2013 Cycling Thread

[Smallville22]

Peraud triumphs on Mont Faron, Monfort takes race lead

Jean-Christophe Peraud clinched victory on stage four of the Tour Méditerranéen after a stunning final climb.
The former mountain bike rider benefited from fine work from his team-mate Matteo Montaguti as he took victory on Mont Faron.
Peraud moved clear in the final five kilometres of the climb as he moved away from Francesco Reda, Davide Rebellin and Alexandre Geniez to give his Ag2r La Mondiale team the win.
Meanwhile, Maxime Monfort of RadioShack assumed the overall race lead as he survived a series of attacks from climbers to take a one-second advantage over Lars Boom and Thomas Lovkvist.
It was an impressive stage win for Peraud, who negotiated the 145km route from Rousset to Mont Faron expertly, with the day also belonging to a delighted Monfort.

 

[Smallville22]

Lovkvist wins Tour de Mediterranee

Thomas Lovkvist won the Tour de Mediterranee to give IAM Cycling its first ever race victory.
The Swedish rider had been two seconds behind Maxime Monfort and one second behind Lars Boom heading into the 192km final stage, but finished high up to claim the general classification.
Belgian rider Jurgen Roelandts of Lotto Belisol took victory in the 192km final stage from Bandol to Grasse, ahead of Francesco Reda (Androni Giocattoli) and Mikel Nieve Ituralde (Euskaltel-Euskadi).

 

[Smallville22]

Kittel wins opening stage in Oman

Marcel Kittel won the opening stage of the Tour of Oman in a bunch sprint finish.
The German speedster from Argos-Shimano beat Davide Appollonio (Ag2r-La Mondiale) and Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ) to the line at the end of the 162km opening stage from Al Musannah to Sultan Qaboos University.
Bobbie Traksel (Champion System) and Kohei Uchima (Japan) escaped almost immediately and built up a nine minute advantage after the only King of the Mountains climb after 45km at Al Awabi.
But the gap had dropped to 7:20 at the first intermediate sprint after 65km with Kittel's Argos team-mates and GreenEdge leading the bunch. And the advantage had been whittled down to 4:30 inside the final 40km.
They were caught with 16km to go to set up the gallop to the line where the Argos-Shimano sprint train worked perfectly, after struggling at the Tour Down Under and Tour of Qatar, to allow Kittel to take the red jersey of overall leader via the 10 bonus seconds for the stage win.
Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) and OPQS leader Tom Boonen, in his season debut after recovering from injury, completed the top five. Wiggins was ****** to check up behind a crash with two kilometres remaining - arriving home one minute and 21 seconds down but with the three kilometre rule expected to be applied. Christian Knees led the team home.
The race has attracted a number of big names including Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome, Alberto Contador, Cadel Evans, Vincenzo Nibali and Joaqium Rodriguez who are expected to shine on stage four and the ascent of Green Mountain.
But Tour de France champion Wiggins lost 1:21 and is last overall in the general classification after a late crash caused a split in the peloton.
Peter Velits won the third staging of event last year and returns to defend his title in the six-stage event which is rated at 2.1 on the UCI Asia Tour.

 

[Smallville22]

Jaksche casts doubt on Fuentes defence

German cyclist Joerg Jaksche told the Operation Puerto trial on Monday that the treatment he received from Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes was designed to beat doping controls and had nothing to do with genuine health issues.
On the first day of testimony from professional riders before the judge in Madrid, Jaksche's evidence could have a bearing on whether the court decides that Fuentes, who denies doping, and his four fellow defendants ******** public health laws.
Jaksche was the first cyclist to admit ***** doping in connection with the Puerto investigation, which made it to court last month almost seven years after Spanish police seized anabolic steroids, transfusion equipment and ***** bags.
The rider told German magazine Der Spiegel in June 2007 that he had used ****** substances over a 10-year period and confirmed that from 2005 he was a client of Fuentes and that going to see him was like "going for an oil change".
As Spain's current anti-doping legislation was not in ***** in 2006 when the police raids took place, the accused, including Fuentes's ****** Yolanda, are being tried for ********* health laws and the prosecutor has asked for jail sentences of two years.
Jaksche told the court on Monday that as well as performing ***** transfusions, Fuentes had supplied him with ****** ***** including the booster erythropoietin (EPO).
He had also given him an unidentified "white powder" to contaminate ***** samples, he added.
"It was never about health," Jaksche said. "I knew it was prohibited in sporting terms, legally I don't know."
The proceedings have attracted international scrutiny because anti-doping authorities are hopeful they will finally lead to evidence of wrongdoing by athletes in sports other than cycling being made available.
Fuentes told court last month he had clients in sports including football, tennis, athletics and boxing.
When he offered to identify them Judge Julia Santamaria said she would not prevent him but would also not oblige him to do so, saying it would infringe the rights of those implicated.
Testifying by video link from his training base in Tenerife, Italian rider Ivan Basso told the court on Monday he had ***** extracted on three occasions at the clinic of another doctor implicated in the case but never had any reinjected.
Basso, a double Giro d'Italia champion, said he had decided to undergo the ***** procedure because of his desire to win the Tour de France in 2006.
Along with other riders linked to Fuentes and his associates, he was excluded from the Tour that year and later served a two-year ban after admitting "attempted doping".
"I dreamed of being the best cyclist ever since I was a *****," Basso said.
"Fuentes told me that you could work with your own ***** and that it was a valid procedure and I accepted it."
The trial continues on Tuesday and Alberto Contador, the Spaniard stripped of one of his three Tour de France titles after testing positive for a ****** substance, is due to testify in court on February 22.
Disgraced American rider Tyler Hamilton is due to give evidence by video link on February 19.

 

[Smallville22]

UCI get tough on corticoids

The International Cycling Union has toughened up its anti-doping policy by imposing an eight-day rest on riders following an ********* of corticoids.
"The UCI must be informed by the doctor applying such an *********. The No Needle Policy, introduced by the UCI to its Medical Regulations in 2011, originally stipulated that a rider must not compete for 48 hours after a local ********* of glucocorticosteroids," the UCI said in a statement.
UCI president Pat McQuaid explained that a rider in need of a corticoid ********* should be resting, not competing.
"A rider who raced at the weekend could receive an ********* of glucocorticosteroids and be racing again in a mid-week competition," the Irishman said.
"Glucocorticosteroids are used to treat inflammations, so a rider requiring this treatment should not be racing within eight days. He or she should be attending his/her condition and resting."
Member teams of the MPCC (Mouvement Pour un Cyclisme Crédible, aka Movement for Credible Cycling) have already been abiding by this rule.
Ten World Tour (elite) teams have joined the MPCC, with four of them (Astana, Blanco, Vacansoleil, Lampre) on a probationary period.
Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins's Team Sky, the top team in 2012, have not joined the MPCC, which was created in 2007.

 

[Smallville22]

Contador to take stand in Puerto doping case

Alberto Contador will give evidence on February 22 in person in the Operation Puerto doping case.
The Spanish star, who has won all three Grands Tours, is only cited as a witness in the case, but he had been expected to give testimony by a video link, rather than appearing before court.
The court case began on January 28 in Madrid.
In 2012 Contador completed a two-year ban for testing positive for clenbuterol, and won the Vuelta a Espana on his comeback.

 

[Smallville22]

Ballan recovering from latest surgery

BMC Racing’s Alessandro Ballan is recovering well from surgery to remove his appendix, as well as scar tissue from a previous operation.
Italian Ballan underwent surgery Wednesday night after stomach pain he first felt Tuesday did not go away.
"Because the pain wasn't that intense and continuous I thought it was a digestive problem," the former world road champion said.
"On Wednesday night, the pain became very intense so I went to the hospital."
BMC chief medical officer Dr. Max Testa said doctors performed exploratory surgery which found adhesions had formed where Ballan's spleen was removed in December following a crash that broke his left leg in two places and fractured a rib.
"The surgery to remove the adhesions and his appendix was very successful and he is doing well," Dr. Testa said.
"I do not think this will impact the original timetable we had for him to return to racing in four months. But he will stay off the stationary bike for a couple weeks."
Ballan, 33, said while these health scares have worried his ******, everything is fine now.
"From now on, I want to look forward to the future and riding with my teammates again," he said. "No more hospitals anymore."

 

[Smallville22]

Malori fractures collarbone in training

Adriano Malori suffered a microfracture of his left collarbone while training in his home town of Traversetolo at the weekend.
The 25-year-old Lampre-Merida rider crashed due to a hole in the road whilst cycling in the town just south of Parma, Italy.
Malori expressed his frustration at the turn of events but conceded he was fortunate not to suffer a more serious injury.
“It’s a pity I must stop for some days because of this accident,” Malori explained.
“Luckily, it’s nothing too serious, but I feel pain because of a hematoma. I must rest for some days, then I hope to be back on the bike again soon.
“I’ll keep in contact with the team medical staff and I’ll undergo tecarterapia (an electromedial therapy).
“I’d really like to return as soon as possible, in order to avoid losing all the progress we made in Mallorca with the Merida technician concerning the time trial positioning.”
Malori was the 2011 Italian time trial champion and was 10th in last year's world road race.

 

[Smallville22]

Boonen 'nearly had arm amputated'

Omega Pharma-Quick Step rider Tom Boonen has revealed he nearly lost his arm to an infection that developed in his elbow.
The Belgian returned to action at the Tour of Oman this week, but his career was in jeopardy last month when he came close to having his arm amputated.
"I'm happy…. I've still got my arm," Boonen said. "That's a bit more important than having good form.
"That's what they told me, eight hours. If it hits the bone, the arm was gone and it was only a few millimetres from the bone. On the Friday there was nothing but then on Sunday they told me that if I hadn't done anything, Monday would have been too late."
The infection stemmed from a wound on Boonen's elbow and quickly escalated into a serious problem, requiring a week-long stay in hospital.
"Everybody has it on their skin but if it goes in your body and your wound closes and the crust forms, it starts breeding," Boonen explained.
"Your elbow is probably the worst place to have it because there is no ***** circulation. Otherwise the white cells **** it. But it had time to breed and got strong enough to ****** the rest of my body."
Boonen made his season debut in Monday's opening stage of the Tour of Oman, where he finished fifth in a bunch sprint at the end of the ride from Al Musannah to Muscat.

 

[Smallville22]

Swift return for Team Sky rider

Team Sky's Ben Swift has been given the all-clear after undergoing scans following his crash at the Challenge Mallorca.
Swift fell on the descent of the Coll d'Honor during the Trofeo Platja de Muro, the final race of the Challenge Mallorca series, and sustained significant bruising and superficial wounds.
But a trip to hospital has failed to show any serious damage to the 25-year-old from Rotherham and he fully expects to be back racing before the end of the month.
"I don't remember anything about the crash itself and my first recollections are of a paramedic and doctor standing over me," Swift said on his team's official website.
"After being taken for assessment at a local hospital I flew back to the UK and have undergone some pretty detailed scans in the time since then. Fortunately they've shown no broken bones and no significant head injuries, so there won't be much time off the bike.
"I've experienced a lot of swelling around my knees, and they're still hurting, but once that goes down I should be good to go again."
Swift confirmed his intentions to return to the saddle for Het Nieuwsblad later this month.
"Now I'm concentrating on getting myself back to full fitness and hopefully that'll come in time for the start of the Classics. I'll spend a week or so recovering at home and then fly back out to Mallorca for a training camp with the Classics group which has just been riding in Qatar.
"It'll be fun to meet up with them and the aim is to be back in business at Het Nieuwsblad on February 23."

 

[Smallville22]

WADA praises Lance investigation

WADA president John Fahey praised the U.S. investigation which led to Lance Armstrong losing his seven Tour de France titles based on evidence which did not include a positive dope test.
Armstrong finally confessed in a television interview last month that he had doped in each of the Tour victories after the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) produced evidence it said proved he was a ***** cheat.
"While the ramifications of USADA's impressively thorough investigation into Mr. Armstrong are still being played out, we must not let ourselves forget the fact that this is an individual who masterminded one of the most systematic and widespread doping frauds in the history of sport," Fahey told a WADA media symposium at a London hotel.
"It is not an excuse to say that other riders were doping and therefore I also had to cheat. It is not an excuse to say that the rigorous demands of the sport make it necessary to take performance-enhancing substances.
"It is not an excuse to say that riders in the Tour de France have been seeking an edge ever since the race was founded 100 years ago.
"The reality is that Mr. Armstrong cheated for more than a decade, bullied others into cheating, bullied those who would dare to expose his cheating, and to this day continues to manipulate the facts for his own benefit."
Fahey told a question-and-answer session that the International Cycling Union (UCI) had again called for a truth and reconciliation commission to examine its troubled sport after a series of embarrassing ***** scandals.
The UCI's credibility took a further blow when it disbanded a three-person independent commission set up to investigate whether or not the world governing body had helped Armstrong to conceal his ****-taking without sending it a single document.
It said instead it wanted to be part of a truth and reconciliation commission.
Fahey said he had received a letter late on Monday from the UCI again requesting a truth and reconciliation commission .
He said the UCI had nominated four people from the organisation, not including president Pat McQuaid, who would take part in discussions.
Fahey said WADA had said all along it was more than happy to work out a way to deal "with this constant crisis which seems to surface in cycling".
He said, though, the process had to be under the management and control of the original independent commission.
"So I put those terms back, that's the starting point, it hasn't changed for several weeks. If they are serious they will talk to us," he said.
"Only cycling can heal the problems cycling has, they're independent, they run their own sport, the same as any other sport in the world.
"If the members are prepared to continue to allow this lurching from one crisis to another then I guess we are going to continue to read about turmoil in that sport for some time yet."
Fahey said the Armstrong case showed the growing effectiveness of evidence other than positive ***** tests. American sprinter Marion Jones, who won three gold medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, had previously been sanctioned for doping although she also never failed a test.
"Doping athletes should take note that no longer are sanctions based purely on the evidence of ***** or *****," Fahey said. "We need to be ever alert to the increasingly sophisticated science available to athletes today and to the growing influence of the underworld."
Fahey said non-analytical evidence was at the heart of the Australian Crime Commission (ACC) report which found widespread use of ****** performance-enhancing ***** among professional and amateur athletes with links to ******** and organised crime.
Earlier on Tuesday the National Rugby League said anti-doping officials had met with six leading Australian clubs as a result of the investigation.
"We await the details from this report to see what will come in terms of possible breaches of the rules, and prosecutions of the laws," Fahey said.
In an interview with Reuters television, WADA director general David Howman said the criminal underworld controlled at least 25 percent of world sport. He also said 99 percent of the raw materials used to manufacture ******* ***** came from China .

 

[Smallville22]

UCI renews push for truth and reconciliation commission

The International Cycling Federation has called again for a truth and reconciliation commission to examine its troubled sport following the Lance Armstrong doping scandal.
The American cyclist was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and ****** for life last year for doping.
Armstrong subsequently admitted in a television interview last month that he had taken performance-enhancing ***** in each of his Tour wins.
The UCI's credibility took a further blow when it disbanded a three-person independent commission set up to investigate whether or not the world governing body had helped Armstrong to conceal his ****-taking without sending it a single document.
It said instead it wanted to be part of a truth and reconciliation commission.
At a World Anti-Doping Agency media symposium in London on Tuesday, WADA president John Fahey said he had received a letter late on Monday from the UCI again requesting a truth and reconciliation commission.
"Was it asking?," he said. "It was more telling. It nominated four people from the organisation which did not include (UCI president) Pat McQuaid who would be representing UCI in such discussions."
Fahey said WADA had said all along it was more than happy to work out a way to deal "with this constant crisis which seem to surface in cycling".
He said, though, the process had to be under the management and control of the original independent commission.
"So I put those terms back, that's the starting point, it hasn't changed for several weeks. If they are serious they will talk to us," he said.
Fahey said the terms truth and reconciliation were "wonderful fancy words".
"I think we leave that where we should leave it, where it had some meaning and that is in days gone by in South Africa," he said.
"Only cycling can heal the problems cycling has, they're independent, they run their own sport, the same as any other sport in the world.
"If the members are prepared to continue to allow this lurching from one crisis to another then I guess we are going to continue to read about turmoil in that sport for some time yet.
"I would hope that within the root and file members of cycling there is recognition that it can't continue this way without there being some dire consequences down the track."

 

[Smallville22]

Emadi not daunted by World Championship debut

Kian Emadi is set to fill Sir Chris Hoy's shoes and emulate Jason Kenny at the Track World Championships next week but he is vowing not to be daunted by the challenge at all.

 

[Smallville22]

Sagan takes race lead in Oman with stage win

Peter Sagan clinched a fine victory on the second stage of the Tour of Oman to assume the race lead.
The Cannondale rider thrived as he took the win in Al Bustan, with Tony Gallopin of RadioShack-Leopard in second on the 146km route from Fanja in Bidbid.
Martin Elmiger of IAM finished in third place, as Sagan not only celebrated the stage win, but also taking the overall lead in the race.
There was a breakaway of two riders early in the day - Bobbie Traksel (Champion System) went for the second day in a row, joined by Japanese rider Tomohiro Kinoshita. The pair got as far as 6:20 clear of the field, but could not hold on as the stage headed into the hills.
With 38km left in the stage, their advantage had been whittled down to four minutes. Traksel was the first to give up on a stage win with 24km to go, but Kinoshita went on alone before being brought back into the peloton on the final intermediate sprint.
Marcel Kittel, the race leader going into the stage, was one of the riders to fall off the bunch as the route went up the Al Jissah climb, but Sagan's strength and pace was unrivalled among the 50 riders went through in group heading together to the finish.
Wednesday’s stage will see the riders negotiate the 190km route from Nakhal Fort to Wadi Dayqah Dam.
The race has attracted a number of big names including Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome, Alberto Contador, Cadel Evans, Vincenzo Nibali and Joaqium Rodriguez who are expected to shine on stage four and the ascent of Green Mountain.
But Tour de France champion Wiggins lost 1:21 on the opening day after a late crash caused a split in the peloton.
Peter Velits won the third staging of event last year and returns to defend his title in the six-stage event which is rated at 2.1 on the UCI Asia Tour.

 

[Smallville22]

Sagan wins again on stage three in Oman

Peter Sagan secured his second stage win on Wednesday to top the race standings at the Tour of Oman.
The Slovak rider clinched his second win in successive stages as he performed with distinction on the 190km route from Nakhal Fort to Wadi Dayqah Dam.
The Cannondale rider outstripped Belgian Greg van Avermaet of BMC Racing, who finished second, and Tony Gallopin of RadioShack, who remains Sagan’s nearest rival in the general classification, 16 seconds adrift of his 12:59.43.
Dutchman Bobbie Traksel made another early break, along with Yusuke Hatanaka of Japan and Italian Christian Delle Stelle to seize early control, but Sagan was never far from the front.
David Boucher of France and Delle Stelle stormed out in front on their own at one point to open up a clear lead, but Traksel and Hatanka swiftly chased the pair down.
Sagan began to stamp his authority on the stage, however, and he thrived over the course of the last 30km as the riders took on the undulating course with frequent climbs and steep descents.
Delle Stelle was among those to fade in the final stages, and again it was Sagan who powered through to take the stage win, with Tom Boonen, Team Sky’s Bradley Wiggins and Matthew Goss unable to challenge.
Thursday’s mountainous stage sees the riders negotiate the 152.5km route from Al Saltiyah in Samail to Jabal Al Akhdhar.

 

[Smallville22]

Rogge: Embattled UCI boss McQuaid has IOC support

International Cycling Federation president Pat McQuaid enjoys the support of the International Olympic Committee despite the sport's tarnished image and the UCI's bitter row with the World Anti-Doping Agency.
The UCI's credibility has been dealt a severe blow since American Lance Armstrong admitted to doping last month after he was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles.
The UCI took a further blow when it disbanded a three-person independent commission set up to investigate whether or not the world governing body had helped Armstrong to conceal his ****-taking.
"We have confidence in Mr (Pat) McQuaid as president of UCI," IOC President Jacques Rogge told reporters on Wednesday.
"There is an ongoing discussion with WADA and UCI. We call on both parties to reconciliate and find a solution to this crisis together."
The UCI has renewed its call for a truth and reconciliation commission but WADA has said any such work would have to be done under the original independent commission.
At a WADA media symposium in London on Tuesday, president John Fahey said if the crisis in cycling continued there would at some point be "dire consequences."
"I would hope that within the root and file members of cycling there is recognition that it can't continue this way without there being some dire consequences down the track," he said.

 

[Smallville22]

Brailsford begins 2013 with laidback approach

Having helped a Briton to Tour de France glory for the first time would put huge pressure on anyone, but Team Sky supremo David Brailsford remains cool as a cucumber as the British outfit begin the 2013 season.
Speaking to Reuters before the start of Thursday's fourth stage at the Tour of Oman, the man behind Bradley Wiggins's Tour triumph last term is not making any big promises but knows what his team can achieve.
"We have to consider that last season is just part of the past. We are now focused on a new season, new objectives. We start again from scratch with the same motivation, the same energy," said Brailsford.
"We're doing it without any pressure. The off season has been tough for cycling, for everyone and it feels good to get back to racing," he added, referring to the Lance Armstrong scandal, which saw the American being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and admit to doping.
"We have different ambitions and we are not thinking about defending something. We won the Tour de France once, we want to do it twice and it might be in 2013, or in 2014 or 2015. We're not defending anything."
Bettering last year's results will be hard, however, as Wiggins won the Tour with team mate and fellow Briton Chris Froome taking second place overall.
Froome has started this season well, taking the overall lead at the Tour of Oman by finishing second in the fourth stage behind Spain's Joaquim Rodriguez.
Froome and Wiggins will not ride together again before the Tour, with the latter focusing mainly on winning the Giro d'Italia.
Brailsford, however, remained vague when asked about the team's grand Tour ambitions.
"Brad will ride the Giro and Chris focuses on the Tour. If everything goes well, Chris will be in good form on the Tour but we also hope that the five-week rest between the Giro and the Tour will help Brad start the Tour in great condition," he said.
Wiggins followed his Tour triumph last year with the individual time trial gold at the London Olympics but Brailsford wants more.
"It is true that he had great successes. When you win important titles, you just want to continue," he said.
"I think that he is still hungry. He is more mature. But he is 32 and he will not continue at this level for long so he has to make the most of the time he has left."
Brailsford, who also oversaw Britain's record medal haul in track cycling at the Olympics, was not too concerned by a growing rivalry between Froome and Wiggins.
"I don't have two egos (to deal with). They are two talents," he said.
"With them, you have to be honest, to tell them how it's going to work, you have to have a form of authority and treat everyone as a rider."

 

[Smallville22]

King eyeing history at Track World Championships

Dani King has labelled Britain being able to retain the last ever three-woman three-kilometre Track World Championship team pursuit title as just as important as winning Olympic gold.
The 22-year-old joined ****** with Laura Trott and Jo Rowsell to win the first ever women's team pursuit title at an Olympics at London 2012, the British trio setting three world records on route.
However the women's team pursuit will undergo an extension after this month's Track World Championships in Minsk with a fourth rider and another kilometre to be added.
That brings the event in line with the men's team pursuit with King selected along with Trott and junior world road time trial champion Elinor Barker to ride it as it is for the last time at the worlds
Britain have a fine tradition since its addition onto the World Championship programme for 2008 in line with its Olympic status as of London 2012 winning four of the five titles.
King along with Trott and Wendy Houvenaghel helped Britain reclaim their title in 2011 after Australia pipped the nation to it in 2010 while last year she was part of the trio that defended it.
And King, who won gold with Trott and Barker at the Glasgow Track World Cup in November, is determined to go down in history as part of the last team to win the event as it currently is at a World Championships.
"We're going to go out there and ride the fastest we can," said King. "We need to go out with a bang to say goodbye to the three-kilometre and three-woman event.
"I am confident. Obviously we've got Elinor on the team now, who is very young but has a really good future ahead of her. So it's a different challenge.
"But I don't think of the worlds as a lesser competition and I'll go out to do my best and hope it'll be enough to get me another jersey.
"We never sit back and relax. Even as world and Olympic champions, we can't just think we're the best. If anything, it makes me train even harder because I want to be in the team for every single race.
"I'm excited to go to four-kilometres and four women. It'll be good to have a new challenge and that's keeping me motivated after the Games.
"A lot of people can find it hard to be motivated. But because I'm so young and I've got a lot to give as a bike rider on the road and track, it keeps me training hard."
King will also ride the points and scratch races in Minsk and sees it as a perfect opportunity to build her repertoire ahead of the next Olympic Games in Rio in 2016.
"I'll just wait and see what comes out to see if there's anything I'd like to focus on," she added. "I'm looking forward to getting stuck into an individual event.
"Laura and I were both competing for the omnium and she rightfully got the place at the last Olympics but I'd love to do an individual event as well as team pursuit.
"I wouldn't give it to her easily. Even in the team pursuit, there's always internal rivalry to get selected for the team."

 

[Smallville22]

Schleck withdraws from Haut Var-Matin

Andy Schleck will not race in this weekend's Tour du Haut Var-Matin.
The Luxembourg rider feels healthy again after an infection of the respiratory tract, which ****** him to abandon last week’s Tour Méditerranéen, but his Radioshack-Leopard Trek team have decided to not take any risks.
“We were happy to see Andy doing well in training the last few days,” explained team manager Luca Guercilena.
“There is however a big difference between training and race situations. We want to prevent a relapse because of the race. Andy’s main goals are situated later in the season. It’s better that we are cautious now instead of taking steps backward.”
Schleck, who was retrospectively awarded the 2010 Tour de France, is expected to resume competition in the Grand Premio Città di Camaiore on February 28.

 

[Smallville22]

French anti-doping agency to snub Paris-Nice

The French Anti-Doping Agency will not carry out tests on the Paris-Nice stage race this year, citing a disagreement with the International Cycling Union.
"Given the serious mistakes that were made before (...) the AFLD has considered (...) that it could not lend its support to the international federation in carrying out tests on the Paris-Nice race," the AFLD said in a statement on Thursday without elaborating.
The two organisations have long been at loggerheads with the AFLD saying that the UCI had not followed correct procedures during testing on the 2009 Tour de France. The UCI denied the allegations.
The UCI came under heavy fire in last year's U.S. Anti-Doping Agency report that led to Lance Armstrong's demise.
The American was stripped of his seven Tour titles in October and admitted to doping in a televised interview last month.
The Paris-Nice race starts on March 3.