Road Racing News and Results – August 19, 2009
August 18th, 2009 by Al Fresco No Comment
Promising Irish cyclist dies just days before national tour, Lance Armstrong will bet on Colorado stage race in 2010, Robbie McEwen’s comeback delayed, more Vuelta team announcements, and more cycling news…
- Just days before the start of the Tour of Ireland, Irish National team member Paul Healion was killed in a car crash. The 31-year-old rider was killed in a single-vehicle car accident while driving near Ardee, County Lough on Sunday night. He had finished sixth in a race in Donore earlier in the day, and would have spent the next few days tapering prior to joining the rest of the Irish team for the race.
- France and Amsterdam are feeling the pinch of poor race results, having earned just six slots each for the upcoming World Championships in Mendrosio, Switzerland.
- Lance Armstrong thinks that a major stage race will take place in Colorado in 2011, saying that state Governor Bill Ritter is committed to the project and is motivated to keep it moving forward.
- Emanuelle Serra is back to racing after serving a one year suspension for doping with CERA during the 2008 Giro d’Italia. He’ll race at today’s Three Valleys Varesine race for Carmio Oro.
- Robbie McEwen (Katusha) was planning to make his comeback in today’s Eneco Tour, but he still had to get a bolt removed from his knee that was put there after his crash at the Tour of Belgium. That surgery is scheduled for the 22nd.
- Portugal’s Liberty Seguros team is considering an upgrade to a professional license in the hope of having more access to the international race calendar.
- We announced the provisional teams for the Vuelta yesterday, but several squads have already decided on their final nine riders:
- Euskaltel-Euskadi will send Samuel Sánchez along with Igor Antón, Egoi Martínez, Rubén Pérez, Alan Pérez, Iñaki Isasi, Markel Irizar, Aitor Hernández and Amets Txurruka.
- Contentpolis Cope Murcia will run with Aitor Pérez, Mikel Gaztañaga, Manuel Vázquez, Julián Sánchez Pimiento, Francisco Pacheco, Javier Benítez, Adrián Palomares, Oscar García-Casarrubios and Sergio Domínguez.
- Xavier Tondo will be the captain for Andalucía Cajasur and will be supported by Antonio Piedra, Javier Ramírez Abeja, Jesús Rosendo, Manuel Calvente, José Francisco Martínez, Manuel Ortega, José Antonio López and José Ruiz.
- Xacobeo Galacia will send Ezequiel Mosquera, David García, Gustavo C. Veloso, Gustavo Domínguez, Serafín Martínez, Gonzalo Rabuñal, David Herrero, Alberto Fernández and Eduardo Vorganov.
- Halfway through the 2009 USA Cycling Pro Tour , Levi Leipheimer (Santa Rosa, Calif./Astana) leads the individual standings while the Team Columbia-High Road squad is currently tops in the team category.
- Germany’s Equipe Nürnberger female squad will pick up a new sponsor in 2010. International yacht company Skyter Shipping will be the new main sponsor.
- Finnish national road champion Liias Toni has tested positive for testosterone. The B-sample will be tested this week, and if it confirms the test, the title will go to Liquigas Doimo’s Kjell Carlstrom.
Results:
- Slovenian Borut Bozic (Vacansoleil) won in a mass sprint in the opening stage in the Tour of Limousin (2.1). In the 159.6 km stage from Limoges to Ussel, he defeated Spaniard Xavier Florencio and the German Paul Martens.
- Niko Eeckhout won Tuesday’s GP Zottegem City. The 38-year-old Belgian won the mass sprint over Martin Pedersen and Cyril Lemoine.
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