General News Thread

[Michele]

I guess they wanna make all good for tv by reducing racing days etc, so teams are obbligated to partecipate in that X event and fans are obbligate to follow that X event cause there isnt any alternative.

They are probably chasing the TV rights.

 

[pastronef]

I guess they wanna make all good for tv by reducing racing days etc, so teams are obbligated to partecipate in that X event and fans are obbligate to follow that X event cause there isnt any alternative.

They are probably chasing the TV rights.

can 2nd tier races overlap WT races?


the problem of Gent overlapping Pays Vasco has been solved

Paris-Nice and Tirreno will ned to be moved

Catalunya overlapped Harelbeke and Gent this year, as Suisse and Dauphine (but with these races reduced to 5-6 days the problem is solved)

same thing with Vuelta overlapping Canadian Races

 

[afpm90]

Hope they don't cut down Volta a Portugal race days.

 

[42x16ss]

I guess they wanna make all good for tv by reducing racing days etc, so teams are obbligated to partecipate in that X event and fans are obbligate to follow that X event cause there isnt any alternative.

They are probably chasing the TV rights.

Maybe, kind of guarantees viewers though. Worth a try.

UCI races new future

• The season will now run from February to October.
• Competition on every weekend, especially Sundays.
• No overlapping of events.• No competition amongst first and second division events.
• Six weeks of uninterrupted competition focused on the spring classics.
• Stage races cut to five or six days.


Paris-Nice and Tirreno not overlap? - That seems to be what they are saying

Giro and California not overlap? - Not sure there, Cali is still HC


Suisse cut to 5-6 stages


WILL the 3 GT keep their 3 weeks? (23 days) ? I HOPE SO - They better, or there will be a furore. Besides the UCI probably can't afford to annoy their three main member nations

Bits I like in red, comments in blue

 

[brilleaben]

What's next in 2015 then, no races in Europe?

 

[RedheadDane]

WILL the 3 GT keep their 3 weeks? (23 days) ? I HOPE SO

I think so.
Seems like in this situation there's a difference between a stage race and a Grand Tour.

What's next in 2015 then, no races in Europe?

These changes are to happen from 2020. Right...?

 

[Christian]

Argos-Shimano start their own u23/feeder team next season. This is some good news, always good to have more teams also on continental level I'd say!

 

[postmanhat]

^^Might be one less team at Continental level next year Arguably the most successful British team (apart from Sky!), are looking for a new sponsor. Team UK Youth were formed three years ago by Nigel Mansell (ex- F1 world champion), and sponsored by his eponymous charity. He's decided to pull out now so they're looking for new sponsors.

Seems odd given that they've just had their best season and the domestic calendar has probably never had so much TV coverage before,

Much more positively, the new Women's tour of Britain has been given 2.1 status, and will run for five days next May

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/24471949

 

[JRanton]

^^Might be one less team at Continental level next year Arguably the most successful British team (apart from Sky!), are looking for a new sponsor. Team UK Youth were formed three years ago by Nigel Mansell (ex- F1 world champion), and sponsored by his eponymous charity. He's decided to pull out now so they're looking for new sponsors.

Seems odd given that they've just had their best season and the domestic calendar has probably never had so much TV coverage before,

Much more positively, the new Women's tour of Britain has been given 2.1 status, and will run for five days next May

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/24471949

You do have to wonder how long they've actually been searching for a sponsor and whether this might have been quite a late decision by Mansell to stop funding the team.

 

[pastronef]

Mauro Santambrogio isn't doing fine

https://twitter.com/maurosanta84/status/388396092033085440

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Wow. That's a bit worrying.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

The Portuguese and Spanish federations are sitting together trying to hammer out an Iberian racing calendar for 2014. At the moment RFEC's regulations make it difficult to set up Continental level teams in Spain, and as a result there are very few of these level teams in the country (Euskadi and Burgos-BH are the only ones, I believe, with several Spanish riders appearing on the former Greek-registered Gios squad and in Portugal with OFM-Quinta da Lixa and Louletano-Dunas Douradas). RFEC are looking to simplify these requirements and ease them to enable Spain to have more Continental teams, as at present due to the financial crisis and sponsor pull-outs they will only have one pro team (Movistar) and one pro Continental team (Caja Rural), both of whom are based out of the same area, next year. Teams based out of Murcia (Contentpolis in 2009), Galicia (Xacobeo in 2010), Andalucía (in 2012) and Cantabria (Geox in 2011) have gone to the wall in recent years and with few teams registered at the Continental level to take their place, the competition at the Spanish national calendar has suffered. Portuguese cycling has already seemingly survived the worst, with the number of national teams increasing last year to 6 and it looking like staying that way going forward. It's not as good as the golden era a decade or so ago, but the slide has definitely been arrested; however, the many races of a few years ago are not being replaced, so the only UCI races available are the Volta ao Algarve (2.1), Volta ao Alentejo (2.2), Trofeu Joaquim Agostinho (2.2) and A Volta (2.1), which limits the earning potential of cyclists in Portugal.

The plan is for a number of races at the .1 and .2 level to be set up, or national calendar events to become .2 categorised races, allowing both Continental and amateur teams to participate, and set up an Iberian racing calendar along the lines of the Coupe de France or Coppa Italia. It would be a low cost, high competition calendar to try to keep the roots of the sport competitive and build up talents in the region in decent level races, as they note that the UCI calendar is increasingly global, which increases costs and puts off smaller sponsors, and is increasingly geared towards looking after the bigger teams because that's where the most money is.

 

[GuyIncognito]

These changes are to happen from 2020. Right...?

No. Until 2020.
Some each year until in 2020 they are all complete.

 

[deejay]

What's next in 2015 then, no races in Europe?

The Tour de France will not change because the French Government are involved with a thing they call Heritage.
This allows the Police to close roads for such a long time.

The other thing that Europe has is the Parcours for cycle racing.

The racing in Asia today might excite the Continent of America with these wide open roads but if that is all there is to look forward to then interest in the sport will die off.
The UCI need a European Schedule as a back bone to their plans.

 

[RedheadDane]

No. Until 2020.
Some each year until in 2020 they are all complete.

Oh. That actually makes more sense.
After all; what I thought was going to happen, having all the changes occur Bam-smash in 2020, would be just as silly has having them all occur from 2014. If not even more so, as it would give people plenty of time to forget about it.

 

[diegotelmo]

No.
Machado will win every single race he takes part in 2014.
Mark my words

 

[BigMac]

No.
Machado will win every single race he takes part in 2014.
Mark my words

 

[webbie146]

No Giro for Gesink

Looking ahead to next season, Gesink has decided not to repeat the Giro-Tour double. “Next year I will go for the Tour again and go for GC,” he says. “I might do the Vuelta afterwards, but first it will just be the Tour.”

wtf are u kidding me? o.0

How many times has he tried that before. He will just crash again as usual. Let that guy dom for someone like Mollema or something..

Also: "Gesink then went onto take a top 10 placing at Il Lombardia, 15 seconds behind race winner Joaquim Rodríguez. “In the end, if you can finish 10th in one of the biggest classics and you can do it every year, then every year you’ve had a good season,” the Dutchman told Cyclingnews."

lol wut? Gesink is going full *** -.-

 

[del1962]

Oldest living TDF finisher Albert Boulon has died, aged 96, (from inrng twitter), RIP.

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

No Giro for Gesink

Looking ahead to next season, Gesink has decided not to repeat the Giro-Tour double. “Next year I will go for the Tour again and go for GC,” he says. “I might do the Vuelta afterwards, but first it will just be the Tour.”

wtf are u kidding me? o.0

Gesink has been saying this since August, I think.

It's not his call to make, or rather, it shouldn't be. But it's Belkin we're talking about, so....

 

[theyoungest]

You mean the team that decided he wouldn't be leader in this year's Tour?

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

You mean the team that decided he wouldn't be leader in this year's Tour?

He would have been co-leader had his level been good at the Giro. Re-read the reports. His "role" was only going to be decided afterwards. They thought he could be another Hesjedal...

Next year he won't race the Giro, so yes, I assume that that same team will make him co-leader, if he doesn't suck too bad in whatever prep race he is meant to race.

 

[Michele]

Donno if it has been mentioned, but it seems Riis is in talks with a big danish company as possible 2nd sponsor.

 

[theyoungest]

He would have been co-leader had his level been good at the Giro. Re-read the reports. His "role" was only going to be decided afterwards. They thought he could be another Hesjedal...

Next year he won't race the Giro, so yes, I assume that that same team will make him co-leader, if he doesn't suck too bad in whatever prep race he is meant to race.

To me it was clear from the outset that Mollema would lead at the Tour. I didn't make that up myself, so I probably read it somewhere.

I think Gesink has to prove himself to take on a leadership role, Mollema is the man right now in the Netherlands and in Belkin.

 

[hoerpi]

Donno if it has been mentioned, but it seems Riis is in talks with a big danish company as possible 2nd sponsor.

Are Carlsberg allowed to sponsor a team? Would be legendary

I really wonder which company it could be, there aren't too many big danish companies.