First Edition Cycling News, Tuesday, October 13, 2009

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October 13, 2009, 05:00

• Rujano returns to Europe with team ISD

  

  Article published:

  October 12, 2009, 15:02

  By:

  Gregor Brown

  Venezuelan climber has chance to return to Giro d'Italia

  Venezuela's José Rujano signed on Monday to ride with Italian team ISD in 2010, according to news agency RCD. Rujano, 27, was third in the 2005 Giro d'Italia, where ISD hopes he will be successful again in 2010.

  "If it is going to be a Giro for climbers, as they are saying, then Rujano will excel," said ISD team manager Angelo Citracca. "He is one of the best climbers around, but after 2005, he relaxed and then mononucleosis stopped him (from riding)."

  Rujano, riding for Gianni Savio's Selle Italia-Colombia, won the 2005 Giro's Sestriere stage, which included the gravel Finestre climb. It helped him take third overall and the green jersey of best climber.

  After Selle Italia, he rode for Quick Step (2006), Unibet.com (2007), Caisse d'Epargne (2008) and this year, Gobernación del Zulia.

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• Lewis at potential career turning point

  

  Article published:

  October 12, 2009, 15:24

  By:

  J.P. Partland

  Time is right to step into leadership role at Columbia-HTC

  Columbia-HTC's Craig Lewis is at a potential turning point in his career. Last year, he rode to an impressive 11th place at the Giro di Lombardia in support of teammate Morris Possoni, who finished ninth. These past few months, he's showing the form of his life.

  Lewis might be the forgotten man of US cycling. Only 24, he's been a pro for five years, first with TIAA-CREF, and for the past two years with Columbia-Highroad and Columbia-HTC. Columbia, the top team in the world, has been an apprenticeship, one where if he can step up, he'll be able to take on some leadership responsibilities. If he had been on a smaller or less successful team, he might have had more opportunities to ride for himself and have some more results next to his name. But that doesn't necessarily translate into progress as a rider.

  Lewis, though seen as a climber and stage racer by many, has spent countless kilometres on the front in support of his teammates. This year, he was the first guy pounding out tempo for teammate Mark Cavendish at the Tours of Ireland and Missouri. He was George Hincapie's only teammate when Hincapie won the USPRO Championships this summer, and his pace on several ascents of Paris Mountain shredded the field. Impressive for a guy diagnosed with H1N1 (swine flu) earlier that week. Since Missouri, he was the top American at the World Championships, riding to 58th.

  Some might be frustrated by always being the guy called on to bring back the break. For people fixated on results as a way to measure worth, riding in support of others can be difficult. Lewis seems to take it in stride. "I'm riding the front 70 percent of the races I'm doing, riding at the front the whole day for my teammates. When I was on Garmin, I couldn't do it for one day. With Highroad, the first year, I could go longer and longer. The second year (this year), I could go all the way to the finish."

  He's had a free hand at a few races, like the Dauphiné Libéré (24th on GC) and Tour of Ireland (fourth on final stage, seventh on GC), but on Columbia, it's hard not to have someone going better than you.

  Columbia team director Allan Peiper has been in Lewis' shoes. He started on the Peugeot team, at the bottom. He says for a young rider like Lewis, "the only way to get your chance is to take it when you can. For sure in a team setup you need to work for the team and follow orders but by going with the breaks, doing your work, you sometimes end up in a winning break."

  Lewis has a pretty big opportunity with Columbia. "Up until now Craig has been moving up the ladder, doing the domestique work and having the occasional result for himself," said Peiper. "There are a few riders leaving the team this year who leave a void and create an opportunity for someone like Craig to step directly into. But that void is only momentary so time is of the essence and again results speak volumes."

  Just this past weekend, Lewis finished 41st at the Giro dell'Emilia in support of team leader Thomas Lövkvist, who finished third. Reached after the race, Lewis said, "Compared to last year where I only did two of the five laps I was much better this year. I felt very strong on the climb and even better on the two longer ones we did before entering the final laps."

  Lewis was 13th at the GP Beghelli, on the same time at the winner in the bunch gallop; he was trying to set up team leader Kim Kirchen for the sprint, but got boxed in.

  The weekend produced both good news and bad news. Lövkvist is flying, so he's both a protected rider and one other teams will be looking for. Further, Lewis said, "Maxime [Monfort] and Kim [Kirchen] also look very strong. Marco [Pinotti] as well is very motivated as the race is in his backyard basically."

  Lewis and Columbia will have a responsibility to race at the front. So, he'll probably be an aggressor, making it harder to get a result, but with the right move, he's got the form that could take him to the finish at or near the head of the race. Not quite a void, but a window of opportunity.

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• Astana to ink sponsorship deal

  

  Article published:

  October 12, 2009, 17:27

  By:

  Sue George

  Three-year agreement may end team's money woes

  Financial woes may be over for the Astana cycling team after it lined up a three-year sponsorship deal with a Kazakh state's holding company, Samruk-Kazyna. Kazakh Cycling Federation deputy president Nikolai Proskurin said the team is expected to sign a deal on Monday according to the Associated Press.

  The holding company Samruk-Kazyna includes some of Kazakh's largest companies including oil and gas company Kazmunaigas and national airline Air Astana, both of which would be the team's exclusive sponsors in a deal spanning the next three seasons.

  "They will be the general sponsor and will take all the expenditures upon themselves," Proskurin said to the Associated Press.

  The Tour de France-winning team Astana is awaiting news of the status of its application to the UCI for renewing its ProTour team license for 2010 and beyond. The UCI is currently reviewing the application. The news is expected to boast Astana's chances of license renewal.

  Astana was plagued by financial problems earlier this season when it fell behind on the payment of riders' salaries. Despite the issue, the team was allowed to ride the Giro d'Italia, where the team's riders protested the lack of salary payments by graying out the names of the sponsors on its jerseys.

  Astana's management was given a May 31 deadline to guarantee all salaries going forward. The team met the deadline and was allowed to continue racing for the rest of the season It went on to take first and third at the Tour de France with Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong.

  Armstrong is leaving Astana for Team RadioShack in 2010. Contador has explored options with other teams, but is presently bound by a contract with Astana through 2010. If the Kazakh team keeps its ProTour license, it will be difficult for Contador to move to another team.

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• Horner makes successful return in Italy

  

  Article published:

  October 12, 2009, 17:58

  By:

  Gregor Brown

  Recovered from Vuelta crash, ready to win Lombardia after Italian first two races back

  American Chris Horner returned to competition this weekend one month after crashing in the Vuelta a España. He rode with the favourites in Giro dell'Emilia in Bologna, Italy, which included five climbs up San Luca.

  "It was a little bit better than I expected. I expected to be near the front, but I was at the front," Horner said to Cyclingnews.

  Dutchman Robert Gesink (Rabobank) won the race ahead of Jakob Fuglsang (Saxo Bank) and Thomas Lövkvist (Columbia-HTC). World Champion Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto) chased and caught Horner's Astana teammate Alexander Vinokourov on the San Luca climb for fourth. Vinokourov finished fifth and Horner finish 18th at 1:20 back.

  He also finished with the main group one day later at the GP Beghelli.

  Horner fractured his left and pelvis in the fourth stage of the Vuelta a España on September 1. He returned to training first on a stationary bike for one week and then spent two weeks on the road. He said that he could tell from his training that he was going well.

  He will line up for his last race of the season on Saturday, the Giro di Lombardia. The 242-kilometre race is one of cycling's toughest, taking in the Madonna di Ghisallo, Civiglio and San Fermo climbs in the final 60 kilometres. Horner has finished in the top 10 for the last two years.

  "I would like to end the season with a win," he said. Vinokourov and Janez Brajkovic are also favourites to win, said Horner.

  "I've had bad luck throughout the year, but my form has been some of the best of my career. Not considering the crashes I've had, it's one of my best seasons."

  He had four separate crashes that involved fractured bones this year, in the Tour of California, the Vuelta a País Vasco, the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta. Despite the crashes, he wore the leader's jersey for one day and finished second overall in the Tour de l'Ain.

  Horner announced last week that he will leave Astana and ride for Lance Armstrong's new RadioShack team for the next two years.

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• Milram signs Belgian duo

  

  Article published:

  October 12, 2009, 18:12

  By:

  Cycling News

  Sentjens and De Vocht strengthen Milram for spring classics

  Team Milram has added two Belgian classics riders for the 2010 season, the team announced on Monday. Roy Sentjens, 29, and Wim De Vocht, 27 each signed a one-year contract over the weekend for the German ProTour squad.

  "We are very pleased to have signed these two riders", said Gerry van Gerwen, Team Milram manager. "Both will help us with the future development of our team. Together with Gerald Ciolek, Servais Knaven and Niki Terpstra they will ensure that our performance at the classics will be different to this season. Both Sentjens and De Vocht know the spring races very well and are of course highly motivated for the classics in their home country."

  Roy Sentjens won the U23 category of the Ronde van Vlaanderen in 2001 and signed as a professional with Rabobank for the following season. In 2003 he celebrated his biggest victory to date with a win at the Belgian semi-classic Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne. After five years as a professional with Rabobank, the Belgian transferred to Silence-Lotto in 2007.

  Wim De Vocht won the U23 Ronde van Vlaanderen in 2003 while riding for the Quick Step development team. Between 2005 and 2008 De Vocht rode for Silence-Lotto and spent 2009 racing for Team Vacansoleil. Amongst his greatest successes are a second place at the Grand Prix Rik Van Steenbergen and a ninth place at the Belgian classic Omloop Het Volk.

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• Vandenbroucke dies

  

  Article published:

  October 13, 2009, 11:07

  By:

  Daniel Benson

  Belgian dies on holiday in Senegal (updated)

  Frank Vandenbroucke has died while on holiday in Senegal. Reports in Belgium have said that 34-year-old Belgian cyclist was found in his hotel room and that early reports indicate that he died of a blood clot.

  Vandenbroucke was out of contract after leaving Cinelli-Down Under but was looking for a team in 2010 just a few weeks ago.

  He turned pro in 1994 with Lotto and won an epic Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 1999, along with two stages in the Vuelta that year. In a two-year winning streak he also won Paris-Nice, Het Volk and Gent-Wevelgem riding for Mapei and Cofidis.

  However, his career was not without controversy. He was questioned by police for drunk driving and possession of doping products and despite numerous comebacks he never reached the heights of 1999. He also suffered from depression and tried to commit suicide after his wife said she would divorce him.

  Nevertheless, reactions from his friends, family as well as the press suggest that Vandenbroucke was in good shape and spirits lately. He had worked as a consultant for Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad at the World Championships in Mendrisio, hoping to get a contract with a team for 2010.

  "I'm satisfied with this year," he told reporters of the paper last week. "I understand that the teams are reluctant to give me another chence, because I carry this past with me. But I think I proved this year that even without a monthly salary, I am still able to live a 100 percent for pro cycling."

  His mother, Chantal Vanruymbeke, confirmed that he felt good lately. According to Belgian media, her last contact with her son was on Sunday evening, when he called from his holiday location.

  "He was very excited and happy. Mama, he said, I am in the most beautiful hotel in Senegal. He gave me his hotel room number so that we could speak on the phone in the next few days. I was so happy that we had found our son back this year after ten difficult years. And now this. This is surreal. Irreversible," she said.

  Cyclingnews would like to offer its condolences to his family and friends.

• Prudhomme ignites the spark for 2010 Tour

  

  Article published:

  October 13, 2009, 02:01

  By:

  Cycling News

  Tour boss praises 2009 race on eve of route presentation

  On the eve of the 2010 Tour de France presentation, race director Christian Prudhomme may have ignited the slow fuse to next year's edition by congratulating Alberto Contador for his tactics during this year's event.

  Prudhomme commented on the fact Contador "disobeyed" team orders during the seventh stage to Andorre Arcalis, where he attacked in the final kilometres and quickly gapped Astana teammate and seven-time Tour champion, Lance Armstrong.

  "The route of the last Tour de France was wonderful, exciting and capable of producing a great race, although we had to wait. Fortunately, Contador disobeyed orders at Arcalis, attacking his boss, so finally I didn't have to wait that long," Prudhomme told the Reuters news agency.

  Although Armstrong played down the episode in the moments after the stage finish in Arcalis, by Tour's end the pair weren't on speaking terms, the young Spaniard apparently disobeying orders again on stage 17 to Le Grand-Bornand en route to taking the overall classification, finishing 5:24 ahead of the American by race's end in Paris.

  Assuming Armstrong's new RadioShack team and Contador's Astana squad are granted invitations to next year's Tour de France, Contador and Armstrong will line up against each other when the race begins in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, on July 3.

  And as the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) prepares for its annual unveiling of the Tour route tomorrow, Prudhomme's comments add a little fuel to the fire that may burn brightly when the grand depart in Rotterdam kicks off what should be another intriguing three weeks of racing throughout France.

  According to Prudhomme, that racing should include plenty of attacking, if riders play to the strengths of the route - including the surprises he says are in store - and compete in the spirit of the "legends built by riders who attack a hundred kilometres from the finish".

  Prudhomme was also pleased with the lack of Tour doping scandals this year; in 2006 Floyd Landis' postive control for testosterone mired the event in controversy whilst a year later the Michael Rasmussen and Alexandre Vinokourov cases stole the headlines and demonstrated the work required to rid the race of the doping scourge.

  With the help of the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD), ASO managed to limit the damage done by doping headlines in this year's event, for which the Tour boss expressed his gratitude. "The French Anti-Doping Agency has confirmed that there was no suspect case of doping in the last Tour," said Prudhomme.

  "This means that the fight against doping is working; there is more work, but it is obvious that cycling is changing," he added.

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• Cycling fraternity reacts to Vandenbroucke passing

  

  Article published:

  October 13, 2009, 13:53

  By:

  Greg Johnson and Les Clarke

  Family only partly surprised at death

  Former professional racer and sport director Jean-Luc Vandenbroucke says his nephew Frank Vandenbroucke was not doing well in the days prior to his death. Early reports indicate the 34-year-old Belgian cyclist died of a blood clot before being found in his hotel room.

  "Sadly this has only partly come as a surprise, for we knew he was not doing too well," Jean-Luc Vandenbroucke told AFP. "He was up and down, both in terms of his health and his morale. He left for Senegal on Sunday."

  Jean-Luc’s comments come as professionals past and present around the world pay their respects to the late rider. Former Fassi Bortolo team-mate Tom Danielson said the Belgian would be greatly missed via Twitter.

  “So sad to hear about Frank Vandenbroucke. I did a year with him on Fassa Bortolo and he was like no other. He will be missed greatly,” wrote Danielson.

  Former Discovery Channel rider Matthew White said many exploited the rider’s softer side. "In think that in a country like Belgium, where cycling stars are looked at like gods, people certainly took advantage of him,” said White, who is now a sport director at Garmin-Slipstream. “They took advantage of his nice side as well - he was quite a caring and giving guy and like a lot of stars, people definitely used and abused him.

  "He was one of those guys who found it hard to make a decision about the best way to go and he made a few wrong decisions in his career," he said.

  Cyclingnews will add reactions from those within the industry throughout the day.

  Jean-Luc Vandenbroucke, Frank's uncle, told Cyclingnews:

  Back in 1994, he persuaded Frank to sign his first contract with the Belgian Lotto team which he worked for as sports director. "I talked with his father on the phone," Jean-Luc Vandenbroucke declared on the website of La Dernière Heure. "He told me that Frank had died in a hotel room in Senegal. He didn't have more details."

  In Frank Vandenbroucke's biography the rider explained that he didn't enjoy the time he spent together with his uncle, eventually breaking up his contract and signing with the much bigger Mapei team. Uncle Vandenbroucke wasn't suprised by the death of his nephew. "Sadly enough this comes only as half a surprise. We knew it wasn't going well. Frank always had his highs and lows, both on the physical as on the psychical side. We were prepared to the fact things could end up the wrong way with his chaotic lifestyle. Automatically you start thinking about Pantani. But I repeat that we don't know the exact cause of his dead. It remains dramatic. He was still so young," Jean-Luc Vandenbroucke said.

  Tom Danielson, former team-mate, wrote on Facebook:

  “So sad to hear about Frank Vandenbroucke. I did a year with him on Fassa Bortolo and he was like no other. He will be missed greatly.”

  Sabrina Mattan, speaking to media on behalf of husband, former professional and VDB’s friend Nico Mattan:

  “Frank was Nico’s life. He wanted Frank to be happy. Nico was also pleased that the performance of Frank got better. It is hard to believable that Frank is dead.”

  Lucien Van Impe, told Sporza.be:

  “I am not well. I cannot believe it. I recently spoke to him; he looked good, fresh and cheerful.

  “Sometimes I differed with Frank’s opinion, but that is solved automatically. Frank was a nice guy and a huge talent. I see no rider with the same qualities as Frank.

  “There is so much went wrong with the boy. He had such class. What would have happened if he had stayed on the right path?”

  Rudi Dubois, Cinelli-Down Under team manager, told HLB.be:

  “I was at a meeting when the text message and phone calls poured in. At first there was disbelief, but you cannot hide the truth. I’m really too emotional to give a dignified response.”

  Matthew White, current Garmin-Slipstream sport director, former Discovery Channel rider, told Cyclingnews:

  "I would have picked that suicide may have been the cause of death. He certainly had his big highs and big lows. It's definitely sad that he has died."

  "He was a special guy but he was a really nice guy. He had his problems over the years, and it actually looked like he was getting a grip of things in the last year or two.

  "It's weird news that he died after an accident like that. People wouldn't have been so surprised if he had killed himself, because things were going badly there for a few years. It's quite upsetting.

  "In think that in a country like Belgium, where cycling stars are looked at like gods, people certainly took advantage of him. They took advantage of his nice side as well - he was quite a caring and giving guy and like a lot of stars, people definitely used and abused him.

  "He was one of those guys who found it hard to make a decision about the best way to go and he made a few wrong decisions in his career."

  Psychologist Jef Brouwers, who treated Vandenbroucke since 2001, told Sporza:

  "I'm beaten and powerless that it did happen in the end. Nothing suggested that Frank would come to his end so suddenly. It had been hard to get in touch with him lately, but for no a specific reason. He wasn't struggling but he was really annoyed by the fact that he, despite all the promises, wasn't going to find a team [for next season].

  "This year, Frank enjoyed the crits he rode. They were heydays for him. He was sharp and hugely popular with the public."

  "Frank's life is a little bit comparable with that of major pop stars like Michael Jackson. With all the stories about him. But ultimately Frank was fragile and very sweet, charming and grateful. He suddenly disappeared and then turned back almost begging for help. It was a coming and going, from the deepest depths back to the top, and then back down again."

  "Frank was kind and wise. It was a challenge to be his psychologist and not a friend, with his strong personality. He was rather introverted. He was not the podium man he always seemed to be."

  French cycling doctor Bernard Sainz had a huge influence on VDB, a collaboration Brouwers didn't understand. "For me it was almost impossible to bring Frank back on the path of a full recovery. I never understood the link with Sainz. I don't know what Sainz did, but he got into Frank and you didn't get him back out. Mentally he had Frank in his power."

  "The last time I spoke with Frank was two weeks ago. He told me that I had always kept him alive." (BD)
   

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