During the pandemic, race director Stuart O'Grady had managed to keep the event under respiratory assistance, by offering a 100% national version.

Four months after the Worlds in Wollongong, which marked Australia's return to the international cycling scene, the Tour Down Under is back in its planetary configuration with a six-stage course in and around Adelaide.

Several names made the trip, including Britons Geraint Thomas, Simon Yates and Chris Froome, in the midst of an armada of local stars such as Michael Matthews, Jai Hindley, winner of the last Giro, or Ben O'Connor.

But to see the biggest stars in the peloton clip their pedals in the race, we will have to wait a little longer.

World champion Remco Evenepoel has just arrived in Argentina where he will make his comeback at the end of January at the Tour de San Juan, a race also released from intensive care.

We will have to wait until February to see Tadej Pogacar again in competition, on the UAE Tour, and the outgoing winner of the Tour de France Jonas Vingegaard, who will discover Paris-Nice.

Belgian rider Remco Evenepoel during his victory at the world road championships on September 25, 2022 in Wollongong, Australia © WILLIAM WEST / AFP/Archives

Worlds in August

As for Mathieu Van der Poel and Wout van Aert, they continue for the moment to escape on the cyclo-cross with, in sight, the World Championships of the discipline on February 4 in the Netherlands.

With this return to normal, the peloton hopes to be done with the agonizing swabs and tests.

Starting with Julian Alaphilippe who will be very motivated for his comeback at the end of January at the Mallorca Challenge after his "annus horribilis" enamelled with injuries and contaminations.

The 2023 calendar returns to its usual dramaturgical construction until the Tour de France, the high point of the season, which will start on July 1 from Bilbao, in the Spanish Basque Country, the second departure from abroad in a row after that of Copenhagen, before the third next year in Florence, Italy.

Previously, we will have the one-day winter races in France and Spain, the first major stage races - Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico -, the first monument - Milan-Sanremo -, the Flandrian classics, Paris-Roubaix, the Ardennes, the Giro and the Dauphiné.

Slovenian Tadej Pogacar lifts the Tour of Lombardy winner's trophy on October 8, 2022. © Marco BERTORELLO / AFP/Archives

The Tour will be followed very quickly by the World Championships, usually placed in September but which have been brought forward to give rise to the "Super Worlds" (August 3 to 13 in Glasgow) bringing together thirteen disciplines (road, track, mountain bike, BMX ...) in the same place, as will now be the case every four years in the pre-Olympic year.

cannibals

To animate the season, we first expect the two "cannibals" Evenepoel and Pogacar.

But on the big laps, they will continue to engage in a duel from a distance, since the Belgian has favored the Giro where he will fight with Primoz Roglic, Geraint Thomas and Thibaut Pinot for whom this will be the last season.

Pogacar has made the reconquest of the Tour de France his main objective against the one who stole the crown from him, the discreet Dane Jonas Vingegaard.

The season has its share of uncertainties, such as the ability of Egan Bernal, seriously injured in Colombia a year ago, to regain his best level.

Will the level go up another notch or have we reached a plateau during a hair-raising 2022 season?

Dane Jonas Vingegaard celebrates his victory in the 109th Tour de France at the end of the 21st and final stage on July 24, 2022 © Thomas SAMSON / AFP/Archives

And will we see a new young hatch to come and compete with the best?

In Spain, Juan Ayuso, 20, third in the last Vuelta, and Carlos Rodriguez have already made an appointment, while Belgium is launching a new nugget with Cian Uijtdebroeks, 19.

Knowing that the Evenepoel and Pogacar, banners of this triumphant youth, are not even 25 years old yet.

The Slovenian will also once again be in the running for the white jersey of the best young rider on the Tour de France.

© 2023 AFP