Even though he didn’t race this weekend, Heinrich Haussler (Cervélo TestTeam), retained the top spot as Nummer Eins in the UCI world rankings after a fantastic first few months of the season.
Individual rankings as of April 20:
1. Haussler 197
2. Contador 188
3. Davis 183
4. Sanchez 169
5. Colom 145
6. Hushovd 140
7. Pippo 130
8. Cav 110
9. Gilbert 110
10. Scarponi 107
The Netherlands will host the three big Tours in 2010.
After Germany withdrew its candidacy on Thursday to host the start of the Tour de France, the Dutch cities of Utrecht and Rotterdam were the only two remaining candidates. In October, the organisers will decide which city will host the Tour.
The Netherlands is already to host the start of the 2010 Tour of Spain from Assen in August, the first overseas launch of the race in more than 12 years. And, likewise Amsterdam is to host the start of next year’s Giro d’Italia.
The past week has been very very successful for the Cervèlo TestTeam with Hushovd’s podium place at Paris-Roubaix and Haussler’s impressive ride in cycling’s toughest one-day classics which also made him the new leader of the UCI World Ranking list. Canadian Dominque Rollin steered clear of the nasty crash 200m before the finish to earn his first European podium at Scheldeprijs Vlaanderen.
If that wasn’t enough, the women’s Cervélo TestTeam had two victories when Claudia Häussler won the Rund um Schönaich (Germany), and the Austrian national TT champion Christina Soeder got her first time-trail victory of the season in Hungary. Both the men and women teams are now ranked second in the UCI wold ranking list.
Next one up is the Amstel Gold Race on Sunday, April 19th. The race is characterized by its 31 climbs over the 258.6 kilometers of narrow crazy roads which will be packed with cycling-crazed spectators.
The Cauberg comes each time in the three final circuits and leaves the riders with no energy. Another hard one is the Eyserbosweg where the race really develops from there. It is short, but it starts off with a steep gradient of around 20 percent. With there being no cobbles in the race, it will be another test for riders, with the short, steep and energy-sapping climbs, guaranteed to split the field in the final 30 kilometers.
With this in mind, look out for our Aussie duo Heinrich Haussler and Simon Gerrans. Haussler has the form, power and speed (seen in Milano-Sanremo, Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix), while Gerrans is a great climber and finisseurs.
Provisional start list for Amstel Gold Race:
181 Philip Deignan (Irl)
182 Xavier Florencio Cabré (Spa)
183 Simon Gerrans (Aus)
184 Heinrich Haussler (Ger/ Aus)
185 Andreas Klier (Ger)
186 Daniel Lloyd (Gbr)
187 Serge Pauwels (Bel)
188 Dominique Rollin (Can)
Alessandro Petacchi (LPR Brakes-Farnese Vini) was able to bypass a nasty crash that occurred in the final 200 m of yesterday’s Scheldeprijs Vlaanderen in Belgium to take the win. Canadian Dominque Rollin (Cervélo TestTeam) steered clear of the crash to earn his first European podium with third place while Kenny Van Hummel (Skil-Shimano) took second place.
The pack came roaring in for a mass sprint when several riders went down hard on the left side of the road with about 200 meters to go, including Greg Van Avermaet (Silence-Lotto), Robbie McEwen (Katusha) and Paris-Roubaix champ Tom Boonen (Quick Step).
Tour de France winner Carlos Sastre will race in the six-day Tour de Romandie this month in preparation for the Giro d’Italia, the first of the season’s major races.
Cervélo TestTeam announced pre-selection for the Giro.
In one month, starting May 9, the centennial edition of Giro d’Italia 2009 will kick off in Venice with a team time trial. Cervélo TestTeam will be one of the 20 teams on the start line for this first of three Grand Tours of the cycling year. The course consists of 3.396km, 21 stages, one team time trial and two long individual time trials, 38 ranked mountain climbs, including 4 peaks exceeding 2.000 meters. The emperor of the Centenary Giro d’Italia will be crowned after a grand finale in Rome on May 31.
Who will tackle these challenges for the Cervélo TestTeam? The pre-selection is done – 12 athletes are nominated (see below). On May 9, nine of these 12 riders will take the start in Venice. “We are really looking forward to the first long tour of this season, especially because it seems that our preparations so far is good and we are on the right track. We will try to be at the start of the centennial edition with a good mix of stage riders like Thor Hushovd, as well as our general classification rider Carlos Sastre. The support team for them will be strong as well,” explained Jean-Paul van Poppel, Sports Director of the Cervélo TestTeam.
RIDERS
Íñigo Cuesta López (ESP)
Philip Deignan (IRL)
Simon Gerrans (AUS)
Volodymir Gustov (UKR)
Jérémy Hunt (GBR)
Thor Hushovd (NOR)
Ted King (USA)
Ignatas Konovalovas (LTU)
Daniel Lloyd (GBR)
Serge Pauwels (BEL)
Hayden Roulston (NZL)
Carlos Sastre (ESP)
SPORT DIRECTORS
Jean-Paul van Poppel (NED)
Marcello Albasini (ZWI)
Jens Zemke (GER)
The riders feedback and observation to their new team kit have been: how phenomenal that kit is: shorts are super comfortable, and the aero race jersey just absolutely disappears. Roger Hammond said it best: “It feels really, really fast. And you especially notice it when you go back to the normal jersey.”
The Queen of the Classics, the ultimate test of the new S.I.T. Progetto X2 seat-pad!
The new S.I.T. Progetto X2 seat-pad from Castelli builds on countless thousands of kilometers of riding already. Four Cervélo TestTeam riders have been riding prototypes this spring and their feedback was:
Heinrich Haussler: “usually I start feeling discomfort after 2 hours, but with this pad after 7 hours it still feels good.”
Inigo Cuesta:“in 16 years as a pro, it’s the best pad I’ve ever used.”
Thor Hushovd: “feels great!)
When we asked Andreas Klier what we could modify to make it better, he said “Don’t change anything! It’s perfect.”
It has been 10 years since we introduced Progetto Y to the world. This eight-generation seat-pad builds on countless millions of kilometers of riding and testing. No compromise in Skin-Care and Cushioning. The S.I.T. Progetto X2 seamless seat-pad is barely noticeable when riding and consisting of two layers: a Skin-Care-Layer and cushioning Layer. With no stitching on the saddle contact points, progressive damping from multi-density zones, no use of shamy cream is needed and with an elastic antibacterial surface which dries twice as fast, we must say that our Castelli Tech-Lab nailed it!
Castelli is planning to introduce the S.I.T. Progetto X2 seat-pad to the global media by the end of June and for the public at the Eurobike trade-fair in September. S.I.T. Progetto X2 will be available in the stores during Spring 2010.
