Missed Drug Test for Cavendish

Cavendish admits to missed drug test in 2011

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/cavendish-admits-to-missed-drug-test-in-2011)

Mark Cavendish has moved quickly to diffuse any suspicion around him, after Italian newspaper La Gazzetta Dello Sport published an article in its print edition this morning claiming that he had missed at least one out of competition drug test during the 2011 season.

As reported by Cyclingnews this morning, the paper claimed that several sources were privy to this information, despite UCI President Pat McQuaid stating that he knew nothing about it.

Cavendish, who won the Road World Championships and the Tour De France green jersey in 2011, released a statement admitting that he was indeed at fault and spoke of his regret at missing the test last spring. He has the full support of Team GB and Team Sky supremo David Brailsford, who said that Cavendish's integrity wasn't in doubt.

"I missed an out of competition test last April," Cavendish, who was awarded the 2011 BBC Sports Personality of the Year award last month, said. "It was my mistake. I was with a film crew for the BBC and Giro d'Italia on Mount Etna. It was a simple, genuine administrative error. Of course I totally understand the importance of testing in sport. I was tested by the UCI a couple of weeks before that and twice in the fortnight after, and had around 60 tests in all last year. It's part of the job and it's my job to make sure I don't miss another."

"There is absolutely no doubt about Mark's integrity," Brailsford said. "I am totally satisfied that he made a genuine mistake. He is tested regularly and is a powerful advocate for testing and ensuring that sport is clean."

Cavendish, who has voiced strong anti-doping opinions in the past, will face no action over the missed test, with UCI doping guidelines saying that no rider should miss three dope tests within an 18-month period. It is his first offence.

What's better than the Tour de France?

...Tour of Poland? Um, ok?

Boom would rather ride Tour of Poland than Tour de France

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/boom-would-rather-ride-tour-of-poland-than-tour-de-france)

Lars Boom will skip the Tour de France this year. The Rabobank rider sees the Tour of Poland as a better race for him to look for stage wins and to prepare for the London Olympics, where he hopes to ride both the time trial and the road race.

“I would really like to ride the Tour for myself, but I understand that our team is built around Robert Gesink and a few other GC riders,” he told the ANP news agency.

“Last year I rode for Robert Gesink. There's nothing wrong with that and it also went just fine. But a stage win is the biggest thing in the Tour for me.”

Boom will now look for those stage wins in Poland. "I think it's a better preparation for the Games. Then I do hope to ride the Tour of Spain, shortly before the world championships. "

This weekend he will look to take his sixth consecutive Dutch national cyclo-cross title, after which he will devote himself again to the road.

Tom Danielson: The Next Big American?

Danielson aiming to race "fearless and free" in 2012

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/danielson-aiming-to-race-fearless-and-free-in-2012)

2011 was a breakout year for Tom Danielson. The Garmin-Cervelo rider not only finished on the podium at the Amgen Tour of California, but he backed up a ninth place overall finish in the Tour de Suisse with an even more impressive ninth place finish in his debut Tour de France.

Tom acknowledges that a Tour ride was a long time coming. "I guess while looking from the outside it has taken me a while to get here. I guess from the inside this year just felt right going into the race. I would have liked to have gone earlier to gain some experience in the event rather than the first time you do it you are contending for GC."

"It definitely was a full plate for my first Tour, but at the same time I have had some experience. I have done the Vuelta. I have done the Giro. I have had some experience so I wasn't worried about the three weeks, but certainly the intensity of the three weeks was a lot higher than the other races. The level of the race was a lot higher than the other races. When you combine the level with the intensity you just get an incredible event which just happens to last 21 days," adds Danielson.

Since it's first Tour in 2008, Slipstream Sports has placed at least one rider in the overall top ten, and Danielson's ninth place GC finish in 2011 continued that string of successes. What was the key to that result? "I think consistency was where I shined. I was always consistent in the mountain stages and the time trials. I think that I was in good position a lot of time especially on the flat stages," said Danielson.

What will Tom be looking on to improve at the 2012 Tour? "Maybe more going with the flow with regards to racing and performance rather than having an expectation and forcing it. Just going into the race with an open mind and confidence.

"Once I found myself in the position of being top 10. I made the mistake of making that a goal. I really wanted that result so I raced for that result. I was really happy with it, but perhaps I lost a little bit of that 'free' mentality. I really wanted to finish top-10. Although I really needed it for my career and it was the right thing to do.

"This year, I really want to get out of that shell where I have been, sort of a top-10 rider, and really want to put more on the line and race more 'free' more without looking anywhere other than what I am doing at the moment. I think if I can do that, I can race to my full potential and go to races with confidence and no fear. If it works out, it works out and if it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out."

Danielson feels that mentality will be part of his overall objectives for 2012. "The goal for the whole season is to get out of that shell. My wife brought it to my attention that I have finished ninth in quite a few races. I want to get out of that conservative shell where I would back off on some of the climbs and try to regain where I was at the beginning of my career which was fearless and free. I would get to the climbs that would suit me and I would do my own thing and not worry about what other guys were doing or what could happen or what is happening."

Along those lines Tom is returning to his roots to begin 2012. "I am going to start my season at Tour of Langkawi which is a race that is close to my heart. I made my career there. I think that surrounding myself in an atmosphere like that I think that will help put me in that environment that I need to be in to start 2012 with the mental framework to get the job done."

Danielson has also been making major modifications to his training. "I think the biggest thing that I have learned to do with my training program is to relax a bit more the last couple of years. Don't force it so much in training just do the work and let it come rather than have all these expectations that this type of training equals this type of result. As we know it never really happens."

Now a family man, Tom realizes it has had a positive effect on his racing. "When I first became a dad, immediately, my results started to improve. I got back into the top 10 at the Vuelta and started to go really well again. As my son grew older I really started to bond with him. That was a huge component in me having the season that I did in 2011.

"You just realize that how important your job is and who is relying on you, but at the same time you realize that at the end of the day whether it goes well or it goes poorly out on the road you have this beautiful family to come home to and enjoy. And that's really why you are on this planet to take care of them and enjoy life with them."

With a Tour top 10 under his belt and a new attitude toward racing, the 2012 season holds a multitude of possibilities for Tom Danielson. And with the support of his family, a new training program and the backing of a very experienced Garmin-Cervelo team look for Tommy D to have another standout year in the European pro peloton.

Cycling's New Baby

Koerber Rockwell becomes a mom

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/koerber-rockwell-becomes-a-mom)

Elite cross country racer Willow Koerber Rockwell celebrated New Year's Eve with the birth of her first child. A daughter, named Raven Starr Rockwell, was born on December 31.

Rockwell, a pro with Trek World Racing, has previously said she will make her racing comeback during the 2012 season.

She found out she was pregnant just prior to the opening 2011 World Cup in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, in April. During her pregnancy, she sat out the 2011 season and also married her sweetheart, former downhill world champion Miles Rockwell.

After a stellar previous season, Rockwell was voted Cyclingnews' female mountain biker of the year at the end of 2010.

Rockwell is one of a few female mountain bike pros to have a baby during her elite career. Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjaa (Multivan Merida) did the same a few years ago and is back to competing among the best women in the world.

Cyclingnews offers its congratulations to the Rockwell family.

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.”

New Year = New Kits

As 2012 begins, the riders are now allowed to show off their new racing kits. Who better to show his off first than World Champion Mark Cavendish:

Cavendish in Sky jersey

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/cavendish-in-sky-jersey)

With the January 1 embargo over, riders and teams are now allowed to pose in their 2012 team kits and Mark Cavendish and Team Sky wasted no time in unveiling the world champion in his new race gear.

Cavendish, who signed for Sky from HTC-Highroad posed in his new kit while out on a training ride and the image appeared on the Team Sky Facebook page.

Cavendish recently won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.