Cycling news

Contador free to leave Astana?

The AFP and other sources this evening are reporting that 2009 Tour de France champion Alberto Contador may be able to break his contract with Astana after the team failed to meet a key administrative deadline.  (Contador has one more year remaining with the team)  They cite Article 2.15.139.8 of the UCI Cycling Regulations.  This became an issue when Astana was among 5 teams (Caisse d'Epargne, Euskaltel, Saxo Bank, Sky are the others) not on a list the UCI published today of teams that have met requirements for a ProTour license.  Note that the teams have until November 20 to meet these requirements.  But the rules appear to allow individual riders an out when team requirements are not met by October 20.

Article 2.15.139.8 of the UCI Cycling Regulations:

2010 USA Cycling National Racing Calendar announced

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

2010 USA Cycling National Racing Calendar announced

Colorado Springs, Colo. (October 16, 2009)—Featuring 27 events and nearly one million dollars in overall prize payouts, the 2010 National Racing Calendar (NRC) was announced today by USA Cycling. The NRC enters its 14th season as the nation’s premier Pro-Am men’s and women’s road cycling circuit and will visit 22 states from March through September, highlighting the United States’ best domestic teams and athletes.

Tour de Cycling - Thursday

- 2010 Tour de France Route Presentation coverage on Versus TV.  More videos and full On Demand video of the event below.

- Official 2010 Tour de France route details, videos, etc. online here.


2010 Tour de France Official Poster
The design will also appear on T-shirts, postcards and other items.

- 2010 Tour de France:  Watch interview with Tour director Christian Prudhomme.

- If you missed the 2010 Tour de France Route Presentation live, or want to see it again, you can watch it in its entirety (over one hour), from Jean-Etienne Amaury's opening remarks to Christian Prudhomme's unveiling of the route, at Cycling TV here.

2010 Tour de France Route Presentation

 

Tour de Cycling - Saturday


Paris-Tours:  An early breakaway, late in the season.  Will it go all the way?
Copyright © Pete Geyer/www.cyclingfans.com

- Sunday Update:  Race is underway.  Our 2009 Paris-Tours Live Online Coverage Guide is here.

- Tomorrow, Sunday, is the 103rd Paris-Tours and there will be live video streaming.  The Elite Men's race will start in Chartres instead of the usual Saint-Arnoult-en-Yvelines outside Paris.  It will finish in Tours, on the Avenue de Grammont for the last time due to the installation of tramway tracks next year.  (There is also an Under-23 race.  It starts in Bonneval and finishes in Tours.)  Philippe Gilbert (Silence-Lotto) is defending champion.  No American has ever reached the podium; Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Slipstream), winding down a breakout season, hopes to become the first American winner.  We'll post our full 2009 Paris-Tours Live Online Coverage Guide before the start of live television coverage.

Paris-Tours Official Website
Start List
Race starts at:  11:15 CET (5:15am U.S. Eastern)
Live video webcast on Cycling TV starts at:  15:25 CET (9:25am U.S. Eastern)
Live streaming on Sporza:  15:25 CET (9:25am U.S. Eastern)
Live coverage on Eurosport France:  15:00 CET (9am U.S. Eastern)
Live coverage from other sources:  Check back in the morning
 

- On now:  Giro dell'Emilia delayed video coverage via Rai here.  (Thanks, Bernie.)

- More Tour de Cycling - Saturday to come, including a first look at tomorrow's Paris-Tours LIVE coverage options.

- LIVE now:  GVA Trophy Cyclocross - Namen here.  (Thanks, Jirka!)  Also LIVE here.  (Bernie S.)

Tour de Cycling - Wednesday

- Flying overnight to Paris today, so next update late Thursday.  -Pete

- The 2010 Tour de France Route Presentation is one week from today at the Palais des Congres in Paris.  You will be able to watch the event LIVE on the internet, with audio commentary in English and FrenchLive streaming is scheduled to begin at 11:00 CET (5am U.S. Eastern), October 14.  (We will of course have the links for you + more info as the event approaches.)  The first half hour should include speeches from TDF organizer Amaury Sport Organization (A.S.O.) president Jean-Etienne Amaury and Tour director Christian Prudhomme, among others including officials from key regions visited during the 2010 Tour.  This is a good time for a nap.  Things will then get more interesting as breathtaking 12-minute video highlights of the 2009 Tour, set to music, remind everyone why we love this sport.  The event concludes with what everyone is waiting for: the presentation of the 2010 Tour de France race route.  Will there be a Team Time Trial?  (Rumor is no.)  How many Individual Time Trials and how long will they be?  How many mountaintop finishes?  With coastal winds already expected in week one, will organizers also throw in some cobblestone sections on the route from Rotterdam into Northern France to keep things interesting?  (Rumor is yes.  Remember Iban Mayo bouncing all over the road and crashing in 2004?)  Among the riders expected in attendance in Paris are Lance Armstrong and Alberto ContadorAlso expected "in the house":  Most everyone from team managers such as Marc Madiot and Johan Bruyneel to broadcasters Paul Sherwen, Phil Liggett and Bob Roll.  Will UCI President Pat McQuaid show up or will his "bad France week" this week extend into next week?  Will someone, perhaps a member of the French media, have sent bad boy and past regular attendee Alexandre Vinokourov an invitation in order to stir up trouble?  Stay tuned.  Not to be missed.  -Pete

- The 2009 Paris-Tours is Sunday.  Cycling.tv will have LIVE video of the race, free, to North America.  Click here for more info.  Cyclingfans.com will of course publish a complete Paris-Tours Live Online Coverage Guide before the race.

Rock Racing: Sevilla Third In Vuelta a Chihuahua Prologue

(Race report by Rock Racing) - Photos

Chihuahua, Mexico — Oscar Sevilla finished third and his Rock Racing teammate Francisco Mancebo was fourth in Sunday’s prologue time trial of the fourth edition of the Vuelta a Chihuahua.

Michael Rasmussen (Tecos-Trek) won the 2.6-mile (4.2 km) uphill race against the clock by a few hundredths of a second over Spaniard Daniel Moreno (Caisse d'Epargne). Sevilla was one second behind the two, while Mancebo was three seconds off the winning time of 8 minutes and 44 seconds.

Rasmussen, 35, returned to cycling in July after serving out a two-year suspension for lying about his whereabouts as they related to out-of-competition anti-doping tests.

Sevilla said he felt strong in the race that finished at the top of a second category climb. But if he could do it over again, he would surely do one thing differently.

“I made a little mistake in my gearing,” Sevilla said. “I could have used a 39 x 25 instead of a 39 x 23 for the last two turns (because it was so steep).”

Mancebo is the two-time defending champion of the seven-day, six-stage race. Last year, he beat (2009 UCI Americas Tour champion) Gregario Ladino by 34 seconds. In 2007, he bested Christian Meier and Antonio Aldape, who finished equal with him on time in the final classification.

Monday’s Stage 1 is a 73.4-mile (118.2 km) race from Chihuahua to Cuauhtémoc. The undulating stage includes three sprints and one categorized (Cat. 3) climb.

– RRC –

Tour de Cycling - Saturday

- LIVE Sunday:  Live coverage of Sunday's UCI Cyclocross World Cup event in Treviso, Italy is scheduled to begin on Cycling TV at 13:50 CET for the women's race and at 15:20 CET for the men's race.  Cycling TV's coverage is worldwide excluding the U.S.  Live coverage on Sporza should begin at around 15:15 CET (9:15am U.S. Eastern).  We will not know until the morning what, if any, live streaming will be available to the U.S. market.  Last season, Cycling TV's Cyclocross World Cup coverage only became available in the U.S. several weeks into the season.  Cycling TV informed me today that they may have U.S. rights as early as next week.  Stay tuned.  -Pete  - More information on this event here.

- LIVE Sunday:  Live coverage of Sunday's Tour de Vendee is scheduled to begin at 16:35 CET (10:35am U.S. Eastern).  Live streaming coverage on France TV is listed as geo-restricted.  Eurosport France is also covering the latter part of the race live.

- Circuit Franco-Belge Stage 3 today.  Official site - Live ticker (Select Stage 3 (Etape 3) from drop-down list)

- Today is the 5th Memorial Cimurri (Italy).  The race starts at 11:00 CET (5am U.S. Eastern) and is expected to finish between 15:34 and 16:06 CET (9:34am and 10:06am U.S. Eastern).  Television coverage on Rai3 is scheduled to begin at 17:05 CET (11:05am U.S. Eastern).  Video streaming of this coverage may be available. 

Official Website
(Google-translated to English)
Start List

Tour de Cycling - Thursday


- American Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Slipstream) won Stage 1 today of the Circuit Franco-Belge (to October 4).  Stage 2 Tuesday starts in Maubeuge and finishes in Poperinge.  The official website is hereLive ticker here.

Lance Armstrong's 2010 season schedule is starting to take form...

The October issue of Velo Magazine (French) just hit newsstands and the cover story is an interview with Lance Armstrong regarding his new team, RadioShack, and his plans for the 2010 season.

Velo Magazine and its publisher, L'Equipe, continue to refer to Armstrong's new team as "The Shack" but all indications (most notably UCI press releases) are that the team will be known as RadioShack.  Velo Magazine asked Armstrong what the name will be and he said he believes it will indeed be known as RadioShack.  The jersey colors are expected to be black, red and white.  (These are the longtime colors of RadioShack logos.)

As previously reported, Armstrong's 2010 season will begin in Australia with the Tour Down Under (January 19-24).  His first 2010 race in Europe may be the Tour of Murcia (Spain, March 3-7) "or possibly Paris-Nice" (March 7-14) Armstrong told Velo Magazine.  (Also, as we reported last February, Armstrong told Eddy Merckx he would race in the 2010 Tour of Qatar (February 7-12).)

In April, Armstrong may race some of the spring classics; "La Fleche Wallonne, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, we're not sure".  Armstrong noted the May conflict between the Giro d'Italia (May 8-30) and the Tour of California (May 16-23, previously in February); "RadioShack is an American sponsor but the Giro is good preparation for the Tour de France."  The Tour of California will already suffer from less world media exposure going head to head with the Giro; Armstrong racing the Giro would be a huge blow to the American race.

Having previously commented that he would not repeat his 2009 pre-TDF preparation in the U.S., Armstrong told Velo Magazine that in 2010, "June will be more traditional, in Europe."  (the Dauphine Libere (June 6-13) has been his favored pre-TDF race in the past but depending on what he does in May, the Tour of Switzerland (June 12-20) or even just training and reconnaissance may be more likely).

Tour de Cycling - Monday

Worlds video clips here.

- More Tour de Cycling - Monday to come...


2009 UCI Road World Championships:  Cadel Evans, Australia's first-ever
elite men's road cycling world champion.
- Click for high resolution -
photo Copyright © 2009 Fotoreporter Sirotti for cyclingfans.com


2009 UCI Road World Championships:  Evans' wife, Chiara Passerini.
- Click for high resolution -
photo Copyright © 2009 Fotoreporter Sirotti for cyclingfans.com


2009 UCI Road World Championships, Elite Men Road Race:  The colors of the world peloton.
- Click for high resolution -
photo Copyright © 2009 Fotoreporter Sirotti for cyclingfans.com

2010 UCI Road Calendar

- Men Elite:  Events listed below include 2010 ProTour and Historical calendar races only.

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