At the start of the year 10 neo-pros were mentioned as worth following. Time to examine how the predictions fared and more importantly to see how the riders got on this year and what might come next?
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Where Are We Going?
The AIOCC, the Association Internationale des Organisateurs des Courses Cyclistes, yesterday issued a press release rejecting the UCI’s proposed reforms to pro cycling following a 77 to 6 vote. Ironically the press release isn’t public but L’Equipe broke the news and German website Radsport has a good synthesis.
Someone somewhere has a working copy of the UCI reforms. In recent years they’ve emerged buried in a PDF located in a dusty corner of the UCI website but these versions have been superseded by other proposals that are not public with only summary details sketched out by the occasional press release instead of a detailed masterplan to which everyone is working.
Lowlights of the Year
Having looked at the highs, time to descent into the darkened valley of low points to see what went wrong and more.
Highlights of the Year: Part V
The last of five highlights is a hard call. Like any list half the story is in the omissions and it forces you to cut out plenty of good moments. The Vuelta? Even nominating this stage race is tricky as it had several great moments.
2016 Pro Cycling iCal Calendar
Pro cycling’s off season fast approaching arriving but if the racing stops the planning doesn’t. Whether you’re plotting a victorious classics campaign or a trip to Europe you need to know when the pro races are.
Here’s the 2016 pro cycling calendar, subscribe or download an iCal file to import the same calendar into your organiser, phone and computer diary.
The Off Season
The sporting calendar isn’t quite over but almost every pro cyclist has stopped racing for the year.
A professional cyclist’s work is seasonal and if the work never stops from now until early 2016 the rhythm does given that the racing season is over. What happens in the off-season?
Il Lombardia Preview
The course changes every year but the race remains the same, a long distance test across the plains, valleys and climbs of Italy’s Lombardia region, a scenic race for viewers and a technical challenge for participants with double-digit gradient climbs and numerous twisty descents.
Thanks to Prendas
All sponsors get a note of thanks and it’s time to show some gratitude to Prendas Ciclismo for their support over the last month and beyond. Their ad has been here since the Vuelta a España, back in those days when Tom Dumoulin was seen as a time trial specialist.
Loyal readers will know the British bike shop already as they’ve had ads here before and sell the INRNG caps, armwarmers and jerseys.
If Prendas are new to you they specialise in clothing and have a range of stock including vintage and retro items including the GS Carpano jersey, as worn by Fausto Coppi and perhaps the inspiration for today’s MTN-Qhubeka jersey?
Wednesday Shorts
Etixx-Quickstep have unveiled Lidl as a new sponsor for 2016, the German discount retailer’s commitment isn’t known yet but is expected to appear on the kit as a partner but the team’s name won’t change. It steps in just as construction materials group Renson pulls out after switching its allegiance to Giant-Alpecin for 2016.
In the other direction to Renson could be Marcel Kittel. Today brings news in Het Nieuwsblad that Marcel Kittel could move from Giant-Alpecin to Etixx-Quickstep, buying himself out of his contract to make the switch however cyclingtips cools things a bit.
