Pollution

Riders fight against pollution at the Tour of Beijing

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/riders-fight-against-pollution-at-the-tour-of-beijing)

Pollution in the Chinese capital is a recurring topic on the social networks when Tour of Beijing is mentioned. Garmin-Cervélo's Andrew Talansky was one of the first to complain about the air quality on Twitter even before the start of the race, but other teams say the pollution isn't a big concern.

After a few hours on his bike, the American talent confirmed he has been affected by the bad air. "Pollution is clearly strong here", he told Cyclingnews. "I guess someone like David Millar who is born in Hong Kong doesn't have the same problems here. For my part I come from California but not from a big city. At home I struggled when I rode around Los Angeles but it is really worse in Beijing."

Amaël Moinard also said at the start of stage 2 that "it was pretty hard to breathe during the time trial". However BMC's Frenchman doesn't want to take part to the controversy and says he "is really enjoying" his first experience in China.

Beijing's pollution is hard to miss. Even on clear days, there is a haze that lingers, and it led the government to close dozen of factories around the city three weeks before the Olympic Games in 2008.

On Wednesday, weather.com.cn recorded a "pretty bad" quality of air in Beijing and Men-To Go district where stage 2 has finished. In its last forecast, published at 6pm (11am in London), the Chinese website recommends "to reduce the outdoor sport activities".

"With 18 million people and a huge amount of car traffic that the local authorities are trying to decrease, it's obvious Beijing doesn't have the same quality of air as the Swiss Alps," said Global Cycling Promotions Director Alain Rumpf, organiser of the Tour of Beijing, adding that spring and autumn are the best seasons for air quality.

"Air quality changes every day accordingly the wind, because Beijing is based in a basin," Rumpf said. "The weather was nice when the riders arrived and they managed to give their best in the first two stages."

HTC-Highroad's team doctor is aware of pollution's potential impact on his athletes. "It's both a physiological and... a psychological problem," Helge Riepenhof told Cyclingnews. An expert in recovery methods, the German team doctor said any issues riders might have are not serious.

The situation is similarly normal at Saxo Bank-Sungard, said team doctor Joost Maeseneer. "We were a bit worried about the quality of food and air and finally everything is OK."

In case one of his riders would be badly affected, he brought in his suitcase some conventional medicines like anti-histamines, normally used for allergies, and some others to relax an irritated throat.

HTC has another weapon against pollution, an herbal remedy. "I tried it in 2008 during the Olympics and it was successful", doctor Riepenhof says. "Every night, the riders who request it can inhale natural substance which doesn't clear their lungs, but which helps the riders to feel better."

And the UCI is blamed again...

Any governing body will always have issues, but I think the UCI really needs to take a step back and assess itself and the group is runs:

UCI deny threatening teams in lead up to Tour of Beijing

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/uci-deny-threatening-teams-in-lead-up-to-tour-of-beijing)

The UCI has denied any wrong doing over suspicions that the sport's governing body threatened a number of WorldTour teams in the build up the Tour of Beijing.

Cyclingnews understands that a number of teams' sponsors were sent letters by the UCI threatening their applications and status among the WorldTour if they carried through with their plan to boycott the race in China.

The boycott stemmed from the argument over race radios. The boycott was eventually scrapped after the UCI and teams found a compromise to uphold the current status on race radios for 2012 while a independent commission was set up to determine the future over the heated issue.

The Tour of Beijing is a race that the UCI has developed and initiated through GCP – its own subsidiary body charged with globalising the sport through new events. The event is a source of income for the UCI and the possibility of high profile teams deciding to shun the event could have seriously jeopardised its future. The event itself got off to a successful start this week, with world time trial champion Tony Martin winning the opening time trial. It is understood that the UCI saw the boycott as a direct threat to its governance and the expansion of cycling.

Cyclingnews has obtained letters that show that the UCI attempted to pressurise team sponsors.

In a letter to one team the UCI said: "The UCI World Tour is a very important part of the UCI calendar, your team is a member of that World Tour, and in recent years the UCI have been working on a strategy to globalise the UCI World Tour. This is for obvious reasons, to further develop our sport, bring it to a truly global audience and indeed to give a valuable return on investment for our sponsors."

The letter goes on: "I can also assure you that any team who does not take the start line in Beijing will be brought before the UCI Licence Commission at the end of the year and risks losing its licence and all the associated benefits. UCI doesn't like involving sponsors in the internal affairs of our sport but in this case we felt that as a sponsor of this team, it was felt important that you should be informed."

Finally the UCI also allude to how a sponsor's business may in fact suffer:

"they [the Chinese organisers] will take this as an offence and it could have repercussions of a commercial nature. This event is being promoted by the City of Beijing under the direction of the Mayor of Beijing, Gou Jinlong and the word boycott has a very high resonance in the Chinese culture for different reasons and they will feel that as an insult to the Chinese people."

Cyclingnews contacted the UCI for comment.

In an email a UCI press officer said he had talked to the President Pat McQuaid, who said, "This subject is closed as far as UCI is concerned the UCI does not wish to comment."

The attempt to pressure sponsors appears to a clear and direct attack on a number of team managers who have voiced several concerns with the UCI this year. Earlier this spring a number of team bosses including Johan Bruyneel and Jonathan Vaughters openly discussed the option of a breakaway league competing against the UCI. At one point 11 major teams were said to be considering the project. Although the discussions remained little more than just blue sky ideas, the UCI saw fit to openly condemn the idea.

"It's all very well for the managers of certain teams at the top level to think they can create a different league or a series amongst themselves for their own personal gain and ambitions and think they can go in a different direction but it's not as simple as that," McQuaid said at the time.

Bruyneel fired back: "You know, we don't care anymore about the threats of McQuaid. If he goes on the way he has been going, maybe we will stop with everything or maybe something else will happen."

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.

If this is a known problem...

So if you know these meats are treated with banned substances...maybe you should bring your own?!?! It might not be the most ecomonical, but I'd rather spend the extra money than risk testing positive for a banned substance.

Tour of Beijing teams wary of clenbuterol in food

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/tour-of-beijing-teams-wary-of-clenbuterol-in-food)

Cyclingnews has learned that teams have advised their riders not eat beef or pork during the Tour of Beijing in order to avoid accidentally testing positive for clenbuterol. The drug is used in the farming of certain meats in countries including China and has lead to a number of positive tests.

Last year Alberto Contador tested positive for the drug during the Tour de France. The amount of clenbuterol was 40 times less than the amount World Anti-Doping Agency accredited labs must be able to detect, however his sample was transported to a clinic in Cologne which is able to detect minuscule amounts of the substance. If his sample had been tested in Paris or most other European labs he would have likely escaped a positive test.

Garmin-Cervelo told Cyclingnews that its riders were under orders to avoid all beef and pork products during their stay in China, as a precaution.

"I advised my riders not to eat beef and pork. You can't use clenbuterol on chicken or fish," said Garmin-Cervelo manager Jonathan Vaughters.

Vaughters raised the issue of clenbuterol fears at a recent meeting with the UCI at the world championships and was advised that his riders should keep away from beef and pork and stick to eating fish and chicken, which are not treated with Clenbuterol.

According to Vaughters the fear wouldn't be over testing positive in China but once the athletes leave the countries. For example, an out of competition test taken in Europe or the US in a two to three day window after the race could lead to a positive. Testing will be carried out during the race, contrary to rumours that circulated on the web in the build up to the race. However the Beijing lab used for testing is not as precise in detecting clenbuterol as some other labs.

"Imagine if they get off the plane and they're tested the day after or two days after in an out of competition test and it goes to UCLA, or Europe and it goes to Cologne or Sydney in Australia, because those labs could detect the traces of it. I imagine other teams are advising the same thing but I don't know."

Make them eat their words...

It tends to be that only the favorites get all the coverage, for obvious reasons. However, sometimes reporters need to take a step back and assess the big picture. Just because you only follow one person doesn't mean that his the only person out there.

Then when sport directers and managers start bad-mouthing the individual athlete, things turn worse. The only thing the athlete has left to do is prove themself better than what people think.

Robert Gesink fires back at his critics

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/robert-gesink-fires-back-at-his-critics)

Robert Gesink of Rabobank is sick and tired of hearing that he cannot deal with adversity and that he crashes too often and has responded to his sports director Adri van Houwelingen, who recently criticised him publicly.

“As if I have not been proven in recent years that I can fight.,” he told De Volkskrant.  “I crashed in the Vuelta in 2009, but was still sixth overall.  What happened in the Tour has nothing to do with my mental toughness. Because there is nothing wrong with that. "

Gesink was one of many who crashed during the fifth stage of the Tour de France from Carhaix to Cap Fehel.  He finished the race 33rd, over an hour down on winner Cadel Evans (BMC).

Van Houwelingen touched a raw nerve with when he publicly said that Gesink often saw the glass as half empty rather than half full and that he had to work on his mental toughness.

"Something like that is the biggest bullshit comment you can give," said Gesink. "He may give his opinion in public. But if someone has a vision that just is not right, I notice that. For my teammates this has not been a subject. "

"It is not true that I crash more than others," Gesink insisted. “But that is what is reported.  Luis Leon Sanchez crashed six or seven times.  You hear nothing about that. Nobody knows how often someone like Bram Tankink hits the ground.  But I'm the one who gets the coverage.”

Gesink didn't help his case with a crash while training two weeks ago, when he fractured his femur.  Although he is now recovering, he probably won't be racing again until next April.

It won't keep the 25-year-old out of next year's Tour de France, though. He is determined to ride. “If only because I have to put things right.”

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.