EDWARD PICKERING

By the time you read this it’ll be 2021, we’ll be contemplating a new professional cycling season with new hope, and I may have digested the cheese and wine with which I celebrated another year of

Procycling magazine over the Christmas period. We can look forward this year with more optimism than I ever thought would be possible last year. I’m anticipating a calendar which is much fuller than 2020’s, and in a less kooky order, or at least in a kooky order, but one that I’m used to.

But normality is still some distance off for all of us, and that is true for the world of professional cycling as well. The good news is, we still have the best sport in the world, and we have the memory of some absolutely cracking races last year to help build impetus for the 2021 season. But we might still not be seeing big crowds, which I believe are integral to cycling’s colour and excitement, at races. The riders will still be operating in bubbles, autograph-hunting and selfies are absolutely out of the question and we may spend a lot of races crossing our fingers that the covid tests come back negative. When races are scheduled to take place in regions or areas that are suffering from second or third waves, or are still putting plans for vaccination in place, we may yet lose a few races this year as well.

What we all need to do is pat ourselves on the backs that we’ve largely got through the challenges of covid in good shape so far, encourage the sport to continue the good work, as well as acknowledging and learning from mistakes, and keep supporting the riders, the teams and the races. And lastly, please support the media who cover the sport - we want to keep bringing you the best cycling magazine in the world. That’s one thing that won’t change in 2021.