Alberto Contador happy his case is finally being handled by the Spanish cycling federation

Rrovisionally suspended following a positive test for clenbuterol,Tour de France champion Alberto Contador said Wednesday he was happy his case is finally being handled by the Spanish cycling federation (RFEC).

"I'm happy that the case is being handled by the federation because that means we can now move forward," said Contador, who faces a ban from the sport as well as giving up his 2010 yellow jersey.

Contador has claimed his positive result for trace amounts of the banned weight loss/muscle-building drug, following a test on the Tour de France in July, was down to eating contaminated meat - although sceptics suggest he may have inadvertently put clenbuterol back into his system through an illicit and performance-enhancing blood transfusion.

Earlier Wednesday a report in AS sports daily claimed the RFEC would take "at least two months" to decide whether it would sanction Contador or not.

The final decision of the RFEC's Competition Committee on the Spanish rider "will not be known before two months," the federation's chief, Juan Carlos Castano, said.

"Everything depends on arguments that Contador will present and the checks that the Competition Committee will seek from neutral experts to look into the veracity of the evidence presented," AS said.

Under the anti-doping rules of world cycling's governing body, the UCI (International Cycling Union), the RFEC has a maximum of one month to deliver its decision.

The UCI "sets a rule of a one-month deadline to take a decision in doping cases ... but under Spanish anti-doping rules, which is what will be followed, the authorised period is three months," AS said.

Provisionally suspended by the UCI, Contador's future is hanging in the balance. If suspended for two years, he has threatened to quit the sport.

Contador, who also won the Tour de France in 2007 and 2009, in August signed a two-year contract with the Saxo Bank team.

Luxembourg's Andy Schleck, runner-up behind the Spaniard in the last two editions of the race, has recently quit Saxo Bank and set up a new team with his brother Frank and many other members of the Danish outfit.

You can follow BikeRadar on Twitter at twitter.com/bikeradar and on Facebook at facebook.com/BikeRadar.

View the original article here

Cyclo-Cross Training

There are plenty of reasons to love the sport of cyclo-cross: it’s spectator and family friendly, races are short, and success demands a balance of bike handling skills and fitness. In short, it's the perfect competitive outlet for those of us with 'real' lives.
As we get older, our taste tends to shift from quantity to quality. This goes for all things good – beer, food – but is especially true when it comes to training. Young cyclists often overtrain and, despite the fact many make up for it with youth and an ability to sleep 12 hours a night, some are surely slower because of it.


Growing up also means you're likely to have a demanding job, wife, kids and/or a million other things competing for your time. The good news is that we’ve found a fairly specific – but fun – training structure which doesn’t take that much time but allows you to be competitive on the weekend ’cross courses. This holds true whether you’re a beginner or racing with the big dogs.

Even pros can benefit from a lower-volume training schedule for cyclo-cross; Garmin racer Danny Summerhill gets an effort in on the Wednesday morning group ride.

Even though cyclo-cross races are short and tend to reward those who can steer a bike, they still require a rider to ‘pin it’ for 45 minutes or an hour. While this requires serious training, you don't need to put in the hours of a Tour de France pro. In fact, once into the meat of the season, as we are now, you can skate by with four to six hours a week.

This is what we recommend you do during those training hours, from Monday through to racing on Saturday and Sunday:

Monday:

Rest and recover from previous day(s) of racing. For advanced riders this can mean a short (45 minutes) recovery spin, but other levels – or after a super-tough weekend of racing – should take the day off.

Tuesday:

Beginners and intermediate riders can benefit from a 20-minute run today. This can build to 45 minutes over the course of the season, but no more. Time should be increased in five minute increments as your running fitness improves.

Boulder, Colorado has a ’cross training route up a canyon road which is also intersected by a hiking trail. Riding the road then running each successive section of trail as it intersects makes for an incredibly hard workout. If you can find something similar, you'll reap rewards.
Advanced and professional racers may better benefit from a motor-pace workout consisting of three 15-minute lactate threshold efforts.


Motor-pacing forces race-paced efforts, benefits leg speed and helps train mental fortitude by always giving you a stronger wheel to follow.

Any workout should be skipped if you’re still tired from the weekend’s racing and replaced with a recovery spin or complete rest. With a high intensity sport like cyclo-cross, recovery is more important than training. You need to be completely recovered from previous efforts so that you can maximize the quality of your next training session or race. If you continue to work out when tired, you'll quickly become over-trained.


Wednesday:

Today do two 20- to 25-minute race-paced efforts with 10 to 20 minutes of recovery in between. These must be done at 100 percent effort to exhaustion.

In Colorado, we’re lucky enough to have a race-intensity morning ’cross ride to use for this workout. The group ride makes two stops at local parks to ride two sessions of hot laps, which end up being mini-races and maximize both the workout and fun. This type of ride also gives great practice at cornering, dismounting, remounting (transitions) and generally staying lucid on the bike under a high level of stress.

If you don’t have access to a group ride, motor-pacing will work brilliantly, as will pyramid intervals if you’re truly disciplined. A pyramid interval consists of a work/rest scheme that looks like this: 1min work/1min rest, 2/2, 3/3, 4/4, 5/5, 4/4, 3/3, 2/2, 1/1. The low numbers call for a higher-than-threshold effort, while the higher numbers have to be done at threshold.

Make it through one of these sessions and you should feel a real sense of accomplishment; two sessions and you’re a rockstar. Do not exceed a three hour total ride time or one hour total of intensity.

Besides benefiting fitness, a group cyclo-cross training ride offers practice for cornering and dismounts
Thursday: 

If you’re racing on Saturday or both weekend days you should be resting today. A short 45-minute recovery ride can be placed here as well. If you’re only racing on Sunday and/or didn’t train on Tuesday, you can add a second workout here too. We'd suggest the same style workouts as we recommended for Tuesday.
(Note: Beginning and intermediate riders should skip fitness workouts on Tuesdays and Thursdays all together in favor of practising techniques. One intense day of training per week is plenty for the average racer and greater gains can be made on the race course with better transitions, cornering and sand riding techniques than can ever be achieved by training fitness alone.)

Friday:
 
Here you should use a handful of high-cadence openers to unblock from your rest day, if you’re racing on Saturday. Complete (off the bike) rest is the order of the day if you’re racing on Sunday only.

Openers consist of two to three short (five-minute) efforts with rest in between that equals the effort. They should be done at a high cadence to jump-start your cardiovascular system, but not weaken your legs.

This workout can be done on your ’cross bike at the same park where you do your Wednesday training, or on your road bike. For a big race like a state or national championship, you should aim to do this ride on the course. Total training time is around one hour.

Saturday:
 
If you're not racing today, do some high-cadence openers (see Friday). If you’re racing you should plan to be registered, dressed and warming-up on course for the hour before the race. Once you have the course, tire selection and tire pressure dialed, you should plan on one or two hot laps at 85 percent effort to warm up. This will also give you a final race-speed check of your bike.

This effort should be finished 15 minutes before the start, after which you should make final equipment adjustments and take in an energy gel. If you’re racing the following day, plan on a short 20- to 40-minute spin after the race, before you pack up and get in the car.

Sunday:
 
If you’re racing a second day, consider a short 20-minute spin before you get in the car to drive to the race. Make sure this is finished no less than three hours before you start your warm-up. Use the same warm-up as yesterday.

Follow this schedule, while listening to your body – rest when it tells you to – and you should find a good balance between your racing endeavors and real life this fall.

You can follow BikeRadar on Twitter at twitter.com/bikeradar and on Facebook at facebook.com/BikeRadar.

View the original article here

Why Cycling Cultivates Such an Aversion to accountability?

Why Cycling cultivates such an aversion to accountability?It must be drafting or something.
Let’s start with the UCI, who flatly denied a Contador positive to ARD after they were aware of it, and before the story broke. Ignore the fact that most third-graders know to spit back “neither-confirm-nor-deny” boilerplate to questions like that—it’s the frickin’ German media.

While they do seem to have a painfully self-conscious obsession with doping, they’re not exactly known for fishing expeditions. Contador’s positive tests occurred months ago, the UCI had already notified WADA, bringing dozens, if not hundreds of potential leaks into the loop. Did the UCI consider it conincedence that a doping specialist reporter called them to ask about Contador’s positive test?

Then there was the advice to Contador to keep quiet over the positive tests. Nothing says “we’re attempting to cover this up” like sequestering news from reporters, sponsors, team managers, etc. Now you’ve got Contador on record as saying he expects a “quick resolution“, rumors flying over slashed suspension terms, heaps of reporting on a double standard so obvious it would embarrass George Wallace, and—oh yeah—all this kicked up days before the UCI’s biggest week of racing.

In fact, the only thing transparent out of the UCI in recent weeks was their limp-wristed attempt to deflect attention and criticism onto the Spanish cycling federation. Words cannot convey how much better the sport and its governing body would look if the UCI had simply told Contador to come forward back in August, and confirmed—or at least not denied—the positive tests.

And then there’s Contador. Apparently, the B-sample clearance I’d been hoping for hasn’t come through. That makes a positive test. Contador should feel welcome to appeal to his heart’s content—it’s his right after all—but I don’t think there’s any reasonable expectation he won’t get sanctioned.

If Contador really did test positive from tainted meat, he should lose the TdF title for it. Yes, it’s not really fair—but then again, neither was Andy’s chain, Beloki’s crash, Hinault’s knees, Merckx’s liver or any other of a myriad of other hard-luck stories that potentially cost racers victory at the Tour de France.

At an absolute level, athletes have complete control over the food that goes into their bodies, and consuming anything other than the most rigorously vetted food at the biggest bike race in the world is as fool-hardy as taking risks on melted pavement, punching big gears through growing joint pain, or riding too close to a hostile crowd.

And frankly, if Contador’s case is handled like previous contamination positives, I think he should accept it and be satisfied. More than a few additional questions have been raised by this case, and with some labs apparently keeping an eye peeled for as-of-yet-circumstantial signs of doping, there’s no need for the Spaniard to start playing the retroactive testing card; at any rate, we know from experience that retro-positives are fairly easy to deny.

At the end of the day, what’s important is that people respect the rules cycling has established to deal with drug testing. They aren’t perfect—you’d be hard-pressed to find codified regulations that are—but they’ve come a tremendously long way in the past decade.

Tap-dancing around the media and normal procedure to try and control the impact of positive tests, or expecting special treatment because you happend to win a few Tours de France both undermines the effectiveness of the systems, and obscures the areas where it’s in need of further refinement.

View the original article here

Brent Bookwalter talks about Giro d'Italia

Relatively unknown domestically Brent Bookwalter started the Giro d'Italia with nothing to lose,and when he crossed the finish line just over ten minutes later, he had become a star.The American posted the provisional best time for the opening time trial and in the end was runner-up by only two seconds.

"What really sticks out is that I didn't know I had the current best time when I crossed the line," Bookwalter said. "I had just got done with this hugely anaerobic, totally-depleting effort and all I could think about was continuing to ride a cool down or catch my breath."   He then sat in the “hot seat” for nearly an hour before Bradley Wiggins of Team Sky broke his time to take the victory.


In his previous two years with BMC, Bookwalter had never ridden a Grand Tour, but in 2010 he took on two of them.  After his startling success in the Giro opener, he went to to support captain Cadel Evans, who finished fifth overall but won the red points jersey.

His first Grand Tour was not easy, he admitted.   "My goal at the Giro was just to get off on the right foot in my first stage in a Grand Tour," Bookwalter said. "I was nervous and hopeful, but I knew it was going to take every last ounce of everything I had to get through each day and hopefully make it to the end of the race."

Having conquered one three-week race, Bookwalter was ready to tackle another one.  His next race was the Tour de France, where he finished 11th in the prologue. Later in the season, he had another podium placing, when he finished third in the Tour of Utah prologue.

He has been busy in the offseason, having ridden the Iceman Cometh Challenge, a mountain bike race in Michigan.  This weekend he will participate in the Miami Dolphins Cycling Challenge, a charity ride.

The American is also begin to train his thoughts on the 2011 season. "I've been mixing riding with some weight lifting and core workouts," Bookwalter said from his off-season home in Athens, Ga. "Our first training camp is just around the corner.”

Follow Cyclingnews on Twitter for the very latest coverage of events taking place in the cycling world - twitter.com/cyclingnewsfeed

View the original article here

Contador Doping Case

I don’t particularly trust Joe Papp, but as far as assessing the effects of performance-enhancing substances go, I’m more than willing to defer to his expertise.Jeez, why can’t people get caught doping with anything normal anymore? 

Despite my own initial response, Contador’s statement that his Clenbuterol positive was the result of contaminated food certainly seems to have legs. The drug’s primary performance enhancing effect is largely fat management, something the still-three-time Tour winner has never struggled with.

Cases of Clenbuterol contamination among the food supply are well documented, and the amount detected is so small that Contador’s B sample might just come up clear, avoiding what will almost certainly be a messy, protracted legal dispute about what should count as a positive test, and what should qualify one for the Nazi Frogmen exemption.

And frankly, I hope that’s how it turns out. Anti-doping efforts have come a long way since another Spanish Tour champion, Pedro Delgado, tested positive for a not-yet-banned substance with an obvious PED-masking effect and was allowed to continue without sanction. If what’s reported on this case is true, Contador’s A-sample turns that scenario fully on its head, and hopefully, the system’s mechanisms for fairness will prove as effective (at least in this instance) as the mechanisms for detection.

I’m also impressed with how well Contador has presented himself in the face of this scrutiny, especially given his lousy media relations in the past. Granted, he’s had over a month to go over how to confront the issue, but, assuming his statements are true, it’s tough to imagine a more gut-wrenching twist for a rider who missed a Tour when his DS was caught in a dope doctor’s office with 50,000 EUR straight cash, was gifted his first Tour win the next year through an extra-judicial doping ejection, was arbitrarily denied a start 12 months later, and essentially raced alone against the entire peloton when the biggest celebrity in the history of cycling hijacked his team the following year.

Conversely, one has to wonder how another Spaniard, Ezequiel Mosquera, will handle news that he and a teammate have tested positive for a decidedly more effective chemical agent. Mosquera, who’s workman-turned-rockstar ascension was the story of this year’s Vuelta, now has to overcome the equally compelling narrative of a hard-worn rider at the end of his career crossing the line to try and maximize his chances in chasing down that one big win.

Media attention can be quite the double-edged sword in that regard, something Mosquera’s would-be employer just can’t seem to get its head around—unless, of course, Vacansoleil is trying to imply a little something about what’s included in the luxury camping trips it’s trying to advertize..

View the original article here

The Luxembourg Pro Cycling Project for the 2011 Season

Tthe Luxembourg Pro Cycling Project(also know as Team Leopard Racing)announced that Stefan Denifl, Brice Feillu and Will Clarke have signed contracts with the team for the 2011 season.

Leopard Racing Team manager Brian Nygaard commented "A warm welcome to Stefan Denifl, Brice Feillu and Will Clarke! Lots of talent, skill and personality...and more to come!"

Stefan Denifl moves to Team Leopard Racing from Cervelo TestTeam where the young Austrian rider has shown great potential and proved very impressive and persistent in major races during the 2010 season. Denifl finished 8th overall in the 2010 Vuelta Castilla y Leon and 7th overall in both the 2010 Österreich Rundfahrt and the 2010 Bayern Rundfahrt. Denifl previously rode for Team Volksbank-Voralberg (2006) and Team ELK Haus (2007-2009).

Denifl is known to pro cyclist colleagues as a reliable and trustworthy, hard working team player who is always ready to sacrifice his own chances for the team leader. His friendly and open spirit is also useful when it comes to building high spirits among team members.

Stefan Denifl is a strong climber with definite stage race potential, not least owing to his powerful time trial performance. Denifl became Austrian National Time Trial Champion in 2008. He told Roadcycling.com that he is "looking forward to this new chapter of my cycling life."

Frenchman Brice Feillu moves to Team Leopard prematurely from Team Vacansoleil after a disappointing 2010 season where Feillu has struggled with language barriers in the team and with the team atmosphere. The fact that Vacansoleil was not invited to the 2010 Tour de France was the decisive issue which made Feillu jump ship after only one season with Team Vacansoleil despite having signed with the team for both the 2010 and 2011 seasons.

25-year-old Feillu won stage 7 of the 2009 Tour de France, taking the riders from Barcelona to Arcalis in Andorra, and finished 25th overall in the race. He was immediately declared a future Tour de France winner by many French media.

Will Clarke (25, Australia) has ridden as stagiaire for AG2R in the second half of the 2010 season and won the Australian national road series in 2009. He finished 5th in stage 3 of the 2010 Tour of Wellington.
Not least Stefan Denifl and Brice Feillu should prove to be valuable helpers for Team Leopard Racing captains Frank Schleck and Andy Schleck.

View the original article here

The Quiznos Pro Challenge stages for 2011

The Quiznos Pro Challenge officially announced the stages, host cities and race format for the inaugural 2011 Quiznos Pro Challenge international pro-cycling competition at a press conference today held at the Colorado State Capitol in Denver.

Running from August 22-28, 2011, the event will be made up of seven stages, traveling through Colorado's most picturesque landscapes and visiting 11 Colorado host cities.  Created to be the most challenging pro-cycling race in American history, the Quiznos Pro Challenge is set to cover nearly 600 miles of the region's demanding terrain.

Colorado Governor Bill Ritter and Governor-elect and former Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper were joined by representatives from the 11 selected host cites including: personal coach to Lance Armstrong, Chris Carmichael (LOC Chair, Colorado Springs), Scott Damman (City Councilman, Salida), Leah Williams (Mayor, Crested Butte), William Buck (Mayor, Mt. Crested Butte), Jonathan Houck (Mayor Pro-Tem, Gunnison), Mick Ireland (Mayor, Aspen), Dick Cleveland (Mayor, Vail), Ron Wolfe (Mayor, Avon), Scott Myller (City Councilman, Steamboat Springs), John Warner (Mayor, Breckenridge), and Jacob Smith (Mayor, Golden).

Denver professional football legend and avid cyclist Shannon Sharpe spoke at the event to help convey the importance of the race and the announcement to the international sports world.  Sharpe expressed his respect for international cycling and the endurance it takes to compete at a top level while on stage with professional cyclists Tom Danielson, Tim Duggan and Rory Sutherland, as well as Steve Johnson, Chief Executive Officer of USA Cycling.
   
The 120 world-class cyclists anticipated to participate in the seven-day race will begin their journey in beautiful Colorado Springs, then crisscross their way over the treacherous Rocky Mountains.  The region's unique topography will provide challenging climbs and extremely fast downhill legs with an awe-inspiring backdrop of several of the United States' highest mountain peaks leading to the finish in Denver.
NLF legend and avid cyclist Shannon Sharpe on the podium with pro cyclist Tom Danielson.
The eleven official stage start and finish communities that have been selected for the 2011 Quiznos Pro Challenge include:

The 2011 Quiznos Pro Challenge Stages:

August 22: Stage 1: Prologue time trial, Colorado Springs
August 23: Stage 2: Salida to Crested Butte, mountain-top finish
August 24: Stage 3: Gunnison to Aspen, mountain stage
August 25: Stage 4: Vail, time trail, former Coors Classic stage
August 26: Stage 5: Avon to Steamboat Springs
August 27: Stage 6: Steamboat Springs to Breckenridge
August 28: Stage 7: Golden to Denver

"We are excited to welcome sports fans and the international cycling community to many of Colorado's most beautiful regions," said Governor Ritter. "The Quiznos Pro Challenge will provide a majestic tour of many of the state's natural treasures while becoming the battleground for one of the world's most intense competitions."

The initial idea to bring a major stage race back to Colorado is credited to Quiznos Pro Challenge partner, Team RadioShack rider and 7-time Tour de France Winner Lance Armstrong who expressed interest to Governor Ritter last year.  The Quiznos Pro Challenge is now expected to become one of the most significant international pro-cycling events worldwide, created to reinvigorate the legacy of the Colorado-based Coors International Bicycle Classic which took place from 1979 until 1988.  The official race routes for the 2011 event are in the process of being charted and will be announced in the near future.

"We had so much interest from incredible cities across Colorado that we could hold an event of twice the duration, said Ellen Kramer, Quiznos Chief Communications Officer.  "We worked diligently throughout the selection process to incorporate cities that provide terrain that is unique to Colorado and delivers one of the most exciting cycling events in the world.  The selected cities will make excellent partners and provide a demanding course for the world's top cyclists."

Visit www.quiznosprochallenge.com to keep in touch with the latest news and updates on the 2011 Quiznos Pro Challenge.

View the original article here