The final stage of the Tour of Beijing marked the end of the 2013 WorldTour season, with nine months of racing drawing to a close with a circuit of the Chinese capital’s Olympic Park.
For some, 2013 has been an undoubted success – Chris Froome (Team Sky) became the second Brit in as many years to win the Tour de France, Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) finished the year as number one in the world, as he had in 2012, and Chris Horner (Radioshack-Leopard) became the oldest rider ever to win a Grand Tour.
Benat Intxausti’s victory in Beijing saw Movistar topple Sky in the world team rankings, while Vincenzo Nibali ensured his debut year at Astana was a memorable one with victory at the Giro d’Italia.
For others – Juan Antonio Flecha (Vacansoleil-DCM) and Marco Pinotti (BMC Racing) among them – 2013 will mark their final year in the professional peloton having announced their retirements.
Other riders may look back upon the year and contemplate missed opportunities, lessons learned and many things to put right come 2014.
Regardless, the UCI WorldTour has once again enjoyed its fair share of ups and downs, thrills and spills, famous wins, big crashes and noble defeats. We have selected seven of the pivotal moments from another enthralling year in the top tier of professional cycling.
