Happy New Year, Felice Anno Nuovo, Bonne Année, Gelukkig Nieuwjaar and Feliz Año Nuevo! Welcome to an all New Year and an All New Pez! As you take your first bleary eyed (and hopefully not too hung-over) look at 2009, what better place to start than a super sized serving of Capo D’Anno Euro Trash.
Welcome one and all to 2009!
If you used to do the whole “how many sleeps until Christmas” thing when you were younger, you might just appreciate a few numbers to chalk up next to your bed now that 2009 is upon us.
While Christmas is 358 sleeps away, you can work backwards from August in the knowledge that just 240 nights separate you from the 2009 Vuelta, a rather more reasonable 184 until the Tour kicks off in Monaco and only 128 sleeps to go until everyone’s favourite Giro celebrates the start of its centenary edition (heck, why even bother going to bed for such a small number of sleeps!).
For the more impatient among you, it’s only 19 days to go for the 2009 Pro Tour start in Adelaide, Australia and as it will be the first BIG race of 2009, there's no better place to start off the first BIG Euro Trash of the New Year, here at PEZ.
O’Grady Back Down Under
Two time winner Stuart O’Grady will be back at the 2009 Tour Down Under, bringing a strong Saxo-Bank line-up with him to help in the hunt for early season success.
While a certain Tour de France winning Texan is gaining most of the headlines over his participation in the race, Reuters reports that O’Grady does not consider Armstrong the top favourite to win the Adelaide event.
“I won't be concentrating on him. He's not going to be the big hot favourite for the race. There's going to be a lot of other guys out there who are possible winners before Lance.”
Joining O’Grady in the Danish registered squad will be the always attacking (and often winning) German, Jens Voight, young Australian talent, Matt Goss (who is currently riding a fixed wheel at the Christmas-New Year track cycling series in his home state of Tasmania) as well as Danes, Nicki Sorensen, Kasper Klostergaard Frank Hoj and Anders Lund.
Frank Hoj will make his return to Team Saxo Bank at the 2009 Tour Down Under. He was previously a member of the Danish team in 2004.
Last year - or earlier this week, if you like - Jered brought you the news of Baden Cooke’s finalised move to Vacansoleil after the unfulfilled promise of a spot at Rock Racing the ‘Big Time Pro Team’ (as opposed to Rock Racing the ‘part continental / part amateur team’).
Cooke will also be lining up in the Tour Down Under thanks to the UCI allowing one local “national” team to start in the event each year. The former Tour de France green jersey winner will be the captain of the UniSA-Australia squad.
Joining Cooke will be Aussie pros Aaron Kemps and Scott Davis as well as 2007 Australian Junior Male Road Cyclist of the year, Jack Bobridge, who also represented his country at the Beijing Olympics. Travis Meyer (WA) and Simon Clarke (VIC) will also be on the national team, with the final spot to be announced following the Australian Open Road Championships on January 11.
The full roster of teams for the Tour Down Under is:
Team Columbia (USA), Astana (LUX), AG2R La Mondiale (FRA), Silence - Lotto (BEL), Team Katusha (RUS), Team Saxo Bank (DEN), BBox Bouygues Telecom (FRA), COFIDIS (FRA), Francaise Des Jeux (FRA), Caisse D'epargne (ESP), Quick Step (BEL), Euskaltel - Euskadi (ESP), Milram (GER), Lampre - N.G.C (ITA), Rabobank (NED), Liquigas (ITA), Garmin - Slipstream (USA), Fuji - Servetto (ESP), UNISA - Australia (AUS).
Langkawi Teams Announced
The organisers of Le Tour de Langkawi have announced the 20 teams who will make up the peloton for their race in Malaysia, starting February 9.
With more than 50 teams seeking entry into the 7 day race, the organisers feel that they have selected a good representation of the world’s top teams, while still allowing local squads the chance to continue to develop in an important regional event.
“As we are aware of the importance of the Hors-Category status of our event, we have composed a balanced field with the priority being given to most competitive teams from Europe and America,” said Chief Operating Officer Datuk Naim Mohamad. “We support the initiative of the biological passport. Therefore we have selected nine teams that adhere to the biological passport program and are eligible for the Grand Tours.”
Among these nine teams, four come from the Pro Tour circuit: Garmin-Chipotle from the USA, Ag2r and Bouygues Telecom from France, as well as Fuji-Servetto from Spain. The five Pro Continental teams are Diquigiovanni (Venezuela), CSF (Ireland), Vorarlberg-Corratec (Austria), ISD (Italy) and the Swiss-based Cervélo Test Team of Tour de France winner Carlos Sastre.
The 20 participating teams: Garmin-Chipotle, Ag2r, Bouygues Telecom, Fuji-Servetto, Diquigiovanni, CSF, Vorarlberg-Corratec, ISD, Cervélo, Australia, South Africa, Malaysia, China, Iran, Kazakhstan, MCF, LeTua, Meitan-GDR, Seoul Cyling, Doha Team.
Holiday Happenings
While the PEZ was digging himself and his family out of the snow and working on the all new PEZCycling News site design, some of the world’s top Pros were making sure snow didn’t ruin their training program over the Christmas New year period.
Team Saxo Bank’s Olympic TT champ, Fabian Cancellara, left his home in Switzerland for a more suitable climate, saying, “There was over 40 centimetres snow back home so I chose to take my family to Gran Canaria in order to build up my form properly ahead of the new year. I don't really have time to sit and wait for the snow to melt. I'll definitely get a lot of training done during the winter and I'm really looking forward to the training camp in the States, where I'll be able to get in serious shape.”
“Of course my main focus is on the Classics and I might even be doing some of the more hilly ones next year, so it's possible that I'll be starting in Amstel Gold Race and Fleché Wallonne,” he said via the Team website.
As for the “confirmed” rumours of him riding the Giro, Cancellara said, “I've read about those rumours but first of all I want to check out the route properly along with Bjarne Riis and Kim Andersen to see of it's a good idea or not. For now the focus is on the spring season and the key word is: win, win, win.”
And speaking of checking out the course, that’s exactly what Ivan Basso has been doing over the festive season, taking a few outings around Cinque Terre with Michele Bartoli, including a serious look at the 61.7km, 12th stage time trial route from the Giro.
Basso trained every day with a small group that sometimes included ex-pro (and soon to be un-retired) Bartoli as well as Alessandro Petacchi.
Arise, Sir Chris
Chris Hoy has capped a stellar year for both himself and cycling in Great Britain, by being awarded a Knighthood in the 2009 New Year’s Honours list.
The 32 year old from Edinburgh in Scotland, won three gold medals at the Beijing Olympics and will now be officially known as ‘Sir Chris’.
‘It’s incredible and I’m absolutely delighted,” said Hoy, who heads to Rotterdam in the Netherlands tomorrow to compete in the 6 Day race there, “I still can’t quite believe it to be honest. To be given a Knighthood is an enormous honour and it means so much to me and also to my family. I was stunned when I first found out and the news is still sinking in. I’m not sure if I will ever get used to people calling me Sir Chris!”
To complete a remarkable year for the Hoy family, Sir Chris’s mother Carol was also awarded an MBE for services to nursing.
Bradley Wiggins, a double gold medal winner at the Beijing Olympics, and David Brailsford, British Cycling Performance Director, have both been made Commanders of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the New Year’s Honours announcements which saw 18 athletes from British Olympic and Paralympics cycling teams recognised.
Olympians: Sir Chris Hoy (KBE or more officially, Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire), Bradley Wiggins (CBE or Commander of the Order of the British Empire), Victoria Pendleton, Rebecca, Romero, Jason Kenny, Jamie Staff, Ed Clancy, Paul Manning, Nicole Cooke and Geraint Thomas (all MBE or Member of the Order of the British).
Paralympians: Darren Kenny, Sarah Storey and Aileen McGlynn (all OBE or Officer of the Order of the British Empire), Jody Cundy, Barney Storey, David Stone, Anthony Kappes, Mark Bristow, Simon Richardson (all MBE)
Performance Director: David Brailsford CBE
For those not quite sure what the whole Knighthood and Order caper is all about, suffice to say it means “They done good, Guv’nor” and yes, Hoy will have to go down on one knee and be dubbed with a sword at Buckingham Palace on date to be fixed.
Swede Kessiakoff Takes To Road
Swedish MTB rider Fredrik Kessiakoff has become the latest signing of the new Fuji-Servetto ProTour squad.
Kessiakoff (Born in Necka in 1980) is one of the top rated mountain bike specialists on the international scene, and his signing with Fuji-Servetto represents the rider's final leap towards a career in road cycling.
In addition to being a multiple National champion, Kessiakoff has earned victories in World Cup races, podium places at European and World Championships and has finished the last four seasons within the best five bikers in the UCI Cross-Country rankings.
Kessiakoff’s signing brings to 24 the total number of riders who have signed with the Fuji-Servetto team, who will kick off their season with Nardello, Capelli, Clarke, Megias, Vigano, Walker and Dominquez at the Tour Down Under, later this month.
Re-Birth For Baby Giro
The race that foretold the potential of riders such as Danilo DiLuca, Gilberto Simoni, Marco Pantani and even Francesco Moser is back on the agenda for 2009.
The Baby Giro (or Tour of Italy for under 26 year olds) has not been run for the past two years and the return of the race in the centenary year of it’s Big Brother should guarantee that little bit more international attention.
One thing the organisers are keen to promote for their race for riders of the future, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport is that the event will be a ‘clean’ race and to help in this aim they are said to be taking some quite extraordinary steps.
Riders will have health controls at both the start and conclusion of the stage race (run from 12 to 21 June) with the values provided by these checks being used to help establish base-line medical data on the riders. Also, every rider will eat and sleep in the same building as their rivals, throughout the race, (to eliminate the chance that ‘special medical arrangements’ are made in the privacy of hotel rooms in the evening).
However, the one that is sure to cause the most discussion amongst the riders at least, is that mobile telephones will only be able to be used between the hours of 8.30pm and 9.00pm and there will be no TV except in the communal areas of the accommodation structure.
As well as the health controls, the organisers are keen to promote “physical and moral values” and they will prohibit riders from throwing away their race drink bottles and the paper and plastic wrapping around their race food, during the event.
“Clean” is the catch phrase of the event and Italian Federation President Renato Di Rocco was quoted as saying that their objective was to have an event with, “maximum transparency,” and that they will be assisted by medical staff from the University of Sienna.
The course for the race is still a secret, but the final stage will include the historical Tuscan gravel roads (or strade bianche) from L’Eroica. Already invited will be national teams from France, Germany, the US, Russia and Australia with the top Italian club teams and possibly national teams from Spain and Denmark to be confirmed.
No Drugs Please, We’re French!
Speaking of a cleaner way to run a race, it is no secret that public perception goes a long way when it comes to how sponsors feel about their investments. So, the organisers of the Tour de France have apparently issued directives on just how certain aspects of the event should be reported by French sports daily, L’Equipe.
The leaks from the anti-doping controls that found their way onto the newspapers website and front pages throughout the 2007 and 2008 race will be gone and there will be no ‘rumour mongering’ by the journalists permitted. How will they enforce this directive? Well, the same parent company who own the Tour de France, ASO, also just happen to be the owners of L’Equipe.
No word yet on what the International Association of Cycling Journalists has to say about the directive, but if there are more doping related revelations at the Tour this year (let’s cross our fingers and hope there aren’t), you can bet the scribes at L’Equipe won't want te be left in the cold and miss the scoop.
Colnago Presence With The Pros
Italian bike manufacturer Colnago will make a return to the jersey as a co-title sponsor of Belgian professional outfit Landbouwkrediet. Current long term co-sponsor Tönissteiner is out and the cycle brand will be taking its place.
Colnago have backed the team with bicycles for nearly 10 years and were also a naming rights co-sponsor from 2001 to 2006. At that time, the team raced in Belgium and most of Europe as Landbouwkrediet-Colnago and in Italy with a different jersey as Colnago-Landbouwkrediet. At that time, Ernesto Colnago’s cycling prodigy Yaroslav Popovych was cutting his teeth as a young pro with the squad.
New Year, New Bike
One of the great things about a new year is the prospect of seeing, for the first time, the jersey designs chosen by new teams as well as the changes brought in for existing ones. Already Silence-Lotto have modelled (thanks to Gorik Gardeyn and Tom Stubbe ) the slight changes to their jersey that we will see in 2009 and at the same press day in December, we also got the first view of the new Canyon bikes that Cadel Evans will challenge with at the Tour.
While we await more news on the jersey front (and back...ha ha) the first of January means that riders on teams who are changing bikes can officially roll the new machine out of the garage.
While Colnago might be joining the jersey at Landbouwkrediet, the Italian manufacturer is ending its long running association with Dutch ProTour team Rabobank as well as parting ways with German outfit, Milram. They will replace DeRosa as bike sponsor at Danilo DiLuca’s LPR Brakes squad.
Rabobank will be riding on Giant in 2009, while Team Columbia, end their association with Giant, in favour of Scott (who have left Saunier-Duval/Scott-American Beef to make way for Fuji as bike and co-title sponsor).
Milram will ride German made Focus bikes and the Ridley range that helped Cadel Evans and Robbie McEwen claim headlines at Silence-Lotto have followed the Aussie sprinter to Russian ProTeam squad Katusha.
Saxo Bank will no longer roll on Cervélo as the company has their own team in 09 so will join Quick Step in riding US manufacturer Specialized’s machines this year.
Multi-World Champion To Challenge At Buninyong
Next week’s Australian Open Road Cycling Championships, to be held in Buninyong, Victoria, will see former triple World Time Trial champion Mick Rogers, looking to add the green and gold jersey to his already impressive trophy cabinet.
The national championships (for both men’s and women’s time trial and road events) have attracted 400 entries including a number of overseas riders who are eligible for prize-money, but not the jersey of the national champion.
Top amongst the favourites to claim the crown are Baden Cooke, Trent Lowe, Mark Renshaw, Adam Hansen, Matt Wilson and Allan Davis as well as last year’s winner Matt Lloyd and Rabobank stalwart and Commonwealth Games road race champion, Mat Hayman.
Organisers are expecting more than 17,000 spectators to line the course for the men’s event.
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