Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Friday, November 3, 2017
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2017 Tour de France | 2017 Giro d'Italia
It always seems impossible until it's done. - Nelson Mandela
Current racing:
- Oct 28 - Nov 5: Tour of Hainan
Latest completed racing:
- Oct 29: Cyclocross Ruddervoorde
- Oct 28: Cincy CX, Devou Park
- Oct 28: Grote Prijs van Brabant
- Oct 19 - 24: Tour of Guangxi
- October 22: Japan Cup
- October 17: Nationale Sluitingsprijs Putte-Kapellen
- Oct 10 - 15: Tour of Turkey
- October 8: Paris-Tours;
- October 7: Il Lombardia
Tour of Hainan stage six report from race leader Jakub Mareczko's Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia team:
Here's what the team had to say about Mareczko's fifth consecutive stage win:
The Tour of Hainan is once again the theatre where Wilier Triestina – Selle Italia carries its domination wand Jakub Mareczko has claimed the 5th win in 6 stages at the end of another amazing performance of the entire team.
Six tireless domestiques, always in front of the peloton from the very first stage, and a ruthless ender like #Kuba, who achieved his 13th win of the season.
Tomorrow the scenario will change in the stage of Wuzhishan with a 1st category climb with 10 kms to go that might shake up the things in the general classification where Mareczko leads with 28″on the Estonian Laas.
Jakub Mareczko: “A very long stage, my team mates did a great job leading the pace from the very beginning. I’m very happy of the end of my season and of these last weeks that have been full of satisfaction”
And here's the Hainan stage six race report from Bardiani-CSF:
Marco Maronese has taken today the first podium as professional rider. In stage six of Tour of Hainan, last race of 2017 season for Bardiani-CSF, 220 km from Chengjiang to Sanya, the young sprinter took the third place behind the almost-unstoppable Mareczko (Wilier), who won the fifth consecutive stage, and Estonian Lass (Delko-Marseille).
“This result repays a little the great efforts that the team is doing, day after day, to win a stage” said Maronese. “Every day there’s a big fight in the finale and sprints are often chaotic, has happened today. My teammates did a great job to put me and Simion, who shares with me the assignment of sprinting, in the best condition but speed was to high to pass the ones in front of me. Chapeau to Mareczko, he’s absolutely the strongest here in Hainan, but we’ll try for sure to beat him until the last stage”.
Jakub Mareczko wins his fifth consecutive stage.
Maronese, at his first year as pro-rider, already took four placements at Tour of Hainan (7th in first stage, 9th in second and 6th in fourth) in addition to the fifth taken at Tour de Langkawi (5th, 7th, 7th and 6th) and the one at Dubuai Tour (9th).
The #GreenTeam has again three chances to win a stage at Tour of Hainan. At the moment, it is leading the team classification while Maronese is 9th and Maestri 12th in GC.
Tomorrow, seventh day of race (Sanya-Wuzishan, 166 km), will offer the queen stage with four KOM ascents. Stage eight and nine will be, on paper, other good chances for sprinters.
Team Movistar completes its 2018 roster
Here's the team's news release:
The Movistar Team rounds off its two rosters for the 2018 season this week as Gloria Rodríguez (Torre Pacheco, Murcia, ESP; 1992) joins as the 10th rider of its new women's team while Dayer Quintana (Cómbita, COL; 1992) extends his contract with the men's team he had already been part of since 2014. The two groups has got together at this week's traditional pre-season meeting in Pamplona, Spain, where the squad managed by Eusebio Unzué has started getting things ready for next season.
Rodríguez, a member of the Lointek team for the last two years, is a notable time trialist with national titles both on the road and on the track, including the 2016 Spanish championship in the individual pursuit. A silver medalist at last year's National champ time trial, the 25-year-old from Murcia has Spanish and Basque Cup race wins to her account, as well as an overall podium in the Volta a València.
In turn, Dayer Quintana will continue to ride alongside brother Nairo at the squad that has seen cover his entire pro career up to date. A pure climber, the man from Cómbita in Boyacá has two victories in his UCI palmarès: the Queen stage of the Tour of Austria, in his debut season, and the overall classification of the Tour de San Luis in 2016.
Start of European alloy frame making sparks many more initiatives
Bike Europe sent me this news:
DOETINCHEM, the Netherlands – Only a few years ago the (re-)start of (alloy) frame production became a topic in the European bicycle industry. Investing in and setting-up frame production here is seen as a major move towards adding flexibility to the industry’s supply chain. The concept has quickly been embraced and new initiatives are taken. Here’s an update of the current state of affairs.
The most well-known aluminium frame production project in the industry is Triangles in Portugal which started last year November and officially opened its new factory in 21 October. The Agueda, Portugal based companies Rodi, Miranda, and Ciclo-Fapril invested over € 14 million in the frame facility, which has an initial annual production capacity of about 450,000 aluminium frames.
A second frame production location in Portugal is in Gaia at the RTE facility. With an annual capacity of 300,000 steel frames, RTE is exclusively manufacturing bicycles for Decathlon.
Next to Triangles and RTE plans are currently being made for a third frame making location in Portugal. These plans are now reaching their final stage, as insiders reported at last October’s Taichung Bike Week. These three locations together would present ‘Portugal’s Bike Value’ a strong bicycle and e-bike production position in Europe.
The concept of close-to-market frame production for increasing speed and adding flexibility to the supply chain also sparked new initiatives in other countries like in Bulgaria. At Eurobike, last August, the companies Fox Laser and Metal Werk presented their plan for frame production in Bulgaria in the very near future.
Earlier this year Turkish Korel Elektronik Sanayi ve Ticaret AS announced to step into large-scale robotized alloy frame making. The company located some 300 km southeast of Istanbul; claimed to have a production capacity of about one million frames annually and started production already. Next to producing frames for the company’s own brand Corelli, Korel Elektronik also wants to offer its alloy frames to OEM customers and in particular to the ones based in the EU member states to where it can export (import) duty free.
You can read the entire story here.
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