Daily News Digest

In this morning’s edition of the CyclingTips Daily News Digest, the first edition after the long weekend here in Victoria, Australia: Alexander Kristoff wins stage 1 of Paris-Nice; Andrea Guardini makes it two from two at Le Tour de Langkawi; Zdenek Stybar wins Strade Bianche; Megan Guarnier wins inaugural women’s Strade Bianche; CIRC Independent Commission report severely critical of past UCI practices; Verbruggen claims CIRC report clears him of allegations, shrugs off criticism; Tom Boonen out of the northern Classics with dislocated shoulder; Chris Froome and Marcel Kittel out of Tirreno-Adriatico; Tirreno-Adriatico stage 1 TTT to be replaced with an ITT; Near miss for moto driver at Paris-Nice; 1993 advertisement for the Sega Mega Drive with Gianni Bugno.

---

Alexander Kristoff wins stage 1 of Paris-Nice

Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) has taken his fifth victory for the year, winning stage 1 of Paris-Nice in Contres on Monday. Kristoff outsprinted Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) and Bryan Coquard (Europcar) in the bunch kick at the end of a largely sedate 192km stage.

After an early attack by Jonathan Hivert (Bretagne-Séché Environnement) came to an end, Hivert’s teammate Anthony Delaplace was joined by Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) and the two built a lead of more than five minutes.

After a brief moment of panic — when it looked like the two leaders might hold on — the race was all back together with 2km to go, setting things up for a bunch kick.

Michal Kwiatkowski (Etixx-Quick-Step) leads the race overall going into stage 2 after winning the prologue ITT on Sunday.

Rohan Dennis (BMC) is second with the same time as Kwiatkowski while Tony Martin (Etixx-Quick-Step) is third, seven seconds behind.

Click here to read more at Cycling Weekly.

Andrea Guardini makes it two from two at Le Tour de Langkawi

by Shane Stokes

Astana sprinter Andrea Guardini has taken his career tally to 16 wins at the Tour de Langkawi after claiming the first two stages of this year’s race.

Six riders formed the main breakaway on stage 2 with the group comprising the brothers Adiq and Afiq Husaini Othman, Jianpeng Liu (Hengxiang), Elchin Asadov (Synergy Baku), Patria Rastra (Pegasus) and Sea Keong Loh (Malaysia). The race was eventually back together with 10km to go as the teams of the sprinters controlled the run-in to the finish in Sungai Petani.

Guardini took the stage win over Caleb Ewan (Orica-GreenEdge) while Southeast Cycling’s Jakub Mareczko was third.

Guardini also claimed the opening stage of the race ahead of Caleb Ewan, coming off Ewan’s wheel in the final sprint. The early running had been made by a six-rider breakaway with the last of the riders, Kiel Reijnen (UnitedHealthcare), caught with just 2km to go.

Guardini leads the general classification ahead of stage 3 of the eight-stage race.

Click here to read more about stage 1 and here to read more about stage 2.

Zdenek Stybar wins Strade Bianche

Earlier in the weekend Zdenek Stybar (Etixx-Quick-Step) won Strade Bianche after proving strongest in a three-rider group that emerged at the front of the race with 12km to go.

Stybar powered away from Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) to take the victory.

Here’s Cosmo Catalano’s take on How the Race was Won:

Click here to read more at VeloNews about how the race unfolded.

Megan Guarnier wins inaugural women’s Strade Bianche

by Jessi Braverman

Before the men’s Strade Bianche, the elite women’s peloton took to the white roads of Tuscany for the inaugural edition of the event. Boels-Dolmans continued to stamp its collective authority on the spring with Megan Guarnier scoring the squad’s sixth win of the season.

The American soloed to victory in Siena, more than a half-minute ahead of teammate Lizzie Armitstead. Italian Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle Honda) rounded out the podium.

“This is a really big win,” said Guarnier. “I’m still a little bit in disbelief. I remember sitting on the couch a year ago watching the men’s race. I said: ‘Wow. What an incredible race. I want to do that.’ And then when I found out we were going to race it, I thought about it and said: ‘I want to win that.’ It’s not every day that you say you want to win a race and then it happens.”

Click here to read more at Ella CyclingTips. Click here for a photo gallery with captions from the race, also at Ella CyclingTips.

CIRC Independent Commission report severely critical of past UCI practices

by Shane Stokes

Revealing the details of a year-long investigation into the past activities of the UCI plus its handling of anti-doping matters, the Cycling Independent Reform Commission (CIRC) has concluded that there were serious errors with the governing body’s approach to the subject and has blamed several key individuals for those failings.

Past UCI presidents Hein Verbruggen and Pat McQuaid plus former UCI staff such as doctor Lon Schattenberg are all criticised in that panel’s report, with numerous examples being given of what CIRC felt were failures on their behalf.

Verbruggen was criticised for being dismissive of clean riders who tried to highlight the problem, while McQuaid’s reactions to whistleblowers also came under the spotlight. Both are seen by CIRC as showing the governing body did not take things seriously enough.

“Not only did UCI leadership publicly disregard the magnitude of the problem [of doping], but the policies put in place to combat doping were inadequate,” stated CIRC. “Credit should be given to the UCI insofar as it was at the forefront of anti-doping in introducing new testing techniques.

“However, the science is only one part of anti-doping strategy. To have an effective anti- doping strategy, it is essential to get the right sample from the right rider at the right time and to the right laboratory. In the CIRC’s view, there was not enough willingness to put such a system in place. The approach to doping was one of containment, with a focus on protecting health.

Click here to read more at CyclingTips.

Verbruggen claims CIRC report clears him of allegations, shrugs off criticism

by Shane Stokes

Despite the strong criticism of his UCI presidency expressed in the Cycling Independent Reform Commission (CIRC) report, Hein Verbruggen has issued a statement claiming that the inquiry has essentially cleared his name.

“I have studied the CIRC report and I am satisfied that it confirms what I have always said: that there have never been any cover-ups, complicity or corruption in the Lance Armstrong case (or, indeed, in any other doping cases), nor did Armstrong make any payments relating to the Vrijman Report,” he wrote.

“The wild conspiracy theories and accusations have all been properly debunked once and for all. I am pleased that this report confirms my complete innocence concerning these accusations which have been levelled at me in the past.”

The report was released on Monday and while it did indeed find no evidence that Armstrong had paid for the Vrijman report, an inquiry into claims that he had used EPO during the 1999 Tour de France, it said that Verbruggen and Armstrong’s own lawyers essentially shaped what had been claimed by the UCI to be a fully independent and unbiased analysis.

Click here to read more at CyclingTips.

Tom Boonen out of the northern Classics with dislocated shoulder

Tom Boonen (Etixx-Quick-Step) will likely miss most if not all of the Spring Classics after dislocating his shoulder in a crash at Paris-Nice on Monday.

Boonen collided with a Cannondale-Garmin rider with 16km left to race in the stage and sat on the ground holding his arm. He later abandoned the race.

“An AC-joint dislocation, as we’ve already seen with other riders of the team with the same kind of injury, requires an extended time of recovery due to the nature of the injury,” Etixx-Quick-Step doctor Yvan van Mol said via a team press release. “Unfortunately, because of the injury and the time it takes to recover, Boonen will not be able to participate in the Northern Classics.

“Tomorrow Tom will undergo further examination in Belgium to diagnose the grade of the dislocation and determine if surgery is necessary based on the grade.”

The injury means Boonen will likely miss the Spring Classics, including the Tour of Flanders — which he has won three times — and Paris-Roubaix — which he’s won four times.

Text adapted from an Etixx-Quick-Step press release.

Chris Froome and Marcel Kittel out of Tirreno-Adriatico

This year’s Tirreno-Adriatico was billed as the first time the “big four” GC contenders (Froome, Contador, Quintana and Nibali) had come head-to-head in a race before, but that has now changed with Chris Froome withdrawing from the race.

Still not feeling well so won't be making it to #TirrenoAdriatico2015 Really disappointed but health comes first! Time for some R&R…

— Chris Froome (@chrisfroome) March 9, 2015

According to the Team Sky website, Froome has a chest infection that will see him sit out the race.

“This is obviously frustrating after the good start that I’ve had to the season, but it’s a minor setbacke,” Froome said. “I’ve been ill for a few days now and unfortunately I couldn’t shake it off in time for the race.”

“After speaking with the doctors we decided as a precaution that it would be best to take a few days off the bike to recover fully.”

The race has lost another big name with gun sprinter Marcel Kittel (Giant-Alpecin) also withdrawing due to illness.

“After the Tour Down Under I was hit with a virus and I actually never 100% recovered afterwards,” Kittel via a team press release. “I felt good enough to start the Tour of Qatar but during the race I started to feel worse and worse so with the team’s guidance we decided to step off the bike for a while.

“Of course I am disappointed, but my health and getting back into shape is the first priority now. There’s still a long season ahead of us.”

Tirreno-Adriatico stage 1 TTT to be replaced with an ITT

Meanwhile, organisers of Tirreno-Adriatico, RCS Sport, have replaced Wednesday’s 5.7km opening TTT in Lido di Camaiore with a ITT of the same length, due to bad weather along the coastline.

“Due to the extreme weather conditions that have affected Tuscany and in particular the area around Versilia, in recent days, RCS Sport has found it necessary to modify the first stage of Tirreno Adriatico, scheduled for Wednesday 11 March,” an RCS statement read.

The race will also conclude with an ITT as well; a 10km effort in San Benedetto del Tronto on the Adriatic coast.

Click here to read more at Cyclingnews.

Near miss for moto driver at Paris-Nice

The moto driver and their passenger might have needed some new underwear after this effort.

1993 advertisement for the Sega Mega Drive with Gianni Bugno

Here’s a blast from the past: 1992 world champion Gianni Bugno in an ad promoting the Sega Mega Drive.

What You Missed

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

• Watch Keagan Girdlestone attempt a new record on the 1 in 20
• Your training questions answered with Dig Deep Coaching: part six
• “What are you wearing?” – Chloe Hosking on dressing for cold rides

***