I am Jack, and I am a founding member of VeloVoices. I will watch pretty much any racing I can find, though I have a particular love for the spring Classics and a penchant for all things cycling in South America. When not watching cycling, I can usually be found writing about Italian football, much to the disdain of Kitty. Here are my wishes for 2013.
1. An exciting Tour de France
Every cycling fan knows there’s something special about the Tour de France, a buzz that no other race – however good the parcours – has. When it’s a complete snoozefest, it’s a bit of a letdown. So I hope for a supremely aggressive, exciting Tour, hotly contested until the final day in the mountains.
2. Philippe Gilbert: rainbow rocket
Wish 2: Let the rest of the peloton chase the rainbow (image courtesy of Davide Calabresi)
PhilGil was dealt a rough hand in 2012, managing to salvage it at the last with his rainbow jersey success. Hopefully he will reverse the rainbow curse and be back to his attacking best for the Ardennes Classics. It’s just not the same seeing him huffing and puffing his way up climbs.
3. The carrots keep on attacking
Euskaltel-Euskadi may have lost their all-Basque (or at least nearly all-Basque) recruitment policy over the silly season, but hopefully they won’t lose their Basque heart, as it’s when they’re suicidally attacking up a mountain that the carrots are at their entertaining best.
4. Jonathan Tiernan-Locke delivers
Jonathan Tiernan-Locke is very much a British rider I could take a liking to. I love a good puncheur, and with JTL’s unusual career path it is excellent to see him given a chance by Sky. I hope he takes it.
5. Rui Costa’s upward curve continues
Wish 5: Rui Costa goes from strength to strength (image courtesy of Danielle Haex)
Prior to 2012, Rui Costa was best known for being on the receiving end of a wheel lobbed his way by Carlos Barredo in some sort of Iberian feud. Last season, he changed that, with the biggest win of his career in the overall classification at the Tour de Suisse. He is a funny rider, good on both mountainous climbs and hilly classics. At 26, it seems the time is right for a big season.
6. Colombian climbers excel
With the help of Rigoberto Uran and Nairo Quintana amongst others, Colombian cycling is currently enjoying a resurgence. With their incredible climbing stock and through the great work of the Colombia-Coldeportes team – who are hoping for a Tour de France wildcard – it would be fantastic to see that continue.
7. Rolls Roy-ce returns
Wish 7: Jeremy Roy attacks everything going in this year’s Tour and finally wins a stage! (image courtesy of Wikipedia)
The Tour de France wasn’t the same last year without the attacking exploits of Jeremy Roy, who was so aggressive the year before. Unfortunately for all his efforts he never managed to win a stage, and I hope that changes this year.
8. Pat McQuaid leaves cycling forever
Self-explanatory.
9. A great year for VeloVoices
With a sixth member on board, VeloVoices will hopefully be more entertaining than ever in 2013!
10. No more scandals
Wouldn’t it be nice for the focus to be purely on a great season of racing, for once?