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Doug Report Daily Cycling News Archive

Sponsor ends Horner's time at Lampre-Merida.

The rider, the agent, and the team manager were all willing but pressure from sponsors seems to have been the main reason Chris Horner was not offered a contract renewal at Lampre-Merida for 2015.
The 42-year-old, who has endured a year punctured by illness and injury, is scrambling for a team for the second consecutive season, despite the fact that Lampre-Merida’s general manager, Brent Copeland, believes that the rider can finish in the top ten of a Grand Tour. (cyclingnews.com)

Telegraph Cycling Podcast catches up with Tao Geoghegan Hart, talks to Emma O’Reilly and discuss the hour record.

The latest Telegraph Cycling Podcast welcomes back Tao Geoghegan Hart, the promising young British rider, who discusses his first year as a senior, his plans for next year – and that crash in the Tour of Britain, when he misjudged a corner on the penultimate stage into Brighton and took a flyer into the crowd.
There is also an interview with Emma O’Reilly, ex-soigneur to Lance Armstrong, whose book, The Race To The Truth, lifts the lid on her years with US Postal and tells of her more recent reconciliation with Armstrong. “The story is about human beings away from home and the decisions we made,” says O’Reilly.  (telegraph.co.uk)

Highlights of 2014 – Part III.

It’s easy to see the Ronde as one of the sport’s best races but it doesn’t automatically deliver the best racing. This year’s edition had solid action through the final hour and suspense right until the end.
What’s your favorite spring classic? Many will pick Paris-Roubaix but you don’t have to chose. Watch them all. There’s something about De Ronde though, the enormity of the event.
This year’s edition was starting to simmer with 100km to go but hit boiling point on the dreaded Koppenberg. The remnants of an early breakaway started the climb but by the top, a matter of meters, a new group of fresh attackers had taken the lead. (inrng.com)

Notes from the Scrum: ‘I could hear you screaming’.

So this is how it happens. It happens fast.
Sounds drift. Cars and voices. I can sense them, can feel the crush of the morning and I know I am sitting here awash in it but I cannot hear anything. My head is in my hands and I am curled up into myself on the road. The only noise is the buzzing static of shock; my entire head is in a seashell. The whir of self-assessment goes on.
“I could hear you screaming.” (velonews.com)

2014 Races & Results.

Santos Tour Down Under 2015 - Jan 18-25 (Stages),

Giro d'Italia 2015 - May 9-31 (Stages),

Tour de France 2015 - July 4-26 (Stages),

Tour of Beijing 2015 - Oct 10-14 (Results),

Paris - Tours Elite 2015 - Oct 12 (Results),

Il Lombardia 2014 - Oct 5 (Results),

UCI Road World Championship 2014 - Sept 20-27 (Results),

Vuelta a España 2014 - Aug 23-Sept 14 (Results),

Tour de France 2014  - July 5-27 (Results),

Giro d'Italia 2014 - May 9 - June 1 (Results),

More...

Campton Cross Features ‘Scary’ New Terrain for Halloween: Chicago Cyclocross Cup.

Campton Cross marks the midway point of the Chicago Cyclocross Cup (CCC) series and celebrates Halloween by encouraging costumes. In it’s ninth year, this race put on by Bicycle Heaven – Geneva’s premiere bike shop in Illinois – and Rob Kelley’s ROK Coaching, featured a course with half new terrain to keep racers on their toes.
New elements included log jumps, a longer straight away to allow racers a better fight for the hole shot, flowier off-camber sections, a maze of turns cut into a large patch of tall prairie grass (thank you park directors), and a grinding gravel finish. Mother Nature brought the midwestern wind for some proper leg burners. (cxmagazine.com)

Lampre and Merida renew sponsorship of WorldTour team.

The only Italian squad remaining in the WorldTour has renewed both of its title sponsors. Lampre and Merida will remain title sponsors of the team of Giuseppe Saronni through 2016, the team announced today.
The squad will begin preparing for its 21st season with a camp in Darfo Boario Terme, Italy in the first week of December. (cyclingnews.com)

Meares sharper than ever ahead of Guadalajara World Cup.

A little less than two years away from the Olympic Games in Rio, Anna Meares believes she is in the best form she has been in since the London Games in 2012. The Australian sprint star is in Mexico for the opening round of the Track World Cup in Guadalajara, where she’s targeting crucial qualification points for Rio 2016. (cyclingnews.com)

Eddy Merckx EMX-1 road bike.

road.cc verdict: 4.5 out of 5 stars. "Great handling, fun bike to blast about on, race crits or cross mountains; upgrade the wheels for a superbike challenger."  (road.cc)

Specialized S-Works Tarmac Di2 Disc.

BikeRadar verdict: 4.5 out of 5 stars. "A dream machine in a category of its own – though some riders may find it a pigeonhole." (bikeradar.com)

Razik Vortex road bike.

"The radical-looking Razik Vortex uses IsoTruss tubing to reduce weight, maintain stiffness and increase comfort. This construction has been around for a while – we first saw it on the Delta 7 Ascend back in 2008 – but is now exclusive to the new Razik brand. The Vortex is a completely new bike." (bikeradar.com)

Rumor police: Where will Chris Horner land?

Lampre-Merida confirms parting ways with Horner.

Armstrong says his life is still a mess after doping confession.

Lance Armstrong has described the consequences of his life ban for doping and subsequent confession as a 'sacré bordel' (a mess) but insists he has turned the page on his life and moved away from the world of professional cycling.
Speaking to l'edition du Soir, an evening digital version of the Ouest France newspaper after riding and suffering in the 125km Mike Nosco Bicycle Ride charity ride in California, Armstrong admitted he only rides his bike once a week, often opting for a mountain bike ride. (cyclingnews.com)

“Andy Schleck was my biggest rival” says Alberto Contador.

Alberto Contador has said that the now retired Andy Schleck was the “biggest rival” of his whole career so far,  placing the Luxembourger in higher esteem than current rival Chris Froome.
Schleck, who quit professional cycling after suffering a bad knee injury in the 2014 Tour de France, finished runner-up to Contador in two editions of the Tour in 2009 and 2010 before subsequently being awarded the latter after the Spaniard had it stripped for doping. (cyclingweekly.co.uk)

Switch to Tinkoff gives Sagan ‘chance to restart’.

Slovak Peter Sagan just finished climbing Mount Kilimanjaro with his new Tinkoff-Saxo teammates and is beginning to consider the changes in store for 2015.
“I’d swap at least one of them [the three green jerseys from the Tour de France],” Sagan said, “for a win in one of the big classics.”
Sagan spoke with Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport before flying to Africa to meet his new teammates, including grand tour star Alberto Contador. He has won the Tour’s green jersey the last three years, but his mind remains fixed on the spring’s tough one-day races, the monuments Milano-Sanremo, Ronde van Vlaanderen (Tour of Flanders), and Paris-Roubaix. (velonews.com)

Interview: Rebecca Rusch, author of ‘Rusch to Glory’.

There is perhaps no one who defines “jack-of-all-trades” better than Rebecca Rusch. For more than 20 years, Rusch has explored her physical ability full of determination, without relent. Her drive as an ultra-endurance athlete and one of the most successful endurance mountain bikers in the world has brought her to success in just about every kind of adventure sport imaginable. (velonews.com)

Bettini confirms Alonso project is dead in water.

The high profile, on-again, off-again project of Formula One driver Fernando Alonso looks dead in the water for 2015.
Appointed team manager Paolo Bettini has confirmed that there will not be a team for next season despite continued assurances from Alonso there would be. Speaking to ProCycling Norway, Bettini reconfirmed fears that the team will not happen next year.
“The Alonso project has been completely put on hold for reasons I cannot elaborate on,” Bettini told the Norwegian magazine. “I still do not know about their intentions for the future.” (velonews.com)

News shorts: Caja Rural license renewed, Pliuschin to Synergy Baku.

Lucas Sebastián Haedo signs for Jamis Hagens Berman, Wiasak joins Wiggle-Honda for remainder of 2014. (cyclingnews.com)

First Taiwanese rider to join the WorldTour.

One day after waving goodbye to Chris Horner, Lampre-Merida have announced their next signing for the 2015 signing. Chun Kai Feng will join the team for the coming season and become the first ever Taiwanese cycling on the WorldTour. (cyclingquotes.com)

Mud, Bikes, and A Little Whiskey.

"So this past weekend it was back to business for the team at the Cycle-Smart International. For so much of the New England cyclocross community, this is a home race. I drove up Friday night to Richie’s house. We had some whiskey and speculated about Season 3 of Netflix’s “House of Cards.” A productive Friday-night team meeting for sure.
On Saturday we woke to rain and cold. Everyone at the race seemed to be psyched about the “cyclocross weather.” I was just cold and wet. Don’t get me wrong: Racing in the wet is fun. But preriding, warming up, and setting up in the rain isn’t that much fun. In five years of racing this was also the first time it has rained at CSI. And then there were the “pro-only” sections of course." (pelotonmagazine.com)

Cycling Shimanami: exploring Japan’s Inland Sea by bike.

"We spent the past five days riding around and between the many interconnected islands of Japan’s Seto Inland Sea, south-east of Hiroshima. The trip had revolved around Cycling Shimanami, a mass participation event held largely on the Shimanami Kaido, an often-breathtaking expressway featuring mighty suspension bridges and frequent ocean views." (cyclingtips.com.au)

How to build up your legs during your lunch hour.

"Jonathan Lewis, trainer and physio with London’s Balance Performance Physiotherapy, shared with us some quick exercises that'll boost your muscles during your lunch break.
Once you've mastered these moves, take a look at our How to build legs like a superhero article for further advice on improving your pins." (bikeradar.com)

Out Of Time.

La Gazzetta claims Pantani’s body could be exhumed after tissue samples were disposed of.

Video: Jeremy Powers pleased with modified cyclo-cross program.

Open letter from former Giro boss Michele Acquarone on RCS.

In an open letter to the media Michele Acquarone has revealed the scope of the battles he's had with Giro d'Italia and Milan-San Remo organizers, RCS, to clear his name. Acquarone was alleged to have overseen large scale fraud and embezzlement in his time at the helm of the Giro d'Italia. He was sacked shortly after by the organization. (sbs.com.au)

USA could host a WorldTour race in 2017.

During the build-up to the Gran Prix Cycliste de Quebec, race organiser Serge Arsenault used a suite in the Fairmont hotel as his base and meeting room. Arsenault held a strategic meeting, inviting Yann Le Moenner - the General Director of Tour de France organizer ASO, and Gilbert Van Fraeyenhoven, the Managing Director of Flanders Classics - the organizer of the Tour of Flanders and five other major spring races. They discussed the future of professional cycling and the current proposal to reform the race calendars and overall team structures for 2017. What could be a decisive meeting regarding the reforms is due to be held later this month. . (cyclingnews.com)

MORE Than Sport raising funds for family of deceased Kenyan cyclist.

MORE Than Sport is partnering with the Kenyan Riders team to fundraise in an effort to provide tangible and long-term support to John Njoroge Muya’s family — his wife and one-year-old son.
Njoroge, 30, of Kenya died from injuries suffered in a crash during Stage 3 of the Tour of Matabungkay in the Philippines in October. (velonews.com)

Good-Bye Thor Hushovd.

"Thor Hushovd hung his wheels up in September after illness made him stop short of the World championship road race which was to be his last race. Double World champ, Yellow jersey holder, stage winner and hard man on the cobbles. We celebrate his full career in pictures." (pezcyclingnews.com)

News shorts: Lotto-Soudal get WorldTour license, Contador praises Andy Schleck.

Hoogerland gets crash compensation, Nibali wins the Mendrisio d’Oro. (cyclingnews.com)

Hoogerland gets crash compensation, looks forward to new team.

After three years of waiting, Johnny Hoogerland has finally received financial compensation for the dramatic crash at the 2011 Tour de France. The Dutchman is pleased to put the issue behind and focus on his first season with the Rompoot team. (cyclingquotes.com)

Take Back the Night – Tips and Tricks for Cyclocross Training at Night.

I"f you’re heading out after dark, there are some things you should think about. For example, you want to see and be seen. And when you see glints of light reflecting in front of you, will you be able to identify it as a mountain lion, or a raccoon. We’ve got an eye doctor to provide some eye-opening advice.
We’ll start today with some general tips, and then follow this up with some specific product spotlights that brighten your appearance or outlook." (cxmagazine.com)

Team LottoNL-Jumbo jersey approved by UCI.

The new Team LottoNL-Jumbo jersey has been given approval by UCI, according to the team’s Twitter account. The jersey looks identical to the one previewed by the Dutch team in Utrecht last month, despite rumours emerging in the Dutch press that it had been rejected as it featured too much yellow. Team manager Richard Plugge has already suggested that they would wear a special design during the Tour de France to avoid confusion with the race leader’s jersey. (cyclingnews.com)

Intxausti: I know it was not a good year.

Starting in January in Argentina and finishing in October in China, Beñat Intxausti has had a long season. The Movistar climber acknowledges that it has not been his best year and that he has been unable to follow the progression he showed last year when he won a stage and wore the leader’s jersey at the Giro d’Italia and won the Tour of Beijing. In 2015, he wants to return to his best level as he enters his 8th season in the professional ranks. (cyclingquotes.com)

Best road cycling helmets.

"We’ve tested a wide range of road cycling helmets over the last year. This is our pick of the best.
The helmets all scored four-and-a-half stars or higher in recent tests." (bikeradar.com)