VeloNews January/February 2020

As I write this column, pro cycling is still comfortably nestled in its off-season slumber Yet the season is just weeks from starting, and we have assembled a helpful guide to help you follow the riders and storylines that will define the 2020 WorldTour road calendar. It’s all in here: Jumbo-Visma vs. Team Ineos, Marianne Vos and Annemiek van Vleuten, the 2020 Olympics, Chloé Dygert, and so forth. Andrew Hood has an in-depth profile on pro cycling’s most intriguing Tour de France challenger, Primož Rogič, and his unlikely rise through pro cycling’s ranks. I profile Lorena Wiebes, the newest Dutch superstar to enter the UCI Women’s WorldTour, and examine the fearless spirit that has carried her to the top. Perhaps the most compelling story in this issue has nothing to do with WorldTour…

What role do the 2020 Olympics play in your 2020 ambitions? It’s a huge goal of mine. As a kid you think about how cool it would be to go to the Olympics, and I always watched. I came close in 2016 and the Olympics before that. I would say my approach isn’t just to focus on the Olympics next year. I’ll continue to do the races I would normally do in the spring and summer, and my hope is that it lines me up for the Olympics. I’m in a good position right now to qualify, and it’s nothing to really stress about, so long as I can stay healthy and injury-free. What’s your strategy for trying to make the U.S. Olympic team? Well, it comes down to coach’s selection, because the…

Magnus Sheffield’s aggressive riding during the UCI Junior Road Race World Championships set up his teammate, Quinn Simmons, for the win. Sheffield, 16, hung on for third, despite pulling for much of the race. Sheffield grew up outside of Rochester, New York, and was a competitive downhill skier at the Northwood Ski Academy in Lake Placid. When he was 11 he tried racing cyclocross. The rest is history. “My mom races too and my dad likes being part of a cycling family because he would work the pit,” Sheffield says. “My mom and I would do the race and we could make it a family trip.” HARRY HOW/GETTY IMAGES; JUSTIN SETTERFIELD/GETTY IMAGES…

“I wish I could bunnyhop high enough to say hello. Hope you enjoyed the race from up there, this one was for you.”— Mathieu van der Poel dedicated his cyclocross World Cup win in Tabor, Czech Republic, to grandfather Raymond Poulidor, who died at age 83 in November.“My gift to myself? I change my car’s rims: 500 euro.”— Italian Alberto Bettiol (EF Education First) on how he spent the prize winnings (20,000 Euro) from the Tour of Flanders“I’m just excited to have a season where it’s not decided by being a new mum.”— Lizzie Deignan (Trek-Segafredo) on racing her first full season since having a child 23 Days of racing for Deignan after the birth of her daughter, Orla, in September 2018 4 Podium finishes by Deignan during that period 12 Stetina’s pro…

ANDREW HOOD European Editor The 2020 elite men’s racing season will see a generational tug-of-war not seen in decades. The battle pits pro cycling’s old guard—Chris Froome, Vincenzo Nibali and Alejandro Valverde—against the most exciting generation to hit the peloton in years, led by Egan Bernal, Remco Evenepoel and Mathieu van der Poel. Sandwiched in between is the eponymous “Class of 1990” — Peter Sagan, Nairo Quintana, Michal Kwiatkowski, and Thibaut Pinot — who are also starting to have to look in the rearview mirror as well. Heightening the stakes even more will be the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and a very challenging worlds course in Verbier. Both routes offer climbers and grand tour-style riders a chance of a lifetime to try to strike gold or win the rainbow jersey. The 2020 season will see…

French cycling hero Bernard Hinault prepares to send the peloton off at the 1983 Tour of America, a four-stage race that pitted 20 top North American riders against 55 pro riders from Europe. The race boasted a sizable prize purse ($100,000), a course that hit historical markers from U.S. history, and a sprint finish just blocks from the White House. At the time, it was the biggest professional bicycle race in U.S. history. The only thing the race was missing, however, was Hinault’s official participation. While cycling heroes such as Phil Anderson, Allan Peiper, and even Roger DeVlaeminck all participated, Hinault, then a four-time Tour winner, was relegated to street clothes. He showed up at the start of stages 1 and 2 before boarding a flight back to France. Just 12…