Tour de France – Rest Day News

July 15th, 2008 by Ron Callahan 248 views No Comment

The riders at the Tour are taking a well deserved rest day, so we have time to get out some other news:

Here’s the big bombshell: 17 of the 18 UCI Pro Tour teams and the organizers of the 3 major races (The Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and Vuelta d’Espana) will not renew their licenses for next year. The organizers of the big races have had their difficulties with the UCI, most notably the Tour de France’s Amaury Sports Organization, so this was somewhat expected. That said, no one really knows how next year’s race calendar will be organized or how it will be managed.
The Garmin Chipotle team treated the press corps to a lunch featuring the special “Le Burrito.”
As we all know by now, the Astana team is not racing at the Tour de France, so Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner decided to go race at the Cascade Cycling Classic in Oregon. I love this picture:

Speaking of Mr. Horner, he’ll be heading to Vancouver on Wednesday for the USA Crits series BC Cancer Foundation Tour de Gastown.
Rock Racing is looking to expand to European next year and will build a Europe-specific team around Oscar Sevilla. Names of the new team members have not been published yet, but team manager Haldene Morris stated somewhat cryptically:
- “Two are Australians, one is Spanish another American and the last I can’t say because if I told you his name, you would guess.” Hmmm. Wouldn’t have the initials F.L. would they?
Garmin Chipotle will be participating in the Tour of Britain, starting September 7th in Central London.
Taylor Phinney picked up a gold medal at the Junior World Championships. I can’t wait to see this kid at the Olympics.
Belgian Nick Nuyens has been signed to an unusually long four year contract with Rabobank, which is looking to expand its team’s strength for the Spring Classics.
Other Races:
- Hossein Askari is leading the Tour of Qinghai Lake. American Tyler Hamilton is in 7th place, only 17 seconds back.
- The Superweek International Cycling Classic is on. Rahssan Bahati and Sterling Magnell of Rock Racing have been the men to beat so far.
- Italian Champion Fabiana Luperini (Menikini-Selle Italia-Master Colors) has won the Giro d’ Italia Femminile. This is her fifth win, but it comes ten years after the last of her four consecutive victories.