Four steps to making bike-based resolutions you'll stick to

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With the new year comes new goals and resolutions backed by enthusiasm, energy, good intentions, and sometimes a few adult beverages. However, it turns out it's a lot harder to keep to these resolutions then we think, and many people aren't able to stick to them the whole year.

 In an effort to help you keep your word, we asked performance psychologist Bill Beswick to suggest ways to ensure your resolution lasts…

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1. Commit it to paper

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Decide what your goal is and why you’re doing it, then write it down with a deadline for you to achieve it. Make sure you’ll regularly see your list of goals – create a diary reminder on your phone, for example, or stick it to your fridge as a constant spur to keep it fresh in your mind. 

It needn’t be your action plan as such, just the eventual target, whether it’s a specific ride you’re working towards or a weight or fitness target. This will serve to motivate you when you’re flagging or possibly tempted to go ‘off plan’.

2. Create an action plan

Break your resolution into micro-manageable steps that are realistic yet challenging. These have their own dates and targets on a smaller scale. If you’re training for a major race, this will be your weekly ride schedule – distances covered, times achieved plus comments on how you feel.

• Related: How to train like a pro

3. Take some inspiration for motivation

4. Start measuring tomorrow, Monday January 1st

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How to master a fixed gear bike

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Alex Blomeley, veteran of fixie fixture Red Hook Crit, explains the skills needed for going fixed gear.

• Best bike: our buyer's guide to which bicycle type you should buy
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1. Work on weak spots

There’s a myth that cyclists struggle to turn right on a fixie, the truth is sharp turns in general are a challenge on a fixed-gear bike. Velodromes bank so you don’t hit your pedal on the inside of the corner, but that’s a luxury you don’t have on the flat, be that in a crit race or racing to work. Finding how low you can lean through a corner is a tough learning curve. Often I purposefully lean far enough over when practicing to strike a pedal, reminding myself of where the limit is.

2. Do the checks

A major appeal of fixies is that they are fun to ride and they’re much lower maintenance than bikes where you regularly need to check gear cogs and cables. It still does pay to give your bike a regular once over, checking that nuts are tightened properly and there’s no corrosive muck on the frame, but otherwise take every opportunity to ride it and work on your techniques including track standing and retaining your balance.

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3. Think ahead

When you’re riding a fixed-gear bike you’re forced to think a move or two ahead, especially when you’re cornering. You can’t stop pedalling and so the skill is to give yourself room to manoeuvre and slow things down a little. Focusing on your line is crucial, as are fast reactions. You can’t just slam on the brakes, either, so if you are in a traffic situation it really pays to look ahead and always be prepared to make adjustments on the fly.

4. Learn speed control

Hill climbs and descents on a fixed-gear bike can be a challenge — although on relatively gradual inclines it’s not as tough as you may imagine. Working on climbs and getting used to controlling the bike when you’re going downhill is a really useful exercise for newcomers. Seeking out local clubs, riders or events through social media is also an effective way of gleaning advice and knowledge of suitable local routes too.

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Wanty-Groupe Gobert finalise 2017 roster

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Belgian Pro Continental team Wanty-Groupe Gobert today announced their final 2017 roster, which includes 22 riders from five different nations. Nine new riders will strengthen the 2017 squad, including notable additions Lieuwe Westra from Astana, Guillaume Van Keirsbulck from Etixx-QuickStep and Yoann Offredo from FDJ. The staff remains unchanged with four sports directors.

The team will travel to Benidorm, Spain, January 9-21 for a training camp. The team's first race of the new season will take place on Sunday, January 29, with GP La Marseillaise, followed by Étoile de Bessèges.

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Wanty-Groupe Gobert 2017 roster:
Simone Antonini, Frederik Backaert, Jerome Baugnies, Thomas Degand, Kenny Dehaes, Tom Devriendt, Fabien Doubey, Wesley Kreder, Guillaume Levarlet, Guillaume Martin, Mark McNally, Xandro Meurisse, Marco Minnaard, Danilo Napolitano, Yoann Offredo, Andrea Pasqualon, Robin Stenuit, Guillaume Van Keirsbulck, Kevin Van Melsen, Pieter Vanspeybroeck, Frederik Veuchelen, Lieuwe Westra

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Dombrowski: I'm still trying to figure out how far I can go

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Earlier this year Joe Dombrowski made the decision to extend his stay at the Cannondale-Drapac team for a further two years – testament to the fact that, after a shaky start to his professional career at Team Sky, the young American has found his feet and is making progress.

Dombrowski was considered one of the most exciting prospects in the sport when he signed for Sky, the Baby Giro champion joining the big budget team who’d just won their first Tour de France. But, due in part to health problems – Dombrowski had to undergo surgery to repair his iliac artery – things didn’t work out as planned.

“I don’t necessarily regret being in Sky but, looking at it now, with the perspective and experience I have, I don’t know if I’d recommend it for a first-year pro,” Dombrowski told Cyclingnews at Cannondale-Drapac’s off-season gathering in Catalonia.

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“As a neo-pro it’s easy to get lost in a team like Sky. Which I think was a little bit the case with me. They’re there to win Grand Tours and everything is put into that. In your first year you might not even be ready to ride a Grand Tour yet, so what do you do then?”

After two years in each set-up, the 25-year-old is now well placed to assess the Sky years with a level head and compare the two experiences.

“I find that I’ve made a lot more progress at Cannondale, and I also just have a lot more fun – it’s a more laid-back environment,” he said.

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Van der Poel hopes to return in time for Dutch national championships

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Mathieu van der Poel will miss Sunday’s Grand Prix Sven Nys in the wake of his heavy crash at the Azencross on Thursday, but the Beobank-Corendon rider is hopeful that he will be back in action in time to defend his Dutch national cyclo-cross title in Sint-Michielsgestel on January 8.

Van der Poel lost control on a descent on the penultimate lap of Thursday’s Azencross and had to be taken away on a stretcher. The Dutchman was taken to hospital but sustained no broken bones in the incident. He skipped the Versluys cyclo-cross on Friday as a consequence and he will also forgo Sunday’s GP Nys in Baal as a precaution.

“I hoped right away that it wasn’t too bad, because the major crosses this season are still to come,” Van der Poel told Sporza. “I was groggy, but it looked worse than it actually was. I need to rest now for 48 hours and see how I feel afterwards, but I certainly won’t be racing in Baal.”

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Van der Poel’s crash at Azencross came about as he tussled with Telenet-Fidea duo Tom Meeusen and Toon Aerts at the front of the race. When Aerts accelerated, Meeusen allowed a gap to open, and Van der Poel had just surged around Meeusen into second place when he fell.

“I didn’t think I was unconscious but the first aid staff told me I was. I can imagine the moment of impact but I can’t remember it so well. I only know that I felt nothing in my face and had quite some pain in my neck. That was nasty,” Van der Poel said. " I went past Meeusen on the outside, and I went with too much speed toward the mound. And then the lights went out.”

Van der Poel has been the outstanding performer of the cyclo-cross season to date, despite delaying the beginning of his campaign after he underwent surgery on a knee injury in July. The centrepiece of his season will be the World Championships in Luxembourg in late January, as he looks to regain the crown he won in 2015. Next weekend’s national championships will serve as the beginning of Van der Poel’s countdown to the Worlds.

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Malacarne switches to mountain biking with DMT Racing

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Davide Malacarne will compete for mountain bike team DMT Racing in 2017 after failing to secure a contract on the road for the coming season. The Italian had spent the past two years at Astana Pro Team but was not retained at the end of the 2016 campaign.

Although Malacarne has an off-road pedigree, winning the junior cyclo-cross world title in 2005, his competitive mountain bike experience is limited to a scant few races at underage level. He is likely to make his debut for DMT Racing in late January, and will focus on the marathon discipline.

“A month ago, thanks to the Zecchetto family behind DMT, I got in contact with the new team,” Malacarne told Gazzetta dello Sport. “I took the decision to start with them in mountain biking, a discipline in which I’ve never competed apart from a few juvenile races. I’ll take part in the important competitions, like the World Cup. My debut will very probably take place in Spain, at the Costa Blanca Bike Race on January 26.”

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Malacarne began his professional career with Quick-Step in 2009, winning a stage of the Volta a Catalunya in 2010. He moved on to Europcar in 2012 before joining Astana ahead of the 2015 campaign. An experienced rider with eight completed Grand Tours to his name, Malacarne rode in the service of Vincenzo Nibali as he won the 2016 Giro, but found himself surplus to requirements at Astana at season’s end. His final appearance with the team came at the Vuelta a España, which he abandoned in the second week.

“I received other offers, but I didn’t have motivation. This new experience, by contrast, fascinates me,” Malacarne said. “I’m in a team of champions, with the world champion Tiago Ferreira and the former world champion Ilias Periklis.

“My condition is already good, from going out on the bike and running in the mountains. I just need to dust off my technique and for that reason I’ve taken up cyclo-cross again.”

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Canyon Stitched 720° first ride review

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We tested Canyon’s Stitched 360° hardtail a couple of years back and loved it, so we were itching to get our hands on this full-suspension version when the German brand sneaked it out under their freeride team last year. We knew the Canyon Stitched 720° could kill it on a slopestyle course but would it be equally at home flowing through small trails and pump tracks or finding hucks out and about in town?

• Best bike: our buyer's guide to which bicycle type you should buy
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Canyon Stitched 720° spec overview

• Rear Shock: RockShox Monarch RT
• Fork: RockShox Pike DJ
• Headset: Cane Creek 40
• Brakes: Avid Elixir DB 3
• Hubs: Stitched 360°
• Cassette: 11t
• Rims: Alex FR 30
• Tyres: Maxxis IKON eXCeption + Exo 3C MaxxSpeed
• Cranks: Truvativ Descendant
• Chainrings: 32t
• Chain: KMC Z510HX
• Bottom Bracket: SRAM GXP
• Stem: Canyon V16

Canyon Stitched 720° frame and equipment

The stiff aluminium frame delivers 100mm of rear wheel travel via a RockShox Monarch RT shock. There’s a tapered head tube up front and integrated chain tugs out back to keep the wheel in place in the horizontal dropouts and the chain tight. Ours did unwind themselves occasionally, so make sure you check regularly.

While the geometry charts may suggest a different ride to the hardtail version, most of the changes are to accommodate the rear shock and make very little difference to the handling. Because the main pivot is concentric with the bottom bracket (BB), the chainstays are only 5mm longer than on the Stitched 360°.

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Canyon’s own Stitched 360° parts make up most of the hardware and are all well matched to the frame. The 31.8mm diameter, 760mm wide bar has a nice sweep and rise, and there’s plenty of space for the super-wide, mushroom-style grips, though we’d have preferred lock-on rather than slide-on versions.

Canyon Stitched 720° ride impression

Slopestyle bikes, like their hardtail cousins, dirt jump bikes, just unlock the big kid in us all, filling our heads with thoughts of backflipping, 360ing and tailwhipping through our local jumps — until we remember that, actually, we’ll be lucky to make it through without crashing.

Canyon Stitched 720° early verdict

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2017 Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic: 5 riders to watch

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The 2017 cycling season gets underway early in Australia with the Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic taking place around Geelong from January 1-3. Due to how the calendar falls in 2017, the criterium series is down from four days to three to avoid a clash with the Australian national championships but that hasn't stopped a strong field of Australian and international riders for both the men and women's events.

While the criterium series is suited to the fast finishers, the three courses all offer up something different for both riders and spectators to enjoy with aggressive and frenetic action all but assured. Cyclingnews casts an eye over some of the riders who are likely to hit the headlines over the three-day 'bay crits'. 

Caleb Ewan (Orica-Scott)

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Australian criterium champion Caleb Ewan has been the man to beat at the 'bay crits' since his 2012 debut when he won two stages. Overall victory followed in 2013, 2015 and 2016 when the 22-year-old enjoyed his tenth career win. With intimate knowledge of the courses and another European road season in his legs, it will again be a tough task to get the better of the Orica-Scott man.

Since starting his winning ways in 2012 as a 17-year-old, Ewan has been the most consistent rider and shown he can win with or without a lead out train. Never shying away from the opportunity to enjoy a race win, Ewan has used the 'bay crits' to hone his form for the nationals and Tour Down Under while also enjoying great success. With a strong four-man team in support of his sprint aims, Michael Hepburn, Luke Durbridge, Damien Howson and Mitch Docker will join Ewan for the race, another dominant display looks likely with the possibility of a full clean-sweep well within his reach.

Ed Clancy (JLT Condor)

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Noble balancing under-23 targets with developmental goals

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The top under-23 rider in the UCI women's cyclo-cross rankings as of the final week of 2016, 21-year-old Ellen Noble (Aspire Racing), is living up to expectations and then some as one of the most promising riders in the American women's field.

The defending US under-23 champion has made consistent progress in her development up to this point since she began focusing more squarely on cyclo-cross after getting her start on the mountain bike. In the middle of a solid (and busy) 'cross season, and with a road contract signed for next year, Noble is trying to balance her wide-ranging aspirations and with staying productive in her efforts to grow into a successful elite racer.

"I'm trying to make the most of it, really focusing on having a good result at nationals and Worlds, but what's super hard to balance is that yes, I want to have the best possible season that I can as an under-23, but I don't want it to take away from what I'm trying to do as an elite rider in the future," Noble told Cyclingnews.

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"I want to be able to see the forest through the trees. Right now I'm just so focused on under-23, but more importantly I'm really trying to lay the foundation for a successful elite career for a very, very long time going forward. So if this season if I could repeat at nationals, if I could have an improved result – I was sixth last year – at Worlds, if I could improve on that by a place or two, that would be really, really exciting."

Noble heads into 2017 coming off a promising – if frustrating – showing at the Heusden-Zolder World Cup round, where she spent the first two laps near the front of the race before a mechanical set her back, leading to a 19th-place finish. She has raced every World Cup event so far this season, with top 10s at Cross Vegas, Jingle Cross and Zeven, making her the series' top-ranked under-23 racer. Before long, however, she'll drop the U23 designation and score results purely as an elite rider, while also figuring to expand her portfolio onto the road.

It's never easy to manage expectations in a sport that has seen riders dominate at a young age. Sanne Cant (IKO Enertherm-Beobank) was scoring big wins at age 21, and current world champ Thalita de Jong (Rabo-Liv) is just 23 years old after all – but Noble is careful not to lose sight of the long term.

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News Year's resolutions for Boels Dolmans riders - Women's News Shorts

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Boels Dolmans riders reveal some New Year's resolutions - Video

Riders from the world's best women's team engaged in the time-honoured tradition of making a few News Year's resolutions, going so far as to immortalize their promises on video and posting them to the Boels Dolmans Facebook page.

"We jumped on the New Year's Resolution bandwagon with this one," the team wrote in a message accompanying the video. "We asked all 11 riders to share their (non-cycling!) goals for the upcoming year. Tell us what you hope to learn, do, not do, improve and accomplish in 2017 in the comments. Happy New Year, everyone!!"

Riders' goals for the upcoming year vary from flossing every night to learning Spanish and being better at responding to emails. Watch the video below to see what the women of Boels Dolmans hope to achieve in 2017.  

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Six Kazakh riders for Astana in 2017

The Astana Women's Team will feature six riders from the UCI squad's home country of Kazakhstan, including three returning riders and three new recruits.

Returning Kazakh riders include the most experienced rider, 27-year-old Natalya Saifutdinova, who won the national championship road race and participated at last two world championships, along with Makhabbt Umutzhanova and Tatyana Geneleva. The three new additions to the team are Rinata Akhmetcha, Amiliya Iskakova and Zhanerke Sanakbayeva, all young riders with a background in both road and track cycling.

Bizkaia-Durango adds two African riders for 2017

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New Year Honours list: Who's made the Queen's list in 2016?

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BBC Sport looks at some of the stars who have made the New Year Honours list - including cyclists Laura and Jason Kenny.

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Over to you: Is steel real?

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Spend enough time in bike shops and you'll hear the phrase “steel is real”. It evokes the days when everyone rode lugged steel frames and implies that this material is somehow more genuine, more authentic than alloy or carbon. But is that true? And does it matter anyway?

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My favourite bike (bought with my own money) is made from steel. Reynolds 725 tubing to be precise, heat-treated in Taiwan for extra strength. I love how comfortable and springy it feels. I also like the classic, clean looks of thin tubing, and the fact it can be repaired anywhere in the world with a welding rig. And if I treat it right, it should last longer than I do.

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Yet I still marvel at the ride qualities of titanium, the lightness of carbon, and the stiffness of alloy. I'm not sure it really matters if I'm riding the same material as Eddy Merckx once did. Does every bike need to last forever? Do steel frames actually have a soul? Is steel 'real'?

These are big questions, so I need help from BikeRadar readers — what do you think? Please tell us in the comments below!

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Gear of the year: Russell Eich's 2016 MTB picks

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2016 is wrapping up. It was an amazing year with tons of riding, lots of fun trips and loads of incredible bikes and equipment. As I reminisce about the best gear of the year, I asked myself what things have I used the most, which do I miss, and which products do I choose over other options? From full bikes to the little necessities in every rider's life, here are some standouts for me.

• Will 2017 be the year of the dropper post?
• Tested: When do plus size tires make sense?
• Everything you ever wanted to know about cleaning your bike chain

Fox Transfer Factory dropper post

Dropper posts have quickly become a must-have item for most mountain bikers. However, a bunch of posts' reliability has left a lot to be desired. This is where Fox's updated Transfer Factory post comes in. Not only does it have an ultra-smooth, controlled action, it's also been rock solid reliable all season. I dig the remote size and feel, I like the clunk that signifies the saddle is at full extension, I admire the ease of a simple cable for installation, and I really appreciate being able to modulate the speed of return. But most of all, I love that I haven't had to pull it apart and rebuild it.

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Rocky Mountain Pipeline

I'll admit, I've been a huge fan of Rocky Mountain's Froriders since before I could adjust a derailleur. Wade Simmons is still my hero. A lot of those early freeride lines were performed on a Pipeline. This new version is a pretty far cry from the URT goodness of the 90s, but it's still crazy fun with 27.5 plus-size tires. The Pipeline wasn't the lightest, or longest travel, or most expensive bike I rode this year, but it was amazing in that I instantly felt at home maching into seriously rowdy terrain aboard it. 

Possibly more than any other bike, it encouraged riding like a total hooligan: forget line choice, don't worry about setting cornering speed, just hang on and look for the next section to get stupid with. In fact, the more I rode it, the more surprised I was by how capable it was. Leave the competitive angst at home, the Pipeline is a mountain bike for the everyday rider looking for fun above all else. 

• Tested: When do plus size tires make sense?

TLD A1 MIPS Vertigo helmet

• Best mountain bike helmets for trail riding

Nox Composites Kitsuma wheels 

• Wide wheels abound for road and mountain

Shimano AM9 shoes 

• Flat pedals or clip-in, here are the shoes for mountain biking 

Rocky Mounts Tomahawk bike mount 

• Upright racks to fork-mounts, here are roof-mounted bike haulers

Qloom Hey Dude liner shorts

• Buyer's guide to baggy shorts

Maxima Chain Pro lube

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Cardiac issues force Gianni Meersman into retirement

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Giannni Meersman will retire from professional cycling after routine tests discovered a cardiac arrhythmia and scar tissue on his heart, according to a statement released today by Fortuneo-Vital Concept, the French team the former Etixx-QuickStep rider had signed with for 2017.

"During a routine medical check-up, a cardiac arrhythmia and scar tissue were found in the 31-year-old Belgian rider," the team explained in Friday's announcement. "Additional tests then confirmed that they would pose a serious danger to his health if he continued to exercise his sport at a high level, which forced him to make a difficult and dramatic decision to stop his career immediately."

Meersman, who won two stages of the Vuelta a Espana in 2016, said in today's announcement that he was devastated when he first got the news several weeks ago.

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"In the meantime, I had additional tests and scans, but they confirmed that this health risk would remain if I continued to ride high-level cycling, so the specialists advised me to end my active career," Meersman said. "Compared to my wife and daughter, who put everything aside during my career, I can not and will not take such a risk. Cycling was not only my profession but also my passion, and so it was with great pain that I made this decision."

Meersman started his pro career in 2007 with the Discovery Channel team before moving to Francaise des Jeux for four seasons through 2011. He moved to the Belgian Lotto team for one season in 2012, then spent the past four years with the QuickStep teams. Meersman took 20 wins in his pro career, including stages at the Tour de Georgia, Tour of Austria, Tour de Wallonie, Paris-Nice, Volta Catalunya, Tour de Romandie, Volta ao Algarve and Vuelta a España, among others. He raced the Vuelta five times, the Giro d'Italia twice and the Tour de France once.

Meersman signed with Fortuneo-Vital Concept for 2017 and was a major part of the team's plans for the upcoming season.

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British Cycling warned about Team Sky relationship months before Cope's delivery

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British Cycling was warned about the dangers of its relationship with Team Sky just months before women’s coach Simon Cope embarked on a four-day journey to deliver a medical package for Bradley Wiggins, it has emerged.

As part of evidence requested by British parliament's Culture, Media, and Sport Committee in the wake of a hearing last week, British Cycling has submitted a report from an audit carried out by Deloitte early in 2011. According to The Times, it contains assurances from senior figures that "for the 2011 season the amount of resource sharing is expected to be minimal" and that Shane Sutton would work "almost exclusively" with Team GB rather than Sky.

Team Sky, the professional road outfit, was launched in 2010 with the involvement of many senior figures at British Cycling, the publicly-funded governing body.

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"A doping scandal within Team Sky would undoubtedly present a serious reputational risk to UK Sport, British Cycling and Sky," added the report. "However, all reasonably possible precautions against the doping risk appear to have been taken."

Three months later, Sutton, with Team Sky in La Toussuire at the 2011 Critérium du Dauphiné, 'arranged' for the now-infamous medical package to be delivered by Cope from the UK for Team Sky doctor Richard Freeman. At the Select Committee hearing, Sutton confirmed that the contents of the package were given to Wiggins on the Team Sky bus, with Brailsford then claiming that it contained the legal decongestant fluimucil.

British Cycling promised to clear up the mystery over the contents of the package, but have been unable to provide documentary evidence to substantiate Brailsford's suggestion.

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Former Tour de France champion Kubler dies at 97

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Former Tour de France winner and world champion Ferdinand (Ferdi) Kubler has died at the age of 97, Swiss website schweizer-illustrierte.ch reports. Kubler, who was the oldest living Tour de France champion, had been suffering ill health in recent years and while he was able to spend Christmas at home with his family, he passed away in hospital in Zurich on Thursday after falling sick with a cold.

"Ferdi fell asleep peacefully, with a smile on his face," his wife Christina told schweizer-illustrierte.ch.

Kubler, born in 1919 in the municipality of Mathalen in the north of Switzerland, turned professional in 1940. His early career was hampered by the Second World War and he predominantly raced at home in Switzerland. His first appearance at the Tour de France came in 1947, where he won two stages and got a taste of what was to come when spent a day in the yellow jersey. He missed out in 1948 but came back the following year to add a further stage win to his palmares.

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It proved third time lucky for Kubler in 1950 as he went on to take the overall classification of the race, beating Stan Okers and future three-time champion Louison Bobet. He was the first Swiss rider to take home the fabled yellow jersey, with Hugo Koblet – Kubler’s biggest rival –becoming the second a year later.

Kubler’s career really took off after the Tour victory and he went on to take the rainbow stripes at the following season’s World Championships in 1951, adding to the bronze and silver he’d already collected. He also found success at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, La Flèche Wallonne, the Tour de Suisse, the Tour de Romandie and Bordeaux-Paris. 1950 would be his only Grand Tour victory despite two further podium finishes at the Tour and two at the Giro d’Italia.

In 1955, his career fell under a cloud of suspicion when commissaires found doping products in his room after he was seen zig-zagging up Mont Venotux at the Tour de France. He would always deny doping but retired at the end of the season. In 1983, he was elected Sportsman of the Century in his native Switzerland and in 2010 he was honoured with a lifetime achievement award.

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The 2016 Cyclingnews end of year quiz

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The 2016 season was another packed full of action with five new monument winners, some dramatic Grand Tour racing, the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Qatar. 

How much of this year can you remember? Test your powers of recall with our quiz of the year.

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Cookson: Cycling is on the right track but we must remain vigilant

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UCI president Brian Cookson has said that he believes cycling is on the ‘right track’ in terms of its anti-doping methods but that the governing body must not rest on its laurels. In an interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro, Cookson, who is coming to the end of his first term, says that confidence is being restored in the sport after the many doping scandals of the 1990s and 2000s.

“In the last three years, I have done my best to restore confidence in our sport. It is not easy with regards to the reputation damage we have suffered in recent years, for the reasons we know,” Cookson told Le Figaro.

“We have made considerable efforts to ensure that the entire chain of action against doping is the best possible, independent, and free from conflicts of interest. We have also set up a research commission and a new ethical code, with a dedicated committee. I'm not complacent, but I think cycling is on the right track. One can never relax. We know that we must remain vigilant. And we will be."

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In the interview, Cookson was asked about one of cycling's most recent issues - that of mechanical doping. In January of this year, Belgian cyclo-cross rider Femke Van den Driessche was found to have a motor in her bike at the World Championships.

This month, engineer Istvan Varjas, who is said to have developed the methods of mechanical doping, told another French publication, Le Monde, that the latest iteration of his invention could give a rider a 15-second burst of power. The Hungarian also hinted that a television investigation would reveal mechanical doping in upper echelons of the cycling peloton.

Asked if he was worried about what might be to come, Cookson evaded answering the question directly but reaffirmed his belief in the testing structure that has been developed in recent years.

Balancing globalisation and heritage

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Comeback victory at nationals was best moment of her career says Worrack

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Trixi Worrack has plenty of victories on her palmares, including the Primavera Rosa, the Tours of California and Qatar, and two world team time trial titles, but she describes her victory in the individual time trial at this year’s German national championships as the best moment of her 16-year career to date.

That’s because it came in the “most difficult” season she's had and on the back of the “worst injury” she’s ever sustained – the 35-year-old underwent emergency surgery in March to remove a kidney that had been ruptured in three places due to a crash at the Trofeo Alfredo Binda.

“At first in hospital I didn’t know if I could even continue as a pro cyclist,” Worrack tells Cyclingnews at the Canyon-SRAM team training camp on Mallorca.

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"You have no idea - I never had experience with the kidney stuff - so I was in hospital for a week and didn't even know I could even continue with pro cycling, because you don't know if the second kidney is working and taking over from the first one. That was the hardest bit about it."

The injury was all the more wounding given the way Worrack had started the season, winning the Tour of Qatar and finishing on the podium in the Ronde van Drenthe. The operation was a success, though, and she managed to get back on the bike by mid-May.

“I was riding again but there were complications with the stomach because they had to cut all my muscles. Normally you cut into the kidney from the back, but they had to take it out from the front. I couldn’t move my left side," she explains.

Mentoring

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Britons take top two spots in Brico Cross Bredene Juniors race

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De Jong takes victory at Brico Cross Bredene

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Wout Van Aert wins Brico Cross Bredene

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Year in review: the most important mountain bike tech of 2016

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This year saw many product introductions worth remembering and as 2016 winds down let’s take a look back at some of the general trends in mountain bike tech and what they might mean for 2017.

SRAM goes big with Eagle

It was inevitable that the industry would add another cog sooner or later. SRAM fired first with its two new Eagle groups. With 12 cogs and a 10-50t spread, these new 1x groups mean we’ll see fewer mountain bikes designed for front derailleurs in the coming years.

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This is the final nail in the coffin of the front derailleur, but it will take a few more swings of the hammer to close the casket.

If I were a betting man I would wager that 2017 will see the introduction of more budget-friendly 12-speed groups at the X1 and perhaps even the GX level. Once this happens the front derailleur will look as dated as bar ends.

Shimano Di2 trickles down to XT

Fat bikes stumble

Plus rolls onward

A new low for dropper seatposts

What do you think? 

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