Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Wednesday, November 11, 2015

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2016 Strade Bianche to start and finish in Siena

Strade Bianche, the famed single-day race that goes over the white dirt roads of Tuscany, will start and end in Siena in 2016. The race will be held Saturday, March 5, and cover 176 kilometers. There will be nine sectors of dirt roads adding up to 52.8 kilometers.

Racing on the white roads of Tuscany in 2015

2016 to be Fabian Cancellara's final year of racing

Swiss cyclist Fabian Cancellara announced that he would end his pro racing career in 2016. The 34-year old rider for Trek had a rough 2015, starting with two broken vertebrae from a crash at the E3 Harelbeke. He crashed again in the Tour de France. And again he broke two vertebrae.

He tried to regain his from in the Vuelta, but got a stomach bug and had to quit.

Cancellara, gold medalist in the 2008 time trial, announced he would not be competing in the 2016 Olympics.

Fabian Cancellara riding in pain after crashing at the E3 Harelbeke

Bicycle colossus reports 3rd quarter loss

Bike-EU posted this news:

MONTREAL, Canada – Dorel Industries was troubled by the appreciation of the US dollar as well as impairment losses on goodwill and customer relationships related to Caloi in Brazil, restructuring and other costs. The owner, of among others, Cannondale, GT, Mongoose, Sugoi as well as Brazilian Caloi which was taken-over in August 2013, reported a third quarter loss of USD 8.8 million (€ 8.2mn) compared to a net income of USD 19.5 million (€ 18.2mn) in 2014.

The result for the third quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2015 was USD 2.01 billion (€ 1.9bn) compared to USD 1.98 billion (€ 1.8bn) a year ago. Reported net income year-to-date was USD 19.1 million (€ 17.8 mn) compared to USD 59.5 million (€ 55.4mn) a year ago.

In its financial report Dorel says that, “The appreciation of the US dollar had a net negative impact of USD 39 million (€ 36mn) on the operating profit of the Juvenile and Sports segments.” Dorel Sports (including Cannondale, GT, Mongoose, Sugoi, Caloi and others) third quarter revenue remained flat at USD 266.5 million (€ 248.3mn), but was up approximately 9% after removing the impact of foreign exchange year-over-year.

The main drivers of the increased revenue were in IBD channel due to increased demand of new model year 2016 higher margin bicycles. Caloi sales grew in Brazil as consumers were attracted to Caloi’s strong brand equity in the lower price-point category. Dorel Sports nine month revenue decreased 5.9% to USD 746.5 million (€ 695.4mn).

Luke Roberts joins Giant-Alpecin's coaching staff

The team sent this news:

Luke Roberts (AUS) strengthens the performance team of Team Giant-Alpecin. Roberts has been a member of the Australian national track team for more than 10 years and has spent several years with professional road teams. Since ending his career as a pro rider in 2014 he has been a sports director at Team CULT Energy.

Team Giant-Alpecin coach Rudi Kemna (NED) said: “We’ve talked extensively with Luke to assess whether he would be a good match for our organization and to see if there is a personal fit too. This turned out to be the case. Factors that played a major role in our decision were his experience as a pro cyclist, first as a track rider, with the specific training that involves, followed by his experience as a road cyclist, at both large and small teams, in combination with his knowledge of and interest in training science. He has also gained the necessary experience as a coach in recent years, and we want to bring him into our WorldTour team to help him develop into a complete and versatile coach within our organization.

“The first year he will have the opportunity to gain specific experience with our seasoned coaches, especially with regard to our way of working, with Team Giant-Alpecin’s Keep Challenging approach.”

About his new challenge, Roberts said: “Since ending my career as a professional cyclist I have wanted to move forward in my career as a coach. I was looking for a team that fit my philosophy in cycling, and I found that team in Team Giant-Alpecin. I have a lot of respect for the team and its approach to modern cycling, as it is always pushing the development of the team and the sport of cycling itself. So I was keen to make a deal to work together and to progress as a coach. In my first year I will integrate into the team and begin to show my value to the team.”

Team Giant-Alpecin parts ways with coach Christian Guiberteau (FRA). The team thanks him for his contributions and wishes him all the best in his future endeavors.

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