Month: April 2015

Astana’s Fall into the UCI Vacuum

Astana kept their World Tour licence after the UCI’s Licence Commission gave them the green light to ride on. The who, what and why remain a mystery for now as we wait the promised publication of the reasoned decision.

Before that happens there are wider issues of communication and perception. Few understand how a team gets a World Tour Licence, the ISSUL audit seems to have been misunderstood by many and it created a scenario where the vacuum of knowledge was filled by speculation and innuendo.

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Giro iCal

10 days to go. Just as there’s a season-long calendar of all the major men’s and women’s races to download, here’s the stage by stage Giro ical for your phone or electronic diary ahead of this Saturday’s grande partenza in Sanremo.

The calendar file has proved surprisingly popular for each grand tour. It lists each stage along with the distance and a stellar rating. The Giro awards stars to each stage to indicate the difficulty or importance, from one to five stars for the biggest days.

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Tour de Romandie Preview

Tour de Romandie

With the spring classics done it’s time for the stage races. There’s no immediate switch from embrocation to sun screen as this year’s Tour de Romandie offers familiar conditions with rain and cold forecast.

There’s a rare pre-Tour clash between Chris Froome, Nairo Quintana and Vincenzo Nibali but with wider interest as it’s a Giro tune up for some and a test for others.

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Some Classic Moments

Gent-Wevelgem was the stand-out race of the 2015 spring classics campaign and a shoe-in for the highlights of 2015 after the storm made a race that was gripping for hours. Yes it was dangerous but hopefully most enjoyed watching for the long range action where for the tactical scenarios kept changing for over two hours rather than the crashes.

Other races provided plenty of action too and right from the start with the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and along the way there have been revelations, confirmations and a fair-share of post-race polemics.

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Liège-Bastogne-Liège Preview

The last of the spring classics, Liège-Bastogne-Liège is a race of transition. Part Belgian classic, part-mountain stage and a rare chance to see the grand tour specialists go all-in for one day over a tough course. There are ten marked climbs but countless more rises.

Alejandro Valverde is the obvious pick as he hopes to double-up his Flèche Wallonne win but too many teams need a result on Sunday and it’s worth taking a risk to get the last reward. Here’s the usual preview with the route, contenders, ratings, TV times and more.

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Astana Ride On

Vinkourov Astana

Update: Astana do ride on and the UCI will continue to monitor the team for the rest of the year. The reasoned decision of Licence Commission will be published in due course says the UCI.

The Astana team meets the UCI’s Licence Commission again today for a second hearing following the UCI’s very public call to remove strip the team’s World Tour licence. La Gazzetta Dello Sport says no decision is imminent either.

A second round suggests this is not a slam dunk case. If it was then a review of the files and an obligatory hearing would have been enough to remove the team from the sport. What happens next has been a regular question by email in recent weeks but the rules aren’t clear and the outcome is more uncertain. Here’s a look at the case and some potential outcomes…

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Wednesday Shorts

Bernard Hinault 1980 Liege Bastogne Liege

Mondory Update – UCI tribunal – Verbruggen on Mars – Disc brakes – Nibali to Giro? – Lost

The 1980 edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège is infamous for the snow. Reports say half the field abandoned within the first hour, some so desperate they entered roadside houses for shelter. Bernard Hinault ploughed on to win, cementing his reputation as a hard man and ensuring the day entered the sport’s mythology. But there’s the untold tale of Rayban sunglasses…

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Flèche Wallonne Preview

Valverde Mur de Huy Fleche Wallonne

For 364 days of the year the Chemin des Chapelles climbs up the side of Mont Mosan but on Wednesday the road its renamed the Mur de Huy, the “wall of Huy”. The climb is so steep it deserves mural adjective and few races see riders cross the finish line in such obvious agony. But can the race deliver more than a three minute climax?

This year’s route includes a new climb right before the end to split up the field and the presence of several star names indicates that this mid-week race matters because because the finish is identical to Stage 3 of the Tour de France.

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