Bike World News

In today’s cycling news, will Pellizotti and Basso bump heads at the Giro? Will Oscar Pereiro join Alberto at Astana? Will the AFLD run doping controls at the Tour de France? Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our bikes….

• Franco Pellizotti seems to be counting on the support of Ivan Basso in the 2010 Giro d’Italia. He finished third this year behind Denis Menchov and Danilo Di Luca and hopes that Basso will be able to to put him “into the pink” in 2010. Basso has made the Tour de France his goal, but will Pellizotti return the favor?
• Basso is expected to defend his title at the Giro del Trentino in order to prepare himself for the Giro d’Italia.
  West Flanders is working on a bid to host the World Championships in either 2013 or 2014.
• Despite earlier rumors, Astana will not change its name in 2010. There was word that the team would be changing their name to Samruk Kazyna to reflect the backing of their new major sponsor, but Astana eagle and sun will still be front and center. New equipment sponsor Specialized also gets prominent placement on the shoulders and center rear pocket.
• Oscar Pereiro has filed a breach of contract suit against Astana. He says that he signed a one year agreement with the team last month that they are now trying to back out of. There has been no official response from Astana.
• Euskaltel-Euskadi has served official notice that it will not participate in the 2010 Giro. Seeing as how team leader Alejandro Valverde can’t race in Italy, that’s probably a sound move.
• In other Valverde news, WADA expressed frustration at a recent board meeting that the case involving the Spanish rider has dragged on for more than 2 years. They say that the process has been extremely costly and has required a lot of energy. They have filed two appeals with the Court of Arbitration for Sport. UCI president Patrick McQuaid echoed the sentiment, saying that the case “was… very frustrating and very costly in terms of financial and human resources” to the UCI. This kind of case that never ends “undermines the credibility of what we do.”
• In the same interview, McQuaid told L’Equipe that the UCI is prepared to run the doping controls at the Tour de France without the assistance of the AFLD. He adds: “We are not prepared to risk endangering all efforts have been made in cycling in the fight against the Doping by giving new work in the hands of this agency.”
• Omega Pharma-Lotto had expressed some interest in Roman Kreuzinger, but have backed off and now say that they will respect his contract with Liquigas that runs through the end of 2010.
• This is old news by now, but the Team Radio Shack roster for the 2010 Tour Down Under will be Lance Armstrong, Daryl Impey, Jason McCartney, Yaroslav Popovych, Sebastien Rosseler, Gert Steegmans and Tomas Vaitkus.
• Australia’s cycling federation will drop their mountain biking programs at the end of the year in favor of programs that will bring them better Olympic medal prospects. The decision is largely financial, and they will concentrate their resources towards their road and track programs.
• Dutch cyclist Mirjam Melchers will fill Kristin Armstrong’s spot in the Cervelo Test Team women’s squad.

Related Posts:

• Giro Day 13 News and Notes (0)
• Contador, other heavies line up for Dauphine Libere (0)
• 2009 Tour de France – Stage 4 News and Notes (1)
• Tour de France rosters – Version 0.2 (0)
• Road Racing News and Results – September 15, 2009 (0)