In a year of the comeback, perhaps it’s inevitable that Michael Rasmussen will join the band of riders pedaling back into the fray. The Danish climbing specialist – who was ignominiously ejected from the 2007 Tour de France just days from what appeared to be a likely overall victory and later fired by his Rabobank team – says he’s hoping to race in this year’s Vuelta a España if he can find a team willing to sign him.
Ritchey Design, a leading developer and manufacturer of high-quality road and mountain bike components, today announced it is working with Plus 3 Network, a beta social networking Web site, to increase awareness and fundraising efforts for the nonprofit organization, Project Rwanda. By selecting Ritchey Design as a sponsor, Plus 3 members can choose to raise money for Project Rwanda with every mile they ride, walk, run or swim. The relationship between Ritchey and Project Rwanda went live on www.plus3network.com on January 7, 2009.
Collegiate Cycling Volunteer Conference Director Volunteer Position/s available: Atlantic Collegiate Cycling Conference-ACCC (NC, MD, VA, WV, Washington D.C.) (Must be geographically located in the respective region) Volunteer roles:
Dear Explainer,
I’ve been a long-time fan of Jonathan Page.
To me, he’s a workingman’s hero, the sort of guy who approaches cycling like a lot of us approach our jobs; he just puts his head down and does what he has to do to get the job done. He works hard and doesn't spend a lot of his time show-boating or boosting his ego. Now I hear that he may be facing a suspension because he missed a doping test.
The problem I have is trying to figure out why he might be suspended by USADA for just missing a test, rather that tripping the dope-meter with a positive result.
Anne-Caroline Chausson – the reigning Olympic BMX champion – is taking aim at another landmark: the world speed skiing championships.
The 31-year-old Chausson, who has always been an excellent skier and lived in Andorra for several years, will compete in the “production” category of the competition, which runs January 17-24 at Vars in the French Alps.
According to French wire reports, Chausson will race on traditional ski equipment and could hit speeds nearing 200kph on the renowned Chabrières course at Vars.
Reigning world champion Alessandro Ballan isn’t changing his program going into 2009. Perhaps it’s no surprise that the gangly Italian is focusing on the spring classics, where he helped carve his reputation with victory in Flanders in 2007 and consistency at Roubaix ahead of his breakout victory in Varese last fall. For 2009, his top goals in the first half of the season will be the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. A detour through Milan-San Remo is also likely for the Lampre rider, but a start in the Giro d’Italia remains uncertain.
Milram, Germany’s last remaining professional cycling team, announced its 25-strong squad for the 2009 season on Wednesday. The team, which features 14 new recruits and 17 German riders, is the sole professional cycling outfit in Germany after the demise of Gerolsteiner. Milram will be without retired sprint king Erik Zabel for the upcoming season but will be able to count on two great hopes in Gerald Ciolek and Linus Gerdemann.
Check out CyclingTips's author page.
Graeme Brown of Rabobank held off challenges from Robbie McEwen (Team Katuysha), Simon Gerrans (Cervelo Test) and Bernie Sulzberger (Virgin Blue) to win the 2009 Jayco Bay Cycling Classic on Tuesday. Brown led the Classic going into the penultimate stage by the barest margin of one point.
ROUTE details ANNOUNCED FOR EXPANDED 2009 Amgen Tour of California PROFESSIONAL CYCLING ROAD RACE Professional Women’s Cycling Race to Return to Santa Rosa During Stage One of the Men’s Race
Organizers of the Amgen Tour of California have released details of the 2009 route, a nine-day, 750-mile course that will travel almost the entire length of California, from Sacramento to Escondido. This year's race is one day and about 100 miles longer than the 2008 route. [nid:85582] This year the race will also feature a $15,000 women's criterium, run in conjunction with stage 1 in Santa Rosa.
Organizers of the 2009 Amgen Tour of California have released the list of eight ProTour teams that will compete in the Feb. 14-22 event. Besides the ProTour teams, the race will announce its list of confirmed Continental or Continental Pro teams next month. Full rosters will be released in February. The eight ProTour teams: · Ag2r-La Mondiale (FRA) · Astana (LUX) · Garmin-Slipstream (USA) · Liquigas (ITA) · Quick Step (BEL) · Rabobank (Netherlands)
Do you have some bike suggestions for tall riders?
Over two dozen professional cyclists and Millennium Cycling, LLC are pleased to announce the launch of TwoWheelTales.com, a collection of blogs written by professional cyclists. Our professional cyclists are giving cycling fans frequent doses of the inside scoop—it’s professional cycling “unplugged”!
The SRAM Cycling Fund is awarding a $200,000 grant to the International Mountain Bicycling Association, the second award given out by the advocacy fund the component company set up last year. During the next five years, the fund plans to award $10 million in grants to support cycling advocacy programs around the world that focus on improving bicycling. “It is hard to imagine where mountain biking would be today without IMBA’s trail building and restoration efforts over the last 20 years," said Stan Day, SRAM's president and CEO.
The U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross is adding a fourth weekend to its schedule this year, adding the Planet Bike Cup in Wisconsin to its lineup. The 2009 series will return for a third year to Louisville, Kentucky, Mercer County, New Jersey and Portland, Oregon. "The addition of the Planet Bike Cup is tremendous for the series. Madison has a great cycling community and the Planet Bike Cup was already a wonderful event. We are thrilled to have added such a strong early season weekend of racing to our schedule,” said Bruce Fina, the series' executive director.
The new Ten Speed Drive / Ellsworth Factory Cycling Team is hoping to win some races while minimizing its effects on the environment this year. The team was formerly known as Colavita New Mexico presented by JNF Enterprises. “We are dedicated to promoting cycling as a form of transportation and to further public awareness of everyday techniques — from transportation to energy consumption – the public can use to lessen their environmental footprints,” said team director, John Freisen.
Kellogg to sponsor BISSELL® Pro Cycling Team The Kellogg Company, the world’s leading producer of cereal and a leading producer of convenience foods, joins the BISSELL Pro Cycling Team as a key sponsor for the 2009 season. Kellogg’s commitment to nutrition and physical fitness is well aligned with the team and the sport of cycling. Alongside Kellogg, the team continues to be supported by longtime key sponsor, Advantage Benefits Group.
USA Cycling is recognizing 13 regional athlete development programs with $20,000 worth of cash grants through its Centers of Excellence program. Rad Racing of Olympia, Washington, and the Young Medalists of the Lehigh Valley Cycling Club in Pennsylvania received top honors. The award winners were chosen based on organizational criteria and results in developing junior and U23 cycling athletes. Since the program’s inception six years ago, USA Cycling has distributed over $120,000 to grass roots development programs thanks to donations to the Development Foundation.
Why are my bottom bracket bearings wearing out so quickly?
Jonathan Patrick McCartyis joining former teammate Floyd Landis on the OUCH Presented by Maxxis team. "We'd been talking with Pat for quite some time," said team director Mike Tamayo. "Only in the past week or so were we able to work out an agreement with him."
Belgian cycling star Tom Boonen will know on February 3 if he has to face criminal charges over his positive test for cocaine, the judge investigating his case in the northern city of Turnhout said Tuesday. Boonen, a former world champion and winner of such prestigious races as Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders, tested positive for the recreational drug in an out-of-competition test in May last year. The 28-year-old escaped a sports sanction because the test was not held under the auspices of a sport body.
Classics star Fabian Cancellara already rules the cobbles and now it appears he might be setting his sights on the hillier spring classics, with possible starts this year at Flèche Wallonne and Amstel Gold Race. Cancellara – who is already focusing on Tour of Flanders this year as his top early season goal – could expand into the hillier routes in eastern Belgium and southern Holland.
UCI officials Thursday will officially roll out the new calendar for elite men’s road racing for the 2009 season.
UCI president Pat McQuaid has called a press conference for Thursday at the Geneva International Airport to formally introduce the calendar that’s been in the works for months.
Following several feuding years between the sport’s major players, a cease-fire that took hold last fall will see the ProTour and the so-called “historic” events run side-by-side under the revised UCI “world calendar.”
Under the truce reached last year between the UCI and t
Check out CyclingTips's author page.
Editor's Note: Drew Geer is an endurance mountain bike racer who has been using a computer training log since 1998 and has hand-written training logs going back to 1972. He's been an Apple Mac user since 1984. Geer paid retail for each of the products he reviewed in this article.
The BH/Pivot Demo truck is hitting the road with its expanded fleet of technologically advanced bikes. The 35-foot trailer will carry all the 2009 road bikes from Spain’s BH Bikes and all the 2009 mountain bikes from Pivot. The demo tour kicked off Sunday in Plano, Texas. The rest of the year it will travel to festivals, races, dealer demos and tech clinics across the nation.
Double Paris-Roubaix winner Tom Boonen will join his Quick Step teammates this month for a training camp along the sunny Spanish coast. The team will converge at the Spanish resort town of Benicassim for a 10-day camp beginning January 12 to put everyone on the right footing heading into the racing season. Per team tradition, the squad will split into two crews for training rides of different intensity, depending on pending racing schedules.
Living up to the success of last season will be challenging for Saxo Bank, formerly CSC, but team boss Bjarne Riis is cautiously optimistic despite the departure of reigning Tour de France champ Carlos Sastre. Seven riders followed Sastre out the door from the triumphant 2008 lineup, including retired pros Bobby Julich, Michael Blaudzun and Brad McGee and workhorses Iñigo Cuesta, Volodymir Gustov and Allen Johansen.
Day 4 of the Jayco Bay Cycling Classic saw the top professionals punish the bunch with explosive and sustained attacks. The sound of popping was almost audible as the pace and surges whittled the field down. Finally the Australian criterium champion, Bernie Sulzberger of Virgin Blue, won the day, sprinting to the line ahead of a reduced field. Sulzberger said after the win: “It makes me very proud to win wearing the Australian champion’s jersey.”
Wilderness Trail Bikes, Inc., a global leader in bicycle components, is proud to announce a new partnership with legendary mountain bike racer Brian Lopes. Lopes will be riding and racing exclusively on WTB’s high-end saddles. Each of Lopes’ team-issue Ibis race bikes will be outfitted with WTB’s Silverado SLT saddles.
The BC Bike Race - The Ultimate Singletrack Experience is proud to announce the LUNA Pro Teams participation in the 2009 event scheduled for June 28th- July 4th.
The 2009 MERCO Credit Union Cycling Classic Presented by McLane Pacific in Merced, CA is pleased to announce that they have added and open Juniors’ Race at both the Downtown Grand Prix and the Foothills Road Race. A $500 Cash Prize list for each day will be awarded plus a champion’s jersey and rock trophy for the single winner of each day. Distances of the races are 20 miles (25 laps) in the Grand Prix and 48 miles (2 laps) in the Road Race.
Check out CyclingTips's author page.
Following an extremely successful 2008 season, the Webcor/AltoVelo racing team is expanding its Elite Amateur Men’s team for the upcoming 2009 season. The core of last year’s Pro/1/2 team remains intact, and will be bolstered by extremely talented additions to the roster. For the 2009 season, the Elite Amateur Men’s team will be divided into a National-level “NRC Squad” that will be focused on larger National Racing Calendar (NRC) events all around the U.S., and a “Regional Squad” that will focus on rider development and in-district racing.
PRESS RELEASE FROM THE BIKE PURE organization: After the torrent of drug scandals damaging our sport, we have all become accustomed to the annual headlines of another disgraced professional. The image of professional cycling is repeatedly tarnished and the public at large, after being fed so much bad publicity, took it that all cyclists were dopers. Such was the frequency it was no longer clear who was clean and who is doping.
Touchstone Cycling enters the 2009 season with an expanded roster and additional sponsorship. After an impressive 2008 season, Touchstone looks to increase their presence and podium appearances. Kelly McDonald, 6th in the Mogollon Road Race at Tour of the Gila and 9th overall at Cascades, returns to the team and looks to add to her impressive NRC results.
Editor's Note:VeloNews cartoonist Patrick O'Grady and web editor Steve Frothingham have offered some year-end perspective on this site recently. Now for a different take we turn to freelance writer Kathie Reid. Reid helped us cover some of the biggest races on the calendar in 2008, but saw some of the most memorable performances from junior racers at the national championships in California.
Speedgoat Bicycles, Inc., a leading Internet retailer of bicycles, announces the appointment of Don Belt as Chief Operating Officer. Belt brings more than 20 years of corporate management experience, including 15 years with ServiStar and True Value, and President/CEO of Internet-centric start up procurement service provider, MRO Direct. His first assignment will be to establish the management and operational processes within the company to support the scalability objectives of Speedgoat Bicycles.
PRESS RELEASE In response to a tightening economy, the makers of specialty bicycle line Litespeed are launching the bicycle industry’s first ever direct-to-consumer rebate program. Specialty hangtags are being distributed this week to all Litespeed dealers to launch and promote the campaign, in which parent company American Bicycle Group (ABG) will send a rebate check for up to $350 to any consumer who purchases a qualifying Litespeed bicycle frame, frameset or complete bike.
Do you want to contribute to Mailbag, a regular feature of VeloNews.com? Here's how:
MILRAM newcomer Paul Voß had a perfect season debut on Sunday in the cyclo-cross race in Vechta. The 22-year-old 'cross specalist from Rostock, who last year won the silver medal in the U23 road world championships as his biggest success to date, brought in the first season win for his new team.