Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Tuesday, June 20, 2017
Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary | Our YouTube page
2017 Tour de France | 2017 Giro d'Italia
The most wasted of all days is one without laughter. - e. e. cummings
Upcoming racing:
- June 21: Halle Ingooigem
- Last week of June: National Championships
- July 1 - 23: Tour de France
Latest completed racing:
- June 10 - 18: Tour de Suisse
- June 14 - 18: Ster ZLM Toer
- June 15 - 18: Route du Sud
- June 11: Rund um Köln
- June 4 - 11: Critérium du Dauphiné
- June 8: GP Kanton Aargau
- May 31 - June 4: Skoda Tour de Luxembourg
Team Sunweb's upcoming racing
The team sent me this preview:
NATIONAL TIME TRIAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
The national championships get underway this week with the time trials starting this Wednesday June 21. In Germany former U23 European and junior world time trial champion Lennard Kämna will be looking for a solid result, alongside Ruben Zepuntke from Team Sunweb's Development Program.
Defending time trial champion Tom Dumoulin will line up in the Netherlands looking to extend his title to wear the jersey for another year. Also starting in the Dutch time trial championships are Nils Eekhoff, Marc Goos and Jarno Mobach, all of whom are part of Team Sunweb's Development Program, as well as Sam Oomen. Georg Preidler will battle against the clock in Austria and Søren Kragh Andersen in Denmark.
Also in action from Team Sunweb's Women's Program is former world champion and current European time trial champion Ellen van Dijk who has spent time perfecting her time trial position at TU Delft University's wind tunnels and who has already had great time trial successes this year at the Healthy Ageing Tour. Lucinda Brand, Floortje Mackaij and Sabrina Stultiens also join van Dijk in the Netherlands on Wednesday ready to put in a solid performance.
Also participating in their national championships are Leah Kirchmann in Canada, Liane Lippert in Germany and Juliette Labous in France who took a 3rd place in both the junior European and junior world time trial championships in 2016, as well as the French title in the women's junior road and time trial.
RACE: Men's National Time Trial Championships
DATE: 21-25/06/2017
LINE-UPS
The Netherlands 21/06
Tom Dumoulin (NED)
Nils Eekhoff (NED)
Marc Goos (NED)
Jarno Mobach (NED)
Sam Oomen (NED)
Denmark 22/06
Søren Kragh Andersen (DEN)
Germany 23/06
Lennard Kämna (GER)
Ruben Zepuntke (GER)
Austria 24/06
Georg Preidler (AUT)
RACE: Women's National Time Trial Championships
DATE: 21-25/06/2017
LINE-UPS
The Netherlands 21/06
Lucinda Brand (NED)
Ellen van Dijk (NED)
Floortje Mackaij (NED)
Sabrina Stultiens (NED)
Canada 21/06
Leah Kirchmann (CAN)
France 21/06
Juliette Labous (FRA)
Germany 23/06
Liane Lippert (GER)
NATIONAL ROAD RACE CHAMPIONSHIPS
Team Sunweb are anticipating an exciting week of racing with the national road race championships taking place across the world. With 11 riders from the team starting the German national championships, Team Sunweb will be looking to try to claim the elite German national jersey to stand next to their U23 title which was taken by Max Kanter from Team Sunweb's Development program last month. Max Walscheid finished second here last year, and the team will be looking for another strong result.
A nine-rider line-up in the Netherlands should prove to be equally as exciting, giving the team a variety of cards to play depending on the race situation, and the team will look for 'outsiders' roles in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France and Norway.
Team Sunweb's women's program have a solid line-up at the Dutch national road race championships and after a season of strong results, the team will be looking to continue their great form in their battle to take home the national jersey. Coryn Rivera also fights for victory in the USA championships, Leah Kirchmann will be aiming for a solid result in Canada, Juliette Labous in France, Liane Lippert in Germany and Molly Weaver in Great Britain.
RACE: Men's National Road Race Championships
DATE: 21-25/06/2017
LINE-UPS
Austria 25/06
Felix Gall (AUT)
Georg Preidler (AUT)
Belgium 25/06
Bert De Backer (BEL)
Zico Waeytens (BEL)
Denmark 25/06
Søren Kragh Andersen (DEN)
France 25/06
Maxime Gressier (FRA)
Germany 25/06
Nikias Arndt (GER)
Phil Bauhaus (GER)
Johannes Fröhlinger (GER)
Simon Geschke (GER)
Lennard Kämna (GER)
Max Kanter (GER)
Leon Rohde (GER)
Martin Salmon (GER)
Florian Stork (GER)
Max Walscheid (GER)
Ruben Zepuntke (GER)
Norway 25/06
Sindre Skjøstad Lunke (NOR)
The Netherlands 25/06
Roy Curvers (NED)
Tom Dumoulin (NED)
Nils Eekhoff (NED)
Marc Goos (NED)
Lennard Hofstede (NED)
Jarno Mobach (NED)
Sam Oomen (NED)
Tom Stamsnijder (NED)
Ramon Sinkeldam (NED)
Laurens Ten Dam (NED)
Mike Teunissen (NED)
Albert Timmer (NED)
RACE: Women's National Road Race Championships
DATE: 21-25/06/2017
LINE-UPS
Canada 24/06
Leah Kirchmann (CAN)
France 24/06
Juliette Labous (FRA)
Germany 24/06
Liane Lippert (GER)
Great Britain 24/06
Molly Weaver (GBR)
The Netherlands 24/06
Lucinda Brand (NED)
Ellen van Dijk (NED)
Floortje Mackaij (NED)
Rozanne Slik (NED)
Julia Soek (NED)
Sabrina Stultiens (NED)
USA 24/06
Coryn Rivera (USA)
GT issues recall due to handlebar issue
Bike Europe sent me this important news:
MONTREAL, Canada – GT issued a voluntary global recall due to a potential issue with handlebars on a limited number of bicycles. So far no incidents or injuries have been reported.
The issue was identified by GT during a product testing program. They found out that in certain cases, the handlebars may develop small fatigue cracks over time, which if not identified, may continue to grow larger and eventually lead to a fracture of the handlebars. If this happens, a rider could lose control of the bicycle and fall.
The bikes affected by the recall are the model year 2017 Karakoram Sport, Karakoram Comp, Aggressor Expert, Aggressor Sport, Aggressor Comp.
If the bicycle stem faceplate marking reads ‘Ø31.8 9-10N.m,’ the bicycle may be affected by this recall. GT points out that if it does not have this exact marking, the bicycle is not affected. The marking can be found on either the top or the bottom side of the stem.
You can read the entire story here.
Bicycle Blue Book's trade-in program expands into Performance and other major retailers
Bicycle Retailer & Industry News sent me this piece. The bike business keeps changing.
SAN JOSE, Calif. (BRAIN) — All 106 Performance Bicycle stores are now accepting used bike trade-ins via Bicycle Blue Book's program, which provides customers with store credit in exchange for their old bikes, which are shipped to BicycleBlueBook to resell.
About 1,200 bike shops in the U.S. are now using the program, said Ira Becker, the president of Bicycle Blue Book. Besides Performance, Northern California's Sports Basement chain, with 9 stores, and Southern California's Jax bike shops, with 10 locations, are now using the program.
Becker said Performance did a trial run with Bicycle Blue Book at four locations near its headquarters in North Carolina, and then rolled it out nationally in May.
You can read the entire story here.
Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary