The Court for Arbitration in Sport has had a busy week. Monday saw it ruling on Alberto Contador, the UCI and Alexander Kolobnev were there on Tuesday and yesterday we got the verdict on Jan Ullrich.
Many fans have expressed anger or frustration with the news this week but a quick note to say don’t blame the CAS.
I wrote about the wealthiest men in cycling back in March 2010, but fortunes can come and go, and now there are new names to add to the list and some names to delete.
If you thought the likes of Alberto Contador, Mark Cavendish or Philippe Gilbert were the best paid in cycling, time to think again. It is the people behind the scenes who fund some of the pro teams that are the wealthiest. Read on and you will find the missing link between Damiano Cunego and Jennifer Lopez.
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.
There are many prestigious stage races for amateurs to win during the year. The Giro Bio, the Ronde de l’Isard and the Giro Della Valle d’Aosta come to mind. But the Tour de l’Avenir is probably a level above. It starts on Sunday.
Avenir is French for “future” and so this is the Tour of the Future. Rather than a decent stage race in its own right the Tour de l’Avenir is purposely named as a race that unveil’s tomorrow’s stars – note the graphic above – and it’s a staging post for those heading onto bigger things plus a chance for followers of the sport to identify potential talent.
It’s also different in that pros ride, this is a race for riders aged under 25 although it’s for tomorrow’s stars, riders on World Tour teams like Taylor Phinney or Peter Sagan can’t steal the show. It’s run by ASO, organisers of the Tour de France and many other races in France and beyond.
It’s also used by ASO to test new roads and even ideas. The Tour de France race director Jean-François Pescheux has described the U-25 race as a “laboratory” where he can measure the effects of new climbs and ideas as finally the organisers realise that the Alps and Pyrenees are about more than the Galibier and Tourmalet. Note the route of some of the stages because the 2012 Tour de France could well look similar.
With the Tour de Suisse on this weekend, it’s worth taking a quick look at Switzerland and cycling. It’s probably Europe’s best kept secret for cycling and here are some random things about riding in the country.
I’ve got a lot of US readers these days and one difference between Europe and the US is the popularity of soccer. It’s the biggest sport in Europe and by some way. The other day I scanned the front page of Italian sports daily La Gazzetta Dello Sport and the front page story was the possible transfer of a player called Andrea Pirlo from one club to another. A stage win by Contador in the Giro didn’t merit as much attention, despite the race being owned by the newspaper. In short, the potential recruitment of one player was deemed more newsworthy than a crucial stage of the country’s biggest bike race.
Soccer, or as it’s known here, football, is governed by FIFA. The international body is based in Switzerland, the same country is also home to the International Olympic Committee, as well as the Court of Arbitration for Sport and of course, cycling’s UCI. FIFA has long had, shall we say, a louche reputation. Despite millions and millions of European fans, many of whom live for the sport with a tribal fervour, the governing body has often appeared like a club run for the benefit of its executives who cite “globalisation” and bringing the sport to a wider audience as their noble goal. Sounds a bit familiar, eh?
You might know Andy Rihs as the boss of BMC Racing but he’s become wealthy by creating a hearing aid company, Sonova. A Swiss company, Sonova is the world’s leading manufacturer in this sector. If you haven’t heard of it, you might have known it under its previous name of Phonak. The company was started by cycling aficionado and wealthiest man in cycling Andy Rihs, it’s grown from a tiny start-up into a medical electronics giant.
Only the company took a hit today with its CEO and CFO both tendering their resignations whilst Chairman Andy Rihs is to step down as a result of what the Financial Times calls “an insider trading probe”.
Ready to rock and roll Just a quick thought. Switzerland has long had a compulsory scheme where bikes have to be taxed and insured. Known in French as a vignette, cyclists have displayed a sticker on their bikes that’s been available in post offices each year, just as motorists need a sticker to use the … Read more
Watch Gerben Löwik’s nasty crash below, courtesy of cycling.tv. The Dutchman’s brake cable snapped during Stage 5 of the Tour de Suisse. I can’t think of another time when a cable snappped, it’s a rare thing. It’s a grizzly crash, we can only watch the rider knowing he cannot stop. Löwik had to leave the … Read more
Normally you’d think of Switzerland as one of Europe’s wealthiest countries, a land of mountains, lakes and hard currency. But this might not be so. Mo’ points, mo’ problems Fabian Cancellara’s stormed the season. As yesterday’s UCI rankings show, he’s in seventh place with 200 points. In the same rankings you can see the national … Read more