News and Results – November 19, 2008

November 19th, 2008 by Ron Callahan View Comments

It’s amazing how much we rely on quick Internet access nowadays. Here are the headlines:

Iljo Keisse and Robert Bartko are the leaders after the first day of the Six Days of Ghent. Tosh Van der Sande and Stijn Steels lead the U23 competition.
The contract has not been signed, but fomer T-Mobile DS Rudy Penvenage is expected to be the new directeur sportif for Rock Racing. There are now rumors that Jan Ullrich may follow him to the team. (sportwereld.be)
Christophe Rinero has retired after 13 years in the pro peloton. (sport.be)
Former Belgian champion Ludovic Capelle also announced his retirement. He is only 32, but got tied up in doping scandals. (DH.be)
Following the model of Lance Armstrong and Ivan Basso, Patrick Sinkewitz is expected to post all of his drug testing and blood values online. (sport.be)
Carlos Sastre is joining the hunt for blood at the Giro next year and says “it will not be a training ride.” (BBC Sport)
Earlier this week, it was reported that Jorge Jaschke would return to racing with a small Austrian team, but he has come out to say that he will be heading to study law at the Univeristy of Hagen instead. He is riding now only to stay fit. (Radsport News)
Italian rider Giovanni Carini is expected to receive a two year ban after being found using EPO at the Italian U23 Championships.
Belgian Jan Kuyckx has committed to the new H20 Team for 2009 (Radsport News)
Rock Racing is reportedly operating in violation of a couple of UCI regulations about the number of riders a team may have and the average age of the riders. They are possibly going to split some of their riders out to a track specific team, but that would skew the age factor even more in the wrong direction. (Sportweek.nl) It wouldn’t be the first time that they’ve operated without detailed knowledge of the rules.