How long should suspensions be?

Should suspensions for drugs be based on rank on team or should it be equal for all riders?

Rabobank manager says high-ranking dopers should be banned longer

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/rabobank-manager-says-high-ranking-dopers-should-be-banned-longer)

The bigger they are, the harder they fall. That's the wish of Rabobank manager Harold Knebel, who would like to see the length doping suspensions based upon rider points.

Currently, most doping violations call for an automatic two-year suspension,with no relationship between the rider's stature or the nature of the violation. But Knebel said this should be changed, depending on the rider's rank.

“I believe in stricter doping rules,” he told AD.nl. “Under the current system, the relationship between risk and return is beneficial to the abuser.  By doping, a rider can score points and thus earn an attractive contract. If someone has a lot of points, then (they should get) a higher penalty.”

Under his suggestion, a team captain would be banned longer than a domestique. “Who gains the most, should also be punished the most.”

Cyclo-Cross World Championships, Elite Women

I am more of a road bike girl, but blogging for over 6 months has made me learn there is more to cycling. And as cyclist's names repeat, I learn more about them and want to feature them in my blog. So here are the results from the 2012 UCI Cyclo-Cross World Championships:

Cyclo-cross Worlds: Vos unstoppable in retaining rainbow jersey

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/championnats-du-monde-world-championships-2012/elite-women/results)

Marianne Vos out-powered the rest of the field during the cyclo-cross world championships in Koksijde, Belgium. Almost forty seconds later Daphny van den Brand (The Netherlands) won the sprint for second place ahead of local favorite Sanne Cant (Belgium). At 24, Vos overtakes Hanka Kupfernagel (Germany) as record holder with five ‘cross world titles.

“It was not my goal to overtake her but five titles is fantastic,” Vos said.

On the technical course Vos clearly struggled to get through the sand stretches but that didn’t keep her from quickly earning a comfortable lead. Vos built up a lead of a minute and plowed her way through the sand to a well-deserved win.

“Technically it wasn’t good today. I wouldn’t deserve getting a dune named after me like the Elite Men’s winner will enjoy. Getting a mud section or a stretch of pavement named after me would be more correct,” Vos said.

Two women missed their start at 11am and they were Vos and Katherine Compton (USA). While Vos quickly recovered Compton didn’t and a little later she was caught up in a crash.

“I missed my first pedal stroke at the start and that raised the adrenaline to the top. If I had the opportunity I would take the initiative and ride my own race. I quickly had a gap but I realized that it would be a long forty minutes,” Vos said.

Unlike Vos the US champion struggled to get in the rhythm on the Koksijde course. After the first lap she rode outside the top-15 at nearly a minute from Vos. “I missed my pedal and couldn’t find it. Then I crashed in the first right hand turn before the pit. From there I got stuck in traffic but I’ve never given up. It’s hard to get back. I kind of saw this coming,” Compton said.

While Vos comfortably led the race ahead of Van den Brand another Dutch rider, Sanne van Paassen, was under pressure from Cant who made progress and brought along Katerina Nash (Czech Republic) and Sophie de Boer (The Netherlands).

Early on in the third lap a group with Compton, Jasmin Achermann (Switzerland) and Nikki Harris (UK) bridged up with Cant, De Boer, Van Paassen and Nash. Right at the first sand stretches Cant blasted away and in no time Van den Brand was caught. Van Paassen and Compton then bridged up, creating a first chase group at 34 seconds from Vos with Cant, Compton, Van Paassen and Van den Brand. Further back a head-first dive from Helen Wyman (UK) in the sand caused a scare but the British champion continued her race.

During the penultimate lap Vos extended her lead to one minute while behind her Compton struggled to keep up with the three other chasers. Nevertheless none of them wanted to work on the long start-finishing straight and Compton quickly closed down the gap of 10 seconds.

In the final lap Vos made no mistakes and clearly was in delight, emotionally celebrating her fifth world title when she crossed the finish line. In the chase group a battle unfolded in which Cant, Van den Brand and Van Paassen exchanged attacks.

Compton followed at a short distance but never managed to overtake any of the three other women. In the final sections Van Paassen lost ground too but she was enormously happy with her fourth place. “I’ve been struggling with my health for two months and arrived here without competition. Despite that I simply manage to finish fourth and wonder why I was worrying that much. It makes me emotional,” she told Cyclingnews.

In front of her Cant sneaked ahead of Van den Brand and she turned into the finishing straight as leader. Cant didn’t have a sprint left in her legs though and Van den Brand easily captured second place in her last world championships race.

“That grass section ahead of the finish is quite tough so Cant probably had sore legs. I had enough power left and noticed that Sanne didn’t have her hands in the drops. It’s my first silver medal and with such a good Marianne I can’t be disappointed. I started real fast, maybe a little bit too fast because I never felt good,” Van den Brand said.

When crossing the finish line Cant threw her hands in the air, clearly not disappointed with her loss in the sprint. “I still have a hard time to believe this. I felt really well and apparently in the sand I was among the best. To me it didn’t matter what medal I would take. In every category the Belgians expected, except in the Women’s category and then I pull off this,” Cant said.

British rider Harris rode a great race and finished sixth at one minute from Vos. Wyman placed thirteenth.

Further back American riders Nicole Duke and Meredith Miller cracked the top-20, Amy Dombroski (USA) was 23rd while Kaitlin Antonneau (USA) disappointed with her 26th place. “It’s been a long season and it wasn’t good today. I improved my result from last year though so that’s positive,” Antonneau told Cyclingnews.

Results

#	Rider Name (Country) Team	Result
1	Marianne Vos (Netherlands)	0:41:04
2	Daphny Van Den Brand (Netherlands)	0:00:37
3	Sanne Cant (Belgium)	0:00:38
4	Sanne Van Paassen (Netherlands)	0:00:49
5	Katherine Compton (United States Of America)	0:00:53
6	Nikki Harris (Great Britain)	0:01:03
7	Sophie De Boer (Netherlands)	0:01:05
8	Katerina Nash (Czech Republic)	0:01:11
9	Jasmin Achermann (Switzerland)	0:01:12
10	Lucie Chainel-Lefevre (France)	0:01:54

I know this is my second post today, but this article really means something to me. Just wanted to share it with you all:

Bartali honoured for saving Jews during the Holocaust

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/bartali-honoured-for-saving-jews-during-the-holocaust)

Tributes have been paid to cycling great Gino Bartali, with evidence now showing that he helped save the lives of up to 800 Jews during World War II. The Yad Vashem Memorial in Israel is looking into giving him the title "Righteous Among the Nations", a term used by Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews from extermination by the Nazis.

The details about the Italian's actions in the 1940s have only just recently come to light, through a university study. His son, Andrea, has continued the research along with the Jewish community and journalist Laura Guerra.

“In 1943 Bartali, who had already won the Tour de France once and the Giro d’Italia twice, was assigned to the traffic police by the fascist regime, before leaving the job on 8 September,” according to the UCI.  “That was when he went underground, choosing to help persecuted Jews by smuggling identity photos to a convent that produced counterfeit papers.

“As far as the soldiers who guarded the road between Florence and San Quirico, near Assisi, were concerned, Bartali was merely on a 380-km training run. In fact, valuable documents were hidden inside the frame and saddle of his bicycle.”

Bartali remained modest about his actions, not even telling his wife. His own public comment was “Good is something you do, not something you talk about. Some medals are pinned to your soul, not to your jacket.”

He was imprisoned for 45 days in late 1943, officially because of his support for the Vatican, which opposed the fascist regime. However, he was never tried and was ultimately released.

No UCI points for Movistar from Valverde

Valverde's success will not benefit Movistar

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/valverdes-success-will-not-benefit-movistar)

Alejandro Valverde may have completed the sporting ban which was the consequence of a protracted Operacion Puerto case, but the Spaniard's punishment is not yet concluded: the UCI confirmed to Cyclingnews that none of his points will count toward his team's sporting criteria - the ranking which is used by the UCI in determining which teams will be in the following year's WorldTour. Indeed, none of his points will count for the next two seasons.

Valverde is currently sitting in second in the WorldTour rankings after coming in as the runner-up to GreenEdge's Simon Gerrans at the Tour Down Under, and while his results will add to the team's tally for the WorldTour rankings, it will not help his Movistar team when it comes time for the UCI to figure out who stays and who goes in the 2013 WorldTour. The UCI ranks the teams by rider points accumulated, team points and other criteria such as ethical and financial merits, with only the top 15 teams earning automatic consideration for the next WorldTour season.

The UCI took the decision to disqualify riders who are returning from bans from scoring points toward the team rankings for two years following their return from a anti-doping rule violation. The rule was ratified by the Pro Cycling Council in Copenhagen last autumn.

Earlier in 2011, the idea was presented to the PCC by former Credit Agricole manager Roger Legeay, and was accepted for consideration by the UCI's management committee. Teams association (AIGCP) president Jonathan Vaughters confirmed that he voted in favour of the rule on behalf of the teams in the Copenhagen meeting. "It was supported by the majority of the teams. Its a good rule, I think," Vaughters said.

Tour de San Luis, Stage Tres

So, after saying yesterday that he won't contest the Tour de San Luis...guess who is sitting in first place...

January 25, Stage 3: Estancia Grande - Mirador del Potrero 168.2km

Contador conquers Mirador

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/tour-de-san-luis/stage-3/results)

Despite claiming that he's trying to shed 7.5kg of extra weight and wouldn't be a factor in the Tour de San Luis, Alberto Contador showed his class on the race's first mountaintop finish to take his first victory of 2012 and the race lead.

Contador reeled in the attack of home favourite Daniel Diaz (San Luis Somos Todos) along with Italian Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) in the finale of the 5km ascent of Mirador del Potrero, but was able to ride the pair off his wheel in the final kilometer.

”It was a perfect day for us with total control," said Saxo Bank director Philippe Mauduit. "Going towards the first climb we were in the first line and we put Jesus (Hernandez) in the breakaway in the climb and gained control of the pack on the descent and reeled in the escapees before launching Alberto (Contador) on the final ascent.

"He was superb. Naturally, he's not going to be in shape for the Tour just now but still he's the best. It was simply a great feeling watching him take off and take that first season win and we'll try to defend the leader's jersey."

American Levi Leipheimer (Omega Pharma-Lotto) answered Contador's challenge, however, and continued to surge through to the finish where the Spaniard prevailed in a two-up sprint. Colombian Miguel Angel Rubiano (Androni Giocattoli) completed the stage podium five seconds later in third place, followed by Stefan Schumacher (Christina Watches) in fourth and Diaz, who hung on for fifth at 12 seconds.

"Alberto's got more punch than me and I think when it comes down to hit he knows how to sprint better than I do and he showed that here today," Leipheimer told Cyclingnews. "I felt really good. My team worked really hard before the last climb, and I think that that helped, but it was really windy. There was alot of headwind and sections where we went into the mountain and there was a tailwind and no wind and I tried to attack every time there but it was very short-lived.

"I'd come into the headwind and let off the gas. I had a feeling that everyone was just hanging on but there's not a lot you can do about that."

Leipheimer was the only rider to answer Contador's winning attack, and the Omega Pharma-Quick Step rider was quick to continue pushing the pace to the finish line.

"When Alberto put in his last attack and I was the only one with him. I pulled a lot because tomorrow's a time trial and if you gain seconds over people it means a lot," said Leipheimer. "I had the feeling that Alberto was on the limit, but it was just a choice I made and I think it was a good one."

With the winner's time bonus, Contador now leads Leipheimer by four seconds on general classification with Stefan Schumacher third at 19 seconds. Tomorrow the Tour de San Luis peloton faces a flat, 19.5km individual time trial in the city of San Luis.

"Alberto and I are pretty close in the time trial but I've been able to beat him a lot in the past so hopefully tomorrow I can do it," said Leipheimer.

Double dose of category one climbs loom

The first course of action following the start in the picturesque, sylvan setting of Estrancia Grande was to attend to a rash of mechanicals suffered by riders such as sprint leader Emmanuel Guevara (San Luis Somos Todos), Luis Mansilla (Chile), Jimmy Casper (Ag2R) and Juan Jose Haedo (Saxo Bank).

Soon afterwards two riders, Tomas Metcalfe (Carmin-Prio) and Gregory Duarte (Uruguay), went out on the attack in advance of the day's first KOM, the category 3 La Florida ascent at 26km, a mere prelude to the two category one climbs to come.

Renato Dos Santos (Brazil) left the confines of the peloton in a solo chase and at the base of the La Florida ascent trailed Metcalfe and Duarte by 40 seconds while the field was 2:30 in arrears.

Metcalfe crossed the La Florida summit first, followed by Duarte and Dos Santos, and the now three-strong break had extended its advantage over the peloton to 3:40

With the monster Alto de Nogoli summit looming at 60km, the peloton was momentarily keeping its powder dry and the three leaders continued to stretch their lead to over six minutes as they began the 25.5km ascent.
When the escapees extended their advantage to 8:00 minutes pressure began to be applied in the peloton, resulting in a decimated field.

By the time the three leaders closed to within 4km of the summit an elite selection of approximately 20 riders had emerged as the first chase group, only three minutes back, and included Jesus Hernandez (Saxo Bank), Cayetano Sarmiento (Liquigas-Cannondale), French champion Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Sergio Godoy, Alvaro Argiro and Eduardo Sepulveda (Argentina), Miguel Rubiano (Androni Giocattoli) Stiver Ortiz and Mauricio Ardila (Colombia-Comcel), Magno Nazaret (Funvic), David Livramento (Carmin-Prio) and Karol Domagalski (Caja Rural).

Dos Santos crested the Alto de Nogoli climb first, followed by Rubiano and Duarte.

Plenty of riders took risks on the descent off of Alto de Nogoli and fueled by a Saxo Bank-led chase a general regrouping of approximately 60 riders formed at the head of affairs after passing through the first intermediate sprint, claimed by Jorge Giacinti (San Luis Somos Todos).

Angelo Pagani (Colnago-CSF Inox) took advantage of a lull in the action, and launched a solo attack from the front group in the flat prelude to the summit finale.

With approximately 50km to the finish atop the Mirador del Potrero, the Italian's lead stood at 1:45 to the first chase group, with the second chase group 4:25 in arrears.

Closing in on the day's second intermediate sprint a crash occurred in the first chase group with Maximiliano Richeze (Argentina) and recent Vuelta Chile champion Patricio Almonacid hitting the asphalt. Richeze chased back to the group, but sought treatment from the race doctor, while Almonacid abandoned.

Meanwhile, solo leader Pagani suffered his own bad luck as he flatted, hastening the juncture by the 60-strong chase group inside of 18km to go, and the catch was made in advance of the final intermediate sprint, taken by Edvin Avila (Colombia).

With just 11.5km until the finishing ascent, the teams of the general classification contenders came to the fore to set up their team leaders for the showdown on the Mirador del Potrero.

Results, Stage 3:

1	Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Team Saxo Bank	4:29:27
2	Levi Leipheimer (USA) Omega Pharma-QuickStep
3	Miguel Angel Rubiano Chavez (Col) Androni Giocattoli	0:00:05
4	Stefan Schumacher (Ger) Christina Watches-Ofone	0:00:09
5	Daniel Diaz (Arg) San Luis Somos Todos	0:00:12
6	Cayetano José Sarmiento Tunarrosa (Col) Liquigas-Cannondale	0:00:26
7	Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
8	Jose Rodolfo Serpa Perez (Col) Androni Giocattoli
9	Luis Mansilla (Chi) Chile
10	Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Movistar	0:00:35

Overall, as of Stage 3:

1	Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Team Saxo Bank	12:45:15
2	Levi Leipheimer (USA) Omega Pharma-QuickStep	0:00:04
3	Stefan Schumacher (Ger) Christina Watches-Ofone	0:00:19
4	Daniel Diaz (Arg) San Luis Somos Todos	0:00:22
5	Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale	0:00:36
6	Jose Rodolfo Serpa Perez (Col) Androni Giocattoli
7	Cayetano José Sarmiento Tunarrosa (Col) Liquigas-Cannondale
8	Luis Mansilla (Chi) Chile
9	David Arroyo Duran (Spa) Movistar	0:00:45
10	Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Omega Pharma-QuickStep

Contador won't contest Tour of San Luis

Contador says he won't be a factor in San Luis

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/contador-says-he-wont-be-a-factor-in-san-luis)

Alberto Contador may be the star of the show at the Tour of San Luis in Argentina, but don't expect him to claim the overall at the end of the race. The Spaniard says he is still losing the weight he put on after this year's Tour de France, and won't play a role in the overall rankings.

“It is difficult now to go up against such well-trained men as Levi Leipheimer and Vincenzo Nibali,” he told Het Nieuwsblad. Nibali, with Liquigas, won the race in 2010.

“After the Tour I did nothing,” Contador said.  “I gained 7.5 kilograms. I have already lost four at the Saxo Bank training camp in Mallorca, but to be able to climb fast, you should be at your ideal weight. “

Still, Team Saxo Bank hoped to see him do well in the mountains,although the team is looking to brothers JJ and Sebastian Haedo to do well in the sprints in their homeland tour.

“We've put together a very versatile and powerful line-up. For the sprints we have both Haedo brothers and of course they're extremely motivated to perform on home ground and JJ seems very slim and focused,” said sports director Philippe Mauduit on the team's website.

“Even though it's early in the season, we can't hide the probability of seeing Alberto (Contador) do well on the climbs and on the time trial halfway through the race. Personally, I'm looking forward to be following our two debutants, Troels (Vinther) and Chris (Juul-Jensen) while Matteo (Tosatto) will be leading the battle on the road. The main goal is simply getting a stage win.”

The Tour of San Luis starts today and runs seven stages through January 29.