Posts tagged ‘Team news’
McEwen signs Katusha anti-doping clause
Robbie McEwen
McEwen and several others from the team hesitated to sign the anti-doping agreement which would punish riders with a fine of five times their salary if they were found positive. The policy was instituted after Austrian Christian Pfannberger tested positive earlier this year.
After the policy was presented to the riders, Antonio Colom became the second Katusha rider to test positive following targeted testing by the UCI. Colom also refused to sign the charter.
“I want it clearly understood that I am absolutely anti-doping,” said McEwen.
“Now that the details have been sorted out I can concentrate fully on my comeback and get back to racing and winning with my teammates as soon as possible.”
McEwen suffered a broken tibia in a run-in with a road sign during the Tour of Belgium 2009 last month. It was initially feared that the sign had sliced through important tendons and ligaments, but the damage turned out to be less severe, and McEwen was able to pedal on a stationary trainer for the first time this week.
Laszlo Bodrogi – french
Laszlo Bodrogi
“I asked for French naturalisation in the middle of 2007 and it was accepted last year,” said Bodrogi, whose wife is French. The son of a doctor who travelled from Budapest to Besançon for work when Laszlo was a teenager in the early ’90s, the Katusha rider moved to the east of France when he was a junior.
He developed as a young rider with the elite CC Etupes squad and remained in Besançon – besides a brief stint in northern Italy during his first year as a pro with the Mapei Espoirs team in 2000.
Since then he he has been Hungarian national champion 10 times but this year he’ll take part in the French championships in Saint-Brieuc, Brittany, on June 25 and 28. He’ll face stronger competition. “It won’t be easy because I’m coming back after a long break due to an injury,” he explained. He broke a tibia and a foot during a crash at the Tour of Germany last year and began training again at the end of February before resuming racing at the Four Days of Dunkirk.
“I’ve chosen to ride for France because the support would be better”, he added. It means the silver medallist of the 2007 world championship time trial, who also won the Chrono des Nations that year, is far from having given up his ambitions to get the rainbow jersey at the age of 33.
UCI’s World Calendar rankings: Katusha fifth
Following his victory in the Giro d’Italia Denis Menchov has moved to the top of the UCI’s World Calendar rankings, relegating former leader Heinrich Haussler to third, while Allan Davis moves up to second. Menchov had been previously unclassified in the rankings.
Danilo Di Luca is another big mover on the standings thanks to his second place overall in the Giro. He moves 120 places, from 127th to seventh, while Stefano Garzelli moved up 18 places to enter the top 10.
With four stage victories in the Giro, Cervélo TestTeam now leads the teams standings, followed by Caisse d’Epargne and Quick Step. Following its national tour, Italy is currently the most dominant nation, with Spain and Australia sitting second and third respectively.
Rankings as of June 1, 2009
Individual 1 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 218 pts 2 Allan Davis (Aus) Quick Step 205 3 Heinrich Haussler (Ger) Cervélo Test Team 197 4 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli 194 5 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse D'Epargne 188 6 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana 188 7 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Lpr Brakes Farnese Vini 188 8 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Silence-Lotto 187 9 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Caffè Mokambo 170 10 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Caisse D'Epargne 169 Teams 1 Cervélo Test Team 608 pts 2 Caisse D'Epargne 571 3 Quick Step 558 4 Team Columbia - High Road 531 5 Team Katusha 500 Nations 1 Italy 847 pts 2 Spain 823 3 Australia 612 4 Belgium 503 5 Russian Federation 479
Katusha for La Flèche Wallonne 2009
Milram, Quick Step, Silence-Lotto, Saxo Bank, Caisse d’Epargne, Euskaltel, Garmin, Columbia, AG2R-La Mondiale, Bbox Bouygues Telecom, Cofidis, Française des Jeux, Lampre-NGC, Liquigas, Astana, Rabobank and Katusha make up the ProTour teams list.
Team Katusha 131 Serguei Ivanov (Rus) 132 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) 133 Pavel Brutt (Rus) 134 Nikita Eskov (Rus) 135 Serguei Klimov (Rus) 136 Luca Mazzanti (Ita) 137 Christian Pfannberger (Aut) 138 Ben Swift (GBr) 139 *Alexander Serov (Rus) 140 *Maxime Vantomme (Bel)
Trofeo Mallorca Challenge 2009
Spain’s first major race of 2009 will see an enormous field of riders contest the five-day event. The UCI Europe Tour continues with the 2009 Volta Ciclista a Mallorca Challenge from February 8-12. The 18th edition of this event includes five separate races: Trofeo Mallorca, Trofeo Cala Millor – Cala Bona, Trofeo Pollensa – Puerto de Alcudia, Trofeo Inca and Trofeo Calvia. The 19 teams, from 10 nations, will divide their roster differently among each race, based on their strengths and season objectives. Last year’s champion, Philippe Gilbert, is not returning to defend his title.
The teams include: 9 ProTeams – Katusha, Caisse d’Epargne, Euskaltel Euskadi, Cofidis, Quick Step, Team Milram, Liquigas, Rabobank, Team Columbia – High Road; and 10 Professional Continental and Continental teams – Andalucía Caja Sur, Xacobeo Galicia, Plowman Craven – Madison, Team Nutrixxion Sparkasse, Burgos Monumental, Kuota Indeland, ELK Haus, Orbea, Van Vliet and Contentpolis – Ampo.
The riders who will represent Team Katusha during this cycling event are:
Alexander Botcharov, Sergey Ivanov, Vladimir Karpets, Sergey Klimov, Nikolay Trusov, Antonio Colom, Juan Horrach Ripoll, Robbie McEwen, Christian Pfannberger, Kenny Dehaes, Gert Steegmans, and Stijn Vandenbergh
McEwen out of the saddle
McEwen winning Cancer Council Classic
The main question for Robbie McEwen is “Will he participate in this year’s Tour de France?”. According to the medical staff, it is too early to speak about “le grand boucle”. The main goal for Robbie are now the spring classics, including Milan – San-Remo.
ADELAIDE, Australia, Jan 20, 2009 (AFP) – Australian sprinter Robbie McEwen
suffered a gash and bump on his right forearm on Tuesday thanks to an
overzealous spectator at the Tour Down Under who may have compromised his race.
McEwen collided with a “big camera” as he hurtled towards the first stage
finish line at nearly 70 kilometres (45 miles) per hour, but managed to stay
on the saddle and finish fourth. It’s not the first time when a rider collides an object from the spectators mass.
He was taken immediately to hospital and said he would make a decision on
Wednesday morning whether to start the second stage.
McEwen, the winner of 12 stages on the Tour de France and a three-time
winner of the race’s green jersey for the points competition, could not
believe his misfortune.
“I’ll have to make a decision in the morning. I couldn’t pull on the
handlebars, so it’s obviously a worry,” said the Belgium-based Aussie after
the stage, won by German sprinter Andre Greipel.
“I was winding up my sprint when someone reached out with a big camera and
it struck me in the arm.”
Providing he has escaped any fractures, McEwen will hope some overnight
therapy allows him to continue in the race, as he bids to bolster Katusha’s
victory count in their first season in the peloton.
Team Katusha – important for Russian cycling
Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin was among
the guests earlier this week as the country’s first fully professional cycling
team, Katusha, convened in chilly Moscow.
Run by former Paris-Roubaix winner Andrey Tchmil, Katusha features some of
cycling’s elder statesmen like Australian Robbie McEwen and Filippo Pozzato of
Italy, as well as younger talents such as former Olympic points race champion
Mikhail Ignatiev.
It is the first Russian-owned team to compete in European cycling’s elite,
and will do so as of January 2009 with a 27-man roster.
According to a press statement Wednesday Putin, Moldovan president Vladimir
Voronin and Giro d’Italia director Angelo Zomegnan were in attendance Tuesday
as the team made its official presentation in Moscow.
Held at the headquarters of oil and gas firm Itera, the company’s
president, Igori Makarov, said he was hoping the team’s existence would spark
a golden era for cycling across Russia.
“Finally, Russian cycling has stepped into the professional realm. We have
waited a long time for this moment, and it was necessary to overcome a lot of
barriers, problems and resistance on the way,”
he said.
He added: “Katusha is a combination of the social, economic and political
components expressed in sports and is a powerful project supported by serious
partners aimed at developing cycling in Russia, creating possibilities for
young riders and a representation of the glory of our native land.”
Robbie McEwen interview in Moscow
AFP – Australian Robbie McEwen says he hopes a change of team can help him return to Tour de France glory next year.
McEwen, a 12-time Tour de France stage winner and three-time winner of the green jersey for the Tour’s leading sprinter, has switched from Belgium’s Silence-Lotto team to Russian-backed Katusha for 2009.
It is a move the 36-year-old Australian hopes can get him back into serious Tour contention after a 2008 season he described as “mediocre.”
“It wasn’t consistent enough and it came down to my off-season last year – it was a complete disaster,” McEwen told reporters here on Monday.
“I had some real problems with injury and I couldn’t have a solid off-season of training – I only got really going mid-season.
“This time things are going a lot better and I can have a better start to 2009 than I did this year.
“I’m confident I can reach the level I’ve been at – I’m feeling just as good if not better than other years.”
Apart from McEwen, Katusha has also recruited Russian Vladimir Karpets, Italian Filippo Pozzato and Belgian sprinter Gert Steegmans.
McEwen said he is competing in two events — madison and derny — at a track cycling meet in Melbourne on Wednesday.
Team Katusha jersey presented
Katusha Team cycling jersey
The Katusha Team jersey for the 2009 cycling season has been presented on the 11th of September.
The main inscription is for the russian for Katusha: КАТЮША-russian global cycling project.
Main team sponsors such as Gazprom(Газпром), Russian Technologies (РосТехнологии) and ITERA are also among the most visible words on the jersey.
The image under the team name is the Moscow symbol: the Kremlin.
Katusha Team to debut at the 2009 Tour Down Under
Two new UCI ProTour team – Team Katusha – will make its ProTour debut at the 2009 Tour Down Under.
Mike Turtur, Tour Down Under Race Director, is pleased to see the UCI ProTour continuing to expand to include teams from all corners of the globe.
“It is great to see two new teams joining the UCI ProTour. And I am pleased that Team Katusha is being spearheaded by Australian sprinter Robbie McEwen,” said Mike Turtur.
Robbie McEwen has had 12 stage wins in the Tour de France in his decorated professional cycling career. He also has the most individual stage wins in the Tour Down Under’s history, with 12 stage wins.
“McEwen has a successful track record at the Tour Down Under, having also won the overall SA Lotteries sprinter classification twice. 2009 may be his time to take an overall event victory,” said Mike Turtur.
Garmin Slipstream’s Team Manager, Matthew White, is a previous Tour Down Under stage winner, having won Stage 4 of the 2005 event.
“It will be great to see Matt back at the event, now on the other side of the competition,” said Mike Turtur.
“We are also looking forward to seeing Julian Dean perform as New Zealand’s current national road race champion.”
The Team Katusha line up for the 2009 Tour Down Under, led by Team Manager, Dmitri Konyshev (RUS), is: Robbie McEwen (AUS), Geert Steegmans (BEL), Kenny De Haes (BEL), Juan Horrach (ESP), Stijn Vandenbergh (BEL), Sergey Klimov (RUS) and Nikolay Trusov (RUS).
The Garmin Slipstream team competing at the 2009 Tour Down Under includes: Julian Dean (NZL), Trent Lowe (AUS), Timmy Duggan (USA), Chris Sutton (AUS), Ryder Hesjedal (CAN), Cameron Meyer (AUS) and Christian Meier (CAN). Decorated Australian cycling identity, Matthew White (AUS) will lead the charge as Team Manager.
The main goal for the team is, no doubt, to lead Robbie McEwen to his first wins in the colors of the Katusha Team.
