Third Edition Cycling News, Wednesday, February 8, 2012

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Date published:

February 8, 20:00

• Czech national champion Bencik ends career

  

  Article published:

  February 8, 11:01

  By:

  Cycling News

  36-year-old opts to not exercise additional year with Whirlpool-Author

  Petr Benčík (Whirlpool-Author) has decided to hang up the bike before riding a single event in 2012, the Czech announced in a Prague press conference that he felt the time was right to move on to other opportunities.

  Benčík is the reigning Czech national champion and has been one of the leaders of the Czech cycling community for over 10 years. Last year he took out arguably the biggest win of his career with the overall victory at the 2.2 rated Tour of Northern Austria, but an offer to take up a corporate role with Colnago prompted him to think about life after the bike.

  Whirlpool-Author, who Benčík had initially committed to riding with this year are currently considering whether to replace the 36-year-old in their roster for 2012.

  "By mutual agreement we decided to end things, and allow me to have a chance at new life outside of riding," said Benčík.

  "I would've like to continue, but my body was telling me otherwise, and then there was the financial consideration. The average football player has X times the salary of a top cyclist. I have not a dime of savings in the account - and if I ever had a month break, I would be broke. It was time to do something else."

  Tags:

  retirement

• Professor goes on hunger strike for Contador

  

  Article published:

  February 8, 11:50

  By:

  Peter Cossins

  74-year-old says he will not eat until “unjust” sanction is overturned

  The Spanish media and bike fans have been almost universal in their support for Alberto Contador in the wake of the announcement of his two-year ban earlier this week, but one Contador fan has been so incensed by the verdict that he has gone on hunger strike. Unay Talara Robles, who is 74 and a retired professor of ethology, is staging a sit-in at his local town hall in Ayamonte, near Huelva.

  Describing the decision to ban Contador as “completely unjust”, Robles explained to EFE that he will continue with his hunger strike until the ban is overturned and Contador is allowed to compete normally once again.

  Robles has taken such an extreme stance because, he says, watching Contador race helped him through a difficult stage in his life. “He brought me out of the depression I was suffering with, I could only get over it when I used to watch him racing in the afternoons on the TV. I was very ill, but in my house they knew that each afternoon they had to put me in front of the television and let me watch Contador, and that that helped me to move forwards,” he said.

  Having read about the Contador verdict on the internet, Robles went to the town hall and took up residence in one of the offices within the building, insisting that he would not move and would not take in any food. However, when the town hall closed later that day the local police moved him out of the building into the square outside. Robles insists, though, that he will return to the town hall to continue his protest.

  Meanwhile, Contador’s brother and personal manager, Fran Contador, has confirmed that the rider’s lawyers are studying the CAS ruling in order to assess the pros and cons of making an appeal in the civil courts. He also said that he is “convinced” that the rider will re-sign with Saxo Bank when his ban ends in early August.

  “They have given us their complete support during every moment of this process and they have told us that everything is OK after hearing the verdict and that they want to be able to count on Alberto in the future,” he told Marca.
   

• Higher, harder route for 2012 Tour of California

  

  Article published:

  February 8, 14:15

  By:

  Cycling News

  Diablo, Big Bear, Baldy all feature

  AEG Sports, organisers of the 7th Amgen Tour of California, announced today the details of the 2012 route which goes higher and could prove far more difficult than any edition to date.

  "We take great pride in developing the route for the Tour of California, not only because it attracts the world's elite cyclists, but because it puts an international spotlight on California for eight days," said Kristin Bachochin, executive director of the race and senior vice president of AEG Sports.

  The race takes in most of the climbs which have become iconic to the event - from the Coleman Valley ascent on stage 1, Bonny Doon Road on stage 2 to the summit finishes at Big Bear and Mt. Baldy, but local fans will be most excited to see the inclusion of Mount Diablo on the third day - one of the most frequently requested features in fan feedback - albeit not as a summit finish.

  "We spend countless hours poring over possible route scenarios and taking into account fan and rider suggestions before determining the final course; it is a true labor of love," said Bachochin.

  The race will visit a piece of California history in the preserved Gold Rush town of Sonora on the edge of the Yosemite National Park on the year's longest stage - 140 miles from Clovis, where the race will help this town celebrate its 100th anniversary.

  The race then returns to Bakersfield, last visited in 2010 this time for a challenging 18.4 mile individual time trial that incorporates the same climb up China Grade which brought so much drama to the 2010 edition.

  With the pain of the time trial still in their legs, the riders will then face the first of two major mountaintop finishes: stage 6 from Palmdale to Big Bear, taking a slightly different route from the 2010 stage. This year's stage totals 115.7 miles and crests Mt. Emma and the Angeles Crest before losing 4000' of elevation. It then crosses Interstate 15 before rolling its way up to the base of Big Bear, with two mountain primes thrown in along the way.

  Stage 7 nearly reproduces last year's stage to Mt. Baldy, this time starting from Ontario but keeping the same double pass on Glendora Ridge Road, taking in Glendora Mountain and the same lightning fast descent back to Glendora before ascending Glendora Mountain Road and then Mt. Baldy itself.

  The final stage should be all but a parade lap around Los Angeles where, for the first time, the race visits famous tourists sites such as Beverly Hills, where the stage will commence, Hollywood, Sunset Boulevard, Chinatown and Dodger Stadium. The route concludes with a five mile circuit which finishes at L.A. Live.

  Stay tuned to Cyclingnews for in-depth analysis of the key stages.

• Legal expert rates Contador's chances of a successful appeal

  

  Article published:

  February 8, 14:42

  By:

  Daniel Benson

  Less than 30 days for Spaniard to decide

  Alberto Contador has less than 30 days to appeal the CAS decision that handed him a two-year suspension doping. However, one legal expert has pointed out that such a move has little chance of success. Jonathan Walters, a Solicitor with the Sports & Media Group at Charles Russell LLP told Cyclingnews that Contador has little in the way of legal precedent to back up an appeal.

  If Contador does decide to appeal, he must lodge his document with the Swiss Federal court within 30 days of the CAS ruling. However, the chance of the court even hearing his appeal is limited as typically courts of such nature refrain from intervening in sports case.

  “It all depends on if Contador has the appetite to continue, but his reaction in terms of maintaining his innocence was what I expected from yesterday’s press conference.” Walters said.

  “There’s only one option with appealing and that’s to refer it to the Swiss Federal Court, but what CAS says will typically stand.”

  “There are limited circumstances in which he could appeal and conceivably he could be successful, although statistically that doesn’t look very likely as there’s only been one semi-successful appeal to the Swiss Federal Court from CAS.”

  That was in the case involving Guillermo Cañas. The former tennis player was banned by his sport’s governing body, the ATP. CAS reduced his ban in the first instance but Cañas went to the Swiss court, which ruled that CAS had not presided over the ruling fairly. CAS was forced to submit a new panel and hear the case again, although it came to the same ruling.
  
  “The Swiss court will take a look at what CAS has decided and unless it can find evidence of some kind of improper procedure or something irrational, at that stage it’ll dismiss the appeal,” Walters said.

  Walters wasn’t surprised by the two-year ban Contador was given but did point out that he was taken aback by the reasoning behind the protracted CAS decision. The panel’s reasoning hinged on the probability that Contador ingested a supplement that carried the clenbuterol. However, no evidence was revealed to back this claim. The Spaniard argued that the substance was from tainted meat while part of the WADA/UCI argument raised the possibility of blood doping. CAS avoided both these arguments.

  “What was a bit surprising was that the UCI tried to suggest its blood doping theory. I think that made it a lot more complicated. Normally a sports governing body doesn’t need to say why the substance got there, usually it’s up to the athlete. In a way it made a rod for its own back, and that’s why it was so protracted.”

  “The supplement decision is very odd because it wasn’t really a big factor in either party’s submission. It was mentioned in the UCI submission as a possibility but CAS seems to have come up with that on its own. It has looked at blood doping and the meat and it has said both are really unlikely and gone with a process of deduction that points to the supplement. It is odd that it has landed at the conclusion, but there is logic to it.”

• Tour of California 2012: Mt. Diablo debuts

  

  Article published:

  February 8, 15:08

  By:

  Bruce Hildenbrand

  East Bay climb just one of many on stage 3

  The Amgen Tour of California will take in a new climb for 2012: the East Bay landmark of Mt. Diablo will feature on stage 3, but will be just one of several climbs on the route from San Jose to Livermore on May 15.

  Livermore hosted the start of stage 4 last year, but it is the first time a stage will finish there, while San Jose has hosted either a start or finish in every edition of the Tour of California.

  Unlike last year when the Sierra Road climb became the race's first ever summit finish, where Chris Horner's solo win sowed the seeds for his final overall victory, the category 1 ascent will not feature in this year's stage 2.

  Instead, the race will head straight to Calaveras Road, roll along past the Calaveras Resevoir and up Highway 84 before dropping into Livermore at about mile 30. This will be the first opportunity for the locals to glimpse the flying peloton which will then head northwest on Highland Ave, Camino Tassajara and Blackhawk Road before hitting the slopes of Mount Diablo.

  The stage will miss the summit, which can be seen from across the San Francisco Bay, climbing only 1600 vertical feet up South Gate Road (average grade 4.5%) before heading down North Gate Road.

  Local pro Roman Kilun (Kenda-5h Energy) was excited to hear that his stomping grounds on Mt. Diablo would be included, but didn't think it would be a critical point in the stage.

  "South Gate is a beautiful climb and has some steep sections but should not be decisive. At race speed it should not take much more than 20 minutes. While there are some steep sections they are split up by faster flat sections that will provide recovery. There is also a little downhill stretch in the middle. The last 2km is the hardest for sure, but with such a long descent after I expect it would come back together."

  After cresting the shoulder of Diablo, the race still has to wind its way to Clayton on Ygnacio Valley Road and Clayton Road toward Byron in the Central Valley.

  Mountain House Road then Grant Line Road will deposit the racers at the day's final difficulty, Patterson Pass. This stair-stepped, 1000' climb could turn into a real test if the normal, afternoon weather pattern is holding. The hillsides are festooned with hundreds of wind generators as steady gusts of 20-30mph will most likely be blowing directly into the rider's faces.

  It's a short run from the summit to the finish in downtown Livermore for a total stage length of 116 miles. Look for a sprint finish from a large group of very tired riders.

   

• E3 Prijs Vlaanderen wildcards announced

  

  Article published:

  February 8, 15:45

  By:

  Cycling News

  Invitations mirror those for Gent-Wevelgem

  There were no surprises as the wildcard invitations for the E3 Prijs Vlaanderen-Harelbeke were announced on Wednesday, with the race organisers opting to invite the same seven teams that earned wildcard berths at Gent-Wevelgem.

  Accent.Jobs-Willems Veranda's, Landbouwkrediet-Euphony, Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator, Project 1t4i, Europcar, Cofidis and Farnese Vini-Selle Italia are thus confirmed as the wildcards for the E3 Prijs, which takes place on March 23.

  The seven teams join the 18 WorldTour teams, who are automatically invited to the race. The E3 Prijs is part of the WorldTour calendar for the first time in 2012, and moves from a Saturday to a Friday. Gent-Wevelgem takes place two days later, with the Tour of Flanders the following weekend.

  With the exception of Cofidis, the remainder of the E3 Prijs wildcards have also been invited to the Tour of Flanders. The wildcard invitations to Paris-Roubaix have yet to be announced.

  Fabian Cancellara took his second consecutive victory at the E3 Prijs last year.

  Wildcards for E3 Prijs Vlaanderen-Harelbeke: Accent.Jobs-Willems Veranda's, Landbouwkrediet-Euphony, Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator, Project 1t4i, Europcar, Cofidis and Farnese Vini-Selle Italia.
   

• Leipheimer on Santa Rosa stage at Tour of California

  

  Article published:

  February 8, 16:50

  By:

  Bruce Hildenbrand

  American to line up as favourite once again

  With three overall victories and two other podium places, Levi Leipheimer (Omega Pharma - Quick Step) is undoubtedly the king of the Amgen Tour of California. Each season the Californian stage race has been one of his primary objectives and with strong time trialling and climbing he has delivered the goods.

  This year, with the race starting in his adopted hometown of Santa Rosa, the motivation meter should be pegged. Leipheimer's highly successful King's Ridge Gran Fondo is also headquartered in Santa Rosa and provided inspiration for the race's opening stage.

  "I know stage 1 is going to be pretty awesome. Carlos [Perez] and I came up with a course which takes in most of the [King's Ridge] Gran Fondo. It goes through the redwoods and out Highway 1 and by the Pacific Ocean and the vineyards, so I think it is really a great postcard for Sonoma County," Leipheimer told Cyclingnews.

  The stage start is a bit of a novelty, heading out of Santa Rosa for a short circuit through the local vineyards before returning downtown for an intermediate sprint. After that, the riders will head out towards Occidental, then Guerneville and the tiny hamlet of Cazadero, before tackling several steep climbs on Fort Ross Road.

  The race intersects the route of the King's Ridge Gran Fondo at the start of Meyers Grade Road. "The top of that climb is really where you are going to get the best pictures of the whole week. You are over 1500 feet above the ocean and looking south along the coast. It is an amazing view from there. I think it is going to be a great way to open up the race. It will get people excited. That part will be on live television. It is going to be important for Sonoma County," said Leipheimer.

  From there, the stage heads down Highway 1 along the Pacific Ocean before turning inland at Coleman Valley Road, a steep 1-mile climb that has been used twice before in the Amgen Tour of California and has produced a few fireworks before a general regrouping on the way to Occidental and back into Santa Rosa. The stage adds up to a total distance of 115.88 miles.

  Will the first stage be decisive? If history repeats itself probably not, but that doesn't mean it will be a parade to the finish. "It is not a really hard stage, but it certainly is not easy, especially with Coleman Valley," adds Leipheimer.

  A new time trial in Bakersfield

  The first decisive stage of the race will probably be the time trial in Bakersfield on stage 5. The course will start and finish at Bakersfield College, the site of the finish of stage 5 of the 2010 edition of the event.

  Situated on top of a mesa, right out of the start the riders will drop down a steep 250-foot descent before heading onto Alfred Harrell Highway. About eight miles out riders will U-turn and head back to the finish, confronting the same, short steep climb in the uphill direction for a total distance of 18.44 miles.

  "To me it looks like a very non-technical time trial, straight, fast. It could be windy out there. There is some elevation gain, but I wouldn't call it a super-hilly time trial. There is the climb back up to the finish.

  "It is really good for me because it is a course where I can stay in my [time trial] position a lot and not have to break my rhythm or get out of the position to stand up. I can use that to my advantage," said Leipheimer.

  How does Leipheimer think the eight-stage race will play out? "Unfortunately, since the GC battle comes towards the end of the race, it is going to clamp down on any breakaways before then. Nobody is going to want to let stuff get away. So, I think we are going to see a lot of field sprints or sprints out of large groups. Stage 1 and stage 2 could be half the peloton. Maybe stage 2 is less than that, but still a large group at the finish. I don't see any separation happening before the time trial."

  The race will most likely come down to the summit finish on Mount Baldy. During the early years of the event, Leipheimer lobbied the race organizers for just such a mountain top finish. "When you are talking about [Amgen Tour of] California or the USA Pro Cycling Challenge these are the two biggest races in the US and when it comes to big stage races a mountain top finish is a key part of that. You've got the time trial, you've got the flat stages, sometimes you have a prologue, but a mountain top finish, especially in places like California and Colorado, it just makes sense."

  "It is exciting for the fans. It is a place in the venue where they can go and see the race live and see the race come by at a slower speed and really take it all in. That's why you always see the big crowds on the climbs," said Leipheimer.

  Last year, Leipheimer took second overall to his teammate Chris Horner, but this year the two are on separate teams and will go head-to-head. "I think it is going to be more clear cut this year than last year because last year I was coming off of sickness and the team [Radio Shack] had built it such that both Chris and myself were both going for the overall. That gets complicated when you have two guys on the same team, but when you look back on it, it went pretty well because we got first and second.

  "This year we are sending a really strong team. A lot of the Tour de France team. I think everyone knows what the goal is. It should be pretty clear cut," said Leipheimer.

  But, does a European team like Leipheimer's Omega Pharma-Quick Step squad see racing in America as important? "It is important for the team as a whole especially when you consider that we have Specialized, Zipp, SRAM, Quark. All our equipment sponsors are American. Quick Step and Omega Pharma realize the benefit in it as well.

  "They are really looking forward to California and the USA Pro Cycling Challenge as the two biggest races over here. They have built a good team to come over and help me win them and they are taking it seriously. They have designed camps which start about a week before both races so that everybody is acclimated to the time change and ready to go," said Leipheimer.

  Can Leipheimer win his fourth Amgen Tour of California title? He was arguably the class of the field at the recently concluded Tour de San Luis and has both the motivation and the team support necessary for victory. He is one of the pre-race favorites and with the race starting in Santa Rosa he will certainly have an emotional boost unlike any other racer.

• Bonny Doon returns to Amgen Tour of California

  

  Article published:

  February 8, 19:13

  By:

  Bruce Hildenbrand

  Grassroots effort brings Santa Cruz county into mix

  After a year's hiatus, the popular San Francisco to Santa Cruz stage returns to the Amgen Tour of California, bringing with it the Bonny Doon Road climb, which has proven decisive for the overall race classification in the past. The climb comes this time in a less pivotal role coming some 42 miles from the finish in Aptos.

  The 120-mile stage 2, which includes about 8,000 feet of climbing, starts under the Golden Gate Bridge and, as before, highlights both the California coast and the redwood forests, but that's where many of the similarities end.

  Rather than begin at Ocean Beach, far away from the city center of San Francisco, this year's course will roll out from the Marina Green, not far from Fisherman's Wharf and in the shadows of one of the most famous man-made structures in the world, the Golden Gate Bridge.

  Winding up through the Presidio, the race will make its way down Highway 1 straight to Santa Cruz County, rather than twisting up into the redwoods of Tunitas Creek Road as it has in the past.

  What makes the finish town unique is that, while City of Santa Cruz put up the money for the race's finish in 2009 and 2010, it declined to submit a proposal for the 2011 edition citing budgetary concerns and a lack of discernible increase in tourist traffic on the day of the race.

  Enter Maura Noel, who served as a course marshal in 2009 and 2010 and had a broader vision for the race's impact on the area. "I have always thought it was bigger picture. Television coverage of the race coming down West Cliff Drive into Santa Cruz was so beautiful that day [May 2010]. It was like a Mediterranean setting. How can you not see the appeal as a marketing point to get people to come to this area?" said Noel.

  So Noel approached the County of Santa Cruz, rather than the city, with an offer that was hard to refuse. "I proposed to them if I could raise the money, and I named some other projects which followed this model, why wouldn't you support it. And they said 'of course we would.'"

  Noel, who is also vice president of the Santa Cruz County Cycling Club, went so far as to provide a guarantee to the county that if there was any budget shortfall, she would make up the difference out of her own personal funds.

  With the City out and the County in, the traditional climb up Bonny Doon Road could be included, but the descent from the top of the climb down Empire Grade to the finish was out because it dumps the riders into downtown Santa Cruz.

  "They [the race organizers] wanted to do Bonny Doon Road, so their options were all ugly: Felton Empire Road, Alba Road or Jameson Creek Road. They came and drove all three of them, more than once," said Noel.

  The organizers decided on Jameson Creek, a steep, twisty 2.4-mile descent which averages 12 percent, but it's not the precipitous descent which is the big news, it is the six miles of rolling terrain from the top of Bonny Doon to the start of the Jameson Creek descent. "I think that will neutralize anything that goes up Bonny Doon," said Jim Gentes a former Cyclo-cross National Champion, founder of Giro helmets and technical advisor to the local organizing committee.

  Bissell Pro Cycling Team rider and local resident, Ben Jacques Maynes, who has ridden every edition of the Amgen Tour of California agrees, "What seems like a twisty, windy road to the general public, under controlled race situations, you get both sides of the road, so what used to be a very twisty road straightens out. What used to be a hair-raising descent with traffic becomes no brakes, straight shooting through corners. It is amazing how fast the pack can get through places."

  After climbing Bonny Doon and descending Jameson Creek, the next obstacle is Bear Creek Road which comes about 30 miles from the finish and will most likely be where any of the overall contenders will play their hands, if they choose to do so this early in the eight-day race.

  The business end of Bear Creek Road is 2.75 miles, which averages eight percent and rolls mostly up then mostly down for several more miles before turning right on Summit Road. "Bear Creek is a tough climb. That's a real climb. I think it will be hard for a few guys, like Levi (Leipheimer) and a couple other guys, to stay away that far from the finish," said Gentes.

  The racers will encounter more rolling terrain as they cross the spine of the Santa Cruz Mountains on Summit Road. One of the more obnoxious bumps tops out where Apple Computer co-founder, Steve Wozniak, used to own a lama ranch and farm.

  A right turn on San Jose-Soquel Road begins the long descent to the finish at Cabrillo College. The upper four miles of the descent are open and fast where speeds could reach 50+mph. "The downhill on San Jose-Soquel Road is just a blast. They are going to have both lanes. They are going to be going so fast on that," said Gentes.

  Because of the difficult, multi-ascent finale, climbs such as Tunitas Creek used in earlier editions of this stage will be bypassed for an almost straight shot from San Francisco down Highway 1 to Bonny Doon Road where 5000 feet of climbing separate the peloton from finish line.

  Ben Jacques Maynes summarizes the difficulty of the stage. "I think given the way the whole week was going to play out having kind of an 'intermediate hill' day would play out really nicely. Something where you can have, if the teams played it right, a group of 50-80 show up at the finish line and a couple of good sprinters in there would have a fair chance at having a big bunch kick."

  "I think that would showcase Santa Cruz County perfectly. We have a good variety between coastal roads, redwood forests, little cool roads with climbs and descents. There is a lot more to Santa Cruz County and California in general than cruising along Highway 1," said Jacques Maynes.

  While the stage will provide both beautiful scenery and exciting racing for the spectators, it remains to be seen if the riders will be able to enjoy their day in saddle.