yet whether or not he will defend his Vuelta title.

• For the first time in its history, the prestigious Velo d’Or prize announced both a male and a female winner for 2022 – it was a surprise to precisely no-one that the worthy recipients of the prize were Remco Evenepoel and Annemiek van Vleuten.

• Trek-Segafredo became the first World Tour team share their new kit, publishing a series of fun, quirky photo shoots across their social media:

• The UCI announced its rules changes for the 2023 season, including such scintillating morsels as banning the pinless pockets that riders use for their race numbers, ensuring the safety pin industry will live to see another day. On the more positive side, they have banned support cars from riding within 15m of a rider during individual time trials. This 'aerodynamic trickery' as it has been termed was prevalent throughout the 2022 season, with the quite ludicrous sight of team cars stacked with numerous bikes following right on the wheel of their riders, to offer them a small aero advantage. Well done UCI (mark the occasion, it's not often we get the opportunity to say that).

• American time trial specialist Leah Thomas announced her departure from Trek-Segafredo. She underwent spinal surgery and will take some time off to recover in 2023, and not return to the US team.

• In early season goal announcements, Wout van Aert is touted to return to the Italian fork of the Spring calendar, opting for Strade Bianche and Tirreno-Adriatico as he did in 2021, and forgoing Omloop, presumably in the hope that he will be in peak form for Flanders.

• Young Brit Oscar Onley is promoted early from the Team DSM development squad to their World Tour team. Onley had an eye-catching late season run of form, giving Jonas Vingegaard a run for his money at the CRO Race and going toe-to-toe with Tom Pidcock at the Tour of Britain. Onley is among a crop of young Brits with a bright future ahead of him.

Cyclocross Dispatches

With the off-road action ramping up, I'm keeping the race reports somewhat more concise. Look upon them as an aide memoire, if you will, of the key moments of the season, or in short, Cyclocross races, as Episodes of Friends...

X2O Badkamers Trophy Kortrijk (26th November)

WOMEN: The one where Denise Betsema and Marianne Vos forged clear, before Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado attacked and forced the World Champion to chase, Vos passing Alvarado in the final uphill sprint to the line to take her first win in the rainbow jersey.

MEN: The one where Tom Pidcock took his first win of the season, but was unable to really make the most of his gap over Lars van der Haar who held him steady at around ten seconds for the majority of the race.

UCI World Cup Hulst (27th November)

WOMEN: The one where Puck Pieterse made the most of an awesome, up and down-y parcours to take her second World Cup win in a row in dominant style over her rival Van Empel

MEN: The one where we all got excited because Mathieu van der Poel returned to the field, and with the brilliance of the course we could have been on for an amazing battle with Tom Pidcock, but in a bizarre incident, his bike went all bendy and he was forced to retire. MVDP came back with a bang winning his first race, and Laurens Sweeck continued to impress, as the best of the rest.

Superprestige Boom (3rd December)

WOMEN: The one where Aniek van Alphen delivered on the promises she's been making all season with her first elite victory at C1 level, pipping Denise Betsema to the line on a muddy course in Boom.

MEN: The one where Mathieu van der Poel crashed on the cobbles leaving him nursing an injured knee, and Tom Pidcock free to chase his second win over Lars van der Haar and Eli Iserbyt on consecutive weekends (although MVDP rallied to complete the course in an impressive 13th position, given the circumstances).

UCI World Cup Antwerp (4th December)

WOMEN: The one where Fem van Empel turned the tables on her rival Pieterse, using the largely flat course to her advantage and taking a commanding lead to ride solo to victory. 

MEN: The one where Wout van Aert returned to the field to mark the first clash of the so-called 'Big Three', with MVDP and Tom Pidcock also in attendance. 

It was a day to forget for Pidcock, who got off to a poor start and never recovered. Van Aert rode strongly to secure a second position, stating that he felt better than expected and would be a 'different athlete in 5-6 weeks.' There was nothing to be done about Van der Poel, however. In no mood to mess about following the disaster of the previous day, the imperious Dutchman saw off the competition, putting enough of a gap between himself and the rest by lap 2 to ensure his second World Cup victory of the season in just two participations.

Final Thought - Davide Rebellin - 1971-2022

The world of cycling was shocked last week by the passing of Davide Rebellin at the age of 51. It’s a story we hear all too frequently – he was out riding his bike when he was hit by a truck and killed.

The timing was particularly cruel: Rebellin had just retired from the sport he loved, after 30 years as a professional. It was a running joke in the cycling community; the fact that seasons come and go, riders rise and fall, and all the while, Rebellin was a constant. He was caught doping like many others of his generation but continued on afterwards, seemingly unfazed by the drop from World Tour to Pro Conti level, and his love for the sport never seeming to diminish. 

Rebellin rode in a Monaco crit race organised by Matteo Trentin just the week before his death, and the fact that he was killed doing the thing he loved, and the timing so utterly heart breaking, somehow makes the tragedy even more poignant and the loss harder to bear. My thoughts go out to his family, friends and everyone who worked with him during his career. His legacy will live long in the memories of the cycling community and I don't think his record of longevity in the sport will be beaten for a long time; perhaps not ever.

The Last Word

On that sombre note, it's time to leave you, with the news that I will bring you one final news round up before Christmas, before taking a break until mid-January - by which time I expect to have prepared a War and Peace-length missive largely centring around the dazzling array of new kits that have been revealed over the Christmas period.

Until then, thanks for reading, and don't forget you can buy me a coffee if you feel so inclined - although I can't promise it won't be a mulled wine given the time of year. 

Thanks for reading,

Katy