Movistar 2012 Season in review

In 2011 the team which first entered the peloton under the name of Reynolds begun the next chapter in its long existence with a new title sponsor. Movistar replaced the Spanish bank Caisse d'Epargne which had sponsored the team since 2005. One of the team’s stars under the Caisse name and most successful Spanish riders of his generation was Alejandro Valverde. Valverde was implicated in Operación Puerto and after a protected legal battle with various courts and cycling bodies he received a two year doping ban backdated from January 1st 2010. Due to the successes of the Spaniard his team had promised a place on the team once his suspension had been served. With the ban ending in 2012 Valverde rejoined the team and rode the first World Tour race of the year as the team leader. Although the team name is different, with El Bala back in the fold in 2012 the changes in structure where to a degree made redundant by the return of the prodigal son. 

Katusha 2012 Season in Review

Grand Tour classification jerseys and stage wins, one day classics and the UCI World Tour win would be more than enough to suggest that Katusha had a standout 2012. However 2012 was close to Grand Tour dominance for the Russian team as Joaquim Rodriguez lost the Giro d’Italia on the final day and was in a commanding position until Stage 17 of the Vuelta de España when Alberto Contador pulled off an escape ride to snatch the win from his compatriot. Rodriguez was once again the UCI rider of the season as he repeated his 2010 antics as the highest ranked rider due to his best Grand Tour result and his first Ardennes classic win. For Katusha their suburb season may have been overshadowed by Sky’s dominance but 2012 will be a season the team can look back fondly upon. 

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

2012 Vuelta de España Preview

The return of Alberto to Grand Tour racing has many excited but it is not a foregone conclusion that the Spaniard will finish in Madrid atop the podium. The GC contenders in 2012 are of a high calibre and they will pose individual threats to Contador winning the race. Two riders who finished on the podium last year return as do past winners of the Vuelta. The favourites for the race this year as Juanjo Cobo, Chris Froome, Jurgen Van Den Broeck, Igor Anton, Joaquím Rodríguez, Andrew Talanksy and Robert Gesink although behind these riders are a second tier of favourites who look more likely to challenge for stage wins than the red jersey.

Froome is coming into the Vuelta in 2012 as a known force. In 2011 he was able to deflect attention from himself onto Wiggins if necessary as he riding in support of his teammate. This year will be a different story as Froome finished second behind Wiggins at Le Tour de France and bagged a bronze medal In the ITT at the London Olympics. Froome’s ability to time trial will be detrimental to Contador's attempt at winning the GC. Froome can match the Spaniards climbing prowess as well as his time trialling so it could come down to seconds in Madrid.

Gold Medallists in the Olympic Individual Time Trial

1996: Miguel Indurain (Spain) 5x Tour winner, 2x Giro winner, ITT World Champion
2000: Viatcheslav Vladimirovich Ekimov (Russia)
2004: Tyler Hamilton (USA)
2008: Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland) 4x ITT World Champion
2012: Bradley Wiggins (Great Britain) 

Withdrawals From the 2012 Tour de France

Stage 3 

Kanstantsin Sivtsov (Team Sky) fractured tibia
Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) fractured left collarbone

Stage 4 

Maarten Tjallingii (Rabobank) fractured left hip

Stage 5

Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano) gastroenteritis/ knee

Stage 6 

Wout Poels (Vacansoleil-DCM) internal organ injuries/broken ribs
Thomas Danielson (Garmin-Sharp) shoulder
Davide Vagano (Lampre-ISD) fractured clavicle
Mikel Astarloza (Euskaltel-Euskadi) fractured right elbow

Stage 7 

Jose Ivan Gutierrez (Movistar) left elbow/right knee
Imanol Erviti (Movistar) serious wounds in his right side/knee
Maarten Wynants (Rabobank) broken ribs/punctured lung
Oscar Freire (Katusha) fractured rib
Anthony Delaplace (Saur-Sojasun) fractures to left radius and scaphoid
Hubert Dupont (Ag2r-La Mondiale) fractured radius/fractured vertebrae/sprained left ankle
Robert Hunter (Garmin-Sharp) stress fractures in vertebrae
Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp) leg-hip injuries
Amets Txurruka (Euskaltel-Euskadi) broken collarbone

Stage 8 

Johannes Fröhlinger (Argos-Shimano) broken finger
Gorka Verdugo (Euskaltel-Euskadi) injured hip
Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) broken finger/bruised back and shoulder

Stage 10 

Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) left scaphoid broken
Rémy di Gregorio (Cofidis) Pulled from race under suspicion of doping
Matthew Lloyd (Lampre-ISD) fractured radius

Stage 11

Mark Renshaw (Rabobank) accumulated crash injuries
Bauke Mollema (Rabobank) accumulated crash injuries
Rob Ruijgh (Vacansoleil-DCM) knee
Gustav Larsson (Vacansoleil-DCM) back problems
Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil-DCM) hip injury
Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-ISD) ribs
Yuriy Kristov (Lampre-ISD) fatigue
Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Nissan) left race for birth of daughter

Stage 12

Tom Veelers (Argos Shimano) fatigue
Robert Gesink (Rabobank) Rib Injury
David Moncoutié (Cofidis) abrasions to left side of body

Stage 13

Tony Gallopin (RadioShack-Nissan) illness

Stage 14 

Robert Kiserlovski (Astana) fractured his right clavicle

Stage 15

Brett Lancaster (Orica-GreenEdge) injuries
Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) chest infection
Yauheni Hutarovich (FDJ-BigMat) fatigue
Kenny Van Hummel (Vacansoleil-DCM) back injury/stomach ailment
Jerome Vincent (Europcar) fatigue
Giovanni Bernaudeau (Europcar) fatigue

Stage 16 

Fränk Schleck (RadioShack-Nissan) positive doping test
Grega Bole (Lampre-ISD) neuralgia of sciatic nerve 

Vladimir Gusev (Katusha) broken collarbone

Fränk Schleck Tests Positive on Rest Day Two

RadioShack-Nissan would be feeling that after being plagued by endless rumours in 2012, the season could hardly have gotten any worse. Now Fränk Schleck has tested positive and will await a B Sample before any charges are laid upon a rider who last year finished the tour on the podium with his brother Andy. The rumours surrounding the team looked to be dissipating following the lead they hold over Sky in the team classification. A positive B Sample will tip the scales to disaster for the team which is also been caught up in the current Lance Armstrong WADA case. Nothing is certain until the B Sample is announced, although it is a somewhat surpising positive which is another positive test that has been conveniently announced on a rest day.

Both the UCI and Schleck’s team have put out press releases which can be read below. After Rémy Di Gregorio was hauled off the Tour on the first rest day this year a second rest day has been a day of intrigue and surprise. There have been mixed reactions to the initial positive test as in 2008 Schleck was cleared after being linked to the Operacion Puerto scandal and declaring that he had made a payment to the bank account of Dr Eufemiamo Fuentes.  Since then there have been suggestions that Schleck has been eluding testers and a positive test was only a matter of time. Hopefully for the sport the B Sample will be negative, similar to Alexandr Kolobnev whose B Sample returned a negative following his A Sample positive last year.

RadioShack-Nissan Team Statement

"Our team attaches great value to transparency. Because of these values, we can announce the following as a response to the adverse analytical finding of xipamide in Fränk Schleck's urine sample of July 14 during the Tour de France.

After being informed by the UCI about the presence of xipamide in the urine sample of Fränk Schleck on July 14, the team has decided to immediately withdraw Fränk Schleck from the Tour de France.

Even though an abnormal A sample does not require these measures, Mr. Schleck and the team believe this is the right thing to do, to ensure the Tour de France can go on in calm and that Fränk Schleck can prepare his defense in accordance with the legal timing to do so.

On the subject of xipamide the team can declare the following: it is not a product that is present in any of the medicine that the team uses and the reason for the presence of xipamide in the urine sample of Mr. Schleck is unclear to the team. Therefore, the team is not able to explain the adverse findings at this point.

However, the team is fully determined to collaborate with the anti-doping agencies in order to resolve the matter."

More can be found here from the RadioShack-Nissan website.

The UCI press release outlining the approach it will take regarding this case can be read in full here.