First Edition Cycling News, Thursday, January 20, 2011

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January 20, 2011, 01:00

• Catlin says he cannot comment on Sports Illustrated allegations

  

  Article published:

  January 19, 2011, 16:23

  By:

  Cycling News

  Without access to data "it is not possible to provide any insight"

  With the publication of Sports Illustrated's investigation into Lance Armstrong, questions have been raised about the role of Dr. Don Catlin, the renowned anti-doping expert.

  Catlin, 72, ran the U.S. Olympic anti-doping lab at UCLA for 25 years which was the official testing facility for the 1984 Los Angeles Games and the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics in addition to performing testing both in- and out-of-competition for U.S. national team athletes since 1982. He has been a member of the IOC Medical Commission since 1988 and is also credited with identifying the THG designer drug made famous during the BALCO investigation.

  Sports Illustrated reported that the US Anti-Doping lab tested Armstrong more than two dozen times between 1990 and 2000. In 1999 USA Cycling asked Catlin to supply results of testosterone tests for a cyclist identified only by his drug-testing code numbers, and Sports Illustrated alleges that the cyclist in question was Armstrong.

  Catlin replied in a letter, dated June 4, 1999, that there was little chance of recovering five results from the early nineties but detailed three results that stand out: "a 9.0-to-1 ratio from a sample collected on June 23, 1993; a 7.6-to-1 from July 7, 1994; and a 6.5-to-1 from June 4, 1996."

  Any ratio above 6.0-to-1 was considered abnormally high until 2005 and since then the ratio limit was lowered to 4.0-to-1. Floyd Landis tested positive for testosterone at the 2006 Tour de France with a reported ratio of 11-to-1.

  When contacted about the Sports Illustrated investigation, Catlin told Cyclingnews, "I have not been provided with either letter or any of the other materials referred to in the Sports Illustrated story, thus I do not have the context to provide appropriate comment at this time. Without them and without any of the data from that time period, it is not possible to provide any insight into the situation or to provide specifics on any of the analysis performed."

  Catlin told USA Cycling that he tried to confirm the two highest values with further testing but was unable to do so and declared they were negative.

  "In general, confirmations that don't succeed simply don't meet the numerous, strict requirements of T/E confirmation Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)," Catlin told Cyclingnews. "I no longer have access to any of the data or files from that era. Any records or data on the matter belong to the Federation, the USOC and the IOC."

  Catlin told Sports Illustrated that he did not know the samples belonged to Armstrong but admitted that the three high testosterone ratios detailed in the letter as ‘very strange.'

• Contador decision expected no later than February 15

  

  Article published:

  January 19, 2011, 17:10

  By:

  Cycling News

  Spanish cycling president sets rough date for announcement

  Alberto Contador can expect to learn his fate sometime the first two weeks in February. The president of the Spanish cycling federation, Juan Carlos Castaño, said he expects to issue the decision in Contador's doping case between February 10 and 15, at the latest.

  The Real Federacion Espanola de Ciclismo president said on COPE radio that on Monday the International Cycling Union's medical commission is scheduled to submit its “conclusions as to whether or not to believe Alberto Contador.”

  He continued that following the receipt of that information from the UCI, “between 10 and 15 February we will have the sanction or absolution of the cyclist”. Castaño added that he “hoped for” a resolution that was “favourable” to Contador.

  However, the AP quotes him as saying that after receiving the UCI documents, the federation "would then need about three days to review before a decision is taken," opening up the possiblity of an announcement the end of next week.

  No matter what the ruling, however, it probably won't be the final word. “We are destined to resolve this matter at the Court of Arbitration for Sport,” Castaño noted.

  Contador tested positive for Clenbuterol during the Tour de France, which he claimed came from eating contaminated meat.

  The UCI confirmed earlier this month that the Spanish federation had asked for advice on technical aspects of the case, and emphasised that the federation must make the decision regarding disciplinary action.

• Popovych denies Sports Illustrated details

  

  Article published:

  January 19, 2011, 18:13

  By:

  Stephen Farrand

  RadioShack rider insists doping products were not found in his house

  Yaroslav Popovych has denied information published by Sports Illustrated that performance enhancing drugs and recent emails linking Team RadioShack to Dr Michele Ferrari were found in his house during a search by Italian police.

  The accusations were used as part of the introduction to the 12-page article called ‘The Case Against Lance Armstrong.'

  “It’s not true. I don’t want to go into details, otherwise the story will go around and around. I’ll let my lawyer speak for me,” Popovych told Cyclingnews from Tenerife, where he is training for the new season.

  Popovych’s lawyer is called Michele Re and is also his agent. He told Cyclingnews: “I’ve read the Sports Illustrated story and I can say that it’s absolutely not true that performance enhancing drugs were found in Yaroslav’s house when the Italian police carried out the search last November.”

  “The only thing found were medicines, 15 pills to be exact. The Italian public prosecutor has had these examined and they have been confirmed as being pills for cramp.”

  “It is also not true that the police found evidence of links between Armstrong and Dr Ferrari. That’s because the electronics expert who has been asked to study the contents of two laptops and two mobile phones has still to submit his report to the magistrate Benedetto Roberti.”

  Re confirmed that the police search of Popovych’s house was carried out two days after he returned from the USA last November, where he testified before a grand jury in Los Angeles as part of an investigation into doping in cycling. Italian police are reportedly collaborating with FDA agent Jeff Novitsky on the investigation.

  “The search was ordered by Roberti but it probable that it was linked to the USA,” Re admitted.

  “But Yaroslav is not worried. We’re still in the preliminary investigative phase and no charges have been made. The legal process takes time in Italy. Yaroslav is training hard and hopefully he can have a good season after a few ups and down in recent years.”

• Androni-Giocattoli one step ahead at Tour de San Luis

  

  Article published:

  January 19, 2011, 18:44

  By:

  Kirsten Frattini

  Italian team supports Serpa on the climbs and Ferrari in the sprints

  José Serpa (Androni-Giocattoli) demonstrated that he is capable of winning the Tour de San Luis title with his stage two victory atop the Mirador del Potrero on Tuesday. The Colombian is four seconds ahead of his nearest competitor Eros Capecchi (Liquigas-Cannondale) with five days of racing still to come.

  “We will try to work for this leader’s jersey,” said Androni-Giocattoli directeur sportif Gianni Savio. “This is only the second stage and it is very early in the Tour de San Luis and the winner has not been decided yet.”

  Serpa placed second to Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) in the overall classification last year. This year’s overall contenders include Nibali’s teammates Capecchi and two-time Giro d’ Italia winner Ivan Basso, along with Xavier Tondo and Mauricio Soler of Movistar, 2007 overall winner Jorge Giacinti and Josue Moyano of Team Argentina, and Fortunato Baliani (D’Angelo & Antenucci).

  “For this year our objective is to make the podium with Serpa,” Savio said. “Last year he was second and I think that we will have the possibility to repeat what we did last year. Vincenzo Nibali won last year and I think the strongest team is Liquigas with Ivan Basso.”

  The overall contenders will continue to emerge following the stage four time trial on Thursday. Savio said he would be pleased with a top 10 performance from Serpa in the 19km individual event but noted the strong specialists in attendance.

  “The only rider we have for the time trial is Serpa,” Savio said. “I think he will be able to be in the first ten positions. But it will be very difficult for him to win. A good result will be for him to stay in the top 10 or 15. Here in Argentina there are good time trial men.”

  The climbers will have two final bids for the overall classification during stage five’s category three mountaintop finish on the Mirador del Sol and the queen stage six’s two category 1 climbs, the mid-race Alto de Nogoli and the event’s final mountaintop finish to La Carolina.

  “I think stage six will be harder this year,” Savio said. “It will be very good for Serpa and Jackson Rodriguez. The overall classification will also be decided a little bit in the time trial but mainly in stage five and stage six. Stage five won’t separate the field a lot, maybe by seconds between the climbers, but not minutes. Stage six will separate the climbers by minutes.”

  Sprinter Roberto Ferrari won the opening stage of the Tour de San Luis from a breakaway sprint in Justo Daract. The team will look to Ferrari for its third consecutive stage win in Villa Mercedes in stage three.

  “We will support Ferrari in the sprints with Giaro Ermiti and Angel Vicioso,” Savio said. “Vicioso is also a good sprinter but he is made for the breakaway-type sprints. He is not really a sprinter for the peloton, like Ferrari. I think the next sprints at the Tour de San Luis will be peloton sprints in stage three and stage seven.”

• Floyd Landis calls for legalised doping

  

  Article published:

  January 19, 2011, 19:03

  By:

  Daniel Benson

  American says testers are not remotely close to catching cheats

  Floyd Landis has launched an attack on the cycling authorities he believes have enabled and covered up doping within the sport and said that doping should be legalised. The American announced his retirement from the sport earlier in the week but his comments to Cyclingnews come on the back of a Sports Illustrated story in which they claim that Lance Armstrong showed abnormally high testosterone ratios on three occasions in the 1990s. Armstrong denied the accusations.

  Landis won the Tour de France in 2006, but lost the title after testing positive for synthetic testosterone during the race. He maintained his innocence and put up a major public defence, spending his life savings as well as cash secured from donations, before finally losing the fight and his Tour title.

  In April last year a series of emails from Landis to various cycling authorities and media outlets were published in which he appeared as the whistle blower of a set of major drug scandals and cover-ups involving the US Postal team, Lance Armstrong, Johan Bruyneel and the sport's governing body, the UCI. All parties discredited Landis and proclaimed their innocence. The FDA have since opened an investigation and spoken to a number of former Postal riders as well as reportedly meeting with French police at the Interpol headquarters in Lyon, France.

  However Landis's beliefs that doping should be legalised come on the back of his retirement. He told Cyclingnews:

  "In the US we have these gun laws where half the country thinks we should have them and half don't, but the fact of the matter is that the bad guys have guns and you can't get them back from the bad guys. It's nice to live in a pretend world where you can start over, where you say you're not going to have guns, well that's wonderful and good luck with that and go to church on Sundays and enjoy yourself, but the fact of the matter is that there are guns and the bad guys have them and trying to keep others from having them isn't going to accomplish anything," he said, using guns as an analogy for doping in sport.

  "You got to go about it another way and you've got to legalise doping. They [the testers] are so far behind in the testing organisations that there's no way to change it now. Just accept that it's here, that it's not going away and that it's just going to get more complicated and the fact that it's not that complicated yet compared to what it will be. Ten years from now it's going to be four times as hard as it now to test for things.

  Landis expressed a pessimistic view of efforts to clean up the sport, saying, "They're not even remotely close to catching anybody; it's just a joke. You can use as much EPO as you want and unless you're an idiot you're not going to get caught.

  "Just start over and let it be. I'm convinced now that there's no stopping it and you've got to stop ruining lives over it. The bad guys will always have guns and the bad guys will always use drugs and that will force the good guys to do the same.

  "Since you can't stop it you have to deal with it in rational kind of way. You can't stop it and you cant fix it. Monitor it and make sure people don't hurt themselves, but you have to accept it."

  Landis' letters last year named a number of ex-teammates as well as old friends as being involved in doping.

  "It was hard to put them all on the same level when some were friends, but I had to separate that if I was going to be honest. Good people dope, bad people dope it's just the way it was and the offence is not greater if you are an asshole or a saint."

  Until yesterday Landis was willing to walk away from the sport, however the Sports Illustrated article which appeared Tuesday has angered him. Despite this and the days Landis said he spent soul searching before making his retirement announcement, the American believes that whatever the outcome, he leaves with a clear conscience.

  "Maybe I just want to be able to live with myself," he told Cyclingnews.

  "The people pointing fingers could take a lesson from that. The sport wanted a fall guy and they got it. I didn't want to be that guy but I finally accepted that I am that guy and admitted everything and now they say I'm lying again. It doesn't matter anymore. I'm happy now. I've got my pride. I don't care about anything else."

  On Wednesday, British cyclist Bradley Wiggins told Cyclingnews that Lance Armstrong was 'innocent until proven guilty' and added that: "I think you have to question Landis' credibility because he lied under oath before and the stories that you hear about him drinking and things like that and you know, [making] telephone calls to people I know, threatening them with things, you just think that the guy appears to not all be there. So when you see these kinds of claims in the press you have to question his credibility because it's almost like it's coming from a mad man, but at the same time maybe that's all borne out of frustration and things."

  However, Landis told Cyclingnews that his motives stem from wanting to help cycling as well.

  "If people are willing to come to me and talk to me and I believe that there are a bunch of honest people out there, whether they doped or not. Some of them would like to tell the truth but nobody wants to do what I did. Nobody wants to set off a bomb in their face and deal with it. Why would they when they don't have to?"

  "The truth needs to be out because until people can see the whole story…. It's not about one guy, everyone is wrong here, even Wiggins, who is talking the way he his, saying how I ruined cycling in his book. He wants to apply this 'innocent until proven guilty' to Lance because he's scared of him? That's chicken, just shut up and don't talk."

  Back in May of last year Landis detailed the looming statute of limitations deadline on the information he's provided as the motivation behind his revelations. "I want to clear my conscience," Landis told ESPN. "I don't want to be part of the problem any more."

  Now, with the investigation underway, Landis admits that he has nothing to lose.

  "I know it sounds depressing, but there's more to life than cycling. I love riding my bike and I always will but you have to separate what you want out of bike racing from what you want out of riding your bike. Don't lump it all into one thing and get depressed. I did that for a while and it made me insane. If you want to watch bike racing for what it is and the drama, that's great."

  "I can be frank because I can take a position where I'm willing to lose everything. Maybe that's a character flaw, but that's just the way I am. Now when it comes to the breaking point where people are saying innocent until proven guilty when it's clear what the facts and there's no risk to telling the truth because I took the fall, then you're a fake, you're a fraud."

   

  Tags:

  doping

  EPO

• Montepaschi Strade Bianche teams revealed

  

  Article published:

  January 19, 2011, 20:30

  By:

  Barry Ryan

  Team Type 1 earn invitation to RCS Sport race

  Fourteen teams of eight riders have been invited to the Montepaschi Strade Bianche race, which takes place on March 5. It is the sixth edition of the race over Tuscany’s dirt roads, which began life as the Eroica in 2007.

  As anticipated, Italian teams dominate the list, which was released by race organiser RCS Sport on Wednesday. ProTeams Liquigas-Cannondale and Lampre-ISD will be on the start line in Gaiole, along with home-based Pro Continental squads Acqua & Sapone, Androni Giocattoli, De Rosa-Ceramica Flaminia and Farnese Vini-Neri. The Geox-TMC squad has also earned an invitation to the 1.1 race.

  There is also a place in the line-up for Team Type 1, and the American outfit has made no secret of its ambitions to earn an invitation to RCS Sport’s biggest race, the Giro d’Italia.

  2008 winner Fabian Cancellara’s new Leopard Trek squad is also down to start, although there is no place on the list of 14 for teams for the Astana team of last year’s winner Maxim Iglinsky.

  Cadel Evans has stated that his first race of the year will be Tirreno-Adriatico, but with BMC set to take part in the Strade Bianche, the Australian may well be tempted to begin his season a few days earlier. He took a memorable victory over similar terrain to Montalcino during last year’s Giro d’Italia.

  The race between Gaiole in Chianti and Siena will take in eight sections of dirt roads, which account for 55 of the race’s total 190 kilometres. As ever, the 11.5km-long Monte Santa Maria section, which includes two climbs, is expected to cause the first major selection, leaving the strongest to battle it out for victory over the remaining 50km.

  The 14 teams invited to the Montepaschi Strade Bianche are Acqua & Sapone, Androni Giocattoli, BMC Racing Team, Colnago-CSF Inox, De Rosa-Ceramica Flaminia, Farnese Vini-Neri, Geox-TMC, HTC-Highroad, Lampre-ISD, Liquigas-Cannondale, Omega Pharma-Lotto, Garmin-Cervélo, Leopard Trek and Team Type 1.

• Offredo sees encouraging future for French riders

  

  Article published:

  January 19, 2011, 23:26

  By:

  Barry Ryan

  FDJ man looking forward to classics

  Yoann Offredo (FDJ) has said that French riders are beginning to lose their inhibitions and become more competitive on the international stage. The Frenchman is aiming to have a strong classics campaign in spite of FDJ’s failure to obtain a ProTeam licence for 2011.

  “I think that there’s a still a complex vis-à-vis foreign riders, who we often just watch ride,” Offredo told Sport24.com. “That said, the Tour de France is proof that French riders need not be ashamed, they are capable of winning big races.

  “We’re missing a little panache in the classics, which was surely due to the years of cheating, but that’s in the course of changing. Some countries, like Italy and Spain, are really waking up to it. I think that’s very encouraging for the years to come.”

  Offredo had an impressive 2010 season. He was an animator at Milan-San Remo, as well as finishing third at the GP Plouay and 7th at Paris-Tours. He was also a strong performer at the world championships in Geelong. Now entering his fourth year as a professional, the 24-year-old’s ambitions are high, at home and abroad.

  “I’m not afraid of any rider,” he said. “We have a cycling that is becoming more and more international and much more homogenous because there is less doping everywhere.”

  FDJ were disappointed to miss out on a ProTeam licence for the 2011 season, but rather than dwelling on the snub, Offredo views his team’s Pro Continental status simply as an additional challenge to be overcome.

  “You draw benefits from any negative experience,” he said. “I think that it’s a good thing for the team to have a challenge and not to be guaranteed a place in all the races.”

  Unusually for a French rider, Offredo readily admits that he prefers the classics to the Tour de France, and he is enthusiastic about the prospect of riding in Belgium in April.

  “We’re sure of doing the races in Belgium, the races which inspire me,” he said. “Sometimes members of the public tell me that cycling isn’t very interesting, that they fall asleep during stages of the Tour de France. The fact is that sometimes, it misses a bit of suspense. In the classics, it’s completely the opposite. They are races where, when you take the start, even if you’re at the peak of your form, anything can happen.”

  However, Offredo acknowledged that in spite of his progress to date, he will have to bide his time before landing a major classic.

  “It’s maybe a little too ambitious to aspire to victory in races like Paris-Roubaix,” he said. “They are races where you have go and then come back again and again.”
   

• Cycling world remembers Carla Swart

  

  Article published:

  January 19, 2011, 23:31

  By:

  Laura Weislo

  Lees McRae College to establish scholarship fund

  The cycling world said goodbye to one of its most promising talents today as Carla Swart, 23, was killed while training in South Africa.

  Cyclingnews spoke to Swart at the HTC-Highroad camp in December, where she was about to embark on her first season with a top-level professional team. She described signing to the team as "a dream come true", but her path to the top level of the sport came not through dreams but through years of incredibly hard work and a schedule which would crack the vast majority of people.

  After moving to the USA from South Africa seven years ago, Swart embraced the life of an athlete - she enrolled in Lees McRae College with scholarships for cycling and running, but it wasn't long before bike racing won out.

  Ahead of the 2008 season, Swart said she set some goals for herself  "to be more noticed so I could make the jump from collegiate to professional racing".

  I had the pleasure of witnessing this rise to prominence in the regional races in North Carolina, often from the receiving end of Swart's seemingly unlimited energy. She earned five collegiate national titles that year, and before her life came to an abrupt end on a road in South Africa today, she had added 14 more between track, mountain bike, cyclo-cross and road.

  What isn't reflected on the results sheets is the punishing schedule Swart kept up for the past two years. She raced on four different teams and literally around the world in a racing calendar that went from February to October. In between, she kept up with her school work, determined to finish her degree.

  2010 was a defining year for Swart. In January and February she raced with the South African MTN team where she scored a podium in the national championship time trial. She then returned to the USA for school before heading to Europe for her first big campaign. In just her second World Cup, Swart placed 18th in the Ronde Van Vlaanderen - a race she described as her absolute favorite.

  "It was everything you expect it to be and more," she said of the event. "The feeling is so much different than any other race. You have the most enthusiastic fans in the world - they come from all over to watch it, and you know how important the race is for the cycling world. There's just this great feeling around it and great drama with the cobbles, the weather and it's just full gas all the time - it's just rough and fun."

  Swart's successful run also included an 8th place in the Ronde van Drenthe World Cup, but it was just a taste of things to come. A second block of racing in Europe that summer yielded three top-ten finishes and the Best Young Rider classification in the Tour de l'Aude - one of women's cycling's top stage races.

  There's no doubt that Swart's new career with HTC-Highroad would have seen many top results, which Swart had the drive and energy to achieve.

  On the verge of her first season with the team, Swart said, "It's such an amazing opportunity - each team you're on is exciting, but to be here is a dream come true."

  The world of women's cycling is a small, close-knit community, making the loss of a rising star like Swart all the more painful. Cyclingnews extends its sympathies to her family, friends and fans.

  Lees McRae College is establishing a scholarship in Swart's name. The college issued a statement:

  The Carla Swart Memorial Scholarship will be awarded annually to a female cyclist who demonstrates a love for the sport and exhibits great promise as a cyclist. Checks should be made out to Lees-McRae College (note Carla Swart Scholarship in the memo line) and mailed to the Office of Advancement, P.O. Box 128, Banner Elk, NC 28604.

  Please e-mail your memories of Carla to Cyclingnews@Cyclingnews.com and we will add them below.

  Tributes to Carla Swart:

  HTC-Highroad:
  "Carla was new to our team in 2011 and after only a short amount of time she endeared herself to everybody and became part of our family. Her enthusiasm and spirit was engaging and she had the ability to make everybody smile around hers. She had a remarkable talent and looked forward to a very bright future. Our thoughts and hearts are with her family and we will honour her in the days and months ahead."

  South African racer Lynette Burger: 
  "I remember both of us crashing out on the first day of The Tour of Qatar 2010, looking at our wounds on our way to the hospital, not really knowing where we going or what's gonna happen to us. Needless to say all worked out well got stitched up and got back to the hotel. We had some great times together in the 5 Star Hotel and spoiled ourselves with some spa treatments.

  Just looked at some photos and its sad to know that you are not with us anymore. You will really be missed my friend, till we meet again!!

  USA Cycling CEO Steve Johnson:
  “We were terribly sorry to learn today of Carla Swart’s tragic passing and we extend our most sincere condolences to Carla’s family, friends and teammates.

  Words fail me at times like this, but I do know the world has lost a wonderful spirit and that she will be sorely missed. It is tragic and extremely sad when anyone’s life is cut short but particularly so when it is someone we know and with whom we shared her and her teammates’ success and joy at Collegiate Nationals.”

  David Haile, Fort Collins, Colorado:
  "Carla and the rest of the Lees-McRae cycling team stayed at our house for the duration of the May 2009 Collegiate Road Nationals in Fort Collins, CO. Several team members were sitting around the fire in the backyard and she was telling stories of what it was like to be a cute little redhead fashion model in South Africa when she was a child. She was also riding for Team Lip Smacker at the time and had a bag full of chapstick that she distributed to my little girls. She was always gracious and easy to be around and will be missed!"

  Chad Andrews, cycling announcer:
  "Carla was a tremendous spirit and talent. I recall fondly commentating her amazing performance at Collegiate Nationals in Lees McRae. It was muddy, nasty, cold mess but yet the freckled smile was always there. Nothing more than a pure talent who's life was tragically cut short.

  On the mountain bike or road Carla was a fierce competitor who's athletic talents were only equalled by her excellence in the classroom at Lees McRae. RIP Carla"

  Lees McRae College (via Facebook):
  Our thoughts and prayers are with the Swart family and our fellow LMC Bobcat family as we mourn the death of Carla Swart. We will hold a time of prayer and reflection tonight @ 7:00 pm in Evans Auditorium.

  Frank & Lisa
  We had the good fortune to host Carla and Robin Farina last year during the Philly race and it was such a treat. They were both wonderful and we really connected with them. We were looking forward to having them back this year. Carla with that great red hair and her sassy way was just a joy to be around, she was so full of energy and spirit.
  I remember her telling me how to make the french toast, she asked me if I wanted her to make it, I said no just tell me how. The morning of the race after they left the house, we went to church, so we missed most of the women's race. After the race, I told Carla we went to church and she said I hope you prayed for us, I said we did,She said "I go to a bible church too"!
  When I got the news today about Carla, I couldn't help but think of that exchange. The sense of loss that I am feeling knowing that we have lost Carla at such a young age is overwhelming. She was so young and just so wonderful it really breaks my heart to think that she is gone.
  God bless you Carla we miss you so much honey!

  Lisa Hunt (former Director, Team Vera Bradley Foundation)
  "We had a nickname for Carla on Team VBF: the "Ginger Ninja" (created by her teammate, Alex Rhodes). She would show up to a race, after traveling for hours, getting very little sleep; and yet she still had so much enthusiasm and was ready to race. At Cascade, she was the consummate teammate, working hard on the first road stage to bring back the break. And then it was her turn to shine: she gobbled up enough sprint points to take the Sprint jersey after the criterium - but only by one point. The night before the final stage, we told her she could win the jersey, but she needed to win the first sprint. She said, I'm gonna do it, Misses Boss' (which is what she called me). She dug deep and won it. Carla was an incredible teammate, a talented athlete, and above all, one of the most loving and giving people I've ever met."

  Addy Albershardt, fellow racer
  I met Carla 2 years ago when my coach, Robin Farina, coached the women's team at Lees McRae. When the weather in Banner Elk was bad, Carla, and several other Lees McRae girls stayed at my house in Charlotte, NC to train. I've always dreamed of going to Lees McRae so I could be classmates with her! I was so happy to ride and race with her and she was always cracking silly jokes about everything.

  We raced a couple local races together when I was a honorary junior on Team Vera Bradley with her. She kicked my butt in many races; afterwards I would bring her a cold coke and we would sit and just talk, like we've known each other for years. She is a big role model in my life and as a 16 year old junior cyclist, she was more than a role model, she was a big sister. Her spirit will always live within me and I dream of growing up to be just like her, beautiful inside and out. She made the world's best French toast! I will never forget Carla Swart, the Great!

  Wendy E. York
  I was lucky enough to host Carla in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I had hoped that she would return to New Mexico and I could, again, be her host. After one night, I wanted to adopt her. She even charmed our very moody and unpredictable mutt. I e-mailed a note of congratulations after she won a race and she sent me a lovely, handwritten note (with a big bicycle on it). She thanked me for following “us”. By us, she meant her team. She was a wonderful young woman who I will always remember, even though I met her for such a brief period of time. Her parents did an amazing job raising her and I thank them for sharing her with the world.

  Bart Brentjens, Team manager; Milka-Trek mountainbike racing team
  Tragic news about Carla Swart, all the best for Carla's family and friends.

  Glenwood Trading Post
  Our sincerest condolences to Carla's family and friends. We are at a loss for words. May God Bless them all.

  Abdul Aziz Jacobs
  Sad to lose such a great talent. When you did well, all of SA is proud. Rest in Peace.

  Via Twitter:

  Robbie McEwen
  RIP Carla Swart, sincerest condolences to her family & friends. Tragedy.
  
  Mark Renshaw
  So sad to wake up to the bad news.RIP Carla Swart, sincerest condolences to her family & friends.

  Brian Nygaard
  Thoughts go out to the family and friends of Carla Swart.

  Axel Merckx
  Terrible news about Carla Swart. My condolence to her family and friends.

  Rochelle Gilmore
  Carla Swart, 23yrs of HTC died moments after colliding with a truck during TT training in Sth Africa today. My deepest thoughts for family.

  Michael Rogers
  Tragic news about Carla Swart. My condolence to here family and friends.

  John Murphy
  A true friend and champion. You will be missed. RIP carla

  Andy and Frank Schleck
  Tragic news about Carla Swart. all our condolence to her family and friends

  Marianne Vos
  Sad to hear the tragic news about Carla Swart and Lewis Baldyckyi, both young riders were killed in an accident during training. R.I.P.

  Flávio Silveira
  Damned motor vehicles.. Killing nature, killing animals, people and dreams .. Ride with the angels Carla Swart