Team Radio Shack announces Tour Down Under lineup

Team Radio Shack has just announced their team lineup for the Santos Tour Down Under to be held in Austrailia in January.  That includes or still-not-quite-retired rider Lance Armstrong, who will also be participating in the Cancer Council Classic.

The full team for the first race of the 2011 Pro Tour is made up of (in alphabetical order):

  • Lance Armstrong
  • Manuel Cardoso
  • Ben Hermans
  • Markel Irizar
  • Robbie McEwen
  • Gregory Rast
  • Sébastien Rosseler
That’s right – Robbie McEwen.

Team QuickStep 2011 Kit

Tom Boonen.  New jerseys.  ‘Nuf said:

HTFU

2011 Pro Cycling Team Presentations

Pro Cycling is, unfortunately, not very well covered on television in the US.  For most of us, that pushes us to either insane satellite TV receiver hacking, or the internet.  And for the internet, nothing is as valuable a resource as www.cyclingfans.com.  You can follow them on twitter, or facebook.

And thanks to them, use yankees (and non-yankees, as the case may be) can catch a glimpse of the 2011 pro team presentations.  Even though we already know who will be on most of these teams, these presentations are still fun to watch.

Cancellara rejoins Schlecks, Voigt, etc

After much speculation, a little strategic maneuvering, and then a final parting of ways Swiss time trial champion Fabian Cancellara has found a new home.   And the new home looks a lot like the old home.  Fabian has followed the Schlecks, Voigt, O’Grady and others to the new Luxembourg Team.  By my count, this makes him the 25th (and final) member of the team.    The timing leads to questions about whether or not Cancellara was waiting to be sure the team received their ProTour license – which in fact they did.

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Floyd-buterol

Floyd Landis, in what should have been a completely expected move, has chimed in on the Alberto Contador Clenbuterol issue.  Not only has he expressed his doubts about Contador’s explanation of the failed test, he has taken the opportunity to again point the finger to the UCI, reiterating his claims of wide-spread cover-ups.  Speaking to German television, he stated:

In the peloton, everyone knows that Pat McQuaid, Hein Verbruggen and other UCI officials have protected some riders, and not others, for the past 20 years.  It was manipulation, and their way of creating stars.

I still can’t decide – is Landis a press-hungry moron out to cause terminal, or is he becoming to doping what Kevin Mitnick became to computer crimes?  No matter what evidence may come to light, I suspect the answer to that will always be a mostly personal – and emotional – one.

BMC & Luxembourg in, Cofidis & Geox-TMC out

The UCI licensing board has announced the recipients of the latest batch of 4 year ProTour licenses.  A ProTour license allows teams a spot in all ProTour races, setting the stage for a team’s season.

Most of the teams are current ProTour license holders, reapplying when their 4 year license expired.  However, two teams – BMC and Luxembourg Pro Cycling Project – are new to the ProTour ranks.

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Great photos from US Nationals

ProBikeWrench (aka Josh Bogs, @probikewrench) posted some great photos from the US National time trial on his blog.  There seem to be a lot of them that feature some “random” tall cyclist wearing a the black ‘The Shack’ jersey.  I’m gonna assume he is someone noteworthy (HA!)

You can also find Josh spreading his knowledge over at the VeloReviews podcast.

Thanks for posting the images, Josh!

Things change

As I sit on the cusp of a big change in my own personal life, I found myself pondering other changes taking place around me.  “Change” somehow seems to be a theme that is thrust upon us every fall.  It is hard not to think about change when the very colors of the trees around you draw attention to it in vivid reds and yellows.  Well, assuming that there are trees around you, that is.  Turns out that I don’t have to look very hard to find a whole lot of change in the cycling universe in just the last couple of days.

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Cancellara, Riis part ways

A little while back I asked, “Anyone have the 3 mil € for Cancellara?”  And the answer is, apparently, we will never know.

Rumors have been flying ever since Cancellara’s early abandonment of this years Veulta that Riis and Cancellara were parting ways.  Bjarne has now confirmed that an agreement has been reached that will release Cancellara from his contract with Saxo one year ahead of schedule.  There seems to be a high liklihood that Cancellara will now join the Schlecks – and other current Saxo Bank teammates – on the new Luxembourg team being formed.  Another possibility that has been rumored in the works for Swiss time trial champion would be to join BMC – a Switzerland based team.

As will all transfer season rumors, it isn’t decided until the ink dries on the contract.  And you should probably give it a few days after that too.

Riding with Chris Horner at Clark’s Corner Cycling Challenge

I talked about it in the previous post titled “Chris Horner to ride the Sacramento Area.”  Well, I was finally able to spend a big part of my weekend at the festivities at Clark’s Corner.  It was a great experience to ride along with Chris Horner of Team Radio Shack, who was out to support the event before heading off to the US Pro National Road Race Championships.

The VIP dinner was fantastic – great food and a small group made for a very friendly evening.  I’ve actually got audio of a question and answer session with Chris Horner after dinner that is both humerus and informative.  Of everything about my experiences with Chris Horner, I walked away first and foremost with the impression of Chris Horner as a kind, friendly and approachable fellow.  Very down to earth and easy to talk to.  He also seems to have a great sense of humor.

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