Bike World News

In today’s cycling news, speculations about Eddy Merckx and cancer, cycling mourns to loss of Franco Ballerini, news updates and results from Mallorca:

Eddy Merckx:

• Some stellar reporting from L’Equipe over as they claimed that Eddy Merckx “officially” acknowledged that he had a bout with colon cancer a few years ago. Merckx had undergone a marked loss in weight several years ago and the media speculation about the cause at the time was rampant. The rest of the cycling press picked up their story and went crazy with it.
• Merckx quickly went on record to deny any questions of cancer, but one has to question his choice of words to Belgium’s South Press: “Since my cancer of the gut, I just gotta be careful what I drink or eat.”. He later told reporters that he had stomach problems several years ago (apparently an issue that runs in his family) and that he now has to avoid champagne and white wine.

Franco Ballerini:

• The cycling community is mourning the loss of former Italian pro Franco Ballerini. He died on Sunday morning after being involved in a crash during a rally car event in Tuscany, Italy.

• Ballerini won Paris-Roubaix twice (in 1995 and 1998) and went on to be the Italian national professional men’s road coach and was in charge of the team that won the rainbow jersey with Mario Cipollini in 2002, Paolo Bettini in 2006 and 2007, and most recently with Alessandro Ballan in Varese in 2008.
• In a sign of respect for Ballerini’s family, RCS Sport announced that they will delay the presentation of the 45th Tirreno-Adriatico, originally scheduled for Thursday, February 11 until a later date.
• RCS Sport also announced that the 2010 edition of the Corsa dei Due Mari (10-16 March by Livorno at San Benedetto del Tronto) will be dedicated to Ballerini’s memory.

Racing News:

• Some of the Radio Shack Cycling Team is in Calpe, Spain for a training camp this week, but Lance Armstrong is home in Austin. The Spanish contingent is preparing for the Volta a Algarve, which starts on February 17th.
• Fumiyuki Beppu is training with Radio Shack for the first time this week after finally being released from his contract with Skil-Shimano.
• Team Sky’s Kurt-Asle Arvesen made an early unintended withdrawl from the Tour of Qatar today after breaking his collarbone in a fall during the neutral section of Stage 2 of the race. Arvesen broke a collarbone last year in a fall during Stage 10 of the Tour de France.
• Andy Schleck was to make his season debut at the Challenge Mallorca, but withdrew at the last minute because of a sore knee. Schleck is one of several young riders complaining of knee problems attributable to overtraining this season. He noted on Twitter that he is headed home to Luxembourg to rest.
• For now, Jan ullrich will be allowed to keep his gold medal from the 2000 Olympics. The IOC said that while Ullrich has definitely been plagued by doping allegations, they have no hard evidence that he was doping during the games. The IOC is keeping the case “on hold” pending other investigations against the German rider.
• Want to avoid a positive doping test? We’ve got an app for that! Mechanical design engineer James Mattis has developed a free iPhone application called DrugSearch 1.3, which offers easy access to the World Anti-Doping Authority’s banned substance list via an iPhone.

Other Results:

• The Mallorca Challenge started with a victory for veteran Robbie McEwen (Katyusha). The 37-year-old Aussie took the sprint ahead of Spaniards Koldo Fernandes (Euskaltel) and Oscar Freire (Rabobank) in the 116 kilometer long opening stage.
• Oscar Freire took the win at the race’s second stage, the Trofeo Cala Millor. Freire took his 8th Mallorca Challenge victory over Andre Greipel (Columbia HTC), Manuel Cardoso (Footon Servetto), Robert Forster (Milram) and Euskaltel’s Koldo Fernandez.

Tags: Alessandro Ballan, andre greipel, andy schleck, cycling news, doping, eddy merckx, footon servetto, fumiyuki beppu, Jan Ullrich, Koldo Fernandez, Kurt-Asle Arvesen, Lance Armstrong, Mallorca, Mario Cipollini, Milram, Olympic, Oscar Freire, Paolo Bettini, Paris-Roubaix, Qatar, Rabobank, Racing News, radio shack, radio shack cycling, Robbie McEwen, Robert Forster, Skil-Shimano, Team Sky, tirreno-adriatico, tour of qatar

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