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Doug Report Daily Cycling News Archive

Nys: I don't expect to be good in Diegem.

Last week Sven Nys decided to take a mental and physical rest to prepare for his comeback. "I don't want to be trapped in my own body anymore. If the feeling is bad, it will be hard to get back on track this season."

Nys has described the last week in his column in the Gazet van Antwerpen. "During the last week, I have barely been on the bike for a few hourse. On Friday morning, I rode for two hours and that was the longest workout of the week. In the first half, I was never on the bike.

He could not avoid to comment on the speculation that his poor performances have been caused by his divorce. "Does it bother me? Not really. It is not a pleasure but it is part of the game. However, there must be certain limits I think."

Van Aert wins in Bredene.

Young Wout Van Aert won the Versluys cyclo-cross race in Bredene, Belgium on a cold, wet and windy Saturday afternoon.

The 20-year-old Belgian rider was much stronger than the rest of the field on the muddy course through the dunes at the North Sea coast. Fellow youngsters Gianni Vermeersch and Tim Merlier – both 22 years old and riding for Sunweb-Napoleon Games – joined Van Aert on the podium. It's the eighth victory for Van Aert at the elite men's level this season. He also won six races in the men's under-23 category.

Sweeck Takes First Win at U23 Heusden-Zolder World Cup, Iserbyt Wins Junior Race.

As the leaders crossed the line for the third time, Laurens Sweeck decided it would be the perfect time to launch an attack  at the Heusden-Zolder World Cup.

Apparently, no one agreed with him.

Michael Vanthourenhout, Mathieu van der Poel and Wout Van Aert took turns at the front of the chase group, but they were more playing off each other rather than hunting down Sweeck, who would eventually go on and take his first World Cup win. World Cup U23 series leader Van Aert would follow behind 24 seconds later, and Van der Poel finished third over a half-minute behind second.

2014 International Breakthrough Rider of the Year: Fabio Aru.

Che grinta!

It’s an Italian phrase for “what grit!” It’s reserved for those with guts, those like Fabio Aru. When he attacked, gritted his teeth, and grimaced as he churned up the mountains of Italy and Spain, the tifosi yelled, “Che grinta!” At both the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España, there was plenty of teeth-gnashing, pedal-smashing grit from the wide-mouthed Sardinian.

If you’ve been following the career of Joe Dombrowski, the talented American climber from Team Sky, you may have been familiar with Aru years before he exploded onto the scene in 2014.

That’s because it was Aru who pushed the Virginian, then racing for the U.S. national team, all the way to the top of the Passo Gavia summit finish during the 2012 GiroBio, affectionately known as the Baby Giro. Back then, Dombrowski walked away with the title.

Cyclocross LIVE stream - 2014 Superprestige Cyclocross at Diegem.

Coming up Sunday: Superprestige Cyclocross at Diegem LIVE online.  Live coverage begins at 4:45pm CET (10:45am U.S. Eastern) with the Elite Men race beginning at 5:30pm CET (11:30am U.S. Eastern).

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)

Biggest road cycling gear stories 2014.

"It’s just days until we roll into 2015, so today we’re looking back at some of the most significant, gorgeous, weird and interesting cycling gear stories of 2014."

Giro’s updated Empire SLX road shoes.

"Giro surprised a lot of people when they first released their lace-up Empire ACC shoes, which stood out in a cycling shoe market largely dominated by velcro straps and ratcheting buckles. This year the US company have released the updated and lighter Empire SLX, which have a claimed weight of 175g for a size 42.5, so 350g for a pair - our size 45 test shoes actually weigh 408g for the pair.

That's a whopping 200g lighter than the previous same size shoes we tested last year."

CONI head believes Nibali is always clean.

With Vincenzo Nibali’s victory in the Tour de France this year, he cemented his place as one of the greats of Italian Sport. Now, one of the men who's job it is to sentence dopers, has claimed he thiks Nibali is a clean rider for fans to believe in.

In an interview with Sky Italia, Giovanni Malago, head of CONI (The Italian Olympic Committee), reiterated his personal belief that despite Italy’s doping problems, he thinks Nibali is 100% clean.

"Someone like him is subjected almost daily to doping control and there was never a change in his values, and those who understand the subject know that Vincenzo Nibali has proven to be a serious person and above all healthy and clean," Malago said.

Nibali hopes to lead Italy at 2016 Olympic Games.

Vincenzo Nibali has said that he would like to lead Italy at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. The hilly course for the Olympic road race - which will take place on August 6, the opening day of competition - was announced earlier this month.

“I’ve had a look and it seems to be a tough course, difficult and suitable to my characteristics,” Nibali said according to Gazzetta dello Sport. “We will see, there is still a year and a half but I’d like to be a leader.”

Adam Myerson's Inside Dirt: How Vos won the Zolder World Cup.

In modern cyclo-cross, there are fewer and fewer two-season athletes competing at the top level of the sport. The road season is almost year-round now, mountain bike pros mostly dabble in 'cross, and 'cross pros use road or mountain bike racing only to complement 'cross, but not as a focus.

Adri van der Poel was probably the last pro to successfully win road classics, Tour stages, the cyclo-cross World Championships, and the Superprestige series. After becoming 'cross world champion, Pascal Richard mostly abandoned the field for the road.

For Vos, to compete at a World Championship-winning level in road, track, mountain bike and cyclo-cross is absolutely unprecedented. She is not only the best road cyclist in the history of the sport, man or woman, she's also the best cyclist, period. The remarkability of what she does across four sports can't be exaggerated. It's superlative.

2014 Cyclingnews Reader Poll: Vos named best female rider.

Marianne Vos has won the vote for female rider of the year in the Cyclingnews Reader Poll for the fourth year running, beating Lizzie Armitstead and teammate Pauline Ferrand-Prévot. It was yet another commanding performance from Vos, who took a whopping 60 per cent of the vote.

Vos endured much more competition from her rivals this season but she still ended the year with some 30 victories including her seventh world cyclo-cross title. Vos led a Rabo Liv 1-2-3-4 at the Giro Rosa, claiming four stage wins along the way, and won the inaugural La Course by Le Tour de France and The Women’s Tour. There were some struggles for Vos as she finished off the podium for the first time at the World Championships.

20 things for cyclists to do in 2015.

This is the time of year when cyclists make plans, Chris Sidwells comes up with 20 things you might want to do in your 2015 cycling year.

Top Ride: South of France.

The South of France’s Languedoc region is a beautiful place to visit with its spectacular scenery, history, food and wine but it’s also one of the best places in the world to ride a bike. Small roads through tiny, historic villages, vineyards, forests and a good collection of medium mountains, make it as amazing as the tourist guides promised as Chris Selden recently found out.

"Ok, I’ll admit it – I’m spoiled. I’m lucky enough to live in one of the best regions in the world for bike riding – hands down, no questions about it, the South of France is just a great place to ride a bike. I’ve previously written a little about my spot of paradise in the Herault Valley but upon meeting Steve ‘Veloroo’ Prokop I’ve been encouraged to leave my little corner of the world and see some more spectacular roads just a bit further south but still in the gorgeous Languedoc region."

2014 International Ride of the Year: Vincenzo Nibali, Stage 5, Tour de France.

PEZ: Daily Distractions.

(pezcyclingnews.com)

Steve Tilford: Double Birkie Day.

Tinkov: International sanctions against Russia could cause end of Tinkoff Saxo team.

Commenting after international sanctions against Russia have seen the value of the rouble plummet and made things difficult for his Tinkoff banks, Oleg Tinkov has said that there is a possibility that the pressure put on the country could have a knock-on effect and cause his cycling team to stop.

“If the sanctions will deteriorate the Russian economy and share prices decline even more – there is no room to decline, but let’s assume there is – and then the Tinkoff bank starts to suffer, then I will stop my sponsorship,” he said in a video interview with Bloomberg.

If that happens he expressed pessimism about his chances of getting alternative backing.

“I don’t know as owner of the team if I will be able to find a substitution sponsor in Europe,” he continued. “Most likely I will not, and I will have to shut down to the team."

Lifetime Achievement Award: Jens Voigt.

Not long after he had finished his time trial on stage 9 of the 2012 Tour de France, his 15th appearance in the grand tour, Jens Voigt walked over to a shady spot of lush green grass, plunked down in a camping chair near the team van, and began eating a sandwich and chatting with teammate Yaroslav Popovych.

Fans strolled past, a few chatting with him, others snapping casual photos of the affable, articulate German in his RadioShack team wear. French. English. German. Fluently flipping back and forth to cater to the needs of the fans.

It was hard to believe that this regular guy was one of the most popular cyclists of his generation.

Berhane dreaming of Tour de France start.

Tour of Turkey victory Natnael Berhane says that it would be a dream come true if he were to become the first Eritrean cyclist to ride the Tour de France in 2015 with his new team MTN-Qhubeka. The South African-based team are looking to become the first African registered team to make it to the Grand Boucle and Berhane hopes to be one of the luck nine selected if they earn a wildcard.

“I have been dreaming about that. I hope that I will be able to be part of the team and that I can be in good shape,” Berhane told Cyclingnews. “This year I wasn’t able to but next year it is a big goal for me to ride the Tour de France.

Cooper Willsey: Tearing it up in Zolder.

"December 26, where many are sleeping in and relaxing after celebrating Christmas. For those of us staying in Vorselaar, Belgium, with the USAC Cx Devo Block #3, there is no sleeping in or relaxing today.

Cameron, Lance, Spencer, Gage and I woke up at 5:30 to begin our race day for World Cup Zolder. We ate, gathered our bags and departed at 6:30 in a Team USA Sprinter bus filled with bikes, gear and droopy-eyed juniors. After a quick 40-minute drive we arrived at the venue – an F1 track. This is a very special track in itself. With a good mix of climbs, drops, pavement, mud and sand, this track has a little bit of everything. Along with a World Cup for cyclo-cross, the venue will be hosting the 2015 BMX World Championships in July."

Supporting the Classics.

"We like these bikes so much, and we couldn’t stand the thought that someone might exploit the name, logo and designs without respect for the heritage – with only an 80-year-old lady trying to protect her family’s life work. So we suggested to Lyli Desbois, née Herse, that we buy the rights to the name, designs, tool, etc., and take over the custodianship of the René Herse name and heritage.

A big step happened a few weeks ago, when our registration of the René Herse trademark was approved by the U.S. Patent Office. While the trademark and designs were protected as soon as we bought the company from Lyli Desbois and started using them again, now nobody can claim that they didn’t know the trademarks were protected. There is no risk of the René Herse logo showing up on budget frames or cheap knock-off components."

Raleigh Militis Comp.

 (bikeradar.com)