First Edition Cycling News, Sunday, August 29, 2010

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Date published:

August 29, 2010, 13:00

• Hincapie in first phase of recovery after Tour of Utah crash

  

  Article published:

  August 27, 2010, 23:03

  By:

  Cycling News

  Stitches come out next week

  US national road champion George Hincapie will find out next week how his recovery is progressing from the knee injury he suffered in a crash last week at the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah.

  The BMC Racing Team's road captain got back on his bike for the first time Thursday for a short spin. The 18 stitches in his right knee will be removed Monday or Tuesday, and doctors will examine him Wednesday.

  "The pain is gone, it's just very sore," Hincapie said from his home in Greenville, South Carolina - site of next month's US road championships. "I just need for the wound and soreness to go away before I can properly train and make a decision as to whether I can do the next races or not."

  Hincapie crashed about halfway through stage 3 of the Tour of Utah. He swerved to avoid another rider, and his front wheel slid out on loose gravel. In addition to the cut on his knee, he had road rash on his right shoulder and face, which has nearly healed.

  "I'm definitely disappointed I wasn't able to finish the Tour of Utah," Hincapie said. "I really enjoyed doing that race. Supporting US racing is always good, so I was disappointed to leave that way."

• Schumacher's return to racing delayed

  

  Article published:

  August 28, 2010, 09:02

  By:

  Susan Westemeyer

  UCI paperwork with Miche still not complete

  Stefan Schumacher's return to racing has been delayed by at least a week. The German rider's doping suspension ended yesterday but all the paperwork and formalities of his new contract with the small Italian-based Miche team have not been completed in time for him to ride the Giro del Veneto today.

  The German served a two-year suspension after testing positive for CERA at the Tour de France 2008. He has signed with the Miche for the remainder of the season.

  Schumacher was already on his way to the start of the race in Padua when he was told he would not be able to start. He now hopes makes his return at the Giro della Romagna on September 5.

  Although he signed his contract with Miche on August 13, he has not yet officially appeared on the International Cycling Union's register as a team member, he told the German news agency DPA.

  “At first I was really pissed off, because I am of course quite eager to race again. But then I calmed down. I have waited so long already – one more week doesn't make that much difference,” Schumacher said.

• Vuelta team time trial start times confirmed

  

  Article published:

  August 28, 2010, 09:05

  By:

  Barry Ryan

  Footon-Servetto first team off in Seville

  Footon-Servetto will be the first team to start this evening’s opening team time trial at the Vuelta a España. The time trial around the streets of Seville begins at the unusual night time of 22:04 CET.

  The 22 teams taking part in this year's Tour of Spain were presented in a late-evening ceremony in Seville on Friday, the site of the opening stages.

  The teams will tackle the 13km course at four-minute intervals, with the locally-sponsored Andalucía-CajaSur outfit the last team off, at 23:28. Iñigo Cuesta, riding a record 17th consecutive Vuelta, has been given the honour of wearing number one in this year’s race, and his soon to be defunct Cérvelo TestTeam is the penultimate team to take the start at 23:24.

  Among the teams fancied to take the win are Team Saxo Bank, that starts at 23:16. Bjarne Riis' team has the advantage of starting after both Garmin-Transitions (23:04) and HTC-Columbia (22:24), both of whom are sending well-drilled units to Seville. Giro d’Italia team time trial winners Liquigas-Doimo (22:56) and a motivated Caisse d’Epargne team (23:12) featuring some solid rouleur are two other start times to note in the list.

  Vuelta a España TTT start times:

  22:04 Footon-Servetto-Fuji
  22:08 AG2R
  22:12 Team Milram
  22:16 Team Katusha
  22:20 BBOX Bouygues Telecom
  22:24 Team HTC-Columbia
  22:28 Quick Step
  22:32 Omega Pharma-Lotto
  22:36 FDJ
  22:40 Euskaltel-Euskadi
  22:44 Lampre-Farnese Vini
  22:48 Team Sky
  22:52 Cofidis
  22:56 Liquigas-Doimo
  23:00 Xacobeo Galicia
  23:04 Garmin-Transitions
  23:08 Astana
  23:12 Caisse d'Epargne
  23:16 Saxo Bank
  23:20 Rabobank
  23:24 Cervélo
  23:28 Andalucía-CajaSur

• Australian team targets Haussler, Lancaster and Hushovd

  

  Article published:

  August 28, 2010, 14:10

  By:

  Cycling News

  Team owner Chris White heads to the Vuelta in pursuit of Cervelo riders

  Chris White, the owner of the hopeful Australian ProTour team, has revealed that he hopes to sign Heinrich Haussler, Brett Lancaster and Thor Hushovd.

  Following the announcement of the demise of the Cervelo TestTeam, all three riders could move to the Garmin-Cervelo team for 2011 but are also believed to be considering other options. White would like to sign them as he works on building the first ever Australian ProTour team.

  "With what has happened at Cervelo TestTeam, there is a really unique opportunity for some of those guys to create a legacy by being a part of Australia's first ProTour team," Pegasus Racing owner Chris White told the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper.

  "And what better way than to have a great Australian rider like Heinrich Haussler, or Brett Lancaster for that matter, with the international riders. It would be the perfect storm in terms of what great Australian talent is available out there for Australia's first ProTour team.”

  White is also keen to get Hushovd and will be at the start of the Vuelta in Seville to speak to his agent. "He could be our Australian Viking," he said.

  "I want riders. I want Australian riders and I want good riders. These guys would fit really well. We have a great core of riders we have been working with. We have UCI support for an Australian ProTour team but we need to fulfil requirements. One of the key parts of that is having the right riders."

  White claims he has a US sponsor in place to back the team, with reports of $12.5 million budget. He is currently applying for a ProTour licence with the UCI and says he has already signed 10 riders, one of whom is current Garmin-Transitions rider Trent Lowe.

  White also revealed that team clothing and bikes are likely to be decorated with indigenous Australian art work and the team will hold a get-together in the Australian outback rather than a boot camp in Europe.

  ''We are going to be at least 50 per cent Australian in terms of roster,'' White said. ''And the heart and soul of the team is from Australia. All the drive and corporate entity is Australian. We will be distinctly Australian.''

  ''It will be great for the Australians in the squad and the Europeans too,'' he adds. ''We will have a real feeling for the message we want to push.''

• Fränk Schleck targets overall success in the Vuelta

  

  Article published:

  August 28, 2010, 18:54

  By:

  Stephen Farrand

  Andy plays down his chances but promises support

  Fränk Schleck has raced just once since breaking his collarbone at the Tour de France but believes he still has a chance of victory in the Vuelta a Espana.

  Schleck fractured his collarbone in three places as the peloton raced over the cobbles in northern France. He underwent surgery and rode the Vattenfall Cyclassics in Hamburg on August 15 but then got married instead of riding the Tour du Limousin. That irritated Saxo Bank boss Bjarne Riis but Fränk believes having fresh legs will give him an edge in the third week of the Vuelta, when the race hits the mountains.

  “The crash could become an advantage because I only did four Tour stages and I’ll be fresher physically than the rest of the riders who did all three weeks,” he told the Marca newspaper.

  “It would have been good to ride the Tour du Limousin but that was hardly compatible with my wedding on August 21. There are more important things in life than bike races and that day was wonderful.”  The couple was married in a civil ceremony December 31, and this month had the religious ceremony.

  “I honestly do want to go for GC. My head is 100% focused on that goal. I’m motivated. I have fully recovered from my crash although my collarbone was broken in three pieces, I’ve done a lot of training behind the scooter. After four or five days of racing, I’ll be ready. If I’ve got the same legs as at the Tour de Suisse, I can win the Vuelta.”

  “Climbs in Spain are shorter than at the Tour de France. We haven’t gone and reconnoitred the route of the Vuelta before the race but I know that it’s always up and down.”

  Fränk has identified his adversaries, including a possible secret partnership between two overall contenders who will be teammates in 2011.

  “Caisse d’Epargne always has a strong team”, he said. “Nibali is a favourite as well as Sastre and Menchov who will ride together with Geox next year,” Schleck said. “The Spanish, too, will be difficult to beat. Spain is a country with a great cycling tradition and great riders. They won’t make it easy for us.”

  Fränk will have special support from his younger brother Andy. He finished second in the Tour de France and has made it clear he is riding the Vuelta to help his brother. Even if he joked about a possible place on the podium.

  “I’m not sure how good I am because I had a week’s holiday after the Tour de France,” Andy said.

  “If I can be up there in the mountains with the top riders, that’s great. “If I’m going well, I’ll stay with Fränk for the third week. But you can only have the kind of form I had in the Tour once a year. Miracles don’t happen.”

  “Schleck, Nibali, Menchov will finish in that order. But I’m not giving the first name of the Schleck…” Andy joked.
   

• Saxo Bank satisfied with fourth in Vuelta TTT

  

  Article published:

  August 29, 2010, 11:26

  By:

  Stephen Farrand

  Fränk Schleck gains time on Menchov

  The Saxo Bank team lined up for stage two of the Vuelta a España satisfied that team leader Fränk Schleck had already gained some precious seconds on many of his overall rivals.

  Saxo Bank finished fourth in the 13km time trial Saturday night, 12 seconds slower than winners HTC-Columbia. They might have been expected to do even better with world time trial champion Fabian Cancellara in their squad but made sure that both Fränk and Andy Schleck did not lose any time.

  Saxo Bank finished eight seconds faster than Katusha, who have Joaquin Rodriguez as their leader for the overall classification, and 24 seconds faster than Rabobank and Denis Menchov, who hesitated and lost time when Grischa Niermann punctured.

  “I'm quite happy about the result and about putting Fränk in a good position in the overall rankings,” directeur sportif Bradley McGee said.

  “Most importantly, I made sure not to put any pressure on the shoulders of the riders in order to get through the course without any accidents. There's no doubt, Fränk is very motivated and we're all looking forward to take on the race.”

  Saxo Bank finished with just six riders and the riders were a little ragged at the finish but they opted not to take too many risks on the dark corners around the twisting course in Seville.

  ”We'd been waiting all day to do the team time trial and we're happy about the result,” Anders Lund said after the race.

  “It might be the most demanding discipline in the sport and on the flat and straight stretches; we couldn't have put in a stronger effort. The most important thing for us was to get through the tricky turns and to cross the finish line safely.”
   

• Warm-up crash disrupts Garmin-Transitions performance in the Vuelta TTT

  

  Article published:

  August 29, 2010, 11:56

  By:

  Stephen Farrand

  Dean loses contact early after warm-up crash

  Garmin-Transitions was targeting victory and the first leader’s jersey at the nighttime 13km team time trial at the Vuelta a España but a crash as they warmed-up just an hour before the race left Julian Dean in pain and affected the team’s performance.

  Dean is a key lead-out man for sprinter Tyler Farrar and so his speed is a vital component in Garmin-Transitions’ team time trial strategy. The Kiwi rider hurt his shoulder after hitting a kerb and then a sidewall in the dark and was unable to give his best in the time trial.

  He was the first rider to be left behind as Garmin-Transitions chased victory but that meant the team was short on riders and horsepower for the final push to the line. Garmin-Transitions finished sixth, 17 seconds slower than winners HTC-Columbia.

  Team leader Christian Vande Velde finished with the team and looked strong after his long spell out of action. He revealed that Dean had crashed in a Twitter message soon after finishing: “Ouch. Kinda fun, kinda terrifying. Lost Julian on the warm up to a "dark sidewalk". Bad crash and put some fear in the team. Congrats to HTC.”

  Bingen Fernandez, Garmin-Transitions directeur sportif at the Vuelta, gave more details.

  “Julian Dean crashed on a bike lane that was five centimetres higher than the road. He didn’t see it. It happened one hour before the race during our second lap of warm-up. He has a scratch on his shoulder and bruises on his right elbow and right side. After one kilometre of racing, he was off, so we basically rode with one rider less and Julian is a very important guy in our team. Otherwise, five or six guys rode really well,” he said.

  "David Zabriskie is strong at the moment. The team time trial is our speciality. We always want to win it. We were one of the favourites, so we can’t say we’re happy with sixth place but it’s not too bad either.”