2012 Cycling Thread

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Rodriguez has no regrets staying with Katusha

Cycling world number one Joaquim Rodriguez has no regrets about signing a new deal with Katusha in the off-season despite the Russian team facing exclusion from the World Tour.
The UCI has rejected Katusha's application to compete in the World Tour next year because of the team's doping record over the past four years.
Katusha, who finished second in the World Tour standings this year, have appealed the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
"Yes, it's true that I had a chance to go to another team after this season was finished," Rodriguez told Reuters after Katusha's official presentation in the Italian city of Brescia.
"I had a very good season in 2012, so I won't deny that I wanted to renegotiate my contract. I wanted a bigger contract," he said. "Who wouldn't?"
The stocky Spaniard, nicknamed 'Purito', had a superb season in 2012. In May, he won two stages in the Giro d'Italia, finishing second overall to Canadian Ryder Hesjedal.
Rodriguez also finished third overall in the Spanish Vuelta in September before winning the final major classic race - Tour of Lombardy - to claim top spot in the World Tour standings ahead of Britain's Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins.
"So after such a good season many teams wanted me. I've had many offers but I got a very good deal from Katusha, so I decided to stay," Rodriguez said.
Asked if he regretted his decision and if he changed his mind knowing that Katusha would be kicked out of the top flight, the 33-year-old said: "No, I've given my word to the team and I'm going to stick with it. I plan to fulfil my commitments.
"I know the team is appealing the UCI decision, so hopefully I'll get a chance to ride both the Giro and Vuelta again next year," he added.

 

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Katusha defend doping record, trust in CAS

Katusha have defended their record on doping after the UCI dropped them from the top flight and the Russian team are putting their faith in the Court of Arbitration for Sport to regain their elite status.
Last week, the UCI's licence commission rejected Katusha's application to compete in the World Tour next year because of the team's doping record over the past four years.
Katusha, who finished second in the World Tour standings this year, have appealed the decision to the Lausanne-based CAS.
"Yesterday we received a statement from the UCI, explaining to us the reasons for their decision," Katusha general manager Vyacheslav Ekimov said after the team's official presentation in the Italian city of Brescia.
"We were told Katusha have had the most doping cases among all the Pro Tour teams, citing four cases between 2009 and 2012.
But one such case, involving Alexandr Kolobnev, should not count because he was later cleared of any doping charges."
Kolobnev escaped a suspension for failing a drugs test at the 2011 Tour de France after the Russian cycling federation took into account extenuating circumstances in his case.
"The UCI also said Katusha don't do enough tests within the team to catch doping cheats," Ekimov said.
"They also blamed us for Denis Galimzyanov's positive test, even though the rider had admitted that it was his own mistake."
Galimzyanov tested positive for EPO in April. Russia's top sprinter was subsequently fired by Katusha and said he took the drug by himself without telling anyone in the team.
On Wednesday, Russia's anti-doping agency banned Galimzyanov for two years, starting from April 13, 2012.
When an Italian journalist questioned Ekimov, a long-time team-mate of disgraced American cyclist Lance Armstrong, about his own doping record, the Russian snapped back: "You have been misinformed."
"During the hearing, the UCI never mentioned my name, Denis Menchov or (Italian doctor) Michele Ferrari," he added.
Katusha leader Menchov came under a cloud last year when French sports daily L'Equipe produced its doping suspicion index, in which riders were given a rating of suspicion on a scale from 0 - not suspicious - to 10 - highly suspicious.
Menchov was rated at 9.
The Russian denied the allegations and said it was just a case of sour grapes by the French.
Ferrari was banned from cycling for life for his alleged ties to Armstrong, helping him win a record seven Tour de France titles on the back of a highly sophisticated doping scheme.
Triple Olympic champion Ekimov questioned the UCI methods.
"I want to make it clear - we're not going to war against the UCI," said the Russian, who was awarded his third Olympic gold medal after American Tyler Hamilton was stripped of his Athens 2004 time trial title because of doping.
"We're only fighting for our rights. Why one team gets the licence and another doesn't? Everything is based on the opinion of four UCI officials. There's no precise criteria."
Asked by Reuters if Katusha had a plan B in case the CAS decision goes against them, Ekimov said: "We only have one plan - plan A. When we get the CAS decision and it's not a favourable one, we'll think of an alternative plan."
Ekimov said every Katusha rider, including world number one Spaniard Joaquim Rodriguez, expressed their loyalty to the team.
"I've asked all our riders if they want to stay with us and every one said yes. All our major sponsors are also committed to the team even if we're excluded from the elite," he said.

 

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Italy's Ballan has surgery after training crash

BMC Racing rider Alessandro Ballan has undergone surgery to remove his spleen after a training crash in eastern Spain that also left the Italian with a broken leg and rib.
"The broken rib actually made a small puncture in his lung," said the team's chief medical officer Max Testa in a statement. "The first priority is the spleen injury - that is considered a medical emergency."
The doctor said a decision on when and where to operate on the rider's leg would be made later.
Ballan was 2008 world road champion and finished third in this year's Paris-Roubaix classic.
He also won the one-day Giro della Toscana in Italy and had been due to compete in the season-opening Tour Down Under in Australia next month.
"His loss means a lot since Alessandro is one of our key riders for the classics," said BMC team sporting director John Lelangue. "But most important right now is that he can recover and just get back to his normal process.
"We'll wait for all the medical information before even beginning to think about what could be his plan for coming back."

 

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Galimzyanov handed two-year ban

Russian Denis Galimzyanov has been given a two-year ban after testing positive for EPO in March this year.
The rider, who last rode for Katusha, was provisionally banned by the UCI after admitting doping in the wake of his failed out-of-competition test.
Galimzyanov's ban will be dated back to April 13, 2012.
The 25-year-old was keen to distance Katusha, who have failed to win a World Tour licence for 2013, from his doping.
“I would like to draw particular attention for that fact that Katusha Team has nothing to do with what happened,” he wrote in April. “No team member knew and could know about what I did. It was my personal decision and my responsibility.”
That view was backed up by Katusha coach Viatcheslav Ekimov.
"What's happened with Galimzyanov only concerns him and has nothing to do with the team," Ekimov was quoted told the Ria Novosti news agency.
Galimzyanov, who was not on Katusha's squad list when the Russian team announced their 2013 roster this week, won the 2011 Paris-Bruxelles and the Tour of Beijing points classification in the same year.


Schleck doping hearing reopens

The disciplinary hearing into Frank Schleck's failed dope test has reopened, with the RadioShack-Nissan rider maintaining his innocence.
The 32-year-old tested positive for the banned diuretic Xipamide at the Tour de France in July and has not raced since.
Schleck, who pulled out of race immediately and has always denied knowledge of taking the drug, spent two hours in front of the Luxembourg Anti-Doping Agency on Wednesday night.
It was the third time the Luxembourg rider has appeared in front of ALAD, following hearings in August and October.
A final decision is not expected for another six weeks.
"I explained myself again that I was not at fault," Schleck told AFP. "The investigation is continuing but it's not over."

 

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France's Jimmy Casper retires
Jimmy Casper has retired from cycling after a winless 2012 was followed by failure to secure a team for the 2013 season.


UCI introduces equal prize money for women and men

Female riders will earn as much as their male counterparts at cycling World Championships from next year.
The move is part of the International Cycling Union's efforts to improve the sports reputation, badly tarnished by the Lance Armstrong doping scandal.
"The UCI Management Committee this week approved a proposal for equal prize money for men and women at all UCI World Championships," the UCI said.
"Coming into effect from January 2013, this decision applies to all of cycling's disciplines with the exception of the road team time-trial."
The team time-trial, which reappeared at this year's road world championships in Valkenburg, Netherlands, is the only event raced in commercial team jerseys.
"The (decision) is a simple but very important step forward in our effort to guarantee a healthy and fair future for our sport," UCI president Pat McQuaid said.
Money has been an issue in some sports including tennis, with some men complaining about women having equal prize money at grand slam events despite playing shorter matches.

 

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Russia reconsider Tour of Russia after Katusha snub
Russia is reconsidering plans to introduce a major annual cycling race in 2014 after Katusha, the country's top professional team, was dropped from the World Tour.

Last week, the licence commission of the cycling's world governing body rejected Katusha's application to compete in the top flight next year because of the team's doping record over the past four years.
"It just doesn't make any sense to stage the Tour of Russia under the current circumstances," Alexander Gusyatnikov, an advisor to Russian cycling chief and Katusha boss Igor Makarov, said.
"We have a verbal agreement with the UCI to stage the Tour of Russia in 2014, although we haven't signed a contract yet.
"The idea was to stage a major race in Russia on an annual basis, starting in 2014, so that Katusha could compete on home soil and Russian fans could watch our best riders in person."
Katusha, who finished second in the World Tour standings this year and have world number one Joaquim Rodriguez of Spain (pictured) riding for them, have appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
UCI president Pat McQuaid has been trying to make cycling a global sport by staging major races around the world.
"We have a Tour of Russia coming up in 2014, we have had a lot of discussions and India will be another place. Brazil is certainly a market because of the 2016 Olympics," McQuaid said this month.
"These are huge markets. If we get in with big events it can motivate a focus on the development of the sport."
Earlier this year, the Russian cycling federation, unveiled an ambitious project involving staging the first major race in the world's largest country.
"The original plan was to have something like a smaller version of the Tour de France," Gusyatnikov said at the time.
"It would start in St Petersburg, continue to Moscow, then riders would fly to Sochi for another three or four days through the Caucasus mountains."
Gusyatnikov said the FVSR wanted to benefit from the much-improved infrastructure in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, the host city of the 2014 Winter Olympics, to stage their event.
"Sochi will have good roads, hotels and everything else we would need for the staging of the Tour of Russia. Now, this whole project is in big doubt," he said.

 

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Pauwels wins cyclo-cross title in Namur

Belgium's Kevin Pauwels leads from the front to take victory in the Namur World Cup cyclo-cross race.

 

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Kashechkin suspended by Astana

Kazakh cyclist Andrey Kashechkin has been provisionally suspended by World Tour team Astana for failing to agree to the squad's internal regulations.
"The Kazakhstan rider remains on the 2013 team roster, but can not be included in race calendar submissions until his signature is received on Pro Team Astana's internal Code of Conduct," the Kazakh team said.
Kashechkin took part in the Tour de France and Tour of Spain this year.


Sir Bradley Wiggins heads Olympic Honours

Bradley Wiggins, the first Briton to win the Tour de France, has been knighted in a special New Years Honours list that acknowledges the success of Team GB at the 2012 London Olympics.
Just over a week after winning the Tour, Wiggins won a gold medal in the Olympic time trial, one of 65 medals collected by the British team who finished third in the medals table behind the United States and China.
"I never ever imagined that I would ever become a knight, so it's an incredible honour," said Wiggins. "But there's a slight element of disbelief and it will take a while to sink in."
"(The French) will love it. It will add to the myth. I will have to get a bowler hat as well. They are fascinated slightly with our Britishness, our culture and things like knighthoods, so it is a nice thing to have."
Ben Ainslie, the most decorated yachtsman in Olympic history with gold medals in four consecutive Games, is also knighted as are David Brailsford, the performance director of British cycling and David Tanner, the performance director of British rowing. All four can now be addressed as "Sir".
Ainslie said: "This is an incredible honour. I couldn't have achieved this honour without the support of all the people who have helped me throughout my career and so I hope they can also take some pride in this moment."
Cyclist Sarah Storey, who won four gold medals at the Paralympics, has been made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
She said: "I can't believe the number of times we've said this year, 'Oh, can 2012 possibly get any better?'. We feel so fortunate that 2012 will always stand out as being the most incredible year."
London Olympic gold medallists Jessica Ennis (athletics), Mo Farah (athletics), Katherine Grainger (rowing), Victoria Pendleton (cycling) and David Weir (wheelchair athlete) were named Commanders of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).
Sebastian Coe, the chairman of the London organising committee, is awarded a Companion of Honour (CH) on the main honours' list.
There were also awards for Olympic men's tennis champion and US Open winner Andy Murray (OBE) and Olympic women's boxing gold medallist Nicola Adams (MBE) among others.

OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC ATHLETES IN NEW YEAR HONOURS

Knighthood: Ben Ainslie (sailing); Bradley Wiggins (cycling)

Damehood: Sarah Storey (cycling).

CBE: Jessica Ennis (athletics), Mo Farah (athletics), Katherine Grainger (rowing), Victoria Pendleton (cycling), David Weir (athletics)

OBE: Sophie Christiansen (equestrian), Charlotte Dujardin (equestrian), Jason Kenny (cycling), Andy Murray (tennis), Ellie Simmonds (swimming), Laura Trott (cycling)

MBE: Nicola Adams (boxing), Jessica-Jane Applegate (swimming), Tim Baillie (canoeing), Natasha Baker (equestrian), Laura Bechtolsheimer (equestrian), Scott Brash (equestrian), Danielle Brown (archery), Alistair Brownlee (triathlon), Steven Burke (cycling), Mickey Bushell (athletics), Luke Campbell (boxing), Peter Charles (equestrian), Hannah Cockroft (athletics), Mark Colbourne (cycling), Katherine Copeland (rowing), Josef Craig (swimming), Deborah Criddle (equestrian), Aled Davies (athletics), Neil Fachie (cycling), Jonathan Fox (swimming), Heather Frederiksen (swimming), Helen Glover (rowing), Alex Gregory (rowing), Carl Hester (equestrian), Philip Hindes (cycling), Sophie Hosking (rowing), Oliver Hynd (swimming), Jade Jones (taekwondo), Anthony Joshua (boxing), Dani King (cycling), Mary King (equestrian), Helena Lucas (sailing), Craig MacLean (cycling), Ben Maher (equestrian), Ed McKeever (canoeing), Nigel Murray (boccia), Jonnie Peacock (athletics), Josie Pearson (athletics), Pam Relph (rowing), Naomi Riches (rowing), James Roe (rowing), Joanna Rowsell (cycling), Greg Rutherford (athletics), David Smith (rowing), Louis Smith (gymnastics), Heather Stanning (rowing), Etienne Stott (canoeing), Lily van den Broecke (rowing), Anna Watkins (rowing), Sophie Wells (equestrian), Richard Whitehead (athletics), Peter Wilson (shooting)

 

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UCI WorldTour Ranking - 2012

Nation

1st Spain 1,889 pt, 2nd Great Britain 1,163 pt and 3rd Italy 1,115 pt.

Team

1st SKY PROCYCLING 1,767 pt, 2nd KATUSHA TEAM 1,273 pt and 3rd LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE 1,197 pt.

Individual

1st Joaquim Rodriguez 692 pt, 2nd Bradley Wiggins 601 pt and 3rd Tom Boonen 410 pt.



UCI Oceania Tour Ranking - Individual

1st Paul ODLIN 122 pt, 2nd Nick AITKEN 78 pt and 3rd Jay MCCARTHY 57 pt.

UCI Oceania Tour Ranking - Team

1st TEAM JAYCO - AIS 188 pt, 2nd SUBWAY CYCLING TEAM 172 pt and 3rd DRAPAC CYCLING 140 pt.

UCI Oceania Tour Ranking - Nations

1st AUSTRALIA 1,445.13 pt and 2nd NEW ZEALAND 639 pt.



UCI Europe Tour Ranking - Individual

1st John DEGENKOLB 596 pt, 2nd Marcel KITTEL 511 pt and 3rd Jonathan TIERNAN-LOCK 478.2 pt.

UCI Europe Tour Ranking - Team

1st SAUR - SOJASUN 1,667 pt, 2nd TEAM ARGOS - SHIMANO 1,615 pt and 3rd ACQUA & SAPONE 1,495 pt.

UCI Europe Tour Ranking - Nations

1st ITALY 3,054 pt, 2nd FRANCE 2,734 pt and 3rd GERMANY 2,650.83 pt.



UCI Asia Tour Ranking - Individual

1st Hossein ALIZADEH 223 pt, 2nd Stefan SCHUMACHER 221.33 pt and 3rd Andrea GUARDINI 216 pt.

UCI Asia Tour Ranking - Team

1st TERENGGANU CYCLING TEAM 539 pt, 2nd TABRIZ PETROCHEMICAL TEAM 440 pt and 3rd CHRISTINA WATCHES - ONFONE 432.98 pt.

UCI Asia Tour Ranking - Nations

1st KAZAKHSTAN 856.84 pt, 2nd JAPAN 841 pt and 3rd MALAYSIA 592 pt.




UCI America Tour Ranking - Individual

1st Rory SUTHERLAND 184.8 pt, 2nd Maximiliano Ariel RICHEZE 166 pt and 3rd Miguel UBETO APONTE 150 pt.

UCI America Tour Ranking - Team

1st REAL CYCLING TEAM 404 pt, 2nd FUNVIC - PINDAMONHANGABA 404 pt and 3rd UNITEDHEALTHCARE PRO CYCLING TEAM 352.2 pt.

UCI America Tour Ranking - Nations

1st COLOMBIA 1,571.2 pt, 2nd UNITED STATES 1,103.8 pt and 3rd ARGENTINA 964 pt.



UCI Africa Tour Ranking - Individual

1st Tarik CHAOUFI 325 pt, 2nd Adil JELLOUL 243.67 pt and 3rd Reinardt JANSE VAN RENSBURG 206.67 pt.

UCI Africa Tour Ranking - Team

1st MTN QHUBEKA 653.68 pt, 2nd GROUPEMENT SPORTIF PETROLIER ALGERIE 438.99 pt and 3rd TEAM EUROPCAR 230 pt.

UCI Africa Tour Ranking - Nations

1st MOROCCO 1,333.68 pt, 2nd SOUTH Africa 957.01 pt and 3rd ERITREA 643.01 pt.