Emmanuele Sella back on track

Emmanuele Sella is back on track for another good showing in what is set to be an Italian tour for climbers.Three years after his epic ride at the Giro d'Italia where he won three stages and the king of the mountains title followed by a positive test for EPO in July that year.   

His recent third place overall at Le Tour de Langkawi in Malaysia, combined with the win for his neo professional team-mate Yonathan Monsalve, has pleased Androni Gioccatoli team manager Gianni Savio who has picked Sella as a potential successor of Michele Scarponi.

"Le Tour de Langkawi was a great experience for my debut with my new team," Sella told Cyclingnews. "I didn't have my best form yet as I hadn't trained much for this race, unlike Monsalve, who rode under warm conditions in Venezuela.

"I would have liked to know Genting Highlands before climbing it but I'm very satisfied anyway. I felt very good within this team and I want to repay Gianni for the confidence he put in me."

Savio hired Sella from the defunct Continental oufit CarmioOro that didn't receive an invitation to the Giro last year. Sella, 30, only served a one-year ban because he co-operated with investigators but race organiser Angelo Zomegnan wasn't keen to welcome back a rider who had failed a dope test so recently.

However, this year is another story. Sella, Riccardo Riccó and Danilo Di Luca are eligible again while Davide Rebellin remains likely to come back on time and Franco Pellizotti still awaits a final decision from the Court of Arbitration for Sport in his battle against the UCI concerning his biological passport.

One year after the successful returns of Ivan Basso and Scarponi, controversy will be once again in the air at the start in Turin in early May.

"I care a lot about the Giro," Sella said. "I want to do well at other races too but it's at the Giro that I want to demonstrate my real value. I want to win something important after the transition year I've had last season. I've been patient."

Sella joined Androni Gioccatoli as a result of Scarponi's departure to Lampre-ISD. The rider implicated in Operacion Puerto won the queen stage to Aprica and finished fourth overall in last year's Giro. "It would be nice to do as well as him," Sella commented. "But we have different stories and we are different types of rider."

Savio insisted that he's keen to give former dopers a second chance under the condition that they admit their mistakes and re-start their career with a new approach. His legendary low budget also imposes constraints on him to recruit riders whose market value has decreased.

After the departure of Scarponi and Leonardo Bertagnolli however, he has put together an interesting team of climbers for a Giro d'Italia set to suit them. Colombia's José Serpa, who finished second at the Giro di Reggio Calabria one week ago, is still on board while Androni has a phenomenal duo of Venezuelan climbers with the return of José Rujano - who came third in the corsa rosa in 2006 - and the arrival of neo-pro Monsalve, who just won Le Tour de Langkawi.

"We're people who make spectacle in the climbs," Sella noted. Without being a ProTeam, Androni Gioccatoli has already secured a start at this year's Giro after winning the Italian cup last year.

View the original article here

Clif Bar more than an energy bar

Thankfully for on-the-bike eating needs there's more choice than ever now and today's offerings are a damn sight more palatable and digestible than those original bars. Energy bars have come on in leaps and bounds since the earliest incarnations some 25 years ago, which at first bite had more in common with packing board than food.  

Which brings us neatly onto Clif Bars. They've actually been around since 1992 when a bike and climbing enthusiast, Gary Erickson, thought that there must be a better alternative to the lacklustre choice at his disposal, and set about making his own. The rest, as they say, is history. Clif Bars have not had the most solid distribution track record in the UK, until recently making getting hold of them tricky, but now that 2Pure are handling matters, they've rapidly become a common sight in most bicycle shops.

What's unique about Clif Bars is just how tasty they are. They're also made from 70 per cent organic ingredients, including such things as rolled oats, organic roasted soybeans, organic milled flaxseed, organic soy flour and other wholemeal ingredients depending on the flavour, with a boost of some 23 vitamins and minerals to ensure your body is getting the nutrition it craves.

We've been munching quite happily on the Oatmeal Raisin Walnut, a bar made from flaxseed, walnut and whole grains. Each Clif Bar Oatmeal Raisin Walnut bar contains 31.6 grams of carbohydrate, to provide sustained energy to keep your legs working, yet contain only .7g of saturated fat. So you don't have to worry about your waistline.

Organic ingredients and enjoyable flavours aside, perhaps Clif Bar's best quality is just how easy they are to eat. They feature a soft chewy texture that is easy on the mouth and equally so for the digestive system, and are extremely nourishing. They don't firm up in the cold like some too.

View the original article here

Lars Boom victory in the Tour of Qatar's opening prologue

While Team Sky's Alex Dowsett registered an impressive fifth place finish on his professional debut,dutchman Lars Boom forced four-time world time trial champion into second with victory in the Tour of Qatar's opening prologue.


Rabobank rider Boom, a former cyclo-cross world champion, clocked 3:07.39 minutes on the 2.5km course, with Leopard Trek's Cancellara four seconds back and Skil-Shimano's Tom Veelers a further second adrift.
 
Race rules meant riders had to use regular road machines, rather than time trial bikes, but the windy and cobbled Doha circuit, with 11 corners, ranked bike handling alongside raw speed.

Team Sky's Juan Antonio finished fourth despite being forced to ride over two barriers which fell ahead of him.

And European under-23 time trial champion and Commonwealth Games silver medallist Dowsett's ride earnt the Brit the young rider's jersey.

Mark Cavendish's tough start to the season continued, with the HTC-Highroad rider hitting the deck close to the finish and subsequently finishing last.

1. Lars Boom (NED) Rabobank in 3:07.39 minutes
2. Fabian Cancellara (SWI -Leopard-Trek) +4 seconds
3. Tom Veelers (NED - Skil-Shimano) +5
---
4. Juan Antonio Flecha (SPA - Team Sky) +5
5. Alex Dowsett (GBR - Team Sky) +6
6. Gert Steegmans (BEL - Quick Step) +6
7. Tom Boonen (BEL - Quick Step) +6
8. Maarten Wynants (BEL - Rabobank) +8
9. Tomas Vaitkus (LIT - Astana) +8
10. Matt Brammeier (IRL - HTC-Highroad) +9

Talkback: Lars Boom wins Tour of Qatar prologue

View the original article here

Steve Bauer new recruitment program

Directeur Sportif Steve Bauer, a former hockey player himself, introduced his 17-man roster and announced a new recruitment program that will scout cycling talent from the nation's junior hockey league.
In the Hockey Hall of Fame's Molson Theatre, Bauer opened his presentation in memory of his first yellow jersey earned, and wore for five stages, at the 1988 Tour de France. He went on to wear the yellow jersey again at the 1990 Tour where he lead the race for nine consecutive stages. The story was symbolic of his drive to develop Canada's professional cyclists into future Tour de France contenders.

"We've continued our progress in recruiting the best Canadian talent and that has always been our main mandate to provide opportunities for Canadians," said Bauer who started the team four years ago as Planet Energy.

"And why shouldn't we? At least at the level we are now, I feel comfortable going forward with the group of guys that we have and giving them every chance to make progress in their careers and potentially make ProTour in the future," he added.

The 2011 roster includes Svein Tuft, who won the silver medal at the 2008 UCI World Time Trial Championships, Guillaume Boivin, bronze medallist at the 2010 UCI World Road Championships and Zach Bell, silver medallist at the 2009 UCI Track World-Cup. The rest of the team includes Canadian National Champion Will Routley, Mark Batty, Bruno Langlois, François Parisien, Lucas Euser, Ryan Anderson, Hugo Houle, Pat McCarty, Martin Gilbert, Keven Lacombe, Andrew Randell, Ryan Roth, David Boily and Flavio
De Luna.

"There are men on our team that have been on the ProTour like Svein, McCarty and Euser," Bauer said. "A guy like Boiley and Boivin will certainly get to the ProTour eventually, either with us or with another team. We have guys in our group that will make the grade, no question, and eventually, through time, we want more Canadians to join in."

"If the team progresses quickly we have to ensure that it is competitive and will have to bring in international talent," he added. "Right now, we feel comfortable going forward to the next level with the team we have now."

SpiderTech p/b C10 will kick off its season at several European stage races to prepare its riders for the Amgen Tour of California in May. "It is the number one focus for the first half of the season," Bauer said.
"It's in our market and it draws the most attention to all of the enthusiasts who follow the team because it is close to home and it has a great reputation. The competition is at a very high level and it has all the elements for us to focus on it as our number one goal."

Bauer outlined his partnership and alliances between Canada's top leading corporations that are on board to help bring SpiderTech p/b C10 to the highest level of professional racing. Those companies include Blackberry, NRS Brakes, Pinetree Capital, Planet Energy and Saputo, among others.

"C10 is our Canadian alliance of corporate sponsorship and we are going to position it as strength in the alliance and building the base of financial foundation," Bauer said. "That is why we call it C10 and that is why we now named the team powered by C10."

Following the team presentation, guests of the evening mingled in the Hockey Hall of Fame's Great Hall, an old bank restored as a showcase for the Stanley Cup, Hart Memorial Trophy and many of the National Hockey League (NHL) silverware.

Tapping into Canadian hockey talent

As the evening proceeded, Bauer announced a new recruitment program for his two junior development programs SpiderTech p/b PowerWatts in Quebec and Planet Energy p/b SpiderTech in Ontario. The program will scout potential cyclists from the nation's 5000 member junior A, AA and AAA hockey program.
"Obviously Canada is hockey and hockey is Canada, but the amount that are going to make the NHL are few," Bauer said. "We want to turn them on to cycling, even for cross training in the summer months because it's perfect to keep in shape for the start of the hockey season."

"A lot of our best guys on this team come from playing hockey," he added.

"I played hockey and so did Boivin, Lacombe and others. We are going to invite these players to test, recruit and make some noise that we have our next Tour de France team right here in Canada."

Bauer will start recruiting athletes from the junior hockey league this summer. Athletes will be invited to undergo fitness testing at the PowerWatts clinic in Montreal along with several other designated clinics across the country.

"They will take a 20 minute time trial test, because with cycling you can test real performance over a period of time," Bauer said. "It's not that difficult to identify guys with horsepower and the next step is to turn them onto the sport. It's not an easy task."

"The goal would be to recruit several athletes a year that we can put into our development cycling program," he added. "If we have five good ones, who knows maybe we have a future gem."

View the original article here

Mountain Bike Marin Hawk Hill

With 17 models that range from dirt jump dirtbag to cross-country race whippet.Mountain Bike Iconic Californian brand Marin’s hardtail range is nothing if not comprehensive, The Hawk Hill occupies a position one rung above bottom in the Hydro HT range.

It aims to take some of the design cues from the race bikes, inject a little practicality and end up being a bike that’s just right for most riders, most of the time. With its easy-going handling and (mostly) decent spec, it ticks most of the right boxes. But there are lighter, better specced and more inspiring bikes at this price.

Ride & handling: Easy to get on with; competent in most areas without excelling

The Hawk Hill counters its decidedly average all-up weight (13.25kg/29.1lb without pedals) with the spot-on geometry and ride manners we’ve come to expect from Marin. It’s an easy bike to get on and ride, delivering just the right combination of stability and manoeuvrability to keep both newbies and experienced riders happy.

The stem’s a tiny bit too long for our tastes and tends to give the front end a rather ponderous feel. More importantly, the Hawk Hill feels like it's missing something. Conservative tubing wall thicknesses and small touches like the budget SRAM derailleurs mean it lacks the overall sparkle of the best of the competition. It’s okay, but that’s not really enough at  this price.

Frame: Good attention to detail, but could do with more mud clearance 


Lurking underneath the Hawk Hill’s unassuming grey paint is a frame that positively bristles with tweaked, shaped and pro?led tubes. The subtly curved top tube features triple butting to save weight and a hydroformed ridge at the head tube joint, presumably for extra strength and rigidity in this critical area.
The down tube also gets the triple butting treatment, but arcs far more obviously into the head tube.

Flamboyantly curly chainstays plug into elegantly cut away dropouts, which in turn lead to a pair of surprisingly straight-laced seatstays with, it has to be said, rather miserly tyre clearance. Rack mounts add some real word practicality, and there’s a pair of bottle bosses too. 

Equipment: Average spec and weight dull the riding experience

The Marin’s stop and go bits are about par for the course, although SRAM’s X5 derailleurs are no match for Shimano’s budget offerings in the looks department and, in our experience, don’t stand up to hard use quite so well either. It’s nice to see Marin opt for a good-looking FSA crankset instead of the Shimano Alivio found on many bikes at this price.

The Hawk Hill's Suntour Raidon coil fork is among the better ones we’ve seen. It offers a useful 100mm of trail-taming travel with adjustable lockout and, unusually for this price, adjustable rebound too. The wiper seals are rather ineffective, though, and soon leave a trail of grey gunge all over the stanchions. This doesn't bode well for long-term durability.


View the original article here

Core Bike 2011 with a Merida's full range

Core Bike 2011 has a Merida's full range which makes it too large to be able to fit in where he was in the UK's Core Bike show, however there was room for the news.Naturally the World Championship-winning O.Nine hardtail and Multivan-Merida's full-suspension choice, the Ninety-Six, were on display, but they're little changed for 2011. The One-Twenty Carbon trail bike and Reacto road racer, on the other hand, are new for this year.
One-Twenty

The key new model in the mountain bike range is the One-Twenty Carbon, Merida's latest entry in the 120mm full-suspension category, which bulges with strong contenders. The One-Twenty Carbon uses the same carbon fibre construction as the O.Nine and Ninety-Six, and at a claimed 1,830g (4lb, plus shock) for the frame it's only 160g heavier than the latter.

The rocker link is carbon too, and the gear cables are routed internally through the front triangle. Three models are available, with the 5000-D (DT Swiss fork, Shimano XTR) being the scary-money option at £5,699.99. The 3000 is a couple of grand cheaper with an FSA SL-K chainset, Shimano XT transmission and Avid Elixir R brakes.

The entry-level 800-D is something of a value highlight. £2,699 is still a fair bit of money, but for a full-carbon frame, Fox F32 FRL fork and most of an XT transmission (the chainset is a cheaper Shimano model) it's pretty decent – especially considering that the One-Twenty Carbon frame alone is £2,249.

The aluminium One-Twenty HFS bikes have been updated with a new, cleaner-looking front triangle that includes a tapered head tube. As well as the stiffness benefits of a tapered steerer, the new frame is said to be significantly lighter than the 2010 model. The range starts with the Shimano Deore-equipped One-Twenty 300 at £1,349.99.

Reacto

On the road side, Merida have done a similar technology cross-breeding job with the new Reacto. The Reacto takes features and design ideas from the Time Warp time trial bike and construction tech from the ultralight Scultura Evo to deliver an aero road frame at under 1kg. It's a striking-looking bike, especially in the Dura-Ace equipped 909 version.

While the seat looks like it's mounted on an integral mast, it's actually a fully-adjustable aero seatpost – the graphics tie it all in visually. Despite the deep-section tubes, Merida claim that the carbon layup used delivers “Evo levels of vibration damping”. The top-line Reacto 909 comes in at £5,599.99, but the 907 – using the same frame, a slightly heavier fork and Shimano Ultegra parts – is a more accessible £2,999.99. Or get the £1,849.99 frameset and roll your own.

View the original article here

Take a bike tour this summer to the French Alps and live your dream

You've probably dreamed of many times in your life to see a live tour de france and observe the mythical climbs in the Alps and the magnificent sprint final step in both deliciao.Well, and if i say that you can live your dream by taking a bike tour this summer to the French Alps? True,there is one bike tour company that offers these types of trips is In Situ Travel. They run European bike tours, including one in July to watch France’s Pro Tour. “We’re pleased to offer what we feel is one of the best alternatives for fans to watch the race unfold in the Alps.”, states Jace Gifford, In Situ’s founder.




Gifford quickly points out what distinguishes In Situ Travel’s bike tours from other tour companies’ trips: keeping the groups small. “Our trip in July is limited to only 14 guests. We don’t try to pack in as many guests as possible, like many of the competitors.” He’s got a point since it’s not uncommon for some of the other European bike tour companies to have trips where the guest count exceeds 40 people. Instead In Situ believes that guests will have a more “local” experience, by having a smaller group for their trip.

Additionally, staying true to In Situ’s core principles, there are not van transfers during the week. The entire week is spent at one hotel, located right on the race route. As In Situ iterates, this equates to more time riding and less time sitting in a van. Especially during an event as large as this, where there will be an enormous amount of fans trying to drive to and from the race, not having to deal a vehicle is a real benefit to this type of tour.

Gifford also notes, “We’ve also taken great care in choosing where our trips stay. Not only are we along the race route, but we are in easy riding distance to many of the epic alpine climbs: the Col du Glandon, the Col du Telegraphe, Alpe d’Huez, the Col d’Izoard, les Deux Alpes and more.” If your goal is to ride many of these famous routes, this itinerary might be for you.

How does a guest go about deciding on the right bike tour to see the race in France this July? It can be challenging since it’s not always clear what the benefits of one tour operator are over another. When speaking with In Situ, they believe they have found a unique niche in the market. “We feel that we offer the best value for our guests, in a smaller more personal environment to that of our competitors.”, claims Gifford. Maybe they do, but regardless of whether you choose this or another tour company, it’s clear that guests have a greater selection of tour operators than ever before.

Learn more about France’s Pro Tour. Stop by In Situ Travel’s site where you can find out all about their other Bike Tours in France and what they can offer you.

View the original article here