Cycling News from around the World 10.04.12

Amstel Gold threatened by police strikes - De Vlaeminck unimpressed by Boonen triumph - G-Man Thomas should have opted for Tour says coach - Brailsford optimistic - Good news for Leukemans - Red Baron hunting new bike record

Amstel Gold Race under threat
The Amstel Gold, first run in 1966 and every year since, may not go ahead this year as police have threatened to strike over wage demands. The event is due to take place on the 15th of April, with organisers awaiting further information. (More from Wielerland)

De Vlaeminck unimpressed by Paris-Roubaix

Roger de Vlaeminck won four editions of cycling's
hardest race in the 1970s

Omega Pharma-QuickStep's Tom Boonen is doubtless ecstatic after winning a fourth edition of Paris-Roubaix, one of the most legendary races in cycling and arguably the toughest. However; Roger de Vlaeminck - the only other man to have won four - is not as impressed, though he doesn't blame Boonen for what he describes as a victory against third-rate riders.

"Tom can't help it that he had no opposition in this race," says 64-year old De Vlaeminck, who won his first Paris-Roubaix in 1972 and his fourth in 1977. "The competition was no obstacle to him. Probably, they could not be better. For the Belgians, it was fantastic; but for the average foreign cyclist there wasn't much excitement. A sad affair."

He takes care not to criticise Boonen, who won the race after escaping the peloton with 50km to go and then rode solo to the finish line, but feels that the race lost out through the lack of anyone willing or able to chase him. "I hope Cancellara will be there next year," he says, the Swiss star having been kept away by a quadruple fracture of the collar bone sustained at the Ronde van Vlaanderen this time around. "Then we'll see another race." (More from Sportwereld)

Geraint Thomas

Thomas should have opted for the Tour, says Sutton
British Cycling coach Shane Sutton believes that Geraint Thomas should have been more selfish and chosen to go for personal glory at this year's Tour de France rather than aiming to retain the Olympic Men's Pursuit title for his native Wales.

"I actually think G[eraint] is so iconic in this part of the world [Wales] that he feels the support he's had over the years and the support he continues to get from everybody - it's so massive I think he
feels he has to return the favour.

I think that's probably not the right reason and the pressure that must be on him not to ride the Tour, he must be killing himself. Because he is a grand tour rider, one of the best grand tour riders that we have, and he's a guy that actually I think could go a long way in a grand tour if he wanted. He can lead out, he can climb - he can do everything. He's one of the great bike riders out there at this moment in time." (More from BBC Sport)

Brailsford hopeful for London
British Cycling performance director Dave Brailsford is optimistic after the team's excellent showing at the UCI World Track Championships - British cyclists won half the medals on offer for races that also feature in the Olympics.

"We've got more to come," he says. "The dilemma is that if you select now the riders know what they are doing and can train a little bit more specifically. The downside is that in 16 weeks anyone's form might not to be the same. That is the conundrum: late for form, but early for clarity of purpose." (More from The Daily Mail)

Laura Trott

Brailsford has also made note of Laura Trott's impressive riding at the Championships, during which she took two laps at the front in the Team Pursuit helped the British squad to another gold medal and a new World Record time. "She's pretty special," he said. "She was absolutely brilliant in the team pursuit and she rode an absolutely faultless omnium. Super talent - 19 years old. Wow. It's pretty exciting." (More from Cambridge News)

Good news for Leukemans
Vacansoliel-DCM have confirmed that Bjorn Leukemans, who suffered a knee injury at the Ronde van Vlaanderen, will not require surgery to repair damage to his menisci, the two cushions of cartilage within the knee that serve to reduce friction between the femur and tibia.

Vacansoleil-DCM ‏ @VacansoleilDCM
Better news for #leukemans: No operation (k)needed!

The Red Baron hunts a new record
Eric Barone is looking to set a new World Record downhill cycling. The Frenchman, now aged 51, holds the current record of 222kph which he set on snow at Les Arcs on the 21st of April 2000. An attempt on the 9th of April this year came to nothing when he "only" reached 158kph. "I'm a little bit disappointed, but I remain optimistic," he said afterwards. "I will try again whatever happens in better conditions with a harder surface of snow." (More from Sport.fr)

Cycling in Britain - a niche sport?

So we notice that in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, Mark Cavendish scored 49.47% of the total votes, beating runner-up Darren Clarke (a golfer) by 169,152 to 42,188 - in other words, by 126,964 votes.

Cycling's a niche sport in Britain, right? The combined total of the votes received by the nine runners-up came to 172,807 - just 3,655 (0.53%) more than Cav won alone.

Notably, there was not a single big-budget-never-off-the-telly footballer on the final list.

Something tells me the television channels are missing an opportunity here.

Cadel donates Maillot Jaune to cyclist's chapel

The high mountain passes of Italy are dotted with numerous chapels dedicated to Catholic saints. Some are small, rustic and almost forgotten; others are grand affairs visited and financially supported by many.

Moser's 1984 record-beating bike (public domain image)

None are as famous among cyclists as that 754m up on the Colle del Ghisallo where legend has it a travelling count was attacked by bandits in medieval times. Whilst fleeing, he passed a tiny shrine where he saw an apparition of the Virgin Mary and being a good Catholic, he ran to it knowing that he would find protection. Sure enough, the bandits couldn't find him and he was saved - to show his gratitude, he vowed to build a church on the spot (45°55'25.01"N 9°16'2.78"E).

In time, Madonna del Ghisallo became the patron saint of all travellers passing through the area. Later, she became the patron of a specific type of traveller, cyclists, when the pass became a regular feature of the Giro d'Italia and especially the Giro di Lombardia; and she was officially declared such by papal decree in 1948 when a votive flame was carried all the way from Rome, for the final stretch by Italian heroes Coppi and Bertali.

Cadel in yellow, 2011
(© HTO3 CC BY-ND 2.0)

Famous cyclists - at first Italians, but soon others too - began to donate mementos of their successes to the little church. Among a collection that grew so large that much of it is now housed in a purpose-built museum next door are Grand Tour-winning bikes owned by Coppi, Bartali and Eddy Merckx and the bike upon which Francisco Moser smashed the Hour Record (distance ridden in one hour) in 1984, its curving silver lines and strange lenticular wheels still looking futuristic nearly three decades later. The most poignant is the smashed, twisted remains of the bike upon which local lad Fabio Casartelli met a premature and terrible end on the Col de Portet-Aspet during Stage 15 of the 1995 Tour de France.

While this year's Tour winner Cadel Evans is neither a religious man nor prey to the sometimes peculiar superstitions that many riders insist they must observe in order to avoid injury, death or - worst of all - bad form; he, like all cyclists, is keen to observe the traditions and customs of the sport, honouring the memory of those who came before him and those who have fallen. So, in the area as part of il Lombardia on Saturday the 15th of October, he took the opportunity to make a pilgrimage and added one of the yellow jerseys he won in this year's Tour to his rainbow jersey from 2009. During a service conducted by local priest Father Farina, the jersey was blessed and then left before a holy mural of the saint, ready to be placed within a protective frame and added to the vast collection of cycling relics within the building.

Tour of Britain 2011

Cycling's popularity in the United Kingdom is increasing with every year; meaning that the Tour of Britain, after having been brought back to life by SweetSpot in 2004, is going from strength to strength. Ranked as 2.1 Elite race by the international cycling body UCI, it's the largest cycling event in the country and - being by far the largest free-to-watch sport event in Britain and visiting several parts of the country - can draw over a million spectators with many more following the action on television and via the Internet.

Confirmed:
Mark Cavendish

Running over eight days and visiting various places from Scotland to Devon, the 2011 Tour has attracted some of the biggest names in the sport. Among the 16 teams taking part are many of the professional outfits better known from the Tour de France, including LeopardTrek, the top-notch Luxembourg team of Andy Schleck and the world's top time-trial rider Fabian "Spartacus" Cancellara; Sky, the British team and home to such illustrious characters as Chris Froome, Geraint Thomas, Ben Swift and Britain's greatest-ever Tour de France hopeful Bradley Wiggins; HTC-Highroad, one of the most successful teams to ever compete in cycling and this year racing for the final time having been unsuccessful in securing a sponsor for 2012 and Garim-Cervelo, riding some of the most futuristic bikes in the business and perhaps the only team with a manager even better known than his riders, the colourful Jonathon Vaughters.

Confirmed: Thor Hushovd

Riders confirmed for the race include "Manx Missile" Mark Cavendish, the greatest sprinter in history and commonly known as the fastest man on two wheels, "God of Thunder" Thor Hushovd, the first Scandinavian to hold the World Cycling Champion title and German superstar Jens Voigt, possibly the most popular professional cyclist of the moment, still one of the fastest and strongest in the world at the age of 39 when most cyclists have long since retired. Other teams are yet to confirm their rosters, but they'll all be sending the best riders they have to stand a chance of competing with these giants of the road.

Confirmed:
Jens Voigt

With eight stages including one each in Scotland and Wales, there's a high chance that the action is coming to the roads near you - so why not get out and experience the sheer thrill of a major cycling event? We hope to be able to bring you exclusive photographs from the start of Stage 7 this year. See you there?

11th September Stage 1: Peebles - Dumfries (170.3km)
12th September Stage 2: Kendal - Blackpool (137.7km)
13th September Stage 3: Trentham Estate - Stoke on Trent (140km)
14th September Stage 4: Welshpool - Caerphilly (183.7km)
15th September Stage 5: Exeter-Exmouth
16th September Stage 6: Taunton - Wells
17th September Stage 7: Bury St. Edmunds - Sandringham Royal Estate
18th September Stage 8: Routes A and B Time Trials, London

Once again, we'll be bringing you our traditional detailed stage guides (lauded by one reviewer as the "most in-depth" available) with all the usual facts on the riders, the parcours and the towns, villages and countryside that the race passes through. Look out for each new guide the evening before the stage takes place.

Tour of Poland - Stage 1 Results

Marcel Kittel

23-year-old Marcel Kittel achieved more than a stage victory in the opening day of the Tour of Poland - it's also the first UCI World Tour triumph for his Skil-Shimano team. Manager Iwan Spekenbrink was the first to laud the German rider's achievement, saying that if Kittel continues developing in the way he has been, "he will be able one day to challenge the best sprinters in the world like Mark Cavendish."

1. Marcel Kittel (Skil-Shimano) 2:07:26"
2. Alexander Kristoff (BMC)
3. Francesco Chicchi (QuickStep)
4. Heinrich Haussler (Garmin-Cervelo)
5. Michele Merlo (De Rosa)
6. Giacomo Nizzolo (LeopardTrek)
7. Romain Feillu (Vacansoleil-DCM)
8. Luca Paolini (Katusha)
9. Juan Jose Haedo (SaxoBank-Sungard)
10. Adam Blythe (Omega Pharma-Lotto) all same time

Ridley's integrated aero brakes

Ridley's new intergrated aerodynamic brakes. I think it's probably a safe bet to say we'll be seeing these all over the place next year if they're deemed UCI-legal.


F-BRAKE from ridley-bikes on Vimeo.

Video from Velo blog, which you ought to go and have a look at because it's very good.

Nicole Cooke fails to regain title

Nicole Cooke, who hoped to regain the British Women's Road Race title following a year of disappointing results after illness at today's race in Stamfordham, Northumberland, was beaten by Lizzie Armitstead who came second in 2009 and 2010.

Cooke riding in the 2010 Flèche Walonne, a race she has won on three occasions

Armistead crossed the line just two seconds ahead of the Welsh ex-champion after a high-speed sprint to the finish, having been part of a four-rider breakaway that led the field for almost the entirety of the 65 mile course. Emma Pooley rode well, as ever, and her Garmin team kept things moving along at a high rate. Cooke, who has previously accused her rivals of ganging up on her in order to prevent her winning, seemed content - "I realised there wasn’t much chance of me being able to break away by myself with three strong girls who’d chase me down," she said, "So I just had to go as good as I could in the sprint and cover the attacks that they threw in."

However, finishing ahead of Pooley will doubtless keep her spirits up and second place remains a sufficiently good to guarantee her place for the time being on the Mario Cippolini-Giordana team. With two Tour de France Féminin wins and a host of other trophies including nine previous wins in this race, Cooke is the only female cyclist to have won an Olympic gold and held a National Champion title in the same year. At 28 years old there's no reason to suspect she's past her best yet and she may well be back on form by the start of next year.


Armitstead's victory was deserved - she rode well and has proved herself to be one of Britain's finest. With her, Pooley, Martin and Laws riding together, Garmin have what is probably the strongest Women's British team ever and one that will bring much attention to British cycling and it'd surprise nobody were she now to become leader of the British women's team ready for the World Road Race Final set to take place in Copenhagen this September - an event which should suit the 22-year-old West Yorkshire rider as the region is relatively flat and will feature the sort of sprints at which she has proved she excels.


Lucy Martin's 2nd place in the Under-23 Championship, along with Laura Trott's 1st and Dani King's 3rd, shows just how highly young British female riders are performing currently - if one thing's for certain, it's that women's racing is vibrant, top quality and worthy of far higher exposure than it currently receives. Hopefully, with riders of this calibre emerging and adding their successes to those already achieved by the likes of Cooke, Pooley, Pendleton and others, that'll change in the coming years and events will receive the same attention that men's races do.

Lizzie Armitstead took a deserved first place.

1st - Lizzie Armitstead (Garmin-Cervelo) (2h 28' 40")
2nd - Nicole Cooke (Mario Cippolini-Giodana) (+2")
3rd - Sharon Laws (Garmin-Cervelo) (+4")
4th - Emma Pooley (Garmin Cervelo) (+8")
5th - Laura Trott (Moving Ladies) (1st place Under-23 Champs)
6th - Lucy Martin (Garmin-Cervelo) (2nd place Under-23)
7th - Dani King (Horizon) (3rd place Under-23)
8th - Catherine Williamson (Konica Minolta)
9th - Katie Colclaugh (HTC-Highroad)
10th - Emma Grant (For-Viored-Brookwex)
(5th - 10th place awarded same time)

Britain's difficult relationship with the bike

Despite a healthy amateur club scene and despite producing a handful of world class cyclists, Britain has not been one of the great cycling nations - unlike France and Belgium, the bicycle has traditionally been viewed here as a toy for younger children (which it is) and a method of transport for teenagers (it's that too) which will be discarded in the natural course of things when the owner reaches seventeen, learns to drive and gets a car instead. We've never had that respect for cycling.

But Britain has gradually has falling in love with the bike over the last decade. Just a few days ago, traffic surveys revealed that bikes now outnumber cars in some of London's busiest commuter streets and flocks of Lycra-clad cyclists can be viewed right around the country. Realising that it's often quicker to get to work by bike than by car has persuaded huge numbers of people to dig out their half-forgotten trusty steeds from the shed, dust it off and get back in the saddle. Ever-increasing fuel prices have convinced others to buy bikes. Then they start to feel the health benefits, and once that happens and your legs become adjusted to cycling, it's only a matter of time before you realise you love to ride your bike.

The modern city bike is light, comfortable, efficient, convenient, virtually maintenance-free and will keep you fit and healthy. On other words, plenty of qualities not usually found in cars and public transport.

The Independent has published figures today showing how bikes are used, by whom and how often. Whilst demonstrating that there are still a lot of people here who don't cycle, they also reveal that a lot of people do - but while there's every reason to believe more will join them, it looks like we've got a way to go before the bike becomes as loved and respected here as it is across the Channel

Interesting figures include the following:

Bike ownership is divided equally between male and female.
44% of households have no bikes (pity for them).
20% have one. 40% of those bikes don't get used.
18% have two.
9% have three.
5% have four.

Southampton and Cardiff are home to the fewest cyclists - just 15% of households own at least one bike. But Southampton loves BMX - 12% of all bikes in the city are BMXs, compared to 5% nationwide. Plymouth is home to many bikes but few cyclists - it doesn't make it into the list of towns and cities with the highest numbers of houses with no bikes, but 52% of those owning bikes don't use them.

However, only 11% of those in Britain who own bikes cycle for 11 or more hours in an average month. Among those who ride their bikes for less than 2 hours per month, 28% say the reason is they don't feel safe in traffic. That rises to 44% in Plymouth - so it looks like Plymouth City Council needs to get its sustainable transport policies sorted. Come on, PCC - your website has a a "Best Performing Council of the Year" logo on it, why is your performance in this area so dismal?

Further east along the south coast, Brighton's Shared Space scheme saw use of motorised transport drop by 93% in New Road. Are you paying attention, Plymouth City Council?

Mountain bikes, despite being heavy and not at all well suited to commuting, are still the most popular style of bike: they account for 45% of bikes in the nation. Men like them more than women, apparently - 53% of male cyclists ride mountain bikes, whereas only 35% of female cyclists opt for them. The Independent puts this down to "the mud factor," but since the vast majority of mountain bikes never come within several metres of mud this seems a bit of an idiotic and even unusually sexist comment for a paper like the Independent. Women aren't afraid of mud, but men are more likely to be attracted to the chunky, macho styling of the mountain bike whereas women tend to have both a better understanding of practicality and egos which do not need to be shored up by chunky tyres and oversized frame tubes so, unless she is a mountain biker, an average woman will opt for a lighter bike more suited to the purposes for which most bikes are used - ie, short trips and recreational jaunts around the local park on a Sunday. On the other hand, it seems to us that these figures are irrelevant anyway because there are mountain bikes and there are bikes that copy mountain bike styling. One is used for mountain biking, a sport which has always had a healthy female following, and will be bought by mountain bikers. The other is used for going to the local shops and park posing and will be bought by people who like the look but who are categorically not mountain bikers and will never go mountain biking. That's an important distinction and it makes a lot of difference.

Folding bikes are not very popular - only 2% of cyclists own them. This is probably because they still suffer image problems dating from those virtually unrideable folding shopper bikes of the 1970s and 1980s which were heavy, poorly designed with awful geometry, had rubbish brakes and tended to rust after a week or two. If more of those people who use bikes for commuting and short trips tried Bromptons - which are fast, practical and very well made indeed - sales for folders would go up immediately.

There are various groups in Britain actively seeking to promote cycling and Boris Johnson, for all his faults, has done an excellent job with his bike hire schemes in the capital. It seems that these efforts are beginning to pay off, which is good news for all of us, but we still have a way to go before the bicycle is as beloved and respected in Britain as it is across the Channel.

Where bugs hit you when cycling

From Graphjam.

Like bikes? Like laughing? The you might like Phil Kay

Scottish stand-up comedian Phil Kay plans to warm up the crowd at his gig during the E4 Udderbelly event at London's Southback Centre on Monday using an unconventional method - the Perrier nominee and British Comedy Award winner will take them on a 38 minute bike tour of the area. "We'll try and cycle as closely together as possible. It will be like the Tour de France," he says, "Or more like the Tour Difference, get it?"

Kay, who has appeared on QI (last truly funny programme on British TV) and Russell Howard's Good News and has a string of respectable writing credits to pad out his curriculum vitae, says he expects a small turn-out for the tour but promises a bike striptease to conclude the gig which is called Freewheelin' Mirth Pedaler. Tickets can be had from the Southbank Centre website for a mere £12.50. Incidentally, we rate him highly - but his beard gets top marks.

Mauricio Soler update 2

Movistar doctor Alfredo Zuniga says that Mauricio Soler's condition is "being favourable" but that the next 48 hours are crucial following the crash on Thursday which has left him in hospital with severe brain injuries.

"The news today is good... the cerebral edema [fluid on the brain], which is the most worrying thing, has gone through a slight improvement and that's why we have to stay optimistic, even though we have to keep reservations because recovery in such processes is unpredictable," he added. The 28-year-old Columbian, one of the best climbers in the world, remains in an induced coma in hospital in St. Gallen, Switzerland.

Leopard-Trek's Wouter Weylandt
died while descending the Passo
del Bocco on the Giro d'Italia.

According to The Independent newspaper, police are not yet able to say if they'll be involved in the inquest to come. However, there have been calls for the professional cycling world to improve rider safety following the death of Wouter Weylandt in a high speed crash during last month's Giro d'Italia; suggesting that should any indication of negligence be found, a criminal investigation will begin. This would be welcomed - although cycling is a very dangerous sport and nobody reaches professional level without being well aware of that, the high speeds attained by today's riders requires the UCI and other organisers to constantly strive towards improving the safety of riders and fans. There is no indication that this has not been the case and a majority would agree that their performance is admirable in this area - as demonstrated by their repeated attempts to make helmets mandatory in racing, despite vociferous opposition from the riders themselves - and prosecution would be highly unlikely, but if it turned up hitherto overlooked areas in which improvements could be made then it would be worthwhile.

Meanwhile, SaxoBank-Sungard's Baden Cooke has described the crash, which he saw taking place. "All of a sudden there was a footpath with a 5cm edge dropping down to the road level, he had no time to brake at all," says the Australian, 32. Soler then struck a spectator before hitting a metal fence. "The fence did not move at all, so Soler took the full impact." The spectator got away with "superficial" injuries.

"The progress of his pneumothorax has been good," explains Zuniga. "He also has multiple injuries and fractures, but the thing the doctors are more focused on now is the edema."

Manx Missile to join Team Sky?

Ace sprinter Mark Cavendish, winner of an incredible five flat stages in last year's Tour de France, may be about to sign up to Team Sky according to various reports.

Cavendish is widely believed to be the fastest cyclist in the sport today.

His contract with HTC-Highroad expires at the end of the season, and though nothing is yet confirmed there's every reason to assume Sky would want to take him aboard - with Cav riding alongside Bradley Wiggins and Geraint Thomas they'd have the basic building blocks of what would undoubtedly be a dream team in professional cycling and the strongest British team ever seen in the sport. Wiggins rode with Cavendish in Team Columbia back in 2008 but left after saying he didn't want to be a part of what he called "the Cav show." Since then, having gained fourth place overall in the 2009 Tour and winning this year's Dauphine, he's got a high enough profile to ensure equal footing in what would be the "Cav and Wiggo show."

This would be a great moment for British cycling - let's hope it happens!