All of your bicycle racing news: September 17, 2010

In today’s cycling news, Cancellara out of the Vuelta and uncertain for the Worlds, Ciolek to QuickStep, Kristin Armstrong eyes return and more….

• Fabian Cancellara dropped out of the Vuelta before the start of Friday’s 19th stage, citing fatigue, and is said to be uncertain for the World Championships. Recently he said any decision on taking part in Melbourne depended on whether he was “at 100% of my ability”. Cancellara won gold and bronze medals at the 2008 Olympics in the time trial and road race, and won the world title in 2006, 2007 and 2009. This year he won the prologue of his home race, the Tour of Switzerland, and also the Tour de France, in addition to winning the 19th stage and wearing the leader’s yellow jersey. But after a successful season, the Saxo Bank rider has looked out of sorts in Spain.
• Cancellara was strongly criticised by his team’s sports director for abandoning the Tour of Spain earlier than agreed on Friday. “We’re extremely disappointed by Fabian’s abandon; it’s not the way a great champion should behave,” Saxo Bank sports director Bradley McGee told Reuters. “He decided to stop for some unknown reason, hurried off to the airport to catch the next flight and now he’s not answering his phone. When he decided to pull the pin on the race, I expressed a very strong opinion about that and I was adamant he should continue but I can’t push him back on to his bike.” McGee said the team had agreed with the Swiss rider that he would quit after stage 19, not during it. “Today there was a very technical, tricky finish and we agreed he would stay to help Frank to be well placed in the last kilometres because it was so complicated, and then he could go. We’re all feeling slightly jaded but we’ll battle on.”
• Cancellara is widely suspected to have bought out the remainder of his contract to move to the new team of the Schleck brothers. Saxo Bank leader Bjarne Riis has said to ask for 3 million euros to release the Swiss rider from his commitment to the team. Should Cancellara decide to leave Saxo Bank  early, Riis is said to have a replacement for the Swiss in his sights. Dutch classics specialist Nick Nuyens will change from Rabobank to Saxo Bank at the end of the year.
• Skil-Shimano management has announced the departure of three riders who will not be offered a contract for 2011. They are Piet Rooijakkers (Netherlands), Floris Goesinnen (Netherlands) and Jin Long (China). Skil-Shimano have also agreed to cancel Frederik Wilmann’s contract, which was due to expire at the end of 2011, by mutual consent.
• Nicolas Vogodny is the latest rider to depart from the Bouygues Telecom-Bbox team, whose team manager Jean-René Bernaudeau is still looking for a new sponsor for 2011. Already departed are the Russian Yuriy Trofimov (Katyusha), the Swiss Johann Tschopp (BMC) and Frenchmen Steve Chainel, William Bonnet, and Pierrick Fédrigo (all to Francaise des Jeux).
• German Gerald Ciolek (Milram) has agreed to join the Quick Step team in 2011. “The arrival of Ciolek, like the return of Chicchi, represents a major reinforcement,” said QuicksStep team manager Patrick Lefevere. Ciolek, who will celebrate his 24th birthday Sunday, rode for Milram from 2009 to today, but the sponsor is slated to withdraw their support at the end of 2010.
• David Moncoutie, recent winner of the 8th stage of the Vuelta, has officially extended by one year his commitment to the Cofidis team. Aged 35, Moncoutié has ridden for Cofidis since his professional debut in 1997, which coincided with the creation of the team.
• The UCI has lodged an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in a bid to overturn a decision by the Slovenian cycling federation not to sanction Tadej Valjavec. AG2R-La Mondiale sacked Valjavec earlier this year after the UCI announced that blood parameters on his biological passport showed signs of suspected doping. The UCI asked his national federation to begin disciplinary proceedings against Taljavec, a strong stage racer who has twice finished in the top 10 of the Giro d’Italia and finished 10th in the 2008 Tour de France. The Slovenian federation, however, has refused to take any action against the rider, prompting UCI’s appeal to CAS.
• Olympic gold medalist Kristin Armstrong is considering a comeback to professional cycling just days after giving birth to a son and a year after leaving the sport. The 2008 Beijing Olympics time-trial champion says she may rejoin the ranks of the women’s peloton. Armstrong gave birth to a boy, Lucas William Savola, on Wednesday.

Other Race Results:

• At the 50th Grand Prix de Wallonie, Paul Martens of Rabobank team celebrated his first win of the season. After 202.4 km, the 26-year-old from Rostock bested Ricardo Ricco (Vacansoleil) by just a few centimeters on the two-mile final climb up to the Citadel of Namur.
• Eric Marcotte (Pista Palace) lapped the field and got the better of his former ProTour breakaway companion Pat McCarty in the finale of the Texas Tough GP Thursday night in Dallas. The pair survived a long breakaway with Kyle Wamsley (Bissell) and Karl Menzies (UnitedHealthcare-Maxxis) and caught the field in the closing laps. Isaac Howes (Mountain Khakis-Jittery Joe’s) entered the race with a 13-point lead over Clayton Barrows (AXA Equitable-CRCA) in the USA Crits series overall standings. Howe finished the night 17th with Barrows four wheels back and secured the final overall and U25 titles in the 10-event series

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