Simon Gerrans out of Australian Nationals, Tour Down Under after training crash
Liege-Bastogne-Liege winner Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge) will miss the chance to defend his Australian National Road Race and Santos Tour Down Under titles in January after crashing in training over the weekend.
Gerrans broke his left collarbone while mountain biking, having finished a training ride on the road earlier in the day.
“About half way through my mountain bike ride I became a little unstuck, came down and landed pretty heavily on my left side,” Gerrans explained in an Orica-GreenEdge press release. “I knew straight away as I hit the ground that I had broken my left collarbone.”
The injury comes at arguably the worst time of year for Gerrans, who had a third Australian National Road title in his sights. He would also have started the Santos Tour Down Under and Jayco Herald Sun Tour as the red-hot favourite, having won the former three times (including in 2014) and the latter twice.
Gerrans will now shift his focus to the Spring Classics which begin in March.
Click here to read more at CyclingTips.
Michael Rogers to lead Tinkoff-Saxo into the Santos Tour Down Under
by Shane Stokes
Following on from a season in which he gathered two stage wins in the Giro d’Italia, one in the Tour de France and also third overall in the Route du Sud, Michael Rogers has set his sights on hitting the ground running in 2015 and notching up a high overall finish in the Santos Tour Down Under.
Rogers was confirmed Monday as leading Tinkoff-Saxo in the WorldTour event, which will take place in his home country of Australia.
“I’m excited to return to Adelaide for my 11th Santos Tour Down Under. I’m bringing an enthusiastic and committed Tinkoff-Saxo team, with the aim of getting the season off to a good start,” he said.
Directeur sportif Lars Michaelsen set out the team’s goals and said that it would be willing to assume the position of one of the favourites.
“We come with ambitions aiming for a top five with Michael but we also know that it’s very early in the season and there are a lot of unknown factors.”
Rogers will be joined by six others from the Russian team, namely Christopher Juul-Jensen, Manuele Boaro, Jesper Hansen, Michael Kolar, Pavel Brutt and Evgeny Petrov.
Click here to read more at CyclingTips.
New Abu Dhabi Tour confirmed, first edition to be held in October 2015
by Shane Stokes
The Tour of Beijing may have come to an end but the peloton will have a new late-season contest outside Europe after Giro d’Italia organisers RCS Sport confirmed the first running of the Abu Dhabi Tour next October.
The 2.1-ranked event will run from October 8 to 11 and should see a host of big teams heading to the United Arab Emirates’ capital. The race will be part of the Asia Tour.
According to RCS Sport, the Abu Dhabi Tour will feature “many of the top world cycling teams and their leading riders.”
Full route details will be made clear in June 2015.
Click here to read more at CyclingTips.
Tour de Yorkshire confirmed for 2015
Meanwhile ASO has confirmed that the Tour de Yorkshire has been approved by the sport’s governing body with the UCI 2.1 event to held for the first time between May 1-3, 2015.
The event was designed to preserve the legacy of the Tour de France’s visit to the UK this year when the race began with three stages in England. Bridlington, Leeds, Scarborough, Selby, Wakefield and York will all feature a stage start or finish for the race, which will be part of the Europe Tour.
A sportive will also be held on the third day (May 3) with several ride options available.
Click here to read more about the Tour de Yorkshire.
Stage 6 of 2015 USA Pro Challenge will take Riders from Loveland to Fort Collins
And over in the USA, organisers of the USA Pro Challenge turned to fans to help decide the start and finish locations for stage 6 of next year’s race.
After thousands of fans submitted their choice and nominated more than 20 start and finish locations, the majority of responses reportedly favoured a return to Northern Colorado. Sage 6 of the USA Pro Challenge will therefore start in Loveland and finish in Fort Collins.
“It has been incredible to witness the outpouring of support from the Northern Colorado community who has rallied together to bring back the USA Pro Challenge in 2015,” said Local Organizing Member Eric Thompson. “We are honoured to have been selected for Stage 6 next summer and look forward to sharing the excitement with the cycling fans that made it happen.”
The 2015 USA Pro Challenge will be held between August 17-23.
Text adapted from a USA Pro Challenge press release.
Cannondale Teramo bike helmet fails Consumer Reports’ safety test
Product testing and consumer protection organisation Consumer Reports has warned cyclists not to buy and use Cannondale’s Teramo helmet after testing found that the chinstrap buckle broke in four of the five samples tested.
According to Consumer Reports:
“We are not aware of any injuries related to chinstrap performance on the Cannondale Teramo and have not found mentions of problems with this particular chinstrap in user reviews on various websites or on the CPSC’s SaferProducts.gov website. Nevertheless, when Consumer Reports discovers a potential safety risk during product testing, we report our findings to consumers and to the CPSC. The agency told us in an e-mail statement: “We are taking the issue seriously and following up on the information provided.”
When contacted about the results Cannondale disputed the findings and said “we stand by our third-party independent test results.” The company also said the helmets are “tested in accordance with the required protocol and have passed all testing” and that it is not aware of any injuries as a result of the claimed defect.
Click here to read more at consumerreport.org.
Why the break was made
Nearly every professional bike race features an hours-long, almost certainly doomed breakaway. The odds against this move are terrible, and yet riders always seem willing to make it. Why? Lots of reasons, it turns out. Cosmo Catalano explains.
8bar Adventures - Berlin to Prague without a map
This is the story of two guys who tried to ride from Berlin to Prague without a map, using only a compass to keep them on track. Very cool.
Click here to read more about the trip and click here for some photos.
Downhill MTBing … on a road bike
This video is a few months old but it’s the first time we’ve stumbled across it. In it, Austrian MTBer Peter Deppner takes on the Semmering downhill track on a Scott flat-bar road bike. This is the best kind of madness.
Click here to read more at road.cc.
Final Rocacorba Daily for the year
This is the final edition of the Rocacorba Daily for 2014. That’s to you all for reading throughout the year and for your great comments as well. We’ll be back in early January 2015. Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
The Rocacorba Recap
And finally this morning, here are a few things you might have missed at CyclingTips: