SB Nation User Blog: Gemma

Beijing b-tests

Gemma — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:13:13 -0000

In case anyone was wondering what happened to this story... Reports coming out of Germany (specifically in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) say that the results of the B samples of the 5 athletes from Beijing who tested positive after samples were retested (inc Stefan Schumacher and road race silver medallist Davide Rebellin) have also all come back positive. Lawyers for the 5 have apparently met to plan their strategies re appeals to CAS. Schumacher's lawyer seemingly trying the whole 'procedural error' line as apparently that can be the only reason all 5 A & B tests were positive (not because the people involved actually, you know, cheated!)

No official comment from anywhere from what I've been able to find so far, but news article here :

New sponsor for Sexy Bank

Gemma — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:51:31 -0000

The search for a second sponsor for Team Saxo Bank is at an end, with today's news that Playitas have signed up as co-sponsors.

Playitas - a Spanish holiday resort operated by travel services company Apollo have signed up to the end of 2010. As part of the deal the team will now run training camps and team building courses on Fuerteventura (which will be warmer than Denmark and the like in the winter so that should make the riders happy - though I wonder if this really rules out having the team building at other places too).

The new name will appear on jerseys from this weekend's Danish championships (too late to alter the other jerseys I guess) and so will also appear at the Tour (possibly it'll mean the jersey's look like last years)

More details and comments from Riis and the CEO of Apollo to be found here

They'll still be Sexy Bank to me :)

It's that time of year - awards time!

Gemma — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 21:36:09 -0000

Following on the heels of last week's Swiss Sportsperson of the Year ceremony, which saw a dazzlingly dressed Fabian Cancellara beat two-time winner Roger Federer to the title, tonight we had the Sports Personality of the Year Award (or SPOTY as it's known) here in the UK and what a night it was for cycling!!

The GB Olympic Cycling team got the Team of the Year award, their main coach David Brailsford won the Coach of the Year award and they also won the big award with the Sports Personality of the Year Award going to Chris Hoy (and 3 other cyclists made the final 10 list which was brilliant)

Gustav Larrson finally made his mind up...

Gemma — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 19:42:28 -0000

...and after all the will he go Spanish, or will he stay Dansh, the man (and/or his girlfriend) has finally decided to stay put, signing a new three year contract extension at Saxo-Bank - IT Factory.

http://www.teamcsc-saxobank.com/ny_news.asp?n_id=2192

Given Larsson's seeming propensity for changing teams regularly, I'd have to say I'm a little surprised at the length of the contract, but it's a good sign.

So.....with an eye to the TTT in the Tour, will Riis take both Cancellara AND Larsson to France next year...guess we'll find out next summer. And that should see me reach the word limit too

GB team news - it looks like I might have been right for a change (possibly)!

Gemma — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:36:00 -0000

So...last week (or the week before, I forget when it was exactly) when it was revealed that Scott Sunderland wasn't going to be at Cervelo after all, but would instead be working for some unnamed team that was looking to be set up for the 2010 road season, I put forward the suggestion that maybe it was the proposed GB road team - and according to Feltet.dk that's exactly who he's off to - so that's another Aussie helping GB cycling if the rumours are true.

His job for next year will be scouting for riders. Will be interesting to see just what the Brits/non-Brits mix ends up being...

New co-sponsor for Riis Cycling team

Gemma — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 10:37:34 -0000

Whilst some people (I wasn't one of them) thought that today's announcement from Saxo-Bank and Riis Cycling would be that the bank were pulling their sponsorship, this has not turned out to be the case.

Instead, a co-sponsor has been revealed - Danish company IT Factory. The deal is for three years and the team will be known as Team Saxo Bank - IT Factory. When offered the chance to become a sponsor IT Factory wanted to do so only if they could be a main sponsor, Saxo Bank agreed to share and the new arrangement was born.

Danish companies now main sponsors for Riis (opens in new window)

Wonder what the new strip will look like? I like this season's a lot and hope it doesn't change too much...

Tour of Poland: Stage 6

Gemma — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 15:00:14 -0000

Yet more horrendous weather meant a 2 hour delay to the start of Stage 6 of the Tour de Pologne whilst the entire race travelled to a new start due to the stage being shortened from 201km to 118. This change also meant that the mountain's would only be climbed the once (rather than twice).

There was the usual breakaway that had a lead of around 2 and a half minutes at one point (and special mention here to Sapa on the Polish national team who has been in the break every day I think - great rides by him), but late on Jens! (well who else!) attacked from the front of the peleton and caught each of the seven escapees in turn to come through and score a brilliant stage win!!

The German diesel engine (as the CSC website calls him) now leads the race overall by 1min24 with just the one stage left to go

Bet that has put a smile back on the faces of the CSC-Saxo Bank boys after 5 days of riding in miserable conditions

Go Jens!

Fun and games in Poland

Gemma — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 21:16:31 -0000

Today was the day the peleton in the Tour de Pologne finally snapped and after 3 days of having to ride in awful conditions on street circuits that carry a large amount of danger, the riders used the only power they have available to them and basically went on strike at the end of the stage.

After an agreement between the riders and organisers to stop at the end of the first circuit was gone back on by the organisers (allegedly) the riders took things into their own hands and stopped at the end of the second circuit (a circuit early) and this was after they went round those two in formation with them all across the road and pretty much one rider from each team at the front - no GC could be decided on and the stage was declared null and void.

According to reports the chief instigators were Allan Davis (Quickstep) as yellow jersey and also Fabian Cancellara (he may be Swiss but he sure ain't neutral)

Whilst it's all sad for the fans who turned up and got wet waiting I have to say my sympathy is with the riders on this one. It's not the riding in the wet and cold that bothers them so much (though that can't be fun day after day) but the conditions have been pretty hairy at times and there's already been some nasty crashes in this race (poor Milram seem to have suffered most of them) and at the end of today they all looked more like mountain bikers than road racers what with all the dirty faces and weather gear bulking them up.

There is also an interview with Fabian which has some interesting things in it (translated from the Polish so the exact details are probably off a bit): ED--on the flip...

- The strike was partly about looking after the health of the cyclists

- He doesn't think Sastre really has much of a chance of defending his TdF title irrespective of the whole Armstrong issue (well yes, seen as he won't have the support he did this year)

- He doesn't seem to think Armstrong coming back is a total good thing - whilst good for the exposure of cycling and for the cancer cause etc, he thinks when you got out at the top you should stay out and not risk it all by coming back and that it's now about the new generation such as Cav and the Schlecks (well that's the gist of it I think)

- His bronze is like a gold to him and was a surprise (awwww)

- He's only 50:50 at the moment as to whether he'll be in Varese (it's a question of form having been off the bike for a couple of weeks) and the final decision should be made this weekend

http://www.sport.pl/sport/1,65025,5706187,Cancellara__Zle_dla_kolarstwa__ze_Armstrong_wraca.html

ETA: There are apparently going to be meetings tonight and/or tomorrow between riders and organisers over what will happen with stage 5 - not least because the weather isn't predicted to be any better and it's a similar finish. So it's a case of watch this space as to whether the stage even happens!

Sastre off to Cervelo - official

Gemma — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 09:21:45 -0000

Full statement not up yet, but a brief announcement has been posted on the CSC-Saxo Bank team site that Sastre is off to the Cervelo test team

http://www.riis-cycling.com/ny_news.asp?n_id=2083

And here's the statement from Sastre's own website:

http://www.carlossastre.com/Noticias_En.html

Looks like he's after a new challenge - which is fair enough, especially at this stage in his career. I figure he's smart enough to know that this was his year to get the victory he wanted and he took that chance - but with the likes of Contador, Andy Schleck and other young riders coming along so quickly he likely wouldn't get the chance again at this point in his career.

I'm sad to see him go (first the bikes, now the team leader) but I wish him luck and hope he enjoys his new venture, even if I'm still slightly in the dark about wha the aims of the new Cervelo team actually are!

Will he be riding the Tour next year - guess we'll have to wait and see... There would be a part of me that would not be happy to see another team wearing the 2-9 numbers when they weren't the ones who rode their asses off getting the win, but I guess that's racing (obviously got no problem with Sastre wearing 1)!

Tour de Pologne (aka Tour of Poland) - CSC-Sexy Bank line-up

Gemma — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 06:45:39 -0000

Now I realise this isn't a confirmed final line-up yet (remember they changed the Deutschland tour line up late on) but from the looks of it CSC- Saxo Bank are certainly taking the Tour of Poland mighty seriously when you look at their provisional line-up:

Kurt-Asle Arvesen / Lars Bak / Fabian Cancellara / Gustav Larsson / Magnus Ljungqvist / Andy Schleck / Frank Schleck / Jens! Voigt

Sports director: Kim Andersen

As long as no-one mentions the Olympics (especially the road race) it should be fun :) (I jest)