Bike World News

In today’s cycling news, Lance Armstrong steps out of team leadership role, Honda joins the cycling scene, Alberto levels expectations for 2010 and more…

• Italian National Time Trial Champion Noemi Cantele has signed with Columbia-HTC for 2010. She turned pro in 2002. Currently sixth in the UCI World rankings, Cantele’s two biggest wins to date are twin victories in GP Ouest Plouay World Cup round in 2005 and 2007. This year, she won a stage of the Tour of Italy, the national time trial champion’s title and then took two medals in the World Championships: bronze in the road race and silver in the time trial.
• Lars Bak will transfer from Saxo Bank to Columbia-HTC for 2010 as well. Bak won Holland’s time trial championship three times (2007, 2008 and 2009) and was the 2005 road race champion. In 2005 he won the Tour de l’Avenir and Paris-Bourges. This year he won the fifth stage of the Eneco Tour.
• Saxo Bank is in the middle of their military style training camp. This year’s edition is in the Playitas area of Spain. The area around the camp is described as “lunar”, with highly weathered and eroded rock. So far, they have hiked, kayaked, golfed, dived and swam, all in the interest of team building. Chocolate, soda, cell phones and other lifelines are banned from the camp, where the riders, mechanics, directors and staff will learn to depend on one another.
• Saxo Bank’s Frank and Andy Schleck have announced their program for 2010. They’ll start the season together in February at the Trofeo Mallorca and the Ruta del Sol before going their separate ways. Andy will ride Tirreno-Adriatico (10-16 March), while Frank will have a go at Paris-Nice (7-13 March). They’ll come back together for Milan-San Remo.
• Rabobank’s Robert Gesink is jumping on the Girona, Spain bandwagon and is planning to buy a house their with his girlfriend. He, like many before him, cited the roads and the weather as his reasons for leaving the Netherlands.
• Honda is entering the cycling scene and will be sponsoring a new women’s team that will be led by Australian Rochelle Gilmore. With her, among others, will be Tiffany Cromwell, Chloe Hosking, Liz Gerogouras, Nimesh Smith and Sky Lee Armstrong.
  Kurt Hovelynck is joining the Quick Step team at their first training camp and is hoping for a return to prior form. He says that he is fully recovered from the skull fracture that he suffered during a training ride in March of this year. He spent three weeks in a coma and said that the return to normal took time.
• Alberto Contador told L’EQuipe that he may not win the Tour de France in 2010. “I am realistic and I know I have a weaker team than in previous years. For this reason, we must insist on our motivation. We know how we must work to succeed. I know that this season will be difficult and it is possible that (will) not win the Tour (even if) I’m in good shape. People will focus on my rivals but I know my situation.” He will ride a program similar to last year, passing on the Giro and deciding on the Vuelta only after riding the Tour de France.
• Yesterday was media day at the Team Radio Shack camp. Lance Armstrong told reporters that he will not be the central rider for the team, saying that it would be irresponsible to build the team around him. He is looking to younger riders such as Levi Leipheimer and Andreas Kloden to lead the team. Armstrong feels that Radio Shack has a strong team, encompassing 8 of the 9 riders from Astana’s successful 2009 Tour de France team title.
• 27 year-old U.K. national hillclimb champion Dan Fleeman has signed for Team Raleigh. He adds considerable strength to the team’s 10 rider roster, having raced alongside Thor Hushovd and Carlos Sastre in the Cervelo Test Team this past season.
• Germany’s Nordmilch AG will continue to work with the Milram team in some capacity beyond 2010, but management is still looking for someone to move into the title sponsor slot.
• Giro d’Italia director Angelo Zomegnan will travel to Washington, DC tomorrow to meet with DC mayor Andrian Fenty about bringing the start of the race to our nation’s capital in 2012. Fenty and local organizers have already come up with a proposed route. Possible other stages in Philadelphia, New York, Boston and Toronto are all being explored.

Tags: 2009 tour de france, alberto contador, Andreas Kloden, andy schleck, astana, Carlos Sastre, cervelo test team, columbia, columbia-htc, eneco tour, Giro d'Italia, Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer, Mallorca, Milan-San Remo, Milram, Noemi Cantele, NORDMILCH AG, Paris-Nice, Philadelphia, Quick Step, Rabobank, radio shack, Robert Gesink, team raleigh, The Netherlands, Thor Hushovd, tirreno-adriatico, World Championship, World Championships

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