All of your cycling news: March 22, 2010

March 22nd, 2010 by Ron Callahan View Comments

In today’s cycling news, Tour of Catalonia teams and favorites, suspension for David Clinger, Greipel grumbles about Columbia’s Cavendish focus and more….

Tour of Catalonia:

The seven stage Tour of Catalonia started today. There are 22 teams participating in the race: Ag2r, Astana, Caisse d’Epargne, Euskaltel, Footon, French Games, Garmin, Lampre, Liquigas, Omega Pharma, Quick Step, Rabobank, Sky, Columbia, Katusha, Milram, RadioShack, Saxo Bank, Andalucia, Cervélo, Cofidis and Xacobeo. Some of the principal riders are: Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank), Frank Schleck (Saxo Bank), Ivan Basso (Liquigas), Denis Menchov (Rabobank), Ezequiel Mosquera (Xacobeo) et Carlos Sastre (Cervélo) The main headliners: Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank), Frank Schleck (Saxo Bank), Ivan Basso (Liquigas), Denis Menchov (Rabobank), Ezequiel Mosquera (Xacobeo) and Carlos Sastre (Cervélo).
Alberto Contador had been planning to race in Catalonia, but jiggered his spring calendar around after Paris-Nice and will race the two-day Critérium International instead.
Another rider who won’t be there is Team Sky’s Bradley Wiggins, who is out with the stomach bug that seems to be making its way through the peloton.

Other News:

The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) announced last week that an independent, three-member American Arbitration Association/Court of Arbitration for Sport (AAA/CAS) panel issued its decision that David Clinger receive a sanction for testing positive for two prohibited substances. Clinger, a cyclist known as much for his race results as for his full facial tattoo, tested positive for synthetic testosterone and modafinil in a sample collected from him on July 30, 2009, after placing second in the men’s road race at the USA Cycling Elite Road National Championships in Bend, Oregon.
In his continuing defense, Alejandro Valverde issued a statement over the weekend denying allegations that he named other riders when he was being questioned on his own involvement with Operation Puerto.
While Tom Boonen was racing for second place at Milan-San Remo, some of his teammates were reconning the course for Wednesday’s Tour of Flanders. Stijn Devolder will lead a team of Tom Boonen, Sylvain Chavanel, Kevin De Weert, Kevin Hulsmans, Nikolas Maes, Wouter Weylandt and Maarten Wynants. Boonen is happy with his form coming off of MSR and says that he is ready to give everything for Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. Boonen has won Paris-Roubaix three times (2005, 2008, 2009), and the Tour of Flanders twice, in 2005 and 2006.
Boonen’s second place finish at MSR bumped him up to 8th in the UCI rankings. Luis Leon Sanchez (Caisse d’Epargne) still leads the standings with 158 points.
Andre Greipel is not happy that HTC-Columbia shunned him for MSR in favor of Mark Cavendish. He feels that his six victories so far this season have proven his worth, while Cavendish is still struggling to find his form. “Cavendish is not driving well, he has problems,” complained Greipel. “You can always count on me when it comes to a sprint.”