Marcel Kittel, a sprinter?

Marcel Kittel

Mark Cavendish seems so good you almost wonder what is wrong with the other sprinters. Look around and here’s ageing Alessandro Petacchi, André Greipel is strong but not prolific and Tyler Farrar is fast but usually not fast enough. But there’s a new generation coming, with several Italian riders lead by Andrea Guardini and a crop of Australians, Michael Matthews for example. But right now the Germans seem to have the edge, with neo-pro John Degenkolb already winning at the top level and above all Marcel Kittel. The Skil-Shimano rider took four stages in the Four Days of Dunkirk and last week took another four stages in the Tour de Pologne. But is he a sprinter?

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Peter Sagan’s come a long way

Winning the Tour of Poland today marks Peter Sagan’s first stage race win at “World Tour” level. It wasn’t long ago when he was riding around town on his mountain bike.

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Did Highroad ever have a sponsor?

There’s an air of the obituary across newspapers, cycling news websites and fellow blogs. Everyone’s lamenting the announcement that the Highroad team could not find a replacement sponsor for HTC to keep the team going into 2012 and beyond. And many are asking aloud why such a good team could not find a replacement sponsor.

But one answer is that they never had sponsorship in place since the day the team started.

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The Highroad that comes to an end

“After an exhaustive search to secure long term sponsorship we have concluded that it’s time to release our team members to pursue other options” That’s HTC-Highroad’s team boss Bob Stapleton. I’m travelling right now with a shaky internet connection so can’t cover the topic in detail but the team will fold at the end of … Read more

Red faces for Green Edge?

The Australian headline

“Stuey has wanted to be a part of this project since we first went public with wanting to put a team at the Tour de France, back in Adelaide last January… …We’ll be rolling out more big-name signings in the days and weeks ahead.“

That’s the headline screengrab plus a quote from an article in The Australian, the biggest selling-newspaper Down Under. Only it seems to be premature at best.

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Merger mania

Merger / takeover

Companies usually merge to strengthen their position with the idea that 1+1 = something greater than two, perhaps because they can assume a dominant position in their market. Think of Exxon and Mobil joining to make the biggest oil company in the world or Air France and KLM joining forces to match European rivals like Lufthansa.

Now in cycling we are seeing mergers between teams only this time it’s for quite different reasons. Rather than growth or dominance, this looks more like a story of survival. More like half a team plus a few more riders hopefully makes up a whole team.

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The transfer season is open

Deal time

2.15.120 A transfer period extends from 1 August to 20 October. A UCI ProTeam or licence applicant may only recruit riders during the transfer period… …For the purposes of this article “recruit” shall be deemed to mean concluding a contract with a rider to ride for the UCI ProTeam or licence applicant’s team, including situations where the rider in question is already under contract to the same UCI ProTeam or licence applicant at the moment of that recruitment, e.g. in the case of the renewal of an existing contract.

Today is the start of the transfer season and the paragraph above is the relevant UCI rule. Read the first line and you’d think things can only happen from today onwards but look twice and you’ll soon notice the wording that says “‘recruit’ shall be deemed to mean concluding a contract” and that the obvious conclusion to a contract is signing it. In other words a rider and a team can talk any time they like, they can discuss pay, the recruitment of other riders and more. All so long as they don’t “conclude” the contract, in other words they can settle all the terms of the deal and wait for 1 August to ink it.

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Thanks to NeilPryde Bikes

A note of thanks to NeilPryde bikes who are supporting this blog. Their advertising presence supports this blog and as I’ve said before, ads are not necessary… but they help. Hopefully you don’t find the presence of a third party intrusive when reading and I’m not trying any contrived pieces to work a Neil Pryde … Read more

Cycling in Poland

Tour de Pologne

The Tour of Poland starts today. It’s the 68th edition although you probably can’t cite many notable winners. For years the race was behind the Iron Curtain but, in a neat metaphor, today the race is run by a private promoter Czesław Lang and has become a minor success. It’s a World Tour race and for some team sponsors an interesting target market as it’s one of the few parts of Europe to escape recession and downturn.

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Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian

Clasica San Sebastian

Tomorrow sees the Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian race. It’s a good race in one of the heartlands of cycling… yet it’s struggling financially with race organiser El Diario Vasco, like many other newspapers, unsure whether to continue with the event. The field sees a mix of Tour de France heroes meet fresher challengers, the course is such that a variety of riders can win.

San Sebastian is a coastal city and the capital of the Gipuzkoa province in the Basque region of Spain. There’s plenty of politics here but sidestepping this, the area is one of the most prosperous in Spain thanks to plenty of active manufacturing. You’ll find brands like BH, Orbea and Exteondo from the area and of course, Euskaltel. The famous orange-clad cycling team represents the Basque region and this is their home race.

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