Cadel gets the gold and we have all the post race comments, plus there's lots of news coming from the UCI, we have the latest transfers, yet more controversy in Portugal and much much more. It's EuroTrash time!
Cadel Gets the Gold!
Cadel's superb performance is obviously the first story in ET today and with good reason! It was a great effort by the Aussie who has been dogged by bad luck and a lot of criticism this year especially about his 'inability' to attack. Well what an answer Cadel!
‘‘It’s an answer to those criticisms that I’ve had, saying I never attack. The world’s been telling me for years I can’t win big races, can’t win one day races, because my job is to win stage races, and then today I come out and win the world championship, I don’t quite believe it. To win a world title here, after having seven world championship medals (mtb) at home, none of which are gold, is quite exceptional given the bad luck I’ve encountered this season.’’
Our own world's medallist, Matt Conn asked Cadel at the post race press conference when he would start thinking about his Tour de France schedule for next year in the World Champion jersey Cadel replied,
I'm not really sure about what my program is going to be for next year. I don't know what races Im going to ride. So, I don't know......
Thanks Cadel for the big insights there! In fact from all the TV interviews I've seen with Cadel after the race (French, Italian and English) Cadel seemed to be the most talkative in Italian, then French then English. He often pointed out the fact that he lives less than 20km from the circuit in Mendrisio, has family and friends in the region and he feels that the area is truly his home so he wanted to put on a good show - and he certainly did. Next year should be interesting though as the circuit is in Geelong, Australia - his 'true' home town. I gues he'll have to put on a show again!
Anyway, all done and dusted it was a great Worlds race with some unusual tactics from some teams, a solid early break, some incredible efforts by the hometown hero Cancellara, some great work by the Aussie domestics (especially Sulzberger and O'Grady) and then a masterful attack by Cadel to prove to everyone what he can really do.
The No.1 favourite before the worlds, Damiano Cunego had this to say after the event on Cadel's win,
‘‘I think he answered all those people who say he can’t win. I am happy for him."
Well said Damiano, from one clean cyclist to another........in fact the issue of 'clean cycling' was also brought up at the post race press conference when Evans was asked if his victory was a victory for 'clean cycling';
"It's not really my place top comment on that. I have had a lot of criticicsm that I hadn't won enough races, but today I have won a good one."
He certainly did win a 'good one'! Congratulations Cadel and the whole Aussie team - a great week for the Aussie's with Jack Bobridge's gold medal in the U23 TT and Cadel's gold making it the best World's ever for the Aussies.
Astana Still In Doubt
Ok, onto non-worlds news now and in what seems like a broken record, I’m reporting yet again today about problems at Astana and the fact that they are possibly not going to have their ProTour licence renewed. Late last week team representatives met the UCI’s ProTour licence commission to plead their case and show their management and financial plans to the commission – result? Not good apparently – if you’re an Astana fan.
UCI President Pat McQuaid was widely quoted in the press on the weekend as saying that he is ‘not optimistic on the future of Astana’ and that ‘There is a possibility the licence could be taken from Astana.’
This of course is music to the ears of Alberto Contador who is desperately hoping that the team will lose their licence so that he can finally go to another team. Whether that team is Quickstep, Garmin or Caisse d’Epargne is anybody’s guess though - just anywhere that isn't Astana I think is Bert's plan!
Bos To Cervelo
Controversial Dutch sprinter, Theo Bos has transferred to Cervelo for 2010 and 2011 adding another sprinter to the Swiss team’s ranks. The 26-year-old former track superstar converted his career to the road this year with immediate success in the early season winning the Ronde van Nord-Hollan, Omloop der Kempen and three stages and the prologue of the Olympia's Tour before the infamous incident in April where he caused the major crash of South African, Daryl Impey at the Tour of Turkey.
The controversy from this crash and the subsequent UCI investigation led to Bos being banned for 1 month for dangerous riding. Cervelo didn’t take Bos on for his controversial crashing skills though......with five World Sprint Titles to his credit, Bos is clearly one of the quickest sprinters in the world and Cervelo team manager, Thomas Campana is sure that they can further develop his talents on the road,
“Theo Bos is an interesting rider and an important person for our team. We will help Theo take his award-winning track prowess and hone those skills for the road. Our goal was to find another sprinter and in Theo we have found the right rider. As we’ve gotten to know Theo we’ve realised that the mentality of the team and Theo’s are very closely aligned. He likes the way we think and where we want to go.”
Impey To The Shack
Now speaking of Theo Bos, the man who is now linked to his career whether he likes it or not is Barloworld’s Daryl Impey – or should I say, RadioShack’s Daryl Impey. Yes, the unfortunate recipient of Bos’ stupidity in Turkey back in April has bounced back from his serious crash and landed himself a contract with Lance’s RadioShack squad. The South African rode the past two seasons with Barloworld and has signed a deal for one year to join RadioShack in 2010. At just 24-years old Impey is cited as a strong one day rider and sprinter although he is hoping to be selected for a three week stage race in his new team.
Barloworld To Stop
It’s definitive. Claudio Corti’s Barloworld squad will be stopping at the end of this year after Corti was unable to find a replacement sponsor. Speaking to media on Saturday Corti stated,
"I've been trying to set something up and had made some progress, but it looks most likely that next year will be a bit of sabbatical for me. There was interest in sponsorship. I certainly could have got a small team off the ground, but I'm not interested in that. When I do something, I want it to be at the highest level."
Some of Barloworld’s riders have already moved on to other teams like Robbie Hunter (Garmin), John-Lee Augustyn, Geraint Thomas, Chris Froome and Steve Cummings(Sky), Mauricio Soler (Caisse d’Epargne) but other less fortunate riders like recent Tour of Britain stage winner Michele Merlo are still desperately looking for a team – not an easy task at this late stage of the season.
Bellis Improving
Last Monday I reported on the terrible news of Jonathon Bellis’ bad scooter accident and this week I’m happy to announce that the young Manxman is improving. After undergoing surgery to remove a blood clot from his brain, Bellis is in an induced coma but reportedly doing well in a critical but stable condition. Here’s hoping for a rapid recovery for the talented Saxo Bank 21 year old.
Cervelo, Diquigiovanni and Acqua & Sapone In The ProTour ?
In surprising news from the UCI this week, they have decided that three Pro Continental teams, Cervelo Test Team, Diquigiovanni and Acqua & Sapone will all race the ProTour race schedule next year - despite the fact that they are not ProTour teams and have not paid the fees associated with it!
At the moment of writing there are 14 ProTour teams with current licenses and Milram, Bbox Bouygues Telecom, Cofidis and Lampre-NGC are all awaiting their license renewals + the infamous Astana team of course! Apart from that there is also team RadioShack who have applied for a licence. If we now add the three ProContinental teams to that list and assuming that all teams do indeed get their ProTour licences that means that ProTour events would have 22 teams automatically entered in their events. This is of course great news for Cervelo, Acqua Sapone and Diquigiovanni but terrible news for other teams which rely on wildcard invitations for their racing schedule like Vacansoleil, BMC etc
Garmin’s Frischkorn Retires
In a somewhat surprising announcement Will Frischkorn of Garmin-Slipstream has reportedly announced his retirement from cycling this week. At only 28 years old Frischkorn had been with Garmin since the beginnings of the team as 5280/TIAA-CREF and he will apparently continue with the team in a ‘sponsor management’ role.
At this stage there has been no official press release from Frischkorn as to why he has retired at what seems like an early stage of his career for me. Generally a breakaway specialist, Frischkorn was especially active in the 2008 Milan-San Remo and stage 3 of the Tour de France in the same year.
Doping Continues In The Wild West
They call Portugal the wild west of the cycling world and that reputation seems to be pretty apt for their doping problems anyway as seemingly anything goes in Portugal! Last week I reported that three riders were suspended from Liberty Seguros including the winner of the Tour of Portugal, Nuno Ribeiro, well the news gets worse now – yes, yet more positives. Not just that though, but in the junior categories at the Tour of Portugal! Both the winner of the 15-16 year old race and the winner of the 17-18 year old category have been disqualified from the results and are awaiting doping violation hearings from the Portugese Federation.
Michael Rasmussen On The Return ?
Announced this week was the news that it was the Spanish team, Contentpolis Ampo which almost had Michael Rasmussen in its ranks for the Vuelta. Apparently the contract was all written and ready to go when the UCI stepped in with their strict application of the rules not letting him ride as the contract wasn’t signed enough time before the Vuelta.
Consequently Rasmussen was not allowed to ride the Vuelta and he instead joined the Mexican team Tecos Trek for the end of this year. According to Rasmussen himself he is still in talks with 4 different teams back in Europe and is confident of signing something soon so that he can once again race back in Europe in a three week tour next year.
Radios Finally To Be Banned ?
In more UCI news is their ambitious plan to completely phase out the use of radios in the peloton by 2013. The UCI management commitee made the decision last week and it was immediately rejected by teams and riders alike as being ‘ridiculous’.
The UCI is undetterred though and they plan on going ahead with the idea in what they say will ‘increase the spectacle’ of racing. I’m sure we will see protests coming from the rider’s union and perhaps even some more ‘go-slow’ efforts like what happened at the Tour de France this year as they try to enforce their plan.
Tour of Ireland Dates Confirmed For 2010
The dates for the 2010 Tour of Ireland have been confirmed at the UCI Congress in Mendrisio this week. The dates for the 5-day tour are 18th to 22nd August 2010.
“We are delighted with the dates for next year,” said Event Organiser Alan Rushton: “Our spot on the calendar will help us in attracting another world class field in Ireland again next year. This will be the fourth edition of the race which has been gaining larger audiences and press coverage every year. Having Lance Armstrong and Mark Cavendish on the race in ‘09 helped increase the profile of the event.”
Britain’s Russell Downing (CandiTV-Marshalls) won the 2009 race despite the challenge from major teams Columbia-HTC, Astana, Saxo Bank and Cervélo Test Team.
“The race achieved fantastic results for us despite the challenges faced due to the economic climate” continued Rushton “The very tough finale in Cork provided dramatic racing watched by thousands of spectators who lined St Patrick’s Hill and the rest of the city circuit. With the major TV and press coverage achieved there is now an excellent opportunity for key sponsors to come on board to capitalise on the domestic, European and Worldwide exposure.”
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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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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