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Doug Report Daily Cycling News Archive

Jens Voigt: Last Action Hero.

With Jens Voigt now retired, he looks back on the highs and lows of his Tour de France career with the help of some iconic photos to jog his memory.

On the first rest day of the Tour, Procycling caught up with Trek Factory Racing’s Voigt to accompany the 43-year-old on a journey down memory lane. The German has been a fixture at the Tour since he first took part in 1998: he made it to every Grand Départ since and completed all but three Tours.

And in those 17 years, he tasted plenty of success: stints in the yellow jersey and a brace of stage wins, not to mention the consummate CSC team performance of 2008, when all nine riders made it all the way to Paris and the team won both the yellow and white jerseys.

Inaugural Tour of Montana offers multi-day pro race in 2015.

The professional men and women will have a new race in 2015, the Tour of Montana, which will run from July 16 to 19 in Missoula next summer. The Women's Cycling Association (WCA)-branded event will include one mass-start ride and three days of professional racing that includes equal prize money, equal sponsored media coverage and racing on the same courses for men and women.

The multi-day event started through the collaboration of WCA President Robin Farina, Race Director Kurt Stockton, and Executive Director Nicole Adamson. The event includes four separate days of racing registered through USA Cycling, however, none of the races will be a part of the National Racing Calendar or the National Criterium Calendar, and they are not sanctioned UCI events.

Scheduling conflict could torpedo Vuelta’s women’s ‘La Course’.

Too many women’s events on the same weekend could torpedo plans by the Vuelta a España to hold a one-day race to coincide with the finale of the 2015 Spanish grand tour.

The Spanish daily AS reported that the UCI has put the kibosh on plans to hold the so-called “La Course by the Vuelta” on September 13 due to a conflict with three other women’s events across Europe on the same weekend.

There was no official confirmation by the UCI, and Vuelta officials could not be reached Friday, but the Spanish daily reported that the UCI has told the Spanish cycling federation (RFEC) that it would not approve the planned event on the streets of Madrid to coincide with the finale of the men’s Vuelta a España.

What Can’t Sanne Cant Do? The Strong Challenger Will Be Tested Against Vos This Weekend.

What does it take to lift women’s cyclocross to the next level? According to three-time cyclocross World Champion Erwin Vervecken, “If you can get a Belgian to compete with the top girls to win big races then it would change a lot. If she would win five races a year then people would be more interested in women because they know someone who lives close. Then people will come very early for women’s races.”

At only 24 years of age, Sanne Cant not only stepped up to the challenge but nailed it with style. Halfway into her season, she already racked up 16 UCI victories out of the 22 times she took the start.

Nys' coach: He is on the right path.

During the past two weeks, Sven Nys has recharged his batteries in Mallorca. "He has laid the foundation to handle the holiday season well," coach Paul van den Bosch told Sporza. "This is definitely not a good year. In several races he has performed below expectations."

"It remains to be seen how he will perform this weekend, but I have every confidence that it is going in the right direction. In Mallorca, he could leave everything behind. I have the impression that his training went very well."

Dowsett to attempt hour record in 2015.

Alex Dowsett has joined a growing list of riders that will take on the hour record next year.

The 26-year-old Briton will attempt to break the mark on February 27 at London’s Lee Valley VeloPark velodrome, according to a Movistar press release.

“Everyone understands a world record, so I wanted my next target to be the hour record,” Dowsett said in the release. “The Hour is something I’ve always been interested in; the simplicity of it, mostly: no tactics, no hiding, just you and the bike.”

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 ...

 (cyclingnews.com)

Lightweight Urgestalt.

BikeRadar verdict: 4 out of 5 stars. "Poetry in motion when you're in the saddle, but easily marred paintjob is annoying and second-string SRAM seems a mite ungenerous."

2015 Campagnolo Super Record Group.

"At a total of 2004 grams on my scale, this is a very light group, but at $3,680, it’s also very expensive. I have not weighed a SRAM Red 22 group on my scale, but SRAM claims that Red 22 totals to about 1,879 grams for a group that’s similarly spec’d to the Super Record. That said, claimed weights almost always skew light, so I’d guess the actual difference between the two groups would be around 100 grams.

That’s a lot in weight-weenie land, especially when SRAM’s Red 22 group is about $1,000 cheaper. Based on my weights and calculations, the same Shimano Dura Ace 9000 mechanical group weight is around 2,055 grams, but it’s priced at about $2,400."

Ricco: It’s impossible to win a grand tour without doping.

MPCC releases 2015 watch list of member teams.

Kangert: It is unfair to call us all dopers.

He isn’t happy that the whole team has been branded as dopers because of the mistakes of others, such as the Iglinskiy brothers.

“I read yesterday in somewhere (a cycling website) there was a long interview, nobody would even dare to put their name on it, and the way the questions were written like already, automatically, whatever the question was; “all the Astana guys are positive,” but what about the other guys? OK someone in the team made a mistake and you have to pay and we are paying now, but sometimes the price is too high. Definitely that website has something against someone in the team. But it’s not fair for the smaller riders like me, now automatically we are all bad riders for the fact that we wear these colors.”

“It’s made to look like it is only Astana, all about the money laundering and dozens of names, ten different names or maybe more. The only one that they pointed at is us. I don’t want to blame others, but it’s not only the problem of one team."

Lance Armstrong incites 'irony is dead' mockery when he says he would never betray golf by cheating.

He admitted to cheating during all seven of his Tour de France victories and is currently serving a lifetime ban from cycling. But Lance Armstrong says he would be “heartbroken forever” if he was caught moving his ball the rough during a round of golf.

In an eyebrow-raising interview with Golf Digest, the Texan, apparently speaking without irony, said the sport adhered to a code of honor that simply did not exist in cycling, at least during his era.

A tale of two breakaway riders, as Schar and Rosskopf go their separate ways.

First he was going to do it; it was a sure thing. A well-deserved win was virtually in the bag for BMC Racing’s Michael Schär as he crested Boulder Mountain with nearly a five-minute lead after dropping his break mate, Hincapie rider Joey Rosskopf.

“On top of the climb I felt very good,” Schär said.

Then, the sure thing — it wasn’t. What was this? He wasn’t pedaling. He’s cramping; he’s definitely struggling. He’s on the descent, but he isn’t pedaling. He’s losing huge chunks of time."

Contador: I want to quit at the top of my game.

Alberto Contador has revealed he plans to finish his professional racing career at the top of his game, “winning my last ever race. I don’t refer to a small stage race, either, but winning a big one. To be specific, the Tour de France.”

Contador celebrated his 32nd birthday on December 6 and admitted that he will not ace beyond the age of 35.

Milano-Sanremo brings back Via Roma finish, favoring attackers.

Milano-Sanremo will return to its roots and open itself to attackers on March 22, 2015, when it concludes between the beige- and grey-colored buildings of Via Roma in Sanremo, Italy.

“The Milano-Sanremo race in its 105 years had only two classic finishes: Corso Cavallotti and Via Roma,” RCS Sport cycling director Mauro Vegni told VeloNews.

“Via Roma is a part of cycling’s story with wins like Eddy Merckx’s. It gives a different style and charm to the race than the seaside finish.”

Q & A: Bobridge on setting Hour Record 'benchmark'.

On Thursday, Australian Jack Bobridge announced that on January 31 and at the Darebin International Sports Centre velodrome in Melbourne, he will make an attempt on the world hour record of Austrian Matthias Brandle (51.852km set in October this year). After the announcement before the clock at Flinders Street Railway Station in downtown Melbourne, Bobridge spoke to Cyclingnews.

PEZ Holiday Gift Guide #5.

"The gift ideas just keep coming in from around the cycling world and today we’ve rounded up some of the best with everything from a luxury cycling holiday with VeloClassic Tours to some Finish Line Pedal & Cleat Lubricant.

We’ve also got everything in between covered with products from Easton, Topeak, Velox, State Bicycle Co., CycleOps, Essor USA, E-Motion, CyclePassion and Louis Garneau."

Five-a-side: this week's new bike gear.

Every week here at BikeRadar we receive a barrage of droolworthy kit and, once Friday comes around, we round up the finest items and introduce them.

Here are the best road cycling and mountain biking bits and pieces we've been landed with this week.

Tejay van Garderen: Criticism over Lance Armstrong link was not unexpected.

Changing the Business Model: Setting ethical standards in cycling.

PEZ: Daily Distractions.

(pezcyclingnews.com)

Video: Caterham Duo Cali details and first-ride impressions.

Armstrong associates Stapleton and Knaggs try to negotiate settlement in Department of Justice legal case.

Two of those fighting their corner in the combined Department of Justice/ Floyd Landis case against Lance Armstrong and his former associates have sought to bring their involvement to an end by offering payoffs to the United States government and Landis’ lawyer.

USA Today has today reported that Armstrong’s longtime agent Bill Stapleton and the former pro’s business partner Bart Knaggs, both of the Capital Sports and Entertainment agency, have offered a combined payment of half a million dollars to the government plus $100,000 to Landis’ attorney, Paul Scott.

North American Cyclocross Man of the Year: Jeremy Powers.

Pick a number between one and three. That’s where Jeremy Powers finished 99 percent of the races he contested in the U.S. in the 2013-14 season.

Drop a chain in the first corner? No problem. Patiently slice through the entire field on the dusty track of Boulder’s reservoir course at the Colorado Cross Classic and finish up with a tidy second place.

Win New England worlds? Sure thing. Then win again, then again. He took all three races he started during “Holy Week” in New England, winning both days at the Gran Prix of Gloucester, then hitting day 2 at the Providence Cyclocross Festival and stamping his authority.

Caruso to fill GC gap at BMC Racing for 2015.

BMC Racing will lean on Italian talent Damiano Caruso next season to fill a grand tour gap while the team waits for a promising crop of young riders to develop.

BMC remains committed to Tejay van Garderen as its all-out GC man for the Tour de France, but the looming retirement of Cadel Evans and the exit of Spanish veteran Samuel Sánchez means the U.S.-registered team needs warm bodies for the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España.

BMC sporting manager Allan Peiper believes Caruso, who joins from Cannondale for 2015, is just the man for the job, and has tapped him to lead possibly both the Giro and Vuelta.

2015 Tour Down Under stage previews.

It's less than one month until the first WorldTour race of 2015 gets underway in Adelaide, Australia. The 17th edition of the Tour Down Under will a features a familiar parcours for the peloton with the inclusion of the uphill finishes in Stirling and Willunga Hill and a final day criterium around the streets of Adelaide.

The Corkscrew climb gets a rest in 2015 with race director Mike Turtur introducing a new stage finish in Paracombe which should see the first serious time gaps on the overall classification open up.

Bradley Wiggins on Lance Armstrong, bluffing in Tour de France.

Bradley Wiggins looked back at going toe to toe with Lance Armstrong at the 2009 Tour de France, likening Armstrong’s ability to hide his suffering on tough climbs to befriending you and then slipping “the knife in your back.”

Vanmarcke: I was one of the strongest on the Cobbles.

In 2013, Vanmarcke showed his class, finishing second behind Fabian Cancellara in Roubaix, finally coming through on the promise he showed when he won the 2012 Het Nieuwsblad. In 2014, he was constantly there in the finale of the cobbled races: 4th at Omloop, 3rd at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, 5th at E3 Harelbeke, 4th at Gent-Wevelgem, 3rd at De Ronde and 4th at Paris-Roubaix. No one was as consistent as Vanmarcke, and only Fabian Cancellara was arguably stronger.

“I don’t think about it a lot but, yeah, if I think back, I was really strong in those races – like Cancellara, of course,” Vanmarcke tells Cyclingnews. “And if you count those races together, then we probably were the strongest two in the field, although if you look separately at the Tour of Flanders, then Van Avermaet was also really strong.”

It is a mark of Vanmarcke’s quality and high standards that despite his strong performance, he wasn’t entirely happy with his campaign, as he failed to take a cobbled win.

Beta 951 T-handle wrenches.

BikeRadar verdict: 4.5 out of 5 stars. "The price alone will rule these out for most home mechanics, but if you make (or save) money from using your tools, you’re likely to appreciate their quality."

12 Days of Dig: Day 6.

Ask a Mechanic: Do I need to use pedal washers?

Vaughters: This team is the love of my life.