Rocacorba Daily

Tough but balanced Giro d’Italia route unveiled

Starting in San Lorenzo Al Mare on May 9th and concluding three weeks and 3,481.8 kilometres later in Milan, the route of next year’s Giro d’Italia was unveiled Monday by race organisers RCS Sport.

Alberto Contador said at the presentation, “It is a different Giro than those I have ridden before, with a time trail that is a little atypical. The seven summit finishes will mark the race. There are not too many mountain pass with impossible ramps, although there are some important ones, among others the Mortirolo. It is a fairly balanced Giro, maybe somewhat less hard than other times.”

What is regarded as a balanced version of the race has been unveiled, with a total of five full mountain stages, seven medium mountain stages, seven uphill finishes, seven sprint stages and two races against the clock being included.

Read the 2015 Giro d’Italia route description and full details here on CyclingTips.

Contador pulls out of Tour of Beijing

Having crashed hard in the finale of yesterday’s Il Lombardia, Alberto Contador has renounced his planned participation in the Tour of Beijing. The Vuelta a España winner confirmed Monday via Twitter that he won’t take part, with the after-effects of the crash on the final corner of the race aggravating the same knee he hurt during the Tour de France.

“Bad news,” he wrote via Twitter. “Training today I hadrdly could pedal because [of] the knee. Finally I don’t go to China.

“New thing is to do a MRI to know how the knee is and to start thinking on [about] 2015.”

Contador was in the second group on the road dropping down to the finish in Bergamo and was one of several riders who came down on the final corner.

“Following the last climb, I was in a group chasing the front group on the descent towards the finishing straight,” he said in a statement after the race. “In the final corner, someone crashed right in front of me and I didn’t have time to react.

“I went down and several riders came from behind and crashed into me. There was simply nothing I could do.”

He said that he was hurt in the crash. “I’ve sustained an injury to my left knee, which is the same one I hurt in the Tour and I also have some bruises on my elbow. It’s unlucky that it was the knee again but I think it’s not too serious. I’ll put some ice on it and hopefully I’ll be ready to go.”

He said that he would see how his knee felt on Monday morning; as things turned out, the joint was affected more badly than he first thought, and he has decided to miss Beijing as a result.

Read the full article here on CyclingTips.

With Contador out, WorldTour leader Valverde won’t ride Tour of Beijing

Following confirmation Monday that Alberto Contador, his sole challenger for the 2014 WorldTour title, won’t ride the Tour of Beijing, Alejandro Valverde’s Movistar team has said that he too won’t make the trip to China for the final event of this year’s series.

Contador was leading the standings after winning the Vuelta a España but dropped out of the lead on Sunday when he crashed in the finale of Il Lombardia. Valverde had a much better race, finishing second, and ended the day with 686 points, 66 more than Contador’s total.

With 100 points available to the winner in Beijing and Valverde willing to travel to defend his title, Contador knew he had a fight on his hands. However a knee issue arising from Sunday’s crash meant that he declared he wouldn’t travel anyway.

This news was followed by the announcement that Valverde would follow suit.

“Due to sporting reasons and as a result of his recent fatherhood, which already made him not travel to Italy from his homeland Murcia until Saturday evening to race Il Lombardia yesterday – where he finished in second place – Alejandro Valverde won’t ultimately take part in the Tour of Beijing, the last UCI WorldTour race of the season starting on Friday and whose individual classification is already secured for the Spanish rider of the Movistar Team,” said his team in a statement.

Read the full story here on CyclingTips.

Astana and Iglinskiy reverse decision to have rider’s B sample tested, team won’t ride Tour of Beijing

Weekend predictions that the Astana team and its rider Maxim Iglinskiy would, in fact, not have his B sample checked proved to be correct, with the team announcing today that the rider would not dispute his positive A sample test for EPO.

“Astana Pro Team has moved to act upon the decision by rider Maxim Iglinskiy not to request a counter-analysis of his positive control from 1 August 2014,” the team stated in a short press release Monday evening.

“In doing so the team conforms to rules set by the MPCC, which Astana Pro Team joined in 2013, and has therefore decided to withdraw from the final World Tour event, the Tour of Beijing.”

Because it is a member of the MPCC anti-doping movement, the team has committed to suspending itself in the event of two positive tests. According to the MPCC rules, teams must auto-suspend themselves for eight days, with that period starting on the day of the next World Tour event.

The next event was Sunday’s Il Lombardia, with the Tour of Beijing starting five days after that. Had the rider and team followed the same course of action as when Valentin Iglinskiy was deemed positive, declining the B sample, the team would have missed both of those races and also the Tour of Almaty in Kazakhstan, a major objective.

Read the full article here on CyclingTips.

Tinkov offers a €1 million ‘Grand Tour Challenge’

Oleg Tinkov is ponying up €1 million to Alberto Contador and his Grand Tour rivals if they compete in all three Grand Tours in 2015.

After Contador confirmed that he’ll target the Giro-Tour double in 2015, Tinkov launched his Grand Tour triple challenge at the Giro d’Italia presentation in Milan.

@olegtinkov @vincenzonibali @chrisfroome @albertocontador pic.twitter.com/W3MOLIhgW5

— TailWindHome (@TailWIndHome) October 6, 2014

Tinkoff told cyclingnews, “If Quintana, Froome, Nibali and Contador all agree to ride all three Grand Tours, I’ll get Tinkoff Bank to put up €1 million. They can have €250,000 each as an extra incentive. I think it’s a good idea.”

“It’s good that Alberto is going for the Giro-Tour double but I think the biggest and best riders should race against each other and ride all three Grand Tours.”

Read the full story at Cyclingnews.

Mara Abbott And Anna Christian Sign For Wiggle Honda In 2015

Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling has announced that Mara Abbott and Anna Christian have both signed a contract to join the team in 2015. Both riders were selected to ride for their countries in last month’s World Championships in Ponferrada, Spain, and will add to the strength of the black and orange team, as well as maintaining its commitment to develop young talent.

Giro Rosa stage 6 Terme di Premia - San Domenico Mara Abbott wins her second stage. Photo provided by Wiggle-Honda

28-year-old Mara Abbott, from Boulder, Colorado, is a two-time US National Champion, and the winner of the Giro d’Italia - the toughest and most prestigious stage race in women’s cycling - in 2010 and 2013. Other notable results include four overall victories of the Tour of the Gila, in the US, with 2014 seeing her take that fourth Gila and the Vuelta a El Salvador.

Anna Christian will be starting her first year in the women’s elite category with Wiggle-Honda in 2015

With the inclusion of Mara and Anna, alongside Dani King and Elisa Longo Borghini, Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling has confirmed four of its riders for 2014. Stay tuned for further announcements in the coming weeks.

Anna Christian is one of the most exciting young British talents, having been selected to ride for her native Isle of Man in the Commonwealth Games, in Glasgow, Scotland, this year. The 19-year-old rode the time trial and road race, and finished in the top-20 in both.

Zwift promises to change indoor training

It’s already something which could revolutionise the way people will train indoors, but if things go to plan for the Zwift company, some very interesting features will be added to the training/gaming platform that was unveiled last week.

The setup comprises a simulated cycling environment which connects to the speed and cadence/power sensors already owned by its users and which enables people to ride together in a virtual world.

No more staring at walls or watching television or videos while using indoor trainers; instead, users around the world will be able to ride with and against each other, with each able to see the Zwift world on a laptop/personal computer (or TV screen connected to one of those).

Users will be represented by pedalling figures and it will be possible to race others and, once the full version is up and running, to be able to ride alongside and talk to participants as well.

Read the full article on what Zwift is all about here on CyclingTips.

Why are Colombia’s best cyclists farmers?

In the always good Colombian cycling blog, Cycling Inquisition, he has a short and sweet post called “Because of it, not in spite of it”

“

It’s an issue I’ve addressed before, and one that continues to interest me. I’m referring to the effect that an athlete’s place of birth and upbringing can have on him and his temperament….

The video below touches on those points, albeit in a lighthearted tone.

How the race was won: Il Lombardia

In this edition of Cyclocosm’s “How the race was won” we take a look at Dan Martin’s win at the final monument of the 2014 season, Il Lombardia.

View How the race was won: Il Lombardia here.

In Cyclocosm’s “How the race was won” series, you’ll see much more than simple race highlights. Cosmo Catalano picks up the details that nobody else sees, analyses the race situation and its progression, and wraps it in his own brand of humour and razor sharp wit. We hope you enjoy it.

The Rocacorba Recap

And finally this morning, here are a few things you might have missed at CyclingTips:

Today’s feature image comes from Jered Gruber taken recently somewhere in the Italian Dolomites.

***

Don’t get dropped — keep up to date with regular CyclingTips content, updates, special offers and events, just by signing up to our newsletter.

John_Irvine

So will anybody ride in Beijing?
- jules
  
  do they want to? Contador rode and won the Vuelta after breaking his leg. but now he has a ‘sore knee’ and can’t possibly ride Beijing. i think we can safely say he can’t be arsed.
  - Michele
    
    Bertie will ride the Tour of Beijing. It’s part of his master plan. Come Thursday he’ll announce via social media he is back in training with the hope of racing.
    
    He’ll go to Beijing on Friday and say he is just making up the numbers and won’t be a contender. He’ll then promptly win the GC.
    
    This shows how much finishing top of the WT ranking means to the riders. He’s just calling Valverde’s bluff at the moment to ensure the Spaniard doesn’t start the race.
    
    Genius move. :)
    - jules
      
      Nothing would surprise me. part of me thinks he chickened out due to the inevitable onslaught of beef jokes though :)
Michele

So it looks like Adam Hansen is set to become a millionaire next year. :)

Tinkov is one generous fellow.
- Arfy
  
  It would be funny if Lotto made Hansen their official GC leader just to get the money.
  
  But I do applaud Tinkov, he’s taking the ownership of the Tours out of the hands of the promoters, which is what is really needed to gain the most benefit for the teams and make it a GT series, rather than one-off events trying to compete against each other. He can do what the UCI can’t.
  - donncha
    
    That’s one way of looking at it.
    Increasing the incentive to get on the special sauce is another.
    - Arfy
      
      I prefer not to be negative, and see the move as doing something positive for the sport. It’s moving the GT’s into a series format much like golf, cricket, and tennis.
      
      The only way to firmly eliminate doping is to not have a sport.
Andy Logan

Good to see the chap on the far right made some effort wearing trainers to the Giro presentation..
Anyone know who it is?
- Michele
  
  Julián Arredondo - won the KOM at the Giro this year.
  - donncha
    
    Daniel Friebe reckons it’s Bouhanni.
    
    Oops, sorry, he was talking about the double-denim outfit :)
    - The Canadian tuxedo
      
      For Canada denim on denim is considered a tuxedo. It isn’t a fashion faux pas any more…
      http://www.ottawacitizen.com/entertainment/Canadian+tuxedo+Expert+tips+wear+doubledenim+look/10159822/story.html
http://conza.tumblr.com/ Conza

Wondering what the Secret Pro has been up to lately..
- http://www.cyclingTipsBlog.com cyclingTips
  
  What a disaster the Secret Pro has been this year. I only wish I could share what goes on behind the scenes.
  - jules
    
    victim of his/your own success! if there was no backroom drama, it would probably be a boring read.
  - Sean
    
    We’re all friends here, do tell.
  - http://conza.tumblr.com/ Conza
    
    Haha well it’s certainly been great when he does finally pipe up with an article. I can only imagine the redaction process etc..
- Berk on a Bike
  
  He won the Quebec/Montreal double and a silver at the worlds, didn’t he…? ;-)
  - The Secret Pro
    
    So close, and yet so far…
Sean

I couldn’t help noticing that Gerro gets a lot of hate on other sites for how he wins. On the weekend Dan Martin essentially did the same thing and he’s a hero for all the fattie keyboard warriors.
- Michele
  
  I agree. It’s called biding your time and making the most of the opportunity presented to you. It’s also called smart racing. Gerrans is a master at it.
- Ryan
  
  Dan Martin goes a lot earlier than what Gerro usually does….see Leige last year for example
  - jules
    
    Gerro has a stronger sprint, he’s going to wait longer. it’s amazing how hard it is for cycling fans to come to grips with the fact that pros will ride to their strengths, not what looks the most heroic on TV.
    - Dave
      
      Just because he wins doesn’t mean people need to like it, fans get to choose who they support. Jens Voigt hasn’t won much of anything for a long time (only 1 WorldTour point this year, 0 last year) but retired on top as easily the most popular road cyclist in the world.
      
      Needing a tow to the line is only acceptable if you’re a proper sprinter, throw in being a smug little shit with an annoying jockey voice (side effect of previous doping?) for good measure and you can see why a large number of people can’t muster anything more than “meh” to a Gerrans win.
      - jules
        
        but imagine if everyone rode like Jens? let’s face it, his popularity is partly down to his novelty value. at the end of the day, do you reckon Jens would have been throwing out suicidal attacks if he was in with a sniff of winning what Gerro was? of course not. he was riding to - or within - his strengths too.
        
        Dave
        
        Maybe if there was more ballsy racing the sport might be enjoyed by more people. Banning power meters for on-board use (have a recording-only unit under the seat like track riders do) and race radio would go some way towards this.
        
        When you can often fit everything that was remotely exciting into a five minute highlights show, it’s bloody obvious why cycling has a hard time with attracting the sponsorship dollars to keep the top teams afloat.
        
        http://whatspossible.com.au/ Scott Barrow
        
        Yep.
      - Sean
        
        lighten up punk. :-P
      - Kook
        
        Classic there Dave. Jens is the clearest candidate for a doper if I ever saw one. Everyone else around him has been implicated, but not him. Funny that.
    - http://whatspossible.com.au/ Scott Barrow
      
      Fuck. Yes.
Lach

Uran looking like a fucking boss in that suit + pink bowtie + deep marble blue shoes though. Also that Colombian video is brilliant. Kind of makes me want to move there and just ride and farm.. ride and farm..

Tuesday October 7, 2014

by Wade Wallace - October 7, 2014