All of your cycling news – February 5, 2010

February 5th, 2010 by Al Fresco View Comments

In today’s cycling news, Lance Armstrong bound for Sun City, plenty of riders hitting the disabled list, Schleck’s sticking together and more….

Quick Step will make their European debut at the Mallorca Challenge. The team will rotate 14 riders into the peloton over the five days of the event. Thomas Vedel Kvist was originally slated for the race, but he’s on the DL for 14 days after injuring his knee in a fall at the Tour Down Under.
Thirty-four year old Ukrainian cyclist Mikhailo Khalilov has announced that he has signed a contract with Team Katusha for 2010. Khalilov rode for Ceramica Flaminia from 2007 to 2009.
Tom Boonen made a much publicized move back to Belgium from Monaco last year, but has now said that he is once again seeking a second home in the French Riviera in the interest of more favorable winter training weather.
Gianni Meersman will be off the bike for two months after undergoing surgery to repair a herniated disk in his back. Meersman had already undergone operation on this spot in June of last year and rode pain free for the rest of 2009, but found the pain coming back early this year.
Filippo Savini (Colnago CSF Inox), protagonist of the Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria fractured his iliac crest and must observe a month of complete rest. On Monday, he’ll meet with a specialist to see if the recovery time can be shortened.
As seeming retribution to Italy’s ban on Alejandro Valverde, Vuelta a Murcia organizer Paco Guzman has banned all Italian teams from the race. This was done out of support for Valverde, who was born in the Murcia region. Unfortunately, he was not able to reach financial agreement with Valverde’s Caisse de Epargne team, so he will not be racing either. [Makes perfect sense, eh? - Ed.] The Spanish teams have also decided to forfeit the Ruta del Sol for the same reason.
Lance Armstrong and Team Radio Shack will make a trip to South Africa for March’s Cape Argus Pick Pay Cycle Tour. Armstrong was invited by the JAG Foundation, a foundation committed to improving sports facilities and education for disadvantaged children. South African Daryl Impey is expected to be part of the squad.
Fabian Cancellara will make his 2010 season debut at the Tour of Qatar. The Saxo Bank rider’s winter training was cut short by the flu; he was in bed for 10 days and missed most of the team’s training camp in Fuerteventura.
Martijn Maaskant (Garmin Trasitions) will start his season in Qatar as well, but has his sights set on Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, where he finished fifth last year.
Like many others, Kurt Hovelijnck (Quick Step) will start his season in the Mallorca Challenge starting on Sunday, but he is just happy to have the chance to race at all. Hovelijnck sustained a skull fracture during a training ride in March of 2009 and spend three weeks in an artificial coma. He suffered from depression for a while but after going through the team’s winter training camp, he feels that he is back and has what it takes to compete.
Frank Schleck has said that no matter what happens with the Saxo Bank/Riis Racing team in 2011, he’ll stay by his brother’s side.
Nicole Cooke has announced that she will ride for the British National Team in 2010 following the collapse of the former Team Nürnberger with which Cooke signed in the summer.

Cyclocross News:
17 year old David van der Poel, son of the former cyclocross world champion, has signed with Niels Albert’s BKCP Powerplus team through the 2012 season.