Almost done April...and Go Canada Go...

Hi All,

Another huge week as we deal with 3 big classic cycling events in the Ardennes, a review and a preview of 2 of the biggest marathons on the planet, but we lead off with a bit of triathlon news this week...

First off, I do want to make a big Bikey deal about what happened last weekend in Monterrey, Mexico where the ITU World Cup made a quick stop on this side of the world. The World Cup circuit is now the second-tier of ITU races, one step below the World Championship Series. On the women's side, Edmonton's own Paula Findlay won her first ever World Cup title in remarkably, her first ever World Cup start. (She did race in two World Championship events in 2009). Findlay, who twice finished in the Top 10 at World Junior Championships and last year finished third at the Under-23 Championships, is poised to become the latest Canadian woman to take on the world. Although Findlay faced very few women who raced the week before in Sydney, she beat the entire field with a great run for an easy 80 second victory. It will be interesting to see if Findlay can become 2010's breakthrough year! Good luck Paula!

This weekend the ITU athletes have moved on to Ishigaki, Japan for the next stop on the World Cup circuit. Unfortunately, with the bigger WCS event in Seoul in two weeks, most of the big names are skipping this week's event. There are actually zero Canadians in the field, and only 2 of the world's Top 20 athletes are participating.

The 70.3 world is in the midst of a very good stretch of events. Last week was Ironman New Orleans 70.3, this week is Ironman 70.3 Texas, and next weekend is Wildflower. Last weekend, Andy Potts showed his strength in his first start of 2010, using the fastest swim to get ahead early and the fastest run to pass Terrenzo Bozzone to win by a whopping 4 minutes. Look out for Potts, who might this year will race Kona for the third time. If he can improve his cycling, he could be a podium contender...Sam Warriner won the women's event by outrunning Linsey Corbin. Warriner didn't go into the race as an overall favorite, but she can never be counted out in big races and showed why with a 1:21 run split.

The weekend ahead in triathlon features the Ironman 70.3 Texas event, which also doubles as the US Pro Championships. This results in a great field as Americans Andy Potts, Chris Lieto, and Tim O'Donnell will all compete against foreigners such as Terrenzo Bozzone and Richie Cunningham. The woman's race features Michellie Jones, Joanna Zeiger, Leanda Cave, and Pip Taylor. The men's race should be a great event, and it will be interesting to see if Lieto can get enough of a gap on the bike to hold off Potts.

This weekend also features Ironman South Africa and an Olympic non-drafting event in Florida (St Anthony's Triathlon). South Africa features a fairly weak  pro field (although ironman.com called it star-studded), but the event in Florida includes Craig Alexander, Greg Bennett, and Matt Reed on the men's side and a super women's race that features Mirinda Carfrae against Julie Dibens stepping down in distance to take on Olympic stars Sarah Haskins and Laura Bennett. I'm sorry, but this race is  much more worthy of a star-studded label than any other race this weekend...

Cycling - we are almost at the end of the spring season, with Sunday's Liege-Bastogne-Liege being both the third of the Ardennes week of classics (after Amstel Gold and Fleche Wallone) and the fourth Monument of the year (behind Milan-San Remo, Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix). The best part of the three Ardennes races are the great fields they attract. Last Sunday, the Amstel Gold race kicked it off with a hilly 260 km challenge, and Belgian Phillippe Gilbert took charge on the final climb to win the first race for his team (Omega Pharma -Lotto) this year. Gilbert managed to hold off a group of riders including the Schlecks, Cadel Evans, Roman Kreuziger, and Canadian Ryder Hesjedal, who had a terrific final climb and sprint for an amazing second place finish! I believe the last Canadian to finish this high in a major one-day European race was Steve Bauer's second place at Paris-Roubaix in 1990. Ryder is becoming quite a weapon for Team Garmin in these difficult one-day races that finish with a tough climb. Here's an interview with Hesjedal from Pedal Magazine...

Hesjedal then rolled into Belgium for Wednesday's Fleche Wallone, which is known for its ferocious finishing climb that touches 20% elevation over its 1.3 km length. It featured most of the big names from the Amstel Gold, plus added a few Spanish stars including Alberto Contador and Alejandro Valverde. Take a look at the final kilometer...



So a late attack by the world's best cyclist Contador got countered at the last moment by World Champion Cadel Evans, who is going to try and win the Giro in May. Evans looked strong with his late move, and proved he is not scared of the world's best cyclists. And how great was this list of finishers...Contador in 3rd, Cunego in 5th, Gilbert in 6th, Chris Horner in 7th, Valverde in 8th, Andy Schleck in 9th, and yes, Canadian Ryder Hesjedal in 10th! Another incredible race, and another article on Hesjedal, this time from cyclingnews.com.

So far only 4 riders have managed Top 10 finishes in both of the first two races, including Hesjedal, Gilbert, American Chris Horner, and Damiano Cunego. Pretty elite company for Hesjedal. Can he add to his great week on Sunday at Liege-Bastogne-Liege? The favorites are expected to include Evans, Gilbert, and the Schleck brothers (Andy won in 2009), while Spanish stars such as Contador, Valverde, and Samuel Sanchez will attempt to be first to reach the finish line. It should be a great race...

By the way, here is that great finish from the 1990 Paris-Roubaix featuring Steve Bauer...



Running...Monday's Boston Marathon proved how hard it is to defend a major marathon title. Both 2009 winners, Deriba Merga and Salina Kosgei, were factors but were not able to counter the race's decisive moves. Merga managed to push the pace throughout and thin the lead pack, including getting rid of American hopes Ryan Hall and Meb Keflezighi, but could not shake 21-year old Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot, who ran away for a decisive win. The Boston Marathon has previously been won 4 times by Robert Kiproech Cheruiyot, who apparently is not related to this year's winner. Even more impressively, the newest Cheruiyot broke the course record by an impressive 82 seconds. Ryan Hall finished strongly to finish 4th, one spot behind Merga and one spot ahead of fellow American Keflezighi. Will Cheruiyot be the next dominant Kenyan at Boston?

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The women's race was almost a blowout. Ethiopia's Teyba Erkesso took charge around the 17-mile mark, as she simply found the pace too slow and slowly pulled away. She had a huge one minute lead and was pulling away from the entire field, except a late surge by Russia's Tatyana Pushkareva made for great drama over the last mile. Unfortunately for Pushkareva, she ran out of race course and finished 3 seconds behind Erkesso. The rest of the field was lead by Kosgei, but she finished over 2 minutes back...

Boston Marathon is known for it's history and slower times due to the Newton hills...this week's London Marathon is known for it's world record and elite fields. This year is no exception, as one preview calls it "arguably the best field ever for a marathon"  and another calls it "a heavyweight battle for the ages". The men's race has 5 men with PB's under 2:05:30 plus the world record holder in the half-marathon (Zersenay Tadese) who is making his marathon debut! Unbelievable...check out these brief bios courtesy of Letsrun.com

Half marathon world record holder (58:22), 5-time world champion Zersenay Tadese.
'08 Olympic, '09 London and Chicago champ Sammy Wanjiru. (2:05:10)
Reigning world champion Abel Kirui. (2:05:04)
Fukuoka record-setter and '08 OG and '09 WC bronze medalist Tsegaye Kebede. (2:05:18)
2nd-fastest marathoner of all-time in Duncan Kibet. (2:04:27)
2009 Worlds silver medalist Emmanuel Mutai. (2:06:15) 
2009 London 3rd-placer and former world champ Jaouad Gharib. (2:05:27)


The women's race is shaping up as a rematch between German Irina Mikitenko (2009 London winner) and Russian Liliya Shobukhova (who beat Mikitenko in Chicago last fall). Of course, there are plenty of fast Chinese, Ethiopian, and American runners, including Deena Kastor, but I think it will come down to the two first women who normally end up at or near the top of every marathon podium.


Unfortunately for me, both of my picks to win Boston (Abderrahim Goumri and Dire Tune) finished tied for last with matching DNF's. Hopefully my London picks (Wanjiru and Mikitenko) fair better...

See you next week...

20 Things You Need To Know...

Hi All,

My list of things-to-blog-about-but-haven't-gotten-to is out of control, so here goes a very special Spring Cleaning edition of Bikey Friday. Lots to review, lots to preview...read on! We're starting with Paris-Roubaix and ending with Boston Marathon so here goes...

20. This should be #1 with a bullet, but how can you can not lead off with the robo-biker Fabian Cancellara. For the second week in a row, Cancellara was easily the biggest star at Paris-Roubaix. One week after breaking away on a steep section about 16k from the finish, Cancellara once again solo'd to victory after a surprise break with about 50 kilometers to go. From then, it was a time trial to the finish as he managed to hold off a group of key rivals for a decisive victory. This makes Cancellara the first since Tom Boonen (in 2005) to win both Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, but the sheer dominance (even with a celebratory lap around the velodrome he won by 2 minutes!!) he showed will make it more remarkable. He's so strong right now he could win any race he chooses, but rather than trying to increase his April winning streak at this week's Amstel Gold or next week's Liege-Bastogne-Liege, he is going to take the rest of the month off before returning to competition at the Tour of California as he gets set for the Tour de France.

Here's the video of the decisive move. Cancellara notices Boonen sitting at the back of their little group, attacks, and 50 km later, it's all over. Remarkable riding by Cancellara.


Interestingly enough, one of Cadel Evans and Ivan Basso's coaches suggested this week that Cancellara is so strong that he could be close to competing for the overall Yellow Jersey at the Tour. Cancellara has worn the leaders jersey a few times after winning early prologues or time trials, but Italian Coach Aldo Sassi suggests that if Cancellara could lose 10 or so pounds, he could be a revelation in the mountains using his superior strength. Hmmm....

19. More Paris-Roubaix news. To give you an idea of how hard this race really is, only 74 out of 200 pros who started were given official finishing times. Over 30 pros finished outside the finish time and the remaining 100 simply decided to fight again another day and take the DNF. Crazy. The Canadian duo in the race both had solid finishes, finishing 26th (Michael Barry on Team Sky) and 33rd (Dominique Rollin on Cervelo). Both are finishing up solid spring seasons in Europe and should get chances in Grand Tours ahead. There is a short interview from Pedal Magazine with Michael Barry here. The before (Barry) and after (Rollin) pictures of the two Canadians are classic...lots more great race pictures on cyclingnews.com here...

Here is also a short video showing some of the fun that the riders dealt with during their day from Paris to Roubaix. Enjoy.



18. So after Paris-Roubaix, the race calendar continues into Holland for this Sunday's Amstel Gold Race. It's not as important for the pro riders to win as the big races the last two weeks, but it starts the shift from cobbled races into hillier ones as the riders start getting ready for the Giro and the Tour. However, this race is short a lot of main riders. Why? Illness? Training? Other races? Nope - it's due to Volcano Eyjafjallajokull, which has shuttered European airports and this week is preventing big names like Valverde, Sanchez, Sastre, and Wiggins from reaching the start line. It's so bad that Caisse d'Epargne is expected to start only 3 riders on Sunday!! Although the lack of big names could mean an unknown winner, I expect Team Saxo Bank to protect the Schleck brothers and let them get their season off to a fine start. We'll see on Sunday!

17. Two more quick cycling notes. This week saw two week-long events going on in Spain and in Turkey. In Spain, it was the Vuelta a Castilla y Leon, where Alberto Contador is again dominating after today's stage 4. He has figured out the strategy to win these muti-stage events -stay close on the flat stages, thin the field during moutain stages, and blow away your competitors in the time trial. Today, he did just that in the 15 km time trial as he won it by a huge margin (30 seconds!). I don't care what anyone says, Contador will go into the Tour as the dominant favorite.

Two sentences on the Tour of  Turkey: Andre Greipel is the man. He won 4 of the first 6 stages including the time trial on day 1. Greipel is the "other" sprinter for Team Columbia behind Mark Cavendish but he continues to win races at a great pace.

16.  One last pro cycling note that is interesting since we've talked about both Fabian Cancellara and the Schleck brothers already. It is the last year that Saxo Bank is going to be the main sponsor of their cycling team, but last month a report surfaced that the Schleck brothers were thinking of leaving Bjarne Riis's team and would start their own team, possibly recruiting their teammate Cancellara as well. Wouldn't that pretty much destroy what's left of Team Saxo Bank anyhow?

However, could the amazing results of Cancellara the past two weeks possibly encourage a new big-money sponsor? Stay tuned...

15. Some Canadian content - the Canadian Cycling Association announced a new anti-doping awareness program called Race Clean - Own Your Victory. It launched at the end of March in conjunction with a media  blitz featuring Canadian pros Tara Whitten, Zach Bell, Svein Tuft, Catherine Pendrel, Geoff Kabush and others. The riders support includes a pledge to drug-free sport. Great job by our Canadian racers!

Bikey Rockin The Cobbles...

Hi All,

Two posts today (for the tri fans out there just read below. But the Bikey world has been rolling thru Belgium, France, and Spain, and it has been a great week. And just 7 short days  after basking in the glow in Flanders, we get ready for this Sunday’s Paris-Roubaix.

 Also one minor housekeeping note, as I have changed the way that the underlined links will appear. If you click on any link, it will appear in a new page rather than leave this page. Enjoy.

First off, last Sunday’s Tour of Flanders. I think it’s great that some of these great one-day Classics (or Cycling Monuments if you read last week’s post) are so tough and demanding that only the very best cyclists are around near the end. This year, an early break was contained and the group of all the favorites (Cancellara, Boonen, Flecha among others) was upfront.  With 40 km to go, Cancellara and Boonen decided to go on one of the cobbled climbs, and the two of them stayed away for the rest of the day. Cancellara then decided with 16k to go that he better not risk a sprint finish with Boonen (the three-time winner of Flanders) so he attacked again on one of the steepest pitches, and simply rode away from Boonen. From there, it was just another day in the time trial saddle and an easy one minute victory in what Cancellara called “the biggest of the race of the year for me”. It was a great race even though it lacked any late drama.

Lance Armstrong also had a great day in Flanders, as he finished in the main group that finished after the first 4 riders.  However, he got  sick post-race and had to drop out of a minor stage race this week. He is now back into an extended training mode and probably will not be racing until the Tour of California

Canadians also played key roles in Flanders as both Michael Barry (Team Sky) and Dominique Rollin (Cervelo) spent a lot of time near the front of the race as they protected their team leaders Juan Antonio Flecha and Thor Hushovd. Rollin is exactly the type of rider who might someday be a podium contender in these big one-day races. He's still young and learning how to race in Europe, but someday it will be great to see him being the team leader for these types of cobbled races. 

Speaking of Canadians, this week also saw Canadians near the top of the leader board in Vuelta Ciclista Al Pais Vasco . Going into Thursday’s stage 4 at this weeklong stage race in Spain, Ryder Hesjedal was in third overall in GC (behind Oscar Friere and Alejandro Valverde). But a bad stage 4 pushed him out of podium position. Still, it adds to his list of good results this season. Big things ahead for Ryder as we get closer to the Grand Tours. Hesjedal was also joined by his teammate and fellow Canadian Christian Meier  on the awards podium, as Meier held both the king of the mountains jersey AND the Sprint Leaders Jersey for a few days and still holds the blue Sprint Leaders Jersey heading into the weekend. Not a bad week for the Canadians!

So after last week’s Tour of Flanders, which is known for lots of short, uphill, cobbled sections among its 260 km, this  week the cycling eye turns to the Roubaix Velodrome, where Paris-Roubaix ends after 259 grueling kilometers. And oh yeah, 53 km of those are on some of the worst cobbled roads in Northern France. It is not called “A Sunday in Hell” and “The Hell of the North” for nothing. The logo above is from Endurance Conspiracy, and I love it! The race itself expected to be a rematch of last week’s Tour of Flanders – with Fabian Cancellara and Tom Boonen the heavy favorites. Add in some seriously strong riders like Thor Hushovd, George Hincapie, Fillipo Pozzato, and David Millar (great in Flanders before fading late) and it should again be time for the biggest names in the sport to shine. This is not a race for the Schlecks or Contadors of the world, instead it’s the big guys who love the cobbles who’ll be the near the front. Can Cancellara do it again? Can Boonen win Roubaix for the fourth time?Canadians on the start line will once again include Michael Barry and Dominique Rollin. Go boys!!

Looking ahead to May for a second, cycling fans should get their fill of the favorite cyclists as the top cyclists in the world start to plan for either the Tour of California or the Giro d’Italia. The Giro is expected to have stars like Carlos Sastre, Ivan Basso, Brad Wiggins, and Cadel Evans along with sprinters like Robbie McEwen, Tyler Farrar, Andre Greipel, and Oscar Friere. On the other side of the world, the Tour of California will feature Mark Cavendish, the Schleck  brothers, Fabian Cancellara, and most of the top Americans (Hincapie, Armstrong, Leipheimer) and Canadians (Hesjedal, Rollin) talent. The Tour of California also officially announced the teams that will compete in May, and in addition to the big ProTour teams (Cervelo, RadioShack, Team Sky, Columbia, Garmin, Saxo Bank, Quick Step), they invited a grouping of top North American teams including…drumroll please…the Canadian-based SpiderTech-Planet Energy team! This is the upstart Continental team run by Canadian cycling legend Steve Bauer and now sponsored by Canadian gazillionaire Jim Balsillie. 

Speaking of Team SpiderTech, they have had a great start to the 2010 season, with several wins and are currently sitting among the top American Continental Teams. Although Team SpiderTech may not become a European team for at least 2 years, they are starting to build some pillars that might (hopefully) get them into the Grand Tours.  I’ll keep you posted…

Triathlon Taking Off!

Hi All,

Many many things triathlon to update this week as we get ready for the first ITU World Championship Series race of the year (Sunday in Sydney). But first, lots of Ironman news…

Two weeks ago Ironman Australia saw the first big Ironman race of the year, and once again, the Aussies defended their turf with a vengeance. Pete Jacobs won going away for his 4th victory in a row at Ironman Australia, defeating Scotland's Scott Neyedli by over 4 minutes  …. Jacobs might be ready to make a big splash one of these years at Kona,but unfortunately for a developing star like Jacobs, there might not be too much room at the top as the cagey veterans like Craig Alexander, Chris McCormack, and a bevy of Germans stick around and defend against the young upstarts like Andy Potts, Terrenzo Bozzone and the Raelert brothers.   The women’s race was supposed to be another repeat coronation for Rebekah Keat, but she got destroyed by an Ironman rookie in 29-year old Carrie Lester. Not bad - never done an Ironman. Win the whole thing. Keat finished a whopping 10 minutes back. 

That same weekend, the big North American race was Oceanside 70.3. The men’s race was supposed to be ready-made for Matt Reed (defending champion) but the younger Raelert brother Michael simply biked away from him. Everyone knew Raelert was fast on a flat course like Clearwater, but could he handle the hills in Oceanside? He also said that he won’t do an Ironman until his bike skills get faster. Check and check. Raelert had a 2 minute lead off the bike and gained more time on the run course for an easy three minute victory. He’s now the best 70.3 racer in the world, and it will be interesting if he decides to follow his brother to Kona in October. Look out for the Raelerts….

The women’s race was not expected to be a battle between Mirinda Carfrae, Leanda Cave, and Sam McGlone.  Carfrae definitely did her part, as she entered the run near the front and absolutely ran away from the field with a 1:17 race record run split. How fast is Carfrae? Only 6 guys ran faster than her! Wow.  Cave and McGlone tried to follow but finished 6 and 9 minutes back. They were actually pushed to 3^rd and 4^th overall by Scottish newcomer Lesley Patterson, who ran 1:18 to finish 2^nd. Yet another really fast Great Britain triathlete? That list is getting pretty long (Julie Dibens, Cave, Helen Jenkins, Cat Morrison, Chrissie Wellington, the Brownlee brothers, Hollie Avil). That’s a lot of talent…

Speaking of Chrissie Wellington, she is healing from her winter injury of a broken hand, wrist, and arm - and will be racing for the first time in June at Ironman 70.3 Kansas. It will be great to have her back racing before she attempts to break another record or two at Quelle Roth in July. She better get into pretty good shape since she will face Julie Dibens this year in Kona, and Dibens is 2-0 against Wellington in her career. Both were in shorter races (half-Iron distance) but she will face her biggest challenge this year at Kona.

  The ITU folks are finally back at it in the first ITU World Championship Series race of 2010 in Sydney, Australia. You might remember the last ITU race in Sydney…

What a day for triathlon that was. Now the ITU racers are back to kick off their 7 race World Championship Series, which ends in Budapest in September with the Grand Finale. And guess who’s back in Sydney for his first race of 2010. Yep, Canada’s golden boy, Simon Whitfield. And with a few racers sidelined with injury (Javier Gomez, Alistair Brownlee), Whitfield has a better-than-ever chance to begin his season in style. Now Simon has often taken a little while to get into race shape, so it might be a lot to ask him to end his winter with a win Down Under, but a podium finish might be possible. He’s facing Jan Frodeno (aka the guy who stole Simon’s second gold in 2008), a couple of fast Kiwis in Bevan Docherty and Kris Gemmell, the always competitive Brad Kahlefeldt from Australia, and a number of other quality guys. But there’s definitely no overwhelming favorite. Simon will not have any other Canadian teammates to help him on(late edit: Kyle Jones is racing), but hopefully his run legs will get him to the front of the race. Go Simon Go!

The women’s race will feature a lot of the 2009 season stars but unfortunately no Emma Snowsill or Vanessa Fernandes. Emma Moffatt (#1 in 09) will be challenged by Lisa Norden (#2), Andrea Hewitt (#3), Daniela Ryf (#4), Helen Jenkins (#5), and  Sarah Haskins among a strong field. Canada is only represented by one woman as well (Kathy Tremblay) as Kirsten Sweetland has yet another nagging injury and will not start in Sydney. Here’s hoping she can get healthy after losing a lot of the past year-and-a-half with injuries. Good luck Kathy!

Ok, that's it for triathlon...more coming soon!

A quickish update...figuring out the Classics...

Hi All,

After the ten thousand or so words it seems as though I've typed over the past couple weeks, this week's Bikey will be a little shorter. But there are still a few big stories to cover and I'll try and get through without getting carried away...

I know that some people probably get confused when you mention one-day classics or Spring Classics in pro cycling parlance. For example, last weekend had the E3 Prijs-Vlaanderen (Saturday), Gent-Wevelgem (Sunday) and the Criterium Internationale (3 stages over Saturday and Sunday). So many spring "classics" races! But I think I've figured out that the "true" classics (which are also known as the Monuments of Cycling) are as follows:

1. Milan-San Remo (held March 20)  - won by Oscar Freire
2. Tour of Flanders (this Sunday, April 4) - 
3. Paris- Roubaix (Sunday, April 11)
4. Liege-Bastogne-Liege (Sunday, April 25)
5. Giro di Lombordia (held in October)

So we are really getting into big race season, starting with Sunday's Tour of Flanders race, in which most of the biggest names in cycling will be participating. Lance Armstrong will be racing in Flanders, coming off his participation in the Criterium Internationale where the showdown between him and Alberto Contador fizzled out (cyclingnews.com called it "firing blanks) in the last five miles of Saturday's stage as neither of them could hold on to the wheel of the leaders. The lead group on the final climb included Contador, Samuel Sanchez, and Cadel Evans, but rather than attacking, Contador just dropped, leaving Pierrick Fedrigo (Bbox) as the man who made the decisive move and the victory. The 11 seconds he won the stage by were enough to leave him in the GC lead through the two races on Sunday, giving him the overall victory.  Contador finished second in the final time trial to end up 15th overall, while Lance could only manage a 15th place in the TT and 47th overall. Should we start being worrying about Lance? He's not worried, so let's hope he can get fitter in the next few month...

The other pre-Flanders weekend races were in Belgium, where Fabian Cancellara made his mark on Saturday as he outkicked Tom Boonen and Juan Antonio Flecha as this elite 3-man group got away from the peloton with 40 km to go, and the three of them dueled for the title of E3 Prijs-Vlaanderen. Sunday's race  (Gent-Wevelgem) featured a sprint finish among a small group that included George Hincapie but his ex-teammate Bernhard Eisel (Team Columbia) outraced him. Cancellara and Boonen are among the favorites for Flanders, along with Boonen's teammate Stijn Devolder, who has taken advantage of everyone of watching Boonen to escape the last two years to win the race.  As usual, Flanders is long (263 km), hilly (15 hills, mostly near the end), and bumpy (25 cobblestone sections). Throw in a 70 percent chance of rain and cool temperatures, and it should be at it epic toughest. 

Check out the video below of one of the cobbled climbs....it includes pros walking their bikes!!!

Johan Bruyneel took some pictures of Lance and the team training on the cobblestones this week. Here are a few...

More cycling news - the Tour de France announced the teams it has invited to this year's Tour - the 16 ProTour teams were guaranteed entry, but the 6 wildcard teams contain many of the biggest names - Garmin, RadioShack, BMC, Cervelo,Katusha  and Team Sky - have all been awarded spots. This allows George Hincapie, Cadel Evans, Lance, Robbie McEwen, Thor Hushovd, Bradley Wiggins, among others, the guarantee to participate in this year's event. Teams left out for 2010 include Skil-Shimano and Vacansoleil who are perhaps competitive but did not have the big star power and are thus on the sidelines this year. 

I know I have promised more triathlon news, but this will have to wait til next week!