BMC Racing Team: Marcus Burghardt (Ger), Steve Cummings (GBr), Cadel Evans (Aus), Philippe Gilbert (Bel), George Hincapie (USA), Amaël Moinard (Fra), Manuel Quinziato (Ita), Michael Schär (Swi), Tejay van Garderen (USA)
Katusha: Giampaolo Caruso, Oscar Freire, Vladimir Gusev, Joan Horrach, Aliaksandr Kuchynski, Denis Menchov, Luca Paolini, Yuriy Trofimov and Eduard Vorganov
Lotto Belisol: André Greipel, Lars Bak, Francis De Greef, Adam Hansen, Greg Henderson, Jürgen Roelandts, Marcel Sieberg, Jurgen Van den Broeck and Jelle Vanendert
It had previously been said that Thor Hushovd wouldn't be riding for BMC in the Tour this year due to an illness that he had been fighting for quite a few weeks. Although this is still correct, here is an update on him:
Hushovd healthy again and looking to London Olympics
(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/hushovd-healthy-again-and-looking-to-london-olympics)Thor Hushovd has recovered from the virus that plagued him for so long this spring, and is now looking forward to the London 2012 Olympics, where he will lead the Norwegian team. The BMC Racing Team rider is disappointed to miss this year's Tour de France, but said he expects to be in the Tour line-up again next year.
In May, Hushovd had to abandon the Giro d'Italia after only six stages. He took a ten-day break of complete rest before returning to training. “I feel much better in training than before the break. It is completely different and completely obvious that I needed a break,”' he told the Norwegian news agency NTB.
The illness changed all his plans for the season, and he will now ride the Tour of Poland (July 10-18) as his warm up for the Olympics. “I have started to build capacity through interval workouts in training, and, in Poland, I'm going to ride hard. As there aren't many races before the Olympics, it is important that I go deep when the opportunities present themselves," he said.
"Since it has been a long time since the last race, there will be a hungry cyclist starting in Poland!”
Hushovd will serve as “road captain” for the four-man Norwegian team at the Olympics. The Scandinavian team is also sending Edvald Boasson Hagen, Alexander Kristoff and Lars Petter Nordhaug.
The decision to not ride the Tour de France was the right one, he told aftenposten.no, if not an easy one. “The disappointment that I did not get to ride the Tour de France has settled, now I am looking to the future.” He will be back stronger than ever next year, Hushovd said.
After learning of George Hincapie's retirement at the end of the season, this article really saddens me. I'm going to miss Hincapie and Jens Voigt in the Tour next year. :-(
Voigt's 15th Tour de France also his last one?
(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/voigts-15th-tour-de-france-also-his-last-one)Jens Voigt is facing his 15th and probably last Tour de France. The RadioShack-Nissan rider was nominated for this year's Tour squad, and will set a record for the German with most participations.
“I think this is my last Tour,” the 40-year-old told the German news agency dapd. “After all, that is a good 4,000 kilometers around France, and it doesn't get any easier.”
“I don't know myself whether I will continue my career,” he said. “My opinion changes every day.”
Voigt is currently tied with former sprinter and friend Erik Zabel for most participations by a German rider in the Tour. “I don't care at all about the record, but it makes me proud that over the years my teams have always said: We need Jens, we can take him with us.”
His team is going into the Tour under the shadow of team manager Johan Bruyneel's involvement in the USADA anti-doping case. “That is extra stress, which we really don't need.”
The German turned pro in 1997, with the ZVVZ-Giant-Australian Institute of Sport team. Since then he has ridden for only three teams: Gan/Credit Agricole (1998-2003), CSC/Saxo Bank (2004-2010) and Leopard Trek/RadioShack Nissan (2011-2012).
Voigt has won three stages in the Tour de France and one in the Giro d'Italia. He made the Criterium International his own, winning it not only in 1999 and 2004, but also from 2007 to 2009.
This is really interesting to read. I can't imagine how painful this might have been. And to think that he actually continued riding!
De Clercq finished Tour de Suisse with collapsed lung
(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/de-clercq-finished-tour-de-suisse-with-collapsed-lung)Bart De Clercq rode out the Tour de Suisse with a collapsed lung, and is now in hospital for several days. Despite the pain, the Lotto-Belisol rider managed to finish 12th on the final stage and 14th overall.
He crashed during the race, and complained on Saturday about the pain, but it didn't stop him from being his team's top finisher on the difficult final mountain stage.
The 25-year-old will now spend three or four days in hospital, and will probably have to wait another two or three weeks before resuming training.
“A normal lung is right up against the rib cage,” team doctor Jan Mathieu said on the team website. “When air gets stuck between the lung and the ribs, the lung collapses inward and reduces lung capacity.”
The lung is now operating normally again, “but now comes the recovery, of course,” Mathieu said.
“I must say it is phenomenal that Bart was able to put in such a performance on Sunday.”
Although I'm not a huge Bradley Wiggins fan, I would love to see him win the Tour this year. Actually, I'd love to see anyone beat Cadel Evans. Sorry, I'm just not a huge fan of last year's winner.
Wiggins relaxed as Tour de France draws closer
(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/wiggins-relaxed-as-tour-de-france-draws-closer)Team Sky's Bradley Wiggins was in a relaxed mood when Cyclingnews caught up with him yesterday at his training base for the crucial final few days before the 2012 Tour de France. The 32-year-old is currently on the Spanish island of Mallorca with his family as he puts the finishing touches to a training regime that, 12 months in the making, is wholly dedicated to performing up to standard at cycling's most famous race.
That standard has risen in recent months. Wiggins has enjoyed an unprecedented run of success in 2012 thus far, becoming the first man to win Paris-Nice, the Tour de Romandie and the Criterium du Dauphine in the same season. That form has catapulted Wiggins to the top of the oddsmakers' lists for the Tour de France, which starts on June 30, where he will attempt to end a 109-year drought for British riders and thus become the first Briton to win the event.
Wiggins insisted, however, that the tag of favourite isn't a burden - it's simply shows how well he and and his team have been performing over the last few months.
"I’m not really feeling any pressure," he said. "I’m in this position now because I’ve done well and that’s a nice thing to be able to say. I remember going into the 2010 Tour answering all the usual questions and knowing that I wasn’t in any sort of form – that’s a different type of pressure.
"I now realise what it takes to compete and to train hard week in, week out. I also have the maturity to be able to lead races and not have it take so much out of you that you need two months off after a big success. The confidence from winning those races has also helped build the momentum.
"But the plan has always been to be good in July. It was never a plan to peak for those races, form-wise, but we won them and we continue to look forward and continue to build towards July. It was great to win those races but ultimately it’s about what we’re working towards in these next couple of weeks."
He also stated that he has paid little attention to the Tour's parcours, has not been heavily involved in Sky's selection process for their Tour squad and has been extra mindful of ignoring issues that are out of his control. It is this single-mindedness, aided by the organisation and machinations of Team Sky, that have helped the mental aspect of his preparations.
"We’ve looked at a couple of the Tour stages," he said. "I’ve ridden the time trials and looked at a couple of the climbs too. Funnily enough, my son wanted a magazine on the flight over here and he decided to buy the official Tour Guide so I had a look at some of the stages in there. It was the first time that I’d seen them all back-to-back.
"It’s my way of not looking too far ahead. I’ve recce’d some of the key climbs but I couldn’t tell you what stages they were. I try to take things day by day and it’s a little bit like a jigsaw that fits together gradually, piece by piece. My only priority at this stage is getting ready for Liege and that prologue and starting with a bang.
"I haven't had much input into the squad we take. We have a selection panel who are in charge of picking the team and they’re looking constantly at everyone’s data – who’s doing what, how they’re performing, where they’re at. I have 100% faith in that selection panel to pick the right team and put the right people around us.
"I don’t worry about the little distractions. There are people who are paid to worry about those things. It’s not part of my job. That’s the great thing about this team – everyone has got their roles and everyone fulfils those roles very well. I don’t have to worry about who’s going to be in the Tour team in March or April. I just have to concentrate on myself, get the results and they’ll come up with the strategy."
Even the withdrawal of Andy Schleck from the Tour - who alongside Wiggins and BMC's defending champion Cadel Evans was seen as a big challenger for yellow - hasn't fazed him. When asked if he was worried that Schleck's absence would mean less time at the front of the peloton for his RadioShack-Nissan teammates and therefore added pressure on Sky and BMC to dictate matters, Wiggins was unperturbed.
"It was certainly the case at the Dauphine, when it became apparent on stage one that we would have to take the responsibility alongside BMC," he said. "But we'll just have to wait and see how things pan out in the race. It will all play itself out in France."
And what of the decision to spend these final crucial days in Majorca?
"I went home for a few days after the Dauphine but the weather in Britain was horrendous," he said. "And the plan was always to come here and get back into the mountains. When you finish the Dauphine there’s three weeks until the start of the Tour and then another week until you start the mountains in the Tour. That’s a long time to be without the mountains, so the plan was always to come here and get some work in. Training in the heat also means that I don’t have to do it in my garden shed. Here everything is designed to make it all the more comfortable going into the final days."
The final days ahead of a race that just might change his life forever.
I know we are only at the beginning of all of this, but I am already tired of hearing about all the new developments with the doping allegations and Dr. Michele Ferrari. Here is the newest information on the cases:
Pozzato consulted with Ferrari "for training advice"
(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/pozzato-consulted-with-ferrari-for-training-advice)Filippo Pozzato has admitted working with Dr. Michele Ferrari from 2005 to 2009 but claimed that he consulted with the notorious doctor only to obtain training programmes and advice on nutrition, according to a report in Gazzetta dello Sport.
The Farnese Vini-Selle Italia rider was called to appear before the Italian Olympic Committee’s (CONI) anti-doping procura in Rome on Tuesday to discuss allegations that he had been a client of Ferrari’s. La Repubblica reported at the weekend that investigators in the Padova-based doping inquiry had intercepted a telephone call in 2009 in which Pozzato had spoken of working with Ferrari.
“It’s true, I went to Michele Ferrari from 2005 to 2009, then they told me that it was forbidden and that I risked being suspended so I stopped going there,” Pozzato told the CONI hearing, according to Gazzetta dello Sport.
Ferrari was banned by the Italian Cycling Federation (FCI) on the back of rider testimony relating to his activities and in February 2002, the body announced that it would hand down suspensions of up to six months to riders who were found to have consulted with him.
“I never received any instructions about doping products,” Pozzato said. “I only got training plans from Ferrari.”
Such training advice is said to have come at quite a price - some €40,000 to €50,000 per year, according to La Repubblica. Pozzato is also said to have told the hearing that he “honestly” could not remember the telephone conversation from 2009 that was published in La Repubblica, although he did not deny that it had taken place.
Pozzato has long been touted to lead the Italian team at the London 2012 Olympics and given that CONI is set to announce its list of pre-selected athletes for the Games on Thursday, it is anticipated that a verdict on Pozzato’s case will be delivered promptly.
In the meantime, Pozzato has travelled north to Trentino to participate in an Italian team training camp ahead of Saturday’s national championships road race.
A legal loophole?
Charged with doping by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) last week, Michele Ferrari has long been a contentious presence in professional cycling. He was sacked as team doctor by the infamous Gewiss team after he told L’Équipe in 1994 that “EPO is not dangerous, it's the abuse that is. It's also dangerous to drink 10 litres of orange juice.” Nonetheless, Ferrari continued to practice his brand of sports medicine with a litany of individual riders thereafter, including, of course, Lance Armstrong.
On February 13, 2002, on the back of damning testimony about his practices from a number of riders, including Filippo Simeoni, the Italian Cycling Federation took the step of banning Ferrari and forbidding its riders from consulting with him.
The ruling states that “The Disciplinary Commission of the National Federation […] affirms the responsibility of Dr. Michele Ferrari in relation to the violation of article 158 of the UCI’s anti-doping rules and in effect […] bars Dr. Michele Ferrari from every future membership of the national and international cycling federation; it also forbids all members registered to the UCI to use the consultations or the professional services of the charged.”
In theory, Pozzato now faces a suspension of up to six months for consulting with Ferrari although it is understood that his legal team, led by Pierfilippo Capello, may attempt to argue that the regulation governing Ferrari has expired: Cyclingpro.it has pointed out that Ferrari does not feature on any of the FCI’s current Disciplinary Registers or lists of suspended persons.
The telephone interception published in La Repubblica on Saturday came from the wide-ranging Italian-based investigation into Ferrari's activities. Thus far, no charges have been formalised, but it is understood that some of the evidence from the Padova inquiry was used by USADA to build its case against Ferrari and Armstrong.
Pozzato was one of three riders disciplined by the FCI for abusing Filippo Simeoni in the wake of his spat with Lance Armstrong during stage 18 of the 2004 Tour de France. Simeoni was suing Armstrong for libel at the time, after the American had branded him a “liar” following his testimony against Ferrari.
Scarponi, Visconti and Bertagnolli called before CONI
(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/scarponi-visconti-and-bertagnolli-called-before-coni)The Italian Olympic Committee’s (CONI) anti-doping procura is to question Giovanni Visconti, Leonardo Bertagnolli and Michele Scarponi next week about their alleged implication in the Padova-based doping investigation.
In a statement released on Wednesday afternoon, CONI said that the three riders will appear in Rome on June 27 “to be heard in regard to press reports relating to the inquiry of the procura of Padova.” The Padova investigation is understood to be centred on the activities of Dr. Michele Ferrari, the notorious Italian sports doctor.
In April 2011, Scarponi and his Lampre-ISD teammate Leonardo Bertagnolli had their hotel rooms searched by police during a training camp at Mount Etna, and Gazzetta dello Sport reported that investigators in Padova suspected the pair of being clients of Ferrari. Their Lampre team claimed that the only items found were the anti-inflammatory medicine Oki, powdered milk and Enervit energy bars.
The following week, Gazzetta reported that police officers had searched Visconti’s home as part of the same investigation. The Italian champion Visconti, then at Farnese Vini, now rides for Movistar.
Michele Ferrari was banned by the Italian Cycling Federation (FCI) over 10 years ago on the back of rider testimony relating to his activities and in February 2002, the body announced that it would hand down suspensions of up to six months to riders who were found to have consulted with him.
Visconti, Bertagnolli and Scarponi will be heard separately by CONI next Wednesday at 11 am, 12 pm and 1 pm respectively.
Scarponi previously served a suspension for his implication in Operacion Puerto, after he confessed to working with Spanish blood doping doctor Eufemiano Fuentes.
CONI’s summons of Scarponi, Bertagnolli and Visconti follows its questioning of Filippo Pozzato (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia) in Rome on Tuesday. La Repubblica reported last weekend that investigators in Padova had intercepted a phone call from 2009 in which Pozzato spoke of working with Ferrari.
According to Gazzetta dello Sport on Wednesday, Pozzato allegedly told the CONI hearing that he had consulted with Ferrari from 2005 to 2009, but insisted that he had only received training advice from him.
Last week, the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) announced that it had charged Ferrari, Lance Armstrong and Johan Bruyneel with doping, and it is believed that some of the evidence used to build their case was provided by investigators in Padova.
The Padova investigation, led by Benedetto Roberti, first came to public prominence in the summer of 2010, and Alessandro Petacchi was called before CONI to discuss his implication in the inquiry.
