Jeremiah Bishop, the reigning marathon and short-track cross-country national champion, is suiting up in the green and purple kit of Monavie-Cannondale.com for the 2009 season. Bishop, 32, found a home with the Utah-based team after spending four seasons as the marquis World Cup rider on the now-defunct Trek-Volkswagen program.
Italy's reigning world champion Alessandro Ballan and Olympic time-trial champion Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland have both pulled out of this weekend's Milan-San Remo race, their teams announced on Wednesday. Ballan, who had also withdrawn from the Tirreno-Adriatico, must take a fortnight off owing to an infection on the orders of Lampre team doctor Dr. Carlo Guardascione.
Add Mark Cavendish to the growing list of people who think Daniele Bennati is one of the big favorites for Milan-San Remo. The British sprinter easily handed Bennati defeat in Tuesday’s final stage at Tirreno-Adriatico, but when pressed to give one name who would win Saturday, Cavendish thought long and hard before saying, “Bennati.” “Three hundred kilometers at 23 is a long way,” said Cavendish, discounting his own chances for his San Remo debut. “I will be ready to win San Remo in a few years. Bennati looks strong. He can get over the climbs and he has the sprint.”
Price: Tubular $2500; Clincher $2800 Weight: Tubular 1840g/pair; Clincher 1910g/pair Web site: www.bontrager.com New from Bontrager, the high profile Aeolus 9.0, a 90mm-deep time trial wheelset. As with past Aeolus models, the 16 spokes are embedded within the rim for better aerodynamics. Why upgrade to the 9.0 model? Bontrager reports that the Aeolus 9.0 is 10 seconds faster over 40km than the Aeolus 6.5.
Dear Explainer,
After reading VeloNews.com’s recent article about the return of the Litespeed Blade, which features a picture of Lance Armstrong riding a Trek-badged Blade, I was reminded of a question that's been nagging me ever since I learned that some of Greg LeMond's Tour-winning "LeMonds" were, in fact, manufactured by Calfee.
Tom Boonen leaned back on the hood of the Quick Step team car on a sunny morning in San Benedetto del Tronto before the final stage of Tirreno-Adriatico. Life was good. The sun was out, his form was closing in on its annual spring peak and, most importantly, his left knee wasn’t giving him any problems.
Check out CyclingTips's author page.
I’m still being deluged with letters about CO2, and I promised to end it, so now I’m switching to letters about wheels. However, at the bottom, you’ll find one more CO2 letter addressing environmental points, which I think to be important and a duty to bring up.
Mark Cavendish wasn’t going to let anyone pass him this time. Just days after Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Slipstream) relegated Cavendish to a rare second place in Friday’s third stage, Cavendish evened the score in Tuesday’s 169km finale at the 44th Tirreno-Adriatico. Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) tried in vain to sprint early, but Cavendish darted past him in easy work to win for the fifth time in 2009. Farrar trailed through second in another strong performance for the American while Baden Cooke (Vacansoleil) took third.
Twenty teams have been selected for the 2009 Tour de France, but Fuji-Servetto won’t be among them.
There are a few races around Europe this weekend, but it is Saturday’s Milan-San Remo that will be the center of attention. The race is celebrating its 100th edition this year and the Italians are expected to pull out all the stops. The presence of Lance Armstrong in his first European race since his comeback will only heighten the media attention and anticipation for the 100th edition of the Italian spring classic.
Do you want to contribute to Mailbag, a regular feature of VeloNews.com? Here's how:
Price: $220 Weight: 350 grams/pair Web site: www.time-sport.com New from Time are the Julien Absalon signature ATAC XS mountain bike pedals. Even if you can't attack like Absalon, at least you can ride the same pedals.
Lance Armstrong will lead the Astana colors at Milan-San Remo on Saturday in his first race on European roads since he retired after winning the 2005 Tour de France. Just like during Australia’s Tour Down in January and the Tour of California in February, Armstrong’s appearance is expected to pique interest for the centenary edition of the Italian classic. It will be Armstrong’s first appearance at Milan-San Remo since 2002, when he finished 44th with the same time as winner Mario Cipollini.
It was another day of epic racing at Tirreno-Adriatico, this time with Michele Scarponi (Diquigiovanni) snatching the stage victory and the leader’s jersey in Monday’s 235km climbing stage to Camerino. Scarponi, back to the winner’s circle after serving a racing ban after being implicated in the Operación Puerto doping scandal, darted ahead of Stefano Garzelli (Acqua e Sapone) to win the stage. Ivan Basso (Liquigas), riding with strength in grand tour-like conditions, crossed third.
Team Type 1's Jesse Anthony won the King of the Mountain title at the seven-stage Tour de Taiwan, which ended Saturday in Taipei. Poland's Je?owski Krzysztof of the Merida Europe team won the overall title, followed by Australia's Peter McDonald (Drapac Porsche) and Roman Zhiyentayev (Kazakhstan National Team). Anthony was 17th on the GC. His teammate Ken Hanson, the only other American to finish the race, was 29th on GC and was sixth in the final stage.
The first Tour of Colorado race will be held March 29th in Superior, Colorado! Get your bikes ready! The famed Koppenberg Road Race opens the 2009 Tour of Colorado season This 5.5 mile course consists of a 2.5 mile dirt section that ends with a short but very steep hill. The 200 meter long "Koppenberg" hill has a 17 percent slope and takes its name from the legendary hill in the Tour of Flanders in the Tour of Flanders. Clearly, a Colorado classic!
Four-time Tour de France stage winner MarkCavendish has been included in a largely experimental 19-man British track cycling squad that will head to the World Championships in Pruszkow, Poland next week. Cavendish, who normally plies his trade with the Columbia-High Road team, is a surprise inclusion in a squad that will be shorn of many of its big names. At last year's Olympic Games Britain won seven of the ten golds on offer at the Laoshan velodrome in Beijing, with Scotland's Chris Hoy claiming three and Bradley Wiggins winning two from both pursuit events.
Check out CyclingTips's author page.
It was another day of the double at Tirreno-Adriatico. Twenty-four hours after Joaquim Rodríguez (Caisse d’Epargne) won a stage and claimed the overall leader’s jersey; it was Andreas Klöden’s turn in Sunday’s individual time trial. The veteran Astana rider notched a commanding, 20-second victory in the 30km fifth stage featuring two short but steep hills. With his first victory of the 2009 season, he takes the overall leader’s jersey, six seconds ahead of Thomas Lövkvist (Columbia-Highroad).
Luis Leon Sanchez (Caisse d’Epargne) trumped compatriot Alberto Contador of Astana to win the 67th Paris-Nice cycling race after the eighth and final stage here on Sunday. Sanchez finished the race one minute ahead of Luxembourg's Frank Schleck in the overall standings, with French rider Sylvain Chavanal a further 9 seconds adrift in third.