Bike World News

Sorry this comes so late in the day. I was tied up with a funeral most of the last two days.

:

Giro Day 17 News and Notes:

• Tuesday was a rest day.
• Stage 16 winner Carlos Sastre knows that he has only two opportunities left to make another attack and to move into the lead. Look for him to make a move on Blockhaus or Vesuvius.
• Garmin Slipstream’s David Millar is the latest to withdraw from the Giro to start his focus on the Tour de France.
• Danilo Di Luca is out of the maglia rosa, but says that [wait for it...] the Giro is not over.
• Quick Step’s Kevin Seeldraeyers, the new holder of the white jersey, took advantage of the rest day to recon the Blockhaus climb.
• Tadej Valjavec (AG2R) injured his foot after the finish of stage 16, but will continue the race.
• Former world champions Mario Cipollini and Paolo Bettini led a delegation of cyclists through the earthquake-hit Abruzzo region Tuesday as the Giro d’Italia paid tribute to the area. Cipollini and Bettini were joined by other retired cyclists and some current riders during the Giro’s second rest day.
• Tomorrow, the riders take on the short (83km), but formidable climb to Blockhaus… To paraphrase “American Flyers”, this one pretty much starts up and stays up…

Other Results:

• Lucas Sebastian Haedo (Colavita-Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light) won the Kugler-Anderson Memorial Road Race at the Lantus Tour of Somerville. Haedo scored his second straight victory at Somerville ahead of Jake Keough (Kelly Benefit Strategies) and a hard-charging Aldo Ino Ilesic (Team Type 1).
• Team Type 1’s Matt Wilson scored his 18th win of the season after sololng away from a pair of breakaway companions at Somerville’s 64km Kugler Open.

Other News:

• Alejandro Valverde has extended his lawsuit against the Italian National Olympic Committee to members of the UCI and WADA, citing “improper conduct”, specifically, disobedience to Spanish judicial authorities. [Seems to me that this won't fly. I would think that only the Spanish authorities could file such a suit. - Ed.]
• You won’t have me to kick around any more! Austrian cyclist Bernhard Kohl has announced his retirement, ending a controversial career marred by a doping scandal seen as a major blow to the sport. Kohl admitted to using the blood booster CERA at last year’s Tour de France and was subsequently banned for two years by Austria’s national anti-doping agency, NADA. Kohl alleges that cycling is a system in which “you can’t win without doping.” and noted that the testing needs improvement as he passed many doping controls while he was actively using performance enhancing substances. “As a professional I was subjected to 200 inspections and about 100 of these would have to be positive.”
• The Milram team is examining allegations made by Kohl about their team doctor Marc Schmidt, who was his doctor during his time at Gerolsteiner.
• Milram’s Linus Gerdemann, who won a stage two years ago at the Tour de France and wore the yellow jersey for a day, rejects the views expressed by Bernhard Kohl that you must dope to win, saying that Kohl is generalizing in order to cover up his own misconduct.
• We noted yesterday that Tom Boonen would be resuming racing at the June 7th Dauphine Libere, but he’ll actually be racing a kermesse on June 2nd as a warmup.
• The UCI’s Pat McQuaid sees no reason why Boonen would be excluded from the Tour de France. He notes that any decision about Boonen’s future belongs in the hands of the UCI’s Disciplinary Committee.
• The Tour of Belgium starts on Wednesday, and Silence-Lotto is looking at it as a very important race on their calendar. [Seems to me that it would be a major publicity boon for Quick Step and Tom Boonen if he was to race. - ed.]
• Katusha will be sending their sprint squad to the Tour of Belgium: Robbie McEwen, Danilo Napolitano and Gert Steegmans will be supported by Vandenberg, Vantomme, Ivanov, Dehaes and Bodrogi.
• Alexandre Vinokourov is not the only rider from Kazakhstan looking to make a comeback. Andrey Kashechkin is also coming out of suspension next summer. He has not talked to any teams yet. Vino thinks that he is talking to Astana, but they’re probably not listening.
• Cyclists at Wisconsin’s Kenosha Velodrome will ride a lap of honor before a memorial race Tuesday evening in remembrance of Donald Vanderbrook, who died after a crash at the track last week. Vanderbrook, who was 50, died of head injuries when four riders went down just before the bell lap of a Senior Category 4-5 points race last Tuesday evening.
• Cervelo’s Heinrich Haussler remains atop the UCI World Rankings, thanks to his strong performances at in the spring classics, including the Tour of Flanders (where he was second), Milan-San Remo (also second) and Paris-Roubaix (seventh). Alejandro Valverde garnered 112 points by winning the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya on Sunday, plus 62 points for fourth place at the Tour of Romandie. Valverde has lept up the rankings to third, behind Davide Rebellin. [Who will not be earning any more points this season, or the next - Ed.]

Tags: Ag2r, Alejandro Valverde, alexandre vinokourov, astana, Bernhard Kohl, blockhaus, Carlos Sastre, cervelo, danilo di luca, Danilo Napolitano, Dauphine Libere, David Millar, doping, garmin slipstream, Gert Steegmans, Giro d'Italia, Heinrich Haussler, linus gerdemann, Mario Cipollini, Matt Wilson, Milram, news, Paolo Bettini, Quick Step, Robbie McEwen, Silence-Lotto, Team Type 1, Tom Boonen, vesuvius, WADA

Related Posts:

• Road News & Results – June 11, 2009 (0)
• Giro d’Italia Day 19 News and Notes (1)
• Tour de France riders and teams – Version 0.1 (0)
• Contador says that we’ll see the “real” Lance Armstrong at the Tour (0)
• Max Armstrong prepares for first trip to the Tour de France (0)