Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Monday, December 7, 2015

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The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself. - Benjamin Franklin

Fabio Aru to race Paris-Nice to prep for Tour de France

La Gazzetta dello Sport set out Astana rider (and 2015 Vuelta winner) Fabio Aru's early season program as he gets ready to ride the Tour de France.

Currently Aru and the rest of his Astana squad are at the team's training camp in Calpe, Spain. The retreat will end Friday and from there the team will travel to Kazakhstan for the official presentation of the team

For now, Aru is scheduled to race the Tour of Valencia in early February and then move on to the Portuguese Algarve Tour (February 7 - 21) in the middle of the month.

Fabio Aru in the Vuelta leader's red jersey (and shorts, and socks and bike...)

Paris-Nice (March 6 - 13) has been added to Aru's program and from there he'll ride the Tour of the Basque Country (April 4 - 9), Flèche Wallonne (April 20) and Liège-Bastogne-Liège (April 24). He is not expected to race the Tour de Romandie and perhaps the only Italian race he'll ride will be the Italian road championships before hitting the start line of the Tour de France (July 2 - 24).

Bayern Rundfahrt could be cancelled

The Bayern Rundfahrt (Tour of Bavaria) is short 300,000 Euros. The race is Germany's only pro stage race and if the organizers can't find the needed funds by a self-imposed deadline of December 20, the race will be cancelled.

The 37th edition of the race is scheduled to be run May 25 - 29. Race boss Ewald Meier said, "We have to be responsible partners, in particular with the stage towns and the teams that need reliable planning for the coming year. Therefore we need to decide this year whether the tour can take place or not."

Ewald has made it clear that even if the 2016 edition is cancelled, he will fight to continue running the race, planning to have a 2017 edition.

Alex Dowsett won the 2015 Bayern Rundfahrt.

John Degenkolb winning the fifth and last stage of the 2015 Bayern Rundfahrt

Tinkoff-Saxo squad in Gran Canaria training

Gran Canaria, the largest island of the Canary Islands ("Islands of the Dogs" for you detail-minded readers) is the current home for the Tinkoff-Saxo team. On Sunday the team rode for three and a half hours on undulating terrain. Alberto Contador got to celebrate his 33rd birthday on the road today.

Here's a video of the team riding and joking with Contador at the training camp.

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