Our current entertainment viewing regiment includes equal parts cyclocross and cheesy Holiday movies. We’re waiting for some movie producer to make a Christmas movie that features a big-time Tour de France Femmes racer from the big city who regains her passion for the sport when her team forces her to race cyclocross in the cold, wintery Belgium countryside. Her life becomes even more complicated once she meets and falls in love with a gruff but misunderstood cyclocross course designer who always lines the field with Christmas trees and garland. What would be the title? Holiday Love in the Mud? Christmas Cross? A CX-mas to Remember?

wheels we’re following

kit we’re eyeing

where we’re riding

café-stop reading

One of the many narratives that we’ll be personally following this up-coming year is Mark Cavendish’s quest for the most TdF stage wins. Which means, anytime a headline, interview, or documentary pops up about that quest, we’ll be reading, watching, or listening to that content. Such was the case with this Cycling News article discussing Astana Qazaqstan’s revamped sprint train and Cavendish’s fearless mindset.

off the back of the newsletter

Visma-Lease a Bike successfully extended the contracts of two of three of its 2023 grand tour winning riders. The Uijtdebroeks-Bora-Visma love triangle may have come to an end. Lotte Kopecky has been training with the Intermarché men’s squad. Wout van Aert is already reconning Roubaix. While it didn’t make into the spot of our featured article, this article analyzing the Strava data of some pros at their training camps is very interesting. Same thing with this article about the state of the bicycle industry (and all of the discounts you’ve scored this shopping season). We’ve been riding on Zwift this year, but not as much as this guy.

If you are enjoying the OTB Cycling Digest