Crash before Vuelta a Bolivia

Praying for a speedy recovery!!

Coach crash overshadows build up to Vuelta a Bolivia

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/coach-crash-overshadows-build-up-to-vuelta-a-bolivia)

The build up to the forthcoming Vuelta a Bolivia, which begins tomorrow, has been overshadowed by a coach crash that resulted in injuries to two riders.

Race organisers stated that the coach overturned after picking up competitors from Santa Cruz airport 540km east of the capital city La Paz. Argentine rider Augustin Ledezma is definitely out of the race after sustaining injuries to his ribs, while Mexico's Alberto Donizetti Vasquez faces a race against time to be cleared fit after injuring his neck.

The 10-stage race covers 1,619km and runs from tomorrow through to the climax on 13 November.

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.”

Allocations for the Olympics

UCI releases Olympic road race allocations

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/uci-releases-olympic-road-race-allocations)

The UCI today announced the number of elite men's road cycling spaces each National Olympic Committee has been offered for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. Host country Great Britain earned the maximum number of places to support world champion Mark Cavendish in his goal of taking home the Olympic gold.

Each country can earn a maximum of five spots in the road race and two in the time trial, but only six countries claimed the maximum in both events. World silver medalist Matt Goss helped earn the top spots for Australia, while defending Olympic champion Samuel Sanchez helped Spain to five spots. Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland also took the maximum allocation.

Places in the men's road race and time trial were based upon each country's ranking in the UCI WorldTour, Continental Tours, Continental Championships and rider rankings in the UCI tours.

Belgium, Italy and the USA earned five spots in the road race and one in the time trial, while Denmark and Kazakhstan were awarded the maximum number of places for the time trial.

While the top 10 of the WorldTour nations rankings earned five places and the 11th-15th placed countries earned four, each country could only qualify as many spots as it had riders in the 2011 WorldTour individual rankings. Therefore, Luxembourg, which was ninth in the WorldTour but only scored points with Fränk and Andy Schleck, was awarded just two places in the road race and one in the time trial.

Similarly, Norway (Edvald Boasson Hagen, Thor Hushovd and Alexander Kristoff) and Ireland (Daniel Martin, Philip Deignan and Nicolas Roche) were each awarded three places, despite taking 12th and 13th, respectively. Kazakhstan took 15th and claimed two places, qualified by Alexandre Vinokourov and Sergey Renev.

The top countries of each Continental Tour; Morocco (Africa Tour), Colombia (Americas) and Iran (Asia), were awarded three spots in the road race, while Italy (Europe) and Australia (Oceania) had already qualified the maximum through the WorldTour rankings.

Canada earned just one place in the road race and time trial, while China failed to qualify a single spot - however, Hong Kong was awarded one place in each event.

The allocations for women's road events will not be calculated until the end of May, 2012.

For the time trial, the top 15 countries in the WorldTour each earned one spot, while the top nations in the Continental Tours earned a single spot. Countries in the top 10 of the 2011 road world championships time trial earned one additional place in the time trial in London.

National Olympic Committees now have until November 17 to confirm they intend to use all of their spaces. If there are any unused spots in the 145-rider peloton, the UCI will distribute them between March and April 2012.

Goodbye Carlos Sastre

Here's another member of the peleton that I will miss:

Sastre says goodbye with a win

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/sastre-says-goodbye-with-a-win)

Carlos Sastre ended his 14-year career with win in yesterday's Criterium of Oviedo. "It was a very special day for everything - for the environment I've lived in, for the reception of my peers... they can say goodbye by making me feel appreciated after all this time fighting out on the road," said Sastre. "The truth is that it was an exciting day that I really enjoyed."

The 36-year-old from Madrid, whose career highlight was undoubtedly an overall win in the 2008 Tour de France, announced his retirement a few weeks ago and was happy to be bowing out. "It's time to  say goodbye to many years of suffering, defeats, joys, a lot of experiences, all of them memorable - the truth is that I am happy I made the decision. I've been in professional cycling all these years and, especially, have been able to shine and do what I liked," he continued.

Sastre won't be completely walking away from the sport, however. "From January 1 there will open a small parenthesis in my life, but I want so much to continue to be involved in this sport, in one way or other in the near future I will be.

"In the short term I will continue working as I have done so far with the Foundation Víctor Sastre, without any responsibility, as a hobby, but enjoying time with children and other cyclists without so much stress, and with all those who have been to me a stimulus for improvement and learning.

"The truth is that I feel happy because it has been a very good time, very important in my life, both personally and sporting. Saying goodbye to the homage of my colleagues, having been on the podium of the Tour of Spain with my own team has been very special to me. Thanks and a big hug to everyone," added Sastre.

Rasmussen has to wait another 3 weeks...

Talk about a long wait! I guess the Danish Olympic Committee takes about as long as the American government!!!

Rasmussen waiting for November verdict

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/rasmussen-waiting-for-november-verdict)

Alex Rasmussen must continue to wait until November 17 to see what sanction he will face after receiving three warnings in an eighteen-month period for missing out of competition doping controls.

The Dane received two warnings from Anti-Doping Denmark in 2010 after failing to adequately compile his whereabouts form, and he subsequently missed an out-of-competition test by the UCI in April of this year.

Rasmussen has insisted that the missed tests were due to a lack of organisation on his part rather than an attempt to cheat. Given the nature of the case, he had hoped that the Danish Olympic Committee (DIF) would be able to reach a verdict sooner than anticipated.

“The wait is a little annoying,” Rasmussen told sporten.tv2.dk. “The case is clear and I just want a decision so that I can move on. But unfortunately, DIF cannot assemble the people for consultation before then.”

Ramussen’s contract was terminated by HTC-Highroad in September after the team was informed that he had received three warnings for missed tests. With HTC-Highroad set to disband at the end of the season, Rasmussen had already agreed to ride for Garmin-Cervélo for 2012.

Garmin-Cervélo subsequently stated that it would not sign Rasmussen due to its “stringent” anti-doping policy, but the rider has since claimed that team manager Jonathan Vaughters will complete the signing if he is cleared of wrongdoing.

“They are also awaiting action, and then we’ll talk,” Rasmussen said.

The fate of Kolobnev...

Kolobnev, only Tour de France doping positive, gets warning

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/kolobnev-only-tour-de-france-doping-positive-gets-warning)

Russian Alexandr Kolobnev, the only rider in the 2011 Tour de France to test positive for a banned substance, has been recommended a warning and fine by the Russian anti-doping agency (RUSADA), news.sport-express.ru reported today. The final decision is due in the next two weeks.

Kolobnev, 30, tested positive for a diuretic, hydrochlorothiazide (HCT), on stage 5 of the Tour de France, and quit the race on the first rest day pending confirmation of the B-sample testing. The result was confirmed nine days later.

The Katusha rider denied doping, and judging from his punishment by the Russian authorities, he was able to demonstrate that he did not intentionally ingest the substance. World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) rules allow for situations where athletes may unintentionally ingest banned substances through, for example, contaminated supplements.

These drugs are classified in the WADA Prohibited List as "specified substances", of which HCT is one.
The WADA web site explains, "Generally speaking, 'specified substances' are substances that are more susceptible to a credible, non-doping explanation. If the athlete can prove that he or she did not intend to enhance performance by using them to the satisfaction of the results management authority, the sanction under the World Anti-Doping Code can go from a warning to a 2-year ban."

However, HCT is the same substance for which Belgian Iljo Keisse tested positive, and the UCI and WADA appealed his federation's decision to let him go with minimal punishment. However, when Keisse tested positive in 2008, the current 'specified substance' rules were not in place at the time of his positive test.

The Russian federation will forward the dossier on Kolobnev's case to the UCI, which will then, along with WADA, have one month and three weeks, respectively, to appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.