Team Sky's 2019, The Year of Living Dangerously

by EDWARD PICKERING
Procycling UK, ISSUE 252 / FEBRUARY 2019

Can you imagine a peloton without Team Sky? No, me neither. It’s only January, so there is a lot of 2019 left for things to change, but from the moment Team Sky announced that this season would be the last under the current sponsorship, cycling has been indulging in a parlour game of possible outcomes, including the nuclear option: the end of the team.

Finding £30 million, or thereabouts, is possibly going to be David Brailsford’s hardest ever challenge, but I’ve been following the Team Sky principal for enough time to know that until official confirmation is published that the team will end, it would be better not to assume that the task is beyond him. Whatever happens, this has suddenly become the big narrative of the 2019 season, and as I write, the riders have barely raced yet.

But Sky is not the only story of the year as we begin the new season. We’ve looked at some of the other likely narratives in this, our season preview edition. We’re keen to see how the CCC team, formerly BMC, adjusts to its straitened circumstances, and whether the new sprinting generation of Viviani, Groenewegen and Gaviria have finally seen off the old guard of Cavendish, Greipel and Kittel. With the women’s sport growing every year, we want to see if the new Trek-Segafredo team can upset the dominance of Boels-Dolmans and the Dutch riders - they certainly started well, winning their first ever race in the first stage of the Tour Down Under.

I love the start of a new season. The year is a blank slate, full of possibilities. Some riders will find that their hopes and dreams will be achieved, or even surpassed, and others will experience lows and disappointment. Old heroes will continue to win; young, new faces will appear. And we’ll see new stories written about old races. Enjoy the season; let’s hope it’s a vintage one.