News and Results – December 2, 2008

December 2nd, 2008 by Ron Callahan 199 views No Comment

Well, the off season is well along. Training camps have already started for Astana and Garmin Chipotle, and will start soon for a number of other teams. The Tour Down Under starts in 6 weeks. The UCI is finalizng teams for 2009 and there is no shortage of news:

The future of the Teltek-H20 team is uncertain as they failed to provide the UCI with the necessary deposit to register the team. This article says that the filing deadline has passed but it seems that the UCI is saying that they have until Friday to resolve the issue. (Depeche du Midi)
Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme announced today that Lance Armstrong would not get special protection at the race. From what Lance says, he doesn’t want any. (Reuters)
Sport.be is reporting that Tour director Christian Prudhomme, along with his colleagues Jean-Etienne Amaury and Yann Le Moenner, spoke with Lance Armstrong at the Roissy airport. (Sport.be)
Chris Horner (Astana) got stopped for riding without wearing a helmet while training with the Astana team in Tenerife, Spain. After a routine identification check on Horner, the team pedaled away. Horner kept riding without a helmet because professional cyclists are not required to wear one in Spain. (AP)
It seems that there is work underway to get a UCI World Cup Cyclocross event in America for next year. Officials have until mid-December to complete their application and provide the necessary financial guarantees. (Sport.be)
Jan Ullrich put an end to rumors of his return today, saying, “If I say stop, it remains so.” He says that he does not miss cycling and is happy with his family life. (Sportweek.nl)
The news yesterday that CERA may have been on black market earlier than thought has prompted Pat McQuaid to renew his efforts to have samples from last year retested for the third generation doping product. (Cyclis Mag)
I hesitated to report this as I thought it might have been a joke, but it’s been in several places now that Mark Cavendish (Columbia Racing) suffered a slight calf injury playing a snowboarding game on a Wii. He still expects to join his team for training this week in Mallorca. (Sportweek.nl)
No doping at the Garmin Chipotle team, but certainly a little bit of boyish hazing: During team meetings last week (at Boulder area Avery Brewing), Bradley Wiggins was made to run naked through a parking lot because he was unable to drink 5 glasses of beer. (Cyclis Mag)
Jens Voigt (Saxo Bank) will start his season early and says he will go head to head with Lance Armstrong at the Tour Down Under, Giro and Tour de France. (Sportweek.nl)