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Doug Report Daily Cycling News Archive

Joaquim Rodríguez has confirmed that he will focus on the Tour de France and Vuelta a España in 2015. Rodríguez rode all three Grand Tours this season, in an attempt to find his form after a tough spring campaign. He had intended on returning to the Giro d’Italia next year, but the draw of the Tour de France route proved too much for him. (cyclingnews.com)

Petacchi leads crop of Italians without 2015 contracts.

Italy’s economic crisis extends to cycling, where Alessandro Petacchi and several other professional riders behind him remain unemployed for the 2015 season.
“If I don’t find an employment contract, I’ll quit,” the 40-year-old Petacchi told Italy’s Tutto Bici website. “I’ll dedicate myself to my family. It’s been weighing on me already to be traveling all the time.”
Petacchi won the Tour de France’s green jersey in 2010 and helped lead out Mark Cavendish the past year and a half on Belgium’s Omega Pharma-Quick Step team. The team did not renew his contract for 2015. (velonews.com)

2014-15 Races & Results.

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

Dubai Tour 2015 - Feb 4-7 (Stages),

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

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

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...

News shorts: Ghent Six Day teams announced, Maté looking ahead to 2015.

Costa best again in Portugal, Bouhanni junior to QuickStep development team, Maté looking ahead to 2015. (cyclingnews.com)

Tom Dumoulin selects his five highlights of 2014.

In two weeks, Tom Dumoulin is among the candidates for the title of Ducth Cyclist of the Year. At the request of the Ducth AD newspaper, the Dutch talent from Giant-Shimano listed the five most beautiful moments of his dream season while attending the Amstel Curacao Race. "My performance at the Worlds has more value to me than the bronze medal. That is just a trashy thing," he says. (cyclingquotes.com)

Eclectic elite lineup prepares to tackle Taiwan KOM Challenge.

Asia, Africa, North America, Europe, Australia. Professional riders from around the world have gathered in Hualien, Taiwan, to take on what could arguably be the world’s most difficult hill climb, and one of the toughest single-day races going.
The Taiwan KOM Challenge isn’t a UCI-sanctioned event, and it comes after the European season has officially ended, but the 62-mile race, from the eastern coast of the island, through the picturesque Taroko Gorge, to the peak of HeHuan — taking the cyclists from sea level to 10,745 feet — is able to attract WorldTour riders with its serious prize purse of nearly $80,000. (velonews.com)

In Cyclocross, Fun Is Local.

"The last time I road-tripped all the way from Brooklyn, New York, to Louisville, Kentucky, I managed to compete for a grand total of 15 minutes.
Both days I got tangled up in race-ending crashes in the first lap, so this past weekend I just couldn’t persuade myself to go back there to do the UCI races.
Bike racers spend a lot of time in cars." (pelotonmagazine.com)

Garmin Forerunner 920XT sports watch.

BikeRadar verdict: 4.5 out of 5 stars. "The best multisport GPS device we have tried – if cycling is just one part of your exercise routine, you need to be checking this out." (bikeradar.com)

The Cycling Anthology (Volume Five), edited by Ellis Bacon and Lionel Birnie.

What it is: The fifth edition of the British cycling magazine-cum-book.
Strengths: Utilises some of the best writers writing about the sport in English today.
Weaknesses: As with any magazine there are parts of it you won't bother reading. (podiumcafe.com)

UCI stakeholders to meet in Paris for decisive WorldTour reform meeting.

Martinelli: Vincenzo Nibali’s Tour de France cobbles attack ‘showed bravery’.

2014 Report Card: AG2R La Mondiale.

Gould wraps up 2014 season as Iceman Cometh champion .

Cant Continues to Dominate, Nys Finds His Win at Soudal Classics: Full Race Video.

How MTN Qhubeka will revitalise Goss, Boasson Hagen, Farrar.

They are three riders who have each won stages in Grand Tours and clocked up victories in important single-day events; they are also three riders who have lost a little momentum in recent years and are trying to get back to their best.
MTN Qhubeka signed Matt Goss, Edvald Boasson Hagen and Tyler Farrar to the African team and, according to general manager Brian Smith, he believes that a specific approach by the squad should help them return to their top form and to winning big. (cyclingtips.com.au)

Changing the Business Model: Modernizing the calendar.

Many of the financial and sponsorship challenges we explored in the first two segments of this series are partially driven by — and closely interwoven with — pro cycling’s competitive and organizational structure. The way the sport is managed and played out on the road is closely linked to many of these broader economic and structural issues, although the cause and effect is not always obvious. These effects and impacts must be clearly understood to continue reforming the sport. (velonews.com)

2014 Report Card: Belkin Pro Cycling.

2014 was meant to be a season of stability for Belkin after a turbulent 2013 which saw the Dutch team start the year with no name or sponsor on its jerseys until the American electronics company came on board on the eve of the Tour de France. (cyclingnews.com)

Years of experience pay off for Matter in fourth Iceman win.

“Ah, I don’t know …” With a laugh, Brian Matter casts aside the notion that he’s an Iceman specialist.
Last Saturday was his 21st time racing the Iceman Cometh, and his fourth win, a new high mark in the elite men’s category.
Iceman is a wildly popular cross-country race in its 25th year. And if Matter, 36, isn’t a specialist, he’s about as close as it comes in this race, held late autumn each year in Traverse City, Michigan. (velonews.com)

Deignan: “People used to wonder what I’d do for a proper job.”

Philip Deignan is just back in training after three weeks holidaying in the US and was in Dublin yesterday to launch the new range of Frog racing bikes for kids, one of which is in the Team Sky colors. At the launch in Cycleways on Parnell St in the city centre he was interviewed by Cian Lynch. He spoke at length about the boom in Irish cycling in recent years and the way it’s change people’s perceptions of what he does for a living.  (stickybottle.com)

From The Good Files: “Lino Messori, At the Speed of Heart”.

Lino Messori said of himself “I am nobody, but I did a bit of everything.” Born in 1926, in Modena, Italy, Lino quickly became a local fixture both for his incomparable skills and his personality. A master frame builder who also followed a myriad of different passions, spanning from singing with opera legend Luciano Pavarotti to never losing a single boxing match. (pelotonmagazine.com)

News shorts: Keisse and Cavendish aiming for victory in Ghent.

GP Camaiore cancelled, Kern retires and Ratti cleared of doping, Ferrari extends with Lampre. (cyclingnews.com)

Shimano ST-RS685 hydraulic disc brakes with mechanical shifters.

The reason this groupset has been so eagerly anticipated (and in much demand) is because it makes disc brakes a more affordable reality, both for manufacturers speccing new bikes and customers building their own bikes. Previously you’d had to buy a Shimano Di2 groupset to take advantage of their new hydraulic disc brakes, but now Shimano are offering a hydraulic brake lever with mechanical shifters, we’re going to start seeing Shimano disc-equipped bikes coming in at much lower prices. This Synapse by way of an example is massively cheaper than the Di2 disc-equipped bikes we've tested so far this year. (road.cc)

Marin Lombard.

BikeRadar verdict: 4 out of 5 stars. "Great tough all-rounder that would make a very capable tourer." (bikeradar.com)

PEZ: EuroTrash Sven Nys Thursday!

Hour Record Talk: Pascal Ducrot.

Pascal Ducrot is one of the men behind Scott Bikes contribution to Mattias Brändle’s new World Hour Record. He talks us through the successful ride and more importantly the bike and the technical in’s and out’s of preparing the Scott Plasma for the Hour Record.
When IAM’s Matthias Brändle took the World Hour Record recently, it was another feather in the Scott cap. Their Plasma time trial frame has been at the sharp end against the watch at the Commonwealth Games and Worlds this season – not to mention much success in the swim, bike, run world – and now it’s grabbed the biggest record there is in track cycling, The Hour. (pezcyclingnews.com)

Lance Armstrong movie bikes go on sale.

“The stock list includes 30-plus Condor Classico and Italia RC bikes painted to look like everything from Merckx to Giant and MBK, 12 Pitangos (used on roof racks in the caravan), 20 Trek 5000 up to Madone, then Pinarello, De Rosa, MBK, Gazelle, Peugeot, Cannondale, Specialized, Fausto Coppi, Giant, Look, Eddy Merckx, Lohber, Lemond. Even mountain bikes from Armstrong’s early career. As you can see it's a bit of a treasure trove.” (bikeradar.com)

From Inside Peloton: The Complete Rui Costa.

Success in cycling depends on many factors: talent, character, preparation—and a little bit of luck. Rui Costa has run the gamut of all those things, but most of all he just wants to be racing, gritting his teeth and taking his body to the limit for his fans—or, as he likes to call them, his friends. And Costa has given those friends many tears of joy in the last few years and restored Portugal’s passion for bike racing. (pelotonmagazine.com)

News shorts: Tour de San Luis confirms 26 teams.

Grivko and Taaramäe raise money for charity, Ride with MTN-Qhubeka, UCI Africa Tour to be decided in Rwanda. (cyclingnews.com)

New Product Spotlight: Williams Cyclo-Cross Alloy Tubular Wheelset.

In the last three years, disc brakes on cyclocross bikes have changed from novelty to commonplace, with many companies like Giant and Cannondale not even offering cantilever frames any longer, and Williams Cycling was quick to supply the increasing demand. For their 2015 model, they have fully updated their wheels, with new spokes, new rims and new hub technology.
The $449 price tag is inexpensive by any measure when keeping race-grade tubular wheelsets in mind. (cxmagazine.com)

Inside: Velo saddle factory.

Stella Yu has often been referred to as the most powerful woman in the bike industry. Few riders have ever heard of her, however, and many haven't heard of Velo, the utterly dominating company she founded in 1979, and continues to run in a very much hands-on fashion.
And yet, chances are extremely high that the saddle you're riding right now was made in her factory, regardless of the name on the cover. (bikeradar.com)

Cyclocross Race Bike Shootout: Specialized Crux Pro Race Ultegra Di2 Review.

As any devotee of Specialized knows, the Morgan Hill, California-based company has a long and storied history in the design and manufacture of race bikes. Through the years, competition steeds bearing the Big Red S have scored top podium placings at everything from the Tour de France, to mountain bike world championships, to U.S. cyclocross nationals.
It will come as no surprise then that the Specialized Crux Pro Race ’cross steed is most at home when carving corners or hopping barriers. With its aggressive geometry, stiff-as-stone composite frame, carbon tubeless-ready wheels, electronic shifting, and best-in-class hydraulic disc brakes, this is a bike that begs to be ridden hard and fast. (roadbikereview.com)

BikeSnobNYC: It's Wednesday And I Typed This Entire Post On My Smartphone While Cycling!

Has the biological passport delivered clean or confused sport?

Doctors that tested Marco Pantani’s Giro d’Italia blood to appear at hearing.