Omloop to Jartazi

Former Belgian national champion Geert Omloop will race for Jartazi-7 Mobile next year. Omloop wasn't offered a new contract after being suspended for several weeks earlier this year. Omloop was suspended by the Unibet.com after Belgian police raided his house earlier this year. Although the court cleared him of any wrongdoing, Unibet.com decided not to extend his contract. The 32 year old rider will be the new captain of the Jartazi squad.

Vicente Belda advisor of new Fuerteventura Canarias squad

While Manolo Saiz was granted a Pro-Tour license again, former Valenciana manager Vincente Belda will be advisor of the new Fuerteventura Canarias squad. Spanish media reported yesterday that the team is said to be a spin-off of Comunidad Valencia, of which the sponsor terminated its contract after this year's Puerto scandal. According to Spanish daily newspaper El Mundo the new team has a budget of 1.800.000 Euros and one of it's goals is an invitation for the 2007 Vuelta Espana. Sponsor of the team will be the tourism office of the Canary Island which is funded with tax money.

UCI: Basso "a normal rider"

UCI spokesman Enrico Carpani told German daily newspaper Tagesspiegel: "when for example Ivan Basso get a license and a contract with a Pro-Tour team next year, he will be a normal rider for us." The German newspaper writes that Jan Ullrich could be the only rider who will be punished.

Meanwhile German media, which (with the exception of German website radsport-aktiv.de) didn't publish the news about the possible falisification of the Puerto documents by suspect Guardia Civil member Enrique Gomez, speculated why Jan Ullrich is selling one of his cars.

Lefevere critzicizes Paolo Bettini

The controvery of submitting DNA is growing. Paolo Bettini who told Italian daily sports Gazzetta Dello Sport last weekend: "DNA testing for riders is absurd, as is the idea to exclude riders who are only under investigation. If they refuse to hire riders who are under investigation, the same should hold true for the managers, team directors, coaches and doctors who have had problems. And to make DNA testing obligatory is even more unacceptable! They only do that to serial killers; maybe whoever came up with this idea is watching too much TV. Since 1997 we have had to be available for blood testing, but now they are talking about violating all of our personal rights."

Now Patrick Lefevere, who is Bettini's team manager at Quickstep reacted on the comments of the current world champion. Lefevere told Belgium daily newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws: "As World Champion, Bettini has to set an example. Does he realize which crisis the sport of cycling is going through?," Lefevere continued by saying: "The riders are risking their own future and that of coming generations, if they oppose the Code of Ethics."  The Quickstep manager, who hired Johan Museeuw as a PR employee for his team while Museeuw was suspended by the Belgian cycling federation, concluded the interview by saying: "Everybody is entitled to their own opinion however. Besides, Bettini will not have to deliver a DNA sample, since he's not under any suspicion."

Cunego in windtunnel

“It was a useful and outstanding experience” this is Giuseppe Martinelli’s comment about the American journey that saw himself and Damiano Cunego paying visit in the Houston wind gallery.
Lampre-Fondital’s athlete realized tests during a whole day in the structure of the Texas A&M University, under the control of John Cobb, one of the best experts of aerodynamic who worked with famous sport champions before.
“I liked Cobb’s working method," Martinelli said,"he saw Damiano on his Wilier and he didn’t impose a new position or changed totally the way of pedalling; otherwise, he gave advices about little but important details that, as the tests showed, can be fundamental in a time trial. Damiano is going to work on this advices in order to improve his action. Very interesting the material’s devices too”.
“I received important advices, based on Cobb’s experience and on the tests,"Cunego commented and continued: "now I know that these are the right indications I have to follow in order to work well and to obtain improvements."

Source: Lampre-Fondital

Chris Anker Dreams of Alpe d'Huez

Recently Team CSC signed a contract for next season with the young Danish rider Chris Anker Sørensen – a rider who is not entirely new to Team CSC as he has been working with the team as a stagiaire in the fall of 2005.

"Lars Bak and Allan Johansen recommended me to the team and they started checking me out. I did well in the Danish Championships and a couple of other races, where Team CSC participated, which resulted in a contract as a stagiaire last year," explains the 23-year-old Dane.

Chris Anker's best result with Team CSC so far is the overall 11th place in Tour of Britain.

"I gained a lot of experience and insight into how things are done on Team CSC and also as a pro for that matter. Of course this has given me an idea of what's in store for me, but at the same time it'll be very different with a full season. I'm really exited about it."

In Sørensen Team CSC has undoubtedly found the strongest mountain rider of all the young Danish amateur riders in recent years, but Chris Anker is well aware of the fact that he has to work very hard on his time trial skills, to become the stage race specialist he would like to be.

"If I'm to compare myself to another rider it would probably be Michael Rasmussen. The long climbs are definitely my strong point. Last year I won the only actual mountain stage I've ever done - a 10-kilometer climb at about 4-5 % in Norway, and I'm pretty sure it's in that type of race, I'll be able make results in the future."

"I have the right build to become great in the mountains and in January, when I was at the Team CSC training camp, I think I did quite well on Monte Serra. My time trial skills aren't that terrible, but there's room for improvement for sure, which is one of the things I look forward to at Team CSC, because they have a lot of experts in this particular discipline," continues Sørensen.

His mountain skills obviously play a big part in Chris Anker's ambitions and goals for the future.

"I'm particularly keen on the races in Spain and Italy. They have the kind of terrain, which is good for me, but I've also done a lot of racing in the area where Liégé-Bastogne-Liégé takes place, so that and probably Giro di Lombardia are probably the classics, where I have the best shot at a good result. But the best thing would be for me to go solo, because I'm not all that great in a sprint, so if I'm part of a group of five or six guys, I would most likely get a fourth place or something like that," is the honest comment from the Danish rider, who's dreams also include polka dots:

"I would really like to win the mountain jersey in Tour de France or Vuelta a España some day, but of course I realize that it won't happen anytime soon. A victory on Alpe d'Huez would also be a dream come true for me. It's the greatest victory a mountain specialist could ever get. But just getting to do the Alpe d'Huez is a battle in itself," says Sørensen.

In Chris Anker Sørensen's own opinion his best result in 2006 was his fourth place at the European Championships, which took place in a hilly terrain in Valkenburg, Holland. He also got a tenth place in the tough stage won by Fabian Cancellara in Tour of Denmark.

Source: CSC

Henderson at Tour of Southland

Greg Henderson’s (HealthNet) season is not yet finished: the New Zealander is among the strong favourites lining up for the PowerNet Tour of Southland in New Zealand next week.
 
The former world track champion leads a composite McIntyre Dick and Partners team with a strong backup of New Zealand and overseas riders at the event. He joins T-Mobile after a strong season with HealthNet that saw him shine on the USA cycling circuit.
 
The 50th Tour of Southland, New Zealand's leading multi-stage cycling tour, starts from Invercargill in the far south of the country on Monday, November 6, and finishes back in the city on November 11.

Source T-Mobile

Zabel and Bettini at Munich Sixdays

The numbers one and two of the world championships will start at the Munich Sixdays. After Zabel's fifth win of the Dortmund Sixdays, he will start in Munich. Partner will be Bruno Risi again. Bettini who also started at the Grenoble sixdays will start with Marco Villa. The Munich sixdays will be held from November 9 untill November 14.