Contador meets the Prez, Cavendish wins again plus more racing news

July 30th, 2009 by Al Fresco View Comments

Alberto Contador meets the head of the Spanish government, teams forming for Vuelta and Worlds, Cavendish notches another win and more….

Alberto Contador had a meeting with José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, the head of the Spanish government. Zapatero congratulated Contador on his win and said that he enjoyed watching the final days of the race. Zapatero expressed confidence that Contador would win many more yellow jerseys throughout his career.
Podium Cafe said it best about Lance Armstrong: “…once you strip away everything else: the team bs, the twittering, the hype, and just focus on the race itself, you realize that someone that has been away from the sport for three years, just came back and only two months after fracturing his clavicle, rode faster than all but two of the best damn cyclists in the world in the sport’s premier event.”
German dairy products company Nordmilch has ended their sponsorship of their continental team (co-sponsored by the Bremer Group), but will continue to back the pro level Milram team for now.
Milram will send four Tour de France starters to contest Satuday’s Clasica San Sebastian. Their team will be: John Fröhlinger, Linus Gerdemann, Thomas Rohregger, Martin velit, velit Peter, Paul Voss and Peter Wrolich.
Lampre will send Damiano Cunego, supported by Bandiera, Da Dalto, Magazzini, Marzano, Righi, Spilak and Tiralongo.

The post-Tour criteriums continue:

Mark Cavendish won the Night of Peer Criterium, besting Alessandro Pettacchi and Maxime Montfort at the finish.
Laurens Ten Dam of Rabobank won the event in Chaam over Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) and the soon-to-be-retired Steven de Jongh.

Revived races:

The previously cancelled Priority Health Grand Cycling Classic, which was to be held on September 12th, is back with a new sponsor and a new date. The race will now be held on August 8th and was revived by the sponsorship of grocery chain Meijer. The event will now be known as the Meijer Grand Cycling Classic.
The city of Santa Cruz, California hosted a stage of the Tour of California last year, but was considering passing on the race in 2010 due to budget issues. Thanks to a strong turnout of race supporters, they will once again host the race. (from Cyclelicious)

We’ve talked a little about team pre-selections for the Vuelta, but the World Championships are on the horizon as well. France’s coach Laurent Jalabert has announced his short list and it includes Dimitri Champion (Bretagne-Schuller), Pierrick Fedrigo, Thomas Voeckler and Laurent Lefèvre (Bougyues Telecom), Sylvain Chavanel and Jérôme Pineau (Quick Step), Rémi Pauriol, Amaël Moinard and Christophe Kern (Cofidis), Christophe Le Mével , Anthony Geslin, and Sandy Casar (Française des Jeux), David Le Lay, Maxime Bouët and Brice Feillu (Agritubel) and Christophe Riblon (AG2R).
Cadel Evans of Silence-Lotto has said that he will use the Vuelta as preparation for the Worlds.

Vuelta:

The organizers of the Vuelta have to be a little concerned about the recent bombing on the popular tourist island of Mallorca as well as in the town of Burgos. The Basque separatist group ETA has not claimed responsibility for the bombing of barracks that housed police officers and their families, but officials from Spain’s Interior Ministry say that the nature and location of the attacks match their pattern. While the race does not pass close to the areas where the bombing took place, they are sure to give pause to anyone who may be travelling to Spain for the race.