Quintana to defend title by beginning his season in Tour de San Luis
Defending champion Nairo Quintana has been confirmed as starting the 2015 Tour de San Luis, with the Movistar rider deciding to once again begin his season in the Argentinean event.
Although the Colombian’s main goal of the Tour de France will take place over five months later, team manager Eusebio Unzue isn’t ruling out the possibility that his rider could win the race.
“Due to the good weather, it is a perfect race to start to build a solid base,” he said. “Last year he began calmly, but he rode stronger and stronger day after day.”
Quintana told Biciciclismo that he was looking forward to returning to the event. “I like San Luis,” he said. “It is really important for Argentinian and American supporters because they identify themselves with me.
“They are proud of me and I feel happy and flattered.”
He will be joined by his brother Dayer, who won the queen stage in the Tour of Austria. The organisers have not yet disclosed the rest of the team.
The race begins in January 19 and runs for six days.
Quintana showed his class in 2013 when he finished second in his debut Tour de France. His team deliberately withheld him from this year’s edition, sending him instead to the Giro d’Italia. He dominated that, taking his first Grand Tour.
He then went on to race the Vuelta a España but any chances of doing the double were dashed when he crashed heavily in the time trial while wearing the red jersey of race leader. He finished the stage but was forced to withdraw the following day.
His team has decided to put him in the 2015 Tour and he will hope to beat rivals such as defending champion Vincenzo Nibali, past winners Alberto Contador and Chris Froome plus others and take his first yellow jersey in Paris.
Click here to read the full story on CyclingTips.
Book extract: ‘Pantani: Debunking the Murder Myth’
Published this week, the English translation of Italian journalist Andrea Rossini’s new book on Marco Pantani has gone a long way towards answering the claims made by the rider’s family lawyer Antonio de Rensis that the 1998 Tour de France winner was murdered.
Rossini’s ‘Pantani: Debunking the Murder Myth’ deals in precise detail with each of the attempts made by de Rensis to cast doubt on the original findings, and also introduces new evidence. CyclingTips has published two extracts from the book, including one about the rider’s worsening addiction to cocaine.
Pantani flew back to Cuba from Madrid, taking his bike. His friend Michael knew about the journey and feared the worst. Sure enough, after a week, Pantani’s father called, begging him to go to Havana, all expenses paid, and bring Marco back. He was in trouble. He was surrounded by suspicious characters. He had taken some strange substance. Nevio alone could no longer protect him. In Cuba, Marco wrote in his passport:
- Dreams break like waves on an outcrop of drugs.
When Michael found him, Marco was a mess. Dr Greco gave instructions by telephone, and they saved him by the skin of his teeth. Marco returned to Italy a changed man. He craved cocaine. Like in a race, approaching the final climb, the moment had come to push himself beyond all limits, to the edge of the abyss. His parents tried to keep him under surveillance. They noticed that their son had been seeing a Russian girl for some time, the one he had met that evening at Michael’s. The shadow of suspicion fell on her. Tonina confronted her at the family villa in the village of Sala, outside Cesenatico. Pantani defended her. The argument became heated. The Carabinieri were called. They arrived to find nothing but the desperation of the Pantani: his mother, his father, and his sister.
Click here to read more on CyclingTips.
Storey confirmed as first rider to take on long-standing women’s hour record
Sarah Storey has confirmed that she plans to attack the long-standing women’s world hour record on February 28 2015, with the Briton vying to beat the existing mark of 46.065km, as set in Mexico City in 2003 by Dutch rider Leontien Zijlaard-van Moorsel.
Storey’s attempt will come 60 years after the first mark of 38.473 kilometres was established by the Soviet athlete Tamara Novikova in 1955.
She is both an accomplished track rider and also Britain’s most decorated female paralympian. She started off her career in the latter ranks by taking five gold, eight silver and three bronze medals as a swimmer in Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000, then switched to cycling.
She proved to be a natural there too, notching up six gold medals in road and track cycling in the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Paralympic Games.
“I’m excited and nervous at the prospect of being the first woman to take on the record in over a decade,” she said. “I did a couple of days’ testing up at the Manchester Velodrome to try and work out the output that would be involved over an hour to have a realistic chance of challenging the record. We decided that if I can arrive in good shape I stood a fighting chance.”
She added that it fitted in with her schedule to dispute the individual pursuit, 500m time trial and scratch race in the Paracycling track worlds in March.
Her attempt will take place at the Lee Valley VeloPark in London and will be part of round five of the Revolution Series.
Interest in the hour record has been reinvigorated after the UCI changed the rules in May and allowed more modern machines.
Jens Voigt and Matthias Brandle have improved the men’s mark in recent months but nobody has attacked the women’s record.
Dowsett next to mount challenge on men’s record?
Meanwhile speculation is growing that the British rider Alex Dowsett will also take on his own hour record challenge early in the new year. His Movistar team stated Tuesday that it would hold a press conference ‘regarding a special announcement’ from the team at Rileys Sports Bar in London on Friday December 19.
Alex Dowsett biting through the pain 25km after crashing hard (and dislocating both thumbs). He’s pictured here while on the cobbled 17% section of the Mont Saint Laurent.
It added that General Manager Eusebio Unzué would be there along with other unspecified team members.
Dowsett is one of the country’s best time trialists and previously stated that he wanted to attack the record. With some big guns such as Bradley Wiggins also keen to give it a shot, but thought to be waiting until later next year, he will be aware that moving early would give him the best chance of taking the record and holding it for some time.
According to Cycling Weekly, he has been riding the Full Gas Winter League at the Lee Valley Velodrome, which will be the location for the Revolution track meeting on February 27 to 28.
Storey’s attempt will take place on the 28th; it is thought that Dowset would attack the men’s record one day earlier, with his effort likely to be one of the showpieces of the opening night of the track meet.
Cycling Weekly states that his team is reportedly paying for the hire of the velodrome for at least 12 one-hour sessions, at a cost of around £500 a time.
The current record is 51.852 kilometres, as set by IAM Cycling’s Matthias Brandle. That beat the previous mark set by Jens Voigt, who clocked 51.115 on September 18.
If Dowsett succeeds, he would be following in the wheeltracks of previous British record holders Graeme Obree and Chris Boardman.
Click here to read more at Cycling Weekly.
Torku-Sekerspor team becomes probationary member of MPCC
Twice thrust into scandal when its riders tested positive after winning the Presidential Tour of Turkey, the Torku-Sekerspor team has apparently embarked on a new direction and has signed up Frenchman Lionel Marie as its new manager.
Marie, who has worked as a coach for teams such as Credit Agricole’s under 23 squad, Cofidis, Garmin, Orica-Green EDGE and Giant Shimano has said that his goal is to ensure problems don’t reoccur.
“My first job consists in developing a strong anti-doping policy,” he said in a statement released by the MPCC anti-doping movement. “To do so, it seemed essential to me that the team should join MPCC.”
Former Torku riders Ivailo Gabrovskiy and Mustafa Sayar won the 2012 and 2013 Tours of Turkey but both subsequently tested positive for EPO and lost those titles.
The team has now been given membership of the MPCC, but on probation. It will need to spend time without issues before a decision will be taken on full membership.
“After two EPO cases on two Tours of Turkey, the team has complied with ADAMS system requirements,” said Marie, talking about WADA’s whereabouts system. “There is a clear need to turn the page and this is my number one priority, and that’s why the sponsor wanted to hire me. You all know my convictions regarding anti-doping.”
Amongst other things, the team is aiming to secure a repeat invite to the Tour of Turkey. While it is the biggest Turkish team organisers were nervous after the problems in 2012 and 2013.
Europcar under pressure after WorldTour licence refusal
Having recently lost out on a WorldTour licence after the UCI’s Licence Commission decided that it didn’t have sufficient finances, the Europcar team is now trying to ensure that it receives a Pro Continental licence for 2015.
Last Thursday L’Equipe quoted team owner Jean-René Bernaudeau saying the gap between the budgeted income and planned expenditure was five percent short, but the following day he was quoted as saying it was six percent. According to Inrng, the team budget is slightly over eight million Euro, thus representing a shortfall of over €400,000.
Although registration for a Pro Continental licence is some €60,000 less expensive than the WorldTour equivalent, the team is still well short. As Inrng points out, the team still needs to make further savings in order to be able to meet the budget demands and get the licence.
Missing some races could help cut down on costs, but this also means that the team won’t get the relating appearance fees.
One way of making the necessary saving is for the team to let a big name rider move on. Although they are contracted, UCI rules mean that they have the right to head elsewhere in the event that a team fails to make the cut in terms of the WorldTour. It remains to be seen if this will happen, but losing a rider such as Pierre Rolland appears to be a possibility.
Click here to read more at Inrng.
Mexican Under 23 rider Aguirre caught bringing doping products into Spain
José Alfredo Aguirre, who competes with the Spanish Mutua Levante team, found himself in the headlines for the wrong reasons this week when it was confirmed that he was caught with EPO and HGH at the Alicante airport in Spain last April.
The 20 year old Mexican rider is yet to be sanctioned, but the UCI notified his federation at the end of October, putting that process in motion.
The rider has claimed that he wasn’t aware of the products in his luggage, claiming that he was given a bag by his team director and instructed to bring it to Spain.
Both products can be purchases without prescription in Mexico, but their importation to Spain is another matter.
Aguirre is a road and track rider, but could be facing a long suspension from the sport.
Click here to read more at As.com.
FSA confirms development of electronic drivetrain but denies rumour of team sponsorship
Following on from the sighting by CyclingTips of a new FSA electronic gearing system on a test machine at the Tour de France, the company has confirmed to VeloNews that it has indeed developed a complete drivetrain.
Full Speed Ahead has insisted that it will not sponsor a team with shifting components in 2015 but, according to the American website, three separate industry sources confirmed that Etixx-Quick-Step has a drivetrain contract with the company.
According to these sources, the team will buy Shimano groups until FSA’s 11-speed electronic group is ready. Omega Pharma-Quickstep, which turns into Etixx-Quick-Step for 2015, was a SRAM-sponsored team during the 2014 season.
FSA has previously acknowledged the development of the new electronic drivetrain, but when contacted for comment, FSA’s marketing manager Gloria Radaelli denied the 2015 sponsorship rumors.
“Every year there are rumors about the FSA groupset, but we are not ready yet,” Radaelli said via e-mail. “I can say that in 2015 we are not going to sponsor officially any teams with a groupset.”
Specialized will equip Patrick Lefevere’s team again for 2015, but the bike brand declined to comment on the FSA drivetrain rumor. A team spokesman did not return correspondence seeking comment.
Click here to read the full story on VeloNews.
Mario Cipollini to attend Tour Down Under
Mario Cipollini, a.k.a. The Lion King is set to roar when he visits Australia for the first time at the Tour Down Under next month.
Glen Matulich, Director of Bespoke Imports, confirmed today that Mario Cipollini will be in Adelaide to showcase his range of Italian made racing bicycles at the Adelaide City Council Tour Village as part of the Santos Tour Down Under 17 – 25 January 2015. Bespoke Imports has organised Cipollini’s visit and will be hosting his stay with various events planned throughout the week.
“This will be Mario’s first visit to Australia and we are really excited to have him here as it has been a project four years in the making to convince him to visit us in Adelaide,” said Matulich.
With 42 individual stage wins at the Giro d’Italia, 12 at the Tour de France and three at the Vuelta a Espana, Mario is one of the greatest sprinters of his generation, and still a large personality within the sport.
“A big thank you to the fans as Mario’s attendance can also be attributed to the Facebook fan page “We Want Cipo Down Under” where cycling fans showed their support to see Super Mario here in the flesh. Let’s hope he manages to bring a skin suit or two!”
Click here to read the full story on CyclingTips.
World champion Kwiatkowski hits the deck in training
Riders customarily dismiss any talk of the so-called Curse of the Rainbow Jersey, but the new world champion Michal Kwiatkowski is certainly ruing bad luck after he crashed during training.
The Polish rider, who seized the world title with an audacious and brilliantly-timed attack at the worlds in Ponferrada, Spain, in September, appears to have crashed and suffered a cut to his face. He posted the result of that on Instagram, but appeared to dismiss any possibility of serious injury with a tongue in cheek remark.
“Getting ready for cobblestones!” he said, without giving any further details.
UPDATE: this looks like a pre-season training camp hoax as Mark Cavendish appears to have posted a similar fake injury on twitter.
Heiko Salzwedel: back to British Cycling
In October it was announced that former Australian National Team coach (1990-98) Heiko Salzwedel would return to Team GB. For the third time in the coach’s career he will be part of the British track cycling program. He will be the men’s team pursuit coach, a specific position for a dynamic team that has won gold at the past two Olympic Games.
RIDE Cycling Review speaks with Salzwedel and tells of his coaching exploits and discuss two of the characters from the peloton whom he has had quite a lot to do with: Bradley Wiggins and Jens Voigt.
Heiko Salzwedel having a chat with Rob Arnold about his return to British Cycling. Photo courtesy of RIDE Cycling Review
Here’s an excerpt:
“
RIDE: It’s my understanding that Bradley Wiggins was asking to work with you again. Is that how it worked?
Salzwedel: “Yeah. Bradley realised that he wants to make one big last thing and that’s unfinished business, the Olympic gold medal in the team pursuit [in 2016] and to concentrate fully on the track for the next two years… that means after Paris-Roubaix [in 2015] he’s going to focus fully on track cycling, fully on the team pursuit. And he wants to finish his career with a gold medal in Rio.”“We’ve known each other for a long, long time. I remember the first time I met him was in 2001 at a little kermesse race in Belgium when I started my job as a performance manager of British Cycling. I introduced myself to the riders at a training camp over there and I had one-to-one talks with every rider just to get to know each other.
“Bradley, he stunned me with very specific questions about the East German team pursuit team in 1988 – with very detailed information. And he surprised me when he suddenly said, ‘I’m going to win Olympic gold…’ and I told him that’s going to be a long way to go. But it didn’t take so long for him. By 2004 he was already there [as winner of the individual pursuit].”
Read the full feature here on RIDE’s website. This forms part of a larger discussion in RIDE issue #66 (on newsstands tomorrow) which has a feature about many rumours and myths about sport in the Eastern Bloc. Nikolai Razouvaev gives a firsthand account about what being a racer in the Soviet Union was really like 30 years ago.
The Rocacorba Recap
And finally this morning, here are a few things you might have missed at CyclingTips:
- Your training questions answered with Dig Deep Coaching: part five
- December 2014 Product Picks
- Rocacorba Daily: Tuesday December 16, 2014