Bike World News

Bit of a mixed bag in today’s cycling news:  Italy cracks the doping whip, wins most and loses one; Cadel Evans wins Aussie Cyclist of the Year; PSK Whirlpool downgrades; 4 months from chidbirth to the top of the podium and more…

• Orsane Anthony, the Italian junior time trial champion, was killed in a road accident during a training session, near the town of Vinci. He was riding with five others when a car, driving in reverse, ran into him. He was not killed immediately, but passed after being transported to the hospital.
• Peter and Martin Velits stand out from the crowd in many ways. They’re Slovakia’s first two professionals at ProTour level, they’re twins, and they’re both very gifted bike riders who’ve signed with Columbia-HTC for 2010. The team, which achieved record-breaking success in 2009, has added the Velits twins to its international roster of the best young athletes and veteran riders.
• Tuscan Mirko Selvaggi will race next year with Astana. Selvaggi turned professional in 2008 with the Collstrop team and also spent some time with the ill-fated Amica Chips squad.
• At 38 years of age, Niko Eeckhout has signed a new two year contract with the AN Post-Sean Kelly Team, which will ride with a Belgian license in 2010.
• The truth finally comes out. Bradley Wiggins has told his Garmin-Slipstream team that he would like to transfer to Britain’s Sky Team. L’Equipe reported over the weekend that Wiggins had been released from his Garmin contract, but Garmin manager Jonathon Vaughters stressed that Wiggins’ contract runs through 2010.
• The Czech-based PSK Whirlpool-Author team will downgrade to a Continental team for 2010 for financial reasons. Team management cited the cost of participating in the UCI’s Biological Passport program (without any guarantee of receiving wildcard spots) as one of the reasons.
• The USA Cycling Development Foundation is holding an Ebay auction for a Felt AR2 Road Bike ridden and signed by Dave Zabriskie at the second annual Marin Classic last month. Zabriskie autographed the bike in three places to help the Development Foundation raise funds for USA Cycling’s athlete development intitiatives. Net proceeds from the auction will benefit young American cyclists in the National Development Team programs, where Dave Z got his start.
• World road champion Cadel Evans was named the Australian Cyclist of the Year at a ceremony late Sunday in Melbourne. This was his third time winning the award, having captured it before in 2006 and 2007. He is only the second man to win the award for a third time. Peter Besanko received the honor in 1979, 1981 and 1984.
• Stijn Devolder will take a pass on the Tour de France in 2010, opting instead to focus on some of the Spring Classics, including Paris-Roubaix, Ronde Vlaaderen, the Brabantse Pijl and Liege-Bastogne-Liege.
• The Gran Fondo movement continues to grow in the United States with a new event in Los Angeles joining already scheduled events in Philadelphia, San Diego and Sea Otter.

Cross News:

• Vania Rossi, wife of Ricardo Ricco and mother to 4 month old Albert won the Giro d’Italia di cross al Parco Ferrari di Modena in a sprint on Sunday.
• A refreshed Helen Wyman (Kona/FSA) returned from a training camp in Portugal to race in Germany over the weekend. She grabbed the win at Saturday’s Dohlauer International event and finisged second to Hanka Kupfernagel on Sunday at the Karl-Wagner-Pries International.
• Niels Albert was noticeably down in this weekend’s cross races, taking 3rd at Saturday’s GVA race at Hasselt and 4th on Sunday at Hamme-Zogg.

Today in Doping:

• Cyclist Christian Pfannberger has received a lifetime ban from sport for repeated doping offenses, the Austrian national anti-doping agency announced on Saturday. Pfannberger rode for Barloworld before moving to Katusha in ‘09. Pfannberger, 30, tested positive in March for the banned blood booster EPO as he prepared to start in the three-week Giro d’Italia as part of the Russian Katusha cycling team. He was subsequently suspended by the team.
• Italy’s Gianni Da Ros has receieved a 20 year ban for doping offenses. Da Ros was arrested in March while training with Italy’s national track cycling team in Padua and immediately suspended by his Liquigas team. Ten other people were arrested as part of an inquiry into a doping trafficking ring in northern Italy. Da Ros was accused of providing performance enhancing drugs to two amateur cyclists.
• Gabriele Bosisio pleaded his innocence at a CONI hearing today. An out of competition test in September found traces of EPO. He was tested on suspicion of unusual values in his biological passport profile.
• Meanwhile, Italian cyclist Daniele Tortoli won his appeal against CONI with the Court of Arbitration for Sport. He had been suspended for 3 years and 10 months, effective May 21st of 2009 in relation to an incident with Ricardo Ricco. CONI will be held responsible for the court costs for the appeal and will also be required to pay Tortoli 2000 Swiss Francs towards his defense costs.

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