EUROTRASH News Round Up Thursday!

Christmas has passed but Mathieu van der Poel has carried on in his winning ways in the World Cup in Zolder: Report, result and video. Wout van Aert has been having podium problems – Top Story. In other cycling news we have some Giro Rosa course details, Bauke Mollema for the Giro, Movistar to Catalunya, Caja Rural-Seguros RGA ride the Tour of Andalucia, Sky signs Sosa, job for Hayman with Mitchelton-Scott, Gazprom-RusVelo team’19, Caja Rural-Seguros RGA on Repente and the Middle East Peace Tour canceled. EUROTRASH Coffee time Thursday.

TOP STORY: Cyclocross Podium Count-Down Annoys World Champion
Wout van Aert had to hurry after the end of the Citadel Cross to arrive on time at the podium ceremony. The UCI had put a clock next to the World champion, as he cooled down on the rollers, to tell him when the podium ceremony would start. “It reminded me a bit of my school time, where I had to sprint with my bike to be on time”, annoyed Van Aert said to Sporza.

It all started last week after a remark by Mathieu van der Poel about a long wait for the world champion after the race. “I have this week a warning – or I do not know how I should call it from the UCI – that I have to prepare myself faster for the podium”, says Van Aert. “I have already said to the UCI that I think there are other problems that can be solved first.”

Van Aert also had a number of critical words for his rival Van der Poel: “I cannot hurt Mathieu at all this year. Still, he apparently finds it difficult that I need 2 minutes longer to be washed. If I had already won 20 crosses, I would worry about other things, I think.”

Christelle Reille, cyclocross coordinator at the UCI, told Dutch website WielerFlits that there are currently no regulations at the UCI about this problem.

After a few days Wout van Aert apologized through social media for his earlier reaction regarding the countdown clock. “I want to apologize for my comments on the new system. I agree with the use of the clock, because it creates clarity for everyone.”

A grumpy Namur podium:

Telenet UCI Cyclo-Cross World Cup – Heusden-Zolder 2018
Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon Circus) won the World Cup Cross in Zolder without much problem on Wednesday. The European champion went solo on the second lap, but saw an unfortunate World champion, Wout van Aert (Cibel-Cebon) finish strongly.

Van Aert wanted to make a good start in Zolder, and managed to get into second place from the line, but had a flat tire later on the first lap, which pushed him back to 16th position, at about 15 seconds.

World Cup leader, Toon Aerts (Telenet Fidea), saw his chance to distance his biggest competitor for the World Cup trophy and did everything to prevent Van Aert’s return, attacking with Michael Vanthourenhout (Marlux-Bingoal) and leaving top favorite Mathieu van der Poel in his wake. Van der Poel waited for his moment, and just when Van Aert was about to get back to the leaders after chasing for twenty minutes, the European champion made his move.

Just before the technical zone, Van der Poel took control. Aerts and Vanthourenhout couldn’t hold the Dutchman and he extended his lead to 20 seconds, all they could do was watch it rise to a maximum of 38 seconds. The chase was not helped by Vanthourenhout having technical problems.

In the second half of the race, the World champion, Wout van Aert, halved the difference and at one point was only 19 seconds from Van der Poel, but at the finish the Dutchman still had 16 seconds on the Belgian. Third place went to improving Dutchman Joris Nieuwenhuis. The Sunweb rider had a 4th place in Namur on Sunday moved up to the podium in Zolder. World Cup leader, Toon Aerts, finished in 4th place making it more difficult to win overall.

In a rare outing in a cross race; triple world champion Zdenek Stybar (Quick-Step Floors) finished in 21st place after having to start at the back of the grid.

Race winner, Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon Circus): “I’m at the start line with the goal to win a race, I didn’t make a lot of mistakes here. Maybe I shifted back too easily on a steady pace once I had half a minute because Wout was able to close in on me. I was a bit too relaxed. Before the season we decided to skip Pont-Chateau, we also skipped the US-rounds. If I hadn’t done that then I would’ve done Pont-Chateau, but I’m not chasing the win in the World Cup so I’ll skip the French round. Van Aert is getting better, you saw that in Namur. Without that flat tire it might have been exciting. I may have fallen back too quickly at too relaxed a pace. Van Aert came back and in the final phase, I still did a little bit of work.”

4th and overall World Cup leader, Toon Aerts (Telenet Fidea): “It’s my job to go for the World Cup, it’s a close battle between Wout and myself. I heard the MC announce that Van Aert had punctured. I didn’t know where he was but I decided to up the pace, hoping to put him out of contention but you’re never done with a good Wout. He returned to the front much faster than I hoped for. Before the race I calculated that I might lose five points today, it ended up being 10 points. This was a race to learn from. I had good legs, but in the past I would’ve wasted my energy. Tactically I rode better today than I would’ve done in previous years, although it wasn’t perfect. It’ll be decided by details, Pont-Chateau will be decisive, also about how the following races will be tackled since the final World Cup round in Hoogerheide is only one week before of the world championships.”

21st, Zdenek Stybar (Quick-Step Floors): “It was very hard. I suffered a lot, I hoped to take a good start but that wasn’t possible. In the opening laps I was always running behind the other riders on the climbs. The final laps were very hard and I made a lot of technical mistakes. I did enjoy the race somewhat, I hope that the next races go better and hopefully I can get in the top 12. Worlds? It’s very hard because it’s so close to the road season. It demands very intense training because I don’t want to race for 14th position there. I don’t think I’ll take the risk. One race I want to win on the road? Roubaix.”

Telenet UCI Cyclo-Cross World Cup – Heusden-Zolder Result:
1. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Corendon Circus in 1:02:49
2. Wout van Aert (Bel) Cibel-Cebon at 0:16
3. Joris Niewenhuis (Ned) Sunweb at 0:29
4. Toon Aerts (Bel) Telenet Fidea at 0:35
5. Laurens Sweeck (Bel) Pauwels Sauzen-Vastgoedservice
6. Quinten Hermans (Bel) Telenet-Fidea at 0:55
7. David van der Poel (Ned) Corendon Circus at 1:03
8. Lars van der Haar (Ned) Telenet Fidea at 1:07
9. Corne van Kessel (Ned) Telenet Fidea at 1:10
10. Daan Soete (Bel) Pauwels Sauzen-Vastgoedservice at 1:17

Heusden-Zolder’18:

2019 Giro Rosa Start and Finish
The opening and closing stages of the Giro d’Italia Internazionale Femminile Elite (Giro Rosa) were presented in Udine. The 30th edition of the women’s Giro will start in Piedmont on the 5th of July 2019 with an 18 kilometer hilly team time trial. The final stage will start in San Vito al Tagliamento and after 118.6 kilometers will finish on the short and cobblestone climb to the Udine Castle.

“The 2019 Giro Rosa will reach an important moment, as it will be 30 years old, and 100 years since the birth of cycling legend Fausto Coppi, who we will celebrate with the team time trial at the Grand Depart,” said Giro Rosa director Giuseppe Rivolta. “In the end, the Friuli region and our friend Enzo Cainero, are working a lot for women’s cycling. Enzo has been very brave to bring the women’s Giro to the Zoncolan, it is historical. The climb of Malga Montasio will be spectacular as well!”

The 2019 Giro Rosa starts on the 5th and finishes on the 14th of July.

2019 Giro Rosa winner Annemiek Van Vleuten:

Bauke Mollema to Lead Trek-Segafredo in the Giro’19
Bauke Mollema will be the Trek-Segafredo team leader at the 2019 Giro d’Italia. “I have asked the team if I can ride the Giro”, he told Cyclingnews.

Mollema finished 7th in the 2018 Italian Grand Tour and is looking forward to next year’s event: “The team did not expect me to choose the Giro, but I’m really looking forward to it,” he explains. “The course is also good for me. There are three time trials, but they all contain tough climbs and two of the three are also quite short.”

As to Mollema’s 2018: “I especially miss that big victory. A ride in a big round or a classic,” he explained his disappointment. “My big goal, the Tour de France, was disappointing because of my fall on the cobblestones. This way you will no longer stand a chance of winning a classification.”

After the retirement of Alberto Contador, Mollema was the team leader at Trek-Segafredo last year, now he has Richie Porte: “I like to have him there. For the team it is also important to have several riders who can ride for a classification.” Mollema will ride the Tour de France in support of Porte.

Bauke Mollema won the GP Bruno Beghelli in 2018:

Movistar for the Volta a Catalunya
World Champion Alejandro Valverde and his Movistar team will be on the start-line of the 2019 Volta a Catalunya to defending his title of 2018 winner. The Volta a Catalunya organizers have announced that Valverde will return to the Spanish race in 2019 to try for his fourth overall win. The Movistar rider won in 2009, 2017 and last year, plus five stage wins.

Joining Valverde in the Movistar team will be Marc Soler who finished 3rd in 2017 and 5th in 2018. The young Catalan winner of Paris-Nice was also 2nd on stage 7 of his home stage race in 2018, 13 seconds behind winner, Simon Yates.

Other riders expected to ride: Romain Bardet (AG2R-La Mondiale), Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) and young superstar, Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck-Quick-Step).

World champion, Alejandro Valverde, will be in Catalunya:

Caja Rural-Seguros RGA Will be in the Tour of Andalucia 2019
The Spanish team will complete its tenth participation in the 65th edition of the Ruta del Sol.

Caja Rural-Seguros RGA will participate, for the tenth consecutive year, in the 65th Tour of Andalucia ‘Ruta del Sol’, to be held from 20th to 24th February 2019. The team manager José Miguel Fernández, will go to the Andalusian Tour with Cristián Rodríguez, Sergio Pardilla, Xabier Canellas, Alex Aranburu, Alvaro Cuadros, Nelson Andres Soto and Alan Banaszek.

Caja Rural-Seguros RGA returns to the Tour of Andalusia for the tenth consecutive year as a UCI Professional Continental team. It had previously participated for two years as a continental team, regardless of two previous performances in 1988 and 1989. Since 2010, the year in which the path of the current structure of the club started, has won a total of 63 times with 29 different riders.

Last season the Spanish squad took five wins, plus 15 podiums and 72 top-10, competing in 54 races, five of them, WorldTour. One feature that stands out among the members of this team is, above all, their courage, as evidenced by their presence in the vast majority of break-aways. Caja Rural-Seguros RGA always gives 100% and can put other teams into serious trouble and add work to important victories.

Runners, one by one:
Cristián Rodríguez, 23 years from El Ejido (Almería), will fulfill his second season on the team, which arrived after having been two seasons in the Italian team Wilier Triestina. Previously he was also ‘stagiari’ team in the American Southeast. As U23 was champion of Andalusia in Spain and runner individual time mode, having imposed a stage and the overall Return to Leon. In his first year in Italy he participated in the Giro d’Italia and was tenth in the Tour de l’Avenir. Prune campaign made a second place overall in the mountains of the Tour of Valencia and the sixth in the standings of youth in the Tour of Portugal. It will be his third appearance in the Tour of Andalusia.

Sergio Pardilla, from Membrilla (Ciudad Real) who turns 35 in January and has a total of 15 individual victories. It will compete for the fifth year in Caja Rural, where he arrived after having been two seasons in the MTN-Qhubeka. He previously played for Movistar, Carmiooro NGC, Burgos and Viña Magna, who made the jump to professional. He has achieved stage wins in the Tour Montanes del Porvenir Tour, Tour of the Pyrenees, Vuelta a La Rioja and stage and generally in Vueltas Japan and the Community of Madrid. It also has an important win in the queen stage of the Tour of Burgos three years ago, which ended in Lagos de Neila, ahead of Alberto Contador. It will be his eighth appearance in the Andalusian round, where in 2010 he got a stage win at La Guardia de Jaén, in front of Van Den Broeck and Damiano Cunego, and was third overall, in addition to winning the general combined with the colors of Carmiooro NGC.

Xabier Canellas, Balearic rider, (21) which opens in Andalusia, turn to professional team having been the last two seasons in the amateur team. From a young age, and as a good Spaniard cyclist, it is a real specialist track in different ways. He has won 10 titles of champion of Spain and one European. On the road, last season won five victories: Amorebieta, Macario, Zegama, Zaldibia and a stage in the Tour of Castelló; while four were victories in 2018, repeating Amorebieta plus Bergara, Laudio and a stage in the Tour Bidasoa.

Alex Aranburu, Basque rider-Itsaso Ezkio 23, will fulfill his second season on the team, where he arrived the Euskadi Murias. His first big win got last year, winning surprisingly at the Circuit de Getxo, Ricardo Ochoa Memorial, in front of complete formations with different leaders. It will be his second participation in the Andalusian round.

Nelson Andres Soto, young Colombian rider 24 born in the city of Barranquilla in 2019 repeated in Andalusia. It will be his second season at Caja Rural, which came from the Colombian COLDEPORTES Zenú. As sub-23 he won a stage in the Tour of Colombia, being Pan American champion elite route in the Dominican Republic. He also had three stages in the Tour of Colombia and was en route bronze in the Bolivarian Games. In its first year won the Caja Rural Central American and Caribbean Games. He also competed in Andalusia, having been third in the stage between Mancha Real and Herrera after Sacha Modolo and Carlos Barbero.

Alan Banaszek, Polish (21), which opens in the Ruta del Sol, comes to the team after spending the last three seasons in the CCC. Its biggest sporting success got in 2015, being junior, with achieving the European title route in the Finnish town of Turku. As U23 has seven individual wins achieved.

Alvaro Cuadros, cyclist from Zubia (Granada) 24, made the leap to professional last season’s amateur team, which was two seasons. As sub-23, besides being runner-up in Spain, in 2016 he won the Guerrita and was champion of Andalusia elite en route; 2017 beat in Valenciaga, in one step and the general Return to Castellon on the TTT of the Tour Zamora and Oñati. As a professional last year for the first time participated in the Tour of Andalusia, getting to be second in the Grand Prix of the Mountain, behind teammate Lluís Mas, who was covering his back.

Caja Rural-Seguros RGA training:

Sosa Signs with Sky
Sky has confirmed that Iván Sosa will be riding for the team in its final year, 2019. Sosa is the fifth Colombian to join the British team. Sosa was expected to ride for Trek-Segafredo, but changed his mind.

The 21 year-old from Pasca, Colombia has been training with the Sky team in Mallorca, commenting: “I am really happy. I am here to keep improving as a rider and while it will be a learning process for me during my early days with the team, I believe I will fit into this group well and race to my full potential over the coming years. Having Egan (Bernal) here is a big boost for me, he is a good friend and someone I know very well. Having him and a few other South Americans in the team will be really beneficial for me. Everyone has been really welcoming to me. There is a nice mix of youth and experience within this team and they’ve all helped me settle in. Training has been really good and the DS’s and coaches have been great with me too. We’re all looking forward to the new season and the chance to build on the team’s successes of 2018.”

Sosa had a very good 2018 season with wins in the Vuelta a Burgos and stage wins in the Adriatica Ionica Race and the Sibiu Cycling Tour with his former team Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec.

Iván Sosa winning stage 3 of the Adriatica Ionica’18:

Hayman to Work With Mitchelton-Scott
Mathew Hayman will stay with the Mitchelton-Scott after he retires at the end of the 2019 Tour Down Under in January. The winner of the 2016 Paris-Roubaix will move into a ‘Special Projects’ position after he hangs up his wheels. Hayman will be involved in all aspects of the running of the team, from coaching, race directing, plus sponsorship and marketing.

Hayman summed up his future: “There were times that I did think I could walk away from the sport, but in some ways I think who I am to give away this knowledge without helping someone. Not only will that will help me go from athlete to the normal world, but I think I can help make a difference to the careers of some young riders too. I probably could have spent more time planning but you are so focused on your career that before you know it, you’re nearing the end. Not knowing what is going to suit me and having this opportunity from the team to be able to test the waters on a few different fronts, I am pretty thankful for. That’s not an opportunity everyone gets, and I’m really going to relish being able to try some mentoring, maybe some DS races here and there, and working on the sponsorship side as well.”

“The big advantage now is that it is all still fresh. In five or ten years’ time, I will be more removed from the sport. I will still have the knowledge and my experiences but it’s the next 12 months when it’ll still be really fresh – it’ll be just weeks or months ago that I was racing myself. While it’s so fresh, I think we need to try and use it. If I could use that knowledge and help see someone else achieve something they didn’t think they were capable of, that would be a success for me.”

Mathew Hayman Roubaix’18 winner:

Gazprom — RusVelo Unveil Team Roster for 2019
The first pre-season training camp of the Russian professional cycling team Gazprom — RusVelo is coming to an end. Team’s General manager Renat Khamidulin is glad to announce the newcomers and changes for the upcoming season: “There is a significant change of generations in Russian cycling and we are not only facing it, we are in charge of this process. Over the last two years the average age of our riders has been decreasing and next season Gazprom — RusVelo will be one of the youngest in the peloton. There is no doubt that the work on the development of young riders is a highly demanding process. That is why, we have specialists whom we can rely on: Denis Menchov, Evgeny Petrov and Andrey Solomennikov are joining our board of Sport Directors, as well as Michele Devoti is back with the team.

We are grateful to our technical sponsors, who have been supporting us for years, providing equipment of impeccable quality. Gazprom — RusVelo will continue competing on the legendary Colnago bicycles — maestro Ernesto is not just a sponsor, but the experienced mentor and close friend of the team. The eminent manufacturers of cycling equipment: Campagnolo, Deda Elementi, Elite, Look, Tufo will continue collaborating with the team.

I am glad to announce that in 2019 the list of our technical sponsors will be enlarged with world-known brands: Limar (helmets and sunglasses), Prologo (saddles), Sidi (cycling shoes) and UYN (cycling apparel). We are also very grateful to our title sponsor Gazprom, which brings us confidence in our future” — Renat Khamidulin.

Denis Menchov is glad to join Gazprom — RusVelo: “In the recent years we have often talked with Renat (Khamidulin) about the possibility of joining the team. I should admit, it took me a while to make this decision, but of course I am very glad to become a part of the only Russian professional team. I hope my experience will be useful and I will be able to share it with the young riders.”

Evgeny Petrov about his new role in cycling: “Just two years ago I was competing as a rider. After finishing my career, I knew that I wanted to come back to cycling in a new role and be useful for the development of the Russian cycling and youngsters in particular. Gazprom — RusVelo is a great team with a plenty of talented athletes, which perfectly suited my ambitions. At the moment, we are at the pre-season training camp in Spain, everyone is in upbeat mood and we look forward to starting the upcoming races.”

Sport Directors:
Alexey Markov, Michele Devoti, Denis Menchov, Evgeny Petrov, Paolo Rosola, Alexander Serov, Andrey Solomennikov.

Gazprom — RusVelo roster for 2019:
Ildar Arslanov, Igor Boev, Nikolay Cherkasov, Alexander Evtushenko, Evgeny Kobernyak, Vlad Kulikov, Alexander Kulikovskiy, Alexey Kurbatov, Stepan Kurianov, Stash Mamyr, Denis Nekrasov, Artem Nych, Alexander Porsev, Petr Rikunov, Ivan Rovny, Alexey Rybalkin, Evgeny Shalunov, Sergey Shilov, Alexander Vlasov, Anton Vorobyev.

Repente will Provide the Saddles of Caja Rural – Seguros RGA
Repente becomes the new provider of saddles for Caja Rural – Seguros RGA from the 2019 season, following the agreement reached between the Italian brand and the cycling team based in Navarra. A young firm but with proven experience, since its professionals have a long career in the sector.

Its managers, designers and engineers pool their knowledge and apply their different visions to create innovative products that combine technology and art in the same piece. All this work and philosophy is summarized in the logo of the company “Cycling is an art”.

In this way, Repente developed the patent for a saddle ultralight made in carbon that allows exchange the foam, depending on the needs of each training or competition, maintaining a fixed structure. This is an advantage for the cyclists that will allow the riders of Caja Rural-Seguros RGA to have different options.

Massimo Farronato (CEO Repente): “We have chosen Caja Rural-Seguros RGA for the debut of Repente in professional cycling because it is a team that has a strong tradition behind it, a clean image and believes in young riders. It is a team that accurately reflects the values ​​of Repente: reliability and stability, qualities we use when we are inspired making our products and launching them to the market. We have many projects in process and the collaboration with Caja Rural-Seguros RGA will be very useful to make comfortable saddles with a maximum performance at the same time.”

Juan Manuel Hernández (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA Manager): “Repente is a new brand, but with a great knowledge behind, since it has been founded by people who have a lot of experience in the sector. They are saddles of the highest quality. From the first moment, our riders have noticed their combination of comfort, lightness and rigidity. In Repente they are really innovative, the base of the saddle is made of carbon, then they have added a patented system that allows to exchange the foams according to the needs of each moment. At Caja Rural-Seguros RGA we are very proud to be able to contribute to the improvement and expansion of Repente.”

Middle East Peace Tour Cancellation
Amman – Petra – Aqaba – Eilat – Mitzpe Ramon – Neve Zohar – Jericho – Jerusalem.

Statement!
Five years ago, we started working on the project Middle East Peace Tour. A project designed to show sport has the power to change the world (the words of Nelson Mandela).

To build bridges where politics built walls and ditches. Numerous meetings and discussions with government officials of all parties and the support of the embassies (who always provided us with important advice) and the great cooperation with the communities along the entire route, motivated us even more. The close and intense cooperation has resulted in many friendships with Jordanians, Palestinians and Israelis and the region has become a second home.

It is, therefore, with great regret that we are forced to announce the cancellation of the 2019 Middle East Peace Tour. The safety of the participants and staff is a top priority. Due to recent developments in the region, this cannot be guaranteed at this time. With the start date rapidly approaching, we are faced with little alternative. The belief that sport has the power to change the world lives on within us.

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