Last year was the best year ever in Annemieke van Vleuten's career, with wins at Strade Bianche, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Giro Rosa, and her first world championship road racing title Procycling magazine's 2020 season Preview (opens in new tab) features an exclusive interview with the Dutchwoman and a 66-page booklet looking ahead to the new racing year.

Although she has won two time trial world titles, 2020 will be the first time she will wear the rainbow stripes on the road, and Procycling met up with Van Vleuten near her home in the Netherlands and then joined her to ride her home roads. There she reflected on the 100km attack that won her the World Championships, and why she thinks she can still keep improving.

"According to Luis [Delahaye, her coach], we haven't seen the ceiling yet. I had my best five-minute power ever on the World Championships climb that I attacked, and if I can do that at age 36, I'll be really happy."

Another rider looking ahead to the years left in his career is Alexander Kristoff, a 32-year-old Norwegian who has toed the line between sprinter and classic specialist throughout his career. Edward Pickering went to meet the UAE Emirates rider to find out why he is most successful in the late stages of races when others are struggling.

The new season means the arrival of a new team in the peloton. Perhaps no better than the French professional team Arkea Samsic. Nairo Quintana, who has spent his entire career with Movistar, will be taking his career down one level. The Colombian is the head of a South American trio moving to the traditional French team, which also includes local sprinter Nasser Bouhanni, who is trying to get his career back on track after several disappointing seasons with Cofidis. Alasdair Fotheringham spent some time with the team to find out if their big ambitions are realistic or if they are trying to do too much, too fast.

Earlier this year, Team Ineos announced that Geraint Thomas and Eoghan Bernal would return to the Tour de France this July. Thomas, a Welshman, won the race in 2018 and was runner-up to teammate Bernal last summer. He will be 34 when the Tour opens in Nice, but feels he has unfinished business in the race. Sophie Halcombe interviewed Thomas about why the Tour is so important to him.

Despite the recent cancellation of the Tour of Oman for 2020, races in the Middle East have been part of the pro cycling landscape for 18 years, including the UAE Tour, the new Women's Dubai Tour, and the Tour of Saudi Arabia. Edward Pickering examines the place of desert racing in the sport.

Elsewhere, John Dibben hit the reset button on his WorldTour career this year, joining Lotto Soudal after a year away from the top level. Once hailed as one of Britain's best young riders, winning world titles on the track and making it big on the U23 road, Dibben turned pro with Sky in 2017 but found himself in cycling no-man's land after two seasons. He tells Procycling why he is happy to start again with the Belgian team.

The 2020 Olympics in Japan will mark 30 years since the World Championships were held in Japan. Giles Belbin meets Catherine Marsal, the Frenchwoman who won gold in the women's road race in 1990, and recalls her meteoric rise in cycling, the victories that defined her career, and the pressures she faced thereafter.

In addition, James Witts explores the truth behind the headlines about ketones, a controversial supplement rumored to have been used in the peloton for years.

The February issue also features a full lineup of regulars and introduces new 2020 diarists James Knox, Heidi Franz, and Roger Kluge. In addition, Procycling has a new regular contributor, Lawrence ten Dam, who will write a new Last Word column each month.

Procycling magazine: the best writing and photography from inside the world's toughest sport. Pick one up now at your local newsstand or supermarket, or subscribe to Procycling (opens in a new tab).