Second Edition Cycling News, Monday, January 18, 2010

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Date published:

January 18, 2010, 21:00

• 2010 Acqua e Sapone team presented in L'Aquila

  

  Article published:

  January 18, 2010, 14:07

  By:

  Stephen Farrand

  Ceremony marks effort to revive earthquake damaged region

  The Acqua e Sapone team held its official presentation in L’Aquila on Sunday, the central Italian town devastated by a major earthquake in the spring on 2009.

  Acqua e Sapone is the only team based in the Abruzzo region and will have a special ‘Forza L’Aquila’ logo on the 2010 jersey in support of an association formed by well-known athletes from the region, including Formula 1 driver Jarno Trulli. The non-profit 'Forza l'Aquila' association aims to raise enough funds to build a new sports complex in the much damaged city.

  The Acqua e Sapone team is again a Professional Continental team in 2010 and is hoping for a ride in the Giro d’Italia. Stage 11 of this year’s Giro d’Italia will finish in L’Aquila on May 19.

  The team line-up is largely unchanged with veteran Stefano Garzelli the stage race leader and Luca Paolini the protected rider for the sprints and one-day races.

  Garzelli was second in last year’s Tirreno-Adriatico and was seventh overall in the Giro, while Paolini was part of the Italian team at the world championships.

  New riders for 2010 include Rafaâ Chtioui from Tunisia, who was second in the 2004 junior world road race championships, Reiner Honig, who arrives from Vacansoleil, and former Liquigas domestique Vladimir Miholjevic. Perhaps the most pormising rider is Colombia’s Cayetano Sarmiento. He won the amateur Giro d’Italia stage race in 2009 and directeur sportif Franco Gini is convinced he has discovered the next great Colombian climber.

  The team also includes Andrea, Francesco and Simone Masciarelli, who are all sons of team manager and former professional Palmiro Masciarelli. Francesco is a talented climber and finished 17th overall in the 2009 Giro d’Italia. He could win a stage and challenge for the climber’s jersey in this year’s race if the team is invited.

  Acqua e Sapone 2010 line-up:

  Dario Andriotto
  Rafaâ Chtioui
  Paolo Ciavatta
  Massimo Codol
  Francesco Di Paolo
  Alessandro Donati
  Francesco Failli
  Alessandro Fantini
  Stefano Garzelli
  Reinier Honig
  Ruggero Marzoli
  Andrea Masciarelli
  Francesco Masciarelli
  Simone Masciarelli
  Vladimir Miholjevic
  Giuseppe Palumbo
  Luca Paolini
  Luca Pierfelici
  Jose Cayetano Sarmiento Tunarrosa

• Stevens keen to consolidate at HTC-Columbia

  

  Article published:

  January 18, 2010, 16:02

  By:

  Richard Tyler

  Patience the key in US rider's sophomore season

  HTC-Columbia's Evelyn Stevens says she will use her first full season as a professional to continue her lighting transition to a full-time member of the women's peloton.

  A revelation on the women's cycling scene in 2009, Stevens' contract with HTC-Columbia has completed a rapid twelve-month transition from a career on New York's Wall Street to that of a professional cyclist. Despite six wins last year, including a stage win at La Route du France and overall victories at the Fitchburg Longsjo and Cascade Classics', the 26-year-old Stevens will continue to focus on the steep learning curve of her chosen sport.

  "I'm just really hoping to learn. I think coming into the sport so quickly, there's a lot of things I really need to focus on if I really want to become a really top-level, world-class cyclist," Stevens told Cyclingnews at the HTC-Columbia training camp in Majorca. "You have to have everything down pat to be the best: your bike-handling skills, your tactics; there's a lot I still have to learn."

  Within months of taking up the sport in 2008, guest appearances with the US Lip Smackers and Webcor Builders teams last season ensured Stevens was able to demonstrate her obvious talent. She admits that her quick-fire journey to the top of podiums had left little time to take stock of what was happening.

  "Yeah, it happened that quickly. I was like, 'oh, oh, I won again'. The family joke was that I'd send emails saying 'I won this race, or I won that race', and then they started seeing stuff in papers and on the internet. I had a long winter of training, but the summer flew by," she said.

  Now a part of one of the strongest teams in women's cycling, Stevens' sophomore year will give her the opportunity to settle amongst the riders established in the women's peloton. She is convinced it is the best place to foster her development within the sport.

  "In my opinion, how are you going to ride like the best if you don't ride with the best; my new teammates are great cyclists," she said. "When I came over with the US national team, I would watch these women and see how they moved throughout the peloton and their team tactics. When I raced against them I would think 'that's a really classy, professional group of women', so to now be a part of it is really exciting."

  Her new teammate, Judith Arndt was witness to Stevens' strength in the road race at last year's World Championships, where both made the final selection in that race. The German's advice to her American colleague is to have patience.

  "I saw her at Worlds and I think she did a really good job for the American team it was very impressive," Arndt told Cyclingnews. "She is relatively inexperienced, sometimes riders can get too motivated and make mistakes in training, but we will see."

  For Stevens herself, however, patience is a virtue she appears to possess in plentiful supply. "I'm just taking it one day at a time," she said. "I'm just hoping to be the best team player in what ever role HTC-Columbia wants me to play."

• Stapleton: HTC-Columbia can go toe-to-toe with Sky

  

  Article published:

  January 18, 2010, 17:55

  By:

  Cycling News

  US team still competitive in transfer market

  Bob Stapleton believes his HTC-Columbia team is well positioned to compete for riders after 2009 saw the first major buy-outs of riders already under contract by rival teams. While the practice of big-dollar transfers is common in sports like football, the tactics employed to entice riders like Bradley Wiggins from Garmin-Slipstream to Team Sky were a reasonably new occurrence for cycling.

  Stapleton’s team was also at the centre of Team Sky’s thirst to fill out its first ProTour roster, with riders like Greg Henderson and Edvald Boasson Hagen being lost to the British outfit. Despite admitting he wished HTC-Columbia was able to hold on to Boasson Hagen in particular, Stapleton believes his outfit is well positioned to compete for riders.

  “I don’t fear that at all,” said Stapleton. “I’m ready for that anytime anybody wants to do that, we can be active in that too. I do think it’s a little unique; there are a lot of new teams in the market that need to have key riders. I mean I think Sky was in trouble if they didn’t have Wiggins. I think for the British market they needed a top name British rider, that’s just reality.

  “I think BMC, to get into the big races, needed big names,” he added. “It makes total sense to me and I feel like we can play in that game very well, on defense or offense – whatever it takes.”

  One rider Stapleton has no plans of pursuing is defending Tour de France champion Alberto Contador, whose contract with Astana is up for renewal at year’s end. It’s nothing personal between Contador and Stapleton, instead the team is taking a different development path to try and achieve glory at the French Grand Tour.

  “I’ve got a ton of respect for him but we haven’t spoken to him at all,” said Stapleton. “I just feel like he’s going to be the dominant guy at the Tour for the foreseeable future. We’ve got our sprinters and we’ve got our young guys we’re going to grow. If we’re going head-to-head with him in two, three, four years from now with someone fresh and new then great. I think there’s a lot of interest around him and we really aren’t in that game at all.”

  Stapleton applauded Team Sky’s approach of observing other teams and applying the best methods to the formation of its team. Now the tables will turn, however, with Stapleton expecting to pick up a thing or two from his British rivals.

  “You know, I’m going to keep my eye on Sky,” he said. “They’ve got the biggest budget by far, they’ve got a lot of expertise they’ve brought in from the track. I want to look to see what they do to see what we can borrow from them.

  “I think, right now, they definitely look a lot like us,” he added. “They even have the same fabric, the same clothing supplier, there’s a lot of things that are very similar. I feel like we can go toe-to-toe with anybody, even with a budget that’s much less than a Sky or a Katusha. We just have to work harder and smarter, but I believe in the people here.”

  Stapleton believes that Team Sky’s willingness to go head-to-head with his riders is excellent news for the sport. Having a second team working towards the same goal as his own team increases competition for them and entertainment for fans, something that was lacking in the closing stages of last season, according to Stapleton.

• Riccò shrugs off Cavendish criticism

  

  Article published:

  January 18, 2010, 18:55

  By:

  Cycling News

  Italian climber set to return on March 18

  Riccardo Riccò has shrugged off comments made by Mark Cavendish that he is a "parasite" and insists he is remorseful about taking CERA before the 2008 Tour de France.

  Riccò’s 20-month ban for taking the banned blood boosting drug ends on March 18, just two days before Milano-Sanremo, which he hopes to ride. On Friday Riccò is expected to be the star of the Flaminia team presentation in Italy.

  When Gazzetta dello Sport offered Ricco a right to reply to Cavendish’s strong words, he also had a few things to say.

  “Why am I parasite? What does he mean when he says I’ve shown no remorse?” Ricco asked.

  “I even helped the anti-doping investigators and that’s why they gave me a 20-month ban instead of 24 months. Of course, he (Cavendish) is at the peak of his career and so he can say what he wants.”

  “I’m not going to respond because I’m the last person who can speak after what I did. He’s the number-one sprinter in the world and so he’s always right. I’m in the wrong and can’t respond until we see each other on the road. However I’m not that bothered about what he’s said or what he thinks. I can only guarantee people that I’m training hard and I’m already at a very good level.”

  When told that Cavendish has the urge to get off the bike and hit him, Riccò offered the other cheek but also made a subtle dig at Cavendish.

  “Ok. I’ll take it. Not only out on the bike but in a fight as well. I’ll shut up (laughs),” he said.

  “Yet I don’t even know him! And he doesn’t know me! How can he say something like that? He’s gone over the top this time…”

  Riccò insisted that he is remorseful about his doping and that he has suffered during his ban. But now he is training hard and motivated to comeback.

  “At the beginning it was hard. But now I’m starting to feel the buzz of racing again,” he said. “What…what’s he called? Yeah, er Cavendish... [what he] says doesn’t bother me. I’m working hard to be at my best when I comeback. Anyway, you shut people up with your legs, not with your mouth.”

  However not everyone is convinced that Riccò is ready to return to racing. In a Twitter message Marco Pinotti said the idea that Riccò and fellow CERA doper Emanuele Sella could be at this year’s Giro ‘made him puke’.

  “They’ve had a second chance but they’ve never apologized to the other riders in the peloton, to the team staff that lost their jobs and above all to the fans they betrayed,” Pinotti told Gazzetta dello Sport.

  “I’m worried that Riccò hasn’t learnt his lesson and will mess up again.”

• Rasmussen aims for top ten in San Luis

  

  Article published:

  January 18, 2010, 19:39

  By:

  Kirsten Frattini

  Dane's return with Miche begins in Argentina this week

  Michael Rasmussen has returned to the professional peloton with Italian Continental team Miche Silver Cross at Argentina's Tour of San Luis held from January 18-24, 2010. The Dane is eyeing a top ten finish in the season opener and looking forward to a smooth return to full European schedule set to begin in February.

  "I'm feeling OK," Rasmussen told Cyclingnews. "If I can finish in the top ten in the overall here then I will be happy and if I can win a stage then I will be stunned. I think course-wise this race suits me very well but it might be a little early. Already on Tuesday there will be the first mountaintop finish and even though it is only four kilometres it will give a good indication as to who is going well."

  The Tour of San Luis is in its fourth year and teh second year as a UCI 2.1 category event, making it the highest ranked and most important cycling race in South America. The peloton will consist of nine national teams include defending champions Team Argentina along with Mexico, Colombia, Uruguay, Brazil, Chile, Bolivia and Cuba.

  "It is very important for all the locals, Chileans and Brazilians and others because it's their summer here," Rasmussen said. "I'm coming off my holidays and in Europe it's been snowing and raining all over the place so we [European cyclists] are a little bit behind. I've never raced in January before in my life."

  While many of the highest quality teams are taking part in Australia's Tour Down Under this week, Argentina's warm summer weather attracted three ProTour teams Liquigas-Doimo, Katusha and Footon-Servetto along with five Professional Continental teams ISD, Andalucia Cajasur, Xacobeo-Galicia, Scott-Marcondes and Androni-Giacatolli.

  "I have a fairly good idea who can do something here but there are always surprises at these kinds of events," Rasmussen said. "I think there will be a few Argentinean riders that can go fast and maybe a couple of Venezuelans and some Europeans. I think there will be a couple of guys from Katusha and Liquigas. I hope I can be in the mix also. It is one of the best places to ride bikes in the world right now so I'm happy to be here."

  Rasmussen signed with Miche Silver Cross on January 2 and attributes his signing to the reason the team was invited to compete in the Tour of San Luis.

  "I haven't been training that intensely," Rasmussen said. "I knew that I would be going to race here because [Giovanni] Lombardi wanted me here. To train hard all winter just to do one race in January is difficult. Once I signed and I knew that I had a program for the rest of the year, now it is a little easier and I know I'll be racing once I get back to Europe."

  Rasmussen said the first half of his racing season will include the Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria-Challenge Calabria, Tour Méditerranéen Cycliste Professionnel Giro di Sardegna, Giro del Friuli, Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali, Settimana Ciclistica Lombarda by Bergamasca and Giro del Trentino. "I'll be racing more than ever starting in the first month of the year," Rasmussen said.

  Comeback harder than expected

  "You cannot take the probable winner of the Tour de France out four days before the end of the race and just give him a slap on the wrist and let him race again two weeks after. When you make a decision that radical you have to have him disappear for life."

  Rasmussen's former Rabobank team removed him from the 2007 Tour de France when he was leading the race, just four days before it ended, for violating the requirements of the anti-doping whereabouts program. Subsequently, he received a two-year suspension that was completed as of July 26, 2009. He returned to the peloton with the Mexican-based Tecos-Trek team and wore the leader's jersey for several stages of the Vuelta a Chihuahua in Mexico in October.

  He was hoping to restart his career at the top and eyed a Grand Tour racing comeback. However, returning to the peloton has not been as simple as the Danish climber anticipated. He signed a preliminary contract with the Spanish team Contentpolis-Ampo however, due to a loss of sponsorship the team folded and Rasmussen was left to search for another option.

  "Miche contacted me and it became a long distance relationship," Rasmussen said. "I met them all for the first time when I got here in San Luis. Without them I wouldn't have had a team. Now for the team, they might have bigger options and different possibilities from signing me, it might open a few more doors in some senses. That is why they are here, they got the invitation because of me."

  According to Rasmussen his negotiations with top-ranked teams began before his suspension had ended. The Italian Professional Continental team Ceramica Flaminia offered him a pre-contract following the Giro d' Italia last year. The said contract was to start upon the conclusion of his suspension on July 26 and run through the following year. However, discussions between Ceramic Flaminia and the International Cycling Union (UCI) left the team doubting whether or not it was a good idea to hire Rasmussen.

  "Somehow, they got the message that it was a bad idea," Rasmussen said. "They were basically not allowed to sign me, coming from the UCI. It surprised me because ten days later they signed Ricardo Ricco. There is so much hypocrisy in cycling."

  Rasmussen says that he had trouble finding a contract at the ProTour and Professional Continental level despite many of these teams expressing a deep interest in hiring him.

  "I'm glad now that I can be reinserted into the peloton again on a regular basis and not guest riding," Rasmussen said. "I had a lot of difficulties finding a spot. I spoke with all the teams and I did not think that I would have met this much hypocrisy because 90-percent of the teams that I spoke to wanted me."

  "The professional teams are afraid of losing invitations to the Grand Tours, the UCI, the reactions from the press and God knows what else. At the same time I am being sidelined, I witnessed [Ivan] Basso being a superhero in Italy and [Alexander] Vinokourov racing the Vuelta [a Espana], Emanuelle Sella signing a contract and racing immediately and Ricardo Ricco signing a contract and so on and so on. I was even denied getting a license from the Danish federation."

  When asked to compare his punishment to the others cyclists who have served the maximum two-year suspensions, Rasmussen said plainly, "They have to find a way to justify kicking me out. If you ask me, you cannot take the probable winner of the Tour de France out four days before the end of the race and just give him a slap on the wrist and let him race again two weeks after. When you make a decision that radical you have to have him disappear for life."

• McDonald to defend Trust House title

  

  Article published:

  January 18, 2010, 20:27

  By:

  Cycling News

  Drapac-Porsche returning to New Zealand with strong line-up

  Peter McDonald is set to defend his Trust House Cycle Classic title in Wellington and the Wairarapa next week. The Australian will lead the Drapac Porsche UCI Continental team, perhaps the strongest of the seven Australian squads to have entered for the 23rd running of the classic, starting in Upper Hutt next Wednesday.

  McDonald’s win in Wellington was the icing on his cake in early 2009, having won the Australian Open Road Championship earlier that month. Race organiser Jorge Sandoval was delighted to announce the Australian’s return.

  “We saw how professional the Drapac Porsche team was at last year’s classic,” Sandoval said. “They will come to the classic very well prepared, and with a full backup group of masseurs, a mechanic and a coach it shows how serious they are. If this team rides as it should it will be a top contender to have one of its members take the overall title back to Australia.”

  McDonald will get support from Joseph Lewis, Lachlan Norris, Michael Phelan and Thomas Palmer at the race. Norris’ background is in mountain biking, which includes having won the 2008 Oceania title, and being 11th at the UCI World Championships last year. Phelan was last year’s Australian under-19 road champion and was third in the sprint competition in last year’s Trust House classic.

• Arashiro trains in Thailand, eyes first pro win

  

  Article published:

  January 18, 2010, 20:31

  By:

  Jean-François Quénet

  Japanese star ready for second season with Bbox

  After becoming the first Japanese rider to have completed the Tour de France, crossing the line in Paris ahead of his compatriot Fumiyuki Beppu, Bbox Bouygues Telecom's Yukiya Arashiro is ready for his second season in the European peloton.

  Currently training in Thailand with Korean team Geumsang Ginseng Asia with some of his former teammates at EQA Meitan-Hompo, including Shinichi Fukushima, Arashiro expressed his fondness for the country to Cyclingnews.

  "I always enjoy coming back here because the climate is similar to the one of the island of Ishigaki where I was born, the terrain is suitable for long rides and I love Thai food."

  2010 will be his second season with the French outfit, and while the squad is no longer a ProTour team it has a guaranteed start at the Tour de France. It's also the last year of the contract between the Vendée-based squad and the mobile phone operator. That means it will be a crucial season for Arashiro.

  "Bbox is like an adorable family, so I'd like to continue with the same set-up," he said. "After my first experience, I hope for a second start at the Tour de France but more than that, I aim at a stage win in a Grand Tour. My ambition for 2010 is to simply win a race."

  That would be a first for Arashiro who made the top 5 in a Tour de France stage at his first attempt. The 25-year-old has another wish: "I want to do the Tour de France again but I don't want to be the only Japanese on the start line. I hope that Beppu and Yukihiro Doi will be there too."

  Beppu's future remains uncertain as he has signed contracts with two different teams but doesn't yet appear in RadioShack's roster, while his former team Skil-Shimano – with Doi – is far from certain to get a wild-card again.

  Arashiro's provisional race program includes the Tour of Algarve, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, Le Samyn, Paris-Nice, Gent-Wevelgem, the Three Days of De Panne, the Tour of the Basque country and a couple of French cup races in April.

  His progression in professional cycling is likely to influence the future of Japanese cycling. His former team manager Akira Asada has high hopes to secure a title sponsor for a Pro Continental team in 2011 with the ultimate goal of having a Japanese squad riding the Tour de France. Arashiro and Beppu's participation to the Tour in 2009 had a huge media impact in the country of the rising sun.

• O’Grady not in Tour Down Under contention

  

  Article published:

  January 18, 2010, 20:44

  By:

  Greg Johnson

  Local feeling 100 per cent after turbulent 2009

  Stuart O’Grady is focusing on getting racing kilometres back in his legs at this week’s Tour Down Under, with the local rider counting himself out of contention for this year’s race.

  O’Grady fought a close battle with eventual winner Allan Davis at last year’s event, but off the back of a bout of pneumonia, he is simply looking to rebound in time for the Spring Classics.

  “I really haven’t done enough preparation to be ready for Tour Down Under, I’ve only done about 16 training rides in nearly two months,” said O’Grady. “I’m a long, long way off what I would have usually done for the race and a long way off what my competitors have done.

  “Even though I’ve said I haven’t had great form in the past but have been able to use experience to stay up there, this year I just haven’t got the power,” he added. “I won’t have the power on the climbs to stay up there, definitely not on Willunga, so my goal here is just to try finish each stage and just spend hours on the bike. That’s life; I’ve just got to take this Tour Down Under as a stepping stone now to get ready for the Classics.”

  O’Grady has won the Tour Down Under on two occasions and is usually riding strongly at this time of year. This time around the Paris-Roubaix winner is just happy to be healthy and back racing with a clear run to the Spring Classics.

  “I’m feeling fine, my health is back to 100 percent,” he said. “It’s been a pretty turbulent six weeks, with my family’s health, me getting pneumonia was like the cherry on the cake. I’m just looking forward to 2010.”

  O’Grady had a successful mid-section to his 2009 season, delivering Andy Schleck to the Tour de France podium and assisting in Cadel Evans’ International Cycling Union World Road Championship victory. It was however bookended by two separate, difficult periods for the rider.

  “When you look back I had a pretty nasty crash in Sanremo which meant I missed all the classics, that was pretty frustrating,” he said. “Other than that the Tour was good, the World Championships were good, but then the end of the season definitely didn’t go as planned.”

  In addition to contracting pneumonia at the end of 2009 O’Grady was hospitalized after suffering a seizure. The incident occurred after the 36-year-old had completed a hot lap of the Valencia race circuit on the back of Ducati’s purpose-built two seater.