Addison Lee boss may face criminal charges

Addison Lee boss John Griffin may face criminal charges after encouraging his minicab firm's drivers to break the law by driving in London bus lanes, says The Times.

Griffin, who caused controversy last week when he said that cyclists who are killed or injured in London have only themselves to blame, had promised that the firm would pay any fines incurred by the drivers. The Crown Prosecution Service will now decide if Griffin can be charged with encouraging or assisting an offence, which replaced incitement to commit a criminal act in 2008 as part of the Serious Crime Act. There are three relevant sections in the Act - Section 44 refers to cases in which the accused is deemed to have carried out an act capable of encouraging or assisting the commission of an offence and intending to encourage or assist its commission; Section 45 refers to those in which the accused believes that the act will as a result be committed and knows that the act will encourage or assist the commission of it; Section 46 - which seems most relevant in the circumstances - refers to those in which the accused believes that one or more of those offences will be committed, but having no belief as to which, and that the act will encourage or assist the commission of one or more of them.

The maximum penalty appears to be equal to that for the crime that has been encouraged (don't quote me on that one, I'm not a lawyer) which, for driving in a bus lane, is a £130 penalty. There is presumably some scope for deciding how many of Addison Lee's drivers might have committed the offence and how often - if so, as the company has 3,500 vehicles, Griffin's promise to his drivers might turn out to cost a great deal more than he thought.

The full Times article can be read here.

Addison Lee

Kaya Burgess of The Times reports that there has been a "very interesting development" in the ongoing saga of Addison Lee and London bus lanes. Those who followed the story after company boss John Griffin got himself in trouble for saying that cyclists killed or injured on the capital's roads may recall that he had also caused problems for himself by encouraging his minicab drivers to use the lanes - which are reserved for buses, taxis, motorbikes and bicycles - and telling them that the company would pay any fines they incurred for doing so. This, combined with his comments on cyclists (which he later claimed were an attempt to open a debate and help save cyclists' lives), resulted in the loss of several corporate accounts and widespread condemnation from both the government and the public.

So what could this new development be? Burgess says that he will reveal further details when he is able. Could it be a large fine? Might Addison Lee be about to lose its private hire licence, preventing the company from operating as a cab firm? Keep an eye on The Times to find out.

Cycling Evening News 03.05.12

Swift end to the Giro for Sky's Ben - Tour of the Gila - Brailsford will select Millar - Italy drops National Team lifetime ban for ex-dopers - Surprise success for Afghan team at Pakistan Women's Nats - Weylandt's girlfriend to attend Giro - Kampenhout honours Impanis - Yorkshire CX series - Leipheimer uncertain for Tour of California - Hulsmans will miss Giro - Yawn: another "I ride a bike but I'm still a lady" story - Cancellara's recovering - Other racing news - Addison Lee damage limitation exercise - Cycling newswire

Racing
Swift end to the Giro for Sky's Ben
It's looking unfortunately as though the Giro d'Italia is already over for Team Sky's Ben Swift - the 24-year-ol reported via his Twitter feed that he had a heavy crash during training on Thursday and will have to undergo tests. British Cycling reports that he has suffered a fractured shoulder..

Ben Swift ‏ @swiftybswift well that is my Giro over, had a very heavy crash out on the bike today very disappointed not to be able to start. further checks tomorrow

He will be replaced by Jeremy Hunt (born on the 12th of March in 1974, Hunt does not become the oldest man in the race as has been reported elsewhere - Luca Mazzanti was born on the 4th of February in the same year).

Tour of the Gila

Kristin Armstrong, now with Exergy Twenty12

Kristin Armstrong (Exergy Twenty12) rode a remarkable stage to finish no less than 2'18" faster than second place Carmen Small yesterday, grabbing herself a considerable lead in the General Classification.

Alison Powers ‏ @alpcyclesThe Mo-ge-on and @k_armstrong hurt my legs today. Team did great and I was 4th.

Top Ten
  1.  Kristin Armstrong Exergy Twenty12 3h15'39"
  2.  Carmen Small Team Optum Presented By Kelly Benefit Strategies +2'18"
  3.  Jade Wilcoxson Team Optum Presented By Kelly Benefit Strategies +2'42"
  4.  Alison Powers NOW and Novartis for MS +2'48"
  5.  Janel Holcomb Team Optum Presented By Kelly Benefit Strategies +3'35"
  6.  Robin Farina NOW and Novartis for MS +3'39"
  7.  Emily Kachorek Primal/MapMyRide +3'43""
  8.  Tayler Wiles Exergy Twenty12 +3'54"
  9.  Catherine Johnson Panache Boulder +4'00"
  10.  Olivia Dillon NOW and Novartis for MS +4'16"
Full results and GC

Rory Sutherland (UnitedHealthcare Presented By Maxxis) was the fastest man on the challenging climb into the Mogollon Mountains at the end of Stage 1 at the Tour of the Gila yesterday, winning the stage after cruising over the finish line with a 12" advantage over a three-man chase group.

Top Ten
  1.  Rory Sutherland UnitedHealthcare Presented By Maxxis 4h45'43"
  2.  Joseph Dombrowski Bontrager Livestrong +12"
  3.  Chad Beyer Competitive Cyclist Racing Team +14"
  4.  Sebastian Salas Team Optum Presented By Kelly Benefit Strategies ST
  5.  Christopher Baldwin Bissel +33"
  6.  Marc De Maar UnitedHealthcare Presented By Maxxis +39"
  7.  Francisco Mancebo Competitive Cyclist Racing Team +52"
  8.  Luis Enrique Davila +1'02"
  9.  Cesar Grajales Competitive Cyclist Racing Team ST
  10.  Carlos Lopez Gonzalez +1'14"
Full results and GC

For the men, 128.7km Stage 2 both starts and finishes at Fort Bayard - a historic frontier fort that was once home to the Buffalo Soldiers (known also as "The Negro Cavalry," they were one of several troops made up of black soldiers and not fully integrated into other units until the 1950s) who, in the 1890s, were elected to be the first "bicycle troop" because bikes were cheaper than the horses supplied to other (white) troops. On their first test ride, over 3,056km from Montana to Missouri, they proved themselves able to cover the distance more quickly than the horses.

They reach the first Cat 3 climb at 16km and climb to 2,164m, then the second begins at 24km and climbs to 2,361m. After crossing the Continental Divide (with an uncategorised climb of, oh, only 2,045m) they head to a final and very steep Cat 3 at 100km, climbing to 2,070m before the descent and last 16km back to Fort Bayard. The women use a similar parcours but miss the first 25.4km and climb, beginning instead at Pinos Altos. The remainder of the route is identical to the men's.


Brailsford will select Millar

The only thing that can now keep
David Millar from the Olympics is
David Millar

Dave Brailsford says he will select David Millar for the British Olympic team as long as he's fast enough. "He's available and that's the key thing, it's not my decision to make policy," he told reporters at a press conference yesterday in the wake of the Court for Arbitration in Sport's decision to end the British Olympic Association's lifetime ban on athletes who have been banned for doping.

However, it's still not clear if the rider will accept. Millar, who served a two-year suspension for EPO, has said that he has no wish to compete as a "black sheep," but hoped the CAS would block the law so that he can represent Scotland at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Italy drops its own National Team doping ban
The FCI, Italy's cycling federation, has lifted its own lifetime ban on riders riding on the National team after a doping conviction, despite having already survived one legal challenge from Danilo di Luca. The policy had come under attack again recently with an appeal mounted by Annalisa Cucinotta, who served a two-year suspension after testing positive for Boldenone - an anabolic steroid not approved for human use and primarily prescribed by veterinarians to horses. The recent CAS decision in the BOA case will have been received by the FCI as an indication that they had little chance of continuing the policy.

Annalisa Cucinotta

In Britain, as far as cycling is concerned David Millar has been the biggest name in the case (though he chose not to play an active part in the appeal). In Italy, the end of the rule frees up a number of high-profile riders who may now be selected for their nation's Olympic team, including Davide Rebellin, Stefano Garzelli, Alessandro Petacchi and Ivan Basso as well as di Luca.


Surprise success for Afghan women at Pakistan Nationals
The Pakistan Railways team won two of three medals on offer in Day 2 at the Pakistan National Women's Championships after winning the 20km team time trial and 1km sprint. Punjab took gold for the 1km individual time trial. A surprise success was the Afghanistan National Team, competing for the first time after receiving an invitation to the race due to the lack of events in their own nation - they won two bronze medals by coming third in the same events won by the Railways team. Further races will be held today at Lahore's open-air velodrome.

An-Sophie to attend Giro
Wouter Weylandt's girlfriend Ann-Sophie de Graeve will visit two stages of the Giro d'Italia. "I've never spoken about Wouter's death because I haven't been able to find the words to do so," she told Gazzetta dello Sport. "I was looking for reasons and explanations, not places, but I couldn't find them."

Weylandt, a rider with Leopard Trek, died on the 9th of May last year during Stage 3 as he descended the Passo del Bocco after his pedal touched a wall running alongside the road, throwing him to the other side of the road. A doctor working with the Garmin-Cervélo team administered CPR in an attempt to revive him, but an autopsy later found he had died immediately upon impact from a fractured skull and massive internal injuries.

An-Sophie, who gave birth to their daughter on the 1st of September 2011, will visit Stage 3 in Denmark and the following time trial stage in Verona.

Kampenhout honours Impanis

Raymond Impanis, 19.10.1925 - 31.12.2010

The council of Kampenhout unveiled a commemorative bust of Raymond Impanis in the town's Sint-Servaaskerk last week. A winner of the Ronde van Vlaanderen, the Waalse Pijl, Paris-Roubaix and two editions of Gent-Wevelgem and Paris-Nice, Impanis was considered one of the finest Classics riders of the 1950s but also did well in stage races with third place in the 1956 Vuelta a Espana, finished in the top ten of the Tour de France three times and once at the Giro d'Italia.

Born in Berg on about the 19th of October 1925 and abandoned as a baby on the steps of the village church, Impanis was found by a priest and raised by the local baker - his surname being based on the Latin plural "panis," plural of bread. He lived around Kampenhout for the rest of his life, was made an Honourary Citizen in 1999 and died in the 31st of December 2010 at the age of 85.


Yorkshire CX Summer Series off to a good start
The Yorkshire Pedalsport Cyclo Cross Summer Series got underway yesterday at Oakbank School in Keighley with Ian Taylor (Craven Energy) making good use of a parcours made very tough by recent heavy rain to battle his way through to the front on the very first lap and a ten second advantage. He then continued to add to it all the way to the end of the race, finishing with a lead of 2'41" over second place Ed McParland (GT Racing).

Leipheimer uncertain for Tour of California

Kevin Hulsmans, now with Farnese Vini-Selle Italia

Levi Leipheimer, who was involved in a collision with a car one day before he was due to start the Tour of the Basque Country, is worried that he may not have sufficiently recovered in time for the Tour of California. The rider sustained a broken leg in the accident, leading some to wonder if - at the age of 38 - his career might be over, though he has not yet given any indication that he has considered retiring.

Hulsmans will miss the Giro
Kevin Hulsmans, who had been chosen for the Farnese Vini-Selle Italia Giro team, will miss the race due to an inflamed knee he's been suffering since Paris-Roubaix. Instead, he'll concentrate on recovering in time for the Ronde van België.

Yawn - another "I ride a bike but I'm still a lady" story
On the morning of her Olympic appearance in London this summer," says the The Toronto Star, "Emily Batty will first attend to her own appearance." The newspaper then goes on to describe how she will put on her make-up, fasten a string of pearls about her neck and diamonds in her ears before she tackles the cross country course.

"I’m a cyclist, that’s my profession, my passion, but I’m definitely a woman first," she says. OK Emily, that's fair enough. You can ride in whatever you like, even a frilly pink frock and high-heels if you choose (provided the UCI allow it, and you can find high-heels with pedal cleats). That's your business and nobody has the right to tell you otherwise. It's the fact and way that this is presented as news that is an issue.

Apparently, "the emerging mountain bike superstar has a supermodel-like appeal for young male fans of the sport" - a comment that does women's cycling no favours at all, because we most definitely do not want any young women considering taking up cycling to think that they need to impress male fans if they're going to get anywhere. It's a hard and, often, ugly sport, and those women who compete do so because they are competitive athletes, not to look good - which is precisely how it should be.

"Batty, just 5-foot-2, says the sport has always been a male bastion, but that her emergence as a top draw star may be helping to erode its machismo," the article continues (in actual fact, she doesn't say that at all - she says that "carrying feminine ways" into cycling makes her easy for fans to recognise). Bullshit. Women such as Alfonsina Strada, Elsy Jacobs, Beryl Burton, Jeannie Longo, Missy Giove, Leontien van Moorsel, Caroline Alexander, Judith Arndt, Ina-Yoko Teutenberg and Marianne Vos have been eroding the machismo of cycling and making inroads for other women to follow them for years; not by looking pretty out on the parcours but by being excellent cyclists. Batty may well do the same if she's good enough (and going by her palmares to date, she probably is), but not because of how she looks.

Nobody worth listening to has ever believed that cycling (or any other sport) in some way reduces a woman's femininity, nor that femininity is the measure of a woman's value. Once again, Emily Batty can wear whatever the hell she likes, but reporting the fact that she slaps on a bit of lippy before a race is categorically not news, nor do cycling fans - nor those who are going to become cycling fans and/or riders - care. Worst of all, reporting it in the way that The Star did may damage the sport.

Cancellara's getting better
Fabian Cancellara, whose Spring Classics campaign was brought to a sudden halt by the quadruple collarbone fracture he suffered at the Ronde van Vlaanderen, says that recovery is taking more time than expected but it won't be longer.

"I thought, 'hey, it's my collarbone, that heals quickly,'" the Swiss rider explains, "but the breaks were just a part of it. There's also the damage around the bone - my shoulder, the ligaments, the muscles, it was all damaged. It still feel strange and painful. I could take painkillers, but I prefer to do without. I felt hopeful after the surgery and the pain disappeared quickly, so I stopped taking painkillers then. Everything was going well, sensation returned - then I had another ultrasound and they found another tear in the ligaments

"What I have to do now is find a new position on the bike. The handlebars and saddle are different to what I'm used too because I have to sit as upright as possible, which is uncomfortable. I feel like a cyclotourist!"(More from Het Nieuwsblad)


Other News
"Youth circuit racing is popular" (Stratford Observer, London)

"Brit Stannard ready for Grand Tour outing" (British Cycling)

"Giro d'Italia with a future start in Germany?" (Cycling News)

"Porte tries Dauphine route to Games" (Brisbane Times)

"Waikato's Jaime Nielsen won the bragging rights over her Olympic teammates on the first day of the national club cycling road race championships today" (NZHerald)

"Amateur cyclists will attempt “America’s Toughest Stage Race” in Utah" (Examiner)


"Utah welcomes the USA Cycling Collegiate Road Nationals" (Daily Peloton)

"Cyclists storm Maple Ridge streets" (Maple Ridge News, Canada)

Stephen de Jongh on Sky's Giro squad (Gazzetta dello Sport)

"Second Edition Of National Cycling Tour Of Ghana Launched In Accra" (Government of Ghana)

Cycling
Addison Lee to introduce cyclist awareness training for drivers

Addison Lee - the London minicab firm that found itself in a real-life PR nightmare last month after chairman John Griffin claimed that the capital's cyclists have only themselves to blame if they're killed or injured on the roads - has announced that its drivers will be given special training to increase their awareness of cyclists.

The news was revealed to BikeBiz editor Carlton Reid in an interview with Addison Lee's PR director Alistair Laycock, who claims to have started cycling to work and that the company is looking into the practicalities of installing video cameras in its fleet to provide a record of what happens in a crash and take action against a driver if he or she is found to be at fault. (More from road.cc)

So that's alright then, isn't it?

Erm - well, no, actually. It'd be wonderful if it was, but this sounds suspiciously like a company desperately trying to claw its way back out of the big hole dug by Mr. Griffin after discovering that cyclists are numerous, proactive and in possession of considerable political clout rather than failed loners who can't afford to drive or take cabs, as he apparently previously believed. Only by keeping an eye on Addison Lee in the future will we know for certain if the company - and Griffin - genuinely do wish to help prevent injury to cyclists or whether this is just an attempt to placate an enemy who turned out to be much more formidable than they had initially assumed. Are these long-term plans or will they be forgotten as soon as the media furore dies down? We'll be watching you, Addison Lee.

Newswire
Britain
"Cycling safety fears are stopping more hitting the saddle" (The Courier)

"How cycle safety has gone up the election agenda in London" (BBC)

Worldwide
"The Union of cyclists held the demonstration on the Earth's Day" (Dalje, Croatia)

"Cyclists accuse Toronto mayor Ford of 'war on bikes'" (BBC)

"A man who allegedly helped his friend flee a hit-and-run collision with a cyclist has been charged" (WA Today, Australia)

"Once downright hostile to cyclists, Fresno has come a long way" (Fresno Bee)

"Bicycles, coffee, and beer: the next generation of bicycle shop hits Carytown" (RVANews, Virginia)

"There's room for more bicyclists in Yuba-Sutter" (AppealDemocrat, California)

"Pedals turning on cycling plan" (Woodstock Sentinel Review, Ontario)

Cycling Evening News 27.04.12

Festival Luxembourgeois Elsy Jacobs - Tour de Romandie (video) - Tour of Turkey - Gracia Orlova - Fuglsang cannot ride Giro - Sky reveal Cav-led Giro squad - New sponsor for GreenEDGE - Contador hints at SaxoBank return - Tony Martin plans ultrafast comeback - Landis could face $1 million fine or 30 years imprisonment - Lampre announce Giro squad - Voeckler pays his respects to African riders - New Cleveland velodrome free for under-18s - Keep digging, Griffin - The War On Britain's Roads - Smirk helmet masks - Hit and run caught on helmetcam - Newswire

Racing
Festival Luxembourgeois Elsy Jacobs
For anybody who cares about women's cycling, it's very easy to feel miserable at the moment with races being cancelled all over the world. Be thankful, then, that this weekend brings us that celebration of all things good in women's cycling, the Festival Luxembourgeois Elsy Jacobs. Beginning on Friday evening with a lightning-fast 1.7km individual time trial prologue parcours in Luxembourg City, the race also features stages on Saturday and Sunday.

Top Ten
  1.  Annemiek Van Vleuten Rabobank 2'11"
  2.  Judith Arndt GreenEDE +1"
  3.  Hanka Kupfernagel RusVelo ST
  4.  Marianne Vos Rabobank +2"
  5.  Charlotte Becker Specialized-Lululemon ST
  6.  Linda Villumsen GreenEDGE +3"
  7.  Shara Gillow GreenEDGE ST
  8.  Leire Olaberria Dorronsoro ST
  9.  Emilia Fahlin Specialized-Lululemon +4"
  10.  Amber Neben Specialized-Lululemon ST
Full results (more details) (start list).

Tour de Romandie
Friday's Stage 3 (map) started at La Neuveville, a village that holds city status since it's still protected by well-preserved medieval defensive walls complete with towers (la Tour de Rive features on many a postcard). After a flat start, riders faced a short climb 20km into the stage at Mont Vully followed by a flattish 30km to Cat 3 Arrissoules (640m) - then it was mountains all the way. The first big ascent was the uncategorised climb up to Sarzens beginning after 77km, followed by 23km to Cat 2 Le Chatelard with the summit at 1,002m - with a fast descent that guaranteed exciting, high-speed racing and a big opportunity for a break to increase their lead. The last categorised mountain was the Cat 3 Treyvaux to 810m, but a final climb lurked at the end of the stage before the riders drew up to this finish line in Charmey.

Luis León Sánchez

Anders Lund (SaxoBank), Gatis Smukulis (Katusha), Leigh Howard (GreenEDGE), Matt Brammeier (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) and Tosh van der Sande (Lotto-Belisol) got away soon after the race began and succeeded in gaining a lead of as much as six minutes, then Smukulis put the wind up the peloton by launching an attack 17km from the finish line. His three comrades were soon caught and put back in their places, but he managed to keep going to within 5km of the line before being swept up by the pack as it began preparing itself for a final mass sprint at the top of the last climb. That's classic all-rounder territory, so it no surprise that victory went to a classic all-rounder - an apt description of Rabobank's Luis León Sánchez, who edged over the line with a miniscule lead over the bunch. Gianni Meersman was on his back wheel for second, with Paolo Tiralongo (Astana) right behind them for third. Sky's Bradley Wiggins retains his General Classification lead, but with Sánchez picking up a usefull 10 bonification seconds today the British rider's advantage is down just a second and anything could happen.

Crashes took down two  Lotto-Belisol riders. Adam Hansen was taken to hospital and is reported to be suffering concussion and extensive brusing, whereas Kenny Dehaes was able to get up and complete the stage - he later Tweeted to say that while he was in pain, nothing seemed to be broken.

Top Ten
  1.  Luis Leon Sanchez Gil Rabobank 3h58'29"
  2.  Gianni Meersman Lotto-Belisol ST
  3.  Paolo Tiralongo Astana ST
  4.  Andrew Talansky Garmin-Barracuda ST
  5.  Bauke Mollema Rabobank ST
  6.  Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R-La Mondiale ST
  7.  Maciej Paterski Liquigas-Cannondale ST
  8.  Giampaolo Caruso Katusha ST
  9.  Gorka Verdugo Marcotegui Euskaltel-Euskadi ST
  10.  Fabrice Jeandesboz Saur-Sojasun ST
(Full results and GC when available)

Stage 4, the penultimate, covers 184km between Bulle (don't miss the château, castle fans - it's a good 'un!) and Sion (one of the most important ancient sites in Europe, inhabited for around 8,200 years - the fortified church, which contains one of the world's oldest pipe organs, is even more impressive than Bulle's castle) and takes the riders over the highest mountains in this year's race: the three Cat 1 climbs Col des Mosses (1,452m), Veysonnaz (1,473m) and St-Martin (1,423m), with Cat 2 Basse-Nendaz (1,018m) thrown in for good measure at the end of a 65.5km flat section in the middle of the stage - a section upon which the roleurs, sprinters and chancers could grab a big lead and prevent the climbing specialists having everything their own way.

Tour of Turkey
Stage 6 (map), 180.3km long, began at Bodrum (site of an imposing 15th Century Crusader castle; those who worked on it during construction received a guaranteed reservation in Heaven courtesy of a papal decree dating from 1409) after which riders headed north-east to Beçin, then north-west to Didim - the Didyma of the Homeric Hymn to Apollo (which wasn't written by Homer), a ruined temple to the god mentioned in the Hymn still exists here (the temple in the Hymn was destroyed in the 5th Century BCE). The remainder of the parcours leds north to Kusadasi, a town that has lost much of its native charm due to unsympathetic development - however, tourists who are willing to venture away from the beach and shiny hotels can still find remnants of the ancient city including traces of the defensive walls, the 17th C. mosque and little shops that sell the things the locals need. Once again, there were no high mountains but a serious of steep climbs rose to between 140 and 300m; the three that fell between 40 and 70km looking especially daunting.


It's not really been Matthew Goss' race this year - the Australian GreenEDGE rider came off second-best in Stages 1, 2, 4 and then again today when he was out-sprinted by Sacha Modolo who took a second stage win for his Colnago-CSF team. Mark Renshaw (Rabobank) was right behind them for third, recording the same time. Maxim Belkov (Katusha) Philip Deignan (United Healthcare) and Michal Golas (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) were the day's biggest crowd-pleasers with a break from early on in the parcours that remained out on front for much of the stage before a counter-attack finished them off. Ivaïlo Gabrovski (Konya Torku Sekersport) remains General Classification leader with an advantage of 1'33".

Sacha Modolo

Top Ten
  1.   Sacha Modolo  Colnago-CSF  4h34"
  2.   Matthew Goss  GreenEDGE  ST
  3.   Mark Renshaw  Rabobank Cycling Team  ST
  4.   Lucas Sebastian Haedo  SaxoBank  ST
  5.   Alexey Tsatevitch  Katusha  ST
  6.   Rafael Andriato De Mattas  Farnese Vini-Selle Italia  ST
  7.   Daniele Colli  Team Type 1-Sanofi  ST
  8.   Davide Vigano  LampreISD  ST
  9.   Marco Coledan  Colnago-CSF  ST
  10.   Blaz Jarc  NetApp  ST
Jimmy Casper (AG2R-La Mondiale), Sylvain Georges (AG2R-La Mondiale), Boris Shpilevsky (AG2R-La Mondiale), Assan Bazayev (Astana), Adam Hansen (Lotto-Belisol), Johan Esteban Cháves Rubio (Colombia-Coldeportes), Thomas Bertolini (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia) and Leonardo Giordani (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia) did not finish. Full result and GC.

Stage 7 (map), the penultimate in this year's edition, begins at Kusadasi and follows the craggy coastline for 74km before turning inland at Seferihisar to cross İzmir Province and arrive at the north-facing coastline by Güzelbahçe approximately 21km away. After turning to the east, there are 28.6km remaining before arrival at the finish line in İzmir - one of the oldest cities in the Mediterranean region, it remains better known in the West by its ancient name Smyrna, birthplace (possibly) of Homer; though many of the ancient buildings were destroyed in an enormous fire that killed as many as 2,000 people (it wasn't all bad, however - it brought an end to the Greco-Turkish War, which some estimates claim killed as many as 100,000).

British rider Katie Colclough took fifth place

Gracia Orlova
The Gracia Orlova entered Stage 2 today, a 26km individual time trial from Havířov, past Senov, then back to  Havířov, beginning with a fast downhill before arriving at four 10m climbs along the way with a maximum gradient of around 6.3% (map).

Specialized-Lululemon's Ellen van Dijk, who also won the prologue TT made it her second stage victory when she beat team mate Evelyn Stevens by one hundredth of a second - a serious show of strength by the team, currently in its first season, as they beat third place Tatiana Antoshina (Rabobank) by one minute and three seconds. Lululemon riders filled the rest of the spaces in the top 5 too, with Trixi Worrack and Katie Colclough equalling Antoshina's time for fourth and fifth.

Top Ten
  1.  Ellen Van Dijk Specialized-Lululemon 35'27"
  2.  Evelyn Stevens Specialized-Lululemon ST
  3.  Tatiana Antoshina Rabobank +1'06"
  4.  Trixi Worrack Specialized-Lululemon +1'13"
  5.  Katie Colclough Specialized-Lululemon +1'31"
  6.  Sharon Laws AA Drink-Leontien.nl +1'32"
  7.  Alexandra Burchenkova S.C. Michela Fanini Rox +2'08"
  8.  Olena Sharpa +2'15"
  9.  Laura Trott Ibis +2'27"
  10.  Larisa Pankova +2'26"
Full results and GC

Saturday's Stage 3 (map) is a 122.4km road race starting at Lichnov before heading south into the mountains where, after 30km, the riders face a climb to 1,000m - the highest point in the race. A fast descent leads for 10km to the foot of the next climb just over 50km in and rising to 800m, then a third climb to 900m begins at around 70km. One last climb at 105km reaches around 575m and, especially in the final part, looks horrendously steep.

Fuglsang cannot ride Giro

Jakob Fuglsang

Jakob Fuglsang will not ride in this year's Giro d'Italia due to inflammation of the articular capsule and ligament in his left knee, RadioShack-Nissan have confirmed. The 27-year-old Dane had stayed away from the Tour de Romandie in the hope that the injury - which first made itself known at a training camp two weeks ago - would heal, but team doctors now say it will require at least ten days complete rest. The race starts on the 5th of May, eight days away.

I am very disappointed,” said Fuglsang, who had been hoping to perform well in the first three stages which are to be held in Denmark. “The Giro was my big objective for this year. Yesterday I had so much pain in the last 40K, I was just miserable. At that point I realized that it might be the end of my Giro dream."

Team doctor Andreas Gösele explained that, with intensive therapy, recovery might have been possible in time for the start; but he advised against it out of concern for the rider. "Jakob would possibly be able to start at the Giro, but with how much risk? A good result would be out of the question and if he would have to drop out after ten stages, what would we have accomplished? From a medical point of view, it is impossible to guarantee that he will be fine."

It's the latest disaster in what has been a very unfortunate season for the new team, formed by the merger of RadioShack and Leopard Trek late in 2011. Team leaders Andy and Frank Schleck have, so far, failed to perform well and Fabian Cancellara sustained a quadruple collarbone fracture at the Ronde van Vlaanderen.

Sky reveal Cav-led Giro squad
Team Sky will be led by Mark Cavendish at the Giro d'Italia, which ought to bring at least a couple of tage wins for the British outfit. Whether he will finish the race remains to be seen - there's some serious climbing to be done, and he'll have the Tour and the Olympics in mind. However, managers have a plan: let Cav do his stuff in the sprints, then hand responsibility over to the Columbian climbers Sergio Henao and Rigoberto Urán. Bernhard Eisel, Juan Antonio Flecha, Peter Kennaugh, Ian Stannard, Ben Swift and Geraint Thomas are also going.

New sponsor for GreenEDGE
GreenEDGE - Australia's first UCI Pro Tour team - are on the verge of announcing a new big-name sponsor. At present, the team's main sponsor is owner and businessman Gerry Ryan but a superb start to their first season - especially by the women's squad, which has won race after race - has evidently been enough to attract other backers, which will help ensure its long-term survival.


Contador - further indication of SaxoBank return
Alberto Contador - who has 100 days remaining until the end of his controversial ban - has told the Spanish Marca.com sports news website that he hopes to know "soon" if he'll return to SaxoBank and says that he "cannot imagine riding with any other team."

"Bjarne Riis and the team have given me such support, it's been great," he explains. "That's important to me, priceless, so SaxoBank is my priority. As of yet, there's no done deal but both parties are amenable and I think we'll have an agreement soon."

The main obstacle to date has been a UCI rule that results obtained by any rider returning from a doping ban cannot be counted towards a team's world ranking for a period of two years. Considered unfair by managers, riders and fans alike - "It's the same as if Lionel Messi was re-signed to play for Barcelona after a ban and scored goals, but his goals were not counted. It's grotesque," says Riis - SaxoBank lawyers are looking at the possibility of challenging the rule and having it repealed.

Contador is widely expected to use this year's Vuelta a Espana to make a triumphant return, pulling out all stops to dominate the race, and says he has been training for it - including watching videos of racing and the riders he's likely to face. Watching cycling is almost a part of my training," he says. "You can learn a lot by analysing the riders - how they'll react, how they descend, how rain or dry conditions effect them, little details that can give you the edge in a race."

Has he, in that case, got any tips for the Tour de France, which will be over by the time his ban expires? "A lot depends this year on Andy Schleck. If he's 100% and can break away from the five top riders, he could surprise a lot of people," says the rider, presumably with Andy's less-than-satisfactry form thus far this year in mind.
"
"However, he's going to need to do better in the time trials. Based on strength and experience, I'd have to say Cadel Evans."

Tony Martin plans comeback
Omega Pharma-QuickStep's Tony Martin does everything fast, which is why he's the current world time trial champion, but his planned comeback after sustaining numerous injuries when he was hit by a car during a training ride earlier this month is speedy even by his standards - he'll race at the Rund um den Finanz Platz on the 1st of May, three weeks since his accident (so no doubts that he's keeping well clear of anabolic steroids, then! - CP).

"I'm thrilled I can get back to the races," the 26-year-old German says on the team's website. "These last two weeks I've been concentrated exclusively on my recovery. In the last few days I've even managed to do some more intense training sessions. The pain due to the fractures and the fall are diminishing day by day and I'm feeling better. However, I still have to be careful and try to take as few risks as possible. Overall my return to the races will be useful for me to get my racing groove back and understand how my body will respond in competition. I really wanted my comeback to be in Frankfurt, in my country, and this is what I've been working towards. On a mental level it was important to have an objective like this one."

Landis faces mail and wire fraud charge

Floyd Landis

Floyd Landis probably felt glad it was all over by the time he announced his retirement from cycling, but in reality his problems were only just beginning. Having been stripped of his 2006 Tour de France victory after a sample tested positive for synthetic testosterone, the rider strenuously denied wrong-doing and started a "Floyd Fairness Fund" and asked fans to "donate anything they could" - it is believed that the Fund generated a total of around $1 million towards legal costs. However, his attempts to clear his name were unsuccessful and, in 2010, he finally admitted that he had in fact doped.

Although the Fairness Fund closed five years ago, it's come back to bite him. After last year receiving a suspended sentence for computer hacking, he is now under investigation for accepting money on a false premise; ie, requesting donations to prove his innocence despite knowing that he was guilty of the charge he then faced, which may constitute mail and wire fraud - a federal offence under US law since 1872, carrying a maximum penalty of a $1 million fine or 30 years imprisonment.

Lampre-ISD Giro squad
Lampre-ISD has revealed its provisional Giro d'Italia team roster. Damiano Cunego and Michele Scarponi are protected team leaders, supported by Przemyslaw Niemiec, Matteo Bono, Adriano Malori, Daniele Pietropolli, Daniele Righi, Alessandro Spezialetti and Diego Ulissi.

Thomas Voeckler

Voeckler pays his respects to African riders
Europcar's Thomas Voeckler won the third stage of the Tropicale Amissa Bongo à Akiéni yesterday and used his victory as an opportunity to praise the African riders he beat.

"Of course, I'm happy to win here - but we professional riders, we need to remember we're lucky to get the salaries we do, we're so well-paid compared to the African riders. I've kept that in mind during this race," says the 32-year-old Frenchman.

"Compared to these guys, I have no right to complain about anything," he explained, but was careful not to become patronising: "I'm here to do a job. Winning is my way of showing I respect them." (Stage results and GC)

New Cleveland velodrome will be free for under-18s
Any nation that wants to encourage more young people to take up cycling (and reap the rewards of their Olympic success a few years down the line) could learn a lot by following the example set by Cleveland, Ohio - after five years of planning, the city is about to open a $300,000 not-for-profit velodrome.

The idea is simple: build a world-class velodrome, using as much voluntary labour as possible to keep costs to a minimum, then charge adults to use it. Meanwhile, let riders aged less than 18 use it for free - including the provision of bikes for those who are new to the sport and haven't yet got machines of their own. "This velodrome is a welcome addition for cycling enthusiasts in the city of Cleveland," says city mayor Frank Jackson. "It will allow for people of all ages in the city to be exposed to the culture of the international sport of fast-track cycling and give them an additional form of physical activity to engage in."

"It is a great way to get kids into cycling," adds Brett David, president of management company FastTrack Cycling. "It is safer than driving on some of these roads, battling cars." (More from Cleveland.com)

Other racing news
New Zealand announces "strongest ever" Olympic team (NZHerald)

NZ talent causes headaches and heartaches (NZHerald)

Asian Cyclists to make U.S. debut at SRAM Tour of the Gila (Silver City Sun-News)

Bengaluru gets India’s first professional cycling team (Citizen Matters)

Cycling
Keep digging, Griffin

Lubricating the cogs of the Conservative Party to the tune of a quarter of a million quid wasn't enough to save Addison Lee's government contracts after the firm was handed an injunction due to chairman John Griffin's decision to encourage drivers to illegally use London's bus lanes. Now it seems he's also realised that his recent comments regarding the capital's cyclists were ill-advised too, and he's grabbing the brake levers like his business life depends on it.

If I have upset cyclists, I apologise. It was not my intention,” he told the Evening Standard newspaper, explaining that what he really meant was “car drivers need to be more aware of cyclists and cyclists need to be more aware of their vulnerability.”

However, he remains unrepentant regarding his "get trained and pay up" comment, though he apparently now realises that nobody pays road tax. "We need to look at the question of either insurance or tax. If you run into my car and it’s not my fault, I’ve got no redress against you," he says - and even the most militant cyclist has to admit that's a tricky point for those of us who prefer two wheels. But once again, Griffin hasn't done his homework: he says he wants to see the reintroduction of the cycling proficiency test, which he credits as being the reason that he "never had a single accident" while cycling seven miles to school and back during his childhood - he's obviously forgotten that the test was entirely voluntary (I never did it) and has now been replaced by the considerably more comprehensive Bikeability scheme, which is available for children and adults alike. He also says he doesn't support the introduction of Amsterdam-style bicycle lanes, offering as his reason the fact that "Amsterdam is a very flat town," though he's forced to agree that Central London "is pretty flat" when journalist Jasmine Gardner points it out to him.

BBC to show controversial documentary
The BBC is to broadcast an hour-long documentary entitled The War On Britain's Roads, featuring footage from cameras mounted on bikes and cars to illustrate the issues that arise between cyclists and drivers.


"As more and more people take up cycling as a way of beating the traffic or just keeping fit on their commute, the potential for conflict between cyclists and drivers has increased massively. Now cameras installed on bikes and in vehicles will use heart-stopping footage of interactions between road users to reveal a shocking picture of life on Britain’s roads. The film will follow current cases as they go through the courts and revisit the tragic stories of some of those who have lost their lives on Britain’s roads," goes the gumpf. CEO of Leopard Films, the company that produced the documentary, adds: "This timely documentary highlights a growing issue on Britain’s roads, from the viewpoint of both the motorist and the cyclist. BBC One is the perfect home for this insightful and at times shocking film."

It'll make good viewing, of course, but cyclists and drivers have raised concerns. To make Britain's roads safer for both groups (which, since the majority of adult cyclists also drive, are not really distinct groups at all), we need to increase awareness among a minority of cyclists and drivers that both have equal rights. Polarising them, either in reality or in the public mind, is not the way to do this; this film, and its ridiculously sensationalist title, helps nobody.

It's not yet known when the documentary will be screened.

Smirk's helmet masks

German company Smirk Masks has launched a range of what it calls "fixed gear helmet masks," which would seem - as the name suggests - to be aimed at fixie riders, though this is apparently not the case: "You can use all our masks to ride your fixie if you like, although that was just an idea we had to give the people the chance to look as cool as their bikes," says Smirk himself, also known as graphic artist Mirco Erbe.

Inspired by hockey masks and sci-fi headgear, the high price (around £600) will put most people off - as will the fact that, since they're not approved safety gear, they're not really suited to cycling at all. As for the aesthetics... personally, I like, even though they're not for me; though not everyone will like them - but hey, "denim effect" lycra shorts have been considered stylish within living memory, so there's every chance that Smirk's creations will make an appearance among the more trustafarian branches of fixie hipster society in a city near you soon.

Hit and run river side-swipes cyclists, caught on helmetcam

Newswire
Britain
Festival of cycling in Alford (Donside Piper and Herald)

Worldwide
Cycling your way to a healthier life (Hello!)

World Naked Bike Ride: the environmental protest with a difference (Ecologist)

Fatal bike trail wreck raises safety concerns (Mansfield News Journal, Ohio)

How to get urban dwellers cycling: make it normal (Globe and Mail, Vancouver)

Cycling Evening News 24.04.12

Romandie underway - Tour of Turkey - McEwen to retire late May - GreenEDGE/NetApp Giro rosters - Cav confident for Tour double - Giro di Lombardia to honour Gimondi - No birthday luck for Taaramäe - Addison Lee protest - Cycling Newswire

Racing
Tour di Romandie gets underway with a good day for Sky

Geraint Thomas

The Tour di Romandie started today with a 3.34km individual time trial in the ancient Swiss city Lausanne, running partly along the Quai d'Ouchy and Quai de Belgique on the banks of Lake Geneva - one of the most beautiful city roads in Europe.

Rain had been coming and going throughout the morning before the first riders set out on the course, the first third or so getting a slight advantage from relatively dry conditions before it began drizzling again. Sky's Geraint Thomas looked like a probable winner when he set a time of 3'29" - team mate Mark Cavendish had ridden the course with him this morning and was predicting victory...

Mark Cavendish ‏ @MarkCavendish
Little ride this morning with @GeraintThomas86, including a few laps of #TourDeRomandie time trial course. 3.5km. Boom. Bet on the Welshman.

...and, when the rain turned heavier shortly after he'd clcked in, nobody was able to beat him; though RadioShack-Nissan's Giacomo Nizzolo came close with +4", as did Cav with +5" - which brought about an amusing change of heart from the English commentators who dismissed the Manxman's chances almost as soon as he'd left the ramp. Bradley Wiggins' chances were severely curtailed by the weather and he finished just outside the top ten after recording 3'38" for 11th place. However, with Michael Rogers equalling Cav's time for 4th, it was a very good day for Sky indeed.

Top 10

  1.  Geraint Thomas Sky Procycling 3'29"
  2.  Giacomo Nizzolo RadioShack-Nissan +4"
  3.  Mark Cavendish Sky +6"
  4.  Michael Rogers Sky ST
  5.  Kristof Vandewalle Omega Pharma-Quickstep ST
  6.  Julien Vermote Omega Pharma-Quickstep +7"
  7.  Bauke Mollema Rabobank +8"
  8.  Stef Clement Rabobank ST
  9.  Manual Boaro SaxoBank +9"
  10.  Alex Rasmussen Garmin-Barracuda ST (Full results when available)


Tomorrow, the riders face a 184.5km parcours beginning at Morges. Flat for the initial 70km, it then swings sharply upwards for a climb to Rochefort at 750m above sea level before reaching Category 2 Les Bugnenets after 90km (1,116m), Cat 2 Haut de la Cote at 156km (1,035m) and Cat 3 Le Communal de la Sagne at 171km (1,158m) on the way to the finish line at La Chaux-de-Fonds.

Tour of Turkey
Stage 3 at the Tour of Turkey featured a tough 152km parcours starting at the coastal resort of Antalya before heading west and inland to the mountains with three points along the way surpassing 1,600m in altitude. 34-year-old Bulgarian Ivaïlo Gabrovski - who won this race overall in 2007 and holds a record five victories in the Tour of Bulgaria - left his rivals standing on the final climb to 1,850m on the Göğübeli Mountain Pass, crossing the line alone with a comfortable lead of 1'26" to take the stage win for his Turkish Konya Torku Sekerspor team - their first ever in their home nation and sufficient to place him at the top of the General Classification.

Tomorrow, riders face 132km along the craggy south-western coast of Muğla Province where the highest climb is only 300m but has a leg-cracking gradient.

Top 10  
1.  Ivailo Gabrovski Konya Torku Sekersport  
2.  Alexandr Dyachenko Astana +1'33"  
3.  Danail Andonov Petrov Caja Rural +1'38"  
4.  Adrian Palomares Villaplana Andalucia-Caja Granada +1'44"  
5.  Romain Bardet AG2R-La Mondiale +2'01"  
6.  Alexander Efimkin Team Type 1-Sanofi +2'23"  
7.  Florian Guillou Bretagne Schuller +2'29"  
8.  Enrico Battaglin Colnago CSF Bardiani +2'48"  
9.  Michal Golas Omega Pharma-Quickstep +3'02"  
10.  Will Routley Spidertech Powered By C10 +3'05 (Full results and GC)

Robbie McEwen to retire late May

McEwen, now with GreenEDGE, has said that he will
retire after the Tour of California. He is expected to
remain with the team in the capacity of technical
supervisor

GreenEDGE's Robbie McEwen has announced that the upcoming Tour of California will be his final race as a professional. Queensland-born McEwen began his cycling career in BMX and became a National Junior Champion, then switched to road cycling in 1990 and immediately revealed himself to have talent, later going on to win the Points competition at the Tour de France in 2002, 2004 and 2006.

It was widely known that McEwen would retire at some point this year, but as of yet no date had been set. No confirmation has appeared on the GreenEDGE website; however, while speaking to Het Nieuwesblad he appears to have a date in mind: "After the Tour of California - that's it," he said. The Tour ends on the 20th of May.

GreenEDGE/NetApp Giro rosters
Meanwhile, GreenEDGE has published details of the squad it will send to the Giro d'Italia: Brett Lancaster, Jack Bobridge, Matt Goss, Christian Meier, Svein Tuft, Daryl Impey, Fumiyuki Beppu, Jens Keukeleire and Tomas Vaitkus have made the selection for what will be the team's first Grand Tour.

NetApp, one of the Pro Continental team to recieve a wildcard invitation to the race, have published a list of eight riders they'll send this year: Timon Seubert, Jan Barta, Cesare Benedetti, Matthias Brändle, Andreas Dietziker, Reto Hollenstein, Bartosz Huzarski and Daniel Schorn. It's not yet known if they'll add a ninth.

Cav confident Sky can take Tour double

(image courtesy of UCI)

"Who would have thought you’d have a British team with British backers, with two British riders going for two of the biggest prizes in the sport?" asks Mark Cavendish in the Liverpool Echo. "It’s a pretty big thing, that. It is not an easy task at all but it is definitely possible. I wouldn’t be at Team Sky if I didn’t think it was possible."

The double to which he refers is, of course, the Points competition, which he's a favourite to win, and the General Classification which team mate Bradley Wiggins will be chasing - something that has been achieved just three times since sport's greatest event reverted to trade teams in 1969 after two years in which it was open only to national teams, and a feat that would confirm Britain as a true cycling nation.

"I want to be part of that team that makes history," adds the 26-year-old sprinter and current road race champion. (More from the Liverpool Echo)

Other Racing News
The 2012 Giro di Lombardia will start from Bergamo rather Milan as a tribute to 1966/1973 winner Felice Gimondi who turns 70 on the 29th of September this year. Gimondi was the second cyclist after Jacques Anquetil to win all three Grand Tours during his career.

Poor Rein Taaramäe has missed out on his share of birthday luck this year - the Estonian rider, who turns 25 today (Tuesday 24th April), returned to competition the week before last after recovering from mononucleosis, then crashed at the Vuelta a Castilla y Leon - and x-rays have revealed "an incomplete fracture of the radial head of the left elbow," says Cofidis manager Eric Boyer. (More from Cycling News)

Tweets

Jakob Fuglsang ‏ @jakob_fuglsang
Did an x-ray of my hand Friday and the fracture is stabile. The screw is still in one piece but the bone is still not grown 100% together.

Cycling
Addison Lee "die-in"
An estimated three hundred cyclists braved the rain and oily, wet streets to attend a "die-in" protest outside the grey eyesore that is the offices of Europe's largest minicab firm Addison Lee yesterday evening, angry at comments made by the firm's chairman John Griffin - who had said that London cyclists should be held responsible for their own misfortune if injured or killed on the capital's roads because it's their own choice to ride in " some of the most congested spaces in the world...[on] a vehicle which offers them no protection except a padded plastic hat."

Beth Anderson, one of the protest organisers, used Facebook to say: "For me, tonight was something truly special. A group of cyclists went to Addison Lee's headquarters with a message and they delivered it. Unfortunately it wasn't a huge surprise to hear John Griffin repeating the same old lines but his arguments are essentially ill-founded and based on the idea that the roads are, and can only be, dangerous. It was important to tell him that they are made even more dangerous by him."

There have been calls to hold a second protest in the hope that better weather will attract more people. More information from Boycott Addison Lee.

Why did Griffin really say what he said?

Newswire
Britain: Cyclists' horror stories (The Times)

Britain: Sometimes, cyclists have to break the law to stay safe (The Times)

Britain: A memorial for a cyclist who was killed in a road accident in Belfast last year is believed to be the first of its kind in Northern Ireland (BBC)

Canada: Toronto's top doctor is recommending lowering the speed limits on residential city streets to 30 km/h in an effort to cut down on pedestrian and cyclist fatalities (CTV News)

Canada: A personal chef to one of Canada’s highest ranking diplomats claims he was pushed into oncoming traffic by an angry motorist as he cycled home from work (Ham&High)

Ghana: C2 Paracycling champion, Alem Mumuni, has once again made history as the first Ghanaian cyclist to ever qualify to the Olympics Games (Ghanaweb)

New Zealand: A lawyer for a mountain biker whose assault of a fellow cyclist was captured on camera (see: "Trail rage in New Zealand" for details and video of the assault - CP)  has warned about the growing influence of internet videos on court cases (NZHerald)

New Zealand: A woman was dragged along the train tracks after ignoring warning lights and sirens in central Auckland this morning. Police say the woman walked out onto the track pushing her bicycle, which was clipped by a passing train at a level crossing at Rossgrove Terrace, near St Luke's Rd. The bike became entangled in the train, dragging her along with it. (Auckland Now)

New Zealand: North Taranaki people appear to be divided on whether cyclists should be required to wear helmets on the Coastal Walkway. Like it or not the police have vowed to crack down on it, even threatening to give tickets of $150 to cyclists who do not comply (Taranaki Daily News)

Antigua: Veteran cyclist Robert Marsh and young female national rider Tamiko Butler, both earning nominations from the Antigua & Barbuda Cycling Association (ABCA), walked away with top honours at the National Sports Awards held at the Sandals Grande Resort & Spa on Saturday night (Observer Media Group)