BiciRace.com :: News :: January 2006

News :: January 2006

6 January 2006

Cunego Kicks Off in Almeria

Il Piccolo Principe will make his season debut at the Clasica de Almeria (Spain) on 26 February. The 2004 Giro d'Italia winner, Damiano Cunego, confirmed yesterday that he will start his year on the Iberian Peninsula. He will then stay in Spain for the Vuelta a Murcia (March 1 - 5), before returning to Italy for the Milano-Sanremo (18 March).

At the moment Cunego (24) is putting in his winter kilometers in the South of Italy. Il Piccolo Principe is training in Siracusa (Sicilia) along with Paolo Tiralongo, Danilo Napolitano, Daniele Bennati and Alessandro Ballan. The boys will meet again for an official Lampre-Fondital camp in Terracina (Lazio) from 14 - 26 January.

Read:
Cunego to Siracusa for Training, 2 January
Damiano Cunego and Lampre Schedules, 2 November

Quick-Step Train in Spain

2006 Squadra, photo: Quick-Step

The Quick-Step boys will meet for their second camp in Calpe (Spain) from 12 to 21 January. The Belgian squadra will be preparing for the 2006 season in the hot climate of the Costa Blanca. This is just one month after the squadra was down in the heel of Italy, from 12 to 16 December the blue and grey boys were in Bari (Puglia). Spain will time of rapidly building for Tom Boonen and Paolo Bettini, who are aiming for La Classicissima, Milano-Sanremo (18 March).

Read:
Boonen, With a Little Help from His Quick-Step Friends, 29 December
Quick-Step Train in Bari, 10 December

Rabobank Presents Orange Squadra

Erik and Thomas Dekker, photo: Rabobank

Yesterday was the presentation of Rabobank in Rotterdam (Holland). The big news from the presentation was the continuation of the contracts of Erik and Thomas Dekker. 2006 will be the last season for Erik Dekker (35), in 2007 the Dutchman will become a DS for the team. Thomas, who in 2005 won a stage in the Critérium International, the national TT title, and the final mountain TT in the Tour de Pologne, has renewed his contract through 2007.

Mauricio Ardila Cano (26), Graeme Brown (26) and Juan Antonio Flecha (28) were all presented in their new Orange (and blue kits). Of course there are some strong returning Rabobank riders for 2006: Thomas Dekker (21), 3X World Champion, Oscar Freire (29) and polka-dot man, Michael Rasmussen (31).

Orange Dutch Power, photo: Rabobank

Here is the full roster of the 25 Rabobank riders for 2006: Alexandr Kolobnev, Bram De Groot, Denis Menchov, Erik Dekker, Gerben Löwik, Graeme Brown, Grischa Niermann, Jan Boven, Joost Posthuma, Juan Antonio Flecha, Jukka Vastaranta, Marc De Maar, Marc Wauters, Mathew Hayman, Mauricio Ardila Cano, Michael Boogerd, Michael Rasmussen, Niels Scheuneman, Oscar Freire, Pedro Horrillo, Pieter Weening, Roy Sentjens, Theo Eltink, Thomas Dekker and Thorwald Veneberg.

Read: Rabobank Keep A Strong Tradition, 16 November

Ivan Quaranta Keeps Realistic

Il Ghepardo, Ivan Quaranta, will give his John Doe on Monday to the Universal Caffè. "I am 31 years-old, 10 seasons as a professional, 34 victories, including six stages in the Giro d'Italia and a day in the Maglia Rosa," reflected Il Ghepardo (or cheetah) on some of his past highlights. "When no one could battle Mario Cipollini, I won, and I was not dreaming."

Universal Caffè is a Continental team, which is below the ProTour teams and Professional teams in the UCI's ranking system, but Quaranta should have his share of racing in Italy. "The team will do all the Italian races excluding Tirreno-Adriatico, Sanremo and the Giro, and then we will do some racing outside of Italy. I will keep my objectives realistic with races like Coppi & Bartali..."

Read: Ivan Quaranta and Universal Caffè, 5 January

Italians without Contracts

Riders like Ivan Quaranta maybe should consider themselves lucky to even be racing in 2006. There are a slew of top level professionals that are still on the hunt for teams. There maybe offers from top ranked teams but they are unreasonably low, or there are offers from Professional and Continental teams that won't allow for high-level racing.

A handful of 2005's Fassa Bortolo riders are still without contract: Massimo Codol (pro since 1998), Massimo Giunti (1998) and Roberto Petito (1993). All riders tore up the pavement in the blue and white colors but can't seem to find a team that will pay their price. Then there are Oscar Mason (1998), Gianluca Sironi (1997) and Devis Miorin (2000), all three former Liquigas-Bianchi riders are still desperately searching. BiciRace.com will keep you updated on where these riders go for 2006.

UCI Looks at Gent-Wevelgem

The disciplinary commission of the UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale) looked into the finish of the scandalous Gent-Wevelgem (6 April 2005). The commission decided to suspend the Belgian race organizer, Luc Gheysens, for one month starting 1 April, which covers the 2006 race on 5 April.

The finish was marred in the closing kilometers due to cars that were on the course. The race officials failed to give a fair finish to Nico Mattan, who was chasing down Juan Antonio Flecha. The Spaniard had this to say in a BiciRace.com interview, "I think in that race the rules were not correct. In the last kilometer there is never supposed to be any cars between the first riders and the 2nd, and in that race there were two. So I can't say that Mattan was guilty ... The UCI guys that were at that race let two cars and two motorbikes in there, so it is up to them."

Read: Flecha Interview: A Spaniard to be Reckoned With, 15 November

Teams for 2006 Paris-Nice

ASO, organizers of the Paris-Nice stage race, have released the teams that will dispute the classic French stage race. The 64th edition will be disputed by 21 teams over eight days (5 to 12 March). The teams selected are all ProTour teams, with the exception of the one wildcard team, Agritubel, a French based Professional team.

2006 Paris-Nice Teams:
Ag2R Prévoyance
Bouygues Telecom
Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears
Cofidis
Crédit Agricole
Davitamon-Lotto
Discovery Channel
Euskaltel-Euskadi
Française Des Jeux
Gerolsteiner
Lampre-Fondital
Liberty Seguros-Würth
Liquigas
Milram
Phonak
Quick-Step
Rabobank
Saunier Duval-Prodir
Team CSC
T-Mobile
Agritubel