First Edition Cycling News, Saturday, April 24, 2010

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Date published:

April 24, 2010, 09:00

• BMC confident Evans can continue at Liège

  

  Article published:

  April 23, 2010, 12:31

  By:

  Richard Tyler

  Australian to lead US squad in final spring Classic, Wyss replaces Kroon

  Flèche Wallonne winner Cadel Evans will again lead the BMC Racing Team this weekend at the final spring Classic, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, after the US squad confirmed its roster for the event on Friday morning. Swiss rider Danilo Wyss has been drafted in to replace the injured Karsten Kroon.

  World Champion Evans claimed his first Classic on Wednesday at Flèche Wallonne, surging past Alberto Contador (Astana) in the final hundred metres of the race. Having secured his team's first win of the year at Flèche, BMC director sportif John Lelangue is confident the Australian can carry his form into Liège on Sunday.

  “We know Cadel can do well in this type of race,” said Lelangue. “He showed in Amstel Gold Race that he was in good shape and then he won Flèche Wallonne."

  This Sunday's race will represent Evans' participation in the event - his best results at Liège coming in 2005 (5th) and, most recently, in 2008, when he finished seventh. With Karsten Kroon sidelined by injuries suffered at Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday, BMC's resources will be at Evans' sole disposal.

  "[After Flèche Wallonne] other teams will be looking at us more closely," continued Lelangue. "We're confident we can work well to bring Cadel to the finish in the best condition.”

  Evans will rely on an almost unchanged line-up from his successful day on Wednesday. Swiss Danilo Wyss has come in to replace Kroon, however US riders Brent Bookwalter, Jeff Louder and Jackson Stewart will again take their place in the selection, with Wyss' compatriots Steve Morabito and Simon Zahner completing the eight-man selection.

  Full BMC Racing Team roster for Liège-Bastogne-Liège: Brent Bookwalter, Cadel Evans, Mathias Frank, Jeff Louder, Steve Morabito, Jackson Stewart, Danilo Wyss and Simon Zahner.

• Chavanel hopes for Liège breakthrough

  

  Article published:

  April 23, 2010, 13:00

  By:

  Hedwig Kröner

  Frenchman feeling good ahead of final spring Classic

  Quick Step rider Sylvain Chavanel may not have been riding in the limelight during the Classic campaign of his Belgian team, but the Frenchman is nevertheless happy with his form going into the last event of the spring calendar on Sunday, the "Doyenne" Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

  "People didn't see me much this spring," Chavanel admitted, when Cyclingnews spoke to him on Friday, as he travelled on the team bus to recon the finale of the race in Ans. "Still, I was always in the right group, always within the top 25 finishers. In three big Classics I rode this spring - Milano-Sanremo, Flanders and Amstel - I always finished well."

  Chavanel, a support rider to his Belgian teammate Tom Boonen in Flanders and Roubaix, has held a consistently good form throughout the last weeks, but fallen short of a top placing due to bad luck.

  "In Amstel last week, I punctured with 25 kilometres to go," he said. "Still, I came back to finish 16th. In the sprint, I had no more juice left, as I had to time trial my way back to the front during 25 kilometres. But I felt good, I have good legs. Without the puncture, I could have done much better."

  Except for Flanders and Roubaix, where "Boonen and Cancellara were simply out of reach", the Frenchman feels he wasn't far away from the condition needed to enter the top ten or top five. "On this level, the differences are minimal," he continued. "At the moment, I lack this final acceleration to play out my card in the finish. Of course, I would be more satisfied with my spring if I had achieved better placings. But the way it went, it's not so bad: I'm regular in my results, so I keep a good morale."

  Still, Chavanel admitted that his lack of results - also compared to 2008, where he scored several high-profile victories - was, "unnerving. But you can't compare these races to the ones I won in 2008. They were all races around 200 kilometres, whereas these ones are much longer. But I definitely want to show more presence through attacking, that's more where I feel at home."

  The 30-year-old has meanwhile been confirmed as captain of his team's eight-man roster for Liège on Sunday, and he intends to take advantage of this privilege.

  "I hope to in the right move again in Liège," he continued. "But I will anticipate it this time, before the big war starts between the top favourites. If I have to battle it out against them in the finale, it will be very hard."

  Chavanel will be joined by Stijn Devolder, who has recovered from a knee injury suffered in a crash at Paris-Roubaix. Spaniard Carlos Barredo will also compete on Sunday, having finished 19th at Amstel Gold. Barredo was also one of five members of the Liège squad to compete at Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday. Dario Cataldo, Dries Devenyns, Jerôme Pineau and Kevin Seeldraeyers are the other men that will back-up from Flèche for the final race of the 2010 Classics season.

  Full Quick Step roster for Liège-Bastogne-Liège: Carlos Barredo, Dario Cataldo, Sylvain Chavanel, Kevin De Weert, Dries Devenyns, Stjin Devolder, Jerôme Pineau and Kevin Seeldraeyers.

• Wiggins looking forward to tough test at Liège

  

  Article published:

  April 23, 2010, 14:37

  By:

  Stephen Farrand

  Briton to support teammates, unaffected by Tour de France rivals' form

  Bradley Wiggins will ride for Team Sky teammates Simon Gerrans and Thomas Lövkvist at Sunday at Liège-Bastogne-Liège but hopes to be part of the decisive selection that will form on the Côte de la Redoute and go on to fight for victory.

  Wiggins is already thinking ahead to next month's Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France in July - his major goal of the season. But he always likes to race and knows that a hard day on Sunday against his eventual Tour de France rivals Alberto Contador, Cadel Evans and Andy Schleck, will also be a good test of his form.

  "The initial idea to come here was to support Simon [Gerrans] and Thomas [Lövkvist] who are really looking at these races. They're the leaders. But there's always an opportunity to slip away and I'll look for that," he told Cyclingnews on Friday.

  "If I can get over the La Redoute in that selection of 20 or whatever it will be, then there's always a bit of a chance of doing something. But just being up there in these races is something. I'm just looking forward to it. 260 kilometres like that is bloody hard and in a fitness sense it's fantastic to do."
  
  Wiggins studied the final part of the route on Thursday with his teammates. He predicted the changes caused by road works and the subsequent loss of the Haute-Levée and Vecquée climbs will mean the La Redoute climb become much more important.

  "I grew up watching these races on television and so it was good finally riding the course. When you actually ride the La Redoute and the Saint-Nicolas, you see how hard they are," he said.

  "Some of the guys are saying it's a lot easier before the La Redoute this year. They've changed quite a lot of the course and there's a lot of downhill sections an a lot of flat for moves to come back, so this year we could get to the foot of the La Redoute with a lot more riders, which would make it harder still."
  
  Wiggins is not yet at his very best, his race programme designed to hit his highest peak of form and strength-to-weight ratio for the Tour in July. But he is happy with his condition as he Giro d'Italia approaches. He will target the opening time trial in Amsterdam, the team time trial and a spell in the leader's pink jersey.

  "I'm a lot better than I was this time last year just going into the Giro," he said. "We did some testing on some local climbs in Spain which I was also doing this time last year. It's all numbers based, but I'm in a really good position.

  Wiggins will race against most of his major Tour de France rivals at Liège-Bastogne-Liège but he insists the outcome of the race will not be any kind of indication for July.
  
  "I never really look at the other guys," he said. "They're much more natural climbers for this kind of thing than I am. Contador, Andy and Fränk are proven contenders in this race. I need some more hard work and the climbs don't really suit my style of riding."

  "I just always keep referring to where I was last year and where I want to be be. I'm try not to get sucked into this thing of saying I should be where they are or that I should be side-by-side with Cadel [Evans] on the Mur de Huy, because I'm 100 per cent confident in what I'm doing and where I'll be in July."

• Menchov moves into Rabobank line-up for Liège.

  

  Article published:

  April 23, 2010, 16:18

  By:

  Richard Tyler

  Weening replaces ill Mourenhout for Classics finale

  Rabobank's Denis Menchov will take part in his one and only Classic of the year after the Dutch team announced him in their line-up for Liège–Bastogne–Liège. Pieter Weening has also been called into the squad as a replacement for Koos Moerenhout, who has been ruled out by illness.

  For Menchov, it will be his fourth appearance at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. The Russian last raced the event in 2008, with his best result coming in 2004, when he finished 15th for Iles Balears-Banesto. Sunday's 258-kilometre race will be his last competitive outing before starting the Tour of Romandie in Switzerland on Tuesday.

  Pieter Weening will also head to Romandie after Liège. The Dutchman was added to the team's roster for the Ardennes Classic on Friday after Koos Mourenhout fell ill. Weening had been counting on several days off after returning to the Netherlands from a four-week training camp in Spain.

  "I thought it was a joke from [Rabobank sports director Frans Maassen]," said Weening. "I wanted a few quiet days training in Friesland and a little break because I'd spent almost an entire day travelling back from Spain. Fortunately, it won't be a long journey to join the team in Maastricht on Saturday, and then on to the race [on Sunday]."

  The remaining six places in the Rabobank line-up for Liège-Bastogne-Liège will be occupied by riders who took part in Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday. Laurens ten Dam, Oscar Freire, Robert Gesink, Paul Martens, Grischa Niermann and Bram Tankink the returning riders.

• Zajicek aiming for SRAM Tour of the Gila podium repeat

  

  Article published:

  April 23, 2010, 17:43

  By:

  Kirsten Frattini

  La Vuelta de Bisbee marks the final tune-up

  Phil Zajicek (Fly V Australia) is well-prepared to improve on his third place overall from 2009 when the SRAM Tour of the Gila begins next Wednesday. The five-staged race will include six ProTour riders, including seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong.

  “I’m definitely going in with big expectations,” Zajicek told Cyclingnews. “I’ve been riding better than I ever have. I’m feeling really great and we have a super strong team going. It is not just myself; we have six other guys going and all of them are riding really well right now.”

  Zajicek won Gila’s final stage, the Gila Monster Road Race, last year. Zajicek’s stage win was further highlighted because he out-paced ProTour riders like Armstrong and overall winner Levi Leipheimer.

  “Last year I didn’t know what to expect going into it,” Zajicek said. “I wanted a result but I didn’t know what the expectations were. It ended up going amazingly well. This year I’m going into it the bar is set pretty high.

  “I think to do the result I did last year would be great,” he added. “That being said, I’ve been training for the last six weeks with these next three weeks in mind for Tour of the Gila and then the Tour of California, those are my big focuses.”

  Garmin-Transitions will send Dave Zabriskie, Tom Danielson and Danny Pate to Gila, with the trio riding under the name of Zabriskie’s company DZ Nuts. Likewise, Team RadioShack will field Armstrong, Leipheimer and Jason McCartney under the name of Armstrong’s Austin-based bike shop Mellow Johnny’s.

  “I think it’s great to be able to race against those guys, they are some of the best in the world,” Zajicek said. “They are all going really well right now. It is a really good quality field. They bring the cycling world’s attention onto Gila again. I think that is great and great for us to come out and show that American racing has progressed.

  “I think this year the first stage is important,” he added. “Last year Levi really destroyed us on the Mogollon mountain-top finish. There will be a few guys who can stay with him this year and it will be a tighter general classification and not just one guy walking away this year. Tactically, the American teams are coming into this race a lot stronger than they were in the past because the Tour of California is around the corner. We will see the American teams racing a lot more aggressively and force the ProTour teams, who only have three riders, to work a lot more.”

  Building up at Bisbee

  Fly V Australia will send a seven-man team to compete in the Arizona’s La Vuelta de Bisbee this week, a race held one weekend prior to the SRAM Tour of the Gila and used by many teams as a preparation tool. Zajicek’s teammates for the two events will include the National Racing Calendar (NRC) individual leader Ben Day, Jai Crawford, Charles Dionne, Darren Lill, Darren Rolfe and David Tanner.

  Other teams participating in La Vuelta de Bisbee include Bahati Foundation, UnitedHealthcare-Maxxis, Jelly Belly-Kenda, Kenda-Geargrinder and Adageo Energy.

  “I’m doing a mini training camp before going to Bisbee,” Zajicek said. “We have a big team coming in. It’s a really good race. Its low pressure, hot weather, high altitude and dry so it is a good way to race before the Tour of the Gila.”

  Zajicek has completed nearly 25 race days already this year. With less pressure to perform early in the season this year, he has used much of the racing as training to prepare for his main target at the Tour of California, May 16-23. He is currently training in Arizona with his father Mark Zajicek to fine tune his fitness before the racing begins.

  “I train with my dad a lot,” Zajicek said. “We will go out for a couple of hours together and then he will come home, get the scooter and meet me back out and motor pace me. He’s been motorpacing me for 10 years. He used to be a marathon runner and once I got into cycling, he got into cycling too and now he rides to work and rides a tonne. He is super fit for being 60 years old.”

  The Tour of California was previously held in February but has been moved to May this year. Zaijcek was pleased to have a later focus, adding that many of the invited North American-based Continental teams will be better prepared to contest the ProTour outfits. In fact, many North American teams and riders are using the Tour of the Gila to fine tune their top-end form ahead of California.

  “They are different styles of races but I think it is going to be a really good indication in how well prepared you are for the Tour of California,” Zajicek said. “It wouldn’t surprise me if the winner of Tour of the Gila will be the winner of the Tour of California.”

• Contador insists he is riding Liège-Bastogne-Liège for experience

  

  Article published:

  April 23, 2010, 18:26

  By:

  Stephen Farrand

  Spanish star to study Tour de France pavé on Tuesday

  Alberto Contador (Astana) is an automatic favourite for Sunday's Liège-Bastogne-Liège, but the Spaniard insists he is only riding the event to gain experience for the future. Contador says he intends to return to Belgium to target the Ardennes Classics later in his career.

  "It'd be nice to be up there, but I don’t know what will happen," he said at a press conference in Liège on Friday.

  "I was happy with my result in Flèche Wallonne and I'd like to do well again. Of course this has nothing to do the Tour de France and the result is not important for July. I've ridden this race I think twice, but I haven't really got any experience and so my goal is to learn as much as possible and get to know the course. I'm going to give it everything, but there are questions about what I can do."

  "For sure I'd like to come back to try and win the Classics one year. They're important races with lots of history and everyone wants to win them. When the calendar is compatible, I'll ride these race with 100 per cent form."

  Contador did not want to make a prediction about what will happen in the race on Sunday, but made it clear he would not want to arrive at the finish in Ans with riders like Alejandro Valverde and Damiano Cunego, who could easily beat him in the sprint.

  "I honestly don’t know what going to happen. If I could chose I'd rather finish alone with my arms up. Valverde and Cunego are very fast and so it'd be complicated if I finish with them. With other climbers like Igor Anton or Andy Schleck, I perhaps have more of a chance. Of course, I think [Philippe] Gilbert is a favourite to win. He's racing on home roads and this is the most important week of his season. He will give 100 per cent for sure."
  
  Preparations for the Tour de France pavé
  

  While in northern Europe, Contador will also take the chance to study the sections of cobbles that have been included in this year's Tour de France. He will head to Northern France on Tuesday and test a new bike on the three sections of cobbles that will feature in the final part of the Tour's third stage from Wanze to Arenberg Porte du Hainaut.

  "I'm going to see the cobbles on Tuesday to test some new equipment. It's going to be a complicated and difficult stage, and I know I'm going to have to be concentrate 100 per cent. There will be a lot of tension but I'm not worried about it," he said.

  Told that Fabian Cancellara has promised to put Fränk and Andy Schleck on his shoulders and blast off the front on the cobbles, Contador joked: "Cancellara has big shoulders and so as well as Andy and Frank there's a room for me too. He can take all three of us…"
  
  Contador knows he will always be asked about former-teammate and now Tour de France rival Lance Armstrong every time he talks to the press. They both raced the Critérium International race in France last month, but there was no clash between the two at the race and Contador avoided any further problems by saying he had not even spoken to Armstrong during the event.

  "I saw him… But we didn't speak, not even by chance," he said.

  "How did he seem? Like every other rider in the peloton..."

  Last week, Contador had been forced to drive from Spain to Belgium, covering almost 2000km in a day and a half because of the consequences of the eruption of the Icelandic volcano. While the long trip was trouble-free and it did not affect his form, Contador made it clear he would be flying home after his reconnoissance session on Tuesday.

  "In avion, in avion," he joked, in French. "The long road trip was kind of fun but I'll be going home by plane."

  Who knows if he will be going home as the winner of Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

• Cycling gets more global

  

  Article published:

  April 23, 2010, 20:05

  By:

  Cycling News

  UCI ProTour Council meets to discuss trends, anti-doping, team registration

  The UCI ProTour Council (UPTC) held its first meeting of the year on Friday in Brussels. It included new members Roger Legeay, Ramon Mendiburu, Stephen Roche and Erik Zabel and returning members UCI President Pat McQuaid, UCI Road Commission President Joop Atsma and riders' representative Paulo Couto. Attendees discussed several topics including the UCI's progress toward globalization of the sport of cycling and its anti-doping biological passport program.

  The meeting opened with Philippe Chevallier, the Director of the UCI Road Department, describing how the UCI has beem moving toward one of its strategic priorities: globalization. Data from 2000 to 2010 shows the trend toward globalization. Ten years ago, the first division teams came from eight countries on two continents, whereas this season the teams come from 11 countries on three continents. The number of second and third division teams has more than doubled: 147 teams from 43 countries on five continents today, compared with 72 teams from 19 countries on two continents in 2000.

  The UCI Doctor, Mario Zorzoli, presented a positive assessment of the first two years of the biological passport program. He emphasised what the UCI called in a press release "encouraging changes of behaviour in the great majority of riders covered by the programme designed to combat doping". Information from the biological passport program has been used to target riders for anti-doping testing as well as to serve as a general deterrent. The program, costing nine million Swiss francs in 2009, will continue in cooperation with various anti-doping organizations.

  The council approved the implementation of a UCI labelling system for bicycle frames in 2011 and also approved the principle of solidarity between UCI ProTeams and National Federations. The federations will receive a certain number of bikes at the end of each season under this solidarity scheme.

  In the final portion of the meeting, registration procedures were discussed for UCI ProTeams and UCI Professional Continental teams. The UPTC decided to make some amendments to these procedures in order to optimise them for the 2011 season.

  The UPTC will meet next in Birmingham, Great Britain, on June 16.

• Gilbert forging his place in Classics history

  

  Article published:

  April 24, 2010, 09:09

  By:

  Stephen Farrand

  Belgian not scared of anybody at Liège-Bastogne-Liège

  Philippe Gilbert has finished in the top ten of all the one-day Classics he has targeted in the last two years and could prove without doubt that he is the most complete Classics rider of his generation.

  Gilbert was third in last year's Tour of Flanders, fourth at Amstel Gold Race and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, second in the Belgian national championships, sixth at the World Championships and then ended the season with a run of victories at Paris-Tours and the Tour of Lombardy.

  This year he was ninth at Milan-San Remo, third at Gent-Wevelgem, third at the Tour of Flanders, won the Amstel Gold Race and was sixth at Flèche Wallonne. According to Belgian newspaper La Derniere Heure, even the great Eddy Merckx struggled to match that kind of consistency.

  Gilbert insists he does so well because he simply loves racing. He is fortunate to have the power and bike skills to handle the cobbled races in Flanders, the climbing ability for the Ardennes and a fast sprint to win on both terrains. He revealed he is still trying to work out which Classics suit him.

  "I don't know myself which Classics suit me the best," he told Derniere Heure. "At the start I thought I was a Ardennes Classics rider because I was born in Remouchamps. If winning Liège-Bastogne-Liège was just about being born at the foot of the La Redoute, it'd be easy for me…"

  "I think my ability allows me to be up there on every terrain. Now I'm even starting to get used to adapting mentally for different races. Apart from the high mountains, where I'm not very good, I think I can handle everything else. I've got the potential to win both the Flemish and the Ardennes Classics."

  With Belgium becoming more and more divided because of the difference between the Flemish and Francophone cultures, Gilbert's versatility is a sign, at least, of cycling unification.
  
  Gilbert is perhaps the most complete Classics rider since Italy's Paolo Bettini. He likes the comparison.

  "I liked the way he raced so aggressively. I take the comparison as a compliment. Though I've still a long way to go before I equal his palmares."

  A victory in Liège-Bastogne-Liège would go a long way towards that and continue his run of major results. Gilbert knows he is the big favourite but insisted he can afford to ride defensively, calling the bluff of his rivals by saying he will let his rivals exhaust one another before the sprint finish in Ans.

  "I know it won't be easy because everybody will be watching me but my success at the Amstel Gold Race has taken the pressure off me and allows me to race defensively," he said.

  "This year, instead of anticipating an attacker, like last year on the Sprimont. I can follow the moves and take advantage of my sprint. The Cote d'Ans is ideal for me, I can use my power to climb it and then I can play my card in the sprint. I'm not scared of anybody after 260 kilometres."