Procycling magazine highlights the 2020 season, this time the Team of the Year.

Procycling magazine's annual review issue is now available.

Edward Pickering, editor of Procycling magazine

Jumbo Visma, who unknowingly dragged Tadej Pogachar to the bottom of La Planche de Belle Fille in the Tour de France, was the best result They left and were arguably the strongest team.

But more is needed. Of course, Jumbo Visma has the best results. They are a team of extraordinary depth and talent, and their leader Primosz Roglic is a machine. But I am more impressed by Sunweb. They don't have the star players or budget of a super team, but they have quietly created a revolutionary system and method.

In terms of results, they have been great. Three wins in the Tour, second and third in the Giro d'Italia, a win in Flèche Wallonne, and second in Liège-Bastogne-Liège. This is a great return for any team. Seelen Clark Andersen's second Tour win was itself a brilliant team effort. The riders did not go into the final stage with a successful plan, but they understood how to fight their way through the stage finale, and they did.

But two other moments stand out more for me: first, the attack on the Puy Marie stage of the Tour de France. There were repeated attacks by various riders and teams trying to get into the breakaway. But of the dozens of attacks, not one was by a Sunweb rider. When I looked back, I thought this was unusual and emailed the team officials to see if it was intentional. Sunweb had told me that they had a plan for every stage. The plan for this day was to spend as little energy as possible on the hard Masif Central stage of the Tour and have a day of near aggressive recovery. All to conserve energy for another day. This is very rare outside of GC teams, especially teams like Sunweb, who went into the Tour looking to win out of the break.

The second moment came on stage 14 (the stage won by Claf Andersen). Initially, Cees Bol and Casper Pedersen were part of the early moves, along with two other riders. The plan for the day was to bring these two into a big break and take it to the finish. However, the peloton buckled down. Sunweb made the decision to take two players off the break and put them back in the peloton. Rather than waste energy on a small one-day break with a near-zero chance of winning, it was better to scrap the original plan if it didn't work out and move on to Plan B (which, as it turned out, was not a bad plan).

Sunweb may not have been able to dominate the race like Jumbo Visma in 2020 or Ineos the year before. However, I think other teams are looking closely at their methods and systems. I think they have quietly started a small revolution in cycling tactics and strategy.

Sophie Harcombe, deputy editor of Pro Cycling magazine

Team Sunweb's men's team. Or Trek-Segafredo's women's team' Both teams embodied the meaning of team spirit in 2020 and ran a unified race with visible results. Watching both teams, it was clear that the riders subscribed to the spirit of working together and giving their all to help someone else succeed and give themselves a chance to do the same. They also seemed to really enjoy racing, and this atmosphere was reflected in their exciting tactics.

While Sunweb's hat trick in the Tour is remarkable, I think the fact that all eight riders finished in the top 10 on at least one stage in France is even more telling of the team's approach and why it worked so well. To finish second and third overall in the Giro this season after losing Tom Dumoulin, a feat no one (including team management) initially thought they would be capable of winning a Grand Tour, is even greater.

Trek-Segafredo, meanwhile, won 12 races and were responsible for some of the most high-profile racing moments of the year. Much has been made of the success of the partnership of Lizzie Deignan and Elisa Longo Borghini and their victories at the Ploué GP, La Course, Liège-Bastonge-Liège, and the Giro Rosa. But the team did not just have two riders in great form. Ruth Winder and Audrey Cordón Lago also took UCI wins, putting Trek in the lead for most rider wins.

The expertise of DS riders Ina-Joko Teutenberg and Girozia Bronzini in the team car was undoubtedly invaluable. After La Course, Longo Borghini told us that he had attacked Degnan to set him up in the finale. Such synchronicity can only come from riders and management working with the same attitude and outlook.

Many teams have struggled to pull off as many A-list stars as Trek, manage their egos, and turn it into a coherent race. In the two years since Trek started, they have proven that it is entirely possible.

Adam Beckett, staff writer for Procycling

Remember, it was only nine months ago, before the lockdown. Then you will remember Team Sunweb. Tiesj Benoot and Søren Kragh Andersen both took stage wins, with Benoot coming within a hair's breadth of the overall win. But it was not only the results that impressed, their aggressive riding was the star of the week. However, their season was abruptly interrupted by a global pandemic, which left them with a huge gap in the overall standings, and they were forced to retire from the race.

Then came the Tour de France, where Sunweb surprised many with a dynamic race, missing a GC rider and a proven sprinter, and looking a bit lost with Michael Matthews out, but winning three stages and more proved everyone wrong by turning up the heat. Marc Hirsch proved he belongs in the Tour by winning the Flèche Wallonne. But more than that, they just seemed to be having fun in the most pressured environment in world cycling. It was no mean feat. On days when they had no chance of winning, they buckled down, redeemed their losses, and faced another day. On days when he had a good chance, he gave his all to the most favored player of the day.

Their race at the Giro d'Italia was also impressive, despite the inexperience of the team. The battle for the lead within the team between Jai Hindley and Wilco Kelderman could have overwhelmed the other teams, but Sunweb stuck together and took two podium finishes.

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