Here’s a selection of ten established riders to watch in the coming season. Some stand on the cusp of a big win, some face challenges on the road and others face new challenges like leadership and cohabitation with new team mates.
2016 Pro Team Bikes
Here is the list of who is riding what in 2016. You’ll find all the pro team bikes for the 18 World Tour teams and the 23 Pro Continental teams. As usual it’s a mixed story with many top teams using the mix-and-match approach to parts in order to accommodate more paying sponsors.
New UCI Rankings System
Who is the better rider, Peter Sagan or Alejandro Valverde? It’s topic for a café chat but they can and are ranked arithmetically by the UCI and Valverde topped the rankings for 2015. Now cycling’s governing body is launching a new rankings system f0r 2016. Released by stealth with a Christmas Eve press release it’s got little coverage since.
Still, points can be the currency of the pro cyclist’s jobs market and the ranking system often matters to teams and fans alike. With this in mind here’s an explainer along with tables listing all the points to scroll past. There’s also a warning about confusion because if the UCI is launching a new ranking it’s also keeping an old one and they’ll both have similar sounding names.
2016 Race Calendar
Happy New Year, another lap around the sun. The racing season is only two weeks away with the Tour Femenino de San Luis starting things of and then the men begin with the Tour de San Luis and Tropicale Amissa Bongo both commencing one day ahead of the Tour Down Under.
Here’s the 2016 pro cycling calendar, subscribe or download the iCal file to import the same calendar into your phone or computer diary.
10 Predictions for 2016
Ten predictions for the new year. Given forecasts are storytelling masquerading as insight the claims below should be taken with a pinch of isotonic sports drink mix, don’t rush to the bookmakers just yet.
Should World Tour Pros Race The U23 Worlds?
The UCI have changed the rules and from 2016 onwards any rider under 23 can race the U23 World Championships, including World Tour pros. Previously pros with World Tour teams were excluded even if they were the right age. This change has brought howls of protest with visions of established pros on big budget teams riding away with the title at the expense of amateurs in search of recognition and reward. This has happened already and the rule change is probably the right thing to do.
Christmas Quiz – The Answers
A Christmas quiz with 50 questions, some are obvious, some odd, most can’t be Googled and a few are fiendishly difficult. By all means have a go and there’s a prize for the winner but most will probably find fun in the answers that will appear here in the coming days.
1. Can you name the joyous Noël pictured above, he’s now a sports director with a large team?
Noël Dejonckheere who was world points champion on the track and now a DS at BMC Racing.
2. Jesus H! No, nothing blasphemous, just the first name and initial of two World Tour pros. Name them.
Jesus Herrada (Movistar) and Jesus Hernandez (Tinkoff-Saxo)
3. Which Danish pro has a name that sounds like Christmas?
Christopher Juul-Jensen, Jul being Christmas in Danish.
The Christmas Holiday Quiz
A Christmas quiz with 50 questions. Some are obvious, some odd, most can’t be Googled and a few are fiendishly. By all means have a go and there’s a prize for the winner but most will probably find fun in testing themselves and seeing the answers that will appear here in the coming days.
Festive Greetings
1. Can you name the joyous Noël pictured above? He’s now a sports director with a large team.
2. Jesus H! Nothing blasphemous, just the first name and initial of two World Tour pros. Name them.
3. Which Danish pro has a name that sounds like Christmas?
What Happened to the 10 Predictions for 2015?
For fun at the start of the year there were 10 predictions for 2015. If you make predictions for the future it’s valuable to revisit them and see what happened… and what didn’t.
Who Will Make The Cut?
If the 2017 Tour de France does end up on the HC calendar for 2017 then a maximum of 14 out of 20 teams can come from the World Tour, meaning at least four World Tour teams won’t get an invitation to ride the Tour de France. The Tour is the biggest race with huge media coverage but every year even the most assiduous follower can forget a certain team is in the event. With this in mind which teams could be left out come July 2017?
If you’re into Schadenfreude then this could be a fun exercise but the real story behind this is the panic it will sow among several teams and sponsors.