Follow that!
2012 set new standards for British cycling, but we’re confident 2013 can be even better.
We’ll be expanding on our thoughts throughout the month in a series of feature length articles.
What technical developments can we expect in the year ahead? Can Team Sky achieve a second Grand Tour victory, or even two in the same season? Would a dedicated Minister for Cycling aid our case on the roads?
We’ll be asking these questions and more of leaders from the sport and industry in a bid to map out cycling’s post-2012 landscape.
The London Bike Show returns to the ExCel Centre in Docklands from January 17 to 20, and RCUK will be there in force, hosting the test track and offering visitors the chance to try some of the latest machines from Cannondale, Fondriest, Giant, Moda, Specialized, and Wilier.
January’s test schedule includes the Cube Agree GTC, the Dutch company’s Tiagra-equipped challenger in the increasingly competitive sub-£1,500 carbon market.
We’ll be getting familiar with Giant’s TCR SL, the machine supplied in its flagship incarnation to the Blanco Pro Cycling WorldTour team (formerly known as Rabobank).
And Bianchi will be sending us their new Sempre Pro: a machine known to company insiders as a ‘Baby Oltre’ and one whose newly racy persona left us impressed during a sneak preview last November.
Clothing tests will involve further winter kit from dhb, and brand new offerings from Le Col and Solo.
With winter still very much with us, this month’s test schedule will also contain its fair share of lights and indoor trainers, with offerings from Minoura, NiteRider, Light and Motion, Silva, and Tacx among them.
It may be January, but the racing calendar is still packed. The UCI Cyclo-Cross World Cup reaches its denouement with penultimate and final rounds in Italy and Holland respectively, and the UCI Track World Cup, last seen in Glasgow, continues in Mexico.
The British cyclo-cross championships will be held in Bradford on the second weekend of January, with Ian Field and Helen Wyman set to defend their titles.
And the UCI WorldTour, road racing’s flagship series, begins a new season at the Tour Down Under on January 22.
We’ll have previews, reports, galleries, and post-race analysis of each of these key events in the 2013 racing calendar.
Far from starting the year slowly, we’ll be going ‘full gas’ to bring you all of the above, plus the usual mix of breaking tech and racing news.
