Française des Jeux’s Yoann Offredo has been ruled out of next week’s Vuelta a España, after suffering injuries in the Eneco Tour. The 22-year-old Offredo crashed in the second stage of the Eneco Tour on Thursday and suffered a collarbone fracture. Offredo had been listed on Française des Jeux’s preliminary start list for the Vuelta.
It was nearly déjà vu in the finale of stage 2 at the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah Wednesday as Darren Lill (Team Type 1) sped away from a select group of chasers on the climb to Mt. Nebo. Lill was not to be denied the stage win as he was by Garmin’s Blake Caldwell in stage 2 in 2008, staying away on the slopes of the highest point in the Wasatch for the solo win.
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Before the Winter Park Mountain Bike Series concludes Aug. 29, racers dealt with the Mary Jane Circuit Course and cold temps.
Heading into the Tour de France, Garmin-Slipstream’s Christian Vande Velde didn’t know what to expect. After a breakthrough ride in 2008, where he finished as the top American in fourth place, Vande Velde started the 2009 season as the team’s primary GC hope at the world’s biggest bike race.
Think mountain biking in places like Gotham is an urban myth? Think again. Try Philly, Boston, NYC and Houston for starters.
In just a few years on the US market, Shimano’s PRO component line has already achieved good visibility. Lately prominent on the bikes of Columbia-HTC riders and of course those of Skil-Shimano, PRO bars, stems, and other parts appear destined for reasonably broad acceptance.
The Irish National Team will begin the Tour of Ireland with one rider missing from the roster. Paul Healion, who won the sixth stage of the FBD Insurance Ras this year, was killed in a car crash Sunday. His funeral was Thursday, the day before the Tour of Ireland kicked off. There will be a minute of silence for him at the start of stage 1. “It’s difficult to go to his funeral the day before the race,” said Mark Cassidy of Sean Kelly’s An Post squad. Healion was 31, and recently married. No others were involved in the single-car crash.
At any given pro bike race, there are hundreds of hard-life stories that line up at the start every day. The story of Adrien Niyonshuti (MTN-Energade), however, is unusual among them. Coming from Rwanda, where six of his brothers were killed in the 1994 genocide, Niyonshuti got a pro contract for this year after winning the 2008 Tour of Rwanda. Now Niyonshuti is about to start his first pro European event at the Tour of Ireland. [nid:96865]
American Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Slipstream) won the second stage of the Eneco Tour on Thursday, further consolidating his hold on the overall lead. Farrar won a field sprint at the end of a 178.1km stage from Ardooie to Brussels, adding to the sprint win he earned in stage 1 on Wednesday. Farrar outsprinted Yauheni Hutarovich (Française des Jeux) and Columbia-HTC’s Edvald Boasson Hagen for the win in Brussels. The stage was marked by several breakaway attempts, the last of which was reeled in just 500 meters from the line.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with Felt Bicycles has issued a voluntary recall of about 1450 2007/2008 F1X Cyclocross bicycles. The bicycle’s fork steerer tube can break, causing the rider to lose control, fall and suffer injuries. There have been six reports of these forks breaking with minor injuries reported in two of the incidents. The recall includes all 2007/2008 Felt F1X Cyclocross Bicycles. These bicycles are available in Semi-Matte Black and have aluminum frames with carbon fiber forks with aluminum steerer tubes.
Dear Explainer, Why do doping control results take so long as compared to my own tests ordered by my doctor, for which I get results back in less than a week? Time and time again, results are announced many weeks after the control. I would have guessed with anything as high profile as the Giro or the Tour, results could be turned around in 48 hours. Why so long? I am also curious how cyclists can maintain their innocence even after both "A" and "B" samples show positive. It seems to me that a lab result is a lab result and if it shows dirty how can they argue?
Tour de France winner Alberto Contador will not race this weekend at the GP Ouest France-Plouay. According to Astana spokesman Philippe Maertens, Contador has come down with a cold and will not participate in what was expected to be his final major race of the 2009 season. “He has a cold. He has no voice. He was not on the bike for a week,” Maertens told VeloNews. “It would be useless for him to start.”
There only thing certain about Alexander Vinokourov’s immediate future and whether or not he’ll race the Vuelta a España is that it is all far from certain. Despite some reports that Vinokourov has the go-ahead to start the Vuelta next weekend with Astana, nothing is settled yet for the returning Kazakh rider. According to Astana team spokesman Philippe Maertens, paperwork that would ease the way for Vinokourov’s return to the Astana fold is complete, but there’s still no final agreement between all the major players.
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Recent injuries have put GC-threat Juanjo Cobo's Vuelta a España in doubt. The 28-year-old Fuji-Servetto leader crashed during training last week ahead of the Trittico Lombardo, resulting in serious abrasions and bruises to his arms and hands. Later X-rays revealed a fracture in the Spaniard's right shoulder. Despite doctors’ orders to stay off the bike for three weeks, Cobo is still hoping to start the Vuelta. Team manager Joxean Fernández included Cobo as part of the starting nine for the Vuelta, with Iker Camaño as the first replacement.