FDJ-BigMat 2012 Season in Review

The season begun for FDJ in a rather complicated manner as BigMat had all but signed on as a co sponsor for Garmin only to withdraw and pledge their allegiance and dollars to the French lottery team but this was no gamble. Two stage wins at the Tour de France and the emergence of Thibaut Pinot as the next French cycling star was the tip of the iceberg in 2012. Nacer Bouhanni won his first French road race title to add an extra layer of French pride to the team who won 21 races in 2012, asserting themselves as the premier French team of the year. Bouhanni and Arnaud Démare were the two biggest winners of the season but there was plenty of other riders with one or two wins such as a rejuvenated Perrick Fédrigo, Kenny Elissonde in a breakout year and the departing Yauheni Hutarovich. 

Euskaltel-Euskadi 2012 Season in Review

Euskaltel-Euskadi in 2013 will be a team whose value set will have drastically changed from its previous incarnations from 1994 till the present. Funding will be cut by the Basque government although the team was already operating on a budget of €1 Million less than last year. Besides the reduced funding that has forced changes structurally the team will for the first time have riders with no Basque connection. When previously only Basque riders or those who are familiar with the culture have been offered contracts, in 2013 the team will have a continental feel to it as riders with no Basque connection will be welcomed into the team. Whether or not these changes had affected the riders in 2012 is unclear as season 2012 was largely devoid of any significant results in comparison to previous seasons. 

BMC 2012 in Review

BMC had an ambitious recruitment policy at the end of the 2011 season in which they snared several big name riders, making headlines for the expensive outlay in acquiring Thor Hushovd and Philippe Gilbert. Along with the two big riders the collapse of HTC-Highroad allowed for the capture of up and coming American Tejay Van Garderen as well as the Italian veteran Marco Pinotti. The team had stage wins at the Giro and Vuelta and several other stage races across the season but it was again the Tour de France that was the focus of the teams GC ambition in 2012. The two big name recruits were to deliver the early season classics but it would take until May at the Giro when the team had its first significant wins in 2012. 

Astana 2012 in Review

Astana had significant off season changes regarding personal as they began the season with a mix of new faces who replaced the three cyclists who moved to the new GreenEdge team as well as four retiring cyclists at the end of 2011. The big recruit was that of Janez Brajkovic who moved across from the RadioShack team, a casualty of the merger with RadioShack and Leopard and was joined by his old team mate Dimitry Muravyev. Brajkovic repaid the team immediately by taking the first win of the season at the Volta a Catalunya which was to kick start a string of victories. Astana has had quite a successful 2012 and currently are ranked 11th out the 18 World Tour Teams. 2013 looks to be the dawning of a new era for the Kazakh team with Vincenzo Nibali moving to ht team and Alexander Vinokourov retiring. Vinokourov’s retirement could see the next wave of Kazakh riders impress on the big stage in his absence as Astana looks to win its first Grand Tour General Classification since Alberto Contador’s Giro d’Italia and Vuelta de España double in 2008. 

2013 Tour de France: 100th Edition

letour.com

The Damnatio Memoriae of Lance Armstrong

When looking back at the year by year winners of the Tour de France there are two significant time periods when no there was no winner. Theses gaps are the years of the 21st century world wars. No race was run between 1914-1918 and 1940-1945. On Friday the UCI will meet to make a decision on whether they will award the seven Tour titles that had been previously awarded to Lance Armstrong to second place or strike a line through the period as cycling’s ‘dark ages.’ Christian Prudhomme as head of the ASO has already said he’d prefer this period had no winner and leaving the space for the winners name will be a reminder of the brazen doping that took place. If this is to be the route that UCI take, when looking back upon the history of the Tour in 20 years, to an unknowing eye, these missing years may be seen to represent World War Three. 

Pulling the Plug: Nike,Trek and Giro End Armstrong Support

As of today Lance Armstrong is no longer sponsored by the companies that came to define his Tour winning years. Trek, Nike and Giro have withdrawn their support for the accused doper as they have cited the overwhelming evidence against Armstrong as the reasoning behind their decisions. As well as the big three, Anheuser-Busch has decided to stop their sponsorship of the American. These companies are the biggest of the Armstrong sponsors but with companies such as Zipp wheels and Sram yet to comment it still could get worse.

Armstrong also stood down as chairman of Livestrong to make it a miserable day. Nike will continue to support the cancer foundation and with Armstrong standing down from Livestrong they won't be directly affiliated with one of the athletes that defined the company. With the imminent downfall of Armstrong, Nike will have suffered from  two of its biggest stars falling from grace after Tiger Woods infidelity came to public awareness recently.

USADA Saga Claims Two in One Day

Matt White and Levi Leipheimer have both lost their jobs today as the fallout from the USADA reasoned decision continues.  Lance Armstrong has confessed no guilt in the accusations while Johan Bruyneel will face the Court regarding his charges. Bruyneel and RadioShack-Nissan has already parted ways.This is going to be a messy affair with cyclists implicated or otherwise slowly coming forward with statements or simply their opinion on the matter. These two will not be the only ones to lose their jobs as the important matter of sponsors is considered. The team names in 2013 may just be very different indeed  as sponsors decide if their money could be spent better and distance themselves from endless doping scandals that rock the sport.

Lance Armstrong’s Tour de France Stage Wins

Below is a list of stages that Armstrong won at the Tour over the seven years he won the GC with the second place rider on the stage in italics.There is also the TTT he won with Astana in 2009. Jan Ullrich, Alex Zülle and Ivan Basso would be the cyclists who would benefit the most from the results being reassigned to the second place getter however all three have been implicated in doping. 

The Problems of Reassigning Results After Admissions of Doping

After the recent USADA reasoned decision which contained the affidavits of several Garmin-Sharp riders who were teammates with Lance Armstrong in his Tour winning days have had their results voided for the years they admitted doping. Christian Prudhomme who is the head of the ASO has admitted that no rider should inherit the Tour titles that Armstrong looks likely to lose. Instead he has said that “If it’s a question that we would declare that era as a black era, then I’m not afraid to do so” as in many of the years the riders in the top ten have, if not tested positive been implicated, been tainted by doping scandals.

USADA lifts the lid on Armstrong Case: Several Teammates Testify

USADA has released its Reasoned Decision on the Armstrong doping affair. Several of Armstrong's teammates from his US Postal Team and its incarnations have confessed to doping and been banned and had results disqualified retroactively. While for some they have been banned from the 1st September this year till March 2013. This is the just the beginning of what will certainly be a messy fallout but final decision and possibly word on the Armstrong era.
Below is the full USADA Reasoned Decision
http://d3epuodzu3wuis.cloudfront.net/ReasonedDecision.pdf