Katusha's Good News / Gilbert's Goals This Spring

With the future of Katusha unknown, Joaquim Rodriguez said earlier this week that he would be looking for another team. The team lost WorldTour status, and because of that lost bids in many of the upcoming races. In order to ride in the Tour de France, Rodriguez was going to switch teams.

However, thankfully the Court of Arbitration heard Katusha's appeal and returned a verdict in favor of the team. However, the question that is no on everyone's minds is, will 19 teams be allowed to have WorldTour status or will another team get cut so that the 18 teams remain?

Rodriguez happy to stay at Katusha after CAS verdict

Joaquim Rodriguez finished third on stage five at the Tour of Oman but hugged his Katusha directeur sportif Valerio Piva as if he had won, after hearing that the Russian team had won it's appeal to the Court of Arbitration and secured its return to the UCI WorldTour.

Rodriguez and Piva refused to confirm their good news, under strict orders not to talk by the team's management, but the big smiles and hugs between the riders and staff as they whispered the news, made it clear that Katusha had finally received some good news.

Since being turned down for a WorldTour spot by the UCI Licence Commission on December 10, the team's future has been up in the air. 

It was granted a provisional Professional Continental licence so it could compete but the team had been snubbed for wild invitations to the Giro d'Italia, Paris-Nice, the Criterium du Dauphine, and most recently the Tour de Romandie.

On Thursday night, Rodriguez confirmed that he would leave Katusha if the team failed to secure a WorldTour place. He is determined to ride the Tour de France and was unwilling to let the team's problems impact on his season.

Fortunately the team's future now appears safe. Rodriguez's contract with the team is valid and he insisted he was happy to continue racing in the red and white Katusha colours.

"I'm happy to stay with the Katusha team because I've been in the team for several years now. The team has given me a lot and I've given a lot to the team. This is the best possible solution for everyone," Rodriguez said in a hastily arranged press conference in the permanence of the Tour of Oman.

"In the days before the verdict, we were optimistic and we always believed we'd win, even if it wasn't our decision to make and even if we'd never understood the reason why we were left out of the UCI WorldTour."

"I'll admit it, I was worried about my future, even if I knew I'd have ridden the Tour de France in one way or another. Now my race programme won’t change. I'll ride Tirreno-Adriatico, then the Volta a Catalunya, go for a spell of training at altitude on Mount Teide, and then the Ardennes Classics."

Piva echoed Rodriguez's sentiments of relief and satisfaction. The Italian is highly respected in the sport but had been struggling to keep morale up in the team and struggled to convince organisers to invite the team to key races.

Now it seems Katusha and six other team that applied for a WorldTour licence will have to go through the selection process with the Licence Commission. Rather than eliminate another team from the WorldTour, Rodriguez believes the sensible solution is to allow 19 teams to be part of the 2013 WorldTour.

"I hope another team doesn't have to go through what we've been through and so perhaps the best solutions is to allow 19 teams in the WorldTour," he said.

"That would be fair even if it caused some problems by raising the number of riders in the peloton and on the roads. It'd be worth it and much fairer all round."

"I'm sick of everyone talking about all the problems in our sport. There are still a lot of good things going on. I'd much prefer if we could talk about the Tour of Oman and the Volta ao Algarve, or the Vuelta a Andalucía. At least now I can look ahead to the rest of the season, knowing that goal for the year are safe and that the future of the team is safe."

 

After a fantastic 2011, and a not so good 2012, Phillipe Gilbert is ready to take on the Spring Classics. It doesn't seem to phase him that there are riders better than him at the moment, but he knows he'll be ready, in top form, by the time the time the Ardennes come up.

Gilbert building his form for a long assault at the spring classics

At the Tour of Oman, Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing Team) has stood out more for his rainbow jersey than for his results but he has dismissed off any doubts about his form and is convinced he will be a contender in the spring Classics, from Milan-San Remo until Liège-Bastogne- Liège.

Gilbert is always polite and professional, but he is more protective of his time and privacy after the scrutiny and thousands of questions, especially in Belgium, about his difficult 2012 season. He answers further questions about last year but they clearly touch a nerve.

"There's been a lot of talk about my spring season last year but it's only three months in a career of ten years. I have nothing to complain about," Gilbert said, firing a warning shot while speaking to the media, including Cyclingnews, at the Tour of Oman.

"I was there in the finale in almost every classic but everyone said things were very bad. But bad is when you get dropped and climb off in races. I was not that bad and got better week after week. Eventually my best form came back."

Gilbert concedes that his hugely successful 2011 season left him tired for 2012. Poor results in 2012 were the price he paid for his long run of victories in 2011, although he recovered his powers sufficiently to win the world championships in Valkenburg in September.

"Maybe in life you only have one big season and perhaps it was 2011 for me," he said.

"But it was also long season: I did all the classics, rode the Tour de France and went for the green jersey, I was at full gas everyday but then I never rested afterwards because I won the WorldTour. After the Tour de France I targeted San Sebastian, the Eneco Tour, the Canadian races and the Worlds. I think it was too much for one person and I needed a few months to recover from it."

To avoid the constant scrutiny of 2012 and avoid having to chase his fitness, Gilbert started his season at the Tour Down Under. Stage races are key building blocks as he prepares for the Classics.

"My form's not bad for the moment. I'm not good enough to win, but I'm not unfit. I had a good winter and I'm riding some stage races like Tour Down Under, now Oman and then Paris-Nice, to get better and better every week.

"I feel ready and on track. The intention is to be at my best for the classics. The season is becoming longer and longer in cycling, but it's difficult if you have to chase your form. Last season I was in that position and never managed to catch up."

Goal for 2013: Milan-San Remo and the Tour of Flanders

Gilbert is one of few riders who has the ability and characteristics to win on the cobbles of the Tour of Flanders and the steep climbs of the Ardennes.

He will target every classic except Paris-Roubaix but has set himself a special goal.

"It'd be special to win one of the classics I've still to win: Milan-San Remo and the Tour of Flanders," he said.

"My classics campaign is very long but I think you can win 'La Primavera' even if you're not at your best. Everything depends on the wind. With a tailwind (on the late Capi climbs) you have a far better chance. When a headwind becomes a factor, then everyone just stays on the wheels."

Gilbert is not worried or interested by possible rivals such as Mark Cavendish or Peter Sagan, who was far better than the Belgian in Oman and won two stages before pulling out with a sore throat.

"There are twenty riders who can win Sanremo. It's not a good idea to focus on what he (Cavendish) has to say," he said.

"I worry about myself. What counts is the shape of your rivals in the week before a big race. I don’t care if Sagan is stronger than me at the moment. If he's still stronger than me at Flèche Brabançonne (on April 10, just before the Ardennes week) then I have a problem. But that will not be the case."

 

The Next Astana Team Leader?

Vinokourov: Maxim Iglinskiy won Liège-Bastogne-Liège "the Vino way"

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/vinokourov-maxim-iglinskiy-won-liege-bastogne-liege-the-vino-way)

Alexandre Vinokourov showed up at the start of stage 2 in the Presidential Tour of Turkey in Alanya with a large smile, as did Valentin Iglinskiy because of the win of his elder brother Maxim at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Both Astana riders watched the last fifty kilometres of "La Doyenne" from their hotel room near the Mediterranean coast.

"We have awaited our first victory for a while but this is a wonderful time for our team," Vinokourov told Cyclingnews.

Janez Brajkovic opened the team's account at stage 3 of the Volta a Catalunya and now Astana has three wins including two major Classics back-to-back with Amstel Gold Race (by Enrico Gasparotto) and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

"Our start of the season was far from our expectations but these two Classics have put an end to our hard time," Vino continued. "It proves that Kazakh cycling is not only about myself. I've told Iglinskiy that after what he did yesterday, I can retire quietly."

The soon-to-be Astana team manager played his part in Iglinskiy's victory in Belgium. "I called Maxim yesterday morning before the start," Vino added. "I had noticed that he had good legs at Amstel Gold Race and Fleche Wallonne. ... He rode to perfection. He did it the Vino way! I told him to wait for the Roche-aux-Faucons and go with [Joaquim] Rodriguez. When he did it, I was confident that he'd finish on the podium. He dropped Rodriguez on St-Nicolas and turned the turbo on to catch [Vincenzo] Nibali."

Vinokourov revealed why Iglinskiy didn't win a big Classic until the age of 31. "He lacked motivation," the (substitute) member of the Kazakh Parliament said. "When he won the Strade Bianche and a stage of Tirreno-Adriatico in 2010, I told Maxim: ‘you can ride like Valverde' but he said: ‘no!!! I'm not at this level'. This year he's gone to altitude training camps here and there and he's motivated again. After this victory, he can step up to another level. He'll go back to Kazakhstan tomorrow and take some rest prior to training for the Tour de France and why not the Olympic Games."

On the eve of the Amstel Gold Race, Vinokourov reassured the president of the Kazakh cycling federation Kairat Kelimbetov that a great win was around the corner. "I'm even happier that a Kazakh rider is the winner. It shuts the mouth of the people who haven't believed in Kazakh riders. I reminded Maxim last night when we spoke again at 11pm: ‘I've always believed in you.'"

As a result of the revival of the motivation at Astana, Vino himself went on the attack at the Tour of Turkey after 48km and won the intermediate sprint at Manavgat.

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).

So who will be the RSNT Leader?

As much as I love Andy Schleck, he hasn't proven himself yet this year. However, Chris Horner has! In his first race back from his TdF crash last year! How is RadioShack-Nissan-Trek going to build a Tour de France team around a rider who has had a crappy season thus far? Thankfully there are quite a few more races to go yet.

Horner makes triumphant return to racing at Tirreno-Adriatico

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/horner-makes-triumphant-return-to-racing-at-tirreno-adriatico)

It's been approximately eight months since Chris Horner (RadioShack-Nissan) last turned his pedals in anger in competition, but the 40-year-old American has shown he's made a full recovery from a serious crash at the 2011 Tour de France by taking the overall lead today at Tirreno-Adriatico.

Horner suffered a broken nose, cracked ribs, concussion and a blood clot in the lung as a result of his crash on stage 7 of the Tour last year, and was forced to bring both his race and his season to a premature halt. The ongoing Tirreno-Adriatico, which began on March 7, would be Horner's first race since last year's Tour and his performance through the first four stages has indicated a return to form.

His RadioShack-Nissan team opened their Tirreno-Adriatico account with a second place finish in the team time trial, and Horner was well-positioned on general classification heading into today's decisive stage 4, culminating with an arduous climb to the finish in Chieti.

Horner finished in fifth place with the same time as stage winner Peter Sagan as part of the five-man group which escaped in the finale to contest the victory. Horner took over the race lead from Matt Goss (GreenEdge) and holds a seven second advantage over stage 4 runner-up Roman Kreuziger (Astana) and a 13-second lead on third-placed Cameron Meyer (GreenEdge).

"I'm sure many people doubted my fitness after my embolism but it shows today that it didn't effect my form," Horner said. "The team asked which races I wanted to do this year. I told [directeur sportif)] Dirk Demol that Tirreno-Adriatico would be a big objective and he supported me. "

Horner had targeted today's stage as one crucial to his overall ambitions and his assessment proved to be correct.

"Before the race today I thought for sure I might have the leader's jersey at the end of the day," Horner said on his team's website. "After the team time trial on Sunday, Fabian Cancellara and all the big riders on my team did a fantastic job, so today they protected me from the wind and brought me to the front at the bottom of the climb. Cancellara got me in position and then I knew to follow the moves from the best riders on the day."

Horner followed an attack by Danilo Di Luca (Acqua & Sapone) and Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) on the finishing climb's steepest pitch and thought that would be the final selection for the stage, but a general classification rival made his presence known in the finale.

"Roman Kreuziger came along and threw an attack in on the three of us and I had to bridge that," said Horner. "He was the biggest threat to us on GC so I had to respond in order to take the jersey."

Sagan's teammate Vincenzo Nibali would also make the juncture and the five-man group would sprint for victory, although a mistake by Horner hampered his finishing effort.

"In the final to the line I accidentally shifted from the big chain ring to the small one and my hands were cramping up so I couldn't get it back up to do the sprint, leaving me to just spin the cranks at 130rpms to the finish, all the while losing ground," said Horner with a laugh. "Even if I could've shifted back I wouldn't have won the sprint, but maybe I would have been up a little further."

Horner still faces three more stages at Tirreno-Adriatico before he can claim a final overall victory, but his and the team's morale is high and he feels up to the challenge.

"Kreuziger is close on time and we both time trial pretty evenly, so it's going to be a fight," said Horner. "My legs are feeling very good, so certainly I have a shot at winning the overall."

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.”

When Winning the Giro Isn't Enough....

Riis expects more from Saxo Bank in 2012

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/riis-expects-more-from-saxo-bank-in-2012)

Bjarne Riis expects more from his team in 2012. Although the Saxo Bank boss was “generally” satisfied with his team in 2011, he said that upon occasion “I would have liked a little more.”

It was not a bad year for the Danish team, as Alberto Contador won the Giro d'Italia, Nick Nuyens took the Tour of Flanders and JJ Haedo won a stage at the Vuelta a Espana. Still, the team had only 18 wins on the year, fourth fewest of the ProTour teams.

“Generally, I want to have more results. Generally, I have been pleased with the fine season, but there have been situations where I would have liked a little more,” he told the Ritzau news agency.

For 2012, “I want more aggression. I want them to go out to die with their shoes on. Here I am talking not about the sprinters, but generally all of them together, for now we just fight a little more for it.”

It may well in fact be a make-or-break year for some riders. Some are in the grey zone, “and if they want to proceed with their careers, they must deliver something,” he said,w without naming names.

For the team as a whole, “Either they must be indispensable domestiques, or they have to go out and deliver results now and then. In each case, they must go out and try.

“That its the spirit I would like to see a little more. It's not that I've been out with my finger pointing, but there have been instances where I think they should give a little more effort.”

One rider who was named was sprinter Haedo, whose victory on a crash-marred stage 16 of the Vuelta was one of only three wins all season. One of the others was a stage at Tirreno-Adriatico.

“I was really unsure if I should keep JJ Haedo. It's not that I doubt his abilities, but I was not sure that I got the most out of it,” Riis said.

“He may not have gotten the support he deserves. It is always a problem when you have a team like we have, where you focus on classics and stage races.

However, he also put part of the blame on the Argentinian sprinter. “He has not been good enough to use his help from the other riders and teammates as he really should do.”

Haedo can be “among the best sprinters in the world,” but he is also “totally explosive,” which works against him. “Sprinters are often very spontaneous, and he has the southern blood and temperament, and so on. It should also be controlled. It must be used properly. There are more things in it.”

With his stage wins in Spain and Italy, Riis said that Hado has show that “he is able to win big races. But it is a question of commitment. I think that a guy like him should have more wins.”

Gesink Update

Gesink: All I need is time

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/gesink-all-i-need-is-time)

Robert Gesink (Rabobank) is confident that he can return to his best after a speedy recover from a broken leg. The Dutch climber crashed in training in September and broke his right femur, but with just under two months of rehabilitation he’s already back on the bike and talking up his chances of a successful Tour de France in 2012.

“I’ve been back on the bike for a month now. Everything has been fine so far. I’ve been on the rollers for a while but the weather has been nice so I’ve been out and getting some fresh air too,” he told Cyclingnews.

Since a successful surgery in the days following his crash, Gesink has had time to reflect on what has been a turbulent last twelve months. Away from the bike he had to come to terms with the loss of his father who passed away after a cycling accident. The bond between the two was of course strong, with Gesink senior Robert’s biggest fan. Despite the tremendous loss the climber used his profession to focus during the most difficult moments.

“The first year of losing a father is really tough and difficult,” he said.

“Now I’m more at ease and I’m looking back at all the good times we had together and not how much I miss him. That’s a positive development. And when I see my mum I see that’s she’s doing better and better. She’s getting on with her life and that’s a good thing to see. Of course we all really miss him a lot but it’s never going to change.

“My dad was my biggest supporter and a huge fan of cycling. He read every story in the press so the one thing I can do for him is continue cycling. It’s all easier said than done because sometimes you’re head isn’t right but now I feel more and more accepting of the situation. When I think about my dad now it’s always tough but it’s getting better.”

Gesink’s ability to train through the difficult winter saw him reap the benefits in the first part of the season. Taking two stage wins in the Tour of Oman, as well as the overall, were followed by a stage win and second overall in Tirreno. Ninth in Amstel was hardly a shabby result but from there on his season began to unravel. A mediocre Dauphine was followed by a disastrous Tour de France. Heading into the race he was expected to lead a Dutch charge and there was talk of him splitting the Contador-Schleck dominance. The stage was perfect for him too - sixth the year before, and with Denis Menchov having moved into semi-retirement at Geox, Gesink had a team totally at his disposal.

Tour troubles
 However a series of crashes and heavy time losses ruined his race. With no chance of GC success, he suffered through - hoping to find his legs in the Alps. He eventually finished 33rd overall, and more than one hour back on winner, Cadel Evans.

“Looking back, abandoning after those crashes would have made more sense,” he told Cyclingnews.

“But at that moment I felt I could do something still in the Alps and try and win a stage but I ended up underestimating the damage that the crashes did. I tried in the Alps but in the end I wasn’t good enough. It was a more difficult Tour than the one before because I had to suffer so much just to stay in the peloton. Looking back at it, for sure it would have been easy to go home and focus on the Vuelta but we made a decision at the time. Maybe I’ll learn from that in the future but looking at it now it was just three tough weeks with no good feelings.”

Despite regrouping after the Tour with a number of decent results, Gesink admits that the year was a disappointment on the bike.

“In some ways it was a lost year. If I’m honest the main goal was the Tour and I didn’t go as well as I hoped for. That was disappointing. On a private level, I lost my dad last year. I started really well because I wanted to throw myself into my cycling. It got me away from all the bad thoughts in my head. I trained well over the winter and the start of the season I was flying and riding with the best of the best. But it was all about the Tour last year and crashing there was the biggest disappointing.”

As he recovers from his broken leg in double time all attention has already turned to next year’s Tour de France, showing at the very least that he’s not afraid of the battle. Due to his injuries it’s unlikely that we’ll see him dominate races like Oman in the first part of the year, with a gentler ramp up to July. The parcours certainly does him little favours but he’s confident that his time trialling can improve over the coming months.

“It’s more for the time triallers and I’ll have to focus on that. Last year I did that and I think I improved a lot. This winter I’ll have to spend more time on that and look for more improvements in my time trialling.”

Mental toughness

Gesink has faced question marks over his fragility and frequency of crashes – even from quarters in his own team – but the 25-year-old is resolute in the sense that he has the mental pedigree to shine. With three top ten placings in grand tours it’s perhaps easy to forget how young he is, and he believes that with time he can reach even higher.

“In all the races I’ve done I’ve always been the guy that’s had to do it for the team, in more or less every race I’ve done I’ve been there to get results and I’m used to it. Of course, when you go to the Tour, the pressure is higher but I’ve shown, like when I was 6th two years ago, that I can deal with it,” he said.

“I’m pretty young so if people give me time who knows where I can be at my peak. I’ve finished two Tours but that’s still not that many. So I don’t have the experience of guys like Contador. Schleck is a little different but those two guys are the best in the world but I know that when I’m at my best I’m close to them.”

Contador's Big Weekend

So even with a big CAS hearing lingering in the shadows, Contador found time to get married this weekend. Congratulations to him and his bride.

Although, I can't help but wonder if there is any truth to Twitter's @dwuori when he posted: "Contador wedding guests refuse to eat anything at reception" :)

Contador calm and confident ahead of CAS hearing

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/contador-calm-and-confident-ahead-of-cas-hearing)

Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Sungard) is confident that he will be cleared of wrongdoing by the Court of Arbitration for Sport when it deliberates on his positive test for Clenbuterol at the 2010 Tour de France later this month.

The Spanish Cycling Federation cleared Contador in February, but both the UCI and WADA have appealed the matter to CAS, and the hearings will be held from November 21-24. In an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport, Contador said that he is approaching the hearing “with a lot of calmness and a lot of confidence.”

“When you haven’t done anything wrong, you have nothing to fear,” he insisted. “I’m fighting as a matter of pride, and it’s unthinkable to accept any kind of sanction.”

Even though his future continues to hang in the balance, Contador is already planning his 2012 campaign. After failing in his bid to land a Giro d’Italia-Tour de France double this year, he is unlikely to ride the Italian race as he looks to keep his powder dry for July.

“I don’t think so, not this year,” Contador admitted, and he also stressed that aiming for the Ardennes Classics would be “complicated.”

The only certainty on Contador’s pre-Tour de France calendar appears to be Tirreno-Adriatico, although he is weighing up the possibility of beginning his season considerably earlier than usual in Argentina, at the Tour de San Luis in January.

“I could start from the Tour de San Luis in Argentina, even if I don’t like racing in January, because I’m afraid of coming into form too soon,” he said. “I certainly want to be at Tirreno-Adriatico. It’s a race that I don’t know and it motivates me a lot in a period when I normally reach a good level of form. As for the rest, we’ll see.”

With the Olympic Games getting underway just a week after the end of the Tour de France, Contador is hopeful of making it to London, where he believes he can make an impact in the time trial.

“I’d like to be there, but there are lots of people who want to be there,” he said. “I think I can give a great showing in the time trial, which comes after the Tour.”

While Contador also hinted that he would consider riding the time trial at the world championships in Valkenburg, he admitted that he was concerned by the increasing demands posed by modern cycling’s lengthy season.

“The calendar is already over-saturated,” he said. “You don’t just count racing days, but also the days at training camps to get to the top of your condition. They’re very, very hard days. In 2011, I did 62 days of racing, but out of the first 200 days of the year, I spent 140 away from home.”

Wedding bells

While the CAS hearing dominates Contador’s professional agenda at the end of November, the month begins with an important date in his personal life as he marries long-time girlfriend Macarena Pescador in his hometown of Pinto on Saturday. After a short honeymoon in Rome, the Spaniard will enjoyed a relaxed spell at home before beginning his preparations for next year.

“I like to go hunting, walking in the fields,” he said. “Then I’ll do preparation in the gym and from the end of November, I’ll start getting serious on the bike. I’ll stay in Pinto, although if it gets too cold, I’ll go to the coast.”

In the midst of a period of considerable turbulence, Contador explained that he is pleased to have the chance to spend some time among friends in Pinto.

“I consider myself happy with what I’ve got,” he said. “I try to put aside things that would bother me: falseness, lack of understanding, vested interest friendships. In my group, this doesn’t happen. We’re a very united family, four brothers, each one with his own life, but in constant contact. My friends are the same as I’ve had all my life, and for them it’s the same if I win or lose. Cycling is what we talk about the least.”