2012 Plans of Newest BMC's Rider

Van Garderen: It's all about the pressure I put on myself

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/van-garderen-its-all-about-the-pressure-i-put-on-myself)

The paint is barely dry on his new BMC team bike but Tejay Van Garderen is already looking ahead to 2012 with his new team. The young American has pinpointed a number of targets for the year as he looks to assert himself as an GC contender in major stage races.

Paris-Nice, the Amgen Tour of California and the USA Pro Cycling Challenge are all on his race schedule but Van Garderen has also selected the Worlds and Olympic road race as events he’d like to participate and be competitive in.

“I have a rough outline of my goals and where I’d like to peak,” he told Cyclingnews. “I’d like to have a strong showing at Paris Nice, Tour of California, make the Tour team and then hopefully the Olympic road race team. Then I’d like to peak again for the USA Pro Cycling Challenge and then participate in the Worlds road race and team time trial.

“Paris-Nice, California and Colorado - they’re the races I’m hoping to shine in for GC.”

With such a strong armoury within the BMC ranks for 2012, the team will be competitive on a number of fronts but Van Garderen wasn't daunted by either the pressure or concerned that he may find his ambitions stifled. Instead, he saw the strong roster as a positive aspect and one that he will be able to utilise.

“You look at HTC where we had Geipel, Cavendish and Goss but somehow there was room for everyone. A lot of times I don’t think that guys like Gilbert, Hushovd and Evans will be doing the same races. So Thor and Gilbert like to do Tirreno and I’ll be going to Nice. Also I think they’re pretty selfless and they can work for the team. I’m happy to work for them when it’s called for,” he told Cyclingnews.

Still, Van Garderen is aware - like most within the sport – that he moves to one of the biggest teams in the world with a certain amount of expectancy. The US is currently in a transition as a number of elder statesmen within the peloton move towards the end of their careers. And while there’s still fight in the likes of Chris Horner, Christian Vande Velde and Levi Leiphiemer, it is the young generation that must show its growing ambitions.

Van Garderen is on a three-year deal that will see him move towards his peak at BMC, and he believes that this longevity in contract will give him space and time to grow.

“Sometimes people sign long contracts and then lose some of their ambition because they think they’re set up for a long time, but for me it’s the opposite. I’m glad that I have the three-year contract now so that I can focus on racing and training and not talking to managers and teams. Now I can focus on racing so it’s 100 per cent about the results. I just want to have goals for myself and live up to the pressure that I put on myself.”

Olympic time trial

One event Van Garderen isn’t prioritising is the Olympic time trial. With only one spot available for the men, the US will have to select from a fairly equal playing field, but Van Garderen believes the spot should be awarded to his friend and new teammate Taylor Phinney.

“I’ve done some good time trials in stage races but for some reason whenever there’s been a one-day time trial event I’ve been really hit and miss - whereas some guys come in on a one-day event and they’re always solid. So unless I do something incredible in a time trial I’m not thinking about it.

“I’d like to see Phinney get it. He’s young and ambitious and part of the generation coming up. He’s proven time and time again that you can put pressure on him for one event and he always delivers.”

UCI's Testing Missed a Race?

...but this would never happen in the Tour de France...

UCI performed no blood tests during Amgen Tour of California

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/uci-performed-no-blood-tests-during-amgen-tour-of-california)

A plan to implement a comprehensive and independent anti-doping scheme for the Amgen Tour of California was watered down when a deal to allow the US Anti-doping Agency (USADA) to perform all in-competition testing was scuttled by the sport's governing body. Cyclingnews has learned that no blood controls were performed during the race after the UCI took responsibility for the race-day testing.

Three months prior to the 2011 Amgen Tour of California, the race organisation and USADA announced "the most comprehensive anti-doping program in the history of the race", in which USADA, an independent testing body, would perform all pre- and in-competition testing, while the UCI would manage the results of the controls.

It was understood that, at the time of the announcement, the UCI had signed off on the plan, but just one day before the start of the race, it was reported that the deal fell through at the last minute. A source has confirmed to Cyclingnews that the deal had in fact been signed by all parties, but was terminated by the UCI.

Race organisers and USADA together funded pre-competition testing, which included both blood and urine tests for a variety of substances including growth hormone and EPO on all riders scheduled to compete in the race.

The plan was to continue the comprehensive testing during the race, but the UCI took over control before the event began. The UCI confirmed to Cyclingnews that while standard urine tests were executed, no blood tests were carried out during the entire eight-day race.

According to a source close to the race, a backlash from the UCI was the cause of the last-minute change.

The reason? Strong statements made at the February press conference by USADA CEO Travis Tygart, a vocal proponent of independent testing, who believes sports should not be responsible for policing themselves. "You've heard the expression 'the fox guarding the henhouse' over the years," Tygart said in the press conference. "There's this natural tension when the sport attempts to police itself of enforcing firmly and fairly the rules versus the other interest which is to promote and raise revenue for the sport."

"There was a deal to do pre-competition and in-competition testing," the source told Cyclingnews. "That deal was struck with the deputy director of USADA and the UCI and that was in writing. It outlined USADA would do pre- and in-competition testing, but that the result management would be done by the UCI. So USADA would be responsible to determine who would be tested and what would be tested for and the lab used. The results would go to the UCI.

"Then there was a press conference and there was the comment about the fox guarding the henhouse. McQuaid went crazy and demanded an apology. One wasn't forthcoming and there was a huge thing. It was seen as an affront to Pat McQuaid's honour and fuck the sport if Pat McQuaid's honour is impeached.

"The deal that had been agreed in writing was pulled off the table. Pat assured the race that the UCI would do the testing and test for EPO."

Cyclingnews asked the source if blood testing had been carried out at the race. The source said: "I don't know but I believe it was only urine testing."

In a statement to Cyclingnews, the UCI put the blame for the last-minute change onto USADA, stating, "they planned to do some before and during the race, but just few days before the start USADA rejected the agreement which we submitted to them, too late to organize it in time without their support.

When contacted by Cyclingnews, Travis Tygart was diplomatic about the breakdown over testing rights.
"It's their rules and their event and they decided to do the testing at their event and we didn't," he said. "We did the pre-[competition] testing on it as we specified, and that was really successful. As far as the event testing I couldn't tell you if there was blood or urine testing.

"We were prepared to do it and we wanted to test there because the race organiser wanted us to test there. We think that at any national US event, USADA as an independent body should be doing the testing. That's not what the UCI rules say."

Tygart remains steadfast in his belief that all anti-doping controls should be done by an independent body.

"That's the model that's most successful," he said. "I've testified in front of congress about it and say it every chance I get. There's an inherent conflict or at least an inherent perceived conflict when a sport attempts to police itself. That's why, where it is possible, there should be independent anti-doping testing. There's really no good reason not to.

"We'd put in the infrastructure to do it and we were told close to the event that we weren't going to do it. It is what it is. Under their rules it was their right to do it. We did all the pre-race testing and felt like we had a thorough urine and blood testing program in place, testing riders several months out from the event."

However, the news over the lack of any in-competition blood tests is at odds with the testing USADA and the race organisers had wanted. Several teams and a US domestic rider have all told Cyclingnews that no blood tests were carried out. Two teams have also made clear that no blood tests were carried out at either the Tour of Utah or USA Pro Cycling Challenge in Colorado.

In recent weeks the UCI has stressed its new format of 'intelligent' testing in cycling and indicated that targeted testing in more rigorous areas has both improved the health of the sport and the image of cycling. However, targeted testing has been seen as a smoke screen for less testing by some.

Last month, Michael Ashenden told Cyclingnews that he had seen several gaps in biological profile tests carried out by the UCI. He did admit that this may have been due to target testing, but said he had not been made aware of any such plans by the UCI.

The UCI added that their out of competition testing is also targeted and in a far stronger position than it was two years ago and that the strength of the biological passport means that "we don't need to conduct tests on every race anymore."

No Home Tour for the Champ

I understand that the Tour de France is the main objective...but don't you feel like you should be in your own home's Tour?

Evans rules out riding Santos Tour Down Under

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/evans-rules-out-riding-santos-tour-down-under)

Cadel Evans (BMC) has confirmed that he will not take part in the 2012 Santos Tour Down Under as the Australian race does not fit in with his preferred build-up to his Tour de France defence.

The Tour Down Under gets underway on January 15, but Evans is not expected to make his racing debut until at least six weeks later, as he did this year when he began his campaign at the Giro del Friuli in early March.

"There is not much I can do about this," Evans told The Advertiser. "I have a lot of expectations coming later in the season so anything that compromises my performance there, is not something I can consider.

“Don't get me wrong, I would love to test myself on the harder stage finishes in next year's Tour Down Under but I do have a lot of other `tests' to pass in 2012.”

Evans did, however, suggest that he would pay “a social visit” to the South Australian race, which he rode in rainbow bands of world champion at the beginning of 2010.

With the Olympic Games in London following immediately after the Tour de France and a hilly world championships in Valkenburg in September, Evans acknowledged that his main objectives are all grouped in the second half of the season.

“To repeat a season like my 2011 would be very good, although in 2012 with the Olympics and a suitable world championships course, the goals will be different," he said.

Evans ended his 2011 season with a solid showing at the USA Pro Cycling Challenge, which came on the back of an intensive round of criteriums and public appearances in the wake of his Tour de France triumph, and he hinted that he would prefer a low-key start to next season. With the arrival of Philippe Gilbert and Thor Hushovd, BMC have a number of riders who can lighten the load of leadership in the early months of the season.

“We are still in a comprehensive planning phase right now, but looking at the calendar I am guessing I will be having a quieter start to 2012 than this year,” Evans said.

The Tooth, The Whole Tooth, and Nothing But The Tooth...

(Thanks to my husband for the title)

As posted yesterday, Andy Schleck is out of the World Championships. As always, people are taking this news the wrong way...Schleck doesn't want to represent his country. NOT TRUE!!!! He's been fighting tooth problems since the Tour de France. He does want to race, but he has been medically advised not to. Why can't we as cycling fans...and humans...support him in this time?

Andy Schleck talks about his tooth problems

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/andy-schleck-talks-about-his-tooth-problems)

Andy Schleck has revealed that a lost filling during the Tour de France was the cause of his tooth infection that has disrupted his end of season and cost him his spot at the World Championships. 

The infected tooth was pulled two weeks after the USA Pro Cycling Challenge in Colorado but his recovery was hit by an infection and he needed to take antibiotics. That made it too risky for him to ride the Worlds road race.

“Both my dentist and the team doctor advised me against participating in the World Championships. My health is the most important thing, and I really don't want to risk a heart muscle infection, which would mean I would have to sit out a year,” he told Tageblatt.lu.

Schleck vehemently denied that the dental problem was just an excuse not to ride in Copenhagen, and that he didn't care about representing his country.

“I absolutely don't make up stories in order not to participate in the World Championships, which is always a great moment in the career of any athlete. I feel I have always represented Luxembourg during my big successes, like the stage wins at the Tour de France.”

Schleck hopes to race again this season, although he is still not able to fully train. “Whenever I get into the higher pulse rate, I also have strong pains,” he said.

He must wait and see how he recovers and then will decide his race program. “But if I can't build my form backup, then the Colorado tour would be my last race  Which I don't hope in the case.”

Next year, Schleck will ride for RadioShack-Nissan-Trek, which he inisists will be registered in Luxembourg.

“One thing is for sure, the team will remain a Luxembourg team. As for any further details I can only refer you to the management and the next press release,” he said.

He also knows one other thing definitely: he and brother Fränk will continue to ride together. “There is nothing to it,” he said of the rumours that his brother might leave the team. “In the future we will always ride on the same team.”