News

2nd March 2007

Have your voice heard on ProCycleNews... Click here to E-mail us with your comments on the stories below!

Contador wins for Discovery Channel as Caisse d'Epargne's Valverde moves into the overall lead

As the Vuelta a la Comunidad Valenciana moved into the mountains earlier today the sprinters disappeared from the leading positions on the overall classification as the climbers moved into the frame.

Discovery Channel's new signing Alberto Contador took the first win of the season when he took the 4th stage of the race, 0'13" ahead of Caisse d'Epargne's Alejandro Valverde, the winner of the Individual ProTour standings last season. 3rd on the stage was Tadej Valjavec, Lampre-Fondital's Slovenian rider.

For Caisse d'Epargne, they had the consolation of taking the lead overall with Valverde who now leads Valjavec by a slender 0'02". CSC's Fränk Schleck is a further 0'04" behind in third position.

Going into tomorrow's final 146.9 kilometer stage starting and finishing in the Spanish region's capital, Valencia, the race is still wide open and all to play for. Will it be Valverde, Valjavec, Schleck or another rider such as Discovery Channel's Janez Brajkovic, who is only 8 seconds of the lead in 4th place, who will claim the win overall? We'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out!

Click here for the full results from stage four of the Vuelta a la Comunidad Valenciana...

Astana name their teams for upcoming races

Astana will be sending strong teams to Belgium for the Het Volk and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne races this weekend. They will also be sending a team to Spain for the GP Almeria, a team that will see ex-Giro d'Italia winner Paolo Savoldelli line up for his first race of the season with in his new teams colors.

Traveling to Belgium for the Het Volk and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne will be: Igor Abakoumov (Bel), Koen De Kort (Ned), Sergueï Ivanov (Rus), Aaron Kemps (Aus), Gennady Mikhailov (Rus), Dimitri Muravyev (Kaz), Gregory Rast (Swi) and Michael Schär (Swi).

Joining Savoldelli at the GP Almeria will be: Assan Bazayev (Kaz), Benoît Joachim (Lux), Eddy Mazzoleni (ITA), Steve Morabito (Swi), Daniele Navarro (Spa), Yevgeny Sladkov (Kaz), Sergueï Yakovlev (Kaz) and Eddy Mazzoleni (Ita) who, just like fellow Italian Savoldelli, will be lining up for his first race of the 2007 season with his new team Astana following his move from T-Mobile over the winter.

Quick Step-Innergetic and Ceramica Flaminia for the GP Chiasso and GP Lugano

Belgian ProTour team Quick Step-Innergetic and Italian Pro-Continental team Ceramica Flaminia will both send teams to compete in Switzerland this weekend at the GP Chiasso and the GP Lugano, two races in the Italian speaking part of Switzerland.

For Quick Step-Innergetic the team will be: Carlos Barredo, Ivan Santaromita, Hubert Schwab, Kevin Seeldraeyers, Maarten Wynants, Cedric Vasseur and Davide Viganò. Luca Guercilena will be the teams sporting director at both events.

Ceramica Flaminia will be represented at both races by: Cristian Gasperoni, Wladimir Duma, Michele Scotto D'Abusco, Hubert Krys, Maurizio Varini, Adam Wadecki.

IPCT invite UCI and the Grand Tour organizers to meet

Following their meeting earlier today in Brussels, Belgium, the International Professional Cycling Teams (IPCT) have called on the UCI and the organizers of the three Grand Tours (ASO, RCS Sport and Unipublic) to meet with them on Monday in Brussels. The IPCT have called the meeting a 'last chance' to solve the conflict over the ProTour and race participation.

The IPCT released a statement earlier today which did not support either the UCI or the Tour organizers. Instead the IPCT declined to make a decision at this time even though the start of the Paris-Nice, a race organized by ASO that had been scheduled as the first ProTour race of the season, is now just over one week away from the start.

The IPCT will still have to make a decision if the meeting on Monday does not resolve any of the issues currently causing problems.

The statement read, "At the time of the extraordinary A.G which was held this March 2 in Brussels, the IPCT decided to address this day to the UCI, on the one hand, and in ASO, RCS and Unipublic, on the other hand, a formal invitation to take part in a meeting of conciliation, programmed in Brussels, next on March 5."

"Their only immediate concern is to restore without delay the conditions enabling them to exert in all serenity and in legality their trade, which is of participate in all the best cycle races. It is to this end that the IPCT invites the UCI and the three organizers to a meeting 'of the last chance'. The IPCT is convinced that a conciliation is possible."

Lets hope that the meeting will bring about a resolution in the conflict, a resolution that will see the ProTour with all it's races and all it's teams included.

Today's meeting saw the presence of all the ProTour teams with the exception of French team Francaise des Jeux. All teams present took part in the vote with the exception of the Astana and Unibet.com team's who only became members of the ProTour over the winter.

Liquigas name their teams for the weekend

Italy's Liquigas team are another team who will be sending team's to the Het Volk, Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, GP Chiasso and the GP Lugano. In Belgium their leader will be Filippo Pozzato, the winner of last weekend's Tour du Haut Var.

Riding in support of the Italian star will be: Francesco Chicchi, Mauro Da Dalto, Murilo Fischer, Aliaksandr Kuchynski, Roberto Petito, Manuel Quinziato and Alessandro Vanotti. Team manager for both races will be Mario Scirea.

Mario Chiesa will lead the Liquigas team in Switzerland at the GP Chiasso and the GP Lugano where the team will be completed by: Leonardo Bertagnolli, Kjell Carlström, Francesco Failli (who will only ride the GP Chiasso), Roman Kreuziger, Matej Mugerli and Andrea Noè who will only ride the race in Lugano.
Pozzato said, "The feelings are good. My objective? To stay at the front of the race and to take my chance when it comes to me - The adversaries will be many - first of all, Tom Boonen.

Rabobank look for opportunities

For the Dutch Rabobank team the Omloop Het Volk has been the starting point for a number of years now. Yes the team have already seen competition numerous times this season with Oscar Freire taking numerous wins already but Rabobank sporting director Frans Maassen says, "personally, I see this race as the first contest of strength."

Earlier this week the team trained on the course even though the weather wasn't favorable. Speaking on rabobank.nl, Maassen continues, "We rode the final 120 kilometers after the Wall of Geraadsbergen. The guys were a little numb, but of course we have to practice. Additionally, the weather conditions might be similar on the day of the race. If that is the case, I do not foresee a bunch sprint at the end."

The Rabobank team for the Het Volk will be: Léon van Bon, Juan Antonio Fletcha, Sébastian Langeveld, Jan Boven, Gerben Löwik, Mathew Hayman, Max van Heeswijk, and Pedro Horrillo.

Maassen goes on saying, "Van Heeswijk and Van Bon bring a lot of experience to the table in these cobble-stone classics. Langeveld by the way, can also perform well on these type of tracks. Fletcha will make his debut in this race but he is of course a very experienced cyclist. Thus, we have a very broad team with a couple of cyclists that are in great shape. Löwik is riding very well, I think. Yes, I believe this is the best possible line-up. Freire? Could have been an option, but he is more focused on the Italian races." Milan-Sanremo?

Predictor-Lotto, Unibet.com and Agritubel for the Het Volk and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne

Predictor-Lotto, Unibet.com and French Pro-Continental team Agritubel have all named their riders for the races over the weekend in Belgium, the Het Volk and the Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne.

For Predictor-Lotto the selected riders are: Wim De Vocht, Leif Hoste, Robbie McEwen, Bert Roesems, Roy Sentjens, Greg Van Avermaet, Wim Vansevenant and Johan Vansummeren.

At the Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne Robbie McEwen, Greg Van Avermaet and Wim Vansevenant's places will be taken by the fresh legs of Tom Steels, Geert Steurs and Preben Van Hecke.

Unibet.com team manager Hilaire Van Der Schueren, speaking on unibetcycling.com said, "The team training went pretty well yesterday. We rode the final 160 kilometres from Oudenaarde till the finish line in Lokeren. Baden Cooke recovered well from his flu and is participating in Omloop Het Volk.".

The team that is registered in Sweden will be represented in Belgium by: Jimmy Casper, Baden Cooke, Arnaud Coyot, Gorik Gardeyn, Jeremy Hunt, Laurens ten Dam, Matthew Wilson and Marco Zanotti.

French team Agritubel will field: Aivaras Baranauskas, Emilien-Benoit Bergès, Cédric Coutouly, Hans Dekkers, Anthony Ravard, Denis Robin and Benoit Sinner.

ProCycleNews learns a little more about Toyota-United's Tour of California stage winner, Ivan Dominguez by Brian C. Grenier

I started writing this story as a recap of the Tour of California and I really struggled with that direction. While I looked at the numbers I was struck by the fact that only 2 stages were 'reportedly' won by an American! This I knew was totally wrong as Toyota-United's Ivan Dominguez blasted his way into the record books by capturing the final stage victory after coming out of no-where to beat down all the big boys for the win!

 I could hear Sean Tucker cheering all the way here on the east coast coming on the back of what surly had until that point been a disappointing week for the Toyota-United squad. Ivan brought home the bacon! 

"The guys is in such great form," stated Chris Baldwin during my interview with him during the Toyota-United pre-season training camp in California. “He has road maps all over his body." 

In a week dominated by the European ProTour teams and their riders, Ivan shined when it counted and shined brightest on the final stage!

Read the full interview here - click here...