Valverde on the comeback

Valverde racing

An alert reader has spotted that Alejandro Valverde is building up for his comeback to the pro peloton. The photo above comes from newspaper La Opinión de Granada. The Spaniard has been suspended for his involvement in the blood doping network uncovered by Operation Puerto but is training hard for his return with Movistar next year (note the team issue Pinarello with Campagnolo’s electronic gears and the Nalini clothing).

Not content with training hard, he’s been taking part in organised rides. Perhaps mindful of his suspension in the amateur ride above from July he didn’t have a race number… but started with the others and went on to cross the finish line first.

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Astana’s vanishing rider

Spot the missing person?

Following yesterday’s story of Astana hiring Andrei Kashechkin in breach of the UCI’s rules, it seems there’s been some behind the scenes work to fix things. A rider has vanished the list of Astana riders overnight.

The story so far is that Kashechkin should not have been allowed to join Astana as the squad was already at the upper limit of 28 riders. But the UCI approved the transfer from Lampre, issuing the requisite paperwork in time for “Kash” to start the Vuelta. In defence, the UCI apparently told L’Equipe that they were led to believe Vinokourov had retired… but Vino denies this, indeed the UCI never removed Vinokourov from the team listings or its rankings.

Although I’d be interested to know how this mess occurred, it’s created an embarrassing situation for Astana and the UCI.

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UCI and Astana in circular firing squad

Circular firing squad

A story from L’Equipe that’s worth translating. There’s now a power-struggle inside the Astana team to decide its future.

It begins with the inclusion of Andrei Kasheckin, the Kazakh rider had a mid-season transfer from Lampre to Astana in order to ride the Vuelta. But L’Equipe claims the move should never have happened as Astana’s roster is full with 28 riders, the maximum allowed under the rules. Adding Kasheckin would mean 29 riders, more than allowed. Yet the UCI approved Kasheckin’s transfer and racing licence a few days ago.

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Vuelta guide online

Vuelta logo

The Inner Ring Vuelta guide is online, see the link at the top of the page or click here. Similar to the Tour de France guide, it contains profiles of every stage, a list of riders and more info.

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BMC get Gilbert… but what next?

Gilbert BMC
Phil prepares to tow a BMC car up to the bunch

If the headlines are about Gilbert, I just wanted to ask some questions about the move and the future of the BMC Racing team. Because if the answers are hard to come by, thinking aloud does allow some reflection on the matters ahead.

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The jerseys of the Vuelta a España

There are four jerseys in the Vuelta a España. Here’s a quick summary…

Red Jersey

Red jersey
The red jersey is the leader’s jersey. Once gold in colour, in 2010 it became red. In years past it has been orange, white and yellow too. It is worn by the leading rider on the overall classification, meaning the rider who has taken the shortest time to complete each stage in the race. It’s sponsored by Ahorra Energia (“Save Energy”), a government agency.

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The Bulls of Spain

Toro de Osborne

A reader asked via twitter what was the Spanish equivalent of sunflowers at the Tour de France. Just as the Tour de France has pretty clichés of riders rolling past fields of sunflowers, for me the Vuelta a Espana has hilltop bovine hoardings. There’s a story behind this. It starts with vino de Jerez, the fortified wine from the city of Jerez that’s known as sherry in English…

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Arnaud Lagardère’s eyes aren’t on ASO

Back in April 2010 I covered rumours of a bid for the Tour de France, the suitor being Arnaud Lagardère. He’s the owner of Lagardère Group which owns a range of media assets in France. Primarily it does publishing, newsprint and as well as owning a stake in the country’s prime satellite broadcaster Canal+. But it’s got an extra division called Lagardère Unlimited that specialises in sports management and entrainment and it’s the growth of this part that made people wonder if Lagardère could bid for ASO, the sports management business that runs the Tour de France but also the French Open golf tournament and the Paris Marathon amongst other events.

But the bid never came. Yet Lagardère is still interested in the sports business. Only his stock is taking a battering in France thanks to a video of him with a new girlfriend, Jade Foret. She’s a Belgian model, aged 20.

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Can Quick-Step and Omega afford to let Gilbert go?

UCI rankings

That’s the current team standings. Note Omega Pharma-Lotto are sitting in third place whilst Quick Step languish in 17th place. A lot of this is down to Philippe Gilbert. As of Sunday he held 568 points, meaning that if you subtract his 568 points from Omega-Lotto then the Belgian squad would be in… 17th place.

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Nothing new from Landis

Marti Astana

Floyd Landis is back in the headlines with his claims that cycling coach Pepe Martí sold him doping products, saying “Pepe Martí was my dealer“. A big headline but it’s actually old news.

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