Daily News Digest

Alexander Kristoff takes a second stage win at the Tour of Qatar

Katusha’s Alexander Kristoff has claimed his second stage win at the Tour of Qatar, sprinting to victory into Mesaieed at the end of stage 4 on Wednesday. Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) was second while Nikias Arndt (Giant-Alpecin) was third.

Tour of Qatar 2015 - Elite - Stage 4

Organisers started the race more than an hour early following concerns about brutally strong headwinds and the possibility of a sandstorm. Those fears didn’t materialise, but the riders did still have a strong headwind to contend with for most of the day.

A group of three riders — Dmitriy Gruzdev (Astana), Jaco Venter (MTN-Qhubeka) and Jarl Salomein (Topsport Vlaanderen) — featured in the day’s breakaway, gaining roughly four minutes at one stage, but the race was all back together inside the final 20km.

Kristoff benefited from a strong lead-out from his teammates before jumping to take his second win in three days.

“It was a lot of head wind during the whole day, so the pace was slow and the race became easy until the final kilometers,” Kristoff said. “In the final everybody was fresh, so the sprint was very chaotic!”

Overall leader Niki Terpstra (Etixx-Quick-Step) finished five seconds behind a 14-rider strong group at the head of the race but remains in the overall lead by six seconds. Today’s penultimate stage sees the riders cover 153km from Al Zubara Fort to Madinat ash-Shamal.

Stage 4: Al Thakhira > Mesaieed - Stage Result

Wednesday 11th February 2015

1.	KRISTOFF Alexander Team Katusha	04:15:57
2.	SAGAN Peter Tinkoff - Saxo	-
3.	ARNDT Nikias Team Giant - Alpecin	-

1.	TERPSTRA Niki Etixx - Quick Step	12:09:44
2.	BODNAR Maciej Tinkoff - Saxo	0:06
3.	STANNARD Ian Team Sky	0:12

1.	KRISTOFF Alexander Team Katusha	32
2.	SAGAN Peter Tinkoff - Saxo	26
3.	BOONEN Tom Etixx - Quick Step	21

1.	ROWE Luke Team Sky	12:10:17
2.	SAGAN Peter Tinkoff - Saxo	0:04
3.	STUYVEN Jasper Trek Factory Racing	0:22

1.	Etixx - Quick Step	36:30:32
2.	Team Sky	0:24
3.	Astana Pro Team	0:25

Text adapted from a Katusha press release.

Diego Ulissi to return to competition at the Tour of the Basque Country

Lampre-Merida has announced that Diego Ulissi will make his return to racing at the Tour of Basque Country (the Volta al Pais Vasco) in April before taking part in the Ardennes Classics, the Tour de Romandie and then the Giro d’Italia.

Ulissi is currently serving a nine-month ban handed down by the Swiss Olympic Committee after testing positive for excessive amounts of Salbutamol; a substance found in asthma medication. Ulissi’s ban ends on March 28 and the Tour of the Basque Country starts on April 6.

Ulissi is reportedly training with teammates in Tuscany in preparation for his return to competition.

Text adapted from a Lampre-Merida press release.

Cancellara: retirement is approaching, but I’m enjoying the sport 100 times more than three years ago

by Shane Stokes

Having suggested in the past that he is likely to retire after the end of the 2016 season, Fabian Cancellara has once again stated that his career is inching towards a conclusion.

Speaking to Sporza, the Swiss Trek Factory Racing rider said that he can feel his age on the bike but does what he can to retain an edge on his younger rivals.

“You try to somehow turn back time. I now enjoy it much more. As much as 100 times more than three years ago,” he said, referring to the sport. “I have more fun, but I feel even more that I have an appointment with history.

“With age, I pay more and more attention to the details. That is an advantage I have on the younger riders, who have less regard for it.”

His Trek Factory Racing team has confirmed to CyclingTips today that he does indeed plan to retire at the end of next season, giving him two more years to add to his haul of victories.

“I am not happy with my 2014 season…I won Flanders, but it was not enough. I said that many times and I will always repeat it, because it is the truth,” he stated frankly.

Click here to read more at CyclingTips.

Andy Schleck takes up Trek role, preserves his link with the sport

by Shane Stokes

Meanwhile Cancellara’s former teammate Andy Schleck is set to take up a new role with Trek Travel, an offshoot of the Trek bicycle company, and will join the company on a number of cycling vacations in 2015.

The former pro rider has inked an agreement to ride on the Etape du Tour trip in July plus the Mallorca Ride Camp in May.

“There is simply no other way to ride with this former champion. And no excuse to pass this opportunity by,” said the company, announcing the news.

According to Trek Factory Racing press officer Tim Vanderjeugd, Schleck’s career-ending knee injury has abated enough for Schleck to be able to ride his bike, although he cannot push as hard as is necessary to continue his career.

His new role enables him to continue his link with the sport and his fans.

Click here to read more at CyclingTips.

Tinkov hints at something big - but what could it be?

Oleg Tinkov has taken to Twitter in a bid to drum up interest in an upcoming announcement that he’s calling the “biggest ever cycling news”.

BREAKING NEWS! At #TirrenoAdriatico presentation @tinkoff_saxo team will announce BIGGEST ever CYCLING news. Be patient,please, don't ask me

— Oleg Tinkov (@olegtinkov) February 10, 2015

On the one hand we’re starting to get tired of Tinkov’s antics, on the other hand he’s an entertaining character and someone that’s done a lot for the sport. We do like SBS Cycling Central’s approach to Tinkov’s tweet: the team has gone through what the announcement could possibly be, in what is an entertaining post.

Here’s an excerpt:

“

Armstrong consulting?

Out of work, and looking for a new gig? Perhaps Oleg is going to announce he’s offering a lifeline to Lance Armstrong as a high performance consultant. Tinkov has already snapped up Steven de Jongh’s race smarts, with proven success, but perhaps the addition of Armstrong, that extra bit of Grand Tour know-how - if you know what I mean, wink, wink, nudge, nudge*, is the boost the team needs to really kick on in 2015.

*Livestrong bracelets is what we meant. Obviously.

Click here to read the full article at SBS Cycling Central.

Three Australian teams line up at the Trust House Women’s Tour of New Zealand

After a two-year hiatus the Women’s Tour of New Zealand is back with the five-stage race set to be held in the Wairarapa region of New Zealand’s North Island.

Three Australian teams will take to the start in Masterton next Wednesday: the High5 Dreamteam, Holden Women’s Cycling and an Australian National Team. The national team will be led by Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race winner Rachel Neylan who is looking forward to returning to the race.

“Since 2009 the race has been a personal sentimental favourite, the Trust House Women’s Tour of New Zealand was my first international tour and has been a wonderful launch pad over the years into the European season,” said Neylan.

Among the pre-race favourites is defending champion Evelyn Stevens who is riding with the USA National Team (rather than her new Boels-Dolmans outfit). The three Australian teams in the race are as follows:

National team: Katrin Garfoot, Rachel Neylan, Macey Stewart, Alexandra Manly and Lauren Kitchen
High5 Dreamteam: Tessa Fabry, Kendelle Hodges, Georgia Bake, Jessica Mundy and Ellen Skerritt
Holden Racing Team: Lucy Coldwell, Anna-Leeza Hull, Miranda Griffiths, Shannon Malseed and Sharlotte Lucas

Click here to see the startlist and click here to read more at Cycling Central.

Bikefitting with Team FDJ.fr

Here’s an interesting look at the bikefitting process for FDJ.fr riders.

Disclosure: Shimano is a long-time supporter of CyclingTips but they did not ask us to feature this video.

Tour de Langkawi promo

The 2015 Tour de Langkawi runs from March 8-15. Here’s a nice promo for the race:

2015 Drapac Cycling Team Introduction

Here’s the introductory video the Drapac team played at its team launch in Adelaide back in January and released online earlier this week. It’s a beautifully shot film, featuring many of the great roads and climbs in the Victorian Alps. We particularly like the shots of the team riding in the rain, which look to have been taken on Mt Buffalo.

Near-miss compilation from a London cyclist

Virtually all of the incidents in the video below would have been scary and/or frustrating at the time, but watching them all back together is actually quite funny. That’s largely because of the way the cyclist yells at the pedestrian and other road users. You hear “Oi! Idiots!!” plenty of times. There’s also a smattering of coarse language.

What You Missed

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

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Today’s feature image comes from Jered and Ashley Gruber and was shot somewhere along the Californian coastline.

Mark Blackwell

Near miss compilation is classic… “oy, idiot!” It does ably demonstrate though, just how little protection comes from bike lanes: pedestrians everywhere and cars cutting across create plenty of hazards. Must say that I hope most bike commuters are a little less aggressive in their interactions; I can’t see this approach creating much goodwill for the next cyclist these people meet.
- velocite
  
  I dislike the Copenhagen style bike lanes, at least those I’ve experienced in Melbourne. I prefer to ride on the road. Bicycle Victoria likes them, but they accept that on the bike “Speeds have to be slower, the bike bell has to be at the finger tips,
  and you should be braking whenever pedestrians wander near the bike
  zone, just in case.” Not very relaxing. I find handling the traffic stream less stressful than having to be ever alert to the appearance of a near-stationary obstacle.
  
  Given the availability of a nice, wide bike lane, I prefer it to be next to the road, not between the footpath and a row of cars.
  - Karl
    
    And for some reason the bike lane street sweepers run during peak hour.
Daniel

The guy in the “near miss” compilation needs to take a bloody chill pill. There were a couple of people in the video who were being outright dangerous but mostly it was just people making simple mistakes. Most of the incidents weren’t even “near misses”, given that he had more than enough time to take appropriate and safe evasive action.
There’s no need to call people “idiots” whenever they make a mistake. Give people the benefit of the doubt, whether they are walking, riding or driving, and assume that mistakes are just innocent mistakes. Say “watch out mate” and move on, don’t scream about it then make a youtube video of what a martyr you are.
- Andy B
  
  Yep that guy was a bit of a tool, quite an aggressive riding style for a busy city will only ever end up in trouble
  You have to ride defensively and be aware of your surroundings, I get people walk out like that quite often but I never yell at them just let them know im there
  
  he is an “Idiot”
- Patrick
  
  You’re being too polite. 90% of those near misses were due to his ego. he’s a complete idiot himself. He’s the sort of rider that gives us all a bad name. He thinks he has a god given right to ride at 30km/h through narrow city streets and bike lanes and expects everybody to know he is there. Perhaps if he rode a little more defensively he wouldn’t have had anywhere near these problems.
  - Dave
    
    I sure hope he’s not also a driver.
- Geoffry
  
  I find it funny how he got upset when a motorbike undercut him at the lights, he did that to cars on numerous occasions and its all fine
- Gordon
  
  Well the jury seems to be in. This guy is his own worst enemy. Yes some “near misses” were the result of poor skills/attention of others but on the whole I reckon this guy is, unfortunately, asking for a big one soon. Hope it doesn’t happen but I reckon he needs to ride in a manner that suits the environment.
- http://cyclingtips.com.au Matt de Neef
  
  Yep, I tend to agree. He was definitely on the warpath.
- pk
  
  I couldn’t even finish watching it…I got to 1 minute and I’d had enough. He created a good number of those problems himself.
- Voltz
  
  I agree. Tosser. He’ll get cleaned up or worse, hit a pedestrian.
Nitro

BREAKING NEWS !!! Oleg Tinkov to confirm that he has the biggest ego in the sport!
Seriously though - whatever it is - good for him. Love him or hate him, you cant ignore him - isn’t that what sports sponsorship is all about?
http://t7omask.tumblr.com/ t7omask

This guy’s definitely on the tour de f^&k you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgCqz3l33kU
- http://cyclingtips.com.au Matt de Neef
  
  That’s awesome.
- Gordon
  
  Full disclosure here. I’m closer to 50 than 40 and have a garage full of old bikes but this clip makes me laugh. Myself and 2 other old bike blokes generally refer to the new breed of hipster fixie (often actually just a single speed) riders as Josh. Sorry to all those Josh’s out there but we had a dealing with a Josh and he was well, just such a Josh.
  Plenty of Josh’s in that video
- jules
  
  never gets old!
TV Time Tommy

Sorry, but I can’t see the humour in that near-miss compilation. The behaviour of the cyclist was cringe-worthy. The verbal abuse, the relentless high speed in a cluttered and sometimes chaotic multi-user streetscape, the expectation that pedestrians, cars, trucks and motorbikes can (and will) anticipate the almost noiseless approach of a bike-rider…
Peter

I agree that guy was a tool. Just slow down
pedr09

Near miss video has been “removed by the user”….
- http://cyclingtips.com.au Matt de Neef
  
  Ah, that’s a shame.
DaGoose

On a somewhat related story to Tour de Langkawi (well only the fact that Malaysia is involved) are the gripes John Beasley (Track Coach, as opposed to the 85 year old TDF rider you’ve previously featured) is having with the national federation, which recently had it’s license suspended and then reinstalled. Check out his FB page for his take of events. It’s making news locally too (http://www.nst.com.my/node/72364). Maybe worth a mention in tomorrow’s Daily News. Sounds like he’s getting a raw deal.
- jules
  
  what’s the point of holding a high ranking position in office if you can’t siphon money from it? that Beasley guy needs to lighten up
- Dave
  
  Not making any comment about this particular issue, but I cannot help cringing every time I hear anything along the lines of “Check out his FB page for his take of events.”
  - DaGoose
    
    I can understand where you’re coming from and admittedly it’s not necessarily always a responsible source of information but it is social media where anyone can express whatever they want. I came across the issue through FB and that’s the source information other than some of the local media articles which may have conducted interviews with John (maybe they just picked it up off his FB posts!). I’ve noticed more and more articles from reputable news outlets citing social media so I don’t think it should be totally dismissed but understand nothing is verified, reviewed etc.
    
    John looks to have used FB to try and reach a greater audience to highlight his issues, can’t blame him for that. John looks to be a reputable Australian Cycling Coach (track record looks pretty impressive, pun intended, worked at VIS, with Mitch Docker, Drapac etc.) who took a punt on developing track team and for his efforts he’s been pretty poorly treated.
    Just to be clear, I don’t know John at all, it was of interest to me as I live in Malaysia and I just thought it might have been of some interest given that he looked to be a fairly reputable guy on the Australian cycling scene. Will Walker’s also coached the Malaysian road team so it would be interesting to know if he had any thoughts/views also.
Berk on a Bike

Seeing as the near miss compilation has been taken down, try this video of mountain biking through a shopping mall

http://youtu.be/axsNK0T4Xk4
Mark

Wow, I;d really like to go to “…somewhere along the Californian coastline.”

Thursday February 12, 2015

by Matt de Neef - February 12, 2015