Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) was pulled over by Italian police, who failed to recognize the Tour de France winner. He was training in Sicily on Friday with his brother and two others, when they came to a road which was blocked due to ice. Nibali thought that the road sign was referring only to motorized vehicles, and continued on.
"I was doing a specific job and I was very focused," he told the Gazzetta dello Sport. A police car came up and stopped him. "They asked for my identification documents. I explained what we were doing. I do not want any privileges." Nibali was allowed to continue on.
Report: Tour de France on German TV for next two years
The Tour de France will return to German public television for the next two years, but any doping cases will put an end to the project. Broadcaster ARD is set to announce the agreement this week, according to spiegel.de. It would show each stage live from 4 pm until the finish.
The German broadcaster is said to have paid less than five million Euros for the rights. They stopped showing the race live after 2011 due to a combination of doping cases and shrinking audiences. However, the recent successes of Tony Martin, Andre Greipel, John Degenkolb and Marcel Kittel have revived interest in German cycling.
Doping may still play a role in the ARD's decision though. The news magazine Spiegel reported that the contract allows ARD to stop immediately if there are new doping cases.
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Tom Devriendt will be the 21st rider for the Belgian Professional Continental team Wanty-Groupe Gobert for the 2015 season. The 23-year old moves up from the Continental-ranked Team 3M. He is a sprinter who can also lead out sprints.
"I want to learn in my first year, especially from the older, more experience guys," he said in a team press release. Sport director Hilaire Van Der Schooner said, "He has potential and I have been following him for a while now. In our team he now gets the chance to show that he has the capabilities to become a pro cyclist."
Devriendt will start out with smaller races, as he continues to recover from back problems. "From the Three-Days De Panne I had been struggling with a back injury, especially in the second half of the season. Later I was diagnosed with a herniated disc but things are much, much better now."
Clancy takes hat trick during Revolution Series round 3
Olympic Champion Ed Clancy took three wins Saturday during the third Round of the Revolution Series in Manchester, giving re-branded JLT Condor team their first victory of 2015.
Clancy won the scratch race, Revolution longest lap and Madison time trial, setting a blistering time of 54.778 with teammate Ollie Wood. Wood also won the Flying Lap, giving the team overall victory on the night.
"I wasn't feeling too great earlier in the day," Clancy said. "Things seemed to come good later in the evening, so I'm pleased to get 2015 off to a winning start for JLT Condor."
The result moves JLT Condor up to fourth place in the Elite Championship on 111 points ahead of Team Sky in fifth place. Maloja Pushbikers retained the lead but saw their advantage reduced to eight points to second placed Telegraph All Stars. Orica-GreenEDGE moved into third place on 117 points thanks to a strong performance from Jens Mouris and Adam Blythe, who won the points race in his debut appearance for the team.
Other notable victories went to Jess Varnish, who dominated the Elite Women’s Sprinting and Lizzie Armitstead, who lapped the field twice to win the UCI points race.
