Cycling tidbits..

Hi All,

Rather than trying to talk about 19 items every Friday, I might try and break it into smaller chunks for the next while to discuss all things Bikey...starting this week with a bunch of news on the Pro Cycling world.

2010 Team News - Team Astana finally let 3 key riders and their director out of their 2010 contracts so they could ride with other teams. Gregory Rast, Andreas Kloden, and Yaroslav Popovych, along with team director Johan Bruyneel all were allowed to leave Team Astana and all 4 of them have joined Lance, Levi, and Team RadioShack. Unfortunately for most of the cycling fans outside Kazakhstan, Astana did not release Alberto Contador. So it appears that Team Astana 2010 will include both Alberto Contador and Alexander Vinokourov, as well as Haimar Zubeldia, who Contador was allowed to keep as his personal domestique.

Team RadioShack also got some more great news this week as they were awarded a ProTour license, which essentially grants them entry into all the prestigious races for next season. Some traditional cycling teams like Bouygues Telecom and Cofidis have lost their ProTour status for next year, so for a first year team like RadioShack to be assured entry without needing wildcard status will be a relief for Lance and his crew.

Wednesday was the official unveiling of the 2010 Tour de France route. Starting with the prologue in the Netherlands, the route goes clockwise thru France towards the Pyrenees with several tough mountain stages before the traditional finish in Paris. Here is a cool Google maps view of the route.


View 2010 Tour de France in a larger map

Unfortunately, the Tour is skipping both a team time trial and a trip up Alpe D'Huez for a second year in a row, but will try and reward fans with 2 trips up the giant Tourmalet. The riders climb Tourmalet as part of a 4 mountain day in Stage 15 before finishing on top of the same hill in Stage 18. This is the highest road in the Pyrenees and will surely factor in the final podium - the road averages over 7% over the 17+ km length! Also new for 2010 is an early couple of stages that include cobblestone sections (up to 30km!) which may take a contender or two out - that's what cobblestones seem to do best. There are also 6 days in the high mountains, including 4 of the last 6 stages before Paris. You can read more on the route here...

Kona recap 2009 coming this weekend...cheers!