Jingle bikes, jingle bikes, jingle all the way

Welcome back cycling fans to the FINAL NEWSLETTER OF 2024!! I actually can’t quite believe it to be honest. The year has flown over, it only seems like yesterday that I was bidding farewell to 2023 and counting down the days until Omloop and here we are again.

It’s another bumper edition this week as ALL THE NEWS has happened, and even though there were only four cyclocross races instead of the usual eight, they were all TOTAL BANGERS so of course I’ve had to dive a bit deeper into those.

A big festive WELCOME to all my new subscribers, thanks for jumping on board, I hope you enjoy the newsletter, and thanks for allowing me to pop into your inbox twice a month, I truly appreciate it and hope you’ll find it a worthwhile supplement to your cycling media landscape.

Without further ado, we’d best be getting on with the juicy content!

ON THE WEBSITE

There’s loads of material for you to delve into over at the website this week. First up, I wrote a bit about the shape of cyclocross without the dominant duo of Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert – what will the sport look like without them?

In his latest blog, Adam Harridence recounts his experiences at the UCI Track Champions League final, following the horrific accident that occurred – he reflects on how cycling is a family, in bad times and in good.

And continuing his in-depth preview series, Rémi Massart has covered four more teams, looking ahead to their 2025 seasons:

Bahrain-Victorious, Arkéa B&B Hotels, Canyon//SRAM and Cofidis - click on the links to read about each team.

ON THE POD

Last week’s episode of the podcast delved into Tom Pidcock’s transfer to Q36.5 Pro Cycling. Sanny and I were joined by Alicia Moyo – check out the On Yer Bike Cycling Podcast, wherever you get your podcasts.

NEWS! A WHOLE BUNCH OF NEWS!

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks in terms of the volume of cycling news that’s been generated, so let’s dive right in.

TOP STORY: Tadej Pogačar reveals 2025 programme

When you’re the top rider in the world, the announcement of which races you will ride in the coming season is of huge significance. While some of the reigning World Champion’s goals were known, others were unclear, and at the UAE media day last week, the team confirmed his programme – full list below.

UAE Tour, Strade Bianche, Milan-San Remo, E3 Saxo Classic, Gent-Wevelgem, Tour of Flanders. All three Ardennes Classics, Critérium du Dauphiné, Tour de France and the UCI Road World Championships in Rwanda.

The Slovenian has set himself an ambitious challenge, taking on a number of Classics – though he forgoes Paris-Roubaix again in 2025 – before heading to the Criterium du Dauphiné – his only week-long stage race in the lead-up to the Tour.

While it’s not yet clear whether the world champion will ride the Giro d’Italia or La Vuelta, it’s thought he will definitely target a second Grand Tour, with the likelihood that Spain will be his destination this year.

See this week’s Final Thought for some further thoughts.

TOP STORY: Van Gils to BORA confirmed

This one has been bubbling along for a few weeks now but following the news that he would part ways with the Lotto-Dstny side with whom he turned professional, the news of Maxim van Gils’ destination finally dropped last week. As was widely rumoured, he will join the newest super-team on the block, Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, with his sights set on one-day races and Grand Tours. He joins a raft of other new signings, all of whom will have to find their feet both in a new team set-up, and with a new set of teammates. It will be fascinating to watch how it all unfolds.

TOP STORY: Lefevre steps down as Soudal-QuickStep boss

One of the sport’s elder statesmen steps away from his role at the end of the year after over twenty years driving the progress of the QuickStep team. A statement released on the team’s website reads:

‘Soudal Quick-Step have announced a change to its management structure, which will see Patrick Lefevere step down as its CEO on December 31st, 2024. Under the new arrangement, the current COO Jurgen Foré will step up to CEO and is to take charge of the running of the team on a day-to-day basis.’

Lefevre has proved to be a controversial character, often outspoken and outdated in some of his views, but there is no doubt that he has had a major impact on the riders who have passed through his system, and on the team’s progression throughout his tenure.

OTHER STORIES

MVDP does CX

Yes, the king of cross returns – by the time you receive this missive, there will be a mere X days to go until we see the man himself, the reigning world champion Mathieu van der Poel, back where he began his career – on the mud of the cyclocross field. Contrary to rumour, that suggested he may race just a few crosses in the run-up to defending his world championship title in February, the Dutchman announced a programme of 11 races in total, including the Worlds in Lieven where he will aim to equal the all-time record of most world titles won.

Red Bull… + Tudor?

Their influence in both Formula 1 and football, along with a number of other sports, has been considerable in recent years, and less than a year after stepping into the role of title sponsor for German team BORA-hansgrohe, the drinks brand have also announced this week that they will partner with Pro team Tudor Pro Cycling. For now, the deal extends to ‘official drinks partner’ but it will be interesting to see if the company increases its involvement further in the future.

Cavendish Dispatch

Never a dull moment for Cav fans even now he is officially retired. The past two weeks have brought two bits of news on the Manx Missile. First, Daniel Benson confirmed in his newsletter that Cavendish would not continue his career at Astana, despite initial suggestions that he may stay on as sprint coach. There is no news as yet as to what Cav might do next, though it’s not difficult to see him staying on in some capacity in the sport he loves.

Secondly, there was widespread disappointment when Sir Mark did not appear on the shortlist for this year’s BBC Sports Personality Award but it turned out the organisation had greater plans in mind – Cav was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the ceremony this week, honouring his immense contribution to cycling in the UK.

Velo d’Or – Pogi and Lotte triumph

The presentation of the Velo d’Or prizes took place in Paris?? Last week, and perhaps unsurprisingly, the male victor was Tadej Pogačar. Lotte Kopecky took the women’s prize, with honours also going the way of Romain Bardet (top French rider), Harrie Lavreysen (receiving the Chris Hoy trophy for Olympic cycling disciplines), and Luis Angel Mate (the Gino Mäder Prize honouring commitment to causes outside of cycling.

Medical updates

• Following his training crash a couple of weeks ago, in which he sustained multiple injuries, Remco Evenepoel provided an update on his condition. He stated that he would be taking December to recover, and having a further operation on 6 January. His aim is to be back on the bike in February and to begin competing again mid-April.

•  Sarah Gigante is the latest rider to suffer from iliac artery endofibrosis. The Aussie fan favourite received surgery for the condition, which has affected a number of riders including Marianne Vos and Shirin van Anrooij, and confirms that she will sadly miss the opportunity to defend her title in January’s Tour Down Under, as she will be on the road to recovery

• Further health news – young Danish talent Theodor Storm shared news on Instagram that he suffered with Gullain-Barré syndrome earlier this year which left him fighting for his life, and spending months in hospital. He's on the road to recovery now and INEOS Grenadiers with whom he is contracted confirm he will ride for their dev squad Lotto-Kern-Haus PSD Bank in 2025 (his compatriot Peter Øxenberg also heads there)

Team name changes for 2025 – CONFIRMED:

A few changes for commentators, writers and fans alike to contend with in the new season – the following name changes have been confirmed as new sponsors jump on board the good ship cycling:

• UAE Team Emirates —> UAE Emirates XRG

• Team dsm-firmenich PostNL —> Team Picnic PostNL

• Astana-Qazaqstan Team —> XDS Astana Team

Transfer news

• MTB rider Laura Stigger joins Team SD Worx-ProTIme – the latest off-road star to join the Dutch team, who have made a number of somewhat leftfield signings during this off-season.

• Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling sign Afghan national champion Fariba Hashimi – she becomes the first Afghan woman in the World Tour

NEW KIT SEASON

Yes, it’s that time of year – while those quick off the mark featured in the last newsletter, the majority of new kit have dropped in the past two weeks, with this week in particular bringing a flurry of sleeve-examining action.

We’d be here all day if I were to try and show images of ALL the new kits, so I’ll just do a quick run-down, and then treat you to my top 3.

No change (aside from a logo here and there) for Groupama-FDJ, who retain their classy blue design, and Bahrain-Victorious, who stick with the white/navy combo.

Subtle alterations for Decathlon, who retain the attractive teal colour scheme but lose the pretty galaxy design, and INEOS Grenadiers, who switch the ‘dark’ sleeve from left to right (arguments over whether it’s very dark blue or black will be saved for social media) – they bring back the Team Sky white back stripe, meaning they should be easily distinguishable from overhead shots.

UAE Team Emirates get the thumbs down with an odd grey/black dip-dye effect being added to their white kit.

Team Picnic PostNL brought in a fresh look, which they are apparently insisting is purple, but either way, it’s pretty smart and distinctive.

Red Bull-BORA divided the crowd, with a kit that looks quite bold and clean from the front but sadly doesn’t have much to distinguish it from behind. Canyon//SRAM also caused a marmite reaction, with many loving it but a few at the opposite end of the spectrum.

Soudal-QuickStep’s new kit was a bit of a mess and met with mixed reviews, as did Movistar’s, though the latter was more widely well received. Lotto’s new jersey brought some retro vibes but is perhaps a little too similar to Arkea-B&B, who also unveiled a red jersey with black sleeves. And so to my personal top 3…

3. XDS Astana

Look, I’m a sucker for some pretty colours and bit of patterning, so this one is a big hit for me. It combines Astana’s traditional light blue with some distinctive hints of pink and lime green, and is one I’d definitely wear myself.

2. Lidl-Trek/Groupama-FDJ

Tied in second, two of the most recognisable jerseys in the bunch, with Groupama’s simple but classy royal and dark blue a stand-out for me, and Lidl-Trek’s unmissable colour scheme, updated to an even better design for this season.

1. Team Jayco-AlUla/Liv-AlUla Jayco

Almost universally met with positivity, this kit is an absolute winner for me. Purple is a colour that will stand out in the peloton for sure. MAAP’s design is unique and eye-catching, and the team presentation mixing men and women’s teams in one collage is just a really classy touch.

STOP PRESS!!

Honestly, has there not been enough news already this past couple of weeks, for even more to drop? Since writing this, the Vuelta route has been revealed – this year it’s a Vuelta a the-North-of-Espana, as the route completely avoids the south of the country – possibly a wise move given the heat – I will delve into the detail a little more in the next newsletter.

Secondly, Fenix-Deceuninck have announced that Annemiek van Vleuten will join the team as a Performance Director. Excellent news for the Belgian side.

OH HAPPY DAY

Celebrating the lighter side of the sport…

Just this little bit of cuteness from Lidl-Trek for today…

CYCLOCROSS DISPATCH 6-20 DECEMBER

It’s going to be a shorter-than-usual edition of the Dispatch this time around, given that there was A FULL WEEKEND without any top level ‘cross events, which was well – quite frankly, suboptimal. The weekend was deemed ‘protected’ due to the new rules the UCI have brought in surrounding the World Cup fixtures, and said World Cup, due to take place in Cabras in Sardinia, was then cancelled due to horrendous weather conditions. Fair enough – better safe than sorry and looking at the video and images coming from the course, it was the right decision.

So we speed ahead to the weekend just gone which was a double weekend once again, praise be! Beginning with the X2O Trofee in Herentals (14 Dec). In the women’s race, it was Fem van Empel who led from the front, with Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado immediately on her case, herself returning from a couple of weeks’ rest due to illness and fatigue. Lucinda Brand caught up to them at the end of lap 1 and went over the top to take the lead. Annemarie Worst joined the trio to make it a quartet.

They stayed together for a while until lap 3, when Brand took the race on, but it wasn’t enough to split the group. Alvarado slipped when remounting her bike in the pits causing her to drop out of the race for the win and with Worst fading, Brand and van Empel began lap 4 as a duo. Worst ground her way back and with Alvarado almost back on too, Brand fell, and more errors followed, allowing van Empel to break free. Brand and Alvarado rode together in pursuit in the following laps, catching and dropping Worst, but it was too little too late, and Fem van Empel took the win in convincing fashion, 19 seconds clear of Brand who was strong enough to take second ahead of Alvarado.

In the men’s race, it was Toon Aerts who made the early statement, taking the lead and holding onto it throughout the first lap and into the second, with Michael Vantourenhout the next rider in line – he finally closed Aerts down by the end of lap 2 with Laurens Sweeck in tow, with Aerts’ early efforts taking their toll, and with Eli Iserbyt close behind, Pim Ronhaar became the lone chaser in third, with a larger group working hard to catch the leaders just a few seconds back.

As Ronhaar joined up with Sweeck and Vantourenhout, Niels Vandeputte was the next rider to strike out in pursuit of the leading group, and they rode as a quartet for a while, before Ronhaar struck out alone on lap 4. He moved into the second half of the race with a clear lead, though Vantourenhout clearly still had plenty left in the tank, catching the Baloise-Trek man to form a lead duo. Sweeck fought his way back to the pair heading into the penultimate lap, setting up a thrilling final.

Coming into the final lap, it was Michael Vantourenhout who looked to be in control, turning the screw and putting Ronhaar and Sweeck under immense pressure, and he held on to take the win, making it back-to-back wins for the former European champion.

The following day was the next round of the UCI World Cup in Namur (15 Dec). Arguably the most brutal course on the World Cup circuit, Namur takes no prisoners, with slippery mud, impossible gradients to contend with both ascending and descending, nasty off-camber sections and slippery roots.

First up the elite women. Though all eyes were on Puck Pieterse, as she returned for her first race of the season, it was the SD Worx-ProTime pairing of Marie Schreiber and Blanka Vas who led from the front, and with Fem van Empel struggling with successive errors on the first lap, the race looked as though it would be wide open. With Lucinda Brand and van Empel fighting their way back, it left Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado free to hunt down Vas and Schreiber at the front of the race. Van Empel’s woes continued with a crash on lap 2 that seemed to leave her in some discomfort and with major mechanical issues, and heading into lap 3 Alvarado bridged up to Vas to form a leading pair. On lap 3, Pieterse moved into third as Alvarado took control at the front, and from there she opened up her lead, proving she was the strongest by some distance on the day. Behind her, Lucinda Brand pulled off her usual terminator-style performance, grinding herself back into contention as she caught and passed Pieterse and Vas.  

Alvarado sealed the win with a warrior-like performance, despite a fall on the final lap which allowed Brand to pressure her all the way to the line, in what was one of the most exciting final laps of the season so far. Pieterse came an admirable third place on her first race back. Props to Fem van Empel who was able to work her way back through the field to finish in 7^th despite her numerous mishaps.

The men’s race saw Gerben Kuypers and Toon Aerts taking the initiative in the early part of the race, with the rest of the field strung out behind them. Kuypers’ teammate Kevin Kuhn took the lead for a while, with Michael Vantourenhout working his way through the field following a poor start – eventually he hit the front and with others making mistakes, he was able to make a difference, and drew a group of three clear that included Kuypers and Emile Verstrynge.

As the race wore on it was clear that Eli Iserbyt was not on a good day; he was holding his thigh and eventually withdrew (he revealed yesterday on social media that he has been struggling with leg pain for two years). Meanwhile at the front, Verstrynge was having the race of his career, taking his chance to attack on lap 4 and continuing the pressure on lap 5, the young rider looking every bit the top competitor with Vantourenhout the only one able to stay with his relentless pace. Aerts and Kuypers gave chase in 3^rd and 4^th place respectively, as the brutal course took no prisoners, and Pim Ronhaar was able to bridge to the chase group on lap 6.

Verstrynge led with a small gap into lap 7 of 9, but Vantourenhout clawed his way back, with Aerts dragging himself into contention, and the three formed a trio on lap 8 to set up a nail-biting final lap. Aerts was the first to attack on lap 9, and he opened a small gap. Early leader Kuypers took a hard fall and was forced to withdraw (it was later confirmed he had broken his collarbone), and Verstrynge too crashed on the final lap, finally losing contact with the leaders after a herculean effort.

A collision with the barriers for Toon Aerts saw him come off his bike and it was Michael Vantourenhout’s chance to strike, and strike he did, to take a breath-taking victory in Namur, and make it a double winning weekend, and three wins in a row.

NEXT UP we see the return of Van Aert and Van der Poel as kerstperiode begins. We begin a double World Cup weekend on Saturday 21 December in Hulst, before MVDP returns on Sunday 22 in Zonhoven, and the two face off on Monday in Mol. Don’t miss it!

FINAL THOUGHT – Pogačar is the sun, or something like that

When you’re the world’s best in any sport, it’s inevitable that said sport will begin to revolve around you. Whether it be the focus of the media spotlight, the adoration of the fans, or the reactions of other teams and athletes to your dominance. You become the centre of gravity for the sport itself: the sun around which the rest of the planets revolve, if you’ll excuse the Shakespearian turn of phrase.

Needless to say, Tadej Pogačar is that centre of gravity in men’s cycling, and as has become tradition in recent years, his racing programme was announced last week at the UAE Team Emirates media day in Spain. Cycling schedules can of course be indicative only at such an early stage – many things have to go well in order for the planned programme to manifest as outlined, including staying healthy, not crashing, and ensuring you’re in the form you need to be in to give your best at said race. While some riders tend to use racing to get themselves into that form – think of Remco Evenepoel fulfilling more of a team role at the Tour of Britain, using the race days to hone his form for the World Championships – Pogačar simply selects the races he wants to win, and targets those. Then it’s down to everyone else to decide whether they will choose to avoid those races, or to take on the man himself – and likely end up fighting for second.

While these early announcements do have a sense of ceremony about them – a man nobly stating his intentions toward the impending season – they also instil a sense of structure to the year ahead. Not only can teams make their plans, knowing who they will likely be going up against, but as fans we can whet our appetites for the season ahead, picking which races we may want to attend in person, building an idea in our minds of the battles to come. It’s a welcome trend, for me – it’s always nice to know where you stand; I was always one for printing out fixture lists when I used to be into football and who doesn’t love a wall chart, regardless of the sport?

So we can stick our Pogi faces onto our charts with confidence, knowing which races he will target (though the Giro/Vuelta question remains unanswered, I think there’s a strong sense that he will go for the Spanish Grand Tour this year). Now all that remains is to paste on the biggest opponents so we can begin to prepare for an epic season ahead.

THE LAST WORD

Many thanks as always for subscribing, and for reading, if you’ve made it this far - I appreciate today’s has been an EPIC lot of stuff to wade through but I hope it helped summarise all the recent goings-on. I genuinely love writing this and it means the world that there are people out there who enjoy reading it! On that note, if you have any feedback don’t hesitate to contact me, either by replying to this email or just checking in on social media! And do share the sign-up link with your friends if you think they would enjoy it.

If you’re so inclined, you can support my work on the website, the podcast and this newsletter by buying me a coffee, or maybe I might make it a mulled wine given the season.

And with that, it only remains for me to say HAPPY HOLIDAYS, SEASONS GREETINGS, and have a fantastic couple of weeks – and I’ll be back with you all in 2025!

Cheers,

Katy