Foldable Bikes Party

Friday, 30 October 2015

News shorts: UCI upholds Androni suspension

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UCI upholds Androni suspension

The UCI announced today that its Disciplinary Commission has denied a request by Androni Giocattoli team manager Gianni Savio to reverse a suspension the team already served in August.

Androni-Giocattoli was suspended for the month after being notified of its second Adverse Analytical Finding in a 12-month period when Fabio Taborre tested positive for a developmental drug FG-4592 in an out-of-competition control on June 16. The news came just days after it was announced that his teammate Davide Appollonio had been found positive for EPO in a control taken on June 14.

Valach joins Tinkoff-Saxo as directeur sportif

Tinkoff-Saxo announced it has added former professional rider Ján Valach, 42, as a directeur sportif for the coming season. The Slovakian retired in 2010 and took up director duties at the Dukla pro cycling team in addition to acting as Slovakian national sports director. He helped forge Peter Sagan's World Championship victory in Richmond, Virginia last month.

“I am very excited for this opportunity and my clear aim is to do whatever I can to help the team succeed next season. Since my retirement as a rider in 2010, I’ve been the manager and sports director of the Slovakian Dukla continental team, so for me to make the move to the World Tour and Tinkoff Team is a big step. I look forward to working closely with the riders, the group of sports directors and the entire team next season. During the last days at our Croatia team meeting in Porec I’ve had the chance to meet the squad and the three riders that I’ll coach and follow in 2016," Valach said.

Head director Steven de Jongh expressed confidence in his new hire, stating, "I believe that he has showed that he’s a very capable sports director, several of our riders have worked with him before and they all felt confident with him behind the wheel. Ján will bring his experience as a former rider and current sports director in technical, tactical and training related areas. Ján will be introduced to the World Tour level during the 2016 season by some of the more veteran sports directors, while he will get the responsibility for a group of three riders."

Mugerli, Tamouridis continue with Synergy Baku

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

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Brian Smith confident Cavendish can win with Dimension Data in 2016

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Brian Smith is perhaps better known as a television commentator with Eurosport, using his career as a professional in the 1990s to read races and explain race tactics in his Scottish accent. Yet in the last 18 months he has also successfully taken on the role of general manager at MTN-Qhubeka, arguably the revelation of the 2015 season.

Doug Ryder owns the team, which will be known as Team Dimension Data in 2016, but Smith oversees the daily running of the squad. He uses his experience as a rider and television commentator to shape the team's race tactics and strategy, combining his cycling knowledge with skills he learned in sales and marketing to manage his riders and staff.

Smith has worked quietly in the background so far, gradually strengthening the team's line-up and ethos, but his presence and experience played a key role in the team's success in 2015. He has worked intensely in recent months, first securing the signing of Mark Cavendish, and then ensuring the Manxman fits in with the team's other ambitions for 2016 and its goal of promoting African cycling.

"When people ask me what my religion is, I say: ‘I went cycling every Sunday and so cycling is my religion'. If I'm not at a race, I'm commentating or watching it. I don't drink alcohol or consume caffeine, I get a buzz from bike racing," Smith tells Cyclingnews in his first major interview about his management role.

"I'm not a sports psychologist but I am a people watcher and can see when people in the team need help. In this team I hope people like me and respect me. I think people do things for me because they like me and share my ambitions. I've kicked a few people up the ass, but I treat people the way I want to be treated. When things are wrong, I try to fix them for everyone's benefit. I think that's what a good manager does. It's Doug's team and he's trusted me to run as well as I can. I'm happy to work away in the background."

Working with Cavendish

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

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Mondory handed four-year ban for EPO positive

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The UCI announced today that it has suspended Frenchman Lloyd Mondory for four years for violating anti-doping rules. The former AG2R La Mondiale rider tested positive for EPO in an out-of-competition test taken on February 17, 2015.

The decision was handed down by the new UCI Anti-Doping Tribunal, which was established in January 2015. It is the first doping case to be adjudicated by the tribunal, which took over the disciplinary proceedings for doping cases from the national federations this year.

Mondory, 33, raced his entire career with the AG2R team. Team manager Vincent Lavenu was ashamed of the rider's actions, and said earlier this year: "We’re betrayed too much. This is the third French rider in three years who has acted the idiot, it’s appalling. It’s a mixture of shame, betrayal and discouragement.

“The team is going to be sullied, and the riders too. That’s not right considering everything that’s been done.”

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

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Ivan Basso: I didn’t quit racing because of cancer

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The assumption, understandably perhaps, was that Ivan Basso decided to hang up his wheels after being diagnosed and then successfully treated for testicular cancer this summer. However, the former Giro d’Italia winner tells Cyclingnews, that the decision to stop was sparked by entirely different emotions.

The Tinkoff-Saxo team camp in Croatia this week marked a huge juncture in Basso’s career. For the first time in 17 years he will put his own training and goals to one side and focus on the important relationship between riders and team management, acting as a vital conduit between the two parties within the Tinkoff-Saxo squad.

“This hasn’t been a surprise for me and I’ve arrived at this point, step by step, ever since I decided to stop riding,” he tells Cyclingnews after an early-morning meeting with the team's sports directors.

“I made that decision with the people at this team, and also my family, but the people I work with now helped me. For me, this is a really important part of my life, after so many years on the bike.”

Basso’s cancer diagnosis arose during the Tour de France after feeling pain for several days following a crash. It was announced on the race’s first rest-day and he returned to Italy immediately for treatment, including surgery. He has since recovered to the point where he can ride his bike, resume a normal life and is no longer under treatment.

“You know it was super easy to decide to stop,” he says, searching for an analogy that might describe what he has been through in recent months.

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

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End of the line for Horner?

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Chris Horner's 20-year long professional cycling career may finally be at an end. According to L'Equipe, the American's agent Baden Cooke has advised him to retire, because he cannot find him a team for the 2016 season, but Cooke has informed Cyclingnews that this is not correct.

Horner, who turned 44 last week, raced this season with the Continental Airgas-Safeway squad after facing a similarly unfruitful contract hunt last year after he was not renewed with Lampre-Merida.

The winner of the 2013 Vuelta a España reportedly wants to continue racing, and is still in discussions with Airgas-Safeway, according to Cooke.

Horner turned professional with the Nutra Fig team in 1995, capturing his first big victory the following year at the Tour DuPont. Trailing then-race leader Lance Armstrong on the general classification by 23 minutes on stage 10, Horner escaped with Nate Reiss and the pair built up a large lead on the peloton. Horner out-sprinted Reiss and earned himself a spot on the FDJ team in 1997.

After racing for FDJ for three seasons, Horner returned to the US to race with Mercury, winning the Redlands Classic and Tour de Langkawi. He moved on to Prime Alliance in 2002, then to Saturn, with which he dominated the domestic scene in 2003.

Horner then moved onto the little-known Webcor squad for one season after Saturn's demise, before re-launching his European career with Saunier Duval in 2005. He then spent two seasons each with Lotto and Astana before joining RadioShack in 2010, with which he finished 10th in the Tour de France. He won the Tour of California and Vuelta al Pais Vasco, and landed on the podium at Tirreno-Adriatico and Tour of Utah before scoring his Grand Tour win.

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

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Transfer shorts: Pires signs with Roth-Skoda

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Roth-Skoda enlist WorldTour experience in Bruno Pires

As they prepare to make the step up from Continental level to the Pro Conti ranks, the Roth-Skoda team have brought on board a rider with WorldTour experience, signing Bruno Pires on a one-year deal.

The 34-year-old Portuguese rider has spent the past four seasons at Tinkoff-Saxo riding alongside the likes of Alberto Contador and Peter Sagan and also spent a season at Leopard-Trek in 2011, after starting his career with Portuguese Continental teams.

"I have decided on Roth-Skoda because it is a project with a future and that motivates me a lot," Pires told radsport-news.com, explaining how he now would like to pass on the experience he has gained over the course of his career for the good of the team.

"If you're on a team with great riders like Alberto Contador, Peter Sagan or Rafal Majka, you learn how these guys work and motivate their teammates. But I've also learned a great deal from the domestiques like Matteo Tossato, Michael Rogers and Benjamin Noval. And I think now it's time to make my own contribution in Roth-Skoda."

The signing of Pires follows the acquisition of other riders with experience of cycling's top tier - Martin Kohler, who used to ride for BMC, and Matthias Krizek, formerly of Cannondale.

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

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FDJ stand by Bonnet after Tour de France crash

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Though he may not be able to race from the start of the season, William Bonnet will remain an FDJ rider in 2016 after being offered a contract extension by the French team.

The Frenchman was involved in a huge crash during stage three of this year's Tour de France and left the race in an ambulance sporting a neck brace. The crash happened at speed and was caught on television. Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) was also involved. He fractured a vertebrae while wearing the race leader's yellow jersey. He got up to finish the stage but was forced to quit the race. Daryl Impey (Orica-GreenEdge) also finished the stage but was confirmed to have broken his collarbone. Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) broke his shoulder and Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge) his wrist.

The aftermath of the crash was captured on a Velon video camera fitted to Orica-GreenEdge mechanic Fausto Oppici. The video has been seen 1.8 million times.

Bonnet was initially though to have suffered minor head and neck injuries but medical examinations uncovered a multi-fragmented fracture of his second cervical vertebrae - the so-called 'hangman's fracture' - and he was rushed to Paris for surgery.

After leaving hospital Bonnet was confined to a neck brace but his rehabilitation has been going well so far and he currently only needs to wear the brace occasionally at night. He hasn't ridden a bike on the open road since his crash and it is clear that it is going to take time to incorporate himself back into the flow of professional competition.

— Equipe FDJ (@EquipeFDJ) October 29, 2015

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