Astana's Alberto Contador won the Tour of the Basque Country on Saturday, after clinching the sixth and final stage, a 24km time trial around the town of Zalla. It was the second straight Tour of the Basque Country title win for the defending Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España champion. "It's incredible how I continue to progress in my time trial work," said Contador, who took part in the event as part of his preparations for the Tour de France.
Olympic champion Julien Absalon of France had to settle for second place behind Spaniard Jose Hermida in the UCI World Cup cross-country mountain bike race in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, on Saturday. In a thrilling race, near the KwaZulu-Natal city watched by 6,000 spectators, Absalon moved to the front at the halfway mark with only Hermida and South African Barry Stander able to respond. The lead changed one lap later with Hermida building a 15-second advantage that kept him in front until the finish and Absalon held off a late Stander surge.
Only a few riders are capable of winning Sunday’s 107th edition of Paris-Roubaix, and the number of favorites gets even smaller when you consider the strength of their teams. Given that premise, the winner should come from the Columbia-Highroad, Quick Step, Rabobank or Saxo Bank teams. And that means that George Hincapie, Tom Boonen, Stijn Devolder, Juan Antonio Flecha or Fabian Cancellara will be on the top step of the podium in the Roubaix velodrome Sunday evening.
The 259 kilometers between Compiègne and Roubaix are largely flat, but the Hell of the North has never been distinguished by climbs. What sets the so-called Queen of the Classics apart are the 52.9 kilometers of pavé, the often rough cobbles dating back as many as 200 years and carefully maintained by fans, promoters and local governments in northern France.
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"Was winning the Tour seven times that offensive?!?" — Lance Armstrong firing a bon-mot shot at the French via Twitter
Frenchman Miguel Martinez, the 2000 Olympic cross-country champion, has been fired by his Felt international team just days before the 2009 World Cup opener in Pietermartizburg, South Africa. According to Agence France Presse, Martinez, known as "Little Mig," was recently handed a four-month suspended prison sentence for assaulting his wife. Martinez has had similar brushes with the law in the past two years. Felt International released a statement saying it was ending its relationship with Martinez due to “unbridgeable differences.”
Lance Armstrong said Friday that French anti-doping authorities have been working to prevent him from racing in this year’s Tour de France. Armstrong, who says he has submitted to 24 drug tests since his return to professional racing in September, said the French anti-doping body (AFLD) appears poised to keep him from riding the race he won seven times between 1999 and 2005.
Sean Kelly once said that “a Paris-Roubaix without rain is not a true Paris-Roubaix.” Although now reporting from the sidelines, the two-time winner of the Hell of the North may get at least some satisfaction on Sunday as forecasts call for a 30-percent chance of scattered showers throughout the day when riders embark on the 259.5-kilometer (161 miles) route from Compiègne to the northern French city of Roubaix.
Fueling up once the alarm sounds is critical.
A day after Michael Albasini won after a long breakaway, Marco Pinotti delivered Columbia-Highroad’s second straight stage victory at the Vuelta al País Vasco on Friday. The veteran Italian put his strong time trialing skills to good use in a late attack and then held off a late charge from Vicenzo Nibali (Liquigas) to win a cold and rainy fifth stage from Gueñes to Zalla.
International cycling chief Pat McQuaid on Friday defended Lance Armstrong and criticized France's anti-doping authority (AFLD) over its handling of Armstrong's alleged misbehavior at an out-of-competition anti-doping test in France last month. On Thursday the AFLD announced it was pursuing Armstrong for unprofessional behavior, claiming the Texan had violated strict dope-testing rules.
Johan Bruyneel vigorously defended Lance Armstrong against accusations by French authorities that the seven-time Tour de France champion may have run afoul with anti-doping rules during an out-of-competition test last month in southern France. The Astana general manager, who arrived at the Vuelta al País Vasco on Thursday evening, told the Spanish sports daily MARCA that Armstrong did nothing wrong and insisted that the French have it out for Armstrong.
Chris Horner (Astana) jumped on a plane Friday to return to the United States, but he’s hopeful he’ll be on another flight back to Europe in time to start the Giro d’Italia. Horner, 37, survived a harrowing crash in Thursday’s fourth stage at the Vuelta al País Vasco when he went sliding under a steel guard-rail and escaped without serious injury. Initial X-rays taken Thursday evening at a Spanish hospital did not reveal any broken bones, but the veteran American will undergo more examinations upon his return to the U.S.
The Italian cycling community is big on traditions, and the Giro d’Italia organizer’s choice to repeat one of the most famous stages in the event’s 100-year history was greeted with enthusiasm when it was announced in the winter. At 254-kilometer, stage 10 from Cuneo to Pinerolo through the high Alps was identical to the one in 1949, when campionissimo Fausto Coppi destroyed the opposition with a massive 200km-plus solo breakaway that saw him finish almost 12 minutes ahead of the runner-up, his national rival Gino Bartali, and more than 19 minutes ahead of the rest.
Andrew Bajadali secured the final overall win of the Tour of Thailand Thursday, after his Kelly Benefit Strategies team controlled the action for much of the final stage, a 76km circuit race in Udon Thani. Kelly's wrapped up the race with Jake Erker in fourth overall, Zach Bell sixth and Dan Bowman seventh. The team also won the team classification and finished second on points.
Paris-Roubaix Tech: Team BMC's SLX
The 2009 UCI mountain bike World Cup kicks off this weekend in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. The race marks the first time in the series’ 19-year history that an event featuring cross-country, downhill and four-cross racing will be held on the African continent. A gravity-only World Cup was held in the winemaking city of Stellenbosch on the Western Cape from 1997-98. “Mountain biking is taking on a new dimension,” said UCI president Patrick McQuaid.
The product development offices Crankbrothers comfortably fill a medium-sized building three blocks from the water in downtown Laguna Beach, California. Step out the front door and you are presented two choices: Turn right to surf or left and take a short spin to rough trails that require a healthy dose of bike handling skill to negotiate. The area is the stomping ground of the Laguna Rads, a long-established group of mountain bike riders, many of whom were instrumental in shaping the sport in its early days.
As the Paris-Roubaix weekend draws near, several teams have announced plans to use special edition frames in the legendary race. German brand Canyon Bicycles, sponsor of Silence-Lotto, has created a “Pavé” version of its Ultimate AL frameset for the team to use. And thanks to a wild-card invitation, the BMC racing team will take the start in Compeigne, with four riders piloting a new carbon-aluminum SLX model, instead of the standard ProMachine SLC01 carbon model.
Lance Armstrong's 20-minute shower last month may be getting him into more hot water. The French anti-doping agency, AFLD, said Thursday it may go ahead with disciplinary hearings against Armstrong for allegedly violating international anti-doping rules by leaving a French out-of-competition drug tester cooling his heels while Armstrong took a shower after a training ride. Armstrong has denied misbehaving during a test of his hair, urine and blood and notes that the tests came back negative for any kind of banned substance.
Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Slipstream) finished third in the 161km fourth stage at the Vuelta al País Vasco in Spain, joining a successful, three-man breakaway on Thursday. Michael Albasini (Columbia-Highroad) kicked to victory, with Jurgen Van den Broucke (Silence-Lotto) coming through second and Vande Velde slotting into third after an all-day break in a hilly, seven-climb stage in Spain’s Basque Country.
Dear Explainer,
I am curious about the rules when it comes to national and international anti-doping agencies’ announcements of a positive doping test. I look back at the Landis case when it seemed that the newspapers knew about a positive A sample before the rider himself did. Like Landis, we all followed the testing process, the follow-ups and then a very public (often ugly) hearing and the appeal to CAS.
Edvald Boasson Hagen. His name doesn’t exactly roll off your tongue, but it’s a name you’d better remember because the young Norwegian is only 21 and he has just won his first spring classic. Ghent-Wevelgem may not be the biggest of the classics, and a lot of young riders have won it and not gone on to bigger and better results. But it seems that Boasson Hagen is a little different, a little more special.
Antonio Colom is one of those Spanish riders well known and respected within the peloton, but perhaps not so famous beyond the Pyrénées. A solid climber and consistent performer in week-long stage races, Colom should be called “Mr. Spring,” for his consistent performances in early season races such as Paris-Nice, Ruta del Sol and the Mallorca Challenge. Colom, who turns 31 next month, is in his 10th season as a professional. After a few years on smaller Spanish teams, he joined the Banesto team in 2004 for three seasons before two years with Astana.
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Kelly Benefit Strategies was arguably the most prominent domestic squad to be denied an invitation to February's Tour of California, but the scrappy team has refocused its season and is currently on a tear, dominating stage races on two continents. At the Tour of Thailand, Kelly's Andrew Bajadali took over the GC lead Wednesday, taking the leader's jersey off the shoulders of teammate Jake Erker, who had led the race all week. With one stage left in Thailand, Kelly leads the team GC and has four riders in the top five on GC.
Agritubel's David Le Lay took a narrow lead in the Circuit de la Sarthe stage race in France on Wednesday, after winning the morning's 94km road race and then finishing 10 seconds off the pace, in 14th place, in the afternoon's 6k individual time trial. Jimmy Engoulvent (Besson Chausures-Sojasun) won the time trial, finishing one second ahead of Astana's Andreas Kloden. American Jeff Louder of BMC was eighth and moved into tenth place on the GC following the time trial. The race concludes Friday.