Due to his injury, Leipheimer will miss Paris-Nice
(Photo: Roberto Bettini)
Fractures For Leipheimer And Vaitkus, Leipheimer Out Of Paris-Nice
An MRI scan revealed an undisplaced fracture of the sacrum of Levi Leipheimer. It resulted from a crash in the third stage of the Amgen Tour of California. This fracture didn't prevent him from winning the time trial and the overall classification in that Tour of California, although he suffered from a lot of pain. Because of his injury Leipheimer will not start in Paris-Nice. The Vuelta a Castilla y León will be his first race after his recovery period.
Tomas Vaitkus and Valeriy Dmitriyev crashed in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday. The Kazakh rider has a big contusion of the muscles of the right calf and will be out for minimum two weeks.
Lithuanian road champion Tomas Vaikus, on his way to a top 5 placing in the race, could not escape a crash of another rider in the final sprint and went down as well. He has an undisplaced fracture of the head of the right radius bone in the right elbow; the same type of fracture Alberto Contador had in the Giro d'Italia of 2008. A CAT scan of a painful wrist did not reveal any fracture.
 Landis will lead the OUCH team at the La Vuelta Mexico
(Photo: Roberto Bettini)
OUCH Heads South Of The Border
The OUCH Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis will look to continue the momentum built during the Amgen Tour of California as it travels south of the border to contest la Vuelta Mexico, March 1-8.
Floyd Landis, who made his return to racing at the Amgen Tour, will lead the team. “This race is a good opportunity to get Floyd and the rest of the guys ready for the first part of the U.S. season,” said team Directeur Sportif Mike Tamayo. “After a two-and-a-half year layoff, Floyd is still looking for his race legs. He showed some signs of it the last couple days of California, but this is a good race to continue his progress. The field is full of quality riders, and the race is done entirely at altitude, including some climbs that approach 12,000 feet.”
OUCH Presented by Maxxis brings a mix of stage racers and sprinters for the Vuelta, including Landis’ lieutenant Pat McCarty, as well as Cam Evans and Roman Kilun to help with the climbs. For sprints and breaks, the team will look to Karl Menzies, John Murphy, Andrew Pinfold and Bradley White.
“California was a hard race to start off the season,” McCarty said, “but the guys came together really well and we all came out of it stronger than we went into it. I think we’re going into Mexico with a lot of good momentum after California.”
OUCH Presented by Maxxis will face stiff competition in Mexico, including two of its primary rivals on the U.S. domestic scene: Team Type 1 and Rock Racing. The Rock squad will be led by last year’s Vuelta Mexico champion Glen Chadwick, as well as U.S. national champion Tyler Hamilton.
They will also have to contend with Gilberto Simoni (Serramenti-Diquigiovanni), who will be using the Vuelta Mexico as part of his preparation for an assault on yet another Giro d’Italia overall title.
“There should be a lot of hard racing this week,” McCarty added. “This race will set us up really well for San Dimas and then the start of the NRC series in Redlands at the end of March.”
OUCH Presented by Maxxis for La Vuelta Mexico, March 1-8:
Cam Evans, CAN
Roman Kilun, USA
Floyd Landis, USA
Pat McCarty, USA
Karl Menzies, AUS
John Murphy, USA
Andrew Pinfold, CAN
Bradley White, USA
 Armstrong will attend the La Vuelta Mexico but will not race.
Simoni And Armstrong To Mexico
Gilberto Simoni and Lance Armstrong are scheduled to appear at the presentation of the Vuelta Mexico Telmex. The race starts on Sunday in Oaxaca, Mexico. The Vuelta Mexico Telemex will run from March 1 through March 8.
Simoni (Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli) will race the Vuelta Mexico Telemex after finishing 10th place overall at the Vuelta a Andalucía. He will use the race as final preperation for Tirreno-Adriatico.
Armstrong will not take place in the race, but will attend the team presentation. His Trek-Livestrong U25 team, including pursuit World Cup champion Taylor Phinney, will compete. Favorites for the race include Glen Chadwick and Tyler Hamilton of Rock Racing, and Floyd Landis of the OUCH Presented By Maxxis team.
 The Fuji-Servetto team is fighting to be able to compete in Paris-Nice
(Photo: Roberto Bettini)
Fuji-Servetto Takes Its Case To CAS
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) will expedited a hearing for Fuji-Servetto team. The team was left off of the invitation list for upcoming races Paris-Nice, Tirreno-Adriatico and Milano-Sanremo. The team is requesting the arbitration with race organizers Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) and RCS Sport and the International Cycling Union (UCI).
ASO, which also organizes the Tour de France, and RCS Sport left the Fuji-Servetto team off the list of invited teams for Paris-Nice and the Giro d'Italia, Tirreno-Adriatico and Milan-Sanremo.
The exclusion stems from Fuji-Servetto's manager Mauro Gianetti who was the previous owner of the Saunier Duval team which, in 2008, left the Tour de France after Riccardo Riccò tested positive for EPO-CERA. His fellow Italian teammate Leonardo Piepoli later tested positive for the drug. The Italian International Olympic Committee (CONI) subsequently suspended both riders.
Since Paris-Nice, the first race in dispute, begins on March 8, CAS offered an expedited procedure with a final decision by March 6.
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