Riis Cycling which runs the Cervelo Pro Tour team, has further expanded its relationship with their bike Sponsor by securing the distribution rights for Cervelo in Scandinavia. Starting in January of 2007, the deal will make Riis the principal supplier of Cervelo bikes to consumer retail outlets in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway.
Ivan Basso appears to be one step closer to racing again following the Italian Cycling Federation’s decision to affirm the Italian Olympic Committee’s recommendation that doping charges against the rider be dropped. We say one step closer since the UCI has said it might challenge the decisions of the Italian cycling bodies if they believed there was reasonable cause to do so; and it still looks like interested pro-teams are unwilling to commit to a contract until a UCI ruling regarding the matter is handed down.
Read [Italian Text Only]
In a ceremony held on Monday to celebrate Ivan Basso’s Giro victory earlier this year, he told reporters that he would announce the name of his next team in the “first few days of November.” During the event Basso reconfirmed that Discovery was among the candidates, but says “there are also others.” Discovery of course has come out saying that there would be no firm offer until Basso was cleared to race again by the UCI.
Rabobank announced today they were very pleased with the 2007 Tour de France route, saying “The Tour remains the Tour, but on paper it does not look bad for us.” They listed the reduced number of flat stages in the begining of the race as a strong positive since it would mean fewer “risky sprint stages.” It will also give Rabobank (and other teams) an earlier understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of both teams and individual riders since the overall classification would be established sooner than in past years. Like CSC though, Robobank is also dissapointed to see the abscense of a team time trial; but they said ’07 route would allow them to add another climber to the roster, as well as bring one less support car.
While CSC seems happy with the overall TdF route, they have expressed some disappointment about the absence of a team time trial for the second year in a row. This however should come as no surprise given CSC’s success in team events over the last year. While its way too early to start making predictions about individual riders just yet, CSC says that Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara, who won the Paris-Roubaix in 2006, should do well on the roads in and around Belgium; while the flatter terrain near Marseille may serve riders like Jens Voigt and Kurt-Asle Arvesen very well.
