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LATEST NEWS: CANCELLARA FOR SALE
Road Bike Action & AFP
September 3, 2010
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(Photo: Yuzuru Sunada)
According to the French paper l’Equipe, even though he has another year left with Sungard/Saxo Bank, Bjarne Riis is willing to allow anyone who wants Fabian Cancellara to buy out his contract. There’s just one hitch: It will cost the team 3 million euro.
As the winner of both the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix as well as the reigning world champion in the time trial, Cancellara is one of the world’s most popular and sought-after riders.
However, that sum will prove prohibitive to all but a few teams with exceptionally deep pockets. Speculation is high that the Luxembourg team of Andy and Frank Schleck is interested in Cancellara, but team director Brian Nygaard has been mum on the 20 riders the team has signed so far.
Alberto Contador celebrates his Tour de France victory.(Photo: Yuzuru Sunada)
Contador to Skip World Championships
Reigning Tour de France champion Alberto Contador will skip the UCI Road World Championships this year in order to better prepare for next season, the Spanish team coach said Friday.
"I spoke to (Contador) on the phone and he told me he preferred not to extend his season in order to face next season with more guarantees," said the
coach, Jose Luis de Santos.
Contador has also skipped this month's Tour of Spain after a hard-fought win in the Tour de France in July, his third victory in the race.
De Santos was speaking at a news conference called to announce the squad of 21 riders from which he will select the team to take part in the UCI Road
World Championships, to be held in Australia from September 29 to October 3.
The final 11-member team, which will include nine riders in the road race and two in the time-trial, will be announced before the end of the Tour of
Spain on September 19.
The preliminary squad includes three-time World Road Race champion Oscar Freire, 34, and the Olympic champion, Samuel Sanchez.
Aside from Contador, also missing will be last year's Tour of Spain champion Alejandro Valverde, who is serving a two-year doping suspension.
De Santos said Valverde's absence was "a major loss, not only because he's a great rider but because he holds the team together in general by the way he
conducts himself".
Preliminary Spain squad for UCI World Championships:
Javier Moreno, Imanol Erviti, Ivan Gutierrez, Pablo Lastras, Luis Pasamontes, Ruben Plaza, Jose Joaquin Rojas, Luis Leon Sanchez, Francisco Jose
Ventoso, Xavier Tondo, Koldo Fernandez, Egoi Martinez, Samuel Sanchez, Carlos Barredo, Oscar Freire, Juan Manuel Garate, Juan Antonio Flecha, Joaquim Rodriguez, Haimar Zubeldia, Gustavo Cesar Veloso, David Garcia
Juan Antonio Flecha at the Tour de France.(Photo: Yuzuru Sunada)
Spain's Flecha Hit by Sky Team Virus
Spanish cyclist Juan Antonio Flecha has been treated in hospital for a virus that has hit Team Sky in the Tour of
Spain, a spokesman for the British team said Friday.
Flecha took part in Friday's seventh stage despite being admitted to hospital during the night, the spokesman said in a statement.
He said Flecha was suffering from a virus that has already forced Team Sky riders John Lee Augustyn and Britain's Ben Swift out of the race.
"Doctors recommended Flecha withdraw from the race if he was still suffering from fever or nausea," he said.
The source of the virus was not immediately clear, but Team Sky has so far ruled out food poisoning.
The team said one of its staff remained hospitalised in the southern city of Seville, where the Tour of Spain started on August 28.
Thor Hushovd celebrates his stage 6 win at the Vuelta a Espana(Photo: Yuzuru Sunada)
Garmin-Cervelo Recruits Hushovd, Plus Six More
With the combine of Garmin and Cervelo it was expected some riders would move from Cervelo Test Team to Garmin-Transitions. The biggest signing announced thus far is Thor Hushovd, winner of the sixth stage of the Vuelta a Espana.
Garmin-Transitions has announced that it has also signed Roger Hammond and Daniel Lloyd, Australian Brett Lancaster and Heinrich Haussler, Germany's Andreas Klier and Gabriel Rasch of Norway.
Current cornerstones of the team, Christian Vande Velde, David Zabriskie, Tyler Farrar and Ryder Hesjedal are all said to be returning for the 2011 season.
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