"Swiss Newspaper Claims..."

Do you notice anything about the title? If a newspaper is 'claiming' something, they better have evidence to back it up. In this case, not so much.

I read the headline "Swiss newspaper claims Cancellara will miss 2013 Tour de France" on the Radioshack Leopard Trek Fansite, and had a gut feeling that this was an inaccurate article. There are no direct quotes from Cancellara or RSLT, just quotes that the newspaper Blick "reports him saying".

In one part of the article, Cancellara allegedly says he "doesn’t believe that [Andy Schleck] can win this year’s [Tour de France]." In my opinion, why would a well-respected rider come out and be so pessimistic about his teammate? Cancellara wouldn't do that, and RSLT would never allow for that either.

At the bottom of the webpage that this story is on, there are links for related articles. One of the links if for a follow-up article: "Cancellara denies any decision is made concerning Tour de France participation". Thankfully, this article uses direct quotes from Cancellara, including what he posted on this Twitter account: “Dont belive what you read global regarding my raceprogramm. #Full fokus for the #classics after that i will rest, and decide with the team.”
Here are the complete articles for you to read:

Swiss newspaper claims Cancellara will miss 2013 Tour de France

He’s shone in the race in the past, winning five prologues, eight stages in all and holding the record of yellow jerseys [28] amongst the riders who never won the race, but Swiss publication Blick has claimed that Fabian Cancellara won’t line out in this year’s Tour de France.

If accurate, the surprising news denies his RadioShack Leopard team of one of its star riders for the race.

However Cancellara has said that he believes his chances of shining in the race have been limited by the parcours.

“The start in Corsica features neither a prologue nor a time trial,” Blick reports him as saying while explaining his decision.

The 2013 edition will instead feature the first sprinter-friendly stage one finish in over four decades, with the early race against the clock being the team time trial on stage four rather than an individual effort.

The race does also feature two solo TT tests, namely stage eleven’s 33 kilometre race to Mont St. Michel and stage 17’s Chorges TT, but these are not enough to entice him to take part.

Apart from his passing up on the chance to chase a stage win, Cancellara’s absence would also be a blow to the team as he could have done vital work for his team-mate Andy Schleck. However according to Blick, the Swiss rider doesn’t believe that the Luxembourg rider can win this year’s race.

While the route is undoubtedly better than the 2012 course would have been for Schleck, he is still trying to regain his form after a bad crash in last year’s Criterium du Dauphiné.

While Blick doesn't elaborate on Cancellara’s pessimism about Schleck’s chances, the 2010 race winner has himself said that it is conceivable that it could take him until 2014 before he is as strong as he was before.

Cancellara will begin his season in the Tour of Qatar and then continue in the Tour of Oman prior to tackling his big goals, the Classic trio of Milan-Sanremo, the Ronde van Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix. The world championship is likely to be a target in the second half of the year.

Cancellara denies any decision is made concerning Tour de France participation
Contradicting an earlier report in the Swiss publication Blick stating that Fabian Cancellara has decided to miss this year’s Tour de France, both the rider and his RadioShack Leopard team have moved to deny that this is the case.

“Dont belive what you read global regarding my raceprogramm. #Full fokus for the #classics after that i will rest, and decide with the team,” Cancellara stated via Twitter, writing in his distinctive manner.

Team spokesman Tim Vanderjeugd also underlined that the story was inaccurate. “Blick didn't have an interview with Fabian. His program until Paris-Roubaix is fixed; from there on, it's all open,”

The earlier article said that Cancellara noted that there is neither a prologue nor a time trial at next year’s start in Corsica, saying that a decision not to ride the Tour had been taken based on that.

It also said that Cancellara didn’t believe that he needed to go for team support, because he didn’t believe Andy Schleck could win the 2013 race.

Vanderjeugd said that this too is inaccurate.

Cancellara has excelled in previous editions of the race, winning eight stages in all and holding the record of the most yellow jerseys [28] by a rider who hasn’t won the race.

The 2013 Tour will feature three stages in Corsica at the start, with stage one being the first sprinter-specific race in over four decades.

It complicates things if Cancellara wants to try to take yellow again, but he is nevertheless strong enough to be successful in the race.

Before then, and before any decision as to his summer race programme, he will focus on shining in Milan-Sanremo, the Ronde Van Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix.

He will begin his season tomorrow in the Tour of Qatar and then continue with the Tour of Oman.

To Sum Up Milan-San Remo

10 conclusions from Milan-San Remo

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/10-conclusions-from-milan-san-remo)

1. Fabian Cancellara's (RadioShack-Nissan) racing style has skirted the thin line between bravery and folly in the big classics over the past two seasons, and Milan-San Remo was no exception. Once again, he won hearts and minds with his wholehearted attacking, and once again, he found himself thwarted by a cannier rider at the death.

There was something Sisyphean about Cancellara's plunge into San Remo, with Simon Gerrans and Vincenzo Nibali scrambling for his back wheel. Even though he surely knew that his weakness in the sprint would be exposed, he persisted in his labours nonetheless. But was simply attempting to blast riders of the caliber of Gerrans and Nibali off his wheel a glorious failure or an act of arrogance?

Cancellara triumphed at San Remo in 2008 by patiently biding his time before making one decisive attack inside the final 2km. In contrast to that clinical display, on Saturday he seemed to try and bludgeon his way to victory with repeated blows, and the result was rather less tidy.

That said, one can never step in the same river twice, and the circumstances of this year's race were different to four years ago. Once Cancellara made the decision to bridge to Gerrans and Nibali, and once it was apparent that they would not collaborate, he perhaps had little option but to attempt to burn them off his wheel. Besides, had Cancellara held his fire on the Poggio, he may well have been forced to take up the reins of the pursuit behind in any case, such is his lofty reputation.

At the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, the Swiss rider will have tougher terrain at his disposal to make the difference in the finale, although it remains to be seen if he will show his hand as early and as often as he did in 2011.

2. Simon Gerrans (GreenEdge) didn't bat an eyelid when it was put to him in the winner's press conference that his had been a stolen victory, and with good reason. He had a cast-iron alibi in the chase group in the shape of last year's winner Matt Goss, and instead the Australian cleverly maintained the lead group's momentum with a fleeting turn on the front approaching the final kilometre.

Laudable though Cancellara's strength was, cycling would be an altogether poorer spectacle if victories were decided simply by watts produced. Tactical cunning and sheer sangfroid are just as important a part of a classic winner's make up as raw power, as Gerrans demonstrated on Saturday.

3. With Vincenzo Nibali and Peter Sagan in its ranks, Liquigas-Cannondale had two potential race-winners with contrasting styles at its disposal on Saturday, and the team set out its stall in three phases. Their first aim was to shed the peloton of the pure sprinters, and then Nibali was to go on the attack on the Poggio, while Sagan kept his powder dry for the sprint from a reduced group behind.

In the event, Liquigas succeeded in following the playbook but failed to come away with the win. Cavendish was duly shed on Le Manie, and Nibali forced the winning move on the Poggio, while Sagan took the sprint behind for fourth.
Given the ease with which Sagan held off John Degenkolb, it's tempting to suggest that Nibali should not have attacked and Liquigas should simply have ridden to set up Sagan for the sprint. However, after Valerio Agnoli swung off midway up the Poggio, Daniel Oss was the only other Liquigas rider in the front group. Would that have been enough to pull back a rampant Cancallara?

4. Marcel Kittel may be the marquee young German sprint talent at Project 1t4i, but he has some high quality company in the shape of John Degenkolb. The former HTC-Highroad rider enjoyed a fine Milan-San Remo debut. Just 23 years of age and in only his second season at the top level, Degenkolb dealt admirably with the 300km of racing and finished second in the group sprint just behind the winning break. His victor, of course, was the even more precocious Peter Sagan. Expect to see both men back at the business end of La Primavera in the years to come.

5. While the likes of Liquigas-Cannondale were always going to try and make life difficult for Mark Cavendish (Sky), it was a surprise to see the world champion eliminated from contention on Le Manie with over 90km still to race. As ever, there will be much conjecture over the true state of Cavendish's early-season fitness, but given his solid start to life in the rainbow jersey, it may simply be that he endured an off day at the most inopportune time. Certainly, it would be no surprise if he were to make a forceful response at Gent-Wevelgem next weekend – Cavendish is rarely more dangerous than when stung by perceived slights.

6. Bubbling under in the lead-up to Milan-San Remo after early season wins in Australia and Spain, Oscar Freire was quietly fancied by a number of observers to take his fourth win at La Classicissima, and when Katusha led the charge behind Cancellara, it looked as though he would conjure up a big win from nothing all over again. Instead, the chasers fell just shy of making the juncture, while Freire himself had to give best to Sagan, Degenkolb and Pippo Pozzato in the sprint for fourth. In what may be his final season as a professional, one wonders if Freire will manage to work the oracle one more time before his exits the stage.

7. Filippo Pozzato brooked his share of criticism during his final season at Katusha, but the man from Vicenza has carried himself with a renewed verve since he signed with Farnese Vini-Selle Italia ahead of the 2012 season. Training under the watchful gaze of Luca Scinto all winter, Pozzato set himself the target of slugging it out with the big hitters at San Remo, Flanders and Roubaix.

A broken collarbone at the Tour of Qatar threatened to derail his campaign, but remarkably he was back racing within a week of his operation, so desperate was he not to miss out on racing miles ahead of the classics. The gamble looked to have paid dividends on Saturday as he rode to a solid 6th place in San Remo. While it's worth noting that he finished 5th last year before the wheels came off his Katusha career in Belgium, Pozzato seems altogether more assured under Scinto's guidance, and it will be fascinating to see if he can recover his form of 2009 on the cobbles this April.

8. BMC's travails continued at Milan-San Remo, and remarkably the expensively-assembled outfit has yet to pick up a single win in 2012. Their Classicissima challenge was dented early in the week when Thor Hushovd was forced out of the race with illness, and the Norwegian was perhaps always likely to be their best chance of success. Philippe Gilbert, too, was stricken by fever and dental problems in the week before the race, and a crash over the top of the Cipressa ended his challenge before it was possible to draw any real conclusions as to his actual state of form.

Greg Van Avermaet was also a faller and it was left to Alessandro Ballan to keep their end up with an 8th place finish. While there were mitigating circumstances aplenty for their low-key showing on the road to San Remo, the galacticos will be expected to start making a telling impact on races at the very least as the focus switches to the cobbles.

9. Given his twin talents of endurance and speed, it seems almost an aberration that Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) has never triumphed at Milan-San Remo. In fine form at Paris-Nice last week, no less a figure than Michele Bartoli had tipped Boonen for the win on Saturday and the Belgian appeared comfortable throughout. Caught behind a crash on the descent of the Poggio, however, Boonen lost sight of the leaders and his challenge ended. Still, his season is as ever defined by the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, where the signs are he will renew his rivalry with Fabian Cancellara.

10. A 300km classic from Milan to San Remo is perhaps something of an anachronism, a throwback to the early years of organised racing. Certainly, one does not envisage that any new additions to the WorldTour calendar would ever feature such a lengthy point-to-point race. That said, throughout its history, the organisers have often updated the race by tweaking its format slightly, adding the Poggio (1960), Cipressa (1982) and Le Manie (2009).

Change may be afoot again as soon as next year, with rumours of a steeper route to the top of the Cipressa and a finish line closer to the Poggio. The idea to give attackers more of a chance to finish alone, but as has been the case since 1907, it's the riders rather than the route that will be the making of the race.

Milan - San Remo: Gerrans vs. Cancellara

Cancellara pipped at Milan-San Remo

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/cancellara-pipped-at-milan-san-remo)

Another classic, another pyrrhic victory for Fabian Cancellara. The RadioShack-Nissan rider made all the running in the final, frantic kilometres of Milan-San Remo on Saturday, but he comes away from the Riviera laden with compliments rather than prizes after he finished second behind Simon Gerrans (GreenEdge).

Second in Milan-San Remo last year, third in the Tour of Flanders, second in Paris-Roubaix and now second again in La Classicissima, Cancellara’s recent run of classics results has been as frustrating as it has been remarkable. From monument to monument, the sequence of events has seemed to follow a set formula: Cancellara wins the strongest man contest but somebody else rides off with the race itself.

On this occasion it was Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) who sparked the winning move when he forged clear on the Poggio with Gerrans for company, but approaching the summit, it was Cancellara who muscled his way to the front and powered the trio down into San Remo.

Such was the intensity of his effort that Gerrans later admitted that he was struggling to keep up as Cancellara accelerated out of the corners that litter the famous descent of the Poggio. Indeed, at times Cancellara seemed to ride as though he were utterly unaware that he had two such high-quality rivals sitting (albeit not always comfortably) on his back wheel.

He eventually waved Gerrans through to take a rather cursory turn on the front in the streets of San Remo, but Cancellara again took up sole responsibility in the final kilometre, fearful of the chase group behind. A Milan-San Remo victor must know how to gamble; perhaps mindful of his weakness in the sprint, Cancellara opted to play the percentages and ensure at least a podium place for his troubles.

“In the end I took the risk,” he said afterwards. “I don’t have eyes in the back of my head. I felt that they were coming behind quickly, so for that reason I said to myself: ‘all in.’

“In the end, I risked it, but I still took a second place at Milan-San Remo, which is of great value. It’s a great race. I wanted to do well today, I had it in mind to try something on the Poggio today and make the difference. In the end I did what I could. The others were on my wheel.

Gerrans gave me two turns. I had to launch the sprint too as they were coming up behind us.”

The chasers included the precocious Peter Sagan, who comfortably took the sprint for fourth place. His presence behind meant that Cancellara could understood why Sagan’s teammate Nibali did not contribute to the lead group’s efforts.

“I spoke with Vincenzo. He said it was clear that he couldn’t pull as he had Sagan behind. I knew that in theory Vincenzo and Gerrans are quicker than me, but after 300km things can be different, so I gave my all.”

Ultimately, however, there was an almost disarming familiarity about the way Gerrans came around Cancellara, and one was reminded of his defeat in Flanders last season. Cancellara admitted that he was running close to empty by the time he reached the Lungomare Italo Calvino.

“I had lactic acid coming out my ears too,” he said with a rueful smile. “If you go from the top of the Poggio to the finish full on, it’s clear that at the end the gas runs out.”

Turning to the cobbles

Cancellara has had more practice in the role of gracious classics runner-up than he could ever have wished for in recent times, and he did his best to put a positive spin on what must have been a bitterly disappointing afternoon. Moral victors have been the subject of some of the richest chapters of cycling lore, but the record books do not note their achievements.

“In the end I’m still going home from Italy with some nice things in my pocket. I won Strade Bianche and the time trial at Tirreno,” Cancellara pointed out, and he now turns his attentions to the northern classics, where his rear wheel will be both a precious commodity and feared sight.

“The second place today will give me a lot of satisfaction and morale and the certainty that I’m going well. That gives me confidence for what is to come.”

Throughout its history, the vanquished at Milan-San Remo have called for additional climbs to be added to the route, and Cancellara wryly joined the chorus as he pondered what might have been.

“It would have been better if there had been another climb,” he said. “The race was fast but in the end it wasn’t hard as there wasn’t a lot of intensity. Everybody knew 300km was a lot, and everybody wanted their legs for the end. I hope that the northern classics will be a little bit more intense so I can make the difference a little bit more.”

Gerrans: I can’t deny Cancellara was the strongest

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/gerrans-i-cant-deny-cancellara-was-the-strongest)

It takes the head and the legs to win bike races, and never was the old adage more pertinent than on the Lungomare Italo Calvino on Saturday afternoon, as Simon Gerrans (GreenEdge) zipped past Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Nissan) to win Milan-San Remo.

It was Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) who sparked the winning break with an attack on the Poggio, but it was Cancellara who grabbed a firm hold of the reins on the descent, and his efforts on the sinuous plunge down into San Remo ensured that the trio stayed just clear of the chasers to divide the spoils among them.

But in an echo of last spring’s monuments, while Cancellara’s show of force produced plenty of shock and awe, the winner’s bouquet went to the rider who best engaged his grey matter in the finale.

Gerrans took two turns on the front. The first, before the top of the Poggio, added momentum to Nibali’s attack. The second, in the streets of San Remo, seemed merely a token effort to appease Cancellara’s signal for help.

“Without question Fabian was the strongest, I can’t deny him that. He was going like a motorbike,” Gerrans admitted in the post-race press conference. “Really, he followed Nibali and myself on the Poggio and then he drove it across the top. He’s one of the best descenders in the peloton and he drove it down the descent. I was losing the wheel coming out of the corners each time.”

Last year, Cancellara famously warned his classics rivals that they would have to fasten their seatbelts such was the ferocity of his attacking. Gerrans and Nibali duly buckled up as the road flattened out over the top of the Poggio, but the Australian already had designs on nudging Cancellara out of the driving seat at the last.

“He was really committed to driving the break to the finish line. I was able to give him one short turn with a little over a kilometre to go and then he came past me again like a motorbike,” Gerrans said. “I was confident the break was going to go but to the finish and I knew what I had to do to finish the hard work off and just come past him in the final.”

A stolen win?

One journalist wondered aloud if Gerrans had stolen Cancellara’s victory, but the frenetic finale of a La Classicissima was hardly the place to ponder such moral dilemmas. In any case, with teammate and defending champion Matt Goss sitting in the chase group behind, Gerrans had a strong alibi, as did Nibali, whose teammate Sagan won the sprint for fourth.

“That was my role in the team. We had the defending champion in Matt Goss and if it came back for a sprint, Goss was going to be the main guy. My position was to follow the breakaways,” Gerrans said. “Obviously I wasn’t as strong as Fabian, I’d be the first to admit that. But it’s not always the strongest guy who wins the race. You have to play a little smart and be there.”

Gerrans explained that he and Goss had scarcely spoken during the race, but such was the simplicity of the GreenEdge tactic that there was no need. While Goss kept his powder dry behind, Gerrans was assigned to follow the moves on the Cipressa and Poggio.

“I was quite surprised because we didn’t race the Cipressa or the beginning of the Poggio at a fast pace. So I thought there was a good chance the group would come back together if there were attacks. I was surprised we were able to go to the finish line, but that was courtesy of Fabian.”

Gerrans may not be the most prolific of winners, but there is little argument about the quality of a palmares that includes stage victories in each of the three grand tours.

“I’m pretty good at analysing the situation and making the most of what I have,” Gerrans said by way of explanation. “I know I’m not the biggest engine in the peloton, but I have some all round abilities and every now and then I get to race for the win and I try and make the most of that situation.”

And what of Cancellara? Did the Swiss locomotive overestimate its own capacity?

“He was very much racing for the victory, but maybe he underestimated me a bit in the final,” Gerrans said. “By driving and doing so much work on the front of the group, he was committed to get the break to the final but he also thought he had enough to get the win.”

Hushovd out of Milan-San Remo

Hushovd out of Milan-San Remo with fever

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/hushovd-out-of-milan-san-remo-with-fever)

Thor Hushovd will not participate in this weekend's Milan-San Remo after falling victim to a fever, his team announced today.

The Norwegian, twice a podium finisher in the race (2005, 2009), was looking to be the team's protected sprinter on the BMC team for La Classicissima, but was sidelined by the same bug which brought Philippe Gilbert's Tirreno-Adriatico to a premature end.

"Monday night I woke up with fever and was cold and sweating," Hushovd said. "I have felt bad for two days now so there's no chance to race on Saturday. I am really disappointed because it was obviously one of my first goals of the year."

BMC expects Gilbert and Greg Van Avermaet, who has been struggling with a foot injury, to be back to nearly full strength for the weekend's Monument. "They are still not 100 percent, but we have two days to go. We are still pretty confident that we have a good team with good experience."

Gilbert has been training and is beginning to feel better but he is hoping to ease into the 300km long race. "I have been riding easy in training and I hope to have a race that's easier at first, maybe with a headwind or something," Gilbert said. "I'll try to be smart and ride in a good position.

"Milan-San Remo can be a very strange race where anything can happen. If it's not for me in the final, maybe it will be Alessandro Ballan or Greg Van Avermaet or someone else on our team. I think we have a good team and we aren't feeling pressure because we know we can be competitive."

Ballan is one rider on the team who hasn't been ill, and has shown that his form is strong. "I can do something good there," Ballan said of the race. "I worked hard in Tirreno-Adriatico, even if I didn't make a result there and I am in optimal condition right now. I think we can be one of the teams that takes charge of the race."

BMC for Milan-San Remo: Alessandro Ballan (Ita), Marcus Burghardt (Ger), Philippe Gilbert (Bel), George Hincapie (USA), Taylor Phinney (USA), Manuel Quinziato (Ita), Michael Schär (Swi), Greg Van Avermaet (Bel).

This just isn't a good week for Team Sky

Flecha breaks hand in training accident

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/flecha-breaks-hand-in-training-accident)

Juan Antonio Flecha (Team Sky) has revealed that he had minor surgery on his hand last week after breaking it in a training accident near his home. The 34-year-old Spaniard, who has enjoyed a consistent start to 2012 after securing third place finishes at the Tour of Qatar and at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, is already looking ahead to getting back in the saddle and to making it to the start line of his favourite race – Paris-Roubaix on April 8.

“I broke a metacarpal in my hand while out training last week,” he told Team Sky’s official website. “The fracture was smooth and I was even able to ride home after I’d done it. I went into surgery on Thursday and they re-aligned the bone before fixing it with a couple of screws.

“In the time between picking up the injury and surgery I was able to keep working on the turbo and do core work in the gym, but since then I’ve not been able to do that as we didn’t want to risk stretching the wound, or getting it infected with sweat under the bandage. My bandage is coming off on Tuesday and I’ll be able to start my rehabilitation again straight after that.”

Flecha stated that his immediate race plans are up in the air and much will rest on his rehabilitation over the coming days. But in his own mind everything is still pointing towards Paris-Roubaix, where he has enjoyed consistent success over the years despite never actually winning the race. Flecha was a runner-up there in 2007, and has two third places to his name along with several other top ten finishes. Back in January he told Cyclingnews that it is the classic that he most wants to win before he hangs up his wheels.

"If everything goes well I should be able to make my return at Waregem [March 21], but obviously that’s dependent on what the doctor says," he said.

“I want to return there but it’s obviously dependent on my recovery. If things are not going well, riding the cobbles might not be the best idea right away, so we could even look at doing a race like the Criterium International [March 24-25] instead. I don’t think I will be at my peak condition at Flanders [April 1], but I will still give it my all, and then by the time Roubaix comes around I’ll be back to my best and able to give it a really good go.”

Froome hits pedestrian in Italian training accident

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/froome-hits-pedestrian-in-italian-training-accident)

Chris Froome of Team Sky has hit and seriously injured a 72-year-old pedestrian in a training accident in Italy, according to the Italian media. Both were taken to hospital, with Froome found only to have scrapes and bruises.

The elderly man is said to have suffered head injuries as well as facial contusions and abrasions.  While his life is not endangered, he is expected to be helicopered to another hospital for further treatment.

Police are looking into the accident to determine what happened and whether either party is at fault. Froome was training alone on Sunday morning when he hit the man, accoridng to sanremonews.it. He immediately called emergency services, and both were taken to hospital.

Froome, 26, opened his season at the Volta ao Algarve but had to abandon with a chest infection after the third stage.  He had been scheduled to start Paris-Nice, but had to miss it due to continued illness. He is not scheduled to ride in Saturday's Milan-San Remo.



What's with everyone getting sick????

Illness sweeps through Paris-Nice peloton

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/illness-sweeps-through-paris-nice-peloton)

Andy Schleck (RadioShack - Nissan) was the first man down with a stomach bug at Paris-Nice, but plenty of others have now followed suit with five riders unable to start Stage 4 on Wednesday.

RadioShack-Nissan is now severely depleted with Jan Bakelants and Joost Posthuma forced to abandon. According to the team website, Bakelants was ill throughout Tuesday evening and it was never a consideration for him to begin the stage. Posthuma was in the same boat however his condition appeared to improve at breakfast and wanted to be on the start line. His condition then deteriorated en route to the stage depart.

American Taylor Phinney (BMC) was also forced out while teammate Thor Hushovd was able to continue despite also having a bad stomach.

"Woke up at 2:30am and threw up everything I ate yesterday... Seems to be a stomach bug going around at this race," Phinney said on Twitter.

Lotto-Belisol rallied impressively after losing both Adam Hansen and Olivier Kaisen with Gianni Meersman claiming the stage win. Hansen is suffering from a bronchial infection with the Australian expressing his frustration to be leaving the race with Milan – San Remo on the horizon.

"Ive gone from bad 2 worse," he said via his Twitter feed. "This isnt good @ all. Im actually really disappointed. Must be in top form on the 17th next week."

Kaisen was just as frustrated, saying: "It's really not my habit to give up but there it was no longer much point in continuing."

Go Sparticus!!!

Cancellara on Strade Bianche triumph: I always ride to win

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/cancellara-on-strade-bianche-triumph-i-always-ride-to-win)

Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Nissan) got his team’s season off the mark with a memorable win in Strade Bianche on Saturday but admitted that he’s still short of his best form as he takes aim on another spring classics campaign.

The Swiss rider was arguably the strongest rider during last season’s spring classics but missed out on a big win. He was also roundly beaten by rival Tony Martin in the majority of their time trial battles but his Strade Bianche performance has laid down a marker for the Classics and Cancelllara believes that his form is moving in a positive direction.

“I always ride to win,” he said in his winner’s press conference.

“Last year maybe I was missing a little bit but you can’t do anything about it. I gave it 100 percent in training and even this winter I said I’d gave 100 percent and even if I don’t win races I’ll be satisfied. If you make mistakes you can’t be happy but today it all went perfect and thanks to work of the team and especially Daniele Bennati I won.”

Cancellara will use Tirreno-Adriatico to fine tune his form ahead of Milan San-Remo but an ominous omen for his rivals lies in the fact that his previous triumph in Strade Bianche came the same year as his win in la classica di Primavera, back in 2008.

“I hadn’t raced since Oman and today felt there was something missing: the race rhythm. I don’t know where my form is at the moment. It’s not 100 percent. I’m on the way to improving. That’s important. It’s important to stay relaxed.”

Cancellara added that his win today was as due to his own mental fortitude and strength as much as his pure talent. Having lost his uncle just a few days ago, he used the grief to spur him on in.

“A lot of things came to mind during the race: winning, but also about the sacrifices we have to make. I also thought about my uncle, who I lost a few days ago. I won thanks more to my mental strength than my physical strength,” he said.

“Life is short, even if I’m still young. You learn more about life and how short it is when you lose people. You understand that you have to be happy with your life and with things like family and find quality in your life. That’s the most important thing. Today I managed to transform my pain into something positive.”

Hushovd: Racing in Giro and Tour!!!

YES!!!! Even though his child is due at the end of July, Thor Hushovd has been confirmed for both Giro and Tour! So happy!!!! Just hope he can prove the sprinter/all-rounder he is instead of working for Gilbert and Evans.

Hushovd confirmed for both Giro d'Italia and Tour de France

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/hushovd-confirmed-for-both-giro-ditalia-and-tour-de-france)

Thor Hushovd's participation in the Giro d'Italia this year does not mean he will skip the Tour de France. BMC Racing Team sporting director John Lelangue has confirmed that the Norwegian is part of the team's plans for both races.

“Of course. He is one of our main pieces for the Tour,” Lelangue told tv2.no.

It will be a busy year for the former world champion, with many highlights. “He wants to rest after Paris-Roubaix before the Giro. After the Giro he will prepare for the Tour,” Lelangue said. The Tour is followed almost immediately by the 2012 London Olympic Games and after that Lelangue says that BMC “must ensure that Thor is in shape for the world championships.”

Hushovd last rode the Giro in 2007. “He does not go to the Giro to win overall. For Thor, it is the perfect start in Denmark and a prologue that he is good at, and the opening stages suit him. So we'll see, but we will make sure he gets a few days of rest to recover,” Lelangue said.

The Norwegian made his BMC debut this month in Qatar, where “he was unlucky with crashes, punctures and bike trouble,” but Lelangue is satisfied and thinks he will be well prepared for the spring classics.

“We know that Thor is most focused on Flanders, Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix. These are three of his main goals for the season. Gilbert, for example, is more focused on the Liege-Baston-Liege and Amstel Gold Race. There will be opportunities for everyone,” said Lelangue.

Cancellara: "I'm Human"

Well, that's good. Confirms what I already knew. I mean without scientific tests or anything, I figured he was human. Guess that my assumption was right this time. :)

Cancellara: This season shows that I’m human

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/cancellara-this-season-shows-that-im-human)

Fabian Cancellara has said he is more motivated for success in 2012 than he was before last season in which he failed to successfully defend either of his two Monument wins and was outshined by Tony Martin in the big time trial rendezvous of the season.

The 30-year-old Swiss admitted that his 2011 season lacked the high prestige victory he wanted but he refused to see the past 12 months as unsuccessful.

He said: “The season shows that I’m human. In a way I think I won more this year than when I was winning races because I showed right until the end – even when I was exhausted on the bike, that I was fighting. And this, especially in the Belgian classics from the Belgian people earned me a lot of respect.”

Despite the scarcity of first places, Cancellara’s crowd-pleasing aggressive performances netted him podiums at Milan-San Remo, the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.

“The big win was missing,” he confirmed to Procycling. “Those situations in the races came because everyone was watching me or were against me and that makes it even harder to do a result. It’s easier to win races than to defend races.”

Elsewhere, there was no Tour de France prologue to target and in all major time trials where he rivalled German powerhouse Tony Martin, he was off the pace. In the individual time trials at the Tour, Vuelta and the Worlds, the Swiss conceded an average of 1min29sec to Martin’s blistering pace.

However the four-time winner of the world time trial admitted that he was far more focused on the Copenhagen road race. He finished fourth behind Mark Cavendish, Matt Goss and André Greipel.

“At the Worlds this year I prepared more for the road race than the time trial, and I saw the difference. I trained at home with the TT bike but I trained more for the road race and against the sprinters. That for me gave me a lot of respect for what I have done.”

Looking ahead he says the incorporation of Johan Bruyneel and large chunks of the RadioShack squad into the new, RadioShack-Nissan team has re-fired his enthusiasm.

“Now I must say I am more motivated than I was last year,” he said. “I didn’t really have that last year. I don’t have high expectations for next year, I just have high goals – that’s my motivation and for this I’m giving everything.”

His new manager Bruyneel’s chief duty will be guiding the Schleck brothers at the Tour, but it will also be the first time the Belgian has focused on the Classics too.

“The other challenge is with me in the Classics – a challenge he’s never had before. He’s had a few riders, but they were always mid-field and they were happy if they won a pre-classic or had a good result and were satisfied by that, but now they have a leader and it’s like full gas.”

2012 offers numerous opportunities for Cancellara to shine. As well as target the cobbled classics, Cancellara suggested he may target the hilly Amstel Gold Race, before preparing for the Tour and Olympics. At the London Games he will defend his 2008 time trial title and look to improve on his second place in the road race. Earlier this month, he visited London to recce both the time trial and road course with Bruyneel.

He says his current plan is to finish the Tour, but given as the road race occurs just six days after the three-week grand tour, Cancellara left open the possibility he might withdraw before Paris.

“The first thing as the Classics and from there it’s a new plan. I will have support from Johan for sure. In 2008 I did the whole tour but it was not really planned. It depends on the shape, on everything.”

At RadioShack-Nissan’s first training camp early December in Spain, Cancellara was confined to his room with the ‘flu.
 A full feature on Fabian Cancellara appears in next month's edition of Procycling magazine.

Could Greipel have won without Gilbert?

Greipel believes he could have won more without Gilbert

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/greipel-believes-he-could-have-won-more-without-gilbert)

André Greipel believes that he could have won more races in 2011 had he not been a teammate of the all-conquering Philippe Gilbert at Omega Pharma-Lotto.

The German sprinter took eight wins this season, including a stage in his debut Tour de France, but his own ambitions often had to take second place to those of the rampant Gilbert. Although Greipel feels that he passed up a number of victories, he acknowledged that Gilbert’s form meant that the team was justified in working for him.

“Without Gilbert I might have won 15 races,” Greipel told Wielerrevue.nl. “But then he could win anywhere, so we had to ride in his service, and if he didn’t succeed, I could still try in the sprint.”

With Gilbert moving to BMC next year, Greipel is confident that he will have more opportunities to chase his own wins as part of the new Lotto-Ridley set-up, with Milan-San Remo his major early-season objective.

Greipel made a belated debut in La Primavera in 2011, but he sacrificed himself for Gilbert by leading the chase behind a dangerous four-man break between the Cipressa and the Poggio.

“Next year I will set the bar even higher,” Greipel said. “Another win in a big stage race would be nice and I see Milan-San Remo as a big target. That race suits my characteristics.”

Greipel’s campaign will get underway at the Tour Down Under, where he has twice tasted overall victory, in 2008 and 2010. “I will start 2012 at the Tour Down Under, one of my favourite races,” he said. “That race has made me the rider I am today.”

Should rules be changed?

Freire surprised by Cavendish Worlds win

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/freire-surprised-by-cavendish-worlds-win)

Oscar Freire (Rabobank) has admitted that he was surprised by Mark Cavendish’s victory at the UCI World Championships road race in Copenhagen last week but he paid tribute to his ability to repeatedly finish off the work of his team. The Spaniard also called for the rules regarding riders who finish outside the time limit at the Tour de France to be revised.

“Mark is a great rider, who has surprised many times,” Freire told a webchat on Marca.com. “He surprised me by winning Milan-San Remo [in 2009 – ed.] and now by winning the Worlds. He has won a lot of races, especially at the Tour. He has a great team but he responds as well.”

The Spaniard noted that Cavendish is virtually impossible to stop when his teammates bring him to the final 200 metres of a race at the head of the peloton, but acknowledged that he is also capable of winning from further back.

“If they leave him with 200 metres to go, he is almost unbeatable,” Freire said. “You can only beat him when the conditions are equal, if he is left like the others. Even in that situation, he is still really good, but you can win.”

Freire was also asked about Cavendish’s march to the green jersey at the Tour de France, which saw the Manxman finish outside the time limit on consecutive days in the Alps, albeit as part of a large group. The size of the gruppetto meant that Cavendish and the other riders involved were not eliminated from the race, but were punished by being docked 20 points from their tallies in the points classification on each occasion. Freire believes that the rules need to be revisited.

“As for the green jersey, there are rules that say that when a lot of riders finish outside the time limit, they are allowed back in,” Freire noted. “Those are the rules, but it seems wrong to me that those outside the time limit are allowed back in. It’s sometimes happened that riders who finish hors delai win the following the day. If you’re sick or you fall, they don’t let you back in, but if you finish in a group, they do. It’s not good, I don’t understand it. They should change the rule.”

No Movistar offer

Three times a world champion, Freire could only manage 9th this time around. He appeared well-placed entering the finishing straight but when the riders in front fell away, he had too much to do to make it to the line in front.

“I was left with just one rider in front of me a long way from the finish,” he said. “It was a pity, because I had a good position.”

Although Freire confirmed on the eve of the Worlds that he will continue in the peloton next season, he was coy about discussing his future. The Spaniard is understood to be considering a switch away from the Rabobank squad, but he downplayed rumours of a possible move to Movistar.

“I think it will be difficult to ride for Movistar. I don’t know where I’m going to end up, but not at Movistar because I haven’t had an offer from them,” he said.

"War for the peloton "

Team GB's Wiggins warns of war for the peloton in the Worlds

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/team-gbs-wiggins-warns-of-war-for-the-peloton-in-the-worlds)

Bradley Wiggins believes victory for Mark Cavendish at the UCI World Championship road race on Sunday would be the best of the Manxman's career, although he warned the race would be war for the peloton.

Speaking after the finale to the men's U23 race, Wiggins, part of an eight-man Team GB squad, believed the race would end in a sprint and one in which Mark Cavendish would have to produce "the ride of his life" to emerge victorious.

"It's going to be a war out there," said Wiggins, "and I think if we get one guy to that last corner with Cav, I think we will have been successful."

Wiggins, who won silver in the time trial earlier in the week, said he was personally relaxed but he spoke passionately about the challenge that lay ahead of the team and its star sprinter.

"[Cavendish is] going to have to do the ride of his life, and he has only ever done one ride of his life before and that was Milan-San Remo. Everything else he's won, he won easily. If he's ever going to do it with this team, with the form he's got, on this course, I think it could happen on Sunday."

He said the Manxman's form was good despite him pulling out of the Vuelta a Espana on stage 4. Cavendish completed a training block with GB teammate David Millar in Spain before completing the Tour of Britain which yielded two stage victories. Wiggins believes the fast course and the tactics of other nations such as Germany and USA will ensure a final sprint.

"The course is so fast. You can attack off the group that's doing 50-53km/h an hour but you've got to sustain 56-57km/h to get away, and it's just not going to happen.

"I think our plan is not to put anyone in the break - it's a wasted man who could be doing the job later on - but at the same time make sure the right break goes."

He said the dream scenario would be for the team to contribute to a combined effort to bring the break back late in the race before setting Cavendish up for the sprint.

He added David Millar would take responsibility for decision-making during the radio-free race.

"I think if Cav was to win on Sunday, that would go down as his best-ever victory in cycling, regardless of whether he won the Olympic road race next year. In cycling I don't think it gets much bigger than the Worlds. In historical terms you're following in a line of people who have dominated this sport."

He added that although Cavendish was feeling nervous and anxious, he was used to the pressure. "He's a leader through and through," said the Londoner.