Podium Cafe (Free subscription) | 11/04/2009
Interesting assortment of nominations as you'll see below. No dopers. But injured riders still count. Poll Who was THE most disappointing rider of 2009? Nick Nuyens Linus Gerdemann Svein Tuft Simon Spilak Marzio Bruseghin Greg Van Avermaet Gert Steegmans Igor Anton Levi Leipheimer Bauke Mollema Alessandro Ballan Rigoberto Uran Enrico Gasparotto Other? 14 votes | Results
Podium Cafe (Free subscription) | 11/02/2009
Teams, riders, results, oh my! Here is the second part of the monster Chris created last week, an overview of the teams after the transfer season is all-but closed. The list follows no particular order, because that would be far, far too organized. Okay, let’s go. Lampre-Vini Farnese v. 2009. It was a forgettable season for Lampre this year. World Champion Alessandro Ballan lost most of his season...
Euro Peloton - Pro Cycling News (Free subscription) | 11/02/2009
Cadel Evans, like he did in Mendrisio at the world championships, acted swiftly and decisively over the final few weeks of the 2009 cycling season, and Australia's best stage racer has chosen to sign with the American BMC team for 2010. The newly crowned world champion bought himself out of the final year of his contract with the Silence-Lotto team, and inked a three year deal with BMC, joining such...
Euro Peloton - Pro Cycling News (Free subscription) | 10/26/2009
The BMC cycling team is no longer a mid-level domestic squad. They have, over the past few months, morphed into a powerhouse team with an International roster capable of winning a variety of races in 2010. The biggest names to sign are undoubtedly the threesome of George Hincapie, Alessandro Ballan and Karsten Kroon. The three, each suited differently to one day races, should have a profound affect...
cyclingnews.com (Free subscription) | 10/22/2009
A camp held this month in Zurich has given some of the BMC Racing team a chance to prepare for the 2010 season, a year which should mark a significant step forward for the Professional Continental squad. The American-registered, Swiss-backed set-up has made some high profile signings, and directeur sportif John Lelangue is feeling upbeat about the evolution. “It is a big step forward to have...
cyclingnews.com (Free subscription) | 10/06/2009
Sacramento, California has seen both the dramatic return of Lance Armstrong and local racer Chad Gerlach to the pro peloton in 2009, but while Armstrong stood on the podium at the Nevada City Classic, Tour de France and Leadville 100, Gerlach's 'summer vacation' has turned tragic, as the 36-year-old has relapsed into living on the streets to panhandle for drinking money. Gerlach, racing for the Amore...
cyclingnews.com (Free subscription) | 10/05/2009
Italy's Alessandro Ballan has big plans for the season's finale despite ending his year in the rainbow jersey of World Champion last week. On Saturday, he raced for the first time in over a year in Lampre-NGC's trade team colours at the Memorial Cimurri. "I miss the jersey a little bit. It had become normal for me to put it on before a race," Ballan said to Cyclingnews . "But the rainbow...
Tour de France 2007 (Free subscription) | 09/28/2009
Evans Races Home, originally uploaded by Dot Cycling. Maybe Australia's Cadel Evans was just waiting for the right moment. Evans, who has earned a reputation as a GC rider who is content to ride within himself and wait for others to fail, launched a brilliant attack from about 4 kilometers out, then fought off a counter by Alexander Kolobnev and Joaquin Rodriguez to take the biggest win of his road...
VeloNews (Free subscription) | 09/27/2009
Spain and Italy have forged a healthy rivalry in the men's world championship road race, with four wins apiece this past decade. But both were left behind to watch on Sunday as Cadel Evans soloed away to claim the latest rainbow jersey on offer. Thanks to Paolo Bettini in 2006 and 2007, and Alessandro Ballan in 2008, Italy has been the team to beat of late. Damiano Cunego, second to Ballan last year,...
VeloNews (Free subscription) | 09/26/2009
In what’s no surprise, the Italian and Spanish teams are leading the odds to win Sunday’s elite men’s world title. Just as they have for the past decade, Italy and Spain bring deep squads with two or three options to win the season’s most important one-day race on the calendar. Leading Sunday for Italy will be last year’s runner-up Damiano Cunego, with defending champion...
cyclingnews.com (Free subscription) | 09/26/2009
Italy 1 Alessandro Ballan 2 Ivan Basso 3 Marzio Bruseghin 4 Damiano Cunego 5 Stefano Garzelli 6 Luca Paolini 7 Filippo Pozzato 8 Michele Scarponi 9 Giovanni Visconti Spain 10 Carlos Barredo Llamazales 11 Juan Jose Cobo Acebo 12 Oscar Freire Gomez 13 Juan Manuel Garate Cepa 14 Daniel Moreno ...
Podium Cafe (Free subscription) | 09/25/2009
I can't bring myself to do a mundane list of contenders; more talented people than I are typing away at such exercises everywhere, with Gavia's work at Steephill the first place to look. But I do loves me some team tactics projection, and I've never been shy about inserting facts based on what sounds good. Plus team tactics are always a bit of a curiosity at the Worlds, where trade team rivals are...
cyclingnews.com (Free subscription) | 09/23/2009
Damiano Cunego has called for his Italian teammates to be sincere in an assessment of their form leading into Sunday's world championship road race. Cunego, who goes into the event as one of the hot favourites, told Reuters that an honest appraisal of the form of each of his teammates will be vital in determining who the team rides for, adding that they Italian manager Franco Ballerini has many strong...
Swisster (Free subscription) | 09/21/2009
The picturesque town of Mendrisio, known for its friendly natives, is preparing to host the World Cycling Championships which get underway Tuesday in canton Ticino. It's 38 years since the town last held the event, noted for its road duel between the five-time Tour de France winner Eddy "The Cannibal" Merckx of Belgium and Italian Felice Gimondi, a battle almost inevitably won by the former....
cyclingnews.com (Free subscription) | 09/19/2009
Twelve months ago, Matti Breschel surprised with a third place in the World Championships. The Danish rider sprinted in as part of a small group which crossed the line three seconds behind winner Alessandro Ballan (Italy). "If I can find the legs of last year, it should be good," he told Cyclingnews . "I hope to go for a medal again, otherwise Jacob Fuglsang is showing he is ready and...
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