First Edition Cycling News, Saturday, December 26, 2009

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Date published:

December 26, 2009, 22:42

• Kazakh-flavored Astana team likely for Grand Tours

  

  Article published:

  December 26, 2009, 22:13

  By:

  Daniel Benson

  Several Kazakh riders likely part of Tour and Giro teams

  The Astana team will likely have a strong Kazakh flavour for the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France, where the team will aim to defend Alberto Contador's title.

  The team indicated this on Saturday when Kazakh Federation Vice President Nikolaï Proskurine suggested to L'Equipe that four Kazakh riders will take part at the start of the Tour de France on July 3, 2010. Another six Kazakhs could take to the starting line in the Giro d'Italia, beginning earlier in the season on May 8.

  Contador's Astana team will be presented in January in Vienna.

  After several months of contract negotiations, Contador re-signed with Astana for the 2010 season. Throughout the summer he was heavily linked with several teams including Garmin, Quick Step and Caisse d'Epargne.

  However with eight of Astana's 2009 Tour de France line-up leaving to ride for RadioShack in 2010, many have questioned the quality of the Contador's possible team in next year's Grand Tours.

  Despite signing 2006 Tour de France winner Oscar Pereiro in December, the team arguably lacks the strength in depth on offer at teams like RadioShack, Garmin-Transitions and Saxo Bank.

  Astana's recuitments for 2010 also include Gorazd Stangelj, Paolo Tiralongo, Alexandre Vinokourov, David De la Fuente, Andriy Grivko, Mirko Selvaggi.

• Slámová signs with Team Vienne Futuroscope

  

  Article published:

  December 26, 2009, 21:04

  By:

  Sue George

  Czech junior road champion headed to French UCI team for 2010

  Gabriela Slámová has signed a contract with the professional French UCI Women's Team Vienne Futuroscope. The 18-year-old will join her new team for her first race in Futuroscope colors in February 2010.

  The 2009 junior Czech national road race champion is one of Czech's best female road racers. She has competed at the European and World Championships on the road and the track and earned several top-three finishes there. She's also raced the Hana Tour stage race and the Peace Race in Jevicko.

  "I'm 120 percent happy with this season. I gave too much time and effort to cycling this year, but I'm really happy that all that energy paid off in the form of medals in the European and World Championships."

  The talented young rider added that she was happy about her new contract and team and offered words of thanks to those who helped and supported her throughout the year.

• The peloton's highlights of 2009 Part Two

  

  Article published:

  December 26, 2009, 13:11

  By:

  Cycling News

  Insiders look back at the past season

  In the second instalment of 2009 highlights Cyclingnews asks more industry insiders how they saw things this past year.

  Part 1 | Part 2

  Greg Johnson (Cyclingnews Australian Regional Editor)

  Best performance: If we were talking theatre, I’d say ‘Harmonious team-work: The Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador story’. Since we’re talking on the bike, and I don’t want to be too predictable, Denis Menchov’s Giro d’Italia ride was impressive. His Rabobank team helped Menchov outlast some big names, in a race that had the added hype of Lance Armstrong’s first Giro outing and Danilo Di Luca’s return. And that final stage crash, talk about nail-biting.

  Best Team: If you went off race victory statistics you'd have to say Columbia-HTC, but the beauty of opinion allows me to say Cervélo TestTeam. Gerard Vroomen touted a different approach to team building than what's perhaps considered traditional and executed his vision with commendable outcomes.

  Biggest disappointment: You’d think Tom Boonen or Tyler Hamilton’s second positive would top my chart here, but instead I reserve it for Bradley Wiggins. He made such a big deal on Twitter about announcing that he wasn’t moving to Team Sky in July, that this should have been the final outcome. But alas, the British rider has moved on in a deal that involved so much speculation and financial forecasting that we’d forgive you for thinking it was a soccer (football) player transfer.

  Rider to watch in 2010: Okay, I’m going to have to jump on a bandwagon
  here: Edvald Boasson Hagen. The boy’s got bundles of talent and he’s laid largely dormant in 2009, so you’ve got to that volcano is ready to explode in 2010.

  Most memorable race: Like the majority of people, I'm going to say International Cycling Union World Championships, but unlike the others, I'm referring to the mountain bike event. Nino Schurter’s ride to chase down – the out sprint – Julien Absalon was spectacular.

  Biggest surprise: Cadel Evans winning the UCI Road World Championships.
  What can I say, I really didn’t expect that.

  Gary Imlach (ITV’s Tour de France presenter)

  Best performance: For grace under pressure and for being clearly the strongest man in the biggest race of the year it has to be Alberto Contador's Tour de France ride.

  Best team: Hard to look past Columbia - literally. Every time I looked up there seemed to be seven or eight of them filling the screen. Talking of which, the least they could do is offer us some visual relief next season by changing that insipid kit.

  Biggest disappointment: ASO's sabotaging of their own chances of staging a truly epic Tour by including a team time trial.

  Rider to watch in 2010: Same one we all watched in 2009 - Lance Armstrong. OK, staying closer to the spirit of the question, I was really looking forward to seeing Dan Martin ride the Tour this year, so in spite of a whole raft of interesting up-and-comers I'll carry him over as my man for 2010.

  Most memorable race: Since I couldn't put him ahead of Contador for Best Performance, I'll go for Bradley Wiggins' race within the race at this year's Tour, especially his ride up Mont Ventoux on what looked like sheer strength of will.

  Biggest Surprise: It's tempting to put Bradley in here too, but I'll go for Cath, his wife, instead. Mrs Wiggins emerged from nowhere this year as one of the few truly entertaining voices on Twitter. Ok, it's not all cycling, but neither's life. In a world with better taste she'd have more followers than Lance Armstrong and Stephen Fry put together

  Daniel Friebe (Procycling features editor)

  Best performance: I’ll nominate two sprinters for performances at the opposite end of the success spectrum – Mark Cavendish for winning Milan-San Remo and Kenny Van Hummel for defying time limits for fifteen and a half stages of the Tour de France. Van Hummel’s bloody-mindedness was a throwback to a more romantic age of Tour-riding.

  Best team: Columbia-HTC, for their commitment to Cavendish, above all. Tony Martin deserves a special mention for his phenomenal contribution at the Tour. Valliant runners-up were Cervelo TestTeam, who overcame odds and teething problems to outperform most ProTour outfits.

  Biggest disappointment: Another Giro d’Italia whose script required extensive re-editing, weeks after the event. Or was it eventual winner Denis Menchov saying in the autumn that he was “sad” about Danilo Di Luca’s positive test because Di Luca is a “great champion”? I’d also mention Frank Vandenbroucke’s death, although the overwhelming sentiment there was one of great sadness rather than disappointment.

  Rider to watch in 2010: I’ll pick three, all of them young, gifted and French - Alexandre Geniez who’s turning pro with Skil Shimano, Thibault Pinot of La Francaise des Jeux, and world Under 23 champion Romain Sicard of Euskaltel. It’s unlikely that all three will flourish, but the one who does could well be among the best climbers of the next decade.

  Most memorable race: The last 15 kilometres of Paris-Tours were terrific. Philippe Gilbert has single-handedly restored this historic race to its former glory over the past three years.

  Biggest surprise: Cadel Evans winning the Worlds. Well, I suppose it qualifies by virtue of the fact that Cuddles never wins one-day races, but it’s also true to say that there’s no more a consistently stronger athlete in the peloton, and therefore no-one better suited to a course as tough as Mendrisio’s.

   

  Andrew Messick (president of Tour of California organiser AEG)

   

  Best Performance: Fabian Cancellara at the Worlds. He won a 31 mile race by three-quarters of a mile.

  Best team: For me it was a tie between Columbia-HTC and Saxo Bank. Columbia won so much and had so many different athletes win; I don’t know when we’ll see that again. Saxo had such high quality performances – Tour de France, World Championships, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Tour de Suisse. Both teams showed real class and style.

  Biggest disappointment: All of the athletes who continue to believe that they won’t get caught doping.

  Rider to watch in 2010: Andy Schleck – Phenomenal now, poised to get better.

  Most memorable race: Stage 8 of the Amgen Tour of California: The tifosi on Palomar – unreal.

  Biggest surprise: The obvious answer is Lance Armstrong but since nothing that he accomplishes should ever come as a surprise, then Brad Wiggins who had a superb year.

  Martin McCrossan (Agent and team manager)

  Best performance: Luis Leon Sanchez on stage 7 of this year’s Paris Nice. It was just one of the best days racing I've seen in a long time. The first time anyone had really seen Contador in trouble.

  Best team: Columbia – HTC

  Biggest disappointment: Cadel Evans at the Tour (Loved his ride to take the Worlds Though!)

  Rider to watch in 2010: Jacob Fuglsang

  Most memorable race: Swinging from the 'Jesus' handles in the back of the team car as Maggy demonstrated his famous descending skills transfer perfectly to driving the team car, Col du Tourmalet - Tour of the Pyerenees. (I still wake up with cold sweats!)

  Biggest Surprise: Vacansoleil at the Vuelta. It was great to see a smaller team go into a race and step up.

   

• Greipel to go steady at Tour Down Under

  

  Article published:

  December 26, 2009, 10:27

  By:

  Susan Westemeyer

  New father looking at a long season ahead

  Andre Greipel will once again race at the Tour Down Under next month, a race he won in 2008, and in which he won one stage last year before crashing out. However the Columbia-HTC rider has modest ambitions for the 2010 edition.

  “I want to win one stage,” he told Cyclingnews. “The next season will be very long, so I would like to let it start quietly – but you never lose your speed.” He and his teammates will be flying to Australia on January 2.

  Greipel dominated the TDU in 2008, winning four of the six stages and the points classification on his way to the over title. Last year he won the first stage and had to leave the race in the third stage, after he crashed into a race motorcycle. The resulting injuries required surgery and the German did not resume racing until May, but he still went on to win 20 races.

  The 27-year-old attended the recent Columbia training camp on Lanzarote for only a few days before flying home for personal reasons. “It was all planned that I could go home earlier – my wife was expecting our second child, and I absolutely wanted to be there for the birth.”

  Everything worked out and Greipel was present for the arrival of daughter Luna Malou on December 15. He and his wife Tina also have five-year-old daughter, Anna Sofie.

  He was able to keep on training despite baby and weather. The ice, snow and cold that have gripped Germany didn't stop him from getting out. “It doesn't bother me at all to train in cold weather, it is rather the opposite. I rode a lot of mountain bike but it was also possible to get out on the road.”

• Holiday greetings from the peloton

  Article published:

  December 25, 2009, 16:56

  By:

  Cycling News

  Cyclingnews' 2009 Christmas card collection

  We have a tradition here at Cyclingnews of taking all of our Holiday cards and taping them to the door for all to see. We've gotten some pretty creative cards this year, and thought we'd share some of them with our readers.

  Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and best wishes for a fabulous 2010 to all!