Bike World News

Cycling news, race results, new products, fitness, maintenance and more

Home » Featured, Road Racing News, six day racing

All of your cycling news – November 19, 2009

November 19th, 2009 by Al Fresco 481 views No Comment

In today’s cycling news, Astana Pro Tour decision comes tomorrow, Germany won’t release Haussler to race in Aussie colors, Rebellin to appeal loss of silver medal and more…

Tomorrow is the day of reckoning for Astana. The UCI is expected to announce their decision on the team’s Pro Tour license.
- Sportwereld.be seems to think that Astana has pulled off holding onto their license after three days of negotiations with the organization.
- It’s said that the team was still half a million Euros short on their financial guarantees last week, but Kazakh company Samruk-Kazyna stepped in this weeek with 15 million Euros a year of support.
- Timur Kulibayev, the wealthy industrialist behind the company was named as the new chairman of the Kazakh Cycling Federation.
We can all rest easy now. Alberto Contador will stay with Astana next year.
Milram’s Robert Forster would like to forget his 2009 season. He only notched one win and just two podium finishes this year. Milram has extended his contract through the end of 2010. Team manager Gerry van Gerwen expressed his optimism in Forster, saying, “Certainly, his season is not running optimally, but we know what we have (in) Robert. It’s just a matter of time before we will be happy again (with his) success. Now it’s up to Forster to confirm the confidence of the team management.”
The German Cycling Federation (BDR) is refusing to release Heinrich Haussler from his German license to race next year’s World Championships for Australia. Haussler has dual citizenship and would like to contest the race on Australian road in his (other) native colors. The 2010 Worlds will take place in Geelong, Australia near Melbourne.
In other BDR news, the organization announced today that track cyclist Olaf Pollack’s B-sample came back positive and that he will be subject to a two year suspension. The doping control took place on July 6th of this year.
Stefan Matschiner, the former manager of Bernhard Kohl, is planning a book about his past as a supplier of drugs. He claims to have told Kohl, “Bernard, do not touch the CERA!”
Italian cyclist Davide Rebellin plans to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport after being stripped of his Olympic silver medal because of doping. The IOC asked the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) on Tuesday to take away Rebellin’s medal from the road race at last year’s Beijing Games after he tested positive for CERA. CONI said anti-doping prosecutor Ettore Torri was opening a disciplinary case against Rebellin and that they will be seeking damages from the rider.
Phillipe Gilbert was awarded a national sporting trophy from Belgium on Thursday. The 27 year old rider had the best year of his career in 2009, taking wins at Paris-Tours, the Tour of Lombardy, a stage of the Giro, the Coppa Sabatini and the Giro del Piemonte. He finished sixth in the World Championships and received a silver medal in Belgium’s national championships. The Trophy is awarded by a jury of former sporting champions, and recipients can only receive the award once in a lifetime.
Sky Team has announced today that it has recruited Italians Dario Cioni (formerly with ISD) and Davide Vigano (Fuji-Servetto).
Australian cross country mountain biker Chris Jongewaard will remain in jail after losing an appeal of his sentence for involvement in a hit-and-run accident in 2007. In September, he was sent to jail for two years following a conviction for aggravated driving without due care and leaving the scene of an accident.

Six Day News:

Six Day specialist Tim Mertens was to undergo exploratory heart surgery today after feeling ill during the World Cup match in Manchester and at the Six Days of Munich. No big surprise, but he’ll be taking a pass on the upcoming Six Days of Ghent.
Coming off of their win at the Six Days of Munich, Bruno Risi and Frank Marvulli are the team to beat at the upcoming Six Days of Ghent. The race will kick off on the 24th of November with 12 teams. Iljo Keisse will be back with partner Robert Bartko and will most certainly be looking to win back some hearts and minds after doping accusations at last year’s race.