My favourite bit of the off-season sis when the new kits get released, because it makes the coming season seem tangible, you can actually start to imagine it, think about what people will look like at the Mallorca Challenge or Valenciana.
It seems to come earlier every year, and Trek-Segafredo releasing its kit on 1 December has rather fired the starting pistol of kit releases; expect a slew of riders trying to be goofy on camera over the next month. It has rather been a small bright spark in quite a dark week, with Davide Rebellin's death casting a shadow over everything else.
Tweets of the week is here to try and cheer you up, with the help of (probably) the best team social media account out there, Trek. With respect to pretenders to the throne like Intermarché and Human Powered Health, Trek are the rulers of the Twitter game, if that counts. Maybe they should get UCI points for it.
As a result, we have Elisa Balsamo with an inflatable unicorn, Bauke Mollema with a goat, and everyone looking happy in their smart kits. Keep reading for Tadej Pogačar rapping, Remco Evenepoel looking a little happy, but not too happy, and Mieke Kröger.
1. Trek-Segafredo's new kit is pretty smart, and I like the backs, but the best thing to come out of the launch is the behind-the-scenes shots from the photoshoot. I kind of imagine Elisa Longo Borghini always wears this expression
2. Inexplicable bit from the photoshoot - is Bauke Mollema with a sheep or a goat here? Are they implying that he is the GOAT or that he's a shepherd? I don't know
3. Elisa Balsamo is one of the best cyclists in the world, but she also looks great holding balloons. Adorable. Reminds me of the photos of Buyako Saka on an inflatable unicorn from a couple of years ago
4. Meanwhile, if Toms Skuijnš is pretending to bowl in the third picture here, he needs to work on his follow through. Great moves from the Latvian, though
5. It's business at the front, party at the back on both kits. Ellen van Dijk approves
6. Meanwhile, Tadej Pogačar appears to be enjoying his off season, even if he does look a bit cold. I'll level with you, I have no idea what's going on here
7. In an alternate reality, Remco Evenepoel could have been starting for Belgium at this World Cup, and maybe as a result they wouldn't have gone crashing out at the group stage. As it is though, he's world champion and Belgium... very much are not
8. Speaking of Remco, I can't work out if he's delighted to win this trophy or if he is grimacing at the weight of it. You can decide
9. It's Spotify Unwrapped week, and surely the Mieke Kröger anthem was at the top of everyone's most played songs. It's just a meme, I don't know
10. Ever got the feeling that a car park might be a bit too low for your car? Well
11. I am passionately anti-car, but I will allow pedal powered ones. This is ingenious, if a bit impractical
12. Imagine if everywhere could be like Paris, eh. Bristol, I'm waiting...
