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Screensavers gallery: 12 fantastic photos from a phenomenal year of racing

Slap these on your desktop.

Joe Lindsey
by Joe Lindsey 31.12.2023 Photography by
Gruber Images and Kristof Ramon
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End of year retrospectives are a staple of the news media, Escape Collective included. Here, we wanted to look back at some of the best photos of the 2023 road season. We’re fortunate to work with some fantastic photographers, and foremost among them are the duo of Ashley and Jered Gruber, and Kristof Ramon.

Their work has illustrated much of our coverage this year and we literally couldn’t do it without them. So we wanted to highlight some of our favorites from their extensive portfolios of this year, and what better way to do it than to pick ones that you might want as your desktop background. Keep it fresh and swap to a new one each month, from three of the best.

EF Education-Tibco-SVB riders recon Strade Bianche in March. They're on white gravel roads shown from above as the route snakes away amid vineyards and fields.
Strade Bianche recon allows the Grubers the chance to pick angles like drone shots that are harder to pull off in the chaos of the race.
Lotte Kopecky and Demi Vollering are in a photo finish on the line in the Campo square in Siena at Strade Bianche, thronged by fans as both throw their bikes at the line.
In place of the traditional finish shot, this wide-angle composition has a certain stillness to it that belies the cacophony of the scene and the confusion that would follow.
Mathieu van der Poel leads Tadej Pogačar through a flat field at the Tour of Flanders. They're shown against a blown-out white sky, with heavy contrast.
Two generational talents, pulled apart from the rest in a masterpiece of contrast and composition by the Grubers.
Alison Jackson holds her arms wide as she drops her bike in the Roubaix velodrome after winning the 2023 Paris-Roubaix in a sprint. Her gesture is one of showmanship and disbelief.
An image that eloquently conveys Alison Jackson’s ebullient disbelief at her Paris-Roubaix win, even with her back to the camera.
A cold, wet pack of riders climbs a switchback on the Croix de Coeur climb in the Giro d'Italia. Grey skies and snowy mountains loom beyond.
Flat light can make for flat photos, but on the snow-shortened Croix de Coeur stage at the Giro d’Italia, Kristof Ramon turns it to his advantage with a moody, almost foreboding image.
Crowds, many waving Slovenian flags, pack the slopes of the Monte Lussari monastery on stage 20 of the Giro d'Italia. Rugged, glaciated peaks loom behind as the monastery buildings are packed onto a sheer slope.
It’s impossible for one image to convey the wild day that was the Monte Lussari time trial at the Giro, but this one comes very, very close.
Tadej Pogačar is framed by cameraman at the start of a Tour de France stage. The stark, black-and-white shot looks like a stage set, with overhead lighting and the silhouettes of his teammates behind him as his white jersey pops against the dark background.
Yet another example of the Grubers’ unique eye for storytelling through composition and lighting.
The breakaway rides through a village in the Tour de France; overhead, strings of colorful flags crisscross the road above the riders, almost like Tibetan prayer flags.
You wait a long time for a shot like this, and the opportunity comes and is gone again in seconds.
Wout van Aert leads the Jumbo team on a descent at the Tour de France. He leans into the turn and is framed against a blue sky half-covered in white clouds, which are reflected below his bike in the bottom third of the image to make it seem like he's floating in the air.
The way the Grubers play with light and reflection produces dreamlike scenes.
Lotte Kopecky tilts her head back and drops her arms to her sides as she crosses the line to win the World Road Championship in Glasgow. Her expression is one of relief and exultation.
Framing and depth-of-field are key to this gorgeous, triumphant image of Lotte Kopecky vanquishing her rivals on the technical Glasgow World Championships course.
Mathieu van der Poel holds his head in his hands as he sits on the pavement after winning the World Road Championship. His bike's fork frames the picture as he's seen through the spokes of the wheel. His jersey is torn and he is wet and dirty from the racing and a late crash.
Henri Cartier-Bresson popularized the term “the decisive moment,” but Kristof’s framing of the shot here is as important to the raw emotion of this photo as his timing.
Sepp Kuss climbs the Col du Tourmalet alone in pursuit of Jonas Vingegaard. The road is lined with fans, some waving Basque and Spanish flags, and behind the Pyrenees loom in misty backlit light as a helicopter flies in the distance.
Perspective and scale on alpine stages can be devilishly difficult, but Kristof’s choices here perfectly distill the 2023 Vuelta a España.

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