Happy New Year! The 2024 road cycling season has started with Lukas Pöstlberger (Jayco) winning the Sun Hung Kai Properties Hong Kong Cyclothon. Such is pro cycling that hibernation awaits…
UCI World Tour Points Race
The 2023 season is done and the team rankings have been published. You can see which teams scored big and it’s also the first season of a three-year promotion-relegation contest.
Giro d’Italia Route
The 2024 Giro d’Italia route has been published and here is a stage-by-stage look with all the profiles on one page and also some wider thoughts on the course. It looks easier, will it be better? Can organisers RCS tempt Tadej Pogačar to start?
Vertical Integration
Per Strand Hagenes wins the Sparkassen Münsterland Giro. Jumbo-Visma had three riders in the ten rider breakaway. Only Per Strand Hagenes rides for a separate team, Jumbo-Visma Development Team and had joined the World Tour team for the day. Of course there’s only a fine distinction between the two teams… and that’s the point.
More and more teams are changing their approach to talent identification and recruitment. Increasingly a team’s prime source of new talent is their development team and these squads are becoming structured and brought under direct control of the parent team.
The Moment Il Lombardia Was Won
He did it, hut he did it the hard way. Tadej Pogačar didn’t bank on his sprint in a small group but threw caution to the wind with a solo attack down the final descent.
Il Lombardia Preview
Can Tadej Pogačar make it three in a row? This time it’s not a rhetorical question as he’s been beaten last weekend and hasn’t looked so incisive in several recent races. So we’ll see if Primož Roglič or Remco Evenepoel can dethrone him, or whether someone else surprises this Saturday to break the grip of the big teams. Here’s the usual preview with course details, TV timings and a note on whether any leaves will be falling.
Takeover Notes
There are many angles to the mooted merger of the Jumbo-Visma and Soudal-Quickstep teams, the first being that it’s really not a merger. Let’s explore some of these from the label to the knock-on effect of Tour de France wildcards.
1 + 1 = ?
Take two successful companies, merge them and the idea is that the enlarged business will be even better, with increased scale, more assets, cost-savings and the ability to take from the best of both sides. In theory one plus one will equal more than two.
In pro cycling things are very different. Merge two teams and you’ve got one team that’s no bigger than before, and several headaches. So the recent reports that the Jumbo-Visma and Soudal-Quickstep teams could merge are perplexing. Unless the Dutch team really can’t find a sponsor.
Book Review: Vuelta Skelter
Vuelta Skelter, by Tim Moore
A raucous tale of re-riding the 1941 Vuelta a España that has plenty of comedy… and a darker side.
Promotion/Relegation Watch
A look at the promotion and relegation standings for the World Tour. It’s early for the three year system but still matters as we see teams recruiting to remedy things and there’s the pressing issue of automatic invitations for the major races next year.