Three seasons after standing atop the Tour de France podium — and subsequently sitting out of competition on suspension — Floyd Landis is back in the pro peloton. He won’t be racing internationally. His return will be overshadowed by returning riders Lance Armstrong and Ivan Basso. But contributing to the designation of 2009 as the “year of the comeback” is the return of Landis, only the third American to stand atop the Tour podium in Paris.
Andalucia's Xavier Tondo won the fifth stage of Argentina's Tour de San Luis on Friday, a 205-kilometer route from San Francisco del Montea de Oro to Merlo (Mirador del Sol).
Allan Davis has never felt so good. The only rider to have ridden every edition of the race, the 28-year-old Queenslander now finds himself in the enviable position of becoming the eleventh champion of the Tour Down Under and the sixth Australian to do so. After two seasons he’d probably rather forget, he finally wrenched himself free of the mudded waters of Operación Puerto to start 2009 afresh with a new team, Quick Step, and clear of any wrongdoing.
Reigning Olympic road champion Samuel Sánchez is keeping his goals close to home in 2009. Instead of making a run at improving on his seventh place performance in last year’s Tour de France (now sixth, following Bernard Kohl’s disqualification), the Euskaltel-Euskadi rider will instead focus on the Vuelta al País Vasco and make a run for overall victory at the Vuelta a España. His lone goal that will take him beyond the friendly roads of Spain will be the world championships on a challenging course in Mendrisio, Switzerland, in late September.
Belgium’s Quick Step team, which lost its top Italian rider Paolo Bettini to retirement, released a 27-strong roster for the 2009 season on Friday.
Bettini may be missing but Quick Step have been strengthened by the arrival of French rider Sylvain Chavenel, one of 11 fresh faces on Patrick Lefevere's team that picked up 58 wins in 2008.
One rider not among that new intake is German Stefan Shumacher.
Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong on Friday gave the thumbs-up to the imminent return to the peloton of disgraced former teammate Floyd Landis. Landis, who once rode with Armstrong at U.S. Postal, won the 2006 Tour de France but was stripped of that title and suspended for two years after a sample from the race's 17th stage tested positive for testosterone. Next month the 33-year-old will mark his return to road racing at the Tour of California.
Doubling up on his victory two days before and gaining a valuable 10 second time bonus Friday in Angaston, Quick Step’s Allan Davis has given himself a realistic shot of going one better than last year in his bid to become the sixth Australian winner of the Tour Down Under.
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It hasn’t been all that often in Carlos Sastre’s long and durable career that he was the absolute center of attention. The 33-year-old Spanish climber was typically floating just off center-stage, not quite in the hot glare of the spotlight that beamed down on former CSC captains such as Tyler Hamilton, Ivan Basso or the ascendant Schleck brothers. In Sunday’s team introduction at his new home at Cervélo Test Team, it was the smiling and humble Sastre who was introduced last as the centerpiece of an ambitious new squad.
Sizes: 1.2mm Price: $36.95 to $69.00 Web site: www.powercordz.com Power Cordz now offers 1.2mm derailleur cable sets and a complete cable system. The difference between 1.2mm Cordz and traditional 1.2mm steel cables is that Cordz are made from Zylon, a fiber that Io Dupont suggests is as strong as steel yet reduces weight by 75 percent. In terms of compatibility, Derailleur Cordz are just that — fully compatible with Shimano, SRAM, Campagnolo, and any standard 4mm housing.
Former winners Michael Rogers and Stuart O'Grady are shaping up to repeat their past triumphs on the Tour Down Under, which ends Sunday. The six-stage race which opens the Pro Tour cycling season has famously been won by both sprinters and stage race specialists in the last 10 years. O'Grady — the winner in 1999 and 2001 — and 2002 champion Rogers have in recent years kept a low profile in the race, or failed to show up at all. But on Thursday they showed their determination to challenge for the ochre jersey.
The International Court of Arbitration for Sport has rejected Michael Rasmussen’s challenge that his two-year suspension for a doping-related offense was too severe. The sporting world’s final court of appeals ruled that a two-year ban originally handed down by Monaco’s national cycling federation was appropriate and that Rasmussen’s request that it be lessened was not justified.
David Cañada said Thursday he is aiming for a return to competitive cycling in 2009, his recovery from melanoma permitting. "I'm feeling much better than I ever imagined and I would like to be able to ride at the end of the season if I feel that I'm well enough physically," the Spanish cyclist told a press conference in Zaragoza, Spain. Cañada was treated for a melanoma in 2007 and had cancerous growths removed from his left arm last October, since when he has undergone a course of treatment.
German sprinter André Greipel will likely face three months on the sidelines after a dramatic crash in the third stage of Australia’s Tour Down Under on Thursday. Greipel, the defending champion who won four stages last year, dramatically crashed into a motorbike parked on the side of the road early in the 136km stage from Unley to Victor Harbor. As he hit the ground, his bike flew back into the peloton, taking down more riders.
Johan Museeuw has finally fessed up to taking the banned blood booster EPO during the final year of his career. The Belgian classics specialist has revealed details of his doping ways in a new book, entitled, “Museeuw Speaks,” released this week which covers the period from September 4, 2003, when his home was raided by Belgian authorities, to December 16, 2008, with a decision by the courts that led to a 10-month suspended sentence and a 2500-euro fine.
What appeared to be a relatively innocuous stage was turned on its head Thursday in Victor Harbor. Courtesy of a howling westerly wind and some of the world’s best riders, a star-studded break created havoc in the Tour Down Under and threatened to leave no more than a dozen riders in contention to win the race overall.
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Check out CyclingTips's author page.
Spanish rider David Cañada is the latest professional rider fending off a brush with melanoma, but his case has taken a turn for the worse. While riders such Magnus Backstedt and world time trial champion Amber Neben caught the aggressive form of skin cancer in its early stages, the Fuji-Servetto rider is being forced to postpone his 2009 debut after undergoing more aggressive treatment.
Team Bissell's Tom Zirbel was second in Wednesday's third stage of Argentina's Tour de San Luis, a 19.8km individual time trial.
The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority announced Wednesday that the International Court of Arbitration for Sport has ordered an increase in an earlier suspension handed down to Nathan O’Neill. Following a hearing in June of last year, O’Neill received a 15-month suspension for testing positive for the stimulant Phentermine at the 2007 Tour of Elk Grove, in Illinois. A hearing panel had found that O’Neill had not intentionally used the drug for competition and gave him a sentence lighter than the usual two-year ban for a first-time offense.
Scores of top names are heading to Spain in February and March to log some early season race miles ahead of the season’s first major races. Officials at the Mallorca Challenge (February 8-12) and the Vuelta al Castilla y León (March 23-27) announced that some of cycling’s biggest stars are expected to attend their respective races. Among the top names heading to Mallorca include Robbie McEwen (Katusha), Beijing Olympic gold medalist Samuel Sánchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and 2006 Tour de France winner Oscar Pereiro and Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne).
Cycling chief Pat McQuaid on Wednesday welcomed a Spanish judge's decision to reopen the Operación Puerto inquiry into blood doping. Operación Puerto, Spain's most far-reaching doping investigation, was put on ice last September but a Madrid court ordered it to be restarted this month. Public prosecutors, the Spanish Sports Council, the Spanish cycling federation, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and the World Anti-Doping Agency were among those calling for the probe to be re-opened.
Australian journalist Benjamin Fitzmaurice got a look at the underside of Lance Armstrong's Trek Madone at the Tour Down Under this week, and saw something unexpected: "The bike has some letters and numbers on the bottom bracket," Fitzmaurice said. "The guy from Trek said that he would show us but could not tell us what they meant. When we shot the bottom bracket a guy from Astana staff came rushing over to question what we were doing ..."
As we headed to the January 18 World Cup in Roubaix, France, I was excited to race again after 10 days of good weather and training rides in Spain. The race has a great atmosphere at one of the most special cycling venues in Europe.
The Gulf state of Qatar will launch a women's tour next month, bringing together 15 teams, including six national squads, and 90 riders. The women's Tour of Qatar will run February 8-10, following the men's tour, which runs from February 1-6. Although 90 riders from 14 countries on five continents will gather for the three-stage race, there will be no local riders competing. "We hope to gradually develop women's sport in Qatar," said Sheikh Khalid Bin Ali Abdulla al-Thani, head of the Qatari cycling federation.
Ivan Basso says he’s not worried about Spanish officials possibly re-opening the Operación Puerto blood-doping investigation because he’s “already paid his price.” Basso, making his season debut this week in the Tour de San Luís in Argentina, told the Spanish daily MARCA that he’s already turned the page after serving a racing ban.
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Following a difficult year that saw his career aspirations go off the boil, Quick Step’s Queenslander Allan Davis found his form at exactly the right time, flying up the final 500 meters in Wednesday’s finish in Stirling to capture both the second stage and race lead in the 2009 Tour Down Under.
Lucas Sebastian Haedo, an Argentinian who races for the American Colavita team, won stage 2 of his home country's Tour de San Luis on Tuesday. Haedo held off Nazaret Prado of Brazil and Alfredo Lucero of Argentina to win the 174km stage from San Luis/La Toma to Mirador Del Potrero.
Santa Cruz is unveiling its latest cross-country machine, a carbon fiber Blur XC, which looks to be the fastest endurance race bike the brand has ever built.
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.
Lance Armstrong may have to wait months before displaying the top-end race speed that was characteristic of his seven-year domination of the Tour de France.
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He said last year Australia was where he found himself. Facing sponsorship uncertainties, Columbia-High Road’s André Greipel went on to a stellar 12-win season that was only topped by his teammate Mark Cavendish. And Tuesday in Mawson Lakes, Germany’s ‘Gorilla’ picked up where he left off, the defending champion sailing straight down the middle of the road to capture the opening road stage of the 2009 Tour Down Under and find himself in familiar surroundings in the leader’s ochre jersey.
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Editor's Note: Tom LeCarner, VeloNews' copy editor, is an avid cyclist who has been unable to ride and train for most of 2008 because of knee pain. He is being treated at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine and using Specialized Body Geometry equipment and services at Specialized's expense, and reporting on his progress in regular columns. You can read LeCarner's previous columns here.
Sizes: 23c or 25c x 700c Weight: 240 or 280 grams Price: $45.99 Web site: www.panaracer.com Panaracer now sells a tire that is intended to be ideal for heavy training and racing on less than ideal surfaces. On the scale of durability versus speed, the new Extreme Duro is aimed right in the middle.
Spanish justice is to re-open the Operación Puerto probe into blood doping in cycling, Spain's biggest doping investigation, which a judge had left on file last September, a judicial source said Monday. A provincial court in Madrid on January 12 revoked its September decision to shelve the case because it said there were indications that an offense against public health laws had taken place, the source told AFP.
Italian Mattia Gavazzi (Diquigiovanni) won Monday's opening stage of Argentina's Tour de San Luis, holding off a charge by the Haedo brothers, Sebastian and Juan Jose. Juan Jose (Saxo Bank) was second on the stage, while his younger brother Sebastian (Colavita) was third in the sprint at the end of a 168.4 km stage from San Luis to Villa Mercedes.
Australian Michael Rogers is ready to put the pain of the past two seasons firmly behind him as he saddles up for the Tour Down Under with renewed dreams of success in 2009. A three-time world time-trial champion by the time he was 25, Rogers was hailed early in his career as a potential Tour de France winner. But in a dramatic 2007, a year after losing his coveted world crown to Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara, his career came to a shuddering halt. Injury, illness and a controversial career decision tested Rogers' morale.
It’s been almost nine years since Lance Armstrong made a journey this far south. Following a second Tour de France title that surprised no one after his ’99 comeback victory a year earlier, the Texan decided to skip the world road championships, a title he’d precociously won as a second-year pro way back in 1993, in favor of claiming a scalp he’d never taken but very much desired: an Olympic gold medal.
Despite earlier fears that the Rock Racing team would not meet the deadline to satisfy the requirements of its UCI Continental status, USA Cycling officials said that team has secured its license for 2009. “It went down to the wire but Rock Racing finally fulfilled all of its obligations for registering as a UCI Continental Team in 2009,” USA Cycling chief operating officer Sean Petty confirmed in an email to VeloNews.
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Sizes: 20 gram syringe Price: $14.95 Web site: www.finishlineusa.com Chances are you paid top dollar for your bike and bike parts, and if not, it’s still valuable stuff. One way to extend the life of your bike and components is to keep them greased.
Lance Armstrong's participation at the Tour Down Under this week may have stolen the limelight from the local challengers, but he has also proved a welcome distraction. Armstrong's arrival in Australia following his decision in September to come out of a three-year retirement has prompted huge media interest across the country. The 37-year-old seven-time Tour de France winner will saddle up with 132 other riders for the first stage race of the season on Tuesday.
American Katie Compton (Spike Shooter) won the UCI World Cup in Roubaix, France, on Sunday, bringing her a step closer to a World Championship win in two weeks in the Netherlands.
Tour de France champion Carlos Sastre wants more than to defend his yellow jersey in 2009. The 33-year-old Spanish climber revealed an ambitious racing calendar that includes taking aim at the Giro d’Italia podium and the world championships as well as a defense of the Tour along the way. First up will be the Giro, where Sastre said he has some unfinished business with the season’s first grand tour.
The German Milram team will start the 2009 ProTour by sending a seven man team to the Tour Down Under. "It will be a difficult race,“ said MILRAM's Christian Knees. "The profile is challenging, there are a lot of highly-motivated riders and let's not forget Lance Armstrong's comeback. We have prepared ourselves well and will have a strong team at the start.“ The team's sprinters and all rounders use the first stage race of the year as a test. Knees will lead the team, supported by a misture of classics riders and sprinters. Team MILRAM for the Tour Down Under:
Tour de France icon Lance Armstrong has caused a surprise by including the Milan SanRemo one-day classic in his racing plans this season. As the 37-year-old gears up for a tilt at a possible Giro d'Italia/Tour de France double this summer, he also intends competing in some races to which, during his yellow jersey reign in 1999-2005, he paid scant attention. Milan-San Remo is Italy's biggest one-day classic and one of the five "monuments" of one-day racing alongside Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Paris-Roubaix, the Tour of Flanders and the Tour of Lombardy.
He may be residing at the Hilton this week, but besides being American, that’s all Lance Armstrong has in common with the party-going daughter of the famous hotel empire, who, on her recent New Year’s trip Down Under, had sand thrown in her face when she took a stroll on the sands of Bondi Beach.
The number 13 may not be so unlucky after all. Why? Because just after 8 p.m. Sunday evening in Adelaide, Australia, Katusha’s sprinting pocket rocket Robbie McEwen notched his thirteenth stage victory in the race by winning the Cancer Council Classic criterium, outsprinting Milram’s Wim Stroetinga and Graeme Brown of Rabobank.
Garmin-Slipstream has released pictures of its 2009 team kit, which continues with the team's trademark argyle styling, but removes restaurant chain Chipotle. Chipotle remains a team sponsor, but not a title sponsor. "We are still powered by Chipotle burritos, as we always have been. Chipotle is our secret training weapon," team director Jonathan Vaughters said. The Slipstream name returns to the title to emphasize the team owners' "focus on ethical sporting and developing the next generation of American champions," according to a team release.
China won the fourth leg of the UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classic series in Beijing on Sunday. The hosts claimed the team title after clinching three more silver medals on the third and final day of the competition. China hauled in a total of 108 points, boosting them to joint third place in the nation world cup standings on 210 points, behind Britain on 216 and leaders Germany on 262.
Lance Armstrong will publicize the results of the drug tests he has undergone since coming out of retirement last year, he said in Adelaide Saturday. Armstrong will release his recent test results with the support and endorsement of anti-doping scientist Don Catlin, Armstrong said. Later, Armstrong and his Astana team released a press release on the subject.
Tom Boonen liked his West Coast adventure so much last year he’s heading back for a second crack at the Tour of California. The Quick Step star told VeloNews that the hard week of racing at California last year helped pave the way for his second career Paris-Roubaix victory two months later. “(Organizers) didn’t even have to ask. I want to go back to California,” Boonen said during an interview Friday. “I really liked the race last year. The quality of racing and the fans were great.”
New Russian super-team Katusha and its eye-popping 15 million euro annual budget are safe from the broiling world economy – at least for now. That’s what Katusha team president Andrei Tchmil assured VeloNews during an interview Friday. “The situation is difficult right now in the world economy, but nothing has changed,” Tchmil said. “We have the support of our sponsors. We are moving forward with confidence.”
After nearly three years of legal wrangling, Spanish prosecutors may be ready to reopen the Operación Puerto doping investigation, which a judge had put on hold last September, El Pais newspaper reported Saturday. A provincial court in Madrid has ruled that there were indications of "an offence against public health" that merited renewed examination and had therefore called for the investigation to be re-activated, according to El Pais.
Riders from Lithuania, New Zealand, Malaysia and China collected valuable points at the UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classic in Beijing on Saturday. With just two months remaining before the World Championships in Poland, many leading athletes have chosen to skip a return to the 2008 Olympic venue for this fourth leg in the five-part series. The second day of competition at the Laoshan velodrome featured four men's and three women's events and the absence of star names gave an opportunity for some fresh faces to step onto the podium.
Up until a few weeks ago, my personal “camp” experiences had never gone very well. The one time I went to soccer camp, when I was 10, I cut my knee on a rock, got stitches, and later ended up on a flight for life helicopter when the whole mess got so infected one of my doctors said they might have to amputate. Fortunately the antibiotics kicked in and I got to keep my leg, but I never went back to soccer camp.
Alberto Contador admits that he initially had reservations about the return of Lance Armstrong, but says now he’s excited about sharing leadership duties with the seven-time Tour de France champion. Speaking to L’Equipe after receiving the Velo d’Or prize this week in Paris, Contador said having Armstrong around should only help him.
In the year of the comeback, Oscar Pereiro is also making his way back into the peloton following his harrowing crash in last year’s Tour de France. The 2006 Tour winner is set to make his season debut at the Tour Down Under, but he’s still nursing a few aches and pains from his fall off a narrow switchback over the Italian Alps.
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The image of a dozen riders trying to stay warm before a chilly training ride Thursday along Spain’s Mediterranean Coast doesn’t quite match up with the ambitious plans Katusha has laid out for 2009 and beyond. The ultimate goal of the Russian-backed Katusha team is nothing less than to deliver a Russian winner of the Tour de France, and do so from a Russian team. That’s heady stuff for any first-year team, but when the team’s backers include Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and an annual budget of 15 million euros, Katusha means business.
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Check out CyclingTips's author page.
Colors: Green, black, white, red, blue, grey Sizes: Small to Extra Large Price: $1999 (frame and rear shock) Web site: www.intensecycles.com Are you unsure about your mountain bike riding style? Are you a pure cross country rider or do you enjoy technical descents that are akin to a hardtailer’s hell? Perhaps you find yourself somewhere in the middle? If so, the new Spider 2 by Intense bridges the gap between trail and cross country.
It’s that time of the year. Riders in both the U.S. and in Europe are enjoying their respective training camps. Most professional road teams have had a couple already. Some teams divide it up by arranging one for media, one for the guys racing in the spring classics and one for the guys racing the tours. Well for me, it’s ten days in Alicante, Spain. After the really cold weather that was ripping through Europe the last couple weeks, I just had to get out of Dodge.
In what is one of his last appearances on the velodrome, Erik Zabel joined Leif Lampater in winning the 45th edition of the Six Days of Bremen in Germany late Tuesday. The 38-year-old Zabel competed in the penultimate track event of his career in Bremen, with plans to make his farewell appearance at the Six Days of Berlin, slated for January 22-27. Zabel and Lampater finished ahead of the German-Swiss duo Olaf Pollack and Franco Marvulle. Pollack suffered a heavy crash during the last laps of the race and was later diagnosed with a broken clavicle.
I’ve often mentioned the most cherished time of year for cyclists, the off-season. It’s what you think of in every difficult moment all season long. You’re suffering in some godforsaken Belgian gutter in mid-March and in the back of the head is already what lies six months ahead.
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Imagine you're 18, 19, or 20-some-odd years old. You’re one of the your nation’s best young cycling talents at a time when top professionals are scrambling to find teams, taking major pay cuts, or simply calling it quits. Then, one day, late in the season, you get a call from the son of the world’s greatest cyclist, ever. It’s Axel Merckx, a year post-retirement from his own formidable pro career. He wants to know if you’ll be on his new team.
Alberto Contador will follow a familiar path to the Tour de France and it won’t go through Italy. The 2008 Giro d’Italia champ reconfirmed that the Tour will be his top priority this season and that he will not defend his Giro crown. With Astana assured of a place in this year’s Tour, Contador said weeks ago he would not defend his Giro victory and instead focus on July.
Baden Cooke found himself between a Rock and a hard place last fall when a deal he thought he had struck with Rock Racing turned out to be no deal at all. The Australian sprinter says the American squad initially offered him a two-year contract and an opportunity to race in one-day classics and grand tours in Europe. But that contract somehow got lost in the shuffle, and Cooke says the deal that team owner Michael Ball eventually offered was considerably less lucrative — a six-month agreement for a much more modest domestic race schedule.
According to word around town, every hotel, motel, bed & breakfast and backpackers’ inn is booked out in Adelaide, under normal circumstances the fifth-largest city in Australia with a population just over the million mark and apart from its award-winning vineyards, no real world-quality to speak of. But in the few hours we've seen so far and for the next two weeks, Adelaide will be anything but normal. Because Lance is here.