The Monday morning trash this week sees Cadel on top in Spain, Contador in the money, veterans who just can't stop in Belgium and Spain, youngsters showing their stuff in France and Missouri kicking off today! It's all here and more in EuroTrash Monday!
Cadel In Gold!
After a dissapointing Tour de France, Cadel Evans has bounced back in Spain by taking the Gold leader's jersey after the 8th stage in the Tour of Spain yesterday. The Australian has now worn all three of the leader's jerseys in the Grand Tours - an impressive effort! Now even more impressive would be to hold onto one after the final stage.....
Will the Vuelta be the tour that he can do that? After originally coming to the Vuelta, "Just to prepare for the Worlds", Cadel must surely now make the decision to try and defend his lead? With only a slim two second advantage over Alejandro Valverde and an eight second lead over Samuel Sanchez things will be tough though for the Aussie - especially with the time bonuses on offer at the stage finishes that the fast sprinting Spanish duo could easily snap up.
Other noteworthy performers after the Vuelta's first time trial and mountain stage were Ivan Basso (6th @ 46s), Robert Gesink (5th @ 29s), Tom Danielson (4th @ 13s) and of course yesterday's winner, Damiano Cunego (7th @ 1m26s).
Keep it tuned to PEZ for all the latest as the Spanish tour continues today and Cadel tries to hang on.
General Classification After Stage 8
1 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence-Lotto 31:05:02
2 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0:00:02
3 Samuel Sánchez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:00:08
4 Tom Danielson (USA) Garmin-Slipstream 0:00:13
5 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank 0:00:29
6 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas 0:00:46
7 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-NGC 0:01:26
8 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Astana 0:01:37
9 Ezequiel Mosquera (Spa) Xacobeo Galicia 0:01:46
10 Juan José Cobo (Spa) Fuji-Servetto 0:02:03
11 Daniel Navarro (Spa) Astana 0:02:13
12 Tadej Valjavec (Slo) AG2R La Mondiale 0:02:35
13 Arkaitz Durán (Spa) Fuji-Servetto 0:02:37
14 Daniel Moreno (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0:02:40
15 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Lampre-NGC 0:02:57
Spanish and Aussie Teams Name Their World's Teams
Ok, so they haven't named their starting lists for the Worlds yet, but the Spaniards and the Australians have both named their 'long' teams. What does that mean exactly? Well, if you're not on the 'long' list you should start planning your end of season holiday a week earlier because you have NO chance to be heading off to Switzerland in search of rainbow glory this year.
There were no big surprises in the Aussie selections with the strong duo of Cadel Evans and Simon Gerrans to be the likely leaders for the boys from down under. On the Spanish side of things there were a couple of notable absentees in the likes of Tour de France winners, Carlos Sastre and Alberto Contador not being selected with both citing fatigue after a long season as their reasons for not particpating in Switzerland. Spain is however likely to be favourites along with Italy for the title with their three leaders Valverde, Freire and Sanchez all great chances on the hilly circuit in Mendrisio.
The complete 'long' lists are as follows with both countries to eventually cut their respective lists down to 9 riders for the road race and two riders for the time trial.
Australia: Simon Clarke, Baden Cooke, Allan Davis, Simon Gerrans, Matthew Goss, Mathew Hayman, Brett Lancaster, Matt Lloyd, Peter McDonald, Stuart O'Grady, Richie Porte, Mark Renshaw, Wesley Sulzberger, Chris Sutton, Cadel Evans, Adam Hansen, Michael Rogers, Cameron Wurf
Spain: Alejandro Valverde, Joaquim Rodriguez, Daniel Moreno, Alberto Losada, Oscar Freire, Juan Manuel Garate, Juan Antonio Flecha, Samuel Sánchez, Igor Anton, Ezequiel Mosquera, David Garcia, Xavier Tondo, José Angel Gomez Marchante, Carlos Barredo, David de la Fuente, Ruben Plaza.
Contador Craziness
Now speaking of Contador and his fatigue - well it seems that he is so fatigued for a very good reason - every team seems to be throwing money at him and we all know how that can be fatiguing, right?? All that counting of money, deciding which mansion to buy and what colour Ferrari etc, that's always tiring!
Astana's latest offer to keep their star rider is a reported 8 million Euros per year for a four year contract!! Despite this offer Contador is apparently still considering offers from three other teams as he has some serious concerns about riding with Astana next year, namely;
1) Is an 8 million per year contract from the Kazakhs actually worth 8 million? We all know of Astana's problems this year paying their riders.
2) If he does sign for Astana will he have any team mates there besides Vino and a couple of other Kazakhs after everybody else, staff and riders included seem 'Shackbound'?
3) Will Astana face any problems entering races in retaliation for having Vino and rumored to arrive soon Andrey Kashechkin on the team?
All understandable concerns Bert. If one of the other teams had an 8 million per year contract on the table I'm sure Bert would have already signed but the three big teams still in the running (apparently Garmin-Slipstream, Caisse d'Epargne and Quick Step) simply don't have that kind of cash.
Ballerini To Lampre?
With all the talk around at the moment being about rider transfers for next year, what about director transfers? Currently not actually a Director Sportif, Franco Ballerini, the Italian selector/coach is being pursued very hard by the guys over at Lampre to become one of their Director Sportifs for next year.
Ballerini already turned down an offer from Lampre last year just after the World Championships where he led the Italians (and two Lampre riders) to a great 1, 2 finish. The same offer to become a DS at Lampre is once again on the table for Ballerini with the Italian to make his decision after the Worlds where he is hoping to continue his amazing success for Italy by becoming the first country to ever win four Worlds in a row.
Hamilton Out For 8 Years - Not Life
Tyler Hamilton's eight year ban for his second doping offense handed down by the USADA now stands after originally being appealed by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). The WADA had appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport protesting that Hamilton's second doping offense should in fact have resulted in a life ban.
They have now decided against continuing in their action though stating their reasons for withdrawing their appeal as the following,
"Following receipt of the background information that was not available to WADA when the appeal was launched, WADA has determined that the eight-year sanction imposed by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) was appropriate in the particular circumstances of this case."
Tyler Hamilton's attorney has in turn released his own statement on the WADA’s decision to withdraw its appeal,
"We commend WADA for finally doing the right thing. WADA’s appeal was wrong on the law and wrong on the facts, so it was right for WADA to drop its appeal instead of wasting resources on a personal vendetta against Tyler that would do nothing to further the worthy goal of eliminating doping in sport.
It is telling that WADA dropped its case only three days after we filed Tyler’s appeal brief, which destroyed WADA's specious arguments for a lifetime suspension and made the highly unusual request for a full public hearing.
Finally, we are puzzled by WADA's explanation that it dropped the appeal “following receipt of background information that was not available when the case was launched...” This is simply not true. There was no new material information provided. WADA already had USADA's entire case file, and the only new information in Tyler 's brief was contained in affidavits from Tyler and his doctors in which they disclosed additional details of his fight against depression. Tyler had already discussed his depression extensively in a press conference in April.
Therefore, WADA's stated reason for dropping the appeal is clearly an attempt to avoid the public scrutiny a hearing would have incited.
The Veterans Who Just Get Better With Age?
We always hear about the young up and comers of the peloton, the next big things etc so what about the old guys? Well some veterans have made the news this week, namely Rambo himself, Niko Eeckhout who has decided at the age of 39 years old to continue for another year with his present team (An Post-Sean Kelly). Speaking about his signing he stated,
"Age is relative, on Thursday I raced in a kermesse (Kortemark) that was won by a 49 year old!"
Just for the record the 49 year old in question was Patrick Cocquy, former top pro from the early 80's, now racing as an amateur who still shows the youngsters how to race in the Belgian pro kermesse races.
Rambo is not the oldest member of the pro peloton still fighting it out in the pro ranks though - one quick look at the Vuelta and we can see Cervélo TestTeam’s Iñigo Cuesta still going strong at 40 years old and currently riding his 16th consecutive edition of the three-week Spanish tour! Yes folks, that is a record although he has 'only' completed 11 Vueltas - the record of completed Vueltas is 13 held by three riders – Txomin Perurena, Federico Etxabe and Eduardo Chozas.
Cuesta has no intention of hanging up the bike though at the end of this season so the record of completed Vueltas is not safe yet. Perhaps these so called 'veterans' might give hope to Tyler Hamilton........after his 8 year holiday he could still come back at age 46?
One veteran not planning on continuing to ride though is Cofidis domestique Bingen Fernandez. The 37 year old will trade the saddle of his Look for the comfort of the car seat as he becomes Assistant Director Sportif at Garmin for next year joining his old friend Matt White in the car. Before he hangs up his jersey for the final time though Fernandez is hoping to post the first win of his career.......yes, 13 seasons to his credit, but NO wins. Already on the attack at the Vuelta this year in search of that first win I for one am hoping he can pull it off - less than two weeks to go Bingen!
French Off To A Flying Start In The Tour de l’Avenir
Ok enough about the veterans of the peloton now its over to the news of the young talents racing in the Tour de l'Avenir. The Tour de l'Avenir is always a great race - almost a mini Tour de France in fact and a great showcase for the young amateurs and neo pros to demonstrate their abilities. A look through the palmares of the Avenir shows some big names that have stood atop the final podium that includes some top current and former pros such as Denis Menchov, Lars Bak, Sylvain Calzati, Egoi Martinez, Christophe Rinero and Moises Duenas just to name a few.
Starting on Saturday and running for 9 stages it has been the French 'B' team who have dominated proceedings early with two victories in two days. Stage 1 was an all French affair when Julien Berard (France B) and Romain Sicard (France A) broke away together to win Stage 1 by 1m25s with Berard taking both the stage win and the yellow jersey.
Stage 2 saw the French B team have another great day with Jean Lou Paiani winning in a bunch sprint and Berard easily hanging on to his yellow jersey. Can the French B team continue their winning streak?
Moises Duenas Still Riding
Did you notice the name Moises Duenas in the list of former winners above? Does the name ring a bell? Well it should - he was the man who sent the Tour de France further into disgrace in 2008 with his positive test for EPO and who almost stopped the entire Barloworld team at the time.
His punishment for the offense was a 2 year suspension by the AFLD which was then reduced to 1 year by the Spanish federation. Well Moises is now back riding (as an amateur) and he is straight back in the winning circle taking the 2nd stage of the Tour of Salamanque and with it the yellow jersey. One punishment for some then and another punishment for others involved in doping at the Tour 08, Kohl, Schumacher etc it seems.
Missouri To Start Today!
The Tour of Missouri kicks off in St Louis today in what should be a great 7 days of racing. With some big names like Leipheimer, Zabriskie and Vandevelde amongst the favorites the Stage 5 time trial in particular should be a thriller.
Whilst the three big Euro pros are the obvious favorites, we shouldn't count out some of the local American teams though with BMC, Bissell, OUCH and Kelly Benefit Strategies all sending strong teams. Meanwhile the world's best sprinter in Mark Cavendish should surely take at least one stage somewhere along the way around Missouri. Saying that though, he will be up against the Tour de France's green jersey holder Thor Hushovd so the sprints might at least be close?
Full team list for Missouri as follows; Columbia, Garmin, Astana, Liquigas, Quickstep, OUCH, Kelly Benefit Strategies, Bissell, BMC, Jelly Belly, Team Type 1, Cervelo, Colavita - Sutter Home, Planet Energy and Saxo Bank.
Rock Racing Not At Missouri And Not Happy
One notable team missing from the Tour of Missouri is the infamous Rock Racing boys. Michael Ball had this to say on the situation,
“Rock Racing is not among the teams competing at the 2009 Tour of Missouri because we were not invited. We were told the exclusion was a direct consequence of Rock Racing’s inability to send our “A” squad to the 2008 Tour of Missouri, which at the time, overlapped with the Tour of Britain, a race we had already committed to and invested significant resources in, months before we received a Tour of Missouri invitation. In an effort to “punish” our team, it’s the fans who ultimately suffer. They deserve to have the best race with the best riders, and this year, that will not be the case.
It’s also very disappointing that we have been left out of one of the biggest races on the U.S. calendar especially when Rock Racing has been one of the strongest supporters of the sport overall. In 2008, Rock Racing sponsored seven domestic races and invested millions of dollars to support the efforts of the same race organizers who chose to keep us out of Missouri in 2009."
Chris Selden is an Aussie living in France who has lived the life of a bike rider racing around the world but now prefers to enjoy his bike racing, watching from the side of the road sipping a cold drink or from the press room with a café!
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