Friday 8 January 2016 17:03, UK
This season is a crucial year for a handful of riders in the professional peloton.
Some are fighting to save their reputations, while others are looking to make the most of a big opportunity.
Here, we pick out five riders for whom the stakes are particularly high…
The Welshman will concentrate fully on stage racing for the first time in his career in 2016, and given that he rides for Team Sky, that is a rare and privileged position to be in.
Team Sky principal Sir Dave Brailsford has indicated that as well as vying for victories in week-long races, Thomas will be allowed to challenge for a high overall placing at the Tour de France, which may end up being a dress rehearsal for leading the team at a Grand Tour in the future.
It is an opportunity Thomas won't want to let slip.
Next year will be crucial for Cavendish not just on the road, but also on the track, where he is hoping to win the first Olympic medal of his career at the Rio 2016 Games.
The event he is most likely to enter is the six-race omnium, but he will first have to earn selection for Great Britain's lone place, which will not be easy given that London 2012 bronze medal-winner Ed Clancy is also in contention.
On the road, Cavendish has moved from the powerful Belgian team Etixx - Quick-Step to the comparative minnows of Team Dimension Data, the South African outfit formerly known as MTN-Qhubeka. Despite taking some of his most trusted lead-out riders with him and Dimension Data being a team on the rise, it is still a step down and Cavendish must prove that he remains worthy of being regarded as one of the world's best sprinters.
The best female rider of her generation saw her 2015 season decimated by injury and she is only now easing her way gently back into training.
Whether or not she can return to full fitness, let alone her best form, in 2016 is still in question, but given that it is an Olympic year, she does not have time on her side.
The landscape of women's cycling has also changed in her absence. The likes of Lizzie Armitstead, Pauline Ferrand-Prevot and Anna van der Breggen are all better than ever and Vos faces a long road back to the dominance she enjoyed before injury.
The Colombian is one of the most talented climbers in the peloton on his day, but he is also one of the most ill-disciplined and unreliable.
He agreed to mutually terminate his contract with Ag2r-La Mondiale more than a year early in August after the French team ran out of patience with him and, at the time, it looked like his career was on a downward slide.
However, Betancur has been given a lifeline in the form of a two-year contract with Spanish team Movistar and he desperately needs to take it, starting in 2016, because this is surely his last chance with a top-tier team.
The German lost his crown as the best time-triallist in the world in 2015 and needs some big wins over the next year to reclaim it.
Like Cavendish and Vos, 2016 is doubly important for Martin given that it is an Olympic year. He was beaten to gold by Sir Bradley Wiggins at London 2012 and needs to make amends for that in Rio if he is to cement his place as one of the great time-triallists of his generation.
