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?
Relegation tales
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.
2012 Tour de France route
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.
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.
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.
2012 Giro d’Italia route unveiled
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.
Who is 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.
Il Lombardia, a preview
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…
Saur-Sojasun’s rubbish jersey
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.
No change for Contador
This week has seen WADA drop its appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport over the case of several Mexican soccer players who tested positive for clenbuterol but were not sanctioned by their federation. WADA also dropped its pursuit of Danish rider Philip Nielsen too. These two cases involve athletes and positive tests for clenbuterol so many are making a link to upcoming CAS hearings concerning Alberto Contador’s positive for clenbuterol. But I’d suggest caution here as the cases are quite different.
Shorts: Ballan’s long arms and more
A few snippets and observations this morning.
BMC’s clothing
I get plenty of press releases from teams and suppliers these days. Many are useful and informative for the news they bring. Some can include fake-sounding attributed quotes and a few are borderline spam along the lines of “X won Y race because of Z” product. No they didn’t.
But there’s a helpful one from BMC’s kit supplier Hincapie Sports. The US company will continue its sponsorship of the squad for 2012 and their press release stated as such, including beaming quotes from those involved. So far, so normal…