The UCI’s Licensing Commission has renewed the four-year ProTour license of the Italian Lampre team and a granted a one-year renewal to Milram, but denied the renewal applications of Bbox Bouygues Telecom and Cofidis. The license commission "has decided not to award a UCI ProTour license to the French teams Cofidis ... and Bbox Bouygues Telecom," the UCI said, without offering details for the refusal.
American national time trial champion Jessica Phillips didn’t win the elite women’s world time trial championship last week. She didn’t take a medal, or even finish in the top 10. And, designated as an alternate, she didn’t participate in Saturday’s road race, either. Yet just rolling out of the start ramp of the world time trial championship wearing national team colors was a victory in itself for the Aspen, Colorado, native. She finished 14th out of 41 starters, 2:11 behind the winner, U.S. teammate Kristin Armstrong.
Dear Readers, As many of you know, I spent last week in Las Vegas, attending the Interbike trade show and the outdoor demo that preceded it. While my tech department colleagues and I have been posting stories and photos since the start, we’ll be doing more over the next few days. There was just so much there, it’s hard to offer even a glimpse at everything that struck us in a single story, or even two or three. Looking through my files last night, I spotted some interesting items I’d like to share with you today.
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Ryan Iddings (Lapiere) survived a hard-charging chase in the men's elite field and Kristi Berg (Redline Bicycles) dominated the women as the Seattle Cyclocross Series (SCX) kicked off in Washington this weekend. Sun, warmth and a dry, fast course greeted racers to start the largest 'cross series in Washington. Some hard core 'crossers felt a little guilty enjoying the sunshine on race day; but we all knew the rain and mud would be here soon enough so we might as well break out the lawn chairs and soak up the last bit of summer in Seattle with 650 of our closest racing buddies.
David Espinoza (Penn State), Colleen Hayduk (Kutztown University of Pennsylvania) and David Williams (Marian University) turned in strong performances during the USA Cycling National Collegiate Track Championships, held last Thursday through Saturday at the Valley Preferred Cycling Center in Trexlertown, Pennsylvania. Racing started Thursday at the former Lehigh Valley Velodrome with Espinoza winning the kilometer meter time trial in 1:06:54, 2.3 seconds faster than runner-up Matthew Fox (Midwestern State).
Last year at Vermont's Green Mountain Cyclocross Weekend, Dan Timmerman (Richard Sachs/RGM Watches/Radix) made everyone take notice when he was the only rider to keep in sight of winner Jamey Driscoll. Now the Richard Sachs rider has ascended to the mountain top by sweeping the weekend and taking the overall series lead. Timmerman took advantage of his front-row position to establish a lead on the first lap of each day. Saturday quickly turned into a battle for second place, as no one was able to keep the Ithaca, New York, rider is sight. [nid:98800]
Despite its late-season date, a near-conflict with the Interbike expo and ’cross races around the country, the first-ever TD Bank Mayor’s Cup attracted a deep field of domestic pros and regional elite riders, to race through the warren-like streets of Boston’s government district. Of course, the purse — $40,000 split evenly between men and woman – may have given some racers a little extra incentive to extend their season.
The future is bright for both U.S. men’s and women’s cycling. That’s according to USA Cycling’s director of athletics Jim Miller, who says there’s enough talent to assure more success by American riders on the road at the top levels of the sport. Miller says there’s plenty of firepower to fill the void left by the retirement of Olympic and world champion Kristin Armstrong on the women’s side as well as a bounty of prospects moving up from the U23 to the pro ranks on the men’s side.
Interbike 2009 is officially over, in the books. We at VeloNews escaped Sin City without injury, and have just a few more tech tidbits and quick looks to share. Look for more detailed reporting on certain items in the months to come as we get to test them out for ourselves.
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Katie Compton (Planet Bike) made it two-for-two on Sunday at the Planet Bike Cup, once again riding Luna’s Katerina Nash and the rest of the women’s field right off her wheel. Belgian Erwin Vervecken (Revor-Baboco-Champion System) came out on top in the men’s race, which doubled as round 2 of the U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross. Compton attacked Nash mid-race, going to the front after and drilling it to win by nearly a minute. As in Saturday’s race, Nash hung on for second with teammate Georgia Gould third.
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Spain and Italy have forged a healthy rivalry in the men's world championship road race, with four wins apiece this past decade. But both were left behind to watch on Sunday as Cadel Evans soloed away to claim the latest rainbow jersey on offer. Thanks to Paolo Bettini in 2006 and 2007, and Alessandro Ballan in 2008, Italy has been the team to beat of late. Damiano Cunego, second to Ballan last year, was hoping to make it four straight wins (Mario Cipollini also won for Italy in 2002).
Cadel Evans erased a career of close calls with a daring attack on the final climb to drop a super-star group of riders to win the 2009 world road cycling championships. The Aussie climbed out of the saddle in the closing kilometers of the 259km epic battle to win the most important victory of his career. No one can say Evans doesn’t attack anymore. “This is for all the critics I’ve had this season,” Evans said. “I have seven worlds medals from mountain biking at home, but none of them are gold. People say I never win, but today I won something pretty big.”
The UCI has unveiled a new educational program that will complement its ever-increasing anti-doping arsenal. UCI president Pat McQuaid said more than 14,000 doping controls were conducted across all disciplines in 2009 and said the fight against doping must include prevention as well as detection and enforcement. Dubbed “True Champion or Cheat,” an interactive video course will be required viewing for nearly 1,000 registered professionals and is aimed at prevention and awareness among pros and amateurs alike.
Bob Stapleton, the influential boss of the Columbia-HTC team, says the UCI’s plan to ban race radio is a step backward for cycling. The UCI management committee voted Wednesday to phase out the use of radio communication between riders and sport directors within elite men’s road racing in the coming seasons, a decision that’s quickly drawing the ire of many within the peloton. “I think it’s like driving a car looking in the rear-view mirror,” Stapleton said. “I think the basic premise is wrong. It’s just not taking into account how racing works.”
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For the entire elite women’s race, and half of the men’s, the title sponsor of the Planet Bike Cup looked poised to sweep the top step of both podiums. Held in near summer heat on Saturday at the Angell Park Speedway in the Madison suburb of Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, and doubling as the opening weekend of the sixth annual U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross, the Planet Bike Cup was looking like a two-fer for the home team until the dream scenario quickly went awry under a rolled tubular tire.
The U23 worlds race is always an unpredictable affair, but French phenomenon Romain Sicard did what just about everyone thought he would. Fresh off winning the Tour de l’Avenir in dominating fashion ahead of a strong U.S. team earlier this month, Sicard surged away from a fractured peloton with two laps to go in the 13-lap, 179.4km course Saturday to win France’s first U23 world title since competition began in 1996.
The cycling future of the Astana team, whose star rider is Tour de France champion Alberto Contador, could be in doubt, UCI president Pat McQuaid said Saturday. Astana, whose ProTour license is currently under review, is hoping to impress the UCI licensing commission to avoid the revocation of the final year of its ProTour status. However, McQuaid said there were several areas of concern.
Kristin Armstrong’s farewell race ended with an exclamation point as she powered into the winning, four-rider move in Saturday’s elite women’s road race. Tatiana Guderzo (Italy) – a bronze medalist in the road in the Beijing Olympic Summer Games – attacked on the final lap and soloed to victory 19 seconds clear of a three-rider chase group featuring Armstrong in the 124km race under cloudy skies in Mendrisio.
In what’s no surprise, the Italian and Spanish teams are leading the odds to win Sunday’s elite men’s world title. Just as they have for the past decade, Italy and Spain bring deep squads with two or three options to win the season’s most important one-day race on the calendar. Leading Sunday for Italy will be last year’s runner-up Damiano Cunego, with defending champion Alessandro Ballan and Filippo Pozzato waiting in the shadows. Spain comes with Alejandro Valverde, with Olympic gold medalist Samuel Sánchez and three-time world champ Óscar Freire ready to step up.
UCI president Pat McQuaid said sport’s international governing body can do nothing to stop Alejandro Valverde from racing the world championships road race on Sunday. Valverde is currently serving a two-year ban in Italy handed down by the country's Olympic Committee (CONI). Despite admitting he believed Valverde was involved in the Operación Puerto doping scandal that erupted in Spain in May 2006, McQuaid said he would not extend that ban worldwide until the International Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rules on two appeals later this year.
Fabian Cancellara is dreaming of carving a place for himself in the pages of cycling history by becoming the first rider to ever win the world championship in both the road race and time trial in the same year. After dominating Thursday’s world time trial championship, winning his third rainbow jersey in the discipline in four years, the Swiss powerhouse is audaciously proclaiming his intentions of taking aim at the world road title.
With its RZR wheelset, Reynolds has plenty of buzz in its booth at Interbike. But the company’s forthcoming 92.2 rim is equally as remarkable, as the carbon model redefines how a clincher tire mounts to a rim. Paul Lew works as a consultant for Reynolds. In addition to his cycling experience, Lew has built unmanned flying vehicles. His inspiration for the 92.2 came from aerospace designs. “No aircraft wheel uses a hook,” Lew said, referring to the inner lip of a clincher rim that typically holds a clincher tire in place.
The Tour of Ireland will return to a five-day schedule in 2010, organizers announced Friday. The dates for the 2010 edition were confirmed at the UCI Congress in Mendrisio, Switzerland, this week. The dates for the five-day tour are 18th to 22nd August 2010.
Unlike a grand tour or a classic, or any other major annual bike race, the world road championships is the sport’s only prestigious event that has the whole world looking on — and the organizers have only one chance to do it right. That’s because the Union Cycliste International selects a different country (and city) every year to be the host.
Garmin-Slipstream’s Bradley Wiggins has disputed reports that he is looking for ways to get out of the final year of his contract with the American-sponsored team. Responding to interpretations of an earlier BBC report that implied that staying with Garmin-Slipstream is unlikely to boost his hopes of finishing on the Tour de France podium next year, Wiggins said he has no plans to leave his team. “I have a lot of love for Garmin and these stories are not my thoughts on Garmin,” Wiggins said in an email to VeloNews.
Markus Storck has long wanted 2005 Ford Ironman Hawaii Triathlon World Champion Faris Al-Sultan to race on his bikes, and when the sale of Cannondale opened up the opportunity to put his fellow German on a Storck, he quickly got to work. Even while working on prototyping a new electric bike and constructing a new building, Storck came up with the Aero 2. “I got no sleep for four months,” says Storck, “and now I need a vacation.”
We got a first look at a new 2010 DT Swiss wheel line in Germany, at the Eurobike show. Like so many things over there, we ran out of time to have a good look and get the story out. Fortunately, DT Swiss is well supported here in the States with a U.S. office, and they put on a great show here at Interbike as well. DT Swiss’s “Tricon” line includes one road wheelset and one mountain bike wheelset. Tricon technology refers to a complete system of hub, spokes and rim, which are not sold as separate components, only built into a complete wheel.
Rabobank sprinter Theo Bos has signed a two-year contract with the Cervélo TestTeam. The 26-year-old Dutchman and the team made the announcement at the world road championships in Mendrisio, Switzerland. Bos originally made his mark as a track racer, earning five world titles and a silver medal in the matched sprint at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Bos made the move to road racing in 2009, winning several events including the Ronde van Noord-Holland and the Omloop der Kempen.
Running unopposed, UCI president Pat McQuaid was reelected to another four-year term Friday following a UCI congress held in conjunction with the world road race championships. The 60-year-old Irishman was the only candidate for the post, which he took over from Dutchman Hein Verbruggen in 2005. A former professional racer in the 1970s, McQuaid has also worked as a cycling coach, race organizer and president of Ireland's national federation. During his tenure McQuaid has worked hard to help globalize the sport, especially in Asia, the Americas and Oceania.
Australian Cadel Evans said he has virtually no chance of winning cycling's coveted rainbow jersey on home soil next year when the world road race championships are held in Geelong. Evans, who finished runner-up in the Tour de France in 2007 and 2008, is among a handful of contenders looking to end Spain and Italy's domination of the competition's road race here on Sunday. And he feels the profile of the 13.8km circuit that the peloton will race 19 times for a total distance of 262.2km suits his climbing talents better than the 2010 course.
Vuelta a España stage-winner Ryder Hesjedal has agreed to stay with Garmin-Slipstream through the 2011 season. “I’ve signed to stay with the team for two more years. The team has been pleased with me and I am very happy with the team,” Hesjedal told VeloNews. “It was pretty simple. We were always on the same page. We were in agreement early in the year to work out an agreement.”
Eric Barlevav won the final race of the USA Crits series Thursday night in Las Vegas, with his Mountain Khakis teammate Mark Hekman winning the field sprint behind to claim the series title. To put the cherry on top, Mountain Khakis won the team overall prize for the 2009 USA Crits. “It’s huge to win here,” said Barlevav. “USA Crits was definitely a big goal for our team. We tried to win all the races, and we tried to win the overall, so this is great for us.”
Kona wanted what all full-suspension bike manufacturers want in a trailbike, a platform that does everything well. But the solution isn't always so simple.
With hundreds of brands crammed into the Sands Convention Center, there are plenty of products — ranging from the humbug to the showstopper, and from the truly helpful to the truly useless. We found three companies with some innovative improvements to current standards and solutions to common problems. Take a look.
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Riding the momentum of Kristin Armstrong’s gold-medal performance at Wednesdays’ world time trial championship, the U.S. women’s road team is hoping to extract a little more hardware out of the UCI world road championship on Saturday.
“Thirty seconds!” yells the UCI official and instantaneously you see the fidgeting of fingers on hoods and legs clipped into pedals. In cyclocross, the sprint is at the beginning of the race, rarely the end. So racers get their bodies ready for that first shock to their systems from the word go. Legs bouncing all around in fast-twitch anticipation of the gun, eyes focused forward or on the wheel or course in front of them, heart rates instinctively racing without even having pedaled a stroke.
It was oh-so-close for Tom Zirbel in the elite men’s world time trial championship Thursday, who rode to an impressive fourth place against the best chrono-men in the world. The 30-year-old had a front-row seat in his first European race of his career to grab the “hot seat” in the 49.8km time trial after posting a time of 1:00:42.86 (49.214kph). That blazing pace stood for nearly three hours as rider after rider failed to knock him down.
Maybe Britain’s David Millar was right in saying that he’d “rather race for the win in the road race than second in the time trial" at the world championships this week in Mendrisio, Switzerland. Like Millar, most observers figured that Fabian Cancellara was a shoo-in to win the world time trial title on his home turf. And it wasn’t even a contest. Cancellara earned his third world time trial champion’s jersey, blazing through three laps on a 16.6km circuit near Mendrisio in just 57:55.
Kristin Armstrong put an exclamation point on the final week of her racing career with an emphatic victory in Wednesday’s elite women’s time trial. The Olympic champion whipped old foes and a new generation of faces by nearly one minute to retire with the rainbow jersey. But she’s not done yet. Armstrong will compete in Saturday’s road race, promising an exciting finish to her elite career. VeloNews European correspondent Andrew Hood caught up with Armstrong following her emotional victory:
Kristin Armstrong won her second world time trial title on Wednesday. Casey Gibson took a closer look at the bike she used to get another rainbow jersey.
The UCI management committee, meeting at the world championships in Switzerland, has voted to phase out the use of two-way radios in all aspects of road racing. Accepting a UCI road commission recommendation, committee members agreed to broaden a ban that already applies to junior and under-23 categories to all others, including the top tier of professional riders.
The women's podium repeated its 2008 order at CrossVegas Wednesday evening, as thousands of spectators saw a display of raw power and consistency. Later, under the lights at a soccer complex on the outskirts of the city, new faces emerged from the tactical men's race, frustrating an elite group of chasers. In both races, domestic riders prevailed against European challengers in this city that is so uniquely — if sometimes regrettably — American.
The doors of the Sands Expo and Convention Center opened on Wednesday, kicking off the 2009 Interbike trade show in Las Vegas. Our tech crew spent most of the day wandering the aisles intent upon finding new items that might catch the interest of VeloNews readers. But while new bikes, new wheels and other high-end components are the big draw, tech writer Lennard Zinn went looking for things that have a more utilitarian purpose, many of which can be used on a daily commute or training ride.
The rumor that Interbike 2009 might be smaller than in years past didn’t seem to hold up on opening day — there was quite a crowd queued up at 8:45 a.m. for the show's 9 a.m. opening at the Sands Expo and Convention Center, and we’re seeing plenty of cool new products in every category.
For most cyclocross pros — almost all of whom make their living racing mountain bikes or road bikes during the "off season" — CrossVegas is an odd confection: one of the most visible races of the North American season, with arguably the best field. Yet it comes so early in the season, and is on such an unusual course, that many racers enter it with something of a hit-or-miss attitude. "It's like the Tour of California for cyclocross," Jeremy Powers (Cannondale-cyclocrossworld.com) said Wednesday.
While most domestic road racers view either the Tour of Missouri or the USA Crits series finale in Las Vegas as the end of their long season, a select few are extending it through this weekend for the inaugural TD Bank Mayor's Cup Professional Criterium, held Saturday in Boston.
The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) has announced a major shake-up of the world road race championship program as of 2012, which will be held in the Dutch province of Limburg. Limburg topped rival bids from Genoa in Italy and the Belgian town of Hooglede-Gits on Wednesday to win the right to host the 2012 world championships. The 2012 competition is set to begin with a trade team time trial, and throughout the week will also host the junior men's and women's road races and time trials, which have been held separately from the elite world championships for the past four years.
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Graham Watson captured Kristin Armstrong's return to the top of the podium on Wednesday during the elite women's time trial at the world road championships in Switzerland.
Dear Explainer, I always end up mumbling and changing the subject when someone asks me to explain the ProTour licensing process, especially this time of the year when new teams are forming and seem to be vying for position. Could you explain how this licensing process works? How many Pro Tour teams can there be? Who decides which teams those are? On what basis is that decision made? Jacque Van Audenhove Knoxville, Tennessee Dear Jacque,
The days are numbered on her racing career, but Kristin Armstrong was not feeling nostalgic Wednesday in her last major time trial of her career. Racing with the same intensity that delivered her the Olympic gold medal last year in Beijing, Armstrong powered to the rainbow jersey in the elite women’s time trial world championship Wednesday in Mendrisio, Switzerland. The reigning Olympic time trial gold medalist ripped the 26.8km course in 35 minutes, 26 seconds (45.4kph) to claim her second world title in four years and her fourth career worlds competition medal.
Graham Watson was on course and shooting during the under-23 men's time trial world championships in Mendrisio.
Oh yeah! Santa Cruz and Fisher's carbon, dually 29ers are the current supermodels of the mountain bike world, but what are you overlooking when you lust over these sexy beasts?
None other than Lance Armstrong tips Jack Bobridge as a name to watch for the future. The 20-year-old Aussie railed to the U23 men’s time trial world title Wednesday in Mendrisio to prove that Armstrong’s endorsement is deserved. “You couldn’t ask for much more than that for Lance to mention your name as an up-and-comer,” Bobridge said after dominating the 65-rider field. “It gives me extra motivation. I think I caught his eye a little bit and he’s been following my progress. I met him at the Tour Down Under this year and we had a chance to train together.”
No one can ever accuse Spanish veteran José Vicente "Chente" García Acosta of being a slacker. The Caisse d’Epargne rider completed his 25th grand tour Sunday with the conclusion of the 64th Vuelta a España. And that number is just from racing the Vuelta a España and the Tour de France. Somewhat surprisingly, García Acosta has never raced a Giro d’Italia since turning pro in 1995.
Alejandro Valverde doesn’t want any surprises from the Italians and will not sleep in Italy during this week’s world championships as planned. According to the Spanish daily AS, Valverde and possibly other members of the elite men’s road team will sleep in a hotel in Switzerland rather than with the rest of the Spanish national team at a hotel already reserved in Italy.
A special request by Cannondale pulled several of us out to Interbike’s Outdoor Demo at an uncomfortably early hour on Monday and then to a “secret location” billed Area 88 — actually a local self-storage unit — via vintage Mercedes Unimog to see a “proof of concept” prototype of the manufacturer’s Simon suspension fork. The Simon is a computer-controlled, electronically damped suspension fork, a project without a specific release date. Cannondale engineer Stanley Song has poured five years of undivided attention into the project.
After a day of riding road bikes at the Interbike Outdoor Demo on Monday, I hit the dirt on Tuesday to check out some new innovations on the mountain bike side. The Santa Cruz Tallboy is big 29er news, as it is a completely carbon full suspension 29er with 100mm (four inches of travel) and the frame weighs only five pounds (size M). Tallboys cost $2350 for the frame ($4700 for the SPX model with Shimano XT that I tested) and come even in an XXL size that fits me with a nearly 26-inch top tube.
USA’s Jeff Louder is a last-minute scratch from the U.S. world championship team because he has come down with the swine flu H1N1 virus. The BMC racer didn’t feel well and visited a doctor, who confirmed the diagnosis.
Küat, Lezyne and Trigon may not be huge names in the bike industry, but they've got some cool stuff. We checked out the latest at Outdoor Demo.
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From Banshee Bikes and Bell Sports to WTB and Xtracycle, more than 120 companies exhibited their wares at Outdoor Demo in the two days preceding Interbike. In the desert heat of Boulder City, just east of Las Vegas, thousands of bike shop owners and their crews wandered from pop-tent to pop-tent, scoping out the latest and greatest to take out for test rides on the singletrack and roads. Most of the bikes and gear on display fell within the standard confines of road and mountain. But, being a bike show, there is always some tomfoolery afoot, and the odd vendor hawking a unique product.
The UCI's world time trial and road championships are slated to begin on Wednesday in Mendrisio, Switzerland, but riders from all over are already plying the roads in preparation.
Photographer Casey Gibson spent Tuesday on the time trial course as riders tested their legs and adjusted their bikes for two days of racing against the clock.
Elite women and U23 men will race Wednesday, with the elite men taking center stage on Thursday.
Road racing begins Saturday with the elite women and U23s, and the elite men’s road race wrapping up events on Sunday.
When American Tejay Van Garderen rolls out of the start house at the under-23 world time trial championship on Wednesday in Mendrisio, Switzerland, he’ll do so as a medal favorite. The Colorado native, who spent 2008 and 2009 riding with the Rabobank Continental Professional team and will join Columbia-HTC next year, is fresh off a second-place overall finish at the Tour de l’Avenir (the “tour of the future”), the under-23 stage race run by Tour de France organizers ASO and viewed by many as a precursor to future grand tour contenders.
Alejandro Valverde faces an uncertain future following his breakthrough win at the Vuelta a España on Sunday in Madrid. Known as El Imbatido (the unbeaten one) since his amateur days, Valverde finally won a grand tour after finishing second, third, fourth and fifth in the Vuelta. But the victory that should lead the way to more success could simply be an empty triumph ahead of what is anything but clear sailing for the 29-year-old Spanish rider.
I was amazed to see the expansion of Las Vegas’s bike trail system; you can rely on bike paths most of the 40km from The Strip to Boulder City, the site of Interbike’s pre-show Outdoor Demo. The trail is longer than that, even, meandering down to Lake Mead, much of it in drainage sluices for a skate-park-like ride. It then continues unabated along the lake in a giant complete loop back on itself to eastern Las Vegas. Amazingly progressive, it is an enormous investment in bicycle infrastructure.
Patrick Lefevere, the general manager of QuickStep, said Tuesday he is in "constant contact" with Alberto Contador, discussing the possibility that the Tour de France winner might ride for the team in 2010. "For now we are waiting,” Lefevere told the Belgian newspaper Gazet van Antwerpen. “We really have to see if the Union Cycliste Internationale takes any action on the ProTour license of the Astana team. If the team’s license is revoked, there is a good possibility that we can recruit Contador."
Glaring sun, hot temperatures and a stiff wind didn’t snuff enthusiasm for the opening day of the Interbike On Dirt Demo. I managed a couple of mountain bike rides, but spent most of my time checking out road gear. Here are some highlights of the day, which are by no means comprehensive, but stay tuned — we have a whole week of tech reporting still to come. For more on some of the mountain bike finds by my colleague Matt Pacocha, check out Singletrack.com.
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