TONIGHT’S THE NIGHT WE FORGET ABOUT DEADLINES

First up, a big thank you to our guest editor Lizzie Deignan, who has done an excellent job of making this a very special edition of Procycling and has been nothing but helpful throughout the whole process of putting it together. I’m relegated from my usual position on page 7 to this unfamiliar position, but on the positive side, I’ve had my feet up while Lizzie has been busy chasing contributors, writing captions and checking page proofs. There is also news. This is going to be the last edition of Procycling, which is heading to the great cycling magazine graveyard in the sky after 22 brilliant years. The covid pandemic wasn’t kind to our newsstand sales, and while we enjoyed an increase in subscriptions (thank you!), the ongoing lockdowns had an impact on the number of magazines we could sell. We were also facing large increases in printing costs. We’ll miss you. We were paid by various media companies over the years, but all the way through we believed we were really working for our readers and we worked hard at building a relationship of trust with you all. There was always, of course, a commercial side, but the priority of the editorial team, as well as balancing the books, was to provide intelligent coverage of pro cycling, with nothing more complicated than wellwritten words, beautiful photography and an elegant layout. The effort and care that we put in was a compliment to and inspired by our readership’s love and respect for the sport.

I believe cycling is the greatest sport in the world. It transcends mere results and action (though these in themselves are enough for many and that is fine), but also has the capacity to educate us, broaden our horizons and give us a window on the world, as well as holding up a mirror to ourselves. Procycling may have had its time, but we believe the best is yet to come for pro cycling. Thank you for reading and supporting the magazine over the years.