Cozza quits

"Steven Cozza ‏ @STEVENCOZZA  teamnetapp.com/en/news/detail… ITs official. Thanks to all my great loyal fans. I will miss you all. Time for a fresh start in life... Farewell"

Steven Cozza
(image credit: Thomas Ducroquet CC BY 2.0)

Steven Cozza, cycling's most mustachioed rider, has announced his retirement from racing. The American, who has been riding for Team NetApp since the beginning of the 2011 season, came third in the National Junior Time Trial Championships in 2003 and has added several good results since then, mostly in time trials but also in road races such as the Vuelta a Chihuahua in 2007.

At the Tour of Qatar in 2010 he crashed during the second stage and broke his collar bone for the third time, requiring surgery to repair it. In his recent years he has been plagued with problems resulting from colitis, a condition in which the colon becomes inflamed. “For too long now I have been struggling with colitis," says the 26-year-old. "I am getting better at managing it but at this point it is not improving fast enough for me to continue at this professional level in the sport of cycling - I love the sport of cycling so to only be able to perform at 50% of my best because of my health has been very frustrating."

Joly jacks it in

Joly suffered cancer during his career
(image credit: Thomas Ducroquet CC BY 3.0) 

French rider Sébastien Joly - who was diagnosed with testicular cancer on his 28th birthday in 2007 - has announced his retirement, says the Fédération Française de Cyclisme.

The rider, born in Tournon on the 25th of June in 1979, turned professional in 2000 with Bonjour and switched to Jean Delatour in 2003, winning the Route Adélie de Vitré with them. A year later he was with Crédit Agricole and remained on the team for two seasons, making his Tour de France debut with them in 2004 and winning the Tour du Limousin the following year. He moved on to FDJ in 2006 when he won the King of the Mountains at the Critérium du Dauphiné. The team honoured his contract in 2007 and throughout his cancer treatment, and he remained with them until 2010, racing with Saur-Sojasun since then.

Jens Voigt abandons Tour of Britain

German rider Jens Voigt, one of the most popular characters on the professional cycling circuit, has abandoned the Tour of Britain during a rain-soaked and wind-swept first stage.

The 39-year-old LeopardTrek rider had become caught up in a crash involving several riders and his decision to quit was announced by organisers at 13:15. The team announced at 15:32 that he was waiting to have a suspected broken finger X-rayed in hospital, then in a website update later in the afternoon confirmed that the finger is broken and that Voigt will require an operation to repair it.

Voigt's move leaves the Luxembourg-based team without a leader; as one of their strongest riders, this may prove disastrous and is the latest in a series of unfortunate recent events including Andy Schleck's forced departure from the Grand Prix Cyclistes of Québec and Montréal with chronic tooth ache and a disappointing Vuelta a Espana.

"He was our guy for the general classification here,” said directeur sportif Torsten Schmidt on the team's website. “He had a good chance for a strong showing because the time trial in this race can be so decisive."

Meanwhile, Sky's Steve Cummings - who was also in the crash - continued to race after receiving attention by race medics.

Cancellara to abandon Vuelta after Stage 16

Cancellara
(CC2.0)

LeopardTrek's Fabian Cancellara, known as the finest time trial rider in the world at his peak, has announced on Twitter that he plans to abandon the Vuelta a Espana following today's Stage 16 so that he can prepare for the upcoming World Championships.

The Swiss rider, nicknamed Spartacus, Tweeted at 10:45(BST):

"Finally a flat stage..........!!! i will leave the vuelta today and will get rest and then prepear the worlds."

Cancellara caused controversy when he left the race in 2010, stating that he needed to spend time with his family - already on bad terms with Saxobank, this move was a large factor in his decision to leave for LeopardTrek at the end of that season. At the Worlds, the TT winner of 2006, '07, '09 and '10 faces his biggest challenge yet - beating the young pretender Tony Martin, HTC-Highroad's TT superstar nicknamed Der Panzerwagen in recognition of the powerful riding style that has now seen him beat the old master on several occasions, most notably in the individual trials at this year's Vuelta and Tour de France.

Cav quits

HTC-Highroad's Mark Cavendish abandoned the Vuelta a Espana during Stage 4 today - his reasons haven't been confirmed, but a combination heat, fatigue and dread of the enormous climb to the Sierra Nevada ski station at the end of the stage seem likely factors.

The Missile is almost as well-known for his hatred of climbing as he is for his unique skill in sprints, just avoiding disqualification on two occasions during this year's Tour de France when maximum time limits were extended in line with race rules. The Vuelta, perhaps in response to a difficult Tour and notoriously testing Giro d'Italia earlier in the season, is especially hard with several very challenging climbs this year; including the feared Alto de L'Angliru which, with some sections rated at a 24% gradient, is one of the most difficult climbs in the sport. It's arguable if a rider so specialist and suited to sprinting as Cav would even have been capable of making it to the top of Angliru. With high mountains in stages 8, 9, 11, 13, 14, 15 and 17, were there just too many climbs for him this year?

His unexpected decision to abandon the race leaves HTC-Highroad, racing what will almost certainly be their final Grand Tour after a new sponsor dropped out before a contract was signed, with just seven riders following Matt Goss's departure with stomach problems during Stage 2.

See also: UCI responds to riders' Vuelta concerns