The year in cycling — all the biggest and best moments from the past 12 months

2023 in cycling — where to begin? New tech, bike industry woes, controversy, superhuman pro racing performances, (yet another) helmet debate, cycle lane hysteria, and even the National Hill Climb Championship won on disc brakes. Join us for a gentle spin through the year that was as we reminisce, laugh, enjoy, and probably despair too, at how it all went down in the world of cycling. Let's rewind 12 months... (unless you're just here for the main image, in which case click here!)

January

The new year began with Mr Loophole telling drivers to make their New Year's Resolution giving cyclists more room when overtaking. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, the lawyer (real name Nick Freeman) didn't make less ranting about cyclists on TV and radio talkshows his. Another Freeman making headlines was former British Cycling and Team Sky doctor Richard who lost his appeal against a medical register ban, a tribunal ruling his ability to practise medicine had been impaired by misconduct during his time in professional cycling.

In a sign of things to come for the bike industry, the UK's largest cycling retailer Halfords warned that the cycling market was down 20 per cent, while on the cycling infrastructure front a bizarre seven-foot-long cycle lane appeared in Birmingham, prompting ridicule, and anti-cycle lane campaigners made their disgust at a seafront bike lane known... by forming a conga line along it in protest.

January was also the month Mark Cavendish signed with Astana Qazaqstan, UFC fighter Conor McGregor got knocked off his bike (and hitched a lift with the driver who hit him), and former Top Gear presenter James May declared 20mph is "plenty fast enough" and called for an end to "road sectarianism".

February

If you thought that was a hot start to the year just wait for February — potholes, GB News ranting, a Conservative MP referencing a known conspiracy theory about active travel, unwanted Patrick Lefevere spouting about women's cycling, helmet debating, Chris Froome and his disc brakes... oh, and a professional cyclist fined for shooting and killing a cat belonging to San Marino's former head of state. Would you all just let me eat my pancakes in peace next year?

The month began with the sad news of the closure of the iconic Look mum no hands! cafe in London, closely followed by a cyclist in Scotland raising the alarm over the dangerous state of roads to be used in the summer's UCI Cycling World Championships events.

Upping the ante, an early Valentine's Day present then came in the form of a GB News presenter claiming active travel schemes aiming to boost cycling and walking, such as 15-minute active travel and LTNs, are "un-British" and "illiberal". Conservative MP Nick Fletcher then called 15-minute cities an "international socialist concept" in Parliament, a known conspiracy theory, that was met with laughter in the Chamber.

If all that wasn't enough, Patrick Lefevere, the outspoken team boss of Soudal Quick-Step, then decided he wanted to be told to shut up by the entire cycling world once again, claiming that women's professional cycling is "being pushed artificially" and many female athletes "are not worth" the current UCI minimum wage. Yep, this is the 2023 recap you're reading...

Helmets and disc brakes. Everyone's favourite topics made a headline return to finish off February, Dan Walker claiming his lid had saved his life after a crash and telling the world that all cyclists should "get one on your head". Needless to say yet another 'helmet debate' for the ages followed, Chris Froome our knight in shining Lycra complaining about his disc brakes again to move us all on from one well-trodden path to another...

March

After all that, a quieter March to enjoy the return of the classics might have been appreciated. No chance.

Dave Brailsford was touted as the man to overhaul Manchester United amid Ineos interest, and Tom Boonen apologised to Colnago after claiming Tadej Pogačar would be "another 2km/h faster" if he swapped to Specialized, Cervélo or Pinarello. Meanwhile, Bianchi was defending its handlebar safety after an Arkéa-Samsic pro broke two sets during a cobbled race, and Milton Keynes Council was ridiculed after a courier noted its new cycle route barriers are too narrow for cargo bike trailers… that are also supplied by the council.

March was also the month of one of the funnier moments of the year, a keen fan using a bike path trying to keep up with a women's pro race... only to faceplant miserably on live TV. Glorious viewing.

Less glorious? The 2023 Women's Tour cancelled due to a lack of funding, Wout van Aert "almost killed" after receiving a "harrowing" punishment pass from horn-blaring lorry driver — oh, and Dutch newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws publishing a photo of the Belgian climbing the Koppenberg alongside some CERATIZIT - WNT Pro Cycling counterparts ahead of the Tour of Flanders... with a caption calling the female professional riders "cycling tourists".

April

On the day, Lotte Kopecky and Pogačar took dominant victories, the men's race overshadowed by a peloton-toppling crash caused by Bahrain Victorious' Filip Maciejuk who was disqualified. Amusingly Pog had been replying to memes on Twitter just 15 minutes before the one-day epic was due to start... bloody Gen Z...

Even more amusingly, his Strava activity for the crushing victory got flagged. A week later, at Roubaix, Alison Jackson and Mathieu van der Poel took famous victories, and a crash ended Peter Sagan's final Roubaix prematurely. On the tech front, Team DSM turned heads with a ground-breaking on-the-fly tyre pressure adjustment system.

Back in Britain, and away from professional cycling, it was business as usual. Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg called an "optical illusion" cycle lane responsible for 59 injuries in a year a "failed experiment", Wiggle (more on them later) had a rebranding which went down like a slashed tyre, and a council was criticised after resurfacing an entire road... except its cycle lanes.

May

The bike industry's woes continued into the early summer, UK cycle distributor 2pure entering administration at the start of May while in Italy, Cav said he's retiring and Geraint Thomas missed out on victory by seconds before helping his old buddy to a famous sprint win in front of the Colosseum.

Closer to home and British Cycling updated its transgender policy and introduced a new 'open' category, meaning transgender women can no longer compete in the female category. The news was met with a scathing attack from transgender cyclist Emily Bridges, who called the governing body a "failed organisation".

June

Summer arrived and so did a new study from Australia, finding that those riding bicycles while wearing helmets or safety vests are seen as "less human" than those without.

Back in Italy, deputy PM and transport minister Matteo Salvini backpedalled on his calls for number plates for cyclists, saying it was just an idea for scooters amid a backlash. Right.

A Northern Irish councillor raised the alarm over the worst pothole we've ever seen, and Alberto Contador was left bloodied and needing stitches after a crash in China.

June ended with the saddest of news, Gino Mäder's death at Tour de Suisse after a horrific crash sending shockwaves through the cycling world.

July

Bahrain Victorious dedicated their three wins at the Tour de France to Mäder. One of the narratives was Cav's search for a 35th stage win and THAT record, brought to an end by a crash on stage eight. Jonas Vingegaard won a second consecutive yellow jersey, Demi Vollering winning the women's race as Annemiek van Vleuten's final Grand Tour came to an end with a fourth place. I guess that's easier to swallow when you've already got eight and just about every other race on your palmares...

Absences from the racing were major talking points too, Chris Froome saying he felt "let down" by his omission, before Israel-Premier Tech owner Sylvan Adams hit back and called Froome "absolutely not value for money".

Lotto Dstny sports director Allan Davis was told to stay at home by his team too, that after accusations that the retired Australian sprinter has been sending unwanted messages and photos to "at least 30" women online. Davis later apologised but was fired from his role in August.

The month ended with a warning from Shimano, the components giant reporting sales had fallen by 18% as the company cited "weak" demand for products.

August

Bike sales are on the slide too, the Bicycle Association reporting that UK sales have fallen even further in 2023 after dropping to a lowest level in 20 years in 2022.

It wasn't long before Mr Loophole was back on our screens, the lawyer taking aim at CyclingMikey and cyclists who film their rides to report dangerous driving, calling it part of a "snitch society". 

We're not sure how it's taken this long to mention Jeremy Vine, but here we are. The presenter and prolific social media poster of cycling videos called for a ban on drivers overtaking cyclists in cities which, as you can imagine, was very popular with the social media shouters and radio ranters.

The World Championships in Scotland got underway to complaints about diversions and loss of parking, as well as fears of strikes and protests. The men's road race was targeted, environmental demonstrators bringing proceedings temporarily to a halt before racing resumed and Van der Poel wrote himself into the history books with another all-conquering performance.

Amid the protest Van der Poo-el unloaded some unwanted weight in a Scottish couple's roadside house's toilet, inspiring superb tabloid headlines come Monday morning.

There was more to August than racing however, "Scotland's unluckiest cyclist" winning compensation after being knocked off his bike for a third time. Elsewhere, an elite mountain biker who had £45,000 worth of bikes stolen turned to a private investigator amid police inaction, and the "crosswalk referee" went viral for dishing out cards in the style of a football ref to dodgy drivers.

The month ended with the drink driver who killed charity cyclist Tony Parsons jailed for 12 years (and his brother Robert sentenced to five years), bringing to an end a horrific and long-running search and investigation.

September

September was dominated by two things — no, not Chris Froome's ASMR parody video — 20mph speed limits and Shimano finally recalling cranks following thousands of reported incidents.

Wales introduced default 20mph speed limits, prompting more than a few complaints from the usual suspects, however early analysis suggested the impact had been "astonishing" with journeys just marginally longer and roads "far more pleasant for walkers and cyclists". Speed limits were also in the news after police on Dartmoor stopped a group of cyclists riding at 39mph in a 30mph zone, despite speed limits not applying to bicycle riders. Wake me up when September ends...

On the campaigning front, Cycling UK objected to the closure of a key cycling route in the Lake District, while British Cycling and others called for an end to "hazardous leniency" in sentencing of drivers who kill or injure cyclists.

Chris Boardman also spoke publicly for the first time about the death of his mother, who was killed in a collision involving a driver, saying his dad "never recovered" and describing his anger at the way road crime is treated.

Back in the totally normal world of professional cycling, a Lotto Dstny staff member was suspended for running over a race marshal in the team's latest PR disasterclass, before dangerous head-down TT positions were put in the spotlight by Stefan Küng's frightening crash at the European TT championship.

The time of year for falling leaves also means hill climb season has arrived, poor Calum Brown launching a huge effort... only for his frame to snap. And talking of stuff snapping that shouldn't... ahem, Shimano...

> Check your cranks! Shimano finally recalls 11-speed road cranksets after more than 4,500 incidents

We'd love to say it took us by surprise, but after hundreds of emails, messages and comments from you guys over the years... well, it's hard to say we didn't see it coming.

October

Manchester United fans' continued meltdown at the idea a cycling coach could soon be in a senior role at the club, Cav postponing his retirement, and Noel Edmonds joining the list of celebrities that have launched bizarre anti-cycling infrastructure rants, provided a bit of light relief in a largely bleak October.

There were redundancies at British Cycling, despair at Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives' party conference full of championing motoring amid deafening active travel silence, and the demise of Wiggle Chain Reaction.

From its owner's liquidity challenges to a lost funding commitment and administration, the downfall of one of the UK's biggest online cycling retailers unfolded to a backdrop of ramped-up early Black Friday deals and uncertainty.

We also had the story of the around-the-world cyclist who had completed an epic 22,500-mile journey around the globe in 430 days... only to have his bike nicked outside a London pub...

Darkest of all however was the news from the British National Hill Climb Championships, Andrew Feather winning the event on a disc brake bike. The horror.

November

The weather had turned, rain and winds sweeping in. Too much wind, in fact, for the Dutch Headwind Cycling Championships which was cancelled due to... high winds. No, really...

The bike industry stormy news continued too, Rapha announcing a loss of £12 million, due to cost of living and supply chain concerns, while Halfords reported the cycling market downturn had been worse than expected, and GCN+ would be closing in December it was announced.

Labour shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh downplayed the backlash over her comments about cycling and suggested her previous assertion about Sheffield being too hilly to cycle was "a light-hearted joke". Think that was a backlash, Louise? Just wait until you hear how the cycling world reacted when Froome came out with the claim his recent bike set-up was "centimetres" apart from Team Sky days due to "oversight". Imagine if he returns to mid-2010s level next year? The most wishful of thinking? You'll have to wait for our 2024 predictions piece...

Could be worse — at least the four-time Tour winner never disgraced himself and got fined for making a racist gesture while at the Tour of Guangxi in China.

November was also the month we raised the issue of Cycling Time Trials, the governing body of time trialling in England and Wales, issuing a notice to prevent events being held on roads with 20mph speed limits, raising concerns about lost courses and a lack of safe routes.

And in a double-header of news to make you facepalm your way towards Christmas, the former chief of the Met Police told the House of Lords he reckons cyclists being required to display number plates on bikes is a good idea (yes, we're doing this again). Then, that wiggly seafront cycle lane the protesters danced a conga down was recommended to be removed following an independent review. Isn't it fun being a cyclist in Britain?

December

Step into Christmas... with the story of the 65-year-old tandem cyclist banned for an anti-doping violation. Superb. On the Wiggle Chain Reaction front, the administrators said Wiggle had made a "considerable trading profit" in recent weeks with optimism over the sale of the business. I guess it wasn't just me getting stuck into Black Friday there...

Everything's bigger in Texas, including their bike thefts... a certain Lance Armstrong (didn't think you were getting through a whole year without mention of him, did you?) suffered a break-in at a storage unit, with $100,000 worth of bikes stolen. 

Oh, and to cap off 2023, this week we had the government touting Frog Bikes as a post-Brexit success story. Wait a minute... that's not the same Frog Bikes which previously bemoaned Brexit for £250,000 of unforeseen costs and for being partly responsible for its £500,000 losses? Yep, that's the one...

Well, there you have it... 2023 in cycling. However you dress it up, it's not been without challenges — bike industry struggles, the loss of some much-loved names and brands, the humble bicycle being further dragged into certain sections of the media's culture war shouting, and the same old debates about registration plates, helmets and more. Here's to a more positive 2024... regardless of what brakes you choose to win hill climbs on...