With the 2022 WorldTour season concluding last weekend and racing elsewhere winding down this week, teams are already turning their eye to 2023 and holding end-of-season get-togethers as they begin preparations for the new season.
The team camps are one of the few times in the year which see entire squads together in the same place. New signings join up with their teammates for the first time while general management works through a multitude of areas to prepare for 2023, such as sizing up riders for clothing and equipment. All this, and there are the post-season celebrations too.
QuickStep-AlphaVinyl have already held their post-season camp, the Belgian squad getting together on Monday and Tuesday ahead of team leader Remco Evenepoel's crowning at the Crystal Bike awards, his wedding, and honeymoon in the Maldives.
Ineos Grenadiers, the third-ranked team in the world this season, are set to meet up in Nice next week, as are UAE Team Emirates in Dubai.
Bora-Hansgrohe, meanwhile, have opted to skip a warm-weather meetup and instead headed to Ötztal in the Austrian Alps, where riders tried out skiing in addition to the usual pre-season planning activities.
"Cycling has always played an important role during my career and I have great respect for the achievements of professional cyclists. I must admit they were great on skis too," said the team's 'ski instructor', former Olympic downhill champion Benjamin Rauch.
"Giro winner Jai Hindley was on skis for only the second time and he didn't do at all badly! The Austrians Patrick Konrad and Marco Haller also cut really fine figures."
Bora-Hansgrohe aren't the only team to take on the slopes during the off-season, with French squad AG2R Citroën having held camps in the French Alps in recent seasons where a full range of winter sports have been on the menu.
These short camps in late October and early November are in reality the final acts of the old season before teams head off on brief holidays.
Squads will come together again in December for longer camps – many in the province of Alicante in Spain – where the serious preparation for the next season really gets underway with training rides, kit reveals, and the finalisation of race calendars and goals.
