Geox team future in doubt (updated)

Geox team logo

The Geox-TMC team looks set to stop at the end of the year after its main sponsor pulled out at the eleventh hour. The squad’s management have been filing paperwork with the UCI as part of the registration process to ride in 2012 but when the matter of depositing the bank guarantee for the 2012 season arose the sponsor Geox refused to provide the necessary funding. Without this the team cannot continue.

Read more

Bringing the Tour to your city… or village

Revel départ

Regional newspapers are big in France, selling more than the national dailies. Open a local newspaper and you don’t have to turn many pages before you find the latest on the grape-picking harvest or minor traffic accidents. It reinforces the pleasant idea that not much happens in rural France, there just isn’t enough bad news to report.

For many places in France the passage of the Tour de France is the highlight of the year or even the decade. In a great piece Le Monde today reports on the importance of a stage visiting French towns. There are 36,000 mayors, from Paris down to tiny villages, and most of them would love to see the race visit their corner of France.

Read more

What is Holczer doing?

Holczer

Imagine the scenario. You run one of the biggest budget teams in the sport but sadly the results haven’t followed. Some riders have done well but in general things haven’t gone to plan. Maybe it’s time to change managers, who do you call?

Read more

Relegation tales

Amir Zagari
Most valuable players

Ag2r-La Mondiale are in the UCI World Tour. This status guarantees the French team entry to all the big races. But this position is under review given their low rankings.

To summarise, any team sitting in 14-18th place in the UCI’s internal rankings sees the position in the top flight under review. Right now Ag2r, the new Lotto-Ridley team, Katusha and Geox sit in this “relegation zone”. Dropping down to Pro Continental status is not automatic, simply the position reviewed and set against the arrival of new applicants.

Read more

2012 Tour de France route

Le Tour 2012

The leaked route proved true but only the summary details came out last time. This is a race of 3,479km but it comes down to a few strategic points and today’s presentation showed where these will be.

Read more

Monday Shorts

Sprechen sie Deutsch?
Skil-Shimano will become Project 1t4i in 2012, a holding name until the new sponsor is named. They revealed their kit over the weekend.
Project it4i
This is worth watching as the squad is trying something new. Once a small Dutch squad, they’ve got ambitions for more. They aim to create a team based in one place with open access for fans and the media. The new sponsor will be a “European multinational” but its identity is not yet known. But the team’s press releases come in four languages: English, French, Dutch… and German.

Rumours say it’s likely to be Bosch, the German industrial group that owns the Skil brand amongst others. Speculation aside, Skoda and HP are on board as well as Shimano. Despite Kittel’s wins the team probably doesn’t have enough points for the top league for 2012 but hopefully this is a long term story.

Read more

2012 Giro d’Italia route unveiled

2012 Giro

5 – 27 May 2012. The route was leaked but unlike the Tour de France people were not talking about the Giro as much last week, perhaps because fewer details emerged via the leak and also because RCS, the Giro organisers, had already printed some information the Gazzetta dello Sport, their house journal.

Yesterday saw the route unveiled in a TV-friendly format. There was a tribute to Wouter Weylandt and news that the race number 108 is retired from the competition in memory of the Belgian rider who passed away on the Passo del Bocco.

We had an audience of officials, journalists and riders and, being Italian TV, two models in pink dresses accompanying the ribbon-shaped Trofeo Senza Fine, the “trophy without end”. And to top this a giant mirrorball was lowered on to the stage and Alberto Contador stepped out from the dazzling cage to perform Sylvester’s “You Make me Feel Reel”. Actually, I’m joking… but only about the song as the defending champion did emerge from a mirrorball.

Read more

Who is Oliver Zaugg?

Oliver Zaugg

Swiss rider Oliver Zaugg won today’s race in Lombardia, taking everybody by surprise. But his win wasn’t a lucky break or a fluke, he made the lead group and attacked on the steepest part of the day’s final climb to Villa Vergano and held off any chasers. In recent weeks he’d taken top-10 places in the GP Beghelli and the Giro d’Emilia but is a discreet figure in the bunch.

Read more

Il Lombardia, a preview

Lombardia
The Giro di Lombardia has changed names to Il Lombardia or “the Lombardy” but the format is simple: a long race across hilly terrain with stunning scenery to end the season.

The name change is part of a move by race organisers RCS to rejig their portfolio of races and ensure that there is only one Giro… the Giro d’Italia. So the Giro di Piemonte becomes Gran Piemonte and tomorrow sees Il Lombardia. Here’s a look at the region, the race, the contenders and more…

Read more

Saur-Sojasun’s rubbish jersey

maillot saur-sojasun

A comment on the blog yesterday about riders ditching their waste food wrappers reminded me of a small detail worth sharing. The Saur-Sojasun jersey has two small pockets on the side for riders to put waste, for example empty gel wrappers.

Read more