Published November 23, 2020 11:37PM
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Hello again, CyclingTips readers,
The week got underway with several teams securing their rosters with key talents, perhaps a bit later than we’d normally see amid this unusual cycling season.
The brothers Izagirre will ride on with the team that will become Astana-Premier Tech. European road champ Giacomo Nizzolo will stick with the squad that is becoming Qhubeka-Assos. Movistar extended the contracts of a quartet of riders, who were already set to ride with the team through 2021, through 2023, with Giro Rosa top 10 finisher Paula Patiño among those signing on to stick with the team.
Read on for more …
Dane Cash
News Editor
| Nizzolo will ride on with Qhubeka-Assos in 2021
European road champion Giacomo Nizzolo will stick with the NTT organization as it becomes Qhubeka-Assos in 2021, the team announced on Monday.
Nizzolo, whose career palmares includes two points titles at the Giro d’Italia, joined the team then known as Dimension Data in 2019 and enjoyed a strong 2020 campaign, winning stages at the Tour Down Under and Paris-Nice in the run-up to taking the Italian and European road titles.
“This environment is what I need to fight for my goals; at the beginning of the season we’ll look towards the sprinter Classics, Milan-Sanremo first of all, and then we’ll start looking at the Giro and the Tour,” Nizzolo said. “I think it will be nice to wear the European Champion’s jersey at the Giro as the Italian champion but we’ll still have to consider everything as we look at the calendar.”
| Astana renews with Ion and Gorka Izagirre and five others
With its 2021 plans finally settled after a few months of uncertainty, the Astana squad that will become Astana-Premier Tech next year has been busy rolling out roster news lately. That continued on Monday as the team announced contract extensions for seven riders.
Among the seven are both Ion and Gorka Izagirre, who joined the team in 2019. Both have been key talents for the team in stage races, with Ion Izagirre in particular compiling a strong collection of results over his career that includes overall wins at the Tour of the Basque Country and Tour of Poland and stage wins at all three Grand Tours. Fellow Spanish veteran Luis León Sánchez, whose list of achievements includes four Tour de France stage wins, renewed as well.
Also renewing with the team are Rodrigo Contreras, Manuele Boaro, Jonas Gregaard, and Davide Martinelli.
| Movistar extends four through 2023
The Movistar team announced on Monday that Katrine Aalerud, Jelena Eric, Paula Patiño, and Gloria Rodríguez, who had been signed through 2021, have extended through 2023.
Norwegian time trial champ Katrine Aalerud joined the team at the start of 2020, as did Eric, multi-time Serbian national champ in both the road race and time trial. Patiño, who rode to a top 10 overall at this year’s Giro Rosa, came aboard in 2019, while Rodríguez has been a part of the team’s Classics core since joining Movistar in 2018.
| New winners’ jerseys and start lists announced for Esports Worlds
Zwift and the UCI have announced new winners’ jerseys and unveiled the start lists for the upcoming Esports World Championships, scheduled for December 9.
Those set to contest the inaugural edition of the event include marquee road pros like Anna van der Breggen, Annemiek van Vleuten, Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio, Victor Campenaerts, Rigoberto Urán, and Edvald Boasson Hagen, as well as Zwift heavy hitters like Lionel Vujasin, Ollie Jones, and Cecilia Hansen. The winners will earn the right to wear a new jersey with partially pixelated rainbow stripes.
| Jean-Pierre Carenso dies at 86
Jean-Pierre Carenso, who was general director of the Société du Tour de France from 1988 to 1994, has died at age 86.
Working alongside Jean-Marie Leblanc, Carenso managed various business and marketing aspects of the event in a period of significant growth for the Tour’s profile. During his tenure, he helped usher in various changes to the commercial operations of the Tour that remain in place today.
| Vital Concept will no longer sponsor the B&B Hotels-Vital Concept team in 2021
Ouest-France reports that the French ProTeam currently known as B&B Hotels-Vital Concept will no longer have Vital Concept as a sponsor next year.
The squad, whose roster includes Bryan Coquard and Pierre Rolland, will race as the B&B Hotels team next year, with a budget that is reportedly being reduced by 15-20%.
| The new triple-threat: World champion Ceylin Alvarado wants to win it all
As she told José Been, cyclocross world champ Ceylin Alvarado has big ambitions across multiple disciplines for the foreseeable future.
| CyclingTips Podcast: Pro cycling’s grand experiment
Hear from Dave Brailsford, Simon Mottram, Tiffany Cromwell, and Mitch Docker in the finale of our Rapha Roadmap series.
| EF Gone Racing – The strangest Giro d’Italia in history?
The latest episode of the EF Gone Racing series chronicles an unconventional Giro d’Italia.
| Revised Look 765 gravel range drops weight and price
As Ronan Mc Laughlin writes, Look has updated its 765 line of gravel bikes.
| CT presents: Il Vecchio Saggio – A portrait of Davide Rebellin
Il Vecchio Saggio, from our friends at La Bordure, is a film about Davide Rebellin.
Today’s featured image from the 2005 Tour of Flanders comes from Cor Vos. As of 2020, it’s 15 years since Tom Boonen rode to his first – and second – Monument titles. Can you recall who joined him on the podium in Flanders that year?