All of your cycling news: April 19, 2010

In today’s cycling news: long commute for Alberto, Greipel stuck in Turkey, ASO clears Valverde, Gilbert to go to Romandie and more.

• Alberto Contador made a long trip by car to make it to Belgium for Wednesday’s Fleche Wallone. He’ll be supported by Dimitri Fofonov, Andriy Grivko, Maxim Iglinsky, Josep Jufre, Benjamin Noval, Oscar Pereiro and Gorazd Stangelj.
• Pieter Weening (Rabobank) is stuck in the Sierra Nevada and will not be able to make it back in time for Fleche Wallone. The team is still hoping that he will be able to get back in time for L-B-L.
• Gilberto Simoni will make his debut with Lampre-Farnese Vini in the Giro del Trentino, starting tomorrow in Italy.
• Andre Greipel and the rest of the HTC-Columbia’s Tour of Turkey squad are stuck in Istanbul because of the air traffic freeze. They are not expecting to get a flight until the 22nd.
• Team Sky’s Kurt-Asle Arvesen was trapped on a North Sea oil rig from Wednesday morning until late on Sunday night. The rider had been invited to the platform – which lies 200km north east of Bergen – to deliver a lecture on cycling and sports science and also to give a one-hour spinning class, but was told his helicopter back to the mainland would be unable to take off on Thursday due to the ash cloud.
• Phillipe Gilbert will go to the Tour of Romandie at the end of the month to try and bolster his position in the UCI World Rankings. He’s currently 16 points behind Luis-Leon Sanchez.
  Gilbert’s AGR win also seemed to bouy sponsorship prospects for the team. Management is currently negotiating with Omega Pharma and the National Lottery to continue their support.
• The ASO has decided to let Alejandro Valverde race in the Fleche Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege. “A process is underway and we should respect it,” Christian Prudhomme told AFP on behalf of ASO.
• Former Lampre rider Lorenzo Bernucci will appear before Italy’s Anti-Doping Committee (CONI) on April 26th.
• Ivan Basso will return to the Giro del Trentino this year to make his final preparations for the Giro d’Italia.
• Ricardo Ricco is hoping to continue his winning ways at Trentino. He won two stages of the Settimana Lombarda after serving more than one and a half year suspension for doping.

Tags: alberto contador, Alejandro Valverde, andre greipel, Andriy Grivko, Fleche Wallone, Gilberto Simoni, giro del trentino, HTC-Columbia, Josep Jufre, Kurt-Asle Arvesen, Lampre-Farnese Vini, liege-bastogne-liege, Maxim Iglinsky, oscar pereiro, Phillipe Gilbert, Rabobank, tour of romandie