ROCHE AWARDED EUROSPORT TROPHY

Nicolas Roche’s reputation as one of the most aggressive riders in pro cycling was officially recognised in recent days when the Irish road race champion was awarded the Eurosport Trophy.
The prize is open to either French riders or riders on a French team. The ranking is based on a combination of the number of kilometres clocked up in breakaways plus the final ranking of each rider in races that are broadcast on Eurosport.
Roche’s Ag2r La Mondiale team are understandably pleased with the award. “This trophy rewards the fact that Nicolas Roche has stepped up his attacks throughout the season, and has confirmed the hopes placed in him by Vincent Lavenu,” it said in a statement.
Roche competed in his first Tour de France this season and clocked up a number of top-ten stage finishes, including placings of second and fourth. He was sixth in the points raking and 23rd overall. He also rode strongly in other events.
Meanwhile the full line-up of the 2010 Ag2r La Mondiale squad was released today. Roche and 20 others will remain, while seven new riders have been signed.
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Ag2r La Mondiale for 2010:
Current riders who will remain:
José Luis Arrieta (Espagne) - 38 years old
Guillaume Bonnafond (France) - 22
Cyril Dessel (France) - 35
Hubert Dupont (France) - 29
Alexander Efimkin (Russie) - 28
Vladimir Efimkin (Russie) - 28
Martin Elmiger (Suisse) - 31
John Gadret (France) - 30
Sébastien Hinault (France) - 35
Blel Kadri (France) - 23
Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukraine) - 30
Julien Loubet (France) - 24
René Mandri (Estonie) - 25
Lloyd Mondory (France) - 27
Rinaldo Nocentini (Italie) - 32
Christophe Riblon (France) - 28
Nicolas Roche (Irlande) - 25
Nicolas Rousseau (France) - 26
Gatis Smukulis (Lettonie) - 22
Ludovic Turpin (France) - 34
Tadej Valjavec (Slovénie) - 32
New riders :
Julien Berard (France) - 22 - (2009 : Chambéry Cyclisme Formation)
Maxime Bouet (France) - 23 – (2009 : Agritubel)
Dimitri Champion (France) - 26 - (2009 : Bretagne Schuller)
Ben Gastauer (Luxembourg) - 22 - (2009 : Chambéry Cyclisme Formation)
Kristof Goddaert (Belgique) - 23 - (2009 : Topsport Vlaanderen)
David Le Lay (France) - 30 - (2009 : Agritubel)
Anthony Ravard (France) - 26 - (2009 : Agritubel)

LYNCH WINS NAVAN LEAGUE

LYNCH WINS NAVAN LEAGUE

James Lynch became the youngest ever winner of the Navan Avonmore league when he finished 5^th in the final counting event last Sunday, this meant that James won by 7 points from his under 16 colleague Aidan Wall with Simon ODea third followed by Niall Doggett 4^th and Alan Heary and Paul Hayes who were equal fifth.

The final race of the league was a very tough affair with over 30 competitors, Marie Byrne and Hazel Wall made the most of their handicap and were only caught on the last lap. The scratch group was driven along by Colm Laverty and Simon ODea with Laverty breaking away on the last lap to record his second win of the league just ahead of Conor Bartley who held on for a great second place ahead of talented newcomer Robbie Coyle.

In the beginners category there was a very close finish with Siobhan Murtagh winning by just one point from Lizzie Corbally with Megan Lynch and Luke Farrell in fourth and fifth places.

A total of 52 riders rode in the league and many thanks to all the marshals who helped make the course safe.

Gilberto Simoni to end career?

Gilberto Simoni's future is uncertain

Astana, Androni and Lampre pass on two-time Giro d'Italia winner

Gilberto Simoni will not continue with Gianni Savio's Androni team and could be at the end of his career. Savio named the riders for next season yesterday, but there was no mention of Simoni, a two-time winner of the Giro d'Italia.

"In 25 years I've had a lot of great wins, but the biggest win is that every year everyone, riders and staff, are always paid," Savio told us . "The key is making a team with the budget that you have available.

"We would never offer Gilberto Simoni a minimum-wage contract. It's better to say we don't have the money for next year than to make that offer."

Italian Simoni, 38, joined Savio's Diquigiovanni team in 2008 (to be called Androni in 2010). He had finished fourth overall at the 2007 Giro d'Italia and won the race's stage 17 to Monte Zoncolan.

This March, he won stage three and held the lead of the Vuelta Mexico. He also raced this year's Giro and helped the team win three stages, but finished 46 minutes behind overall winner Denis Menchov (Rabobank). It could have been his last major race as a road rider and Savio's team could be the last of his 11-year career.

"I don't know, and I don't think he still knows what he wants to do," continued Savio.

Last month, Simoni's agents met with team Lampre's team boss, Giuseppe Saronni. Saronni discussed the idea of re-uniting Simoni with his star rider, Damiano Cunego.

"It was an interesting idea, he's given Lampre a lot of success. But, it ended there, as an idea," said Saronni today.

Simoni and Cunego rode together in the same team from 2002 to 2005. Their relationship broke down while Cunego won four stages and the overall classification of the 2004 Giro d'Italia.

Astana had also spoken with Simoni's agents. The team wanted to bring in Simoni to support two-time Tour de France winner Alberto Contador.

"It was an idea, but then it did not happen," Astana's new directeur sportif, Giuseppe Martinelli, told Cyclingnews. "We wanted him to race the Giro and Tour with Contador, but he only had intentions to race the Giro and then end his career. The discussions ended there."

With the number of top teams limited, Simoni may now try to find a smaller team. A smaller team could allow him to end his career at home at the Giro del Trentino in April.

Super Silver for Irish Tandem at UCI Paracycling World Track Championships

Super Silver for Irish Tandem at UCI Paracycling World Track Championships
Irish Female Tandem pairing of Catherine Walsh and Caroline Ryan finished the UCI Paracycling World Track Championships in style today with a superb Silver Medal win in the 3km Individual Pursuit final at the Manchester Velodrome. In the ride off for the gold and silver medals against the USA Tandem the Irish girls knocked another second off the Irish Record they had set at this morning’s qualification completing the distance in a time of 3:39.385. The Americans went on to break the World Record and take the Gold Medal.

Expressing delight at the silver medal win Irish Manager Denis Toomey said it was just rewards for the girls who had been showing great form in training and who had narrowly missed out on a medal at the Road World Championships.
Winning the silver has topped off a great World Championships for the squad where a total of seven Irish Records were broken and 9 Top 10 finishes achieved including a superb 4th by Cathal Miller in the LC1 4km Pursuit and he finished 10th in the 1KM Time Trial. The Male Tandem of Michael Delaney and Con Collis had two 6th place finishes one in the 1km Time Trial and the second in the 200m Sprint. They unfortunately crashed in the quarter final ride off but thankfully after a visit to the X-ray Department it was confirmed that no bones were broken but they will be very sore tomorrow. CP4 rider Enda Smyth recorded a 6th place in the 1km Time Trial and a 7th in the 4km Pursuit. The second male tandem of Andrew Fitzgerald and Paul Giblin achieved two Personal Best rides when recording a great 9th place finish in the 4km Pursuit and finished 15th in the 1km Time Trial.

Some photographs from Silver medal presentation yesterday

2010 starts the qualification process for the London Paralympic Games in 2012 and if the squad can repeat these performances at World level over the next two years then we should have our biggest ever representation at the Games.
It is essential that the excellent support received from the Irish Sports Council in the past is maintained into the future and that the government doesn’t cut its support to sport. We have proved that we can compete against and beat the countries with full time athletes and huge financial resources and indoor Velodromes at the disposal but to continue and improve we need additional resources rather than having existing supports reduced or removed. The 2010 World Track and Road Championships will be held in Cali Colombia so travel and accommodation costs alone will be enormous.
A big thanks to the Coach Brian Nugent and all the support staff who have worked to prepare the athletes to be the best in the world and a big congratulations to the whole squad on their record breaking and medal winning performances at the Championships.
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(8 Nov) MIXED FORTUNES FOR IRISH AT PARACYCLING TRACK CHAMPS
Mixed fortunes for Irish Squad at Day 2 of UCI Paracycling Track World Championships in Manchester.
The Irish Squad were back in action today at the UCI Paracycling Track World Championships with Enda Smyth getting proceeding off to a good start when he set an Irish Record in the CP4 4km Individual Pursuit competition recording a time 5:18.048. Smyth coped well with the longer distance introduced this year for the CP4 riders up from the previous 3km distance.
The Irish Male tandems had mixed fortunes in the B&VI 4km Pursuit, Andrew Fitzgerald and pilot Paul Giblin recorded a PB time of 4:43.437 good enough to give them 9th place overall. Michael Delaney and Con Collis were very unfortunate to crash out with 8 laps to go when they were leading on the board at the time, the tubular on their front wheel blew out but thankfully no bones were broken just cuts and grazes so they should be back in action for the Sprint Competition tomorrow.
Cathal Miller feeling the effects of two hard 4km races yesterday put in a good ride in the LC1 1KM Time Trial to finish in 10th place in a time of 1:12.213.
In tonight’s session the Female Tandem pairing of Catherine Walsh and Caroline Ryan set a New Irish Record of 1:14.664 in the 1km Time trial to secure a great 5th place finish for Ireland.
The girls are also back in action at tomorrow’s last day of competition when they take part in their favourite 3km Pursuit competition, so fingers crossed for another great performance.
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(7 Nov) IRISH RECORDS TUMBLE AT PARACYCLING TRACK CHAMPS
Irish Records continue to tumble at as Miller finishes Fourth in the World at UCI Paracycling Track World Championships in Manchester.
Ireland's Cathal Miller narrowly missed out on a Bronze Medal when finishing in fourth place at last night’s 4km Individual Pursuit final. Having given it everything at yesterday morning’s qualification Miller recorded his third fastest time ever last night but it was just not enough to beat the current Road Time Trial World Champion Austrian Wolfgand Eibeck. However 4th place at a World Championships was a brilliant result and Ireland’s best track result this century.
Two other Irish Records were broken last night when Enda Smyth set a New Irish Record in the Men’s CP4 1Km Time Trial finishing in 6th place in a time of 1:15.157. Irish male tandem pairing of Michael Delaney and Con Collis also secured a great 6th place finish in their 1km Time Trial in a New Irish Record Time of 1:07.202. Ireland’s second male tandem pairing of Andrew Fitzgerald and Paul Giblin finished in 15th place in the same competition in a Personal Best time of 1:10.381.
All the Irish squad will be back in action it the second day of competition at the Velodrome today.
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(6 Nov) Miller qualifies for Bronze Medal ride off at UCI Paracycling Track World Championships in Manchester.

Cycling Ireland's Con Collis (pilot) and Michael Delaney on there way to a very creditable 6th place in the B+V1 category 1000m Time Trial at the UCI Para-Cycling World Championships, Manchester Velodrome, 6th Novemeber 2009

Cathal Miller (Ireland) set a new National record 4:52.73on his way to a superb 4th place in the Mens LC1 category 4000m Pursuit at the UCI Para-Cycling World Cup, Manchester Velodrome, 6th November 2009.

Images Copyright - Henry Iddon
Cycling Ireland Photographer Para-Cycling World Championships
The Irish Team got the UCI Paracycling World Track Championships off to the best possible start this morning when LC1 Rider Cathal Miller set a New Irish Record on his way to qualifying for a Bronze Medal ride off in the 4km Individual Pursuit competition at the Manchester Velodrome.
Drawn against the Austrian rider in Heat 6 Miller rode a perfectly paces pursuit to register a time of 4:52.733 almost a full second off his old Irish Record. This was good enough to give him 4th place overall and set him up for a Bronze Medal ride off it the final tonight against another Austrian rider Wolfgand Eibeck.
Also in action in tonight’s programme are Enda Smyth in the CP4 1km Individual Time Trial and Michael Delaney piloted by Con Collis and Andrew Fitzgerald piloted by Paul Giblin in the Male Tandem 1km Individual Time Trial.
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UCI Paracycling Track World Championships: (5 Nov)
Ireland sends strong squad for UCI Paracycling Track World Championships in Manchester.
The Irish Paracycling Squad have arrived in Manchester ahead of tomorrow’s first day of competition at the UCI Paracycling Track World Championships which run over 3 days from 6th to 8th of November.
Cathal Miller competes in the 1km Individual Time Trial and the 4km Individual Pursuit in the LC1 Category.
Enda Smyth competes in the 1km Individual Time Trial and the 4km Individual Pursuit in the CP4 Category.
Two Irish tandems compete in the Male B&VI Category, Michael Delaney piloted by Con Collis and Andrew Fitzgerald piloted by Paul Giblin, they each competes in the 1km Individual Time Trial and the 4km Individual Pursuit and Michael and Con will also take part in the Tandem Sprint Competition hoping to match or improve on their double bronze medal performance at the last May’s World Cup.
In the Female Tandem competition Catherine Walsh and Caroline Ryan will also be hoping to add a World Championship medal to the World Cup Bronze medal they won in Manchester last May and will compete in the 1km Individual Time Trial and the 4km Individual Pursuit.
Speaking from Manchester today, Irish Paracycling Team Manager Denis Toomey said “The whole squad are in good shape and we expect to see a number of Irish Records broken over the next three days. Having come so close to securing medals for Ireland at the Road World Championships in Italy recently we are quietly optimistic that we can go one step further and produce the goods here in Manchester”. Top nations from all over the world are here and we will be giving them a good run for their money.

Six-day rider takes his life

Tragedy as track and road cyclist Dimitri De Fauw commits suicide

Belgian media have reported the tragic death of Dimitri De Fauw on Friday morning, who took his life in as yet unknown circumstances. The Belgian track and road rider, who made a name for himself racing six-day track races during the European off-season, was only 28 years old.

De Fauw returned to Belgium from the Six-days of Grenoble in France on Thursday. He had placed seventh in the competition together with the Dane Marc Hester. Iljo Keisse, another six-day rider and friend of De Fauw, drove back home with him and Gianni Meersman on Wednesday night. "I dropped De Fauw off at his home in Gent at 8am and we still laughed together," he told Sporza. "I did not find him any different from usual. 'I'll call you to go training,' he told me."

De Fauw was mostly active on the track but also rode road races. He was with team Quick Step from 2003 to 2005 and moved to Chocolade Jacques in 2006. That year, he had a terrible accident during the Gent Six-day, when he collided with Spanish rider Isaac Galvez, who died of his injuries. De Fauw struggled with depression after the drama.

Keisse described the rider as being "a funny guy. He only very seldom spoke about serious things. There were days when he laughed, fooled around and did crazy things, and then there were days when he was quieter."

Cyclingnews extends its sincere condolences to the family and friends of Dimitri De Fauw.

Sky still on the hunt for Wiggins?

Rumor mill continues as British squad takes shape

Team Sky has reportedly delayed its final announcement of its 2010 roster as attempts to secure the services of Bradley Wiggins are pursued.

According to The Guardian newspaper, Team Sky’s management team is adamant it can get its man, the reigning Olympic individual and team pursuit champion and the first British rider since Robert Millar to finish in the top five overall at the Tour de France. Wiggins finished fourth in this year’s Tour.

Garmin-Slipstream boss Jonathan Vaughters has constantly been forced to reiterate his position on Wiggins’ slated move in recent times, telling Cyclingnews that the Brit has another year left on his contract and that therefore he would be lining up for the American squad in 2010.

Recently, Garmin-Slipstream directeur sportif Matt White made the team’s position clear to Cyclingnews, saying: “He’s got a contract with us for next year.” He admitted that in his position, however, “What happens with Bradley next year is out of my hands.” White also indicated that Wiggins’ performances and attitude to the team following his successful Tour de France ride have given management no reason to believe he’ll be making the move to Team Sky.

“When I go to races it’s me dealing with him as athlete and manager, and we’ve had super results since the end of the Tour. He was good at Eneco Tour and helped Chris at Tour of Britain, then we won the Herald Sun Tour,” said White.

While a buyout of Wiggins’ contract would be costly and must be agreed upon by the management of both teams, The Guardian reports that representatives of the British ProTour outfit travelled to New York recently to meet with Vaughters’ lawyers, with Wiggins the obvious topic of conversation. Team Sky has denied this rumour, which originally started with incorrect reports that team manager David Brailsford was on a mercy dash to New York at the weekend, when he was in fact overseeing the nation’s track team at the International Cycling Union Track World Cup opener in Manchester.

This recent development is the latest in a long run of speculation about Wiggins’ future, which has been questioned by observers for several months. It’s also the first time Sky’s parent company, News Corporation, has been mentioned as a factor, with Sky European chairman James Murdoch reportedly weighing in on the deal, having recently taken up cycling.

Team Sky will gather in Manchester on 23 November, by which time it’s expected that the squad’s full line-up will be known.

Columbia-HTC's Bob Stapleton is ready to tackle the challenges of 2010

Columbia-HTC's Bob Stapleton is ready to tackle the challenges of 2010

It’s a sunny Californian morning and Bob Stapleton sips his coffee as he flicks through the morning press. On his desk sits a post-it note with the words ‘call cyclingnews’ penned across it. With the coffee dispatched and a quick scan of the website he’s about to contact complete, he picks up the phone and dials the UK office. He can relax, smile even. This will be a doddle. After a long, hard season he’s at home, surrounded by enough magazine clippings and press releases to keep his sponsors happy for another year. Clouds on the horizon? Not today. It’s all blue skies in the US’s sunshine state. The ringing stops.
"Hello, Cyclingnews."
"Hi, this is Bob. How are you?"
Rewind back to March and Mark Cavendish is being smothered in a bear-like grip by Mario Cipollini after winning his first ever Classic, Milan-Sanremo. As Cavendish, raw with unadulterated joy, struts onto the podium Stapleton looks on. "This is going to be a good year," he can afford to mutter to himself, as Italy's passionate tifosi applaud the Manxman after a thrilling finale. But of course Stapleton knew that the season would go well. He knew it long before we did. He has that Midas touch.
"Were heading into an interesting time in the sport right now with the Tour, Giro and Tour of California all announcing their route on top of each other," Stapleton opens, before a question has even left my lips.
"I think the biggest challenge for every team now is how to race these three Grand Tours at a high level and how to use their athletes to the maximum effort," he says, indicating that Columbia-HTC’s 2010 season could be their hardest yet.
"In my opinion I see the Tour of California as a Grand Tour. It’s the eighth largest economy, directly behind France. The race will be televised in over 100 countries and it has a broad following in Europe already. The concentration of these fantastic races in a 90 day period is pretty fantastic for the sport. You’re going to see the world’s eyes on cycling."
It’s all true. California is trying its hardest to position itself among cycling’s elite races, and as Stapleton points out, the considered assembly of his solders on so many fronts is going to be key if he’s to repeat the success he’s had.
"Can you align your athletes, your marketing goals and all the personal ambitions you have around these cornerstone events? While I see a spectacular summer for the sport, we’re really focused on doing well at all of these races. The Tour is the Superbowl of the sport and everyday in the Tour can be a career-maker for an athlete, but we want to maximise our success in each event."
And to be fair Stapleton seems better equipped than most team managers to succeed. Here is a man who has taken fledgling young athletes like Tony Martin, Mark Cavendish and Edvald Boasson Hagen and turned them into not only competitive riders, but potential greats, and in Cavendish’s case, the second most marketable cyclist on the planet after Lance Armstrong. "We won 17 stages in Grand Tours and had success in California this year. We don’t have the huge depth we had last year, but we do have very good quality. I think we can bring some of our new additions to the team to bear on our results next year."
Therein lays the biggest challenge for Stapleton in 2010. Racing schedules aside, having seen so many of his riders leave for pastures new, how quickly can he develop his new, young crop of talent? Boasson Hagen, Thomas Lövqvist, George Hincapie, Greg Henderson, Marcus Burghardt, Kim Kirchen have all gone and there are holes to fill.

Like any team or business for that matter, some will be missed more than others. In particular, Boasson Hagen, who many believe has the potential to win anything he wants in the sport, will leave a considerable gap. "He was a rider we had tremendous pride in," Stapleton says. "He wasn’t just a very good young talent, but a hallmark of the team strategy of finding and support young talent. We definitely will miss him. Otherwise, we basically traded for some very promising riders for the longer term.

"There are five neo-pros but there are also five talented riders coming from other teams. The Velits brothers will step up dramatically here after coming from Milram. Matt Goss, Lars Bak will do very well here and so will Hayden Roulston, who joins from Cervelo." Between them, they've won a total of seven races in 2009 and rode in the Grand Tours. A far cry from the 16 wins Boasson Hagen supplied to the team’s total of 86 wins for the year.
Yet when you consider that Stapleton holds two vital aces with Cavendish and André Greipel, along with an improving Tony Martin, ever-steady Michael Rogers and wildcard Kanstantsin Siutsou, he still has a core of riders to make most team managers drool. The additional loss of experience and level-headedness someone like Hincapie brought to the team will be a further hurdle to overcome, but Stapleton remains positive about the immediate future. "We’re quite confident with Mark and André. Individually they’ve won as many races as entire other teams, even really top teams.
"We’re intelligently investing in keeping the support for both sprinters at the very top level. Those two guys won 44 races between them this year, so if we stay right there we’ve already won more races than anyone else. We were never planning on 85 wins the last two years, we were just planning on coming in competitive at every race and we’ll continue to play to the team’s strengths."
And what of Tony Martin? He finished a surprise second overall in the Tour de Suisse, clung to the white jersey in the Tour for the first two weeks of the race and, were it not for two bad days, could have made the top ten overall. Is he a star in the making, or does he lack the spark required to really twinkle? "One of the challenges for us is to look at Martin, Rogers, Siutsou, and also [Maxime] Monfort and see how to use these resources over a couple of key races. It’s funny, people don’t ask me Siutsou. He was 17th at the Tour riding for Kim two years ago and was 17th in the Giro last year riding for Michael. Those are very solid results. He’s one of the guys that everybody overlooks."
Yet it’s still Martin who burdens more of the responsibility within the team. Columbia-HTC Directeur Sportif Rolf Aldag has publicly stated that the German can crack the high reaches of the Tour ladder, on the basis that he’s never actually built his season around the Tour, but still held his own against the best. It’s a view that Stapleton echoes. "Tony will make another big step forward this year. He wasn’t focused on the Tour this year but he could be in the top ten."

Stapleton clearly believes that with Cavendish and Greipel he has the basic formula for success. With the Tour of California and Giro clashing there’s also the opportunity to distribute responsibility between the two highly competitive riders without causing friction, an element that had dogged the two riders in the past. "If André continues to grow then he could be a challenge for the team, but I think we have more than enough opportunities for guys to grow. One interesting thing is going to be the Worlds next year. You could see the two key rivals being otherwise teammates and both supported by good squads."
As the conversation draws to a close it’s clear what Stapleton is trying to achieve: a cohesive team of individuals who, while working for the team, have their own chance to develop. "The team was always designed to make a difference and to be a key player in the shaping the sport for the future. As long as we do that I think it’s fun and interesting for all of us." Regardless of the challenges that face Columbia-HTC in the next twelve months, if dark clouds do appear, it’ll only be a matter of time before the blue skies return.

Phinney plans his 2010 season

 

Taylor Phinney (Trek/Livestrong) making up time on the downhill.

Under 23 racer recovering from tonsillectomy

While recovering at home after having his tonsils removed, Taylor Phinney is busy putting together his 2010 racing schedule. With his focus set to balance both his track and road commitments, he's planning to race a similar programme to this year, with a strong emphasis on the Under 23 Classics and the World Track Championships in Copenhagen.

"I had surgery last week and it went fine. I have some nice holes in my throat but the surgery will pay off in the future," he told Cyclingnews. Throughout my life I've been getting sick a lot. With my tonsils out I should get sick a lot less. When I think back to last year, I was getting sick after every big race that I did. Without that happening I should do a lot better next year."

With Lance Armstrong's Team Radioshack set to be announced as a co-sponsor of the Trek-Livestrong team, Phinney will also take part in a number of training camps with the RadioShack squad, before starting his first race of the season, at the Tour of Qatar. "I don't know my exact programme, but I'll be doing the Qatar and the Track World Championships in Copenhagen. I want to go there and win the pursuit again and prove to the UCI that they're making a mistake by taking it out of the Olympic programme," Phinney said.

At last week's track World Cup in Manchester, Great Britain's Geraint Thomas set the third fastest time in history for the pursuit. While Phinney believes that competition is good for the sport, he can go faster than the 4:15 that carried him to gold in Poland earlier in the year.

"I heard about Thomas, and I think that's great. He's fast and has been for a long time. I don't know why the British didn't enter a pursuit rider at the Worlds. I'm sure they had someone who could have gone fast. It was also good to see that Dominique Cornu is going faster than last year, even after a big road season. Manchester is known as being as fast track so it's too bad that I missed it. If you're fast enough you can make any track fast though. We'll see what happens in Copenhagen, but I want to go faster than I did in the Worlds this year."

From there Phinney will travel to Belgium to race with the American Under 23 Team at the Under 23 Tour of Flanders, Nations Cup and Paris Roubaix. "The main thing in May is going to be Paris Roubaix, so if I had a choice between that and Tour of California, I would do Roubaix. I won it last year, and if I went to the Tour of California I'd just get my butt kicked. I could go to Roubaix and maybe win."

One race Phinney won't be competing in again is the Vuelta Mexico Telex, where the Trek-Livestrong team made their debut in 2009. "We're not going back, which I'm relieved about. That was a long and hot race and came too early in the season, at least for me. The stages in Qatar will be short but fast."

Cadel Evans: The [cycling] gods must be crazy

Change afoot as undulating fortunes make for a vintage year

To describe Cadel Evans' season as one of peaks and troughs would be an understatement. The Australian has experienced the sport's biggest high - becoming world champion - and the most frustrating of lows - losing a Grand Tour through no fault of his own. Consequently, the year has brought frustration and ecstasy, intrigue and fatigue and culminated in the beginning of a new phase in his illustrious career.

In the process he has dealt with intense media scrutiny, speculation about his professional future and enough poor fortune to test the resolve of any of the world's best riders. Eventually vindication came in the space of almost seven hours, the Australian winning the world title in memorable circumstances amongst the people he calls neighbours to make it an unforgettable year.

An unexpected Tour experience

Heading into 2009, expectations were high for Australia's highest-profile stage racer. Two second places at the Tour de France had observers billing him as one of the favourites, although a weak support cast against the might of Astana's dream team effectively put an end to his challenge after only four stages.

"Having some idea about how we might perform in the team time trial, I was a bit like, 'I don't think this is going to be my year, so I'm not going to get stressed about it because it might all go down the toilet,'" said Evans.

"I'd had a few stumbling blocks to overcome just to get to the Tour and by the time I got there...fortunately the Dauphiné gave me hope. I think it also showed to everyone that I was there and going well. From the team time trial onwards things really started to fall apart."

Despite the setbacks and his eventual 30th overall when the race reached Paris, Evans remained relaxed throughout the rest of the Tour, keeping his season's goals in perspective and his frustration in check. He managed to take in a valuable experience by meeting some of his fans on the roadside whilst riding in the gruppetto of some stages. It wasn't the usual star rider-fan interaction but enjoyable nevertheless.

"It was the first time I'd been to the Tour and I didn't have a general classification to worry about - it was actually enjoyable. When you're there for GC you have to be pretty concentrated most of the time but you don't get much time to actually enjoy being at the Tour. Maybe that experience will serve me in years to come," said Evans.

"But it was quite fun being back there and riding so badly and having so many people cheering for you - there were all these mad Aussies riding beside us. I was riding so slowly I could actually talk to them! It was bizarre."

Setbacks and soul searching in Spain

While the obvious lack of team support frustrated Evans at the Tour, the Vuelta a España lay ahead of the Australian before he tackled the UCI road world championships on his doorstep in Mendrisio, Switzerland. It's testament to his professionalism that he remained focused on delivering Silence-Lotto success at the highest level after what was a generally demoralising experience in France during July.

Having taken the leader's golden jersey on stage eight to Alto de Aitana, Evans' Vuelta hung in the balance after a ridiculous episode on stage 13 to Sierra Nevada virtually robbed him of the victory when it appeared as though atonement may be afoot after the disastrous Tour campaign.

"I came away from the Vuelta a little bit frustrated," said Evans. "How often do you lose a bike race thanks to the incompetence of neutral service? Never. It's never happened before."

Evans takes up the story of the incident that lost him the Vuelta: "I punctured on the climb and was attended to by Shimano Neutral Assistance. [Samuel] Sanchez had been dropped and the team cars were 40 seconds behind. Neutral assistance stopped and I know that climb quite well and knew I could have kept riding but I wanted to change the wheel there because the descent ahead of the Sierra Nevada is quite fast and there's a corner there that I'd rather not take on a half-deflated tubular if I was to get to the finish safely.

"I stopped there, they arrived, and I don't know exactly what happened; there were two mechanics, about three different wheels and they couldn't put them in. Because it was such a ridiculous episode the TV and photographers stopped, blocking the team cars from coming through. It was the quick thinking of the Silence-Lotto team mechanic who thought, 'Shit, there's something wrong' and was running up through the traffic trying to give me my spare bike. I saw that and that's when I went.

"Because I had to change bikes I didn't take my bottle with me and there was still an hour to go - it was about 50km to the top of Sierra Nevada. It was down to five or six contenders - the guys who were there for the win - and I had to get a bottle so I grabbed one and they gave me a 10-second penalty. Ironically it was 1:23 for the wheel change and 10 second for the bottle and then I was second at 1:32 then third at 1:32 by the end of the race.

"I was just furious about it at the end...I felt that I didn't deserve that. It was really unlucky; that's the way it was and unfortunately people start saying, 'Oh, you can't win a race...' At least some people can see that maybe I was doing something right."

'Hometown' hero on the Novazzano

Those who had maintained faith in Evans - not least of all the man himself - were rewarded on September 27, when the Australian celebrated with a subdued salute at the end of a 262km world championship battle in Mendrisio, Switzerland. Having placed himself in all the right moves throughout the final two laps, Evans attacked in a 53x21 gearing - the first time he had ridden the climb in the big chainring - and soared to the heights many had thought impossible just a month earlier.

For all the setbacks, frustration and trying times, Evans had enjoyed a helping of Lady Luck's love and was able to demonstrate what was possible from one of Australia's best-ever riders. While he hadn't experienced the joy of standing on the top step of the podium in Paris, he was literally on top of the cycling world. Vindication was sweet.

"The Tibetan kid I sponsor in Nepal - even in his school where they don't know anything about cycling, if you say, 'Cadel won the world championships' it's like, 'Wow!' said Evans. "Whatever walk of life you're from or whichever sport you're from it certainly makes an impression. It's certainly been well-received here in Australia and I'd really like to repay people by racing on Australian soil in the rainbow jersey."

While cycling is still making its mark as a 'fringe' sport in Australia, Evans believes that his world championship win has had the impact for which he'd hoped. Rather than just seeing him as a Tour contender, Australian fans gained a glimpse at their hero in another light.

"I think the Tour captures the attention of a lot of people in Australia - it goes for three weeks so there's plenty to watch, especially for people coming into the sport. People followed me more for the journey more than the achievement, whereas at the worlds it was simple: he won it. It was for the journey a little bit but more about the result," said Evans.

The right fit for season 2010

Evans says that the win in Switzerland won't change his goals for next season and he's keen to honour the world champion's jersey, although his surroundings will be different. Having already ridden in the rainbow stripes as a Silence-Lotto team member, the Australian's kit will bear the BMC logo in 2010, the team announcing his departure on November 1.

the penultimate climb of the day

Evans took the exit clause in his contract with Silence-Lotto and moved to Andy Rihs' team, co-owned by former US Cycling head honcho Jim Ochowicz and managed by former Phonak directeur sportif John Lelangue. He signed a three-year deal to ride beside the likes of experienced campaigners George Hincapie, Karsten Kroon and 2008 world champion Alessandro Ballan.

Evans' Tour experience obviously took its toll and he capitalised on the momentum in the BMC squad. "It [the move] had been in the works for a while - well before the world championships...We just wanted to do everything correctly, within the rules in terms of confidentiality and so on," he said.

"When the idea first occurred to me I thought, 'It's BMC, not a big team or anything...and of course when I'm making a decision like this I do a fair bit of research. Then we looked at the names [in the team] and the plans they have plus where they want to go, etc - everybody wants to go to the Tour de France in 2011," said Evans.

"At that point Andy Rihs and John Lelangue said, 'Maybe you'd be interested in going to the Tour in 2010...' I thought, 'Oh...' We had a couple of meetings and it was amazing how everything was in place and ready to go - I was just like, 'This is just such a neat fit for me'. John Lelangue lives in Belgium and we have a Swiss manufacturer for our bikes [as headline sponsor]. The company wants to improve its bikes the best way it can, using a professional team to do so. I thought, 'This is already a good start.'"

While BMC Racing hasn't received an official invitation to next year's Tour de France, it will be riding the Giro d'Italia, with a Tour berth looking more likely. And after Silence-Lotto struggled for years to deliver Evans a team capable of adequately supporting the Australian in France's Grand Tour, maybe looking a little closer to his adopted home may be the secret to finally making that top step come July 25 next year.

BMC confirms Evans signing

World Champion signs three-year deal

The BMC Racing Team confirmed that it has signed World Champion Cadel Evans to a three-year contract on Sunday. The Australian was released from his Silence-Lotto squad by mutual agreement with the team on Saturday, and the US-registered team was heavily rumoured to be his new team.

"Cadel brings a wealth of experience in the Grand Tours to the team," BMC Racing Team co-owner Jim Ochowicz said in a press release.

Grand Tours? The team has yet to participate in the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France or Vuelta a Espana, but the squad has made no secret of its ambitions to do so in 2010.

"As I said earlier, our team will have multiple chances to measure ourselves against the greatest teams in the world. We are pleased that we will have the opportunities to send out our most successful riders, now including Cadel Evans, to tackle these challenges," Ochowicz added.

Toward that end, the squad hired several top riders for the upcoming seasons, including former world champion Alessandro Ballan, US champion George Hincapie, Karsten Kroon and Marcus Burghardt.

Evans made it clear that he is still targetting the Tour de France as a major goal.

"I look forward to working with a new team, in a new environment, towards my same goals; honouring the rainbow jersey at the highest level of the sport, and ultimately at the highest step of the Tour de France podium.

"Obviously, I would like to do better than my two second places at the Tour de France," he said.

The 32-year-old has spent the past five seasons with the Belgian squad Lotto, progressing quickly from mountain biker turned stage racer to standing on the podium at the end of three Grand Tours. However, after he twice fell short in the Tour de France, in part due to lack of help from his team, there was much speculation that he would seek another opportunity.

"I would like to thank the Silence-Lotto team for the opportunities they have given me," Evans said. "The last five years have brought some great experiences whilst working alongside some great individuals. Thank you."

Director Sportif John Lelangue countered doubts that the team would have trouble getting into the Grand Tours and other major events, expressing confidence the new recruits would attract the attention of the race organisers and earn the squad the necessary wild-card bid.

"We have a plan to go to the biggest races, including the Grand Tours. That includes the Tour de France," he said. "This will be possible since our sporting level has greatly increased in standard."