Published December 20, 2010 10:19AM
Publisher Phil Wood died in Berkeley, California, earlier this month. He was 72. Wood was no relation to the bicycle component company that shares his name, but has his own place in cycling’s history. “In 1971, from an apartment overlooking Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, he founded Ten Speed Press. The publishing house was named for its first book, a bicycle repair manual called “Anybody’s Bike Book.” The next year, he published what would become the house’s most successful venture, a book for job-seekers called “What Color Is Your Parachute,” which has been republished every year since.” Ten Speed Press also published the popular Moosewood Cookbook. Ten Speed Press is now part of Random House’s Crown Publishing Group.
In a confusing and sad report out of Argentina, papers are reporting that Argentine cyclist Armando Borrajo killed himself Saturday, two days after being released from a kidnapper. Borrajo, 34, is an older brother of Alejandro and Anibal Borrajo, who race for the American Jamis-Sutter Home team. Some reports say Alejandro broke his arm trying to prevent the kidnapping. Please check back to VeloNews.com soon for more on this story.
Former world cycling champion Cadel Evans will gamble on a later than usual start to his season in 2011 in what could be his final chance to win the Tour de France, wrote the AAP. The 33-year-old has decided to skip the Tour Down Under in Adelaide in January and will make his first major appearance for the new season at the Montepaschi Strade Bianche race and then in the week-long Tirreno-Adriatico, both in Italy in March. “I’m working on a big 2011,” Evans said.
The start of the 2013 Tour de France looks more likely to be headed to Corsica after the regional government agreed to budget 2 million euros to back its candidacy for the “grand depart.” France 3 television reported that the Mediterranean island – the only part of France never to host a stage of the Tour – is poised to host the start of the 100th edition of the French tour.
Portuguese sensation Tiago Machado hopes to make his grand tour debut in the 2011 Giro d’Italia. Machado saw his hopes of racing the 2010 Vuelta a España denied when RadioShack was not invited to the Spanish tour. If he lines up in Torino for the start of the Giro in May, he will become the first Portuguese rider to race the Italian tour since José Azevedo was fifth a decade ago. “It will be my first grand tour, so I don’t know how I will react. The main goal is to finish the race, then we’ll see,” he said.
Tour de France winner Óscar Pereiro made his soccer debut over the weekend in the second division Coruxo B team in his native Galicia in northwest Spain. The 33-year-old retired from cycling at the end of this season and made the transition to soccer with his local team. He came off the bench in the second half and played 22 minutes, but his team lost, 0-1. “I am 33 and I’ve never played more than just with my friends, but I have a lot of motivation and I dream of playing some minutes with the first division team,” he said.
Belgian sprinter Gert Steegmans is set to return to Quick Step for 2011. Het Nieuwsblad reported that the RadioShack has released him from his final year of his two-year contract to allow him to return to the Belgian ProTour team for the upcoming season. Steegmans, who is training with Quick Step this week in Spain, raced for Katusha in 2009 and RadioShack this season.
Robert Kircher, a former Austrian national cross-country mountain bike champion, has been suspended from competition for eight years. The AP says that is the longest-ever doping suspension for an Austrian athlete. Kircher, 33, “was found guilty of ordering, possessing and selling illegal performance-enhancing products in March 2009. Austria’s anti-doping agency NADA did not specify the drugs.” A local newspaper says Kircher plans to appeal.
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