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Dave Brailsford in a BBC interview says that the Team Sky project is all about inspiring participation.

But I keep on coming back to the same question I asked back at the Worlds in September: where are the women?

It's not like there aren't great squads that could do with a sponsor and come ready formed. Say, for example, Equipe NÜRNBERGER Versicherung who have just folded due to their new sponsor running away at the last moment.

Take a look at some of the riders on their 2009 team roster and factor in that Nicole Cooke was due to ride for them in 2010.

Actually, let's go back to the basics of a team with a British core: Lizzie Armitstead has moved teams this season, along with Sharon Laws, to join Emma Pooley at Cervelo.

Pooley's pretty happy where she is, but if you say the other two were on the market along with Cooke and all the riders in her now defunct Vision 1 Racing team, then it's not hard to assemble a race-winning roster of a dozen or so riders without having to look too hard.

Throw in a good handful of young British riders who could benefit from the development opportunity with 2012 in mind and it's looking pretty progressive.

But given that both Vision 1 and Nurnberger have gone under for want of a sponsor, perhaps women's cycling is still at an awkward chicken/egg stage where it needs a raised profile to attract committed sponsors but can't raise that profile without committed sponsors.

I've spent the last year or so trying to do something about the profile by writing about women's cycling where I can but it's tough to get race information without being at the races, something no one is currently willing to pay me to do.

One solution would be more races organised alongside the higher profile men's ones, like they do at the Tour of Flanders and Amstel Gold. Then there'd be no excuse for journalists not having access and the ability to cover the races.

So what are your thoughts on the lack of a Team Sky women's squad and how women's cycling can raise its profile?

Like ying and yang, for every list of bad news, there is good. So here's my predictions for good things that might happen this year. (I've updated this to correct a couple of errors and add a couple of links 04/10/2010)

• The arrival of significant new teams will increase interest in cycling outside of the specialist press

Like it or not, Team Radioshack and Team Sky will be the two teams that people will be interested in beyond cycling's core audience.

On the one hand you have the Armstrong factor: a sporting star who has transcended the boundaries of their sport and spilled into the wider public consciousness.

On the other a global corporation trying to push forward on the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) platform as well as looking to acquire a brand association with Britain's most successful Olympic sport.

Then there's BMC, who've signed a host of talent, including World Champion Cadel Evans and will be looking to be this season's Cervelo Test Team by making a big impact in the major races and raising the profile of a bike manufacturer.

The gulf between BMC and Team Sky, both cultural and budget, is striking. BMC are the modern evolution of the "trade team" model whereas Team Sky is the arrival of modern professional sport in cycling's parochial world.

Witness the way they used contract law to ensure that Bradley Wiggins was able to make his much-cherished move and their attitude to rider selection and media management. It has more in common with the management style of Manchester United than Astana.

• Sponsors and broadcasters will wake up to the growth potential of women's cycling

Someone will spot the low investment cost and figure out that Cervelo Test Team and Columbia-HTC have got a pretty good model to build on. I can't be the only person who thinks Team Sky have missed a trick by not having ambitions to put together a women's team around any one of Nicole Cooke, Lizzie Armitstead or Emma Pooley. Same goes for Radioshack with the pool of talent in North America.

• The professional peloton will start to get a little bit less white

Let's face it, for all the increasing internationalism of the top flight calendar, there is an alarming absence of non-white riders in the big teams. Fumy Beppu is one of the few and a favourite in our household.

Daniel Teklehaimanot from Eritrea could be in the vanguard of African riders to break through. He's got a great story - life and career threatened by heart condition - and sixth at this year's Tour de l'Avenir ahead of some highly-rated riders like Stetina and Gallopin say he's got the ability to step up.

It was the Rwandan Adrien Niyonshuti, riding for MTN who garnered particular press interest when he raced alongside Lance Armstrong at the Tour of Ireland and the story of Team Rwanda writes itself.

Eritrea is cycling mad, a legacy of Italian colonialism, and there could be no more fitting country to produce the breakthrough rider. Combined with projects like Kenyan Cyclist and Jock Boyer's marshalling of the Rwandan national team it represents the beginning of something important.

I've got other predictions but I'm always keen to get other people's in the hope that it will provoke debate and bring knowledge to the table.

First up, Astana. I think we can dispatch this one pretty quickly.

Is there anything good to say about it? The visual branding is weaker than last year even if the logos are less confused. That's about as good as it gets.

There's just no definition to the colour blocks and it all just goes nowhere. The previous iterations were stronger visually. Perhaps it's an embodiment of a team lacking direction and identity, not to mention lacking strength and depth in the squad.

And now to Quick-Step (found these photos via Maglia Rosa blog although they've been doing the rounds for a while now in various places)

Ignore Tom Boonen in his Belgian Champion's kit, that looks pretty cool and follows a well-worn formula that works: Champion jersey + predominantly black shorts.

And that's where they've gone wrong. Take a look at Tom in last season's abortive "retro look" out on a Paris-Roubaix reccy

The blue up-and-over on the 2010 kit looks like generic cookie cutter kit that any club can get made up by any number of suppliers. Black shorts with white sponsors' names would have worked so much better.

Then there's a concessions to television airtime. The white side panels don't say "guaranteed return on investment while in a break", they say "we're hedging our bets in case our man doesn't win and you can't read the really big logo on his chest".

Both kits also suffer from the poor application of red. In Astana's case it's Specialized; in Quick-Step's it's Eddy Merckx.

Corporate identity is big business, and Specialized have established that red S icon pretty well over recent years. It just doesn't work with that strange cyan and yellow though.

The new Merckx M on the other hand is an absolute abomination. Gone is that incredible EM logo and loving heritage typeface, replaced by another generic re-branding exercise.

It's vile and hateful, but most of all it's typical of the unnecessary need by new owners to make their mark. It brings nothing to the brand at the same time as removing all the acquired heritage value and support.

Last week was Penshurst and one muddy hell that usually isn't surpassed in the season. Hog Hill is new this season and now goes down as the muddiest fixture in the calendar.

As London Cyclesport puts it "The first cyclo cross race at this venue was held in some truly atrocious weather that brought heavy downpours in each race through the day."

I was pretty darned rubbish this week, despite a newly-trued rear wheel and fresh brake pads. either my handling is getting worse or I need to believe in it a bit more.

Quick recommendation here for my LBS, Woolsey of Acton who did the wheel in a couple of hours for 15 quid at short notice (I walked in and asked).

Actually what did the damage was the heavy, heavy mud and how many bits needed to be run, including getting back up the Somme-like section about halfway round. I'll admit to sitting down at least twice on a opportunely positioned stile to catch my breath. Matt Seaton was most bemused and James Wilson has suggested next time I should bring a briar pipe and some loose shag to make a proper job of it.

A few times I got into a good groove and was OK, but others it was red line/white line/blurred vision panic.

Of note is that the lap was much longer (or felt like it) than most of the ones we are used to. I wasn't so sure beforehand but now I'm convinced it's a good thing. It's more distance for riders to spread over, fewer pinch points for lapped rider/leader conflicts and generally a bit less repetitive.

The next London League race isn't for a few weeks so I'm switching back to road a bit for the Imperial Winter Series at Hillingdon. I'm going to be putting to the test Ridley's marketing claim about the Crossbow: "Call it an entry-level cross bike if you want. We call it the ultimate backup racer here in Flanders, where a broken bike is never an excuse to drop out."

I'm assuming they mean you can race on it in road races rather than as a backup cyclocross race bike. If I've misunderstood, Saturday will be "interesting".

A women's race has been one of the big missing components from the Smithfield Nocturne's first two editions. But in 2009 that is set to change with the announcement of the Women's Elite Criterium in the programme.

Having recently started writing about that side of the sport I think it's fair to say that its omission was as much a reflection of the likely numbers as anything. A couple of years ago you would perhaps have been pushed to get a decent sized field.

This year, from what I've seen, there should be more than enough competitive women in London and the South East to make up the required numbers. My understanding is that they need 30 entries for it to take place. It says E123, which might miss out a huge swathe of women who are just coming into the sport this season as 4th Cats, but if you've got the points, make it a date.

Here's what the course looks like

And here's my top reasons why you should sign up to ride it:

1. It is the most fantastic atmosphere to ride in. Having ridden the folding bike and Press/All-Star races the last two years I can safely say that there a few occasions when a lumper like me gets to feel like a pro and hear the massive roar of people packed in all round the course.

2. It's a fantastic course to ride. It may not look much on paper but the bottom corners on Snow Hill are fast and the sort of thing that gives you butterflies. In fact all the corners are exciting to ride and it's so fast that you are buzzing all the way round, totally ignoring how much it hurts to be riding that fast.

3. You owe it to yourself to ride. Charlie Easton has been a big agitator for getting it to happen and credit to James Pope at Face Partnership for responding in the right way to the criticisms about the lack of a women's race. It's now up to you to make sure it happens.

So if you know a woman who races and holds an E123 licence, then sign up. The price tag is, in my opinion, a good reflection of what it costs to make races like this happen. It's also a good reflection of how good racing at Smithfield is.

I might not get the chance to show my lack of speed this year but if it means that women's racing has a place at this high profile event, then I'm more than happy to cede my place on the circuit.

So make sure you sign up for the Women's Elite Criterium at the Smithfield Nocturne