All of your cycling news: February 12, 2010

In today’s cycling news, TdF teams announcement coming in late March; Duenas returns; one team out, one in at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad; and a little more.

• Milram’s Roger Kluge is fresh off of the Six Day circuit and has plans to make life difficult for Tom Boonen this season.
• Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme plans to announce the teams for the race by the end of March. Barring any ethical problems, all 16 of the Pro Tour teams are expected to be included. There are nine other teams hoping for the six remaining wildcard spots, including Cervelo (home of 2008 winner Carlos Sastre) and Radio Shack (Lance!).
• Possibly stirring some controversy, Prudhomme says that they would likely avoid teams built around a single leader, explaining that if the star gets injured, the appeal of the remainder of the team would be much reduced.
• Charly Mottet has been appointed manager of the new Quebec and Montreal Grand Prix events, the recent additions to the Pro Tour calendar scheduled for the 10th and 12th of September. Mottet will manage pathways and relationships with the teams, the same task that he had in the Tour of Dauphine before it was bought by the ASO.
• The An Post-Sean Kelly team has received the final wildcard invitation to the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. The race, which will take place on Saturday, February 27th, is the traditional start to the Belgian cycling season. It was also announced that the Austrian Team Vorarlberg-Corratec has waived their invitation to the race.
• UCI President Patrick McQuaid was elected as a member of the International Olympic Committee in Vancouver today. The nomination of Mr McQuaid, sixty years old, was decided at the 122nd Session of the IOC, organised alongside the XXI Winter Olympic Games.
• The UCI’s Anne Gripper, manager of anti-doping programs for the organization, says that the biological passport program allows them to test riders more accurately than they were in the past. In the context of the program, they peformed 10,603 tests on 853 riders in 2009.
• Classics specialist Markus Eichler will replace Gerald Ciolek in the Tour of Oman. Ciolek crashed and injured his shoulder and hand during this week’s Tour of Qatar.
• Spanish cyclist Moisés Dueñas has received a one year reduction in his doping ban for a positive test during the 11th stage of the 2008 Tour de France. Duenas was given the reduction for cooperation with Spanish authorities investigating his case. He is expected to sign with the Xacobeo-Galicia team.

Tags: biological passport, Carlos Sastre, cycling news, doping, gerald ciolek, IOC, Milram, Olympic, olympic games, Patrick McQuaid, pro tour, radio shack, Roger Kluge, Sean Kelly, Sean Kelly Team, Tom Boonen, tour of oman, tour of qatar