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LATEST NEWS: CAVENDISH TO STAY AT COLUMBIA
Road Bike Action & AFP
November 30, 2009
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(Photo: Yuzuru Sunada)
Cavendish to Stay at Columbia
Mark
Cavendish has announced he will stay at Columbia-HTC for the 2010
season. Despite reports that Sky management to attract the world’s top
sprinter to the new British formation, Cavendish told The Times of
London that Columbia-HTC is the best place for him.
“I want to win and I want to be in the best place to do that, and that’s Columbia,” said Cavendish.
The
24-year-old cited his win in Milan-San Remo and his six stages at the
2009 Tour de France as reasons for his confidence in Columbia-HTC.
“If
Sky’s the best team in five years, I’ll be at Sky,” Cavendish said. “If
Radio Shack is the best team, I’ll be at Radio Shack. I’m going to get
paid the same wherever.”
“At Columbia,” he said, “I have a team built around me. That’s how we won Milan-Sanremo — we had eight guys riding just for me.”
The
Tour de France is clearly his favorite, though. “The emotions you get
from the Tour — I get goose bumps talking about it even now. It’s not a
job to win at the Tour, it’s a dream.”
Of the show he makes at
the finish line he said, “You can go to a race pretty relaxed, but it
is like going into the ring. Maybe I’m a bit of an actor when I’m
racing, but then professional worlds and private worlds are completely
different. You’ll never succeed professionally being gentle.”
Van den Broeck at the 2009 Tour de France(Photo: Yuzuru Sunada)
Van den Broeck Renegotiates With Silence-Lotto
With
a year still on his contract, Jurgen Van den Broeck has elected to
renegotiate his contract with Silence Lotto. The Belgian told Gazet van
Antwerpen that with Cadel Evans departure from the team he believed the
time was right to assume full leadership of the team.
Van den
Broeck added another year to his contract, which will now end in 2011.
The 26-year-old’s new roll within the team will coincide with a new
identity for the team with its name change to Omega Pharma-Lotto.
Van
den Broeck is very likely Belgium’s top hope for the Grand Tours
currently. He finished seventh at the 2008 Giro d’Italia and 15th at
the 2009 Tour de France.
“I think my performance in the Tour has
proven that I can handle the pressure, even when I was racing in Evans'
shadow," he said. "It will require me to take more responsibility and
entail more stress, but I'll be 27 soon; it's an appropriate age to
take the leadership.”
 Nys makes it 50(Photo: Roberto Bettini)
Nys Takes 50th Superprestige
On
Sunday, at Gieten, Netherlands, Sven Nys notched his 50th win in a
Superprestige cyclocross event. It’s a notable landmark for one of
cyclocross’ most dominant riders. Nys won in 59:15. Runner-up
Kevin Pauwels came across the line 27-seconds back, while third place
Niels Albert rolled in 1:02 down.
Near the finish line a spectator handed Nys a trophy displaying the number 50, which he held aloft for the crowd to see. Nys
now leads the Superprestige series by two points. He has 71 to Albert’s
69 points. Zdenek Stybar (fourth that day) holds third place in the
series, another two points back with 67.
Robert Forster in action at the 3 Days of DePanne(Photo: Yuzuru Sunada)
Germany's Team Milram Enter Australia Tour
Sprinter
Robert Forster will spearhead the German Team Milram at Australia's
Tour Down Under in January, organisers said on Monday. Forster
has ridden in the Tour de France three times (2005, 2007, 2008) and is
rated by his team as one of the best sprinters in international cycling.
"Forster
has had stage wins in the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a Espana and
will be one to watch vying for sprint points in January," tour race
director Mike Turtur said.
Joining Forster will be Australian
Olympic team pursuit gold medallist Luke Roberts and experienced German
Markus Fothen, a former under-23 world time trial champion, who has
ridden in the Tour de France for the past three years.
Milram's
team for the 2010 Tour Down Under are: Robert Forster (GER), Markus
Fothen (GER), Artur Gajek (GER), Thomas Rohregger (GER), Wim Stroetinga
(NED), Luke Roberts (AUS) and Bjorn Schroder (GER).
The Tour
Down Under will be staged around Adelaide January 17-24 and is
headlined by seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong and
Australia's world road cycling champion Cadel Evans.
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