Bike World News

In today’s cycling news: UCI looking to tighten transfer rules, Operation Puerto blood samples unavailable, Giro/DC agreement closer and more….

• The International Olympic Committee announced their formal decision to abandon the individual pursuit, match and Madison events from Olympic track competition for the 2012 London Olympics. The decision was part of a series of event changes intended to bring more “gender equity” to the Games. The plan will increase the number of female cyclists from 35 to 84 (45% of the track cyclists). Under the plan approved during an executive board meeting on Thursday, women will compete in sprint, team sprint, team keirin, team pursuit and new omnium events.
• Iljo Keisse made a return to the World track scene this week, racing at the third round of the UCI Track World Cup in Colombia. He finished second in the points race event and easily qualified for the finals.
• Italian sprinter Luca Ceci had a bad fall during the Keirin event at the World Cup, sufferinfg bruises and trauma.
• A number of Iberian teams have announced that they will not participate in the Vuelta Ciclista a Andalucía, scheduled for February 21 to 25, since Deporinter, the company that organizes the race, has not signed the annual agreement with the Association of the teams. The agreement between Asociación Española de Carreras de Organizadores ciclistas and Asociación de Equipos, establishes requirements for all the races in the Spanish calendar. The teams boycotting the race are Caisse d’Epargne, Euskaltel-Euskadi, Footon-Servetto and Xacobeo-Galicia. Andalucía-Cajasur announced that it will participate in the race for the needs of its sponsors but that it will not do the Vuelta a Murcia. The protest does not extend to Orbea, Burgos Monumental and Caja Rural, all of whom are based in mainland Spain.
• The UCI is exploring new rules that will tighten restrictions on rider transfers between teams. Poaching of riders has gone on for a long time, but the recently successful long term wooing of Bradley Wiggins to Sky Team away from Garmin seems to have brought the problem to new light. Garmin team director Jonathan Vaughters fought to keep Wiggins on the team, but eventually buckled to avoid a protracted legal dispute.
• Garmin’s David Millar told VeloNews that he was disappointed with the way Wiggins’ handled his departure, saying “I think he wasn’t quite as noble as he could have been” in leaving the team.
• Andy Schleck was named Luxembourg’s “Sportsman of the Year” on Friday. The Saxo Bank cyclist bested his brother Frank as well as Kim Kirchen for the honor. It was the seventh year in a row that a cyclist has won the prize.
• The Italian National Olympic Committee’s anti-doping prosecutor has subpeaned Davide Rebellin to appear on December 18th to answer to to his positive doping control from the 2008 Olympics.
• A Spanish court announced today that blood samples seized from the home of Operation Puerto doping doc Eufaminio Fuentes will no longer be available to international sports federations looking to sanction riders that may have been involved in the scandal. It’s not known at this time how that will affect the ongoing prosecution of Alejandro Valverde.
• Cadel Evans will race in next month’s Tour Down Under with his new team BMC Racing, the Australian world road cycling champion confirmed. It was also announced by BMC Racing that American cyclist George Hincapie will compete alongside Evans in the South Australia race.
• Giro d’Italia organizer Angelo Zomegnan and Washington D.C. mayor Adrian Fenty have come to tentative agreement for the city to host the prologue and first stage of the 2012 Giro. Details are still being worked out, but the parties are hoping to made a definite announcement within a month.
• The Liquigas-Doimo squad is working apace to be prepared for 2010. After already holding two camps 27th November to 4th December at Passo San Pellegrino from 11/27 to 12/4 and at Benicàssim in Spain from 12/1 to 12/7, the full squad is now planning to meet from December 14th to 22nd in the town of Comunidad Valenciana. The area is said to provide ideal training weather, with temperatures in the region hovering around the high sixties to low seventies this time of year.

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