BiciRace.com :: News :: November 2005

News :: November 2005

17 November 2005

Liquigas Winter Training

Campione Italiano (Gasparotto), photo: Capture-The -Peloton.com

The Liquigas squadra has their winter camps planned. The Italian formation will have their first meeting in Salsomaggiore (Emilia-Romagna) from 28 November to 2 December. The meeting/camp in northern Italy will be a chance to greet the new riders and receive the team gear. The squadra will meet again before the holidays for some harder training in Terracina (Lazio) from 18 to 23 December.

Danilo Di Luca should be rested and relaxed for the first meeting, he will have just returned from a long, and deserved, vacation in Zanzibar. Di Luca's teammates, Enrico Gasparotto and Luca Paolini, will head a team of riders to Australia. There, the Liquigas boys will compete in the Tour Down Under from 17 to 22 January. The other riders will head to Donoratico (Toscana) for a smaller training camp from 11 to 21 January.

Read:
Mexico and Training for Danilo Di Luca, 3 November
Vacation then Training for Pozzato, 1 November
2006 Liquigas-Bianchi Squadra, 21 October

Camps: Simoni, Basso and Savoldelli

The new team of Gilberto Simoni, Saunier Duval-Prodir, will have their first camp in December. The yellow squadra will meet from 29 November to 1 December in Santander (Spain). During this camp the 2X Giro d'Italia champion will barely touch his bike, if not at all. The old-school Gibo has yet to get back on the bike after his last hurrah in the Giro di Lombardia, and he has vowed not to spin the pedals until the new year.

Ivan Basso, who finished 2nd in this year's Tour de France, has an appointment with the icy regions of Denmark. From 2 to 8 December the Italian will partake in a survival camp with his Team CSC teammates. This is now a traditional outing for the squadra run by the 1996 Tour champion, Bjarne Riis.

The 2005 Giro di Italia winner, Paolo Savoldelli, will fly to the United States in January to take part in Discovery Channel's first team camp. For the second year Il Falco Bergamasco will join the Disco boys in Solvang (California) to roll around the sunny Santa Barbara hills. Let's hope this year goes better for the Italian, who last year broke his collar-bone while in California.

Read:
Resting and Racing in Curaçao for Savoldelli, 30 October
The Details of Simoni's Saunier Decision, 22 October
Gilberto Simoni Has Definitely Signed, 21 October
Ivan Basso Interview: King of Denmark on Tour and 2006, 21 October
Saunier Duval-Prodir Welcomes Gilberto Simoni, 19 October
Peron-Basso Win Cronocoppie, 17 October
No Need To Continue for Basso, 4 October
Il Falco has Surgery, 10 August

Igor Astarloa closer to Lampre-Fondital

2003 World Champion, photo: Capture-The -Peloton.com

In the next few days we should see the 2003 World Champion, Igor Astarloa, sign for Lampre-Fondital. The Spaniard (29) has spent the last year at Barloworld-Valsir, but before he was a rider for Cofidis/Lampre (2004), Saeco (2002-3), Mercatone Uno (2000-1) and Riso Scotti (1999).

"Without a doubt a rider like him [Astarloa] will make things very comfortable," said Beppe Martinelli (Team DS). "I have had him in my teams in the past and we worked well together. Now the decision is up to him." Martinelli has given the former World Champion an offer, and now he will be waiting for a signature in the following days.

Read:
Lampre-Fondital Official, 12 November
Damiano Cunego and Lampre Schedules, 2 November
Lampre-(Caffita or Fondital) Changes, 2 November
Gil, Valjavec and Astarloa to Lampre-Caffita, 20 August
Igor Astarloa Wins in Spain, 9 August
Astarloa Makes Comeback, 12 April

Sprint Showdown for Tour Down Under

2006 Tour Down Under

The 2006 Tour Down Under (17 - 22 January) might just have a sprint showdown on their Aussie hands. It has now been confirmed that 2X Tour de France points winner, Robbie McEwen, will go head to head with 2005 Tour points winner, Thor Hushovd, in Adelaide.

McEwen has won eleven stages of the Tour Down Under since 2000 and the Queenslander has no intention of letting his Norwegian rival steal his thunder on home turf. "If I'm going any good then I want to win stages, and even if I'm not going so good I want to win stages, and I'll find a way," said McEwen. "He won the Tour green jersey but I showed I was the fastest."

"It's great for the race to have him here," said McEwen, thinking about the Australian race organizers. "It means South Australians and fans who travel from around Australia, and the world, can witness first hand in January the intensity and excitement of what goes on in July in France."

Davitamon-Lotto for Tour Down Under:
Robbie McEwen
Wim Vansevenant
Cadel Evans
Johan Van Summeren
Henk Vogels
Mario Aerts
Nick Gates
Nic Sanderson

16 November News ...