First Edition Cycling News, Thursday, December 10, 2009

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Date published:

December 10, 2009, 11:00

• Sprinter Kersten finally makes the road transition stick

  

  Article published:

  December 10, 2009, 00:05

  By:

  Les Clarke

  Australian glad track days are “done and dusted”

  After several years plagued by injury and misfortune 2006 Commonwealth Games kilo champion Ben Kersten has enjoyed a season characterised by growth, development and success. He's optimistic about his 2010 prospects and goes into this weekend's Cronulla International Grand Prix with the best chance of taking out the event on home turf.

  Kersten has been aiming for a transition from the track to the road for the past three years, but a combination of injury and a lean run of results in the road races he has contested have held him back. His win in the US Pro Criterium Championship - albeit without the reward of the national champion's jersey - have given him the confidence to continue his move to the pavement.

  "It's a pretty big deal over there - I guess it's the second most important race behind the national championship road race," Kersten said of the US national criterium championship. "Wearing the [national champion's] jersey in America - particularly the US ones - is pretty huge, especially for the team at presentations and call ups before each race. There's a lot of promotion.

  "I knew it was big but when I was there and won it I realised that it's a bit bigger than what I had previously thought,” he said. “I hadn't really followed road racing before and I didn't really know that much about it. It gave me confidence to keep going with what I'm doing."

  Fly V Australia now boasts the Australian criterium champion - Bernard Sulzberger - and the man who will wear the jersey of US national criterium champion, John Murphy, as he rides alongside the likes of George Hincapie and Alessandro Ballan at BMC Racing in 2010. Despite the obvious boost to his self-belief, Kersten isn't getting carried away by the success, especially at this weekend's Cronulla International Grand Prix.

  "This year I've got a good road season under my belt, so I'm almost on the same level [as the other road professionals] to be able to cope with different situations in a road race," said Kersten. "There are a good 10 or 20 guys in the bunch who are also capable of dealing with those situations. I've got high hopes but if it doesn't happen, that's racing. I wanted to win on the weekend [at the Dick Smith Cycle Sydney GP] but I dropped my chain and almost crashed. That's just one scenario that can eventuate... so fingers crossed.

  "I never really did it [road racing] before seriously. I just did the Cronulla GP once a year but now it's my job and I don't do track anymore," Kersten said about his new life on the bike. "It's just a case of riding my bike for longer every day, which flicks the switch, let alone racing that many times a year. Unfortunately I've got the off season working against me at the moment - I'm just coming off that now."

  Based in Santa Monica, California, a place he's happy to call his home-away-from-home, Kersten is aiming for more of the racing he's experienced in 2009 with a focus on learning more about life on the road in National Racing Calendar (NRC) events and some of America's biggest races. "I'll be back with Fly V Australia, based in the States, doing criteriums and stage races as well. We've been invited to [Tour of] California, [Tour of] Missouri and Tour of Utah," he explained. "I'll mainly be doing one-day races and just furthering my experience in the stage racing - I haven't done that many so I'm still learning."

  Kersten had a taste of what American stage races can serve up when he made the trip to the Tour of Utah. Massive mountain passes don't suit the burly sprinter's build, although he happy to gain an insight into what the general classification riders have to contend with. "We had two injured riders the day before the race started and I'd just won the [US Pro] criterium and they said, 'Look, we know you're not going to go very far, but there's a spare spot here and we'd just love to have you along because all our sponsors are here and they'd love to meet you'," said Kersten.

  "I went along and did the prologue; I was on a new bike and I flew straight to altitude and raced that day after 12 hours of flying,” he said. “Unfortunately the race ended soon after that. I spent the week with the team and trained by myself up in the mountains - I got to see how hard the race was and was glad that I got time cut before it got too ridiculous. Even if I was a road rider for the next 10 years and I was at my peak, I still wouldn't put my hand up to do that race. It's made for the Cadel Evans-type rider - it's just up and up then they go up again. They start at 2,000m and go up that again in a day."

  Although he doesn't see himself mixing it with wafer-thin climbers any time in the future, he has certainly said goodbye to his days of sprinting on the track. "If there was any more track riding it'd only be endurance. I'm not a [track] sprinter any more - it's done and dusted," he explained. "It took a long time to get myself to that level and now I've undone it all with the road. I was forced to retire from that and now I'm kind of glad I did."

• Armstrong vs. Contador 2.0: Rivalry, but no distraction

  

  Article published:

  December 10, 2009, 00:19

  By:

  Laura Weislo

  Bruyneel, Armstrong clear the air on "personality conflict"

  The story of the intra-team rivalry between Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador during this year's Tour de France was perhaps the biggest cycling story of the year, but now that the two have gone separate ways Armstrong is looking to avoid letting their personality differences become a distraction from his goals in 2010. At the Radioshack team camp in Tucson, Arizona this week, Armstrong and Johan Bruyneel spoke extensively about the heavily reported conflict, how the press inflated its severity, and how being on separate teams will change the dynamic of their rivalry.

  Despite the difficulties, Armstrong surprisingly said that he wouldn't change the experience at this year's Tour, and that, in a way, the "personality conflict" was good for cycling because of the attention it brought to the sport.

  "Over the last 10 years there was always been this built in conflict with Jan [Ullrich] ... and later [Joseba] Beloki," he said, recounting the reports in the pre-Tour build ups comparing his preparation to that of his competitors and likening it to the great rivalries in other sports. "There's always a rivalry - that's what people want, it's what they pay attention to, it is why they sit in front of their TV screens to watch on game day.

  His run-ins with Contador were of a different quality - a battle for supremacy he politely called "a personality conflict". "Not to say my personality is good or bad, or his is good or bad. We're on separate teams now, I'm sure he's glad he went left and I'm glad I went right, I wouldn't change the experience,” said Armstrong. “I wanted to do what I wanted to do, but I was loyal to Johan and I had to be there."

  Even five months after the Tour and despite the team's success in getting both riders onto the final podium and winning the teams classification, the battle between cycling's two giants still gets press. Bruyneel hoped to play down some recent reports of him being critical of the Spaniard.

  Living in Spain, Bruyneel has felt the full brunt of the Spanish view that Contador was wronged, but has also seen the opposing view from the Americans. But he insisted that the conflict was not as bad as it was presented in the press.

  "It was not good, but it was do-able," said Bruyneel. "I never had the feeling I could not get through it. My relationship with Lance is a lot stronger, and I could be considered not neutral, but I think I was very neutral. I always made the right decisions in the race for the good of the team and for trying to win the Tour."

  The problems began more than a year ago when Armstrong announced his comeback, and later confirmed that he would do so at Bruyneel's side - something that Contador perhaps felt threatened his position as team leader which he had built through winning the 2007 Tour and 2008 Giro d'Italia.

  "There was nothing I could have done differently,” said Bruyneel. “I was in a tough spot - I was constantly in between two opposed egos.

  "I always had in mind that the strongest rider would win the Tour, and that made my job easier,” he added. “Alberto was the strongest guy. I also knew that Lance was realistic enough, and he's enough of a team player to accept when someone else is in a better position."

  Now that they are on separate teams, Armstrong and Contador are free to go head-to-head. Yet both Armstrong and Bruyneel both agree that beating Contador in the Tour will be no easy feat.

  "On the bike, I'll say Alberto is the biggest and best talent we have now, and maybe the biggest we've ever seen," said Armstrong.

  "I come from the perspective from being on the team with him, I saw physically how good he was in the race, I also saw mentally and emotionally how strong he is off the bike,” he added. “I'm not a fool, I've sized up plenty of competition in my day, and he's going to be very difficult to beat - some would say impossible. He's a complete rider, it's tough to beat someone who can climb and time trial that well."

  While Contador may be the biggest talent, it doesn't mean Armstrong can forget about the young Luxembourger who finished second in the Tour ahead of him.

  "I think Andy Schleck [will play] an interesting role here,” he admitted. “The cycling critics would look at it and say talent-wise, they're better matched - and perhaps that's the big showdown. The more we can let that play out the better for us, it's less distraction.

  Whether or not the Contador/Armstrong rivalry will be the hot topic in 2010, Armstrong said, depends on how well his early season and Tour preparation play out. "Obviously the more successful you are the bigger the buzz - the press and the fans will run with that,” he said. “I think it's good for cycling, but better that both he and I try to distance ourselves from that because it can be a distraction, and neither of us want that."

  Bruyneel sees the strength of his Radioshack team as an advantage over Contador's well-gutted Astana squad. "Every season you start over, and you never have a guarantee you will be on the same level. We just have to hope that Alberto won't be on the same level," Bruyneel said about the chances for a 2010 Tour win.

  "It's not only about being the strongest,” he added. “You have to have a good support team, a team of coaches and people around you that have the experience, and then there's the tactics. Race circumstances. Cycling is not an exact science. A lot of things can happen."

• Columbia-HTC to field six-man team at Australian championships

  

  Article published:

  December 10, 2009, 00:28

  By:

  Cycling News

  American squad hoping to avoid repeat of 2009

  Columbia-HTC will field six riders, including four Australians, at January’s Australian Open Road Championships, according to race organiser Caribou Publications. The ProTour team will be looking to avoid a repeat of 2009 where it lost the title to Drapac-Porsche’s Peter Macdonald, despite having two of its riders in the three-man sprint for victory.

  After finishing second in the road race this year Michael Rogers will return for another attempt at the title and to defend his time trial title. Tasmania’s Matthew Goss will join Rogers at the Ballarat race and should prove useful in the team’s title bid. The pair will be joined by compatriots Mark Renshaw and Leigh Howard.

  While that quartet alone is a strong showing, Columbia-HTC will also field German champions Andre Greipel and Bert Grabsch. The duo will be in Australia preparing for the ProTour opening Tour Down Under, to be held in Adelaide later that month.

  Race organiser John Craven was excited to announce Columbia-HTC’s strong presence at the event. “The field quality so far is shaping as the best ever, which is extremely exciting,” said Craven.

  Columbia-HTC will also have a rider present in the elite women’s race, with Germany’s Judith Arndt returning to contest the Victorian event. Arndt contested this year’s event, finishing in 12th place.

• Fleeman secures Raleigh ride

  

  Article published:

  December 10, 2009, 00:35

  By:

  Cycling News

  10 man line-up complete with Fleeman’s signing

  Daniel Fleeman’s battle to find a team for 2010 has come to an end, with the British rider signing for the newly formed Raleigh squad. Fleeman takes the rider tally to 10 for Raleigh, which has applied for International Cycling Union (UCI) Continental status.

  Fleeman will lead the squad, managed by Chris Truett, alongside countryman Tom Barras. Fleeman’s signing is a big coup for the team, which held its first training camp at the weekend in England’s North West.

  After a strong showing with the An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly team in 2008, Fleeman got a one-year deal with Cervélo TestTeam for 2009. A solid start to the season with the Professional Continental outfit was brought to a sudden end at Bayern Rundfahrt, where he crashed and broke his scaphoid.

  Fleeman struggled to regain his race fitness following the injury, leaving him with few runs on the board for the season which led to Cervelo not re-signing the rider. As Fleeman’s race fitness finally returned, so did the results with the rider winning the British Hill-climb Championship in Stocksbridge in October.

  Raleigh's 2010 roster:
  British riders: Dan Fleeman, Tom Barras, Dale Appleby, Liam Holohan, Daniel Shand, James Stewart, Richard Handley and Michael Cumings.
  International riders: Peter Smith (Australia), Julian Rammler (German).

• Sky expected to announce Wiggins signing today

  

  Article published:

  December 10, 2009, 00:38

  By:

  Daniel Benson

  British team finally secures a Tour team leader

  Team Sky has called a press conference Thursday at which it is expected that it will unveil Bradley Wiggins as its latest signing. The 29-year-old British rider has raced for Garmin-Slipstream for just one year.

  Wiggins rode to fourth in this year’s Tour de France and has been the subject of rumour ever since, with Team Sky to launch in 2010 and still without a team leader for the Grand Tours.

  Wiggins had previously hinted that he would leave Garmin-Slipstream. In September, he told the BBC: "It's like trying to win the Champions League - you need to be at Manchester United, but I'm playing at Wigan at the moment so I have to make that step up."

  In August, Team Sky Directeur Sportif Scott Sunderland told Cyclingnews: "If Bradley is available then of course we're interested; he's British, so yes it's a possibility. If Wiggins himself wants to come then of course it could happen."

  In the last few months Garmin-Slipstream fought a drawn-out battle for Wiggins to remain with the team for 2010, having signed a two-year contract with the United States of America-based team at the end of 2008.

  Yet in the last a few weeks speculation ramped up as the tug of war escalated. "He has let it be known to me that he'd like to be with Sky," Garmin-Slipstream manager Jonathan Vaughters told BBC Sport. "I haven't spoken to him recently, but I think he has a strong desire to be part of the first UK pro team."

  Earlier in June Shane Sutton of Sky also told the BBC: "All these guys are going to move on to the Sky pro road team, maybe I shouldn't have said that!"

  Dave Brailsford told the Daily Telegraph earlier in the year: "Everybody in British cycling is absolutely thrilled about their success in the Tour de France and Brad and Cav are now two of the biggest names in the sport worldwide, let alone Britain," Brailsford said. "In our ideal scenario we would want at least one of them involved in our debut season, but both are contracted with their current teams so it is very unlikely at the moment. But you never say never in sport."

  
  With the signing set to be completed in the early hours of Thursday morning Wiggins will lead Team Sky in next year’s Tour de France, should the team be invited.

• Sneak peek at Team RadioShack's new bikes for 2010

  

  Article published:

  December 10, 2009, 08:24

  By:

  James Huang

  Trek releases first high-res images of Armstrong's ride

  Team RadioShack bicycle sponsor Trek is planning on releasing detailed information on the squad's new race machines for the coming season but we've obtained some sneak preview images in the meantime.

  We'll post additional specifications once they become available but several aspects are immediately apparent. In essence, the RadioShack bikes will differ little from the ones Trek supplied to Astana last year, again centered around the latest Madone 6-Series framesets with their more aggressive tube shaping, extra-wide BB90 bottom brackets with drop-in cartridge bearings, tapered and asymmetrical steerer tubes on the all-carbon forks, trick internal cable routing, and sleeker integrated seatmasts.

  Build kits will essentially be a two-company affair with SRAM providing Lance Armstrong and company with its top-end Red component groups and Trek house brand Bontrager to supply wheels and cockpit components.

  Unlike the more simplistic jersey designs previewed earlier, the frames will feature elaborate paint jobs with countless repeats of the RadioShack icon logo – no mistaking who the title sponsor is here. The Nissan logo is also prominently displayed on the chain stays – suggesting a not-insignificant level of support – and Armstrong's trademark 'Livestrong' yellow embellishes the seat stays.

  We've no word on complete bike weights just yet but based on Alberto Contador's similar build from last year, the new RadioShack machines just be just barely UCI-legal.

• Gilbert wins Kristallen Fiets as best Belgian rider

  

  Article published:

  December 10, 2009, 09:46

  By:

  Susan Westemeyer

  Bruyneel, Broeckmans, and Vandenbergh also honoured

  Philippe Gilbert of Silence-Lotto was awarded the Kristallen Fiets award as the best Belgian cyclist of the year. It was the second consecutive year that the 27-year-old won the trophy, an award by the Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws.

  Johan Bruyneel won the award as best team director, for the sixth time, and the best young rider was European Under-23 road champion Kris Boeckmans. Stijn Vandenbergh of Katusha won the appropriately-named Kristallen Zweetdruppel, or crystal sweat drop, as best helper.

  Gilbert won the trophy with 686 points, ahead of Tom Boonen (408) and cyclo-cross riders Niels Albert (330) and Sven Nys (204).

  The award came at the end of a season which started off dismally for the 27-year-old, whose first year with the Belgian ProTour team got off the very bad start. “The first three months at Silence-Lotto were the worst of my career. I felt really bad,” he told Het Laatste Nieuws. "Nobody listened to me, nobody asked me anything. I sat down and asked myself, 'What the hell am I doing in this team? Why have I come here?' "

  It was “a losing fight,” Gilbert admitted until one day in April, when he finished third in the Rode van Vlaanderen.

  Things started getting better from then onwards. He took his first season win in the 20th stage of the Giro d'Italia, following it up with a stage win and the overall title in the Ster Elektrotoer. Gilbert skipped the Tour de France, and after riding the Vuelta a Espana as his second Grand Tour of the season, he finished sixth in the World Championships.

  Then his luck turned, and he went on a streak, winning the Coppa Sabatini, Paris-Tours, Giro del Piemonte and the Giro di Lombardia, all within nine days.

  Gilbert was presented the trophy by five-time winner Johan Museeuw. “It was one of the easiest choices in recent years,” Museeuw said, according to Sporza.

  “Few will be able to repeat the record that Gilbert has put together in 2009,” Museeuw continued. “Philippe is also someone who can win all the classics in the future, from Milano-Sanremo to the Giro di Lombardia. But he will have the choice as to which top events he wants to win.”

  The celebratory evening also had some sad notes, as the gathering paid tribute to those who had died during the year, including Frank Vandenbroucke, who won the award 10 years ago. Also noted were the passings of Frederiek Nolf, who died during the Tour of Qatar, and track cyclist Dimitri De Fauw, who committed suicide last month.

• Bradley Wiggins signs with Team Sky

  

  Article published:

  December 10, 2009, 10:36

  By:

  Daniel Benson and Richard Tyler

  Wiggins signs four-year deal with Sky, leaves Garmin after one season

  Bradley Wiggins has signed a four-year deal with Team Sky that will see him ride with the new British squad until the end of 2013. The 29-year-old British rider leaves US squad Garmin-Slipstream after one season.

  "It has been an amazing year for me and my performance at the Tour de France has given me the drive to aim even higher," said Wiggins. "I know I can continue to develop and Team Sky is the perfect place to make that happen."

  Wiggins finished fourth overall at this year's Tour de France. A veteran of three Tours and four Giro d'Italias, the result marked a transition from a track and time trial specialist to general classification contender. Wiggins move to Sky will increases the likelihood that they will receive an invitation to the 2010 Tour de France from race organizers.

  "Brad will be at home at Team Sky. It's the perfect fit and he'll be a marquee rider for us," said Team Sky principal Dave Brailsford. "He is an exceptional athlete and an excellent performer - at a great age. And he'll get better still.

  "Brad was a real revelation at this year's Tour de France. He has been hugely successful for British Cycling and his Olympic performances have brought wide recognition."

  A two-time winner of the Olympic gold medal in the men's individual pursuit (2004, 2008), Wiggins has raced as a road professional since 2001.

  After a false start with the short-lived Linda McCartney team, he spent six seasons with French professional squads: La Française des Jeux (2002-2003), Crédit Agricole (2004-2005) and Cofidis (2006-2007). He joined Team High Road in 2008 and, at the end of that season, agreed to join Garmin-Slipstream.

  Wiggins has become the seventh British rider in Team Sky's now 25-man roster. He joins compatriots Geraint Thomas, Ian Stannard, Russell Downing, Peter Kennaugh, Chris Froome and Steve Cummings.

  Speculation ends

  Wiggins' deal with Team Sky brings to an end months of speculation about which team he would ride for in 2010. His performance at the 2009 Tour de France saw his name immediately touted as a possible general classification rider for the British ProTour squad, in spite of the fact that he remained under contract with Garmin-Slipstream.

  Wiggins himself had hinted that he would leave Garmin early. In September, he told the BBC, "It's like trying to win the Champions League - you need to be at Manchester United, but I'm playing at Wigan at the moment so I have to make that step up."

  In August, Sky Directeur Sportif Scott Sunderland had told Cyclingnews that, "If Bradley is available then of course we're interested; he's British, so yes it's a possibility. If Wiggins himself wants to come then of course it could happen."

  In the last few months Garmin fought a drawn out battle for Wiggins to remain with the team for 2010, having signed a two-year contract with the him at the end of 2008.

  Garmin today released a statement that read, "Bradley Wiggins will not be racing for Team Garmin-Transitions in 2010. Although we understand his strong desire to be a part of the UK’s first-ever ProTour team, we would have loved to continue with him through 2010. His departure is not the outcome we hoped for. That said, Team Garmin-Transitions has an incredible group of riders assembled for the season. As always, we have worked hard to build a team that will be competitive throughout the year."