Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Monday, January 18, 2016

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Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not; a sense of humor to console him for what he is. - Francis Bacon

BikeRaceInfo is covering these races:

January 17: Peoples Choice Classic, Australia (results now posted)

January 18 - 24: Tour de San Luis, Argentina

January 19 - 24: Santos Tour Down Under, Australia

Wild cards for Giro, Milano-San Remo and Tirreno-Adriatico announced

RCS Sport, organizer of the Giro d'Italia, Milano-San Remo and Tirreno-Adriatico, announced the wild card teams getting invitations to those races. The 17 World Tour teams get automatic invitations.

GIRO — The 99th edition of Giro d'Italia (6-29 May) will have a total of 22 teams. The wild cards are: Bardiani-CSF (Ita), Gazprom-Rusvelo (Rus), Nippo- Vini Fantini (Ita), Southeast-Venezuela (Ita).

TIRRENO-ADRIATICO — (9-15 March) Thjere will be 23 teams eight racers. The wild cards: Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec (Ita), Bardiani-CSF (Ita), Bora-Argon 18 (Ger), Caja Rural-Seguros Rga (Spa), CCC Sprandi Polkowice (Pol).

MILANO-SAN REMO — At Milano-San Remo (19 March) 25 teams of 8 racers will participate. The seven wild cards are: Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec (Ita), Bardiani-CSF (Ita), Bora-Argon 18 (Ger), CCC Sprandi Polkowice (Pol), Cofidis Solutions Credits (Fra), Southeast-Venezuela (Ita), Team Novo Nordisk (USA).

BMC Racing Team extends with Tejay van Garderen

BMC sent me this news:

17 January, 2016, Santa Rosa, California (USA): BMC Racing Team today announced the extension of Tejay van Garderen's contract beyond 2016, on the eve of the UCI WorldTour season. The team recently confirmed the continuation of BMC Switzerland as title sponsor, which secures the future of BMC Racing Team past the 2016 season.

BMC Racing Team General Manager Jim Ochowicz said the extension of van Garderen's contract is part of a long-term plan. "Both Tejay and BMC Racing Team continue to strive towards reaching some of our goals which have not yet been accomplished together. It also solidifies his leadership in the team, in that Tejay is one of our captains. It's important for the team as a whole to have Tejay continue on with us as a leader of the organization and completes what we started with him four years ago.

Tejay van Garderen in BMC's 2016 kit

"We've recently announced the extension beyond 2016 and Tejay is part of that extension. We are happy to be able to announce today that he'll be continuing on with us in the future."

For van Garderen, it was a natural decision to stay with BMC Racing Team. "This will be my fifth year with the team so when you get to know everyone so well over a period of time you become more like family. I really like the way the team operates. I like all of the guys and I definitely think this is the perfect environment for me to flourish with my career. My main goal is the Tour de France, it is the pinnacle of the season and I'd like to shoot for the podium or victory over the next few years.

"I think BMC Racing Team offer a higher level of support than what you get at other teams. The training camps, the altitude camps, wind tunnel testing, there is no stone left unturned."

Garfoot retains lead after second stage of Santos Women’s Tour

This update came from Orica-AIS:

Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic stage winner Lizzie Williams has sprinted to third place as teammate and race leader Katrin Garfoot finished strongly in seventh to retain her overall lead at the Santos Women’s Tour.

Williams hit the front into the final corner but was run down in the closing metres by the Wiggle High5 pair of Annette Edmondson and Chloe Hosking who claimed the top two spots on the podium. Safely looking after herself, Garfoot got the better of her general classification competitors to retain the blue leader’s jersey into the penultimate day of racing.

“I was a bit overwhelmed at the finish,” Garfoot admitted. “I wasn’t in a great position, I lost Lizzie’s wheel, but I just made sure I rolled through with the other jersey wearers. We didn’t expect to keep the jersey but it’s great we did. The crowd is amazing. It’s a good course, but it was pretty hectic with a lot of crashes so I never felt too comfortable. I’m really looking forward to tomorrow. Hills are much better for me.”

ORICA-AIS’ sport director Gene Bates said the team continued to work on their lead-out but that the signs were promising from Williams. “It was a really good result for Lizzie,” Bates said. “I think there’s still a lot of room for improvement with our lead out but Lizzie is fast enough to be up there that’s for sure.”

“We weren’t too stressed about the jersey tonight, we know it’s going to hinge on tomorrow and we are really keen to make it a good show.”

The Santos Women’s Tour continues tomorrow with the longest day of the four-day Tour, a lumpy 100.8km road stage around Lyndoch.

How it happened: It was a short and sharp evening of racing on stage two of the Santos Women’s Tour, as the peloton navigated 12laps of the 1.7kilometre criterium course in East End Adelaide.

Despite a number of efforts riders weren’t given much freedom to move off the front of the peloton outside of contesting for the intermediate sprints.

With the race destined for a bunch sprint, ORICA-AIS hit the front in the final lap as Chloe McConville worked to lead out sprinter Williams for the win.  Hitting out from the final corner Williams held on for third as the two Wiggle High5 riders launched over the top of her.

Lampre-Merida starts racing season in Australia

Here's the release from the team:

Chains, wheels, pedals are back in movement in the new season. The People's Choice Classic, a criterium of 51 km in Adelaide, which is a foretaste of the Tour Down Under, was the kick-off of the 2016 cycling year for all the World Tour teams and LAMPRE-MERIDA was in the bunch too.

A rider at his debut in blue-fuchsia-green colors, Marko Kump, was the best rider ain the race classification, having obtained the 5th place in a massive sprint which was the obvious end of a very fast race which is usually the playground for the sprinters.

The Slovenian cyclist from LAMPRE-MERIDA completed in the top 5 an effective recovery, after having approached the final straight not pedaling in the head position of the bunch. Despite a good sprint, Kump was preceded by the winner Ewan, by Nizzolo (2nd), by Blyth (3rd) and by Swift (4th).

Caleb Ewan wins the Down Under Cassic. Marko Kump can be seen Lampre colors behind him.

"I really appreciated the team spirit and the work of our group in supporting Kump during this first race, which is characterized by a short and fast course which we covered 30 times - sports director from LAMPRE-MERIDA, Mauduit, explained - Marko realized an impressive recovery on the final straight, but it was impossible to do better than the 5th place".

The People's Choice Classic was the debut race in LAMPRE-MERIDA not only for Kump, but also for the South African talented climber Meintjes and for the Italian young gun Zurlo.

Direct Energie presents 2016 kit

Direct Energie (formerly Europcar) introduced its 2016 racing kit. The Pro Continental team sports some serious horsepower in Thomas Voeckler, Bryan Coquard, Sylvain Chavanel, and Romain Sicard.

Direct Energie's 2016 colors

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