Sylvester Szmyd is one of those riders who do all the dirty work yet rarely get the praise. The 31-year-old Polish rider toiled for years in the shadow of Damiano Cunego at Lampre before switching over to super-domestique duty at Liquigas, where he rode superbly at this year’s Giro d’Italia to help Franco Pellizotti secure his first career podium with third overall.
Christian Vande Velde, who sustained major injuries after crashing out of the Giro d’Italia in May, will compete in the 2009 Tour de Suisse later this week, Garmin-Slipstream confirmed Thursday. The Swiss tour marks Vande Velde’s return to racing following his harrowing crash in stage three of the Giro, when he suffered seven fractures, including five vertebrae, one rib and his pelvis. No surgery was necessary and the American, who finished fifth in last year’s Tour de France, was back on his bike just days after final medical examinations and has kept up the pace ever since.
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It seems the on-again, off-again Lance Armstrong biopic is back on track. According to a flurry of movie-industry Web sites, Armstrong’s return to competition has put fresh legs into efforts by Hollywood producer and director Frank Marshall to create a full-length movie about the seven-time Tour de France champion’s life. According to a report on The Hollywood Reporter, Gary Ross, who penned and directed the Oscar-nominee film, “Seabiscuit,” has been hired to write a draft of an Armstrong script.
While cycling’s grand tours represent some of the best bike racing in the world, they also offer a lot of us a first-hand look at some of the best racing bikes in the world. I spent some time at this year’s Giro d’Italia and sorting through my files, I wanted to share a look at two bikes that really caught my eye in Italy last month.
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Colavita’s Sebastien Haedo and Kristy Broun (Riverstone CDA) raced to victory in Stage 2 of the 2009 Nature Valley GP on Wednesday in the Downtown St. Paul Criterium. With plenty of fast action on the streets of St. Paul, the evening criteriums did not have a significant impact on the overall standings, with Bissel’s Tom Zirbel and Cervélo’s Kristen Armstrong holding the overall leads they first established in the opening time trial on Wednesday morning.
Trek’s development of a new TTX time trial bike could almost have been predicted: Giant, Scott, and Specialized have all engineered new TT frame platforms for their ProTour teams in the last 12 months, while Trek’s design cycle apparently remained static (at least in public). (Editor's Note: If you don't recall, click the links for articles on Giant's new bike, Scott's new bike and Specialized's new bike.)
Tom Zirbel (Bissel Pro Cycling) and Kristin Armstrong (Cervélo TestTeam) stormed over a wet, 6-mile time trial course on Wednesday to take the opening stage of the 2009 Nature Valley Grand Prix in Minnesota.
Disgraced Austrian cyclist Bernhard Kohl on Wednesday vowed to sue French sport daily L'Equipe after they published an interview with him in which he spoke about doping at the 2008 Tour de France. Kohl, who was stripped of his third-place finish and the best climber's jersey after testing positive for EPO CERA, denies claiming that the race's top 10 cyclists "could have been positive" or that it was strange that only three cyclists failed post-race drug tests.
Reigning world time trial champion Bert Grabsch (Columbia-Highroad) won Wednesday’s fourth stage at the 61st Dauphiné Libéré, while Australia Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto) finished second and recaptured the overall leader’s jersey. Grabsch stopped the clock in 51 minutes, 26.48 seconds, overcoming a 12-second mid-race deficit to Evans to win by seven seconds on an undulating 42.4km course east of Valence.
Potential drugs cheats at the 2009 Tour de France will face the biggest anti-doping army ever seen at a major sports event next month, UCI president Pat McQuaid warned on Wednesday. McQuaid, speaking at an anti-doping conference in Paris, also officially welcomed the French National Anti Doping Agency (AFLD) back to the race after their muddy relationship last year.
UCI president Pat McQuaid said that Caisse d’Epargne’s Alejandro Valverde faces a worldwide two-year doping ban if the governing body acts on key evidence, which has yet to be forwarded by the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI). Valverde has been effectively ruled out of this year's Tour de France after CONI recently barred him from racing in Italy for two years. CONI claims that a blood sample from Valverde, taken at Cuneo, Italy during the last year's Tour de France, matches blood samples from the Operación Puerto blood doping investigation in Spain.
The USA Cycling Junior National Team capitalized on a dominant performance in the prologue of Switzerland’s Tour du Pays de Vaud, as Nathan Brown (Covington, Tennesee/Hot Tubes) wrapped up the win in the overall classification of the four-stage race on June 7. The squad swept the prologue podium with Brown clocking the fastest time to slip into the yellow leader’s jersey. Adam Leibovitz (Indianapolis, Indiana/Nuvo Cultural) and Lawson Craddock (Houston, Texas/Hot Tubes) joined Brown on the podium in second and third, respectively.
UCI president Pat McQuaid said several riders currently under suspicion of doping will be named publicly next week, and are likely to face sanctions. McQuaid, attending an anti-doping conference in Paris on Wednesday to announce plans for the fight against doping at next month's Tour de France, would not give any details on the riders involved.
Quick Step’s Tom Boonen has been given the green light from the UCI to compete in next month's Tour de France despite a recent, second positive test for cocaine. Boonen, the winner of major one-day classics and Tour de France stages, sparked controversy last month when it was revealed he had tested positive for cocaine for the second time in a year. It led to immediate calls for him to be banned from this year's showcase event, and the UCI is set to launch disciplinary proceedings against Boonen for bringing the sport into disrepute.
Not often are the words “chain” and “condom” uttered in the same sentence, much less in the name of a bicycle product. Don’t worry, you have not inadvertently stumbled into the wrong website, nor has VeloNews.com been hijacked by an S & M fetish merchant site. But with a name like Chain Condom, we had to check it out — and it turns out to not only have a unique name, but an unusual backstory as well.