All of your cycling news – October 15, 2009

In today’s news, more on the 2010 Tour de France, a look at Lombardy, Vandenbrouke’s autopsy and other bicycle racing news. Also, results from Italy, Belgium and Australia:

2010 Tour de France:

• The 2010 Tour de France’s stop in Brussels will pay tribute to Eddy Merckx, who will be celebrating his 65th birthday next year.
• Carlos Sastre says that he will not commit to any of the Grand Tours until he’s had the chance to look at the routes of all three races.
• Silence-Lotto team manager Marc Sargeant feels that the lack of a team time trial in the 2010 race will adversely affect Alberto Contador’s chances. Sargeant reiterated the leadership of Cadel Evans at Silence-Lotto, saying that he has shown for years that he is the captain.
• Quick Step’s Patrick Lefevre continues to court Alberto Contador, saying that he would have his choice of four riders to support him. Lefevre does not seem to be concerned that Contador is contracted with Astana through 2010, saying, The current Astana team is not the same as that in which he has signed. Since then, no fewer than 24 riders have left the team.” Tom Boonen says that he would be the first to rejoice if the transfer was successful.

Lombardy:

• Fabian Weggman will lead the Milram team at Lombardy. He’ll be accompanied by the climbing specialists Thomas Rohregger, John Fröhlinger, Matthias Russ and Peter Velits and Niki Terpstra, Dominik Roels and supported by Paul Voss.
• Quick Step will be at Lombardy with Matteo Tossato, who has recovered from wounds suffered in last weekend’s Paris-Tours race. He’ll be backed by Dario Cataldo, Davide Malacarne, Marco Velo, Dries Deveneyns, Kevin De Weert, Carlos Barredo and Hubert Schwab.

Other News:

• First cobblestones, now gravel! The 2010 Giro d’Italia will include a stage featuring the white gravel roads around siena, home to the Monte Paschi Eroica.
• Olympic cycling champion Nicole Cooke has signed a contract with the successor of the team Equipe Nürnberger.
• Britain’s new anti-doping agency will open a phone line that will be available for callers anonymously report alleged doping cases. Rewards will not be given for tips, but the agency feels that the move will be a decisive step in the war against doping.
• Alejandro Valverde will have his day with the Court of Arbitration for Sport on November 16th. CAS will hear testimony in Valverde’s ongoing appeal of his two year ban against racing in Italy. Valverde says that he is innocent and his lawyers say that Italian authorities have no right to ban a rider with a Spanish cycling license. If CAS upholds the Italian ban, its expected that the UCI will make the two year ban universal, though its not known what the effective start date of the ban would be.

Vandenbrouke:

• Tom Boonen doubts the assertion of some that Frank Vandenbrouke committed suicide. He saw Vandenbrouke the week before he left for Senegal and says that he was “anything but depressed”. He added though that he thought that Vandenbrouke was a man with “two faces”.
• The Belgian Embassy has received the results of Vandenbrouke’s autopsy. They have refrained from making any comments until they have had time to review the report. Initial information, however, does not indicate a violent death or the presence of alcohol in his bloodstream. The latter information is incongruent with everything that has been reported so far, as initial reports said that he was drunk. A toxicological investigation has yet to be performed.
• Vandenbrouke tried to call several friends in Italy, including Simone Masciarelli, just hours before his death. Masciarelli did not recognize the number and did not pick up, which he now regrets.

Results:

• Chris Sutton won his third stage in a row at the Herald Sun Tour, consolidating his grasp on the race lead.
• Phillipe Gilbert is the October man. Just days after taking wins at Paris-Tours and Coppa Sabatini, he rounded out his month with a win at Thursday’s Giro del Piemonte. Gilbert bested Dani Moreno (Caisse d’Epargne) at the line, with Francesco Gavazzi (Lampre) coming across third.
• Niels Albert (BKCP Power-Plus), won the fair cross race in Ardooie. The 23-year-old world champion showed the Czech Zdenek Stybar and Sven Vanthourenhout behind. Tom Meeusen, Sven Vanthourenhout, Klaas Vantornout, Albert, Dieter Vanthourenhout and Zdenek Stybar had ridden together from the start, but Albert went solo with three laps to go. Stybar and Vanthourenhout completed the podium.

Tags: 2010 tour de france, alberto contador, Alejandro Valverde, astana, Carlos Barredo, Carlos Sastre, Court of Arbitration for Sport, Dario Cataldo, Dieter Vanthourenhout, eddy merckx, Francesco Gavazzi, Francesco Gavazzi (Lampre), Frank Vandenbrouke, Matteo Tossato, Matthias Russ, Milram, monte paschi eroica, nicole cooke, Niki Terpstra, Paris-Tours, Patrick Lefevre, Peter Velits, Phillipe Gilbert, Quick Step, Silence-Lotto, Sven Vanthourenhout, team time trial, Thomas Rohregger, Tom Boonen