EuroTrash Thursday!

It’s been a quiet week, which is no surprise at this time of year, but that leaves more room for video action! ProConti teams are announced and the US announce their Continental teams, more Tour Down Under news, Menchov goes where we thought and Cavendish and Wiggins ride apart till the Tour! There are also some press releases and Taylor Phinney is trying his hand at being an “Agony Aunt”. Feet up for Thursday’s EuroTrash!

“Top Story”

Cavendish stays clear of Wiggins
Sky “Top Men” Mark Cavendish and Bradley Wiggins will be on different squads until the both ride the Tour de France in July. At a press conference on Wednesday it was announced that Wiggins would be riding the Tour of Algarve, Paris-Nice and Tour of Catalonia, whilst Sprinter Mark Cavendish has a different route to the French race. If they are to work together it seems strange to keep the team leaders apart, also the question of how many riders will be there to help Cavendish in the sprints and Wiggins in the mountains has been left unanswered. Wiggins says he has not looked at the course of the Tour yet, leaving it till after the Christmas holiday, maybe he will look at the course, at the Vuelta a Espaсa he said on the evening of the race presentation that he did know the course. Anyway it’s a long time till the Tour and lots of things could happen before then!

Wiggins:

Cavendish:

UCI Announce 2012 Pro-Continental Teams
The final list of 22 Pro-Continental teams for the 2012 season has been issued by the UCI; no other teams can now join this second division, so this is it! Europcar and Cofidis are still there and are joined by the new/replacement 1t4i Project. Champion Systems from China is new as is Utensilnord Name, who are registered in Ireland but based in Italy. Gone is Geox-TCM.

UCI Pro-Conti Teams for 2012:
Accent Jobs – Willems Veranda’s (Bel)
Acqua&Sapone (Ita)
Andalucia (Spa)
AndroniGiocattoli (Ita)
Bretagne – Schuller (Fra)
Caja Rural (Spa)
Champion System Pro Cycling Team (Chn)
Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne (Fra)
Colnago – CSF INOX (Irl)
Colombia – Coldeportes (Col)
Team Europcar (Fra)
Farnese Vini (GB)
Landbouwkrediet (Bel)
Project 1T4I (Ned)
Rusvelo (Rus)
Saur – Sojasun (Fra)
Spidertech Powered By C10 (Can)
Team Netapp (Ger)
Team Type 1 – Sanofi(USA)
TopsportVlaanderen – Mercator (Bel)
Unitedhealthcare Pro Cycling Team (USA)
Utensilnord Named (Irl).

Some good film here, for no reason:

US Based UCI Continental Teams for 2012
USA Cycling have announced twelve Continental registered team for next year, this goes along with BMC and Garmin-Cervelo who are WorldTour and UnitedHealthcare and Team Type 1-Sanofi who are Pro-Continental. Two women’s teams are also UCI registered.

US UCI Continental Teams for 2012:
Bissell Cycling,
BMC-Hincapie Sportswear Development Team,
Bontrager-Livestrong Team,
Chipotle Development Team,
Competitive Cyclist Racing Team,
Jamis-Sutter Home,
Jelly Belly Cycling Team,
Kenda-5-Hour Energy Cycling Team,
Team Exergy,
Team Mountain Khakis-Smartstop,
Team Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies,
Wonderful Pistachios Cycling.

Women’s UCI Teams:
Exergy TWENTY 12,
Team TIBCO-To the Top.

USA Cycling outlines it’s vision:

Mallorca Challenge Riders?
This years Mallorca Challenge race, or collection of races, should boast some of the top riders in the peloton according to Spanish sport newspaper AS. The 5 days of racing at the Mallorca Challenge between February 5th to 9th is due to have Cadel Evans (BMC), Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank) and the two RadioShack Schleck brothers. Other team expected to compete are: Katusha, Rabobank, Omega Pharma-QuickStep, Lotto-Belisol, Movistar, Euskaltel-Euskadi and Sky.

Here is some film from the Mallorca Challenge 2001 by Johan Bruyneel:

Menchov to Katusha
Big surprise (NOT) of the week is the news that Denis Menchov will ride for the Russian Katusha team next year. The Spanish based Russian was left without a team after the demise of the Geox-TCM team, he had been looking to join them back in 2010, but this fell through. The triple Grand Tour winner said: “I am very glad to join Katusha. I have been looking forward to it for a long time, and I always regarded it as the right step for me and my career.” Things are still looking bad for most of the other ex-Geox riders though.

And here is Denis Menchov:

Astana Team for TDU
The Kazakh team is taking three new riders to the Australian stage race; Borut Bozic, Jacopo Guarnieri and Dmitriy Muravyev will make their Astana dйbut Down Under.

Astana Team for the Tour Down Under:
Borut Bozic,
Jacopo Guarnieri,
Dmitriy Muravyev,
Valentin Iglinskiy.
Assan Bazayev,
Francesco Masciarelli,
Dmitriy Gruzdev.

Liquigas-Cannondale for TDU
Liquigas are also taking three new signing to Australia; Stefano Agostini, Federico Canuti and Daniele Ratto.

Liquigas-Cannondale for the Tour Down Under:
Stefano Agostini,
Alan Marangoni,
Federico Canuti,
Kristijan Koren,
Daniele Ratto,
Mauro Da Dalto,
Fabio Sabatini.

Last years Santos Tour Down Under:

Roe To Miss Santos Tour Down Under
Press Release: A hip injury will keep Australian Tim Roe from competing for the BMC Racing Team next month at the Santos Tour Down Under. Replacing him will be Mathias Frank, the bronze medalist at this year’s Swiss national time trial championships.

Precaution To Prevent More Damage
Roe said the pain he is feeling in his hip is an ongoing issue that flared up near the end of his first professional season. “It’s probably due to my increased workload and how hard the racing was,” Roe said. “For sure, this is disappointing. I would have loved to have raced my home race, but I know how hard it is to get ready for the season and this will help make my body right.” BMC Racing Team Chief Medical Officer Dr. Max Testa said while Roe is still training and adjusting his position on the bike, holding him out of the six-stage race that starts Jan. 17 is a precaution to prevent long-term damage. “We will re-evaluate Tim this week, but we do expect him to be able to participate in training camp next month,” Testa said.

Tour of Gila now UCI 2.2 Event
The SRAM Tour of Gila, which starts on the 2nd of May to the 6th, will be part of the UCI AmericaTour next year. The five day race in New Mexico has been run for 26 years, but due to financial problems the race has had its problems, now SRAM have returned as main sponsor all is looking good for the future.

SRAM Tour of Gila highlights:

IG Markets Sponsor Sigma Sort Team
British Continental team; Sigma Sport-Specialized will have IG Markets as its main sponsor, at the moment the company co-sponsor the WorldTour Sky team. The team will now be known as Team IG-Sigma Sport.

Team IG-Sigma Sport 2012 Roster:
Steven Burke,
Dan Craven,
Tom Murray,
Simon Richardson,
Steve Lampier,
Tom Last,
Simon Gaywood,
Wouter Sybrandy,
Jake Hales,
Peter Hawkins,
Andrew Griffiths.

CompuTrainer-Blog Your Way to a FREE CompuTrainer
2012 Blog to Win A CompuTrainer

Press Release: At the end of the year, we will choose the best blogger from the monthly winners for a Free CompuTrainer.
Please make sure “CompuTrainer” is in the Title of your blog entry.
Then, send an e-mail to [email protected] with “Blog Entry” as the Subject and the Blog Site Address in the body. Do not send the text of the blog in the mail, only the site address.

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Cycling stars Ride for a Purpose with 25,000 other participants in South Africa’s Momentum 94.7
Press Release: HotChillee and Momentum took a group of four international professional cyclists to join in on the action at the South African Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge on 20 November, participating in the Ride for a Purpose campaign.

Dan Martin from team Garmin-Cervйlo, Dean Downing from team Rapha-Condor-Sharp and Russ Downing from Team Sky all flew out to South Africa to join the 25,000 other participants. Among this 25,000 was also local heroes Daryl Impey, who has just signed for the Australian Green Edge team and South African educated Chris Froome from Team Sky.
Completing the quartet was cycling legend Stephen Roche; gearing up to celebrate his 25th anniversary of his 1987 Triple Crown win.

In addition to participating in the main event, all of the international participants, including the HotChillee group and Phil Liggett completed a ‘Twitter Ride’ – a warm up ride the day before. They were joined by local sporting legend Joel Stransky, the former South African rugby union player, famous for his dramatic winning drop goal against New Zealand in the 1995 Rugby World Cup final.

Following the ride, the cycling stars took to the road and visited local charities, including the Morning Star Children’s Centre, a day care facility for underprivileged children affected by HIV / AIDS.

DeFeet Earns Prestigious “Business of the Year” Award in North Carolina
Press Release: December 13, 2011 – DeFeet International HAS BEEN VOTED “BUSINESS OF THE YEAR” FOR 2012 by the publication BUSINESS NORTH CAROLINA. The award represents a milestone for DeFeet, a company that was brought to it’s knees by a devastating fire in 2001. DeFeet was chosen from a long list of great North Carolina businesses in many different business categories. Shane Cooper, DeFeet’s founder, President, and “Chief Sockologist”, received the award in person.

Cooper, who is pictured on the cover of the magazine (see enclosed picture and cover story) is emotional about the award. “This award represents so much to me and our team. DeFeet is now a 20 year old company that very nearly didn’t survive because of the catastrophic events we faced. After two decades, we are getting stronger from our experiences. We are no longer a teenager.” While DeFeet beat out many companies in flashier industries like high tech, Cooper keeps it in perspective. “DeFeet has always been proud to manufacture in North Carolina. Made in USA is not a cliche term. It’s what we do and it’s important to us.”

For DeFeet, being recognized across a spectrum of industries in it’s home State is a unique experience. The company credits the process of building enduring products for the vibrant sports that it cares deeply about. Cooper shares that “Love for the cycling, running and outdoor industries that we build for is what drives us and what made this possible. They really are special markets. The pursuits that are healthy and life-enhancing. Completely worthwhile ways to spend your time personally and in business.”

A Bit of Advice!
I’m not one for reading “rider blogs” well any blogs for that matter, they are up there with forums, but that’s my choice. But the other day someone (Matt Conn) brought the Taylor Phinney blog and said I should have a look. The young BMC rider is giving advice of a personal nature! It’s funny and light-hearted and worth a read, but I wouldn’t take it too seriously!

Here is Taylor training in Tuscany.

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