Bike World News

The cycling news will be coming on a little different schedule for the next several days, but we’ll still be bringing you all of the latest. Here’s the headlines from Wednesday.

Results:

• Ricardo Serrano (Fuji Servetto) won Stage 1 of the Tour of Romandie.
• Rock Racing’s Oscar Sevilla racked up the team’s second victory of the race at the Vuelta a Asturias.
• Levi Leipheimer (Mellow Johnny’s) won the first stage of the Tour of the Gila. Kristin Armstrong took the win in the women’s race.

News:

• Olympic mountain bike champion Sabine Spitz has called for global anti-doping laws, and more importantly, a global court to prosecute offenses. She says that doping is a global problem and notes that the Spanish government banning out of competition tests between 11 p.m. and 8 a.m. is frightening.
• It’s been confirmed that Davide Rebellin‘s is one of the new positive drug tests at the Beijing Olympics. What we didn’t know yesterday but know now is that Stefan Schumacher is one of the others. Of course, Schumacher has already been banned but Rebellin, of course, was still active and won Fleche Wallone just 4 days ago.  Rebellin has been a professional since 1992 and has had 53 wins as a pro. Rebellin is waiting to hear from the Italian National Olympic Committee for details, and his wife reports that he is beside himself.
• Floyd Landis talks to Bicycling Magazine about his first months back. While the results have not come as quickly or easily as he would like, he says that his power numbers are almost identical to what he had before surgery and that he sometimes forgets which hip was operated on.
• Cyclocross Magazine reports that Katie Compton is looking to go for a World Cup title this year and that she is looking for a new bike sponsor. While she has previously ridden bikes from Primus Mootry, she is looking for someone with deeper pockets and resources to as she focuses on the title.
• Daryl Impey is back home in South Africa, and while he is improving, still is in need of maximum care and attention. He will have to stay in bed for at least six weeks before he can start to think about training.
• As we noted yesterday, BMC Racing was also affected by the UCI rule affecting continental teams participating in domestic races. The UCI rule has just flown under the radar for more than 20 years, according to a BMC team spokesperson. “I don’t believe we were in violation of the rules. It’s not difficult or unheard of for UCI registered teams to operate in areas that do not offer UCI races, which is the case in the US.”
• The apartment German sprinter Robert Förstemann was broken into on Sunday and two of his bikes were stolen. The two bikes are custom-made and have an estimated total value of 15000 euros.
• Belgian champion Jurgen Roelandts (Silence-Lotto) will return to competition at Friday’s Eschborn-Frankfurt City Loop (1.BC), the successor of Rund um den Henninger Turm. He has been out of competition after a bad fall at Dwars door Vlaanderen.
• In an interview with Cycling News, Quick Step manager Patrick Lefevere is calling for faster turnarounds on doping samples. “This is ridiculous. It takes eight months before they let Rebellin know that he has been positive.”
• According to the official website of the team Bbox Bouygues Telecom, William Bonnet, who underwent knee surgery in March, will make his return to competition at the 4 Days of Dunkirk.
• Ivan Basso noted on his website that he received an out of competition doping control at his home in Cassano Magnano on Wednesday.
• Velo News notes that, after weeks of uncertainty, organizers of the TD Bank Philadelphia International Cycling Championship announced Wednesday that the annual race will be held as scheduled on Sunday, June 7.
• I saw on Twitter that this was happening, but I didn’t think that this guy had snowball’s chance: Chris Paradysz, 47, set a 24-hour velodrome record of 416.09 miles/669.63km at the Valley Preferred Cycling Center in Breinigsville, Pennsylvania, raising funds the S.L.E.* Lupus Foundation on April 26, 2009.

Giro Teams:

• AG2R: Alexander Efimkin, Tadej Valjavec, Sebastien Hinault, Yuriy Krivtsov, Julien Loubet, Alexandr Pliuschin, Jean Charles Senac, Blaise Sonnery e Ludovic Turpin. Pliuschin, Jean Charles Senac, Blaise Sonnery and Ludovic Turpin.
• Cervelo: Carlos Sastre, Hayden Roulston, Philip Deignan, Volodymir Gustov, Jeremy Hunt, Ted King, Ignatas Konovalovas and Serge Pauwels.
• Caisse d’Epargne: David Arroyo, Anthony Charteau, Arnold Jeannesson, Vasil Kiriyenka, Pablo Lastras, David Lopez, Fran Pérez, Perget Mathieu, Joaquim Rodriguez.

Related Posts:

• Road News and Results – April 22, 2009 (2)
• Road News and Results – April 20, 2009 (0)
• 2009 Tour de France – Stage 12 News, Notes and Quotes (0)
• Road News and Results – October 6, 2009 (0)
• Road News and Results – May 2, 2009 (0)