ProTour (UCI Road) 2009 Info and results

[TheBman]

He He He... I am more interested in the Quarq Cinqo spider within that crank!!

It will be interesting to see what he does on that beauty. He was always an R3 man, while the rest of the CSC crew was on Soloists. But that new R3 is too sick to pass....

.....he is no Lance, THATS for sure..... who is willing to pay $$$ for riding an "ilegal" bike while not getting paid to ride!!!

NEVER CONFORM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




B

[BKv2]

Well folks, the star packed 2009 Tour of California is just days away. What a perfect Valentine Day gift to share with your loved one...

I'll post some previews and other stuff in the next day or two.

But for now, check out the Saxo Bank lineup for the race:

Saxo Bank gives California a chance to see its Tour de France roster in action. The team includes powerful GC contenders, brothers Fränk and Andy Schleck, along with former world time trial champion Fabian Cancellara, Gustav Larsson, Stuart O'Grady, JJ Haedo, Jason McCartney and Jens Voigt.

[BKv2]

PLEASE SAY IT SO... I REALLY LIKE VALVERDE!!!

Valverde summonsed for Operación Puerto in Italy

The Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) summonsed Spanish Champion Alejandro Valverde to appear in Rome for possible ties to the 2006 doping investigation Operación Puerto. The CONI anti-doping prosecutor requested the Caisse d'Epargne rider, winner of two stages in the 2008 Tour de France, to appear February 16 at 12:00.

The Italian Olympic Committee reportedly has linked DNA samples taken from last year's Tour de France – presumably the stage into Italy, July 20 – to blood seized in the Operación Puerto investigation. In May 2006, Spain's Guardia Civil collected coded blood bags during its raid on the offices of Doctor Eufemiano Fuentes. (Read EPO blood bags attributed to code names.)

Internal documents from Madrid's Court 31 allegedly link Valverde to confiscated blood via codes Valv, Piti and 18. Despite attempts in the past years, authorities have not been able to prove links or stop Valverde from racing.

Valverde started his 2009 season this week in the Challenge Mallorca. His palmarès includes victories in two editions of Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the 2006 Flèche Wallonne and the International Cycling Union's (UCI) ProTour classification in 2006 and 2008.

[BKv2]

Excellent NY Times piece on Canadian Svein Tuft. A great read:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/sport ... ref=sports

[BKv2]

Still in the spirit of the Tour of California, here's a nice summary of the overall contenders, courtesy of PezCycling:

http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fulls ... est%20News

[BKv2]

T minus one for the Tour of California.... an guess what?

Our "sometimes" friend over at Cycling.tv will be airing daily live coverage of the ToC. Well, that's if their service does not crash like it often does! But the highlight package might be available for free and that usually works flawlessly.

So check out www.cycling.tv for some awesome road racing starting tomorrow. Remember indicated times are GMT +1. So that means the live coverage will be end of afternoon here.

Cheers!

[scrumhalfgirl]

Excellent NY Times piece on Canadian Svein Tuft. A great read:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/sport ... ref=sports

I was actually just reading this from Simon Whitfield's blog. Interesting story.

[TheBman]

Lance is goign through DC #18 as I type this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
From LA:

Sitting in drug control with Voigt, Sastre, and Schlek.

Bman

[BKv2]

All the details for the Cycling TV FREE coverage here:

http://www.cycling.tv/ViewArticle.dbml? ... ID=3644066

[seuss]

great stuff BK - thanks!