Welcome back to the Global Cycling Network.
Coming up this week, news from Oman, France, Portugal, Spain, and Italy.
Chris Froome of Team Sky won the Tour of Oman last week ahead of some very big names.
Believe it or not, this was his first stage race win overall, since 2007’s Mi Aout Bretagne.
Stage 4 marked the highest finish of the race up Green Mountain.and it was here that
Froome took the leader's jersey after finishing 2nd to Joaquim Rodriquez of Katusha.
The next day saw a barrage of attacks against Team Sky, but Froome proved too strong for
all of them, eventually taking the stage after a head to head sprint with Alberto Contador
of Saxo Tinkoff.
These two went on to place 1st and 2nd overall, with BMC’s Cadel Evans rounding out the
podium.
I don’t think that it’s going to be the last time we will see those three fight
it out for the honours this year.
Once again, GCN was over there to capture all the action.
Meanwhile, back in Europe, the season has well and truly kicked off, with four races
taking place last week.
The Volta ao Algarve in Portugal all came down to the last 35km Time Trial.
Going into it, it was Team Sky’s Sergio Henao who was in the leader's jersey, but,
Tony Martin of Omega Pharma Quick-Step showed us all why he is a double World Time Trial
champion, taking the race by over a minute from second placed rider and team mate Kwiatkowski,
and easily doing enough to give him the overall victory.
Over in France, the first stage of the 2 day Tour du Haut Var marked a return to form for
Thor Hushovd, the ex World Champion of Team BMC.
However, 2nd place behind Lars Boom of Blanco, was enough to give Arthur Vichot of Francaise
des Jeux the overall win.
On Saturday Filippo Pozzato took his third career win at the Trofeo Laigueglia, the traditional
Italian season opener.
It was his first race in the, very bright colours of Lampre Merida.
Finally, Alejandro Valverde of Team Movistar continued his strong start to the season,
winning the opening 6km prologue of the Ruta del Sol in Spain on Sunday.
We promised last week that we’d bring you a full update on the news that Katusha had
received a WorldTour license after a successful appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Well, the UCI have just announced that there will now be 19 teams in the WorldTour this
year.
RCS sport and ASO, organisers of the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France respectively,
are now faced with a difficult decision.
Their two early season stage races, Tirreno Adriatico and Paris Nice are just two weeks
away, and it means they either need to accommodate an extra team, or throw out one of the wildcards
already invited.
Katusha are obviously relieved and very pleased to have received the license, and their directeur
sportif Valerio Piva, gave his reaction at a press conference in Oman.
"just after the finish I informed Purito first and then all the riders.
So that was, for us, a big victory today."
Question from journalist Now there is a bit of confusion that hangs
over all of this, what the UCI will do, so the commission has to meet and decide if there
are 19 teams or 18 teams.....
"It is not our problem for the moment, we have been 2 months waiting on this answer
and especially for me I am responsible for the sport side of the team and to make race
programs, I need to motivate riders, it was not easy.
So for the moment we have a long term vision of the season and for me that is important.
The rest, is a problem now for the UCI now to solve this situation."
A new rule for forks has been implemented by the UCI for 2013.
Don’t worry, this will not affect Didi the Devil.
The new rule prevents team mechanics from filing down the ‘lawyer tabs’, small bulges
at the end of forks which prevent the front wheel falling out even if the quick release
opens.
This makes speedy front wheel changes a lot less, well, speedy, much to the annoyance
of the riders.
Champion Systems rider Matt Brammeier summed up the pros opinion of the new rule, describing
it as “a pain in the backside”, or words to that effect.
Almost 7 years after Operation Puerto uncovered a large doping ring in Spain, the case has
finally been brought to the high courts in Madrid.
Ivan Basso and Josebo Beloki have already been called to the witness stand, but it was
Jorg Jaksche and Jesús Manzano who gave the most damning reports against Dr Fuentes.
Alberto Contador is due in court on the 22nd February, in a case which is due to continue
for a number of weeks yet.
The World Track Championships starts in Minsk this week.
The 5 day event has attracted a number of Olympic gold medallists, including Laura Trott
and Danni King.
One of the most fiercely contested events should be the mens individual sprint.
France’s Gregory Bauge was famously very upset when Britain's Jason Kenny beat him
in London 2012, this will be the first time since then, that the two have met in competition.
A few weeks ago here on the GCN news show we mentioned the return of the Giro del Lazio.
Details of the race have just been announced by RCS Sport in Italy, and it will now be
known as the Roma Maxima, and finish in the shadow of the Coliseum in Rome.
Taking place on the 3rd March, the 180km event will feature three climbs which peak at over
700m.
The organisers have promised an epic and legendary race, and coming the day after the
Strade Bianche, it’s sure to be a classic weekend of racing for both for the riders
and spectators.
Thanks very much for joining us on the Global Cycling Network, if you have any suggestions
or comments, you can leave them down below, and as always, a free subscription is just
one click away.