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Doug Report Daily Cycling News Archive

Men’s Stage Racer of the Year: Alberto Contador.

It’s been a long road back to the top for Alberto Contador. The Spanish superstar ruled the roads in 2014, winning or finishing second in every stage race he completed. The season started off promising enough, with second places at Volta ao Algarve and the Volta a Catalunya, and victories at Tirreno-Adriatico and the Vuelta al País Vasco, two of the hardest and most prestigious one-week stage races on the calendar.

Despite being pick-pocketed by Andrew Talansky at Critérium du Dauphiné, Contador roared into the Tour de France looking very much like a winner.

Tour of Ireland may return in 2016.

Talks are being held just now that could see a return of the Tour of Ireland as early as 2016 on the UCI Calendar. The last time the race was held was 2009 and the race was finished following cuts in the sponsorship provided by the Irish tourism board, Fàilte Ireland.

Organizer Darach McQuaid of Shadetree Sports said that he has held talks with potential backers from the private sector in the wake of the Giro start, as well as with television partners.

Dumoulin: It's difficult to say where my capabilities stop.

When Niki Terpstra was beaten to the title of Dutch rider of the year by Tom Dumoulin last month, he didn’t exactly stifle his disappointment in the manner of an overlooked Oscar nominee. Asked for his thoughts, he opted for frankness rather than diplomacy. “I’m surprised,” Terpstra said at the ceremony. “I thought I’d shown enough this year.” As soon as the lights went up, Algemeen Dagblad reported, the Paris-Roubaix winner “won the sprint for the cloakroom” by a handsome margin and promptly left.

The Netherlands, of course, is a country where plain-speaking is often the lingua franca on the sporting scene – witness the forthright exchanges over the years between football coach Louis van Gaal and the press for instance – and the debate over the rights and wrongs of the jury’s decision rumbled on deep into December.

Cyclocross LIVE stream - 2014 UCI Cyclocross World Cup at Heusden-Zolder.

Coming up LIVE Friday: UCI Cyclocross World Cup at Heusden-Zolder LIVE online.  Details to come.

Coming up LIVE Sunday: Superprestige Cyclocross at Diegem LIVE online.  Details to come.

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)

Machado returns to the WorldTour with Katusha.

After three seasons with the WorldTour’s RadioShack RadioShack Nissan formation, Machado took a step back in 2014 to ride with the ProContinental NetApp-Endura team.

Though he did ride with NetApp-Endura at the Tour de France, finishing 72nd overall and three hours behind race winner Vincenzo Nibali, the high quality journeyman has now landed back in the WorldTour full-time after he was picked up by Katusha for the next two seasons.

Thomas: The road is where I want to go at the moment.

While many of former track riders currently trying to prove themselves on the road are seriously considering returning to a velodrome as their best chance to excel in the upcoming Olympic Games in Rio, Geraint Thomas presents entirely different approach. Despite winning gold two years ago in London along with Bradley Wiggins, the 28-year old Welshman refuses to follow paths of his older compatriot and team-mate, aiming to strengthen the British squad in the road race instead.

Kiserlovski ready for take-off at Tinkoff Saxo.

Robert Kiserlovski believes that his transfer from Trek Factory Racing to Tinkoff Saxo will give him the springboard to improve as a GC rider in major races.

The 28-year-old climber was primarily signed as a super domestique for Alberto Contador and Rafal Majka but the former Trek rider has notched up his own impressive GC results in the Giro d’Italia, with two top-tens in the overall.

British Riders of the Year 2014 number 4: Laura Trott.

What can be said about Laura Trott that hasn’t already been said? Whenever she steps onto the track there’s a buzz, and she’s been described as the beating heart of the Great Britaåin track squad.

Trott is one of the most charismatic riders to watch, never more so than in the omnium elimination race, where she sometimes seems to toy with the rest of the field, ducking and diving and picking riders off one by one.

2014 Cyclingnews Reader Poll: Shimano XTR Di2 electronic transmission best new product.

Skeptics decried electronic transmissions on road bikes are unnecessarily complicated and an assault on tradition. However, it turns out that they do actually offer plenty of tangible benefits and have now been widely adopted. Now, the technology is coming to the off-road side with the release of Shimano's groundbreaking XTR Di2 group – and you've voted it the best new product of 2014.

XTR Di2 promises the same appealing features as with Shimano's Dura-Ace and Ultegra Di2 groups: the prospect of robotically perfect and ultra-quick shifting mile after mile with no maintenance required aside from the occasional recharging of the on-board battery.

Shimano has upped the ante with XTR Di2, however, with a slick sequential-shift function that lets riders enjoy the range of a two-chainring system but with just one shifter that does all the thinking for you.

Let's Go the Fun Way.

"All I could see was bright blue Utah sky and a bit of dust swirling in the air. I felt alive—really alive. I lay on my back with GT's new Grade carbon Ultegra adventure bike on the ground beside me, and just laughed. I had been aggressively carving my way down a serpentine, paved descent like I was on a motorcycle. The bike's fat, 28mm Continental tires (which really measure 30.5mm thanks to the Stan's NoTubes wide, 24mm Grail rims) put a lot of rubber on the ground—and combined with Shimano's stellar hydraulic disc brakes, I was able to lean way over and drive ridiculously hard through turns with complete control and confidence."

Cancellara has big hopes for 2015.

News shorts: Solovey signs for Astana-Acca Due O, Roompot secure Classics invitations.

PEZ: Daily Distractions.

(pezcyclingnews.com)

Steve Tilford: Merry Christmas.

UCI announces 2017 Teams' Operational Guide.

The UCI this week announced the criteria for the organization of WorldTour teams which are due to become official in 2017. The Teams' Operational Guide will be tested voluntarily by eight teams in 2015 as well as Astana, who were required to adopt the guidelines after a re-examination of its license after a string of doping positives.

The UCI's criteria for a WorldTour license already covered sporting, ethical, financial and administrative areas, but in 2017 they must also meet the new organizational requirements, which will be put into place to "combat factors which may lead to doping", the UCI said in a statement.

Evans confirmed as BMC leader for TDU.

Two talented Australians, three Swiss and one American will ride alongside the 2011 Tour de France winner as he says his WorldTour goodbye from professional cycling.

Evans will be joined by fellow Australians Rohan Dennis and newly signed world under 23 time trial champion, Campbell Flakemore.

Dennis, who will make an attempt at the UCI world hour record in February, will take to the start line for the fourth time in his Adelaide hometown.

“I am fortunate to be racing alongside Cadel, working for him and the team as well as learning from him how he handles the pressure both on and off the bike before he hangs up the bike from WorldTour racing,” said Dennis.

Lars Boom: "It was time to sign a new contract."

One of the big transfers of this season was the Lars Boom’s move from Belkin Pro Cycling to Astana Pro Team. The Dutch rider will be the leader on classic races. According to Biciciclismo, he hopes to shine during his first season with the Kazakh team :

“For me it was time to sign a new contract after 11 years on the same team. I was ready for something new and different to Team Belkin. My mind needed this, new people, new coaches, new directors, new people around me, new challenges“, he told the Spanish website.

He thinks that he is not in a “ideal situation“ because Astana is in a controversy situation with doping cases. “The positives of the Iglinsky brothers is something stupid, like the other guys,” he said. “I have always been and will be a clean rider, and it is not a problem for me to be on Astana. I'm happy to be able begin a normal year that I hope is very good.”

International Teams of the Year: Omega Pharma-Quick Step and Rabo-Liv.

Pro cycling has several big-budget “super teams” — Astana, BMC Racing, Katusha, Tinkoff-Saxo, and Sky among them — but in terms of depth, none came close to Omega Pharma-Quick Step in 2014.

The honor roll of OPQS victories is far too long to list here in its entirety, but among the team’s highlights: Niki Terpstra’s wins at Paris-Roubaix, Dwars door Vlaanderen, and the Tour of Qatar; Mark Cavendish’s 11 sprint wins; Tony Martin’s 10 victories, including time trial and stage wins; and Michal Kwiatkowski’s wins at Volta ao Algarve, Strade Bianche, and the world road championship. In all, 18 of 30 Omega riders won a total of 62 races in 2014.

Given that two of the brightest stars of the 2014 women’s peloton ride for Rabo-Liv, it should come as no surprise that the Dutch squad is our Women’s Team of the Year. Both Marianne Vos (our Women’s Stage Racer of the Year) and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (our International Cyclist of the Year) call the squad home. But there is more to this team than just its outright stars. Lucinda Brand won the overall at the Energiewacht Tour. Anna van der Breggen won Dwars door de Westhoek and the overall at Festival Luxembourgeois du cyclisme féminin Elsy Jacobs. Vos started her road season later than normal, but still won the first edition of the Women’s Tour, and won the women’s Giro d’Italia, thanks in large part to the strength of her team. She also won on the Champs in the inaugural La Course by Le Tour de France. All in all, the team staked its claim as the squad of reference across the entirety of the calendar.

Cannondale Supersix Evo 105 5.

BikeRadar verdict: 3.5 out of 5 stars. "SuperSix Evo DNA in a super-affordable package."