The Daily Peloton provides an excellent preview of the Tour of the Gila, which begins tomorrow.
Bicycling had a spanking new interview with Floyd Landis about his first months back in the pro peloton:
“I have been asked hypothetically if I’d like to return to the Tour de France,” he said. “And hypothetically, yeah, I’d love to do it again.”
OUCH is planning on sending quite a contingent of racers to Tour of the Gila in Silver City, New Mexico this week, including Floyd Landis:
The OUCH Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis heads to Silver City, New Mexico Wednesday with a strong, deep stage-racing roster to contest the SRAM Tour of the Gila, April 29 – May 3. The squad is headlined by 2007 and 2008 NRC points champion Rory Sutherland and stage race specialist Floyd Landis.
“With a couple stage races going away this year, every one on the calendar becomes more important,” said OUCH Presented by Maxxis directeur sportif Mike Tamayo. “The guys have had a little time off following Redlands and they’re very ready to race.”
Gila is one of those races that was in danger of cancellation this year due to the economic downturn. However, SRAM, which provides components and drive trains for the OUCH Presented by Maxxis team-issue Kuotas, stepped in earlier this year to ensure that the 23rd edition of Gila went off.
“We’re really happy that SRAM stepped in to take over sponsorship,” Tamayo said. “Having one of our sponsors involved with the race gives us added incentive to put in a strong performance.
The five-day race includes three challenging road races, plus an individual time trial and a criterium in Silver City.
“This race favors riders like Floyd and Rory who can put in strong time trials, but also can go uphill really well,” Tamayo said.
The two leaders will be ably supported by team captain and super-domestique Tim Johnson, as well as climber Pat McCarty and workhorse Roman Kilun. Jonathon Chodroff will also put his big engine to work in support, but also look for a good effort in the time trial. Cameron Evans and Brad White will be looking for opportunities to get into breaks and influence the race in that way.
The OUCH Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis for the SRAM Tour of the Gila:
Jonathan Chodroff
Cameron Evans
Tim Johnson
Roman Kilun
Floyd Landis
Pat McCarty
Rory Sutherland
Brad White
CyclingNews blurbs it too.
Maybe the biggest news to come out of the pre-race hype for TOTG is who will NOT be there, or at least who the UCI will not allow there, Lance Armstrong and Astana:
Any plans for Team Astana to compete in this week’s SRAM Tour of the Gila appear to have been quashed by the UCI’s decision to enforce a rule barring ProTour teams from competing in lower-tier events (even though) the rule barring UCI pro teams from “National” events is rarely, if ever, enforced in the U.S.
But wait! Team Astana tweets that Horner, Leipheimer, and yes Armstrong WILL race TOTG.
CyclingNews is on top of the Armstrong to TOTG story.
Cycling “super blogger” Racejunkie wants to know why, if LA can race the “Gila Monster” despite UCI “rules, can’t Floyd Landis race in Europe this year? Yeah, good question why not indeed? Let’s bend those rules a little more, huh!
In other Landis racing news, looks like The Joe Martin Stage Race which runs from May 7-10 in Arkansas is also on OUCH’s calendar.
And in other news …
Davide Rebellin appears to be in a small spot of bother, as rumors allege that he tested positive for the banned blood boosting agent CERA after testing of samples taken during the Beijing Olympics came back positive. USA Today has the early story. (Credit to eightzero, who passed on the link.)
Reuters, in a story on Yahoo News, says that a total of 7 athletes have come up positive for CERA. (Pommi passed this link along.)
And Laura Weislo of CyclingNews.com adds that not one, but two cyclists are among the athletes implicated in this latest series of findings. Weislo credits La Gazetta dello Sport as the source of the information that Rebellin, who won the silver medal in the men’s road race in Beijing, is one of the athletes who tested positive. Weislo’s article appears to be the most complete of the three I’ve seen so far.
ESPN.com is now reporting that the two cyclists implicated are Stefan Schumacher and Davide Rebellin, both former members of the Gerolsteiner team. It will be interesting to see what course of action both riders take. Schumacher is in an especially tough spot. If his B sample confirms the A sample’s results, he would be facing a lifetime ban from cycling.
No, check again. You didn’t really expect what you read in the morning to be true by lunchtime, did you? Things move fast in the cycling world.
http://www.velonews.com/article/91341/armstrong-2-teammates-will-meet-the-gila-monster
No ligget junkie, YOU check again, it’s posted.
str 🙂
ps I’ve been covering cycling for about 3 years now on a daily basis, I know things move FAST. BUT sometimes my life interferes with how quickly I can update things.
I apologize.
No need to apologize!
Why, it’s a TOTG pandemic! Someone call WHO! Wait…what? (He’s on second…)
LOL, pass out the face masks!!! (just kidding 🙂
Kinda whacked that Rock ain’t playin’ this one. Things must really be that bad for them…
USA Today says Rebellin CERA positive:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/2009-04-28-3171542760_x.htm
The Bicycling Magazine interview with FL was good. Interesting that there was no mention that Floyd destoyed that hip joint in a crash on a training ride.
Say, does anyone have a list of the other eight Team Phonak riders on Floyd’s team when he won the TdF in 2006? Wonder where they are now – an interview with them might be interesting reading.
Well, I’m sure Floyd wants to leave out the gory details of his hip fracture as he called his ex-wife instead of an ambulance and waited like 6 hours before he did anything about it other than take Tylenol (can you say OUCH???!!!!!). Talk about masochism LOL
str 🙂
Schumacher one of the 6 caught by Beijing samples retesting.
Maybe he will sue CIO!
Jean C,
Perhaps he will, you never know. But he might want to save his money for an appeal on this test, instead. It appears that these are only results for A samples and not for the B samples for the athletes implicated. If Schumacher’s B sample comes back positive, too, he will be in a tough spot. If he doesn’t fight the charge, he’ll basically be run out of the sport. If he does fight the charge, he’s still likely to lose and be run out of the sport. From a financial point of view, his best bet might to be to just take the suspension. At least he’d have more money to start whatever will be his next career. I’ll have a post later about the whole thing, but in the meantime, I’m going to add a link to a story that talks about Schumacher, as well as a track and field athlete, too.
Any change in the WADA Code, that I’m not aware of, that allows the release of this information prior to the athlete having the chance to consider asking for B-Sample confirmation?
If not, then a big shame on the IOC and a wish for a pox, and/or Mexican Swine Flu, on their house…..
Not that it matters much, but we might want to see what The Code actually says as to Schumacher. His TdF infraction is being prosecuted by AFLD, but the Olympics issue would be done by WADA. Plus, UCI has already given a 2 year suspension for the TdF infraction, but that event was *before* the Olympics. Would a lifetime ban be indicated by The Code for an infraction that was before that 2 year ban? A “retroactive” penalty? Dunno.
I wonder what a “second infraction” means. Suppose you get an OOC test positive just before an event, and then test positive in that ensuing event? Lifetime ban for 2x? Suppose you test positive on one stage for one substance, but antoher substance on another stage? Lifetime ban for 2x? Test positive during a track event, then positve later on a road event. 2x lifetime ban? Guess it doesn’t matter much – we just use our experience to decide what doping is and isn’t anyway.
Schumy, Kohl, and Rebellin were on Gerolsteiner together. “…And what do you burn apart from witches?” “More witches!”
I’d bet house money on Schumacher being found guilty for a number of reasons. Some having to do with the nature of the “system” and some having to do with him. Good for them, they have it covered both ways!
Then again, it would be quite nice if the WADA/alphabet soup folks could somehow learn to play by their own rules.
eightzero,
2 different event, 2 different tests. He’s looking at a 8 year to lifetime ban. TdF infraction is being persecuted, opps, I meant prosecuted by AFLD, which is a signatory to the WADA Code (go figure). AFLD is on record that they do use “their experience”. If the science doesn’t work, eye it up and bs them at the hearing.
When I see the IOC did nearly 1000 tests and had only 7 positives, the first thing I think is “what’s the false positive rate”? I won’t be surprised at all if some of the B samples turn up negative.
It won’t happen, but wouldn’t it be interesting if they ran the same test on ALL the B samples to see if they got the same 7 positives?
It’s not that I have any reason to doubt this particular test, but I’m a believer that “no technology works as well as it’s proponents say it does”. I’m calling it Cub’s Law (until someone else points out that I’m not the first to think of it). 🙂
“No technology works as well as it’s proponents say it does.” – Cub’s Law
Man, I am *so* stealing this.
Me, too. With due credit, of course. It applies to so well to so many situations.