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Doug Report Daily Cycling News Archive

In the News: Documentary alleges systematic Russian doping.

The Guardian reports that a German TV documentary, aired on MDR network Wednesday alleges not only that up to “99 percent” of the Russian Olympic team used doping but also that a network of corruption had been put in place to cover up positive tests, involving officials at the Russian anti-doping agency, the doping control laboratory in Moscow, as well as the International Association of Athletics Federations.

One retired Russian runner, Yuliya Stepanova, says she was frequently encouraged by her coaches to keep “clean” urine samples in a freezer for tests during training. At the Russian athletics championships she was instructed to text the number of her urine sample to an official, after which she would be able to “sleep in peace.” One covert recording shows her coach handing her pills said to be Oxandrolone, an anabolic steroid banned by the International Olympic Committee.

(velonews.com)

US domestic riders, directors react to Horner deal.

The recent announcement that 2013 Vuelta a España champion Chris Horner had signed with Airgas-Safeway, a second-year UCI Continental team, ended months of speculation over his future while simultaneously sending mild tremors through the US peloton.

Immediate talk centered on how the upstart team could have landed the 43-year-old Grand Tour veteran, then riders and directors from the US domestic teams quickly came to grips with the fact that one of the most prolific winners the US domestic peloton has ever known could soon be back in his old stomping grounds.

(cyclingnews.com)

Kreuziger speaks about his Biological Passport case.

Roman Kreuziger has reiterated his innocence and offered further explanation as to his blood values at the center of a UCI Biological Passport case.

The Czech rider and his legal team are awaiting the final documentation from the UCI and WADA before a hearing is scheduled at the Court of Arbitration of Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland. Kreuziger was cleared of doping by the Czech Olympic Committee in October but if found guilty by CAS, he could be banned for up to four years.

(cyclingnews.com)

What Happened to The 14 Predictions for 2014.

"Just before 2014 started I made 14 predictions for 2014. The point wasn’t to forecast precise events, it was more a means to look at stories that could unfold in the year. Now it’s time to review them.

Prediction: Chris Froome will win the Tour de France
Well that didn’t work out. The prediction was actually more nuanced, an answer to the big question in the sport that people were asking all through the winter. All was going to plan and Froome did start the Tour as the bookies pick. “One slip, one injury and it all changes” I wrote and this proved quite true."

(inrng.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 ...

Vardaros: Battles On and Off the Field from Milton Keynes to Flandriencross.

"Only five days before the UK Milton Keynes World Cup, I got the email that I should be able to race.  This meant that everything had to be planned well beyond the 11th hour.  A major snag was that my husband Jonas had to work that weekend which meant I also had to seek out transport as I do not drive.  Luckily help came at the last moment. I was able to hitch a ride with another team’s mobile home and my longtime friend Jessica Conner and her husband Tim booked me a hotel 7km from the race so I was set."

(cxmagazine.com)

Tiffany Cromwell: “Throughout my career I’ve struggled with finding balance.”

South Australia's Tiffany Cromwell was recently crowned Cycling Australia's Elite Women's Road Cyclist of the Year after a season that included a fifth in the World Championships road race and fourth in the Commonwealth Games road race. In 2015 and beyond, Cromwell is aiming higher.

Cromwell spoke with Aaron S. Lee about how her first season with Specialized-Lululemon unfolded, her goals for the coming season (including the Australian Road Nationals) and how cycling is only one of the many pursuits vying for her attention.

(cyclingtips.com.au)

GoPro tries to enter pro cycling TV market via on-bike cameras.

GoPro is in talks with professional road teams to place its sports cameras on team bikes during major races next season, according to Bloomberg News.

Company spokeswoman Isabel Pakowski confirmed the talks to Bloomberg but declined to discuss the possible terms, or possible teams, involved.

The UCI first approved the use of on-bike cameras at this year’s Amgen Tour of California, and president Brian Cookson has made it clear that the future of cycling’s TV coverage should feature on-bike footage.

(velonews.com)

Fezzari Foré Cyx cyclocross bikes.

Utah based direct-to-consumer bike seller Fezzari has upped the ante of its cyclocross offerings with a new frame platform and multiple build options.

While specs vary from model to model, all the new bikes are built around the same full carbon frame, which features a 15mm thru axle up front, a 142x12mm rear thru axle, disc brakes, a tapered headtube, and stealth internal routing that’s compatible with mechanical and electronic shifting drivetrains.

(roadbikereview.com)

Russia facing explosive allegations of systematic doping and extortion from former athletes.

At Home With Jonathan Vaughters: Part 2.

Horner: I never thought I wouldn’t get a contract.

Graeme Brown signs with Drapac for 2015.

Cyclo-cross shorts: Cant moves into World Cup lead, Pauwels extends his points total.

Paris-Roubaix and Hour Record primary goals for Wiggins.

Changing the Business Model: A new approach to anti-doping.

There is no greater threat to the future of pro cycling than the continued lack of a consistent and defensible anti-doping system. Athlete testing and punishment is often inequitable or inconsistently applied, the testing methods themselves are sometimes analytically inconclusive, and the responsibility and coordination between different governing agencies is often absent or unclear.

The shortcomings of this system have been felt across the entire sport — from its shaky financial situation to the growing demand for fundamental structural and governance reform. Real progress and a more effective solution to the doping dilemma would allow the sport to attract more sponsors, generate more revenue and flourish in the future.

(velonews.com)

IAM: Only iditots don't change their minds.

Today the UCI announced that IAM have been granted a WorldTour license. The team celebrate the news and admit that they have changed their mind.

The WorldTour ceased to be a distant dream for IAM Cycling.  The Licensing Board responsible for allotting the sought after tickets to the top league, gave the green light to the Swiss Pro Continental team after examining its case for promotion.

(cyclingquotes.com)

Tour de France runner-up Peraud driven by cheating jibes.

French rider Jean-Christophe Péraud, runner-up behind Vincenzo Nibali in this year’s Tour de France, has admitted that accusations of cheating early in his career had helped power his later success.

Péraud’s story is recounted in Pierre Carrey’s book New cycle, confidences of three modern racers, which follows the career of three French heroes of the 2014 Tour — Péraud, Thibaut Pinot, and Romain Bardet.

Péraud, 37, and Pinot, 24, became the first Frenchmen to make the podium of the Tour de France since 1997 while Bardet finished sixth.

(velonews.com)

USA Pro Challenge reveals host cities for 2015.

The USA Pro Challenge has published the host cities for the 2015 event on its website. The race takes place in Colorado from August 17-23 and the full route will be confirmed early next year.

After starting in Aspen in recent years, the USA Pro Challenge will begin in Steamboat Springs this time around, most likely with a circuit race. Stage two will bring the peloton from Steamboat Springs to a new finish at the Arapahoe Basin ski resort, at an altitude of some 3,288 metres (10,789 feet).

(cyclingnews.com)

Tour de France winner Nibali, past world champions Costa, Boonen and Cancellara confirmed for Tour of Oman.

It remains to be seen if his Astana team will be given a WorldTour license for 2015 and, with it, invites to the WT events. However Tour de France organizer ASO has confirmed that Vincenzo Nibali will compete in next season’s Tour of Oman, heading there as the headline rider.

“The Tour of Oman holds a special place in Nibali’s cycling memories,” it said in a statement. “He ended a 17-month drought following his first overall victory in a Grand Tour [the 2010 Vuelta a España] when he claimed stage 5 to Jabal Al Akhdhar/Green Mountain and carried on to his successful campaigns of the past three years at the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France.”

(cyclingtips.com.au)

Orica-GreenEdge’s Durbridge confident future lies on the road.

While compatriots and fellow track world champions Jack Bobridge, Luke Davison, Glenn O’Shea have all opted to step down from road racing to focus on the track and Rio 2016, Orica-GreenEdge’s Luke Durbridge is confident that his future lies on in the WorldTour and has no intention of returning to the velodrome.

“In terms of results, [2014] probably wasn’t my best season on the road,” Durbridge said. “But you won’t ever see me back on the track. I can guarantee that. No ‘hour record’ — nothing.

(velonews.com)

NBX Cyclocross, Warwick Weekend Preview.

New England’s 2014 UCI cyclocross season concludes this weekend at the NBX Gran Prix of Cyclocross, also the exciting finale of the 2014 Verge New England Cyclocross Series presented by Stan’s NoTubes and Cycle-Smart. This groundbreaking season has been the stuff of legend; the races this weekend at Warwick, Rhode Island’s Gran Prix of NBX will be no different.

(cxmagazine.com)

POC's AVIP road cycling gear wins design award.

POC has been awarded a prestigious Swedish design award for AVIP, the concept behind the brand's road cycling gear, introduced in 2013. The Design S award has been presented every second year since 2006; this year's winners were announced Nov. 26 at a prize ceremony at the Architecture and Design Centre in Stockholm. POC's award was in the Fashion and Textiles category.

AVIP stands for Attention, Visibility, Interaction and Protection. The AVIP line was POC's first road bike gear, building on the brand's product lines for snow sports and mountain biking.

(bicycleretailer.com)

Salsa recalls all aluminum Bearpaw fat-bike forks.

QBP's Salsa Cycles is recalling about 2,500 aluminum Salsa Bearpaw forks sold separately and on Mukluk bicycles.

According to Salsa, the fork steerers can bend or break.

The recall involves all aluminum Salsa Bearpaw forks sold separately and on Mukluk bicycles. The forks have date code 20130524, 20130710 or 20130826 stamped on the steerer, followed by "CWI2201BAN2" and a Salsa compass graphic on the bend of the fork blades (Consumers or the dealer will need to remove the fork from the frame to see the date code and model information).

(bicycleretailer.com)

News Shorts: Kristoff to ride 2015 Giro d'Italia.

Stybar in doubt for cyclo-cross Worlds, Pro Conti license for Drapac. Three days for BeNe Ladies Tour. Five WorldTour teams named for Volta ao Algarve.

(cyclingnews.com)

PEZ: EuroTrash Fluo Ban Thursday!

UCI to refuse Astana WorldTour license for 2015, according to reports.

Astana will not be awarded a WorldTour licence for 2015 after two high profile doping cases of the Iglinskiy brothers and three other cases in its Continental team, according to reports in La Gazzetta dello Sport.

The UCI have yet to confirm whether the team will lose its license, with the Licence Commission tasked with reviewing the team not due to make a final announcement until next week.

(cyclingweekly.co.uk)

Armstrong attorneys clash with Feds over Weisel emails.

The federal whistleblower lawsuit initiated by Floyd Landis in 2010 against Lance Armstrong and the US Postal Service team management has hit a road block with attorneys from Armstrong and the government disagreeing over disclosing information.

Armstrong's attorneys are attempting to block the government's request to gain access to emails between Armstrong and former team owner, Thom Weisel, which could prove that Weisel knew about the doping. They simultaneously accused the government of withholding information that could show the US Postal Service itself was not damaged by the doping to which Armstrong confessed happened during the time they sponsored the team.

(cyclingnews.com)

Director General David Howman: How WADA is continuing to battle doping in cycling.

World Anti Doping Agency Director General David Howman has confirmed a new weapon in the fight against doping, namely a rule due to come into existence on January 1 under which penalties will apply to anyone working with banned personnel, with those who have otherwise been found to have engaged in doping-related activities and even with intermediaries who are acting as a go-between between these and athletes.

(cyclingtips.com.au)

Performance enhancing placebos?

To what extent is cycling performance influenced by the mind? Researchers at the University of Glasgow have found that race times can be improved purely by the belief that one has used performance enhancing drugs.

(road.cc)

Rory Sutherland.

"Rory Sutherland is a ‘Resident of the World’ as he has raced and lived in most parts of the globe. His list of team’s has just got longer as Movistar has signed the roving Australian for 2015. We caught up with Rory at the Movistar’s pre-season get together in Pamplona to get the full story."

(pezcyclingnews.com)

2014 Tour de France Grand Départ watched by 3.5 million spectators.

This year’s Tour de France Grand Départ saw 3.5 million people lining the roadside to watch the race and brought in £128 million for the UK, according to a report issued by Welcome Yorkshire.

The 64-page report, written by the company eventIMPACTS, detailed the economic benefits felt by Yorkshire and the rest of the UK during the three-day opener to the Tour de France, which was deemed a huge success for the region.

(cyclingnews.com)

2014 Holiday Gift Guide: Tools for cyclists.

"Winter time is a good time for the enthusiast road cyclist to upgrade or tune-up their favorite ride. Cold, rainy days offer the chance to stay inside, sip some warm cocoa and wrench. With that in mind, here are a few gift suggestions for the DIY cyclist and a few gift suggestions to help them when they are out on the road as well."

(roadbikereview.com)

Rapha Climber’s shoes.

The Rapha Climber's shoes have arrived just in time for Christmas, having been teased and rumored for some time now.

These fancy kicks are based on the super light Giro Prolight SLX II shoes, but feature a slightly weightier perforated synthetic leather upper instead of the Giro’s Evofiber microfiber.

(bikeradar.com)

The Ultimate Gift for Campagnolo Fans.

Wondering what to get that cyclist in your life who has everything? Chances are he or she doesn’t have this: a collection of derailleurs from Campagnolo, spanning some 30 years of the Italian component giant’s most memorable products.

The seller is none other than the dean of American frame building, Richard Sachs. The collection includes one of every date-stamped Campagnolo Nuovo Record rear derailleurs from 1970 to 1984, plus a series of older derailleurs from other lines. In total, the collection includes 33 derailleurs and 16 shift lever assemblies. What’s more, they’ve never been used or even put on a bike.

(bicycling.com)

BikeSnobNYC: Into The Mild.

Boost for anti-doping fight, detection of banned substances after agreement signed between WADA and Pfizer.