Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Saturday, November 11, 2017
Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary | Our YouTube page
2017 Tour de France | 2017 Giro d'Italia
In nine lifetimes, you'll never know as much about your cat as your cat knows about you. - Michel de Montaigne
Latest completed racing:
- November 5: European Cyclocross Championships
- Oct 28 - Nov 5: Tour of Hainan
- November 1: Cyclocross Koppenberg
- October 29: Cyclocross Ruddervoorde
- October 28: Cincy CX, Devou Park
- October 28: Grote Prijs van Brabant
- October 19 - 24: Tour of Guangxi
Jai Hindley remains in fifth after the sprinters take charge on stage three in Fuzhou Tour
We don't cover the Tour of Fuzhou, a 2.2 ranked Chinese race, but I thought I'd share this update from Mitchelton-Scott:
A short and fast third stage of the Tour of Fuzhou unfolded with no great surprises as the sprinters dominated proceedings and Mitchelton-SCOTT kept their eye on position.
Just over 100 mainly flat kilometres with a solitary category two climb right at the start was only ever going to end with one outcome, and after a tentative breakaway hung off the front for a while the sprinters teams took charge and set up another fast finale.
Australian Kaden Groves (St.George-Continental-Cycling-Team) ran out the eventual stage winner with Mitchelton-SCOTT keeping an eye on Jai Hindley throughout the stage and ensuring that the 21-year-old finished safely in the pack.
“It was actually tougher than it looked today, but it concluded in the anticipated fashion, with a bunch sprint,” said sport director Dave Sanders. “Our objective was to stay safe and keep Jai out of trouble and in good shape for tomorrow's summit finish.”
“It will be a solid stage tomorrow and we are focused on that final climb and the chance to jump up a few places overall ahead of the final day of racing.
“We have Jai in fifth place and only 20seconds down on the leader so it will be a big day, but our Chinese rider Liu Jiankun is also riding strongly and is currently the highest placed Chinese rider in the race in 25th overall.
“Liu has been doing a great job supporting the team so far and it will be fantastic if he can maintain his efforts and stay up there on the general classification.”
Tour of Fuzhou stage three results:
1. Kaden Groves (St.George-Continental-Cycling-Team) 02:52:21
2. Maris Bogdanovics (Rietumu-Banka-Riga) ST
3. Mykhaylo Knonenko (Kolss-Cycling-Team) ST
30. Jai Hindley (Mitchelton-SCOTT) ST
Tour of Fuzhou general classification after stage three:
1. Mykhaylo Knonenko (Kolss-Cycling-Team) 08:07:48
2. Stanislau Bazhkou (Minsk-Cycling-Club) +0:08
3. Andriy Vasylyuk (Kolss-Cycling-Team) +0:14
5. Jai Hindley (Mitchelton-SCOTT) +0:20
Katusha-Alpecin posts 2018 rider list
Here's the team's latest update:
2018 will see the tenth season of WorldTour Team KATUSHA. The last two seasons the team became more than a professional cycling team; it became a brand. With the support of its partner ALPECIN the team transformed further from a predominately national team to a solid international project.
The 26 riders of the 2018 Swiss squad, including leaders Ilnur Zakarin, Marcel Kittel and Tony Martin, are preparing for their first training camp. The riders will meet and train in Mallorca (Spain) from December 3rd until December 15th. On December 9th the 2018 team will be presented to sponsors and press in Robinson Club Cala Serena (Mallorca, Spain).
Tony Martin racing in the 2017 Dauphine
KATUSHA ALPECIN for 2018: Maxim Belkov (RUS), Jenthe Biermans (BEL), Ian Boswell (USA), Steff Cras (BEL), Alex Dowsett (GB), Matteo Fabbro (ITA), José Gonçalves (POR), Nathan Haas (AUS), Marco Haller (AUT), Reto Hollenstein (SUI), Robert Kišerlovski (CRO), Marcel Kittel (GER), Pavel Kochetkov (RUS), Viacheslav Kuznetsov (RUS), Maurits Lammertink (NED), Tiago Machado (POR), Tony Martin (GER), Marco Mathis (GER), Baptiste Planckaert (BEL), Nils Politt (GER), Jhonatan Restrepo (COL), Simon Špilak (SLO), Mads Würtz Schmidt (DEN), Willie Smit (SA), Rick Zabel (GER), Ilnur Zakarin (RUS).
Vista Outdoor (owner of Giro, Bell & Camelback) sees 13% decline in outdoor product sales, plans to sell Bollé
Bicycle Retailer & Industry News sent me this update:
FARMINGTON, Utah (BRAIN) — Vista Outdoors, the owner of Bell, Giro, Blackburn, Bollé, CamelBak and other brands, saw a 9.1 percent decline in sales in its most recent quarter in its Outdoor Products division, which includes those brands. The division's sales would have looked worse if not for the inclusion of sales from Camp Chef, a recent acquisition. Organically (that is, not including Camp Chef), the division saw a 12.7 percent decline in revenue, which the company said was driven by "lower sales across most product lanes."
Sales in the division were $292 million, down from $321 million in the same period last year.
But the Outdoor Product division out-performed Vista's Shooting Sports division, where sales fell 18.7 percent in the quarter, to $296 million, down from $364 million last year. Profits in the division plummeted 37 percent, from $102 million to $63 million.
The company announced Thursday that it was restructuring its Shooting Sports executive structure, eliminating the division's president. It also said it would sell the Bollé, Serengeti and Cébé brands. All three brands are best known for their eyewear, but Bollé also offers bike helmets.
As expected, the company also announced that its board of directors has named Michael Callahan to serve as chairman.
Chris Metz, the company's new CEO, said, "While I've only been here a short time, I realize we have much to do: we must make significant changes, act decisively, and move quickly to reposition and stabilize the company. We will take an aggressive position on profit improvement through both margin expansion and cost reductions across all areas of the core business.
"We're in the process of completing a portfolio review of our brands, and we will divest assets where we see the potential to unlock shareholder value. As a first outcome of this process, we are announcing our intention to sell the Bollé, Serengeti and Cébé brands in the Sports Protection business. These brands were acquired as part of the Bushnell transaction in 2013 and focus primarily on fashion, prescription and safety eyewear, which are areas that we have determined are not core to our business. The sale of these brands is expected to take place over the next few quarters."
You can read the whole story here.
Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary