Dorel Industries has bought Cannondale Bicycle Corporation, the corporation announced Monday. Dorel, headquartered in Montréal, owns Pacific Cycle, the parent company of Schwinn, GT and Mongoose. The purchase is reported as an all-cash transaction valued between $190 million and $200 million.
Heath Blackgrove (Toyota-United) and Janel Holcomb (Webcor Builders) won Saturday’s Boulevard Road Race in Crestwood, California. The eighth annual race was run by the University of California San Diego cycling team. The 90-mile men’s race was a sweep for the Toyota-United squad, which put Blackgrove on the top step of the podium followed by teammates Ben Day second and Jonnie Clarke third. Holcomb took the 67-mile women’s race ahead of Leah Guloien (CA Pools Racing) and Cara Gillis (Team Vegan).
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The “argyle gang” erased any doubt over the weekend that the new-look Slipstream-Chipotle was going to be competitive on the international stage with a strong start to the 2008 season. Racing on three fronts, the team scored a spot on the podium in Sunday’s GP La Marseillaise to open the European calendar with Ryder Hesjedal in third. Chris Sutton, meanwhile, took fourth overall in the Tour of Qatar and others on the squad dominated at the Tour of the Bahamas with victories in all three stages.
Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme says it’s too early to talk about which teams will be in the 2008 Tour. There’s no guarantee that Tour champ Alberto Contador will be back to defend his title. VeloNews sat down with Prudhomme last week during a break at the Tour of Qatar to discuss Astana, Slipstream-Chipotle and how the Tour is seriously considering a grand depart in Qatar. Here are excerpts from the interview: VeloNews: What is the status of selection teams for the 2008 Tour?
Belgian Niels Albert won the Hoogstraten Superprestige cyclocross on Sunday in Belgium. It was the seventh race of the Superprestige championship series.
Former World Anti-Doping Agency chief Dick Pound and Swiss-based attorney Robert Briner have been nominated as candidates to fill the vacant presidency of the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS) in Lausanne. Both nominations were put forward by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The IOC is the only body that can nominate candidates for the CAS presidency, and the 20-member board will make the final decision, which is expected in April. No formal date, however, has been set for the final vote.
Managers of the four ProTour teams excluded from the Giro d’Italia are still in disbelief. Citing a selection process based on “ethics and quality,” Giro organizer RCS told Astana, Bouygues Telecom, Crédit Agricole and High Road they were not invited to the May 10 – June 1 event. While decision seems partly based on doping controversy from the 2007 season — Astana and High Road (formerly T-Mobile) certainly experienced their share — the motivation to shut out Bouygues Telecom and Crédit Agricole is less clear.
After going down on stage 5 of the Tour of Qatar, Slipstream-Chipotle’s Magnus Bäckstedt took an overnight flight to the United Kingdom for a rush surgery on his broken right clavicle. The surgeon put a permanent plate inside his shoulder to fix the clean break. After an overnight stay in hospital, Bäckstedt hopes to be riding a trainer within a week and back out on his bike soon thereafter.
In a bold move, Kelly Benefits-Medifast team director Jonas Carney guaranteed Friday that his second-year team would place a rider on the podium at every stage of February’s Amgen Tour of California. Okay, not really.
Reigning Tour de France champion Alberto Contador, who has signed for the once-disgraced Astana team, will not be a guaranteed a starting place in the 2008 race, race organizers said on Friday. Patrice Clerc, the president of Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) which oversees the epic competition, said that selection for the Tour de France was based on teams rather than an individual pedigree. "When we make our selection, we don't pick individual riders but rather the teams," said Clerc. "Let us have the time to calmly make our decision."
High Road, Astana, two French ProTour teams and the squad of former winner Stefano Garzelli won't be going to the 2008 Giro d'Italia, the organizers of the season's first grand tour announced Friday. In a surprise move that could foreshadow possible selections to July's Tour de France, officials from Giro organizer RCS announced 21 teams that will be at the May 10 start of the 2008 Giro. As VeloNews reported earlier, Slipstream-Chipotle is among the select teams.
(Carson City, NV and Valkenswaard, the Netherlands) Veltec, the company that markets some of the world’s finest cycling brands has signed an agreement with Descente, Ltd. to become the licensee of the Descente brand for the cycling, triathlon, running and fitness markets, in North America and Europe beginning February 1.
Dear Readers,
Welcome to the latest edition of The Prologue, the weekly summary of news from your friends at VeloNews.com.
Tom Boonen might be known as Mr. Classics, but the road to glory in April goes through the wind-blasted deserts of Qatar. Ever since trekking to this Arabic nation overflowing with petro-dollars for the first time in 2004, Boonen has used the weeklong sprint-fest as a trampoline for spring-classic success. “The last few years we’ve been good here, so it’s become somewhat of a habit,” said Boonen, who relegated Alberto Loddo (Tinkoff) to second with Luciano Pagliarini (Sauner Duval-Scott) third in Friday’s finale. “If we weren’t going good, then I’d be worried.”
Training in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with his Astana teammates, Levi Leipheimer is looking forward to another season as America’s best active stage racer. Albuquerque police have been giving Astana rolling enclosures during training rides. When the team comes to stop signs or red lights, it doesn’t stop. At 34, Leipheimer doesn’t intend to stop, either.
British cycling star Bradley Wiggins said on Thursday he was shocked by news that his father had been found dead in suspicious circumstances in Australia. According to media reports here, 55-year-old Gary Wiggins was found to have died from a head injury after he was discovered unconscious in the street in the town of Aberdeen, north of Sydney, last Friday. "I am sad and in shock at this time," said his son in a statement. "We still don't know the full details of what happened, however I have every confidence that the authorities will get to the bottom of this out in Australia.
The Kona professional mountain-bike team will send its six factory riders to a diverse group of races in 2008, from World Cup-level downhill and cross-country events to multi-day stage races and local events.
Danilo Napolitano (Lampre) received a nice birthday present Thursday as he steered clear of a nasty crash that KO’d classics candidate Magnus Backstedt (Slipstream-Chipotle) and won stage 5 of the Tour of Qatar ahead of race leader Tom Boonen (Quick Step). While Backstedt wound up with a broken right clavicle, barrel-chested Napolitano bolted ahead of Boonen’s derailed train to snag his first win over Boonen, who retained the overall lead over teammate Steven De Jongh with just one day to go.
The Astana team gets ready for a chilly training ride.