5 Reasons To Be Excited About The 2013 Cycling Season

2012 was a phenomenal year on the road, full of gripping story lines and incredible racing.

Bradley Wiggins Celebrating on the Champs-Elysees

There was the stunning, record breaking return to form of Tom Boonen which saw him dominate the cobbles and win Paris-Roubaix for a fourth time.

Then we saw magnificent rides from Bradley Wiggins and Ryder Hesjedal to become Britain and Canada's first grand tour winners respectively followed by an epic (not to mention brutal) Vuelta that saw Contador return to the top step of a grand tour podium for the first time in over three years (excluding the 2010 TdF).


Throw in the emergence of Peter Sagan as a genuine superstar in the sport at the age of just 22, and top it off with a couple of exciting Olympic races and a great world champs which saw Phillipe Gilbert put a pretty average season behind him to win the road race in brilliant fashion and it was a pretty fun year.

Yet, for obvious reasons, the sport is under a pretty large, Texan shaped cloud right now so rather than dwell on that I've decided to run down my '5 reasons to be excited about the 2013 season'.

1. Grand Tour GC Battles

Contador in TT action

Next years grand tours should be incredibly competitive, with Alberto Contador eligible for the entire 2013 season, he will probably start as favourite for the Tour de France, however, he will face stiff competition from a number of riders including Andy Schleck (hopefully), Joaquim Rodriguez and Chris Froome who will more than likely lead the formidable Team Sky at this years tour which includes four mountain top finishes, one being on the legendary Alpe-d'huez (the second time they'll climb it that day). The Giro D'Italia should also be very competitive and exciting next year with Bradley Wiggins, Ivan Basso and his former Liquigas team mate Vincenzo Nibali all likely to target the maglia rosa next year. Look out for the likes of Teejay Van Garderen, Thomas De Gendt, Alejandro Valverde and Ryder Hesjedal as outside bets to challenge for GC honours.


2. Peter Sagan
Last year Peter Sagan was incredible, 3 stages in the Tour De France helped him capture the green jersey, perhaps more impressive was the way he won his stages, proving that he has the potential to climb and making the rest of the peloton sit up and take notice, if they hadn't already. He also put in some strong classics performances proving his potential as a real all rounder. Look for even bigger and better things next year from the Slovak who doesn't turn 23 until January.


3. Boonen v's Cancellara
Ok, so this isn't new to 2013, but I have loved seeing these two greats battle it out over the cobbles for three weeks every year and with both riders the wrong side of 30 we should enjoy it while we can.

4. Cavendish the Leading Man Again.
The biggest move of the off season has seen Mark Cavendish join Omega Pharma Quickstep. The Belgian outfit will throw their resources behind the Manx sprinter who will be looking to add to his incredible Palmares. Look for Cav to dominate in the normal manner as he continues his march towards the record books.

5. A Cleaner Sport
Last but by no means least is my belief that cycling is finally sorting it's act out and getting clean(er). The Armstrong case coupled with teams actively seeking to publicly clean their act up and fix the sport from within seem to have had a positive effect. Clearly a lot of work still needs to be done and some stronger leadership from Pat Mcquaid and the UCI would be nice, but for the first time in a long time there seems to be real momentum. There will be riders who test positive in 2013 but the new generation of riders coming into the sport without having been exposed to the toxic ways of the past appears to have reached critical mass and progress is finally being made.