24 | December | 2016

Oh, it’s been an exciting season, has it not? However, if you’re anything like me, this year outside of cycling has been so chaotic, that you might need reminding of what happened! With that in mind, we’ve put together a Christmas quiz to concentrate your mind on the boys in lycra riding through cityscapes and countryside … (NB: some of the pictures are clues, some are not, some may be red herrings …)

Who said it?

1 “Is Sagan beatable? What’s that question? He’s won a few races, but he hasn’t won everything… Everybody is beatable.”

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2 “I’m just happy it’s all over.”

3 “Right now, the thought of doing the Tour isn’t something that I’m going crazy about.”

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4 “People forget, I’m not a bad bike rider, you know what I mean? I can do stuff.”

5 “One week racing 15km climbs with Contador and then trying to do it on a k-and-a-half climb with Fabian is a bit different.”

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6 “I think we go about our business in the right way, still trying to perform in the right way.”

7 “I wasn’t so optimistic at the start because the climbs didn’t seem that difficult, but I attacked like crazy at the start.”

8 “I never had this as a goal to begin with. I feel like I’m trapped by it and that I sort of have to keep going.”

9 “I was lucky because Nizzolo didn’t close me on the fence. If he close me, for sure we crash because I don’t brake”

10 “I met the guy from Bora and now it’s time for him to play with cycling like a toy.”

Who am I?

11 Five Monuments, five new winners in 2016: name them and the race they won.

12 Which rider won two Grand Tour time trials, one national time trial championship, but fell short of his dream of Olympic gold?

13 Alejandro Valverde rode all three Grand Tours this year – but he only won one stage. Which stage in which Grand Tour?

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14 Who was the first to congratulate Vincenzo Nibali on winning the Giro at the summit finish of Stage 20?

15 Who won the most stages in each of this year’s Grand Tours, and how many did they each win?

Where were they?

16 Where did each of the Grand Tours start this year?

17 Where was Fabian Cancellara’s final race in the pro peloton?

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18 Where was Dan Craven in this picture and what was he doing?

19 Steven Kruijswijk went head first into a snow bank on the descent of which climb in the Giro d’Italia, causing him to lose the pink jersey and, ultimately, the GT itself?

20 Thomas de Gendt won one Grand Tour stage this year. Where was the finish line?

Stuff those jiffy bags

21 Why weren’t Etixx-QuickStep invited to this year’s Tour of Qatar?

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22 Who finally said what was in *that* jiffy bag and where were they when they said it?

23 There was one controversial Monument win this year. Which one was it and why was the winner controversial?

24 What controversial team manager came back into cycling after a year away to start a Continental development team, with an eye for a future WorldTour team?

25 The ASO, RCS Sport and Flanders Classics announced they were reducing the size of the pro peloton in their races. By how many riders have they said they would reduce the teams?