Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Tuesday, November 5, 2024
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2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia
The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision. - Helen Keller
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Upcoming racing:
- November 17: Flandriencross
- December 15: Namur
Latest completed racing:
- November 3: European Cyclocross Championships
- November 1: X20 Trofee Oudenaarde-Koppenbergcross
- October 27: Superprestige Overijse-Vlaamse Druivencross
- October 15 - 20: Tour of Guangxi
- October 20: Japan Cup Road Race
- October 20: Veneto Classic
- October 16: Giro del Veneto
- October 13: Chrono des Nations
Van Anrooij’s Team Lidl-Trek posted this:
Van Anrooij will miss cyclocross season and first months of road season
After experiencing unusual sensations in her left leg during the second half of the road racing season, Shirin van Anrooij was diagnosed with a narrowing of her external iliac artery. On 31st October, Shirin underwent a successful surgery to widen the artery, and will now spend an extended period of rest before returning to training, and later racing.
Shirin van Anrooij in 2022.
Unfortunately, this means that Shirin will miss the cyclocross season as well as the first months of the road season. She is expected to return to competition on the road in May with Lidl-Trek.
“After some hard months on and off the bike, we finally got to the bottom of what was causing me problems in my left leg,” explained Van Anrooij. “I have had successful surgery to repair a narrowing of my external iliac artery. It was definitely a scary discovery at first, but everything went well and I am happy that I can now start my recovery.
“I have a long journey in front of me! It will be around six months until I can properly think about racing again so, sadly this will mean no CX for me in 2024/2025, but I’ll be watching and cheering for everyone all season. All the support I have received from my friends, family, team staff and teammates has been incredible! It’s made this process a lot easier so, I want to thank everyone who has been with me every step of the way through this.”
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Rider Mauro Schmid on learning lessons at every opportunity, & taking risks to succeed
Team Jayco Alula posted this:
Do you learn more from a victory or a defeat?
Mauro Schmid has no doubts: “After all, both victories and defeats make you stronger,” says Schmid, whose first season in the Team Jayco AlUla jersey had its ups and downs. “The first part of the season wasn’t easy because of a knee injury that didn’t want to heal.”
It took him a while to find the right condition and his victory in the road race at the Swiss national championships in June was proof that the wind had changed. “Winning the national title was something really special. I had come close on a couple of occasions and finally I did it,” he explains.
Mauro Schmid wins stage 11 of the 2021 Giro d'Italia. RCS Sport photo
At the Vuelta a España, the 24-year-old from the canton of Zurich was among the key protagonists, finishing second twice and fourth once. He took more from the experience than just the results.
“I learned a lot. I was convinced I could leave everyone behind but, sometimes, it’s better to take risks and wait a bit before attacking,” says Schmid.
An early lover of cycling
Schmid is a Sagittarius, enthusiastic, loyal, intelligent and above all a lover of freedom. Perhaps this is why he chose the bicycle. On his personal website, he writes: “I was already enjoying long bike rides in the Engadin, Ticino and South Tyrol at the tender age of seven.”
As a child, his idol was Fabian Cancellara but now he doesn’t have a specific role model. There are several riders he likes for the way they ride and, if he really has to name one, it’s Mark Cavendish who was also his teammate at the Belgian Quick-Step team.
Along with him, Schmid’s whole family were all great cycling enthusiasts, starting with his grandfather. He was a lively child, and at times, he didn’t follow the rules. He quickly dismisses the subject of school with a wry quip: “I don’t think I was my teacher’s favourite.”
Growing up, he didn’t like being in class and took every opportunity he could to get outdoors. Like most Swiss, Schmid can ski very well both downhill and in the woods: “Ever since I was a child, I did cross-country skiing. It was a good way to train.”
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But it is on two wheels where Schmid can give the best of himself. Since his early years, he has switched between mountain biking and his road bike with ease, plus some racing on the track where, between 2017 and 2019, he won several medals at the European championships. In the winter, he also dedicates himself to cyclo-cross where he has a lot of fun.
“They are different worlds,” he says, “but you can learn something from each. For example, there is nothing better than off-road and track to learn how to ride a bike well.”
Above all, for Schmid, cycling is fun and has the added social benefits to it as well. “Thanks to the bike I have made many new friends. Swiss youth cycling is above all a big family. In the junior road races, we were never more than 40 in the peloton, while in the MTB races we even reached 100.”
A toast with Brunello di Montalcino
The youth categories highlighted his talent and, at the same time, added to Schmid’s motivation to turn his passion into a full-time job. In 2021, he became a professional rider in the jersey of the South African Qhubeka team, after a year on the Leopard development team.
It wasn’t long before he announced himself as a rider to watch to the at the Giro d’Italia that year. On the Montalcino stage, the one with the dirt roads of Tuscany, he broke away and won by beating the Italian Alessandro Covi in a sprint. It was his first professional victory, and it came at one of the biggest races of the season.
“It was a very important victory because it put me on the cycling map,” says Schmid. “That day, I was convinced I would do well, and my cycling background gave me an advantage on the many gravel roads.”
A look to the future
As he’s grown from child to adult, being able to compare cycling with work has also been very useful. It has given him an appreciation of what he has and what cycling has given him.
“In some periods, I worked as a car mechanic’s assistant and I understood something important: cycling is sometimes hard, but working is even harder,” he says.
Schmid was still just 21 when he took that Giro d’Italia stage victory. He’s since had two more full seasons to find his place in the peloton before he joined Team Jayco AlUla at the start of the season. Those years have given him a chance to hone his craft, but he still has some areas that he’s keen to work on.
“I think I’ve improved year after year and I’ve gotten closer and closer to the best,” Schmid says of himself. “I still have to improve in many things, certainly in my positioning in the race and learning how to spend less energy.”
In the meantime, he enjoys his well-deserved rest by going out with friends and walking on Lake Zurich. In the summer, he likes playing golf and wave surfing even though “I never have time”. If he weren’t a pro rider, he would like to work in finance because “I like numbers” but also collect watches and works of art.
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Here’s the team’s announcement:
Maltese rider Aidan Buttigieg will ride in the colours of the Italian team for the next two years, after his good role as a stagiaire in the final part of this season.
Three classics in September and October allowed Aidan Buttigieg to make his professional debut with Team Polti Kometa. An opportunity that was a success and is now confirmed with his incorporation in the squad for the next two seasons. A cyclist who will make a reality the projection of Malta not only as a tourist destination but also as a sporting potential, thanks to a partnership between country and team that is also reinforced for 2025.
Aidan Buttigieg
He raced in Matteotti, Agostoni and Bernocchi with the illusion of representing a whole country in the professional peloton, and already at that moment Buttigieg confirmed his desire to learn. ‘I really enjoyed the three opportunities to race in Italy, classics with so much history, in which I couldn’t finish, but they have been a great progress for me also as a learning experience in order to be able to help my team-mates’.
The goals become much more ambitious for him now: ‘I want to thank everyone who trusts me and encourages me. As a cyclist, I have fulfilled everyone’s dream and I can’t wait to start showing what I can bring to Team Polti Kometa. I want to remember my family, my grandparents and my country Malta which I will represent with great pride, putting the island on the cycling map’.
‘The beginning of the year will be a time to continue learning, to gain experience and to try to take advantage of all the competitions I compete in. All this without forgetting to help promote Malta in all countries and events, which is something that excites me,’ says Buttigieg. ‘The breakaways, and even the opportunities that arise from these racing situations, will be my priority, always at the service of what my team-mates need’.
‘Thanks to Visit Malta for their support for the team, to Ivan Basso and Valerio Agnoli, who have allowed something we have worked and strived for over many years to become a reality’. All that remains is the wish that this rider can grow in sporting terms in a project that will accompany that progression.
Stefano Zanatta, sports director: ‘Naturally, an athlete like Aidan is an ideal incentive to promote Maltese cycling and give prestige to a country that is supporting us more and more. Wearing the national champion’s jersey in competition is also a source of great pride. But beyond this, he is a rider who shows good numbers, he is a fast passista who will find his ideal place in our squad’.
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