Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Friday, December 13, 2019
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2019 Tour de France | 2019 Giro d'Italia
Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go. - Oscar Wilde
Upcoming racing:
- Dec 15: Vlaamse Druivencross
- Dec 22: World Cup, Namur
- Dec 26: World Cup Heusden-Zolder
- Dec 27: Azencross
- Dec 29: Superprestige Diegen
- Jan 1: GP Sven Nys
- Feb 22: GP Leuven
Latest completed racing:
- Dec 7: IKO Cyclocross-Essen
- Nov 17: Flandriencross
- Nov 10: European Cyclocross Championships
- Nov 3: Telenet Superprestige Ruddervoorde
- Oct 27: Superprestige Gavere Cyclocross
- Oct 26: Cincinnati Cyclocross
- Oct 17-22: Tour of Guangxi
- Oct 20: Japan Cup
- Oct 20: Chrono des Nations
Movistar signs two new riders
Here's the team's release:
The Movistar Team confirmed Thursday the addition of two world-class track specialists to its men’s roster for 2020. Albert Torres (Ciudadela de Menorca, ESP; 1990) and Sebastián Mora (Villarreal, ESP; 1988) will wear the Telefónica-backed squad’s jersey on the road, combining their calendar with track appearances as they both aim for medals in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics this summer.
Torres & Mora at the Minsk World Cup
The announcement was made at a special presentation in Madrid’s headquarters of the Spanish Sports Council (CSD), an event attended by the President of the biggest sports authority in the country, María José Rienda; the President of the Royal Spanish Cycling Federation, José Luis López Cerrón; Rafael Fernández de Alarcón, Telefónica’s Director of Brand, Partnerships and Media; and the General Manager of the Telefónica-backed squad, Eusebio Unzué, alongside the two signings.
Both riders have enjoyed a long career on the track and the road. Mora, joining the WorldTour from Caja Rural-Seguros RGA, has no less than five gold medals in World and European Championships to his name. He put on the rainbow bands in 2016 (London), winning the Scratch race, and has four European titles, two at that same event -Grenchen (SUI), in 2015, and Apeldoorn (NED), last October- and another two at the Madison (2015 + 2016), alongside his future team-mate with the Blues.
Torres, who even became Spanish under-23 road race champion in Albacete, in 2010, has taken to the podium up to eleven times in Worlds and European Champs, including five medals: those with Mora at the Madison; two European jerseys in the Omnium -Saint-Quentin, in 2016, and Berlin, in 2017-; and a World title in en Cali (2014), alongside David Muntaner at the Madison.
Two great rouleurs -and, in Albert’s case, a very decent sprinter-, Torres and Mora will bring their unquestionable talent on the road to the Movistar Team as well as fulfilling their track schedule, with Tokyo as main stop. This autumn, and other than Mora’s European title at the Scratch, they both stepped onto the podium (3rd) at the World Cup events in Minsk (BLR) and Glasgow (GBR), with Mora also reaching top-3 results at the Scratch and the Points Race.
UniSA-Australia announces team line-up for 2020 Santos Tour Down Under men's & women's races
The race organizer sent me this:
UniSA-Australia are the first team to confirm their squads which will take to the start line of the 2020 Santos Tour Down Under and Santos Women's Tour Down Under.
The UniSA-Australia team provides a development opportunity for athletes within National Road Series (NRS) teams to contest UCI events within Australia.
Three of the seven-man men’s team rode for the number one NRS team in 2019, including 2019 Under 23 national champion Nicholas White, Tyler Lindorff and 2019 U23 Road World Championships representative Samuel Jenner.
The six-member women’s outfit is highlighted by leader Rachel Neylan, with rising star Josie Talbot, an alumnus of the team in 2019, who is set for her WorldTour debut with Neylan in 2020.
UniSA-Australia: Santos Tour Down Under
•Nicholas White - AUS
•Tyler Lindorff - AUS
•Samuel Jenner - AUS
•Jarrad Drizners - AUS
•Samuel Welsford - AUS
•Kelland O’Brien - AUS
•Cameron Scott - AUS
UniSA-Australia: Santos Women’s Tour Down Under •Rachel Neylan - AUS
•Jessica Pratt - AUS
•Ruby Roseman-Gannon - AUS
•Macey Stewart - AUS
•Georgie Whitehouse - AUS
•Josie Talbot - AUS
UniSA-Australia will have 13 riders line up on the start line across the men’s and women’s races in 2020.
Mike Turtur, Race Director, Santos Tour Down Under said that UniSA-Australia’s participation offers an outstanding opportunity for these riders to compete alongside UCI WorldTour teams in both events.
“Like usual, UniSA-Australia have provided a quality group of up-and-coming cyclists that will no doubt enjoy the experience immensely,” he said.
Investor claims: Cities going car-free in 2020 leading to boom in E-bikes & scooters
Bike Europe sent me this:
LONDON, UK – Already next year the first major European cities will ban private cars. It will bring about a boom in the use of e-bikes and scooters. Such a “green revolution” is predicted by a leading tech investor, according to a recent Reuters report.
Martin Mignot of investment capital firm Index Ventures has made these claims pointing in particular to the Norwegian capital Oslo and bike-friendly Amsterdam in the Netherlands for both being candidates to become the first to go car-free in 2020.
With this trade journal being based in the Netherlands we have serious doubts regarding the claim of this investment company. No recent signals have appeared in the Dutch press indicating that the Amsterdam city council is preparing such a measure or is to vote on it in the short term. However, those who have visited Amsterdam know that parts of the city center are so full of bicycles, trams and taxi’s that riding a car yourselves is challenging.
Next to Oslo and Amsterdam, Index Ventures also states that major cities in France will follow in the next five years. “People are just realizing that congestion and pollution have reached a tipping point and that you can’t just add more roads – space is very finite and a private car is just not a very efficient way of moving people around,” he said. “There is a genuine technological revolution … Those (electric) vehicles are the missing link in the transport grid.”
Index Ventures’ Martin Mignot substantiates his claim with pointing out that a drop in the price of batteries has enabled the creation of a wide range of relatively affordable electric vehicles that open up the city to travelers. Electric bikes and scooters for rent through companies such as Bird and Lime are now a common sight in many city centers and Mignot said they could fill gaps in public transport.
You can read the entire piece here.
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