Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Friday, November 29, 2019
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2019 Tour de France | 2019 Giro d'Italia
I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy. - Rabindranath Tagore
Upcoming racing:
- Dec 7: IKO Cyclocross-Essen
- 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:
- 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
Ethan Hayter joins Team INEOS
Team INEOS sent me this release:
Team INEOS are excited to announce the signing of versatile British rider Ethan Hayter on a three-year contract.
Ethan Hayter. Photo: Simon Wilkinson/SWPix
Widely-regarded as one of the brightest young talents in British cycling, the 21 year old has enjoyed a successful 2019 season on the track and road and becomes the latest young prospect to join the team in 2020.
On the road, Hayter enjoyed stage victories at the Baby Giro and Tour de l’Avenir as well as overall victory at A Travers les Hauts de France at under 23 level, while on the track the London-born rider won national titles in the Omnium and Scratch races as well as silver in the madison at the Track World Cup in Glasgow.
A World and European title holder on the track, he will spend the start of the season preparing for the Tokyo Olympics before shifting his focus to the road – and he believes Team INEOS is the ideal place for him to develop in 2020 and beyond.
He said: “It’s the best place for me to begin my career as a professional road rider and the best place for me to be with the Olympics coming up next year too. This team has lots of riders for me to take inspiration from and there’s so much young talent in the team as this season has shown.
“As well as Egan, Pavel and Tao receiving chances at the Grand Tours, there’s other young riders such as Chris Lawless - who was someone I was racing against at under 23 level not long ago - winning Tour de Yorkshire, so there’s plenty of different paths to follow.”
And while the majority of his victories have been in bunch sprints, Hayter believes he has a well-rounded base which he will be looking to develop in his time with the team.
He added: “The Baby Giro and Tour de l’Avenir are the biggest races at Under 23 level and I won stages in both of them so that was a massive confidence boost heading into the new season.
“At the Baby Giro I was sixth on one of the mountain stages so I was right up there on the climbs and the sprints, so I will have to discover which type of race suits me best. It means I can look at most race profiles and still have a go.”
Hayter joined the team in September 2018 as a stagiaire, playing a key support role in Gianni Moscon’s victories at Coppa Agostoni and Giro della Toscana and he revealed these races provided him with valuable insight into how the team prepares for races.
He added: “When I was a stagiaire last season for a part of the 2018 Italian block, the experience helped me understand how the team works and gave me an idea of what the team are about. In the races I rode in, Gianni Moscon was flying and it was great to be a part of his victories.”
Team INEOS Team Principal Sir Dave Brailsford said: “Ethan is an exciting, young rider who has already had significant success at a more junior level. His signing is a further commitment to our long term-future as Team INEOS.
“We now have a really exciting group of young riders who all have the chance to compete and train with more senior and experienced teammates – and who can learn from them what it takes to win. Ethan is at a key stage of his professional development and we are all excited about what lies ahead for him as part of the Team.”
Giuseppe Pancera was one of the finest Italian racers of the late 1920s. The family's photo collection is presented to the music of Puccini
Bulgaria turning into next European Bike Valley
Bike Europe sent me this news piece:
PLOVDIV, Bulgaria – The newest e-bike producer in Bulgaria is Cross Ltd. The company recently opened a new facility focused on the production of e-bikes in Montana. Mid-2017 Leader 96 Ltd opened the company’s second bike factory which is located near Plovdiv. Next to Leader 96 and Cross bike, the Bulgarian bicycle industry consists of four more producers. It’s turning Bulgaria into Europe’s next bike valley from where the export of e-bikes is rocketing.
The Bulgarian bicycle industry has realized particularly quickly what the opportunities are of the rapidly growing sale of e-bikes within Europe. And made a clear shift towards this new product. This is bringing new successes for the relatively new industry of the country. The e-bike export is growing at lightning speed.
The numbers speak for themselves. The e-bike export of the Bulgarian OEM makers grew by 240 percent in 2018 and again more than doubled in the first half of 2019. This is no coincidence. Next to a rapidly growing demand for electric bicycles it is also caused by recent investments in new production facilities. According to Eurostat data Bulgaria exported over 35,000 e-bikes in 2017. A year later that number stood at 118,000 while in the first half of 2019 the year-total of 2018 was reached already. 116,000 were exported in the first half year of 2019!
Value-wise the 2018 export amounted to 106 million euro in 2018. Related to the number of exported e-bikes, it stands for an average value per exported unit of 898 euro. That value dropped somewhat in the first half of this year with a total export value of 95 million euro.
Next to the 118,000 e-bikes exported in 2018, the Bulgarian industry also exported 680,000 regular bicycles in that year.
Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark are the countries where the Bulgaria made e-bikes are exported to. For regular bicycles Switzerland and Romania are the country’s biggest export markets.
You can read the entire story here.
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