Contador sees Lance Armstrong, others as biggest competition for Tour

June 15th, 2009 by Al Fresco 2,361 views No Comment

…plus more cycling news:

Alberto Contador sees Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer, Cadel Evans, Denis Menchov and others as his biggest competition for Tour de France.
Contador was very happy with his performance at the Dauphine Libere and says that he feels better than he did before the launch of the 2007 Tour de France. He’ll take a half of a week of rest before resuming training for the race, which starts in 19 days.
Contador’s teammate Assan Bazayev was suspended from the team for 15 days for inadequate whereabouts reporting for out of competiton testing.

Tom Boonen acknowledges that he still has some training to do to be ready for the Tour de France. The hills at the Dauphine Libere gave him a little more trouble than he expected.
In a press conference over the weekend, UCI President Patrick McQuaid said that there is no reason that Boonen should not be in the Tour.
Quick Step manager Patrick Lefevre hopes that the ASO goes with the UCI’s decision as he says it would be a disaster for the team to go to the Tour without Boonen. He is worth 80% of the advertising for the sponsor.

Bouyges Telecom has their first 5 riders for the race: Thomas Voeckler, Pierrick Fedrigo, Pierre Rolland, William Bonnet and Yukiya Arashiro.
Defending race champion Carlos Sastre is headed to Switzerland to preview some of the key mountain stages for next month’s race. Sastre, fresh off winning two stages at the Giro d’Italia and finishing fourth overall, will join teammates from his Cervélo TestTeam to train in the Alps until Friday.
Cofidis’ team is stacked in favor of climbers: Stephane Auge, Samuel Dumoulin, Leonardo Duque, Bingen Fernandez, Christophe Kern, Sebastien Minard, Amael Moinard, David Moncoutie (FRA) and Remi Pauriol.

Other News:

Michele Scarponi, winner of the Tirreno – Adriatico and two stages in the Giro d’Italy Centenary, re-upped with Diquigiovanni – Androni for another year.
With his win at the Criterium du Dauphine Libere, Alejandro Valverde takes over the lead of the UCI World Rankings. His Caisse d’Epargne squad leads the team classification as well.
Milram for the Ster-Elektrotoer: Robert Förster, Thomas Fothen, Artur Gajek, Servais Knave, Martin Muller, Wim Stroetinga & Niki Terpstra.
The UCI wants an additional 6 millions Euros from Astana sponsors to guarantee rider salaries for the remainder of the year.

Results:

Tyler Farrar wins the overall, points and best young rider classifications at the Delta Tour of Zeeland in Holland. Is a Tour selection on tap?
Alejandro Valverde repeated for the overall victory at the Criterium du Dauphine Libere. Last year, he used the race for a warmup for the Tour de France. This year….?
André Grepiel from Team Columbia High Road won the circuit race at Huerth-Kendenich in Germany.
The 2009 Nature Valley Grand Prix concluded on Sunday in Stillwater, Minnesota. Kristin Armstrong of Cervelo and Roary Sutherland of OUCH p/b Maxxis took the final titles.
Britain’s Mark Cavendish won a sprint to the 3rd stage of the Tour of Switzerland between Davos and Lumino. The Columbia sprinter finished ahead of Spaniard Oscar Freire (Rabobank) and Norway’s Thor Hushovd (Cervelo).
Tejay Van Garderen moved into the overall lead Monday after stage six at the Circuito Montañes in northern Spain, an important proving ground for up-and-coming pros.