Now we have got through the Christmas period and into 2023, it really is time to start thinking about the road season. The Tour Down Under is back and starts on the 15 January, so we thought it was time for us at Cycling Weekly took our tarot cards and looked at horoscopes and have rustled together six predictions for the year.
Now, we decided that these predictions had to be bold and a little bit exciting. “Tadej Pogačar will be good” or “DSM will struggle without Lorena Wiebes” would not cut the mustard for this list. Instead, we each picked a couple of things that we reckon will happen, but to the untrained eye might seem wild.
At the end of the year, we will each come back and see how wrong we were. Naming no names, but one VP might be eating his words as soon as Paris-Nice.
Seeing as I, Adam, am the one writing this introduction, I get to add an extra couple of predictions in. Tadej Pogačar will win the Tour of Flanders, and the newly expanded and moved Vuelta Femenina will be excellent. There you go.
Jonas Vingegaard won’t win a race – Vern Pitt
I was going to predict that he won’t win the Tour de France, but frankly that’s expected. That’s saying nothing about Vingegaard, it’s just that defending a maiden Tour de France win is a rare feat in the last 50 years the list of those that have managed it is short and includes only Tadej Pogačar, Miguel Indurain, Laurent Fignon, Bernard Hinault and Eddy Merckx (stretching the definition of 50 years a touch with that last one).
Most often the pull of parties, sponsors and general merriment puts you on the back foot when you return to riding – just ask Geraint Thomas.
But I’d rather be bold in my predictions and go down in flames than be boring, so if that’s a run of the mill reading of the runes I’d rather say he won’t win a race in 2023. This isn’t because he’s not a phenomenal athlete and possibly even a generational talent, it’s more because of how he’ll be the centre of attention from the moment he hits a start-line.
If there’s one thing we know about Vingegaard it is that he’s not terribly comfortable with that. He kept all press and public appearances to a bare minimum after his Tour victory and he told almost every Tour de France press conference during the race that he’s just a simple family guy at heart.
His life in 2023 could end up being the most uncomfortable it has ever been and all those stress hormones bouncing around his system are not a recipe for wins on the…