Pro Cycling Magazine picks the highlights of the 2020 season and the best races of the year.

Pro Cycling magazine's annual review issue is now available.

Edward Pickering, editor of Pro Cycling magazine

There are too many proxy wars in cycling these days and too many domestic deluxes in the mountains. I hardly saw Primoš Roglic in the mountain stages of this year's Grand Tour. What I like to see is popular riders stripped of protection, racing one-on-one through temporary and fragile alliances, betrayals, misjudgments, and psychological warfare. And preferably in inclement weather. That's why the race I enjoyed most in 2020 was Ghent-Wevelgem.

The weather and Kemmelberg shattered the field, and a group of 18 emerged in front. Among them were riders like Wout van Aert, Matteo Trentin, Matteo van der Pol, and John Degenkolb. These 18 riders were made up of 13 different teams, with only Dečuninck having three riders. The breakaway of this configuration had neither the gravitation nor the political will to stay together, and after splitting and splitting again, and after Van der Pol and Van Aert began to make a fool of themselves (just to add to the spectacle), Mads Pedersen, in a final desperate attack, Florian Senechal and Matteo Tolentin bridged up to them and outmaneuvered them. Excellent.

The Tour and Giro were hardly dynamic races in terms of GC. In the Tour it was the Planche des Belle Filles time trial, and in the Giro it was a dead heat between Tao Geoghegan Hart and Jai Hindley. The Vuelta was a good race overall, and the Covatilla finale was similarly tense and televised. The Grand Tour (and the riders) seem to have cracked the case for a close final. In the past two Tours, the best GC stages (with the exception of this year's Planche TT) have been flat or undulating stages with crosswinds.

However, my favorite individual stage of 2020 was stage 13 to Puy Marie. The GC battle here was little more than a drag race in the last 2km. However, the formation of the breakaway that formed in front and the politics that followed were compelling. It took many kilometers for the break to form, but EF Pro won the race through the teamwork of Dani Martinez's brilliant individual skills. It is not possible to show them all here, but if you can, please look back with particular attention to the formation of the break and to Hugh Carthy, who dragged Martinez into it at the last moment.

Sophie Harcombe, Deputy Editor, Pro Cycling Magazine

Needless to say, we were more than a little skeptical that the Tour de France would be held this year. In the weeks leading up to the Grande Palais, the number of Covid 19 cases increased throughout France, and Nice, where the first three days of the Tour will be held, was on high alert as convoys of cars made their way to Paris. Indeed, once the Tour began, an early end was inevitable due to the pandemic.

To have not only a Tour de France in 2020, but a complete Tour de France, is a credit to the organizers and everyone involved, first of all because of its size and scale. And the race, packed with fascinating stories, charismatic winners, and the most dramatic finale in 30 years, was my race of the year.

The decade-long dominance of Ineos was finally broken, and a new "super team" took over at Jumbo Visma. The battle for the green jersey between Sam Bennett and Peter Sagan continued all the way to Paris, forming the tactical narrative of the entire race. Teams like Sunweb, EF Pro, and Bora-Hansgrohe also ensured that every stage was a "transitional" stage. The only truly quiet stage was stage 5, when not even a breakaway group went up, but even that was energized after the finish when Julien Alaphilippe was demoted for drinking a bottle when he shouldn't have.

On la course, the racers once again put on a show, and it was the most tactically engaging finale of the competition. Following an attack by Annemiek van Fruten, Elisa Longo Borghini, Lizzie Deignan, Demi Vollering, Marianne Vos, and Kasia Nieviadoma formed the final A-list group. Longo Borghini did a great job of containing the attack of Van Vleuten and Nieviadma, but she also did a great job of setting up Vos in the last kilometer.

Adam Beckett, Pro Cycling Magazine Staff Writer

This year's Strade Bianche was outstanding for both men and women. This classic Tuscan race has only been around since 2007, but it is firmly on the calendar. This year's race was brutal in inhospitable conditions and looked like an event from another century, let alone a decade. Temporarily held in August, the race was held under brilliant sunshine and in extreme conditions, with temperatures as high as 40 degrees Celsius, causing all sorts of problems. Only 45 female riders completed the race within the time limit, which shows how tough the return to the race was. They were covered in dust on the gravel roads and had to waste precious water to wash off.

However, Wout Van Avert single-handedly won the Campo Square from an elite group, solidifying his authority in the men's race. Greg Van Avermaert was no stranger to tough races and admitted to vomiting after the finish. In the women's race, Mavi Garcia was in a solo position with a few kilometers to go, but in true Annemiek van Vleuten style, Annemiek van Vleuten made a superhuman attack to overtake her Spanish rivals and sprint away on the final climb.

Next season, racing will return to its usual early spring pace, but it may not have the beauty and relentless action of August 2020.

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