Every year, fans of men’s road racing throughout the world eagerly await the third Tuesday of January. 2019 is no exception.
This Tuesday, January 15, the UCI WorldTour once again gets underway with the Santos Tour Down Under. This Australian event never fails to produce a thrilling start to the season, thanks to its six days of close-fought racing action.
And as ever in the ten months of UCI WorldTour action - from Australia in January through to the Gree-Tour of Guangxi in China in October - there are multiple sporting questions that only time and top-quality bike racing can answer.
One of the burning issues for many of the followers of the UCI WorldTour is whether Chris Froome (Team Sky) can obtain a record-equalling fifth victory in the Tour de France this July. With victories in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017, but third last year, Froome could well write a new piece of cycling history in 2019. But there will be no shortage of rivals for the British rider. Defending Tour de France winner and Sky team-mate Geraint Thomas hopes to claim a second win, and whether Thomas can repeat last year’s unexpected victory is another key question for fans this season.
So, too, is whether a non-Team Sky rider can put an end to the British team’s almost unbroken domination in the Tour de France since 2012. Top of the list of alternative candidates are Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb), second behind Froome in last year’s Giro d’Italia and Thomas in the Tour de France, former Vuelta a España and Giro d’Italia winner Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team), and Grand Tour specialist Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida).
Amongst the younger generation of racers whose continuing progress will be watched closely are 2018 Vuelta a España winner Simon Yates (Mitchelton Scott), stage racers Miguel Angel Lopez (Team Astana) and Enric Mas (Deceuninck-Quick Step), Classics specialist Michael Valgren (Team Dimension Data) and allrounder Egan Bernal (Team Sky).
From Froome to Valverde and from the Santos Tour Down Under to the Gree-Tour of Guangxi, there is certainly plenty to anticipate, analyse and enjoy this year in the UCI WorldTour. Don’t miss it!