Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Friday, December 25, 2020
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2020 Tour de France | 2020 Giro d'Italia
To me, every hour of the day and night is an unspeakably perfect miracle. - Walt Whitman
Upcoming racing:
- Dec 26: Heusden-Zolder Cyclocross
- Jan 19 - 24, 2021: Santos Festival of Cycling
- Jan 24 - 31, 2021: Vuelta a San Juan
- Jan 28 - 31, 2021: Challenge Illes Belears
Latest completed racing:
- Dec 23: Azencross-Herentals
- Dec 20: Namur Cyclocross
- Dec 13: Gavere Cyclocross
- Dec 12: Scheldecross
- Nov 14: GP Leuven Cyclocross
- Nov 7 - 8: European Cyclocross Championships
- Oct 31: Cyclocross Koppenberg
- Oct 24: Cyclocross Ruddervoorde
- Oct 20 - Nov 8: Vuelta a España
- October 3 - 25: Giro d'Italia
CANYON//SRAM Racing announces today that Rolf Aldag will move away from his role as Sport Director after this year
Editor's note: Aldag raced as a pro from 1992 to 2005, notably for Team Telekom 1993 - 2005. In 2007 he admitted to taking EPO from 1995 to 2009. From 2015 to 2019 he was performance manager for Team MTN-Qhubeka before moving on to Canyon/SRAM in 2020.
Here's the Canyon-Sram press release:
“Even though Rolf held the position as Sport Director at CANYON//SRAM for only one year, his great commitment to the team together with his exceptional knowledge and experience helped to unlock the potential of the team. We are very proud of the joint successes like the team’s first podium on the general classification at the Giro Rosa. We thank Rolf for his great work at CANYON//SRAM and wish him personally and professionally the best of luck for his future,” said Ronny Lauke, Team Manager CANYON//SRAM.
Rolf Aldag racing in the 2004 German time trial championships.
Aldag said, “Thanks to the CANYON//SRAM team around Ronny, for making me realise how much potential can be unleashed when a team takes the human factor seriously, and lives the highs and lows as a team.”
For the start of the 2021 season Lauke will take over the position as interim Sport Director.
“We are excited about the group of riders we have brought together and our build up to the upcoming 2021 season. We will miss having Rolf with us but we are confident we will bring a suitable successor to our team,” said Lauke.
Team Mitchelton-Scott looks back on Grace Brown's 2020 Brabantse Pijl win
Here's the team's retrospect:
Australian rider Grace Brown flew the flag for Mitchelton-SCOTT in the month of October, taking the team's final race victory of the 2020, which was her first ever professional race victory in Europe.
The solo victory came following on from Brown's impressive performance at the WorldTour race Liège-Bastogne-Liège a few days earlier, where she stormed to second place, her first WorldTour podium finish making it a special month for the 28-year-old.
Grace Brown winning a stage in the 2018 Tour Down Under,
Here’s our winning rider’s post-race reactions:
Grace Brown - Brabantse Pijl:
“It is pretty exciting to cross the line first for my first time in Europe. I took confidence from Sunday into today’s race and I think that really helped me. I have made a bit of a jump in this last week which is really cool.
“On that final lap I just saw an opportunity when girls where attacking and there was a bit of confusion and I just decided to attack and go for it.
"When I got across to Stephens it was on a cobbled section and she tried to ride the gutter and then was struggling to come across to me and completed lost momentum, so I decided to just go.
"Then into the final I heard that the Sunweb riders were trying to come across and I was getting time gaps and it was sort of the opposite of Sunday in Liège.
"The time was coming down and I was pretty on the limit but once we hit the headwind it started to go out again, so I felt pretty confident then with just a few kilometres left to finish.”
October 2020 wins:
Brabantse Pijl – Grace Brown
2020 wins total:
Men’s Team – 16 wins
Women’s Team – 10 wins
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