Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Sunday, April 15, 2018
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2018 Tour de France | 2018 Giro d'Italia
I am a part of all that I have met. - Alfred Lord Tennyson
Current racing:
- April 15: Tro-Bro Léon
- April 15: Amstel Gold Race
Upcoming racing:
- April 16 - 20: Tour of the Alps
- April 18: Le Flèche Wallone
Latest completed racing:
- April 14: Tour du Finistère
- April 11: De Brabantse Pijl
- April 10: Paris-Camembert
- April 8: Paris-Roubaix
- April 8: Klasika Primavera
- April 2 - 7: Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco
- April 3 - 6: Circuit Cycliste Sarthe-Pays de la Loire
- April 4: Scheldeprijs
- April 1: La Roue Tourangelle
- April 1: Ronde van Vlaanderen (Tour of Flanders)
Peter Sagan arrives at Amstel Gold Race, BORA extends sponsorship until 2021
Bora-hansgrohe sent me this news:
After the historic win at Paris – Roubaix, BORA – hansgrohe already sets course for the future. Main sponsor BORA extends their sponsorship for another two years and remains first naming sponsor until 2021.
"It feels very good to have such a reliable partner like BORA on board. To know already that early, that the teams’ future is secured, gives confidence to the whole team. It is impressive, that Ralph Denk formed such a solid project, and I want to thank Willi Bruckbauer for his trust in us.”, Peter Sagan, UCI World Champion, “I am very happy that BORA extends their sponsorship. Willi and the company are very active and it´s good to have sponsors like him. That BORA extends shows that cycling is a good sport to interact with. And for the race tomorrow, we will see how my legs are after Paris-Roubaix but we are here with a strong team, so we can be confident.”
“Our BORA - hansgrohe sponsorship commitment is valuable on different levels. We wanted to increase our brand awareness on an international level. And we have. And we will continue to work on this together with the team, 27 brand ambassadors including the 3-time World Champion Peter Sagan support us. Of course, victories like at Paris – Roubaix help a lot”, says Willi Bruckbauer, the owner of BORA. “The possibilities that the sponsorship offers us fit perfectly into our marketing strategy. A 360-degree activation is the key for us. This is beneficial for every department of the company, e.g. national and international distribution, event or training department. The implementation on-site WorldTour races, such as the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia or the Vuelta a España works perfectly.
Peter Sagan wins Paris-Roubaix. Sirotti photo
"In the future, we will continue to enhance brand recognition at international level, create a halo-effect for the BORA brand and use possible synergies for our internal organisation and distribution.
"We are confident, that we are on a very good way together with Ralph Denk’s team, it is a perfect fit, we share the same ideas and we have common goals. And we are delighted to announce that we will extend our sponsorship deal for two more years until 2021. A milestone for us on our way towards “the end of the extractor hood”.”
“The fact that BORA extended their contract that early, shows that we are on the right track. We still have ambitious goals and some way ahead of us, but now we have some planning security and we’ll keep on progressing. With this long-term perspective, we’ll have time to foster even more young talents, and support riders that crew up in our team like Emanuel Buchmann, Patrick Konrad, Gregor Mühlberger or Lukas Pöstlberger on their way to the top. It’s up to me and my team to justify the trust given from Willi Bruckbauer and BORA, and to lead BORA – hansgrohe into a successful future. From my point of view, this is also a sign towards German cycling – cycling sponsorships are truly worthwhile!” – Ralph Denk, Team Manager
Team Ag2r La Mondiale reports on the Tour du Finistère
We posted BMC's race report with the results.
ROMAIN BARDET (2nd behind Jonathan Hivert): “I am happy to have raced, to have had a good day, and to get back on track ahead of Liège next Sunday. I ended up on Jonathan Hivert’s wheel, and I knew it would be hard to beat him. I felt good, and I had a good day out on the bike. It was a demanding course with a completely unleashed scenario. It’s really a good race, well organized and the enthusiasm of the fans gave us a glimpse of what we can look forward to in three months’ time when we’ll be back racing in Brittany. I actually was not thinking at all about the Tour stage while racing. In July, it will be totally different, but it certainly was good to have seen what kinds of roads we will face in the summer. We know it will definitely be an intense day.”
Jonathan Hivert wins the Tour du Finistère. Romain Bardet has just crossed the line behind him.
THE NUMBER: 1
At the end of the Tour du Finistère, AG2R LA MONDIALE team is still leading the overall team classification. Samuel Dumoulin and Silvan Dillier are fourth and fifth, respectively, in the individual standings.
THE NEWS: THIBAULT GIVEN A CHANCE TO LIVE A DREAM
Ten year old Thibault, a young fan of our team and Romain Bardet in particular, had the chance to live his dream and meet his heroes. He suffers from a serious illness, but was given the chance to meet the team and spend a few hours with them on Friday and Saturday thanks to the association “Un rêve, un sourire” (“A dream, a smile”; www.unreveunsourire.com) based in Brest, France. This was made possible by the students at the Institute for Technology, Business and Administration Management in Niort, in western France. For Thibault, it was a complete surprise, but a special event where he was able to rub shoulders with some of his favorite champions.
Goodyear launches premium bicycle tire line
Bicycle Retailer & Industry News sent me this piece:
CARSON, Calif. (BRAIN) —In its 120 years of existence, Goodyear has manufactured tires for everything from Henry Ford’s Model T to Formula 1 racecars and NASA’s Mars rover. But the company’s very first product was a bicycle tire back in 1898.
Goodyear returns to those roots now with a new line of performance bicycle tires developed over the past two years with Rubber Kinetics LLC, a company led by industry veteran Luke Musselman with a team based at Goodyear’s headquarters in Akron, Ohio.
“The inventions and technologies that have come out of Goodyear allow us to bring a premium line of bicycle tires to market,” Musselman said during a recent media launch at the Southern California facility housing Goodyear’s iconic blimp.
(Goodyear also continues to license its name for a separate line of tires and tubes designed by Kent International for the mass market.)
All of the rubber compounds for the new performance line are developed in-house — no other tire brand has them. And the compounds are made specifically for each tread pattern.
“We can design a great-looking tread pattern, but if the compound doesn’t work with the knob size and doesn’t interact with the ground the way it’s supposed to, that tread pattern will not work,” said Musselman, Rubber Kinetics’ president.
The line launches with more than 100 SKUs spanning four categories: road, transit, all-terrain/gravel and mountain, plus Goodyear’s own tubes and tubeless sealant. Musselman said he expects the line to grow to three times that size in the next 18 to 24 months.
You can read the entire story here.
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