Road News and Results – August 27, 2009

Lance gives his season 7 out of 10, Vino wants a couple of Vuelta stages, USA Crits back at Thater Memorial, results and more bicycle racing news….

• In a talk with Eurosport, Lance Armstrong summed up his season as “7 out of 10″, and says that he was “divinely happy” to end up on the podium at the Tour de France. He adds that it is unlikely that he will do the World Championships or the tradtional season closing Tour of Lombardy. His 2011 goal is victory at the Tour de France.
• Armstrong was joined for a ride by 1200 of his closest Twitter friends in Phoenix Park in Dublin earlier in the week before he headed home to the States to get his kids started to school.
• It looks like the Radio Shack cycling team is not willing to spend the money to buy anyone out of their contract, but they still have their eyes on Quick Step’s Stijn Devolder, who will become available in 2011. Devolder was mentored by Dirk Demol, who will be one of the DS’s at Radio Shack.
• Vladimir Efimkin (Ag2r) will resume racing at the Giro della Romagna on September 6th.
• Wouter Vandenhaute, who already ran and promoted the Tour of Flanders, Ghent-Ghent and Paris-Brussels races, has bought a managing interest in the Brabant Arrow (Brabant Pijl) race. He is said to want to be a major player in the Belgian cycling landscape.
• Alexander Vinokourov has expressed a desire to take “one or two” stages at the Vuelta. While he is bouyed by his performances at the Tour de l’Ain and the Asian Championships, he’s not sure that he has the fitness to take a grand tour.
• A Global Positioning System will be used for the first time at the 2009 World Championships. The system will provide real-time updates on rider position.
• The USA Crits series continues this weekend at the 26th running of the Chris Thater Memorial race in Broome Couny, NY. Laura Van Gilder (Mellow
• Mushroom) will be looking to secure her lead in the series, while Team Mountain Khakis teammates Tom Soladay and Mark Hekman will be battling for the men’s lead. The race is the final chance to earn points going into the USA Crits Finals at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas during Interbike.
• Chris Jongewaard is still in the Australian world’s team, despite being found guilty of a hit and run incident. He has been cited for misconduct by the sport’s national governing body. He is likely to compete at next week’s mountain bike world championships in Canberra because a Cycling Australia (CA) disciplinary hearing will not take place in time.
• Former Vuelta a España winner Roberto Heras will return to Costa Rica to compete in La Ruta de los Conquistadores (November 11-14) for the second time. He hopes to better his seventh place overall finish of 2008.
• Johan Vansummeren (Silence Lotto) is headed to the Garmin-Slipstream team.  Sweden’s Fredrik Kessiakoff (Fuji-Servetto) is also said to have signed a two year contract with the team.

Results:

• Saxo Bank’s Gustav Larsson won the Stage 3 time trial at the Tour of Poitou-Charentes and took over the lead of the race. He leads Australian Brett Lancaster (Cervelo) by 32 seconds and Frenchman David Le Lay (Agritubel) by 33 seconds. Thor Hushovd (Cervelo) won the 4th Stage later this afternoon.

Tags: Agritubel, alexander vinokourov, bicycle racing news, David Le Lay, garmin, Lance Armstrong, Las Vegas, Laura Van Gilder, Quick Step, Racing News, radio shack, radio shack cycling, Saxo Bank, Stijn Devolder, Team Mountain Khakis, Thor Hushovd, Tour of Flanders, USA CRITS, Vladimir Efimkin, World Championship, World Championships