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A group of cyclist were racing when a car plowed into the the group head on. The crash was caught on video.
Makes you appreciate life!
Check out this link for details: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24943229/
Photo Credit: Jose Fidelino Vera Hernandez / APPopularity: 11% [?]
For all of you that have been reading Ride-Strong.com you have seen various post on a group ride in Tucson, AZ called the Shootout. The Shootout is one of the best group bike rides in the country and cyclist come from all over the world to train in Tucson, AZ and do the Shootout during the winter months and early spring.
There was a recent article in VeloNews on an incident that happen on the Shootout. VeloNews picked up the article from the cycling blog of Ride-Strong.com.
Here is the link to the article that was in VeloNews: http://www.velonews.com/article/75311
Currently the Shootout is the featured ride on www.roadbikerides.com and the link to the Shootout is:
http://www.roadbikerides.com/ride/view/shootout_/77
Popularity: 4% [?]
ROME (AFP) - Giro d’Italia organisers have performed a dramatic u-turn and invited the Kazakh-backed Astana cycling team to this year’s race, Italian daily La Gazzetta dello Sport on Sunday reported organisers as saying.
“Yes, I have invited Contador,” the Gazzetta quoted race organiser Angelo Zomegnan as saying in reference to Spanish Tour de France champion Alberto Contador, 25, the leader of Johan Bruyneel’s Astana team.
Contador and his teammates were initially and controversially not invited to either the Giro or the Tour by the respective race organisers earlier this year.
But a report Saturday in Gazzetta’s web edition had said that the team run by Bruyneel, who helped steer Lance Armstrong to seven Tour yellow jerseys, would finally join the roster of the May 10-June 1 race.
That initial report claimed their participation would depend on the inclusion of Contador, American Levi Leipheimer and German ace Andreas Kloeden - all three of whom have finished on the Tour de France podium.
Zomegnan, cited Saturday by Gazzetta, had said the decision would be taken after the final stage of the Tour of Romandie, currently being led by Kloeden.
“Astana remains a candidate to participate in the Giro. We have reserved the right to invite all teams right up till the last minute,” Zomegnan initially said.
The owners of the Giro d’Italia, RCS - who also own the Gazzetta - did not confirm nor deny the report but the paper then quoted Zomegnan to confirm their initial story.
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Disgraced former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich has paid a “six figure” fine to end a fraud case which has dogged him since July 2006, the public prosecutor in Bonn said Monday.
Prosecutors had accused the 1997 Tour de France winner of taking performance-enhancing drugs, leading under German law to fraud charges against the 34-year-old on the basis he deceived the public, sponsors and his team.
“The Bonn prosecutor has, with the agreement of the seventh Bonn chamber of appeal, decided to lay aside procedures in the case of suspected fraud targeting Jan Ullrich,” the prosecutor’s office said, adding the fine was “in six figures” without elaborating further.
On his website Ullrich said he was happy with the outcome. “The payment of this fine is not a recognition of guilt … it allows (me) to free my family from the pressure surrounding this procedure,” he said.
“I never cheated anyone in my whole career nor did I prejudice anyone. I was always a loyal sportsman, my victories were the result of hard work and passion for my sport,” he insisted.
Ullrich has insisted he did not take banned substances but has paid up a sum reported to be anything between 100,000 and one million euros, a sum reported Saturday by Focus news magazine on its website.
Under German law, Ullrich, who retired early last year, had the option to settle the matter out of court if he paid up and duly did so. German law does not recognise doping as such, hence the charge of fraud.
Despite the denials by the former leader of the T-Mobile team in April last year German officials indicated that DNA tests had suggested blood samples uncovered in the wake of the Puerto investigation in Spain were from the racer. As a result of that investigation T-Mobile sacked Ullrich and he retired in February last year.
The 32-year-old still faces further investigation in Germany and Switzerland in connection with the Spanish affair.
© AFP 2008
Jan Ullrich (AFP/Getty Images)
Popularity: 4% [?]
Trek filed a complaint against Greg Lemond in the Western District of Wisconsin today, requesting declaratory relief that (i) it has not breached the “best efforts clause” of the LeMond/Trek Licensing Agreement and (ii) Trek has a right to terminate the agreement.
The basic allegation is that LeMond’s comments about Lance has hurt both the LeMond and the Trek brand and thus LeMond has breached his obligation to “render his services hereunder in a professional and conscientious manner.” Trek is hoping to get out of the licensing agreement, which was set to run through 2010.
There are other allegations that LeMond was taking advantage of the employee discounts, but obviously that’s not the real fireworks here.
Popularity: 11% [?]
I don’t talk that much about track racing but it’s a discipline that I actually find really thrilling. The track World Championships are going on in Manchester, England this week and things are already off to an exciting start.First, the bad news. Dutch rider Pim Ligthart and former world champion Rob Hayles of Britain withdrew from the event earlier this week after the hematocrit readings from their blood tests registered too high potentially indicating some kind of blood tampering. Not a great way to kick things off.
But yesterday Britain’s Bradley Wiggins from Team High Road wasn’t letting the bad news about his teamate bring him down as he successfully defended his title as World Champion in the individual track pursuit event.
It’s a great accomplishment for Wiggins who’s been having a difficult time lately dealing with the sudden death of his father (former pro Gary Wiggins) and also getting hit with the stomach bug that was going around at the Tour of California. But things are looking up for the British rider who won three medals at the 2004 Olympics and is now in a great position to deliver a repeat performance in Beijing this summer.
Popularity: 5% [?]
Mario Cipollini calls it quites with the Rock Racing Team.
Italian Mario Cipollini has requested to end his contract with Team Rock Racing and may be racing in Tinkoff colours for this Saturday’s Milano-Sanremo, a race he won in 2002. ‘The Lion King’ and owner of the USA Continental team, Michael Ball, have had their differences since starting their relationship last fall, and now Cipollini is in a race to annul his contract.
The 2002 World Champion from Lucca has a renewed desire for racing the Milano-Sanremo since he returned from retirement in the Tour of California. He now faces a race against time if he is to participate in the 298-kilometre race known as La Classicissima as he needs his racing license resolved with Rock Racing, which he requested last week according to La Gazzetta dello Sport, before signing for a new team.
(Photo courtsey of VeloNews)
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One of the first pieces I ever wrote about pro cycling was a profile on Chris Horner for the Daily Peloton. I remember researching the article and reading about how Horner hit the road on Stage 2 of the 2005 Tirreno-Adriatico race. Pain shot through his leg but he got back on the bike, pushed past it and finished the stage. He started again the next morning but the pain was overwhelming and after coming in third-last on the next stage he abandoned the race.
Horner was disappointed by his experience in Italy and, despite still feeling pain from the crash, vowed to do better a week later at the Setmana-Catalana race in Spain. He made good on his vow and scored two top-10 finishes before ending the race 16th overall.
A week later, still unable to shake the pain, Horner finally saw a doctor and found out that he had raced the entire Setmana-Catalana on a broken leg.
I remember being so amazed by the physical extremes that these athletes put themselves through for their profession and I was reminded of that never-give-up attitude today when I read about young Linus Gerdemann of Team High Road crashing on Sunday at this year’s Tirreno-Adriatico and breaking his leg in two places. His response? “I will do my very best to be back on the bike as soon as possible and I will fight to become part of the 2008 Tour de France.”
Being a professional cyclist is anything but an easy job. In what other profession do you break your leg in two places on a regular day at the office and have to get up, dust yourself off and immediately start working with your doctor to figure out exactly when your bones will be healed enough to get right back to work? No whining. No complaining. No excuses.
I’ll never forget little Linus Gerdemann and his amazing stage win at the Tour last year. Overnight he went from being just one of those fresh young faces on the T-Mobile bus that no one had ever heard of, to having his name and face known by everyone in the sport. He’s part of that fresh crop of young riders who represent a break with the past and carry the hopes of all cycling fans for a brighter future.
I wish him a speedy recovery and I certainly hope we see him back on that bike before July.
Popularity: 9% [?]
Happy St. Patrick’s Day and I do apologize for the lack of posting lately but it was all I could do to keep up with the whirlwind that was March Break at my house last week. Anyway, back at my desk now and trying to tackle the mountain of work that has grown during my week of neglect.
I stopped by Cycling News this morning to try to catch up and was truly horrified to read this story about Belgian cyclist Kevin van Impe of the Quick Step team who was visiting a crematorium recently to attend to the unthinkable task of making funeral arrangements for his infant son who passed away shortly after being born premature. While struggling through what must have been one of the worst days of his life, van Impe was met by a drug tester who demanded that van Impe provide a sample on the spot or risk a two-year suspension for failing to comply.
Who is this guy and please tell me he doesn’t have a job anymore. It’s amazing enough to me that professional cyclists have to submit themselves to the humiliation of having to “drop and give me a cup” at any moment of the day or night, at home, at work, even on vacation. But while preparing to bury your son? Surely that’s too far. Surely there was a line back there somewhere that we crossed without noticing.
Happily the Flemish Minister of Sport did concede that the timing of this particular request had been in bad taste stating that, “”I can well understand the rider had other things on his mind at the time of the test,” and promising to find a way to continue random tests while trying to avoid these kinds of unique circumstances.
Amazing.
Popularity: 9% [?]
It sounds as though before the month is out Floyd Landis will have played his last card in his fight to have his name cleared and his win in the 2006 Tour de France reinstated. The Court for the Arbitration of Sport (CAS) told the Associated Press that the hearing would begin on March 19 in New York and is expected to last six days. It is not yet known when the arbitrators will give their final ruling on the case though so we could still be in for a long wait before we know the end of this chapter of Floyd’s story. Unlike the previous hearing that Floyd went through in California, this one will be held behind closed doors so we won’t be able to get as much information as we’d like - unless our friend Paula over at TBV gets the inside scoop for us as she so often does.
In other news, former T-Mobile rider, Patrick Sinkewitz has again done as he was told, this time agreeing to give up his plans to appeal the $61,000 fine that was handed down to him along with his one year suspension for using testosterone just prior to the 2007 Tour de France. As a result of his continued co-operation the German authorities have agreed to abandon their plans to take more court action to prevent him from racing again.
I get that the goal here is to do as much as possible to reduce doping within the sport (I don’t suppose anyone thinks it can be done away with totally) but something just doesn’t sit right with me when it ends up meaning that you can cheat, admit to cheating, and then all you have to do is co-operate fully with authorities, roll over and do exactly as your told, serve up as many others as you possibly can, and you get away with a slap on the wrist.
Sinkewitz is going to be racing again - assuming he can find a team to sign him (Rock Racing probably still has a few slots open) - by July of this year. July! He basically just misses out on the early part of the season. Guys miss more time than that after a nasty spill on the road.
I don’t fault Sinkewitz here particularly. He’s just playing the game as it’s been designed around him. He’s just trying to keep making a living. And, obviously, in order to break the cycle of doping within the teams you must get your hands on the information you need to get to the root of the problem somehow. But this just feels wrong to me.
Would Floyd have been racing at the Tour last year if he’d rolled over and done what he was told?
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