Here are the answers to the Christmas quiz. Well done to all who tried.
1. Dressed in red and white, he’s delivering the goods amid the cold conditions. Name this bicycling Santa Claus?
Zingle bells, Zingle bells, Axel Zingle all the way, oh what fun it is to win a stage of the Artic Race of Norway. The Cofidis neo-pro had a solid debut season this year with three wins, each in hilly races with harsh conditions.
No news on Qavendish. With the British champion spotted on a Wilier bike, Mark Cavendish’s move to Astana-Qazakhstan seemed to be a done deal, La Gazzetta reported it as such… but no more since. Only there’s no need to hurry any announcement.
40 questions. Some easy, some that will defeat Google and as usual a few of the answers give us a sideways look at the sport…
1. Dressed in red and white, he’s delivering the goods amid the cold conditions. Name this bicycling Santa Claus?
The final highlight of the year? It’s hard, because to pick one is to exclude so many. So here’s a cop-out with several quick picks from 2022 which has proved to be an excellent vintage.
The fourth pick of the season and it’s getting difficult to pick because to chose one means to leave others out. So here’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège, a difficult choice but a few extra factors swung it.
Another highlight of the year, and another stage of the Tour de France, this time Stage 14 from Saint-Etienne to Mende where Michael Matthews put on a masterpiece on a stage set buzzing by an early attack from Tadej Pogačar that had Jumbo-Visma scrambling to respond.
The second of the year’s highlights is Stage 14 from the Giro d’Italia, a circuit race on the edge of Turin that featured the climb of the Superga.
Time to pick five highlights from the season, typically great sporting moments and revisit the moment and review with the benefit of time and hindsight. Presented in no particular order, first is Stage 11 of the Tour de France, the day the race was turned upside down.
Jan Ullrich, The Best There Never Was by Daniel Friebe
The Tour de France dominates pro cycling, the star around which the sport orbits. Many riders make it the goal of their year, other races struggle for attention. Jan Ullrich’s career was part of this, his first win suggested he’d dominate the Tour, and with it the sport for years to come. Even when he didn’t win, there was always the seasonal targeting of the Tour with his preparation getting more intense the closer the race got.
All teams have to secure sponsorship but the smaller squads have it hard just to get meagre funding relative to their rivals, then face all the challenges of allocating what they’ve got. The B&B-KTM team and its big ambitions for the future have gone, taking with it Mark Cavendish’s plans, and others too including a women’s team that will never turn a pedal. It’s a story about one small team but also a structural issue for pro cycling.