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Posts Tagged ‘Italia’

Marca: Rodríguez wants to win grand tour

Joaquím ‘Purito’ Rodríguez says he hopes to win either the Giro d’Italia or Vuelta a España someday following his breakthrough 2010 season after his move to Katusha. The Spanish rider was fourth overall at the Vuelta this year, a result that fuels his ambitions for the coming seasons. “Now my dream is this: to win a grand tour or at least be on the podium. The Vuelta and the Giro are within reach of my possibilities.”

Eurosport:: Voeckler believes there’s less doping in cycling

Thomas Voeckler, the French rider on Bouygues Telecom, believes that cycling is getting cleaner. In an interview with Eurosport, the French rider of the year says that the increased number of doping controls are having an impact: “Fifteen years ago, there were no positives at the Tour, but that doesn’t mean that people were not doping. You have to accept that better controls mean that riders will get caught.”

The Associated Press: Vuelta to start with team time trial

The Associated Press reports that the 2011 Vuelta a España will start with a team time trial following the official confirmation from Benidorm officials.

Team Saxo Bank: Nuyens says there’s no star attitude on his new team

Rabobank transfer Nick Nuyens says one of Bjarne Riis’ famous off-season team building exercises revealed a well balanced squad. “It also became very quickly apparent that no one sought to be ’star,’ “ he says in a post on the team web site. The 30 year-old Belgian classics specialist said the team’s discipline at meetings impressed him. “There’s no chitchat for joint meetings, which is a relatively rare phenomenon when it comes to professional cyclists,” he said.

El Mundo: Tonkov now running hotel in Spain

Pavel Tonkov, winner of the 1996 Giro d’Italia, has traded the pink jersey for the business suit of a hotel owner.

The Russian has settled into a new life as the owner and operator of the Hospedería del Atalia in Córdoba, hometown of his wife. Tonkov, now 41, opened the 20-room boutique hotel in May.

Tonkov, who became one of the most successful riders to come out of the post-Soviet Russia, told the Spanish daily El Mundo that he cannot stand to sit still. He also offers guided cycling trips in the mountains north of Córdoba.

Tonkov, known as The Czar during his heyday, retired at the end of the 2005 season. He won seven stages and one overall at the Giro, two stages at the Vuelta a España and the overall at the Tour de Suisse in 1995.

Despite notching back-to-back top-10s at the past two editions of the Tour de France, Roman Kreuziger has set his sights on a run at the overall at the Giro d’Italia in 2011.

.Roman Kreuziger in 2010. He'll be be sporting a new kit in `11. | Graham Watson Photo

Rather than return to the Tour and try to improve on his two ninth places, the all-rounder will try to win a very mountainous Giro that’s on tap next season instead.

“Other years (my goal) was the Tour de France because it is the biggest race in the world, but for next year, the goals have changed and my first objective will be the Giro d’Italia,” Kreuziger said Sunday. “From now until the Giro, I only have this race in mind.”

The 24-year-old Czech rider has made the switch from Liquigas, his home for five seasons, to Astana, where he is the most important arrival following the departure of Tour winner Alberto Contador.

The former junior world champion made steady progress after turning pro with Liquigas in 2006, with his career highlights including a stage and the overall at the 2008 Tour de Suisse, which he followed up with stage victories and overall titles at the 2009 Tour de Romandie and the 2010 Giro di Sardinia, respectively.

Many tap Kreuziger as a future Tour de France winner, but he could see that he would be the odd-man out at Liquigas, with Italians Ivan Basso and Vicenzo Nibali ahead of him on the power rankings of the Italian-backed team.

“After five years with the same team (Liquigas), I got to the point where I feel ready to become a leader,” he continued.
When Contador left behind his troubled tenure at Astana in favor of a move to join Bjarne Riis at Saxo Bank-Sungard, Astana needed a big name with future potential to try to fill the void. Although Alexander Vinokourov will race for at least one more season, the team wanted someone who could be a factor both in the present and future.

They found that rider in Kreuziger, a son of a former pro who can climb and time trial well, with room for improvement.

Kreuziger made his Tour debut in 2008 with a solid 13th overall, which he confirmed with ninth in 2009 and ninth again in 2010. He’s also performed well over the past three seasons in other stage races, claiming second overall at the 2008 Romandie, third at the 2009 Tour de Suisse and third at the 2010 Paris-Nice.

He’s also capable of doing well in one-day classics, with such promising results as second at the 2009 Clásica San Sebastián behind Carlos Barredo and fifth at the 2010 Amstel Gold Race.

Rather than ride in the shadow of Basso and Nibali at Liquigas, he’ll now take them head on, especially Vuelta a España champ Nibali, who’s also targeting the Giro as his main goal for the 2011 season.

“The goals are very high because the team is keen for the Giro and they’ve asked me to win it,” Kreuziger said. “I’ll give my best to win, even though it will be difficult, but I am confident I can handle it well.”

Depending on what happens at the Giro, Kreuziger could find himself back at the Tour next season. He’s raced two grand tours in the same season the past two years and will likely race either the Tour or Vuelta following his Giro run.

Kreuziger and his new Astana teammates wrapped up its first training camp in Italy. They’re set to meet again for a longer camp in January along Spain’s Mediterranean Coast.

Lewis leads a breakaway on stage 13 of the 2010 Giro d'Italia

Craig Lewis will ride his seventh year as a pro with HTC-HighRoad. The American rider, 25, has ridden with the team for three season so far and announced Thursday that he had renewed his contract.

This season he rode his first grand tour, the Giro. He rode support for sprinter Andre Greipel and finished eighth on stage 13, after being nabbed at the line after a solo attack.

“Craig showed some good improvement in 2010, with finishing the Giro d’Italia. He made another step forward in his personal development and beside that he is a very reliable team player, always ready to help his team leaders,” said team manager Rolf Aldag. “We expect him to be one of our key riders in our team when it comes to long climbs in one-day classics and hard stages races. Craig was very close to winning a stage in the 2010 Giro, which gives him the confidence that he is able to stay with the best.”

Lewis expects his 2011 calendar to include a start at the Tour of the Basque Country, the Ardennes classics week, and a second shot at the Giro. He’ll also go Stateside to ride in the Quiznos Pro Challenge and the Tour of Utah, where he hopes to ride for the GC.

“The team offers me the best tools to reach my goals and they always secure invites to all of the biggest races,” Lewis said.

Marco Pantani at the Giro d'Italia. | David Brinton illustration

One of several yellow jerseys worn by the late Tour de France winner Marco Pantani has been stolen from a display in Milan, according to press reports Saturday.

Troubled champion Pantani, the 1998 winner of the epic race who courted doping controversy on several occasions during his career, died from a drugs overdose in a Rimini hotel in 2004.

Vittorio Savini, the president of one of Pantani’s fans clubs, Magico Pantani, told the newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport the theft took place between Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 November.

The deceased cyclist’s mother, Tonina Belletti, told the paper that the theft is just another injustice suffered by the late cyclist and his family.

“It’s my son’s destiny to be unable to rest in peace, even when he’s dead,” Belletti said.

Nicknamed Il Pirata because of his shaven head, goatee beard and penchant for wearing earrings and colourful bandanas, Pantani is still regarded as one of the most formidable cyclists of his generation, especially in the high mountains.

He is the last rider to have won the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France in the same year, in 1998 and still holds the record for the ascent of the Alpe d’Huez (37:35 in 1997) .

A year later he was thrown off the Giro after a blood test showed abnormal blood readings, heightening suspicions that he used blood-boosting performance enhancers. Pantani, however, never officially tested positive for banned drugs.

After that exclusion Pantani was never the same and struggled to make his way back to the peloton. In 2003 he signed himself into a clinic for treatment for depression.

An autopsy after his death in 2004 showed he died from a cocaine overdose.