Oh Tidings of Cyclocross and Cav

Season’s Greetings cycling fans! It’s that final week before Christmas, you know the one – the incoherent screaming, the Christmas songs on a loop, your house is now basically just reindeer and penguins sellotaped to walls and you’re considering eating nothing but cheese for every other meal? No? Just me?

This is the final newsletter from me before the Christmas period, and if news items are gifts, then my proverbial sack is positively stuffed with a plethora of bounties for your reading pleasure. The past two weeks has been so busy that it’s likely I’ll miss something and to be honest, I’m currently composed of 50% wrapping paper and 50% panic so it may be a mangled mess of words and most of them will be Cav. HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

Let’s cover some of the top stories from the past two weeks:

Astana – MAL + Cav = ???

Astana Qazaqstan released Miguel Angel Lopez from his contract last week, stating concerns over new information surrounding the rider’s links with Dr Marcos Maynar Mariño, the physician arrested as part of a doping investigation in Spain that began in 2021.

Although Lopez responded the following day in his own defence, stating the infamous words ‘I’ve never tested positive’ as he tackled suspicions of doping head-on, it's another ignominious chapter in the ever-evolving tale of the troubled rider, who left Movistar last year following his dramatic departure from the Vuelta a Espana on stage 20.

It left Astana with enough room on their roster to take on two new riders, and would you believe it, just the rider was waiting in the wings. A certain young Manxman (Cavendish. It's Mark Cavendish) fresh from being linked with EVERY TEAM IN THE ENTIRE WORLD, was still on the look-out, hoping to snag one of the rapidly diminishing World Tour team spots before they were all filled out by displaced B&B Hotels riders. Would you believe it?

The latest is that Astana have not only tied down Cav but also fellow sprinter Cees Bol, who’s had a relatively anonymous few years with Team DSM, picking up the odd win here and there. It’s unclear as yet if he will form part of a lead-out train for Cavendish but one thing does seem certain, and that is the Manx Missile’s search for a 35th Tour de France victory is very much back ON. If they could just get around to actually ANNOUNCING the signing this side of Christmas, it would be a pretty special present for all of Cav's fans, and the cycling world at large who, let's face it, are probably collectively quite fed up with all the 'will he, won't he' shenanigans.

NEWS! SO MUCH NEWS! ARRRRGH!

It never rains, but it pours – at least in the case of news items, of which there has been a torrential downpour over the past couple of weeks following a quiet couple of months. Here is my attempt to summarise everything that has happened in my favourite segment, BITESIZE (GINGERBREAD) CHUNKS OF NEWS - YUM!

- There were a couple more confirmations from riders regarding their participation in the 2023 Giro. First Geraint Thomas threw his hat into the ring – the course will suit him far more than the Tour this year, with more time trialling.

- Next to confirm for La Corsa Rosa was Mads Pedersen, who is in with a chance of completing a historic trilogy, winning a stage at all three Grand Tours in less than a year. Interestingly, having won stage 13 at both the Tour and Vuelta in 2022, Pedersen confirmed that if he won stage 13 at the Giro, he would have the number tattooed on his back (upside-down? Suggested @trixnat on Twitter).

- Just yesterday, following a Jumbo-Visma team presentation, Primož Roglič has put his name down for the Giro, meaning the GC competition is likely to be an absolute zinger, and promising potentially one of the most exciting Giros in years.

- New kit season continues, with another few landing including a blue, French-inspired kit for Groupama-FDJ which is frankly quite stunning, and a ‘same, but different’ effort from Bahrain-Victorious, who with no new sponsors to add, made us beg the question – ‘is it really necessary to have new kit every year?’ Since then there have been a flood of new kits, with corresponding photo shoots and videos all over social media, so if you’re interested in that sort of thing, go check it out on your favourite platforms (spoilers: Israel-PremierTech's is a stunner, and INEOS Grenadiers have been compared with Bahrain).

- Mathieu van der Poel had his conviction overturned by a court in Australia following an altercation with two girls the night before the World Championship in Wollongong.

- The UCI confirmed the full list of World Tour and Women’s World Tour teams for 2023. There were no major surprises, as it was confirmed that Lotto-DSTNY and Israel Premier-Tech had been relegated to Pro level while New Zealand's Black Spoke were promoted to the same level, with Team Corratec also promoted, and Fenix-Deceuninck (formerly Plantur Pura) the only new women’s World Tour team.

- Pierre Rolland broke the hearts of legions of fans, both in his homeland and further afield, by abruptly announcing his retirement last week. With B&B losing their pro team status and many of his fellow riders without a team, Rolland said he preferred to step aside and allow the younger talent to have their chance of signing for a team. He will be remembered fondly for his long years of attacking racing in the mountains.

- La Vuelta are doing what they do best and causing absolute chaos. The Spanish Grand Tour is rumoured to be including a summit finish of El MIserat in 2023, prompting amusement from many as we viewed the bird’s eye view of the climb – see below.

- My favourite reality TV show the Zwift Academy finals aired on GCN’s YouTube channel, with the overall winners Luca Vergallito and Alex Morrice, who are awarded pro contracts with Alpecin-Deceuninck and Canyon//SRAM respectively, and will try to emulate the achievements of Jay Vine, the most successful of the programme’s alumni.

CYCLOCROSS DISPATCHES: Dublin Special

As is regular in the winter, some cyclocross racing has occurred, and as has become customary in my newsletters, I will report on said racing – this week however, I bring you most welcome news – I actually attended a race!

I was lucky enough to travel to Dublin for a round of the UCI World Cup on Sunday 10th December, and let me tell you, it was a stunner of a day. But you probably know that already, as if you’re reading this section, no doubt you’ll have been sat comfortably in front of your sofa watching the race, probably with a nice hot cup of tea, maybe a slice of some sort of delicious cake, wrapped in a blanket, a roaring fire in the hearth, feet up –

OK I’ll stop. I’m not going to say I’d rather have been in your shoes as it was genuinely an awesome experience watching some of the stars of off-road racing do battle on a truly special parcours, but it was more than a little chilly – luckily the sun stayed out all day and the conditions were perfect for racing – the mud was a special kind that I’m sure the Belgian contingent would have had a name for but ‘Celtic sludge’ would be my summary.

The women’s race turned into the expected head-to-head between Fem van Empel and Puck Pieterse, and despite the relative lack of depth in the women’s field, the contest was on right up until the final lap, with van Empel finally proving stronger in the heavy conditions despite having suffered stomach issues prior to the race.

Here are just a few of the pictures I took during the race.

The men’s race was something else. With a varied and tricky parcours, expansive straights and wide roping, there wasn’t enough in the way of tight turns and sharp climbs to really separate the field, which led to one of the most exciting and unexpected races of the season so far. A lead group of 12 riders held intact, more or less, for the first three laps of the 7, and even after over half the race time had elapsed there was still plenty of intrigue, with the gaps small and the lead changing hands a number of times.

Early in the race the Pauwels-Sauzen pair of Michael Vantourenhout and Eli Iserbyt broke clear for a while before being subsumed back into the bunch; so too World Cup leader Laurens Sweeck, who struck out solo and held on for a while, before Tom Pidcock took over, taking his turn to drive the pace at the front of the bunch, joined shortly after by Wout van Aert. The Jumbo-Visma man suffered more bad luck than most, catching his shoulder on a post after losing his balance just after the start and performing a well-executed pirouette in the process.

It wasn’t to be his only brush with ill fortune that day, as later he would come a cropper after a towel caught in his wheels, thankfully while he was still within the pit area and could run back around and sort himself out. This left a front group of five riders battling for supremacy, with Vantourenhout poaching the lead from Pidcock and Van Aert fighting his way back through the field for the second time that day.

It took Van Aert around five minutes to make up the deficit, and once he was back in touch with the group, it spelled disaster for the rest. With two laps to go, the front group was still composed of 7 men, almost unheard of for such a late stage of a cross race. With Pidcock tiring, Sweeck took another shot at the front before Iserbyt enjoyed a stretch in the ascendancy. But the writing was on the wall; heading into the sandpit right before the start of the final lap, Van Aert passed Iserbyt with relative ease and did not look back.

It took two races for Van Aert to return to winning ways, and considering the ill fortune he suffered, Van Der Poel and the rest should be very afraid: the man that can do it all is back, and even out of shape (ha!) he’s in formidable form.

And the rest…

Some other races have taken place in the past two weeks! Here’s a quick run-down:

Exact Cross Essen (10th Dec)

A vastly reduced field took part in the Robotland cyclocross in Essen, due to many of the protagonists already travelling to Ireland for the following day’s World Cup.

Aniek van Alphen dominated in the women’s race, continuing her strong season with a third victory, over the German Alicia Franck and Yara Kastelijn. Gerben Kuypers triumphed in the men’s race, in what was mostly a very young field, with Jens Adams in second and Emiel Verstynge third. It should be noted that Adams travelled to Dublin after the race, where he proceeded to come in an admirable 6th place, continuing what has already been a pretty impressive season for the seasoned Belgian rider.

Val di Sole – UCI World Cup (16th Dec)

After the spectacular, snow-covered drama of 2021's edition, many were excited for this year’s World Cup round on the slopes of the Italian ski resort of Val di Sole. The course was slightly updated with a couple of additional features and the conditions were noticeably different to last year, with less fresh powder, colder temperatures freezing the ground and making the consequences for potential mistakes all the more severe.

The women’s race saw the return of Silvia Persico for her first outing of the 22/23 season. The Italian debuted on home soil after a strong road season, and she made her presence felt at the pointy end of proceedings, challenging for the lead alongside Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado. In the end she made a few too many mistakes, and the strength of Puck Pieterse on a tricky parcours in terms of bike handling was too much for the rest, the 20-year-old riding solo to victory after her erstwhile rival Fem van Empel came down early in the race and was carried off on a stretcher. Luckily, the Pauwels-Sauzen Bingoal rider did not suffer any broken bones in the crash.

The team suffered another loss in the men’s race, with Eli Iserbyt sliding out and also being carried off – he too managed to avoid the worst possible outcome with no broken bones. His team mate Michael Vantourenhout took the victory after an almost flawless race, proving once again he is the king of consistency and an incredible bike handler. It was an off-day for Mathieu van der Poel who wasn’t able to make an impact on the race after an average start, and rode tentatively, possibly warding against any potential injuries. It was a first elite World Cup podium for his team mate Niels Vandeputte instead, who rode strongly to take second spot. In third was the Swiss champion Kevin Kuhn, who himself achieved a first podium of his career, a triumph for the Tormans racing team.

FINAL THOUGHT

On Tuesday this week, the first team announcement for the first road race of 2023 was released, as The Team Formerly Known as GreenEdge revealed their women’s line-up for the Tour Down Under. Just a few short weeks since we pulled the curtains on last season, we have come full circle, with racing on the horizon - praise be to the benevolent cycling gods, who have seen fit to bless us with a return of the antipodean races in 2023. (Let’s leave it for another day to deal with the breaking news that the Australian team have yet another new name and this time it’s a tourist destination in Saudi Arabia and ARGH NOT MORE SPORTWASHING).

In short – we’re three weeks out from actual bike racing, people. This is not a drill!

The Last Word

<DEEP BREATH>

I think that about covers it. It’s been a crazy couple of weeks both from a festive perspective and in the world of cycling, and I for one am hoping it all goes quiet over Christmas, partly because everyone needs a little time to decompress at this time of year and partly because nobody needs a 5,000 word newsletter in the New Year, am I right?

All the best for the festive season, whatever it holds for you. If you’d like to support me in the meantime, head over to Ko-Fi and enjoy my virtual festive gratitude.

Thanks so much for all your support this year, and see you in 2023.

Cheers,

Katy

PS As of this moment (11:53am GMT on Friday 23rd December) we are STILL waiting for the Cav to Astana news.