Bike World News

In today’s cycling news, Rasmussen wants the Tour de France, Simon Geschke happy with first year as a pro, Danilo Hondo to Lampre, O’Grady collapses and more…  The news:

• Giorgio Brambilla is the latest signing to the De Rosa-Stac Plastic team.
• Salvatore Mancuso has signed with the ISD-Blacks team.
• After two years with the Equipe Nürnberger team, Suzanne de Goede will leave for the new team of Olympic champion Marianne Vos. The team does not yet have a sponsor or a manager.
• Michael Rasmussen has managed to extricate himself from the contract with the  CDC-Cavaliere team and is said to be close to announcing his new team for 2010. It is said to be a team that has a chance at the Tour de France.
• Vincenzo Nibali wanted to join Sky Team as a leader, but Liquigas would not let him go, so he’ll be back in 2010 working with Ivan Basso, Roman Kreuziger and Franco Pellizotti.
• Giampaolo Caruso had his sights set on a Pro Tour team for next year, but now seems slated to continue with Ceramica Flaminia for the next two years.
• Last week, the organizers of the Giro were looking at the possibility of a start in Washington, DC. Now there is talk of a stage in New York City, possibly starting or finishing in Little Italy.
• Simon Geschke’s (Skil-Shimano) first year as a pro was quite successful. His greatest achievements came in May. He took 10th place in the Eschborn Frankfurt City Loop, then grabbed ninth in the Tour of Bavaria several weeks later. His performance earned him a spot in the Tour de France.
• Androni will move up to be the sole title sponsor of the fomer Diquigiovanni-Androni team for 2010. The team has already confirmed Michele Scarponi (winner of the Tirreno-Adriatico and two stages at the Tour of Italy), Francesco Ginanni (victorious in Laigueglia, Lugano and Carnago), Colombian Jose Serpa (winner of the Tour de Langkawi in Malaysia and ranked twelfth in the Tour of Italy), Rubens Bertogliati (Swiss Time Trial Champion) Venezuelans Carlos Ochoa and Jackson Rodriguez (Campeon de la Vuelta Mexico), Spanish Luis Mate, Thomas Bertolini, Alberto Loddo, Luca Solari and Fabio Taborri for next year’s squad.
• Danilo Hondo is moving up from the PSK-Whirlpool team to Lampre for 2010. He’ll mainly being working for Alessandro Petacchi, but also has eyes on Milan-Sanremo, the Three Days of De Panne, Gent-Wevelgem, the Tour of Flanders, Vattenfall Cyclassics and Paris-Tours.
• Former Paris-Roubaix champion Stuart O’Grady was taken to a Spanish hospital this weekend after he collapsed following a lap on the Valencia MotoGP race course on the back of a motorcycle piloted by 2007 MotoGP champion Casey Stoner. (VN)
• The Court of Arbitration for Sport confirmed that it has postponed Alejandro Valverde’s hearing, but says that a “new hearing date will be fixed as soon as possible.” The International Cycling Union (UCI) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) had recently been allowed to join the case, but they needed additional time to prepare for the the procedure.

Results:

• Alberto Contador won Saturday’s Amstel Curaçao Race. Thor Hushovd was second, and Koos Moerenhout came across in third. Contador is a repeat winner, having won the 2007 edition of the race.

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