Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
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2018 Tour de France | 2018 Giro d'Italia
Arriving at one goal is the starting point to another. - John Dewey
Upcoming racing:
- January 27: Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race
- January 27 - February 3: Vuelta a la Provincia de San Juan
Latest completed racing:
- January 15 - 20: Santos Tour Down Under
- January 13: Down Under Classic
- January 1: GP Sven Nys
- December 30: Superprestige Dieghem
- December 28: Azencross
- December 26: Heusden-Zolder cyclocross
- December 23: Namur Cyclocross
- December 15: Scheldecross
- December 1: GP Hasselt
Tour Down Under winners to lead Mitchelton-Scott at Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race
Mitchelton-Scott sent me this news:
Recently crowned Tour Down Under champions Amanda Spratt and Daryl Impey will lead Mitchelton-SCOTT at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Races over the weekend.
Daryl Impey at the end of the 2019 Tour Down Under. Sirotti photo
The pair wrote history in Adelaide in recent weeks, with Spratt completing a hat trick and Impey going back-to-back, and are now looking forward to continuing the momentum with a new-format points race on Thursday followed by the main events, the women’s road race on Saturday and men’s road race on Sunday.
Mitchelton-SCOTT at the Cadel Road Race:
Women:
• Jessica Allen (AUS, 25)
• Grace Brown (AUS, 26)
• Lucy Kennedy (AUS, 30)
• Sarah Roy (AUS, 32)
• Amanda Spratt (AUS, 31)
• Georgia Williams (NZL, 25)
Men:
• Sam Bewley (NZL, 31)
• Luke Durbridge (AUS, 27) - RR only
• Alex Edmondson (AUS, 25)
• Lucas Hamilton (AUS, 22) - RR only
• Daryl Impey (RSA, 34)
• Nick Schultz (AUS, 24) – Crit only
• Callum Scotson (AUS, 22) – Crit only
• Dion Smith (NZL, 25)
• Robert Stannard (AUS, 20)
Race Melbourne:
A new team-based points format, for men and women, where the overall winner will be the team who has accumulated the most points across the intermediate sprints, as well as the final sprint into the finish.
Road Race courses:
The 113km women’s route begins with an open and often windy section as the riders head out of Geelong and down Torquay beach before facing more undulating terrain as they make their way back into town. The steep Challambra climb on the final finishing lap is a perfect launch pad in the ‘Classics´ style race.
The dynamic 163km men’s course makes for similarly exciting and unpredictable racing. Four ascents of the challenging Challambra Climb makes things tough in the latter part of racing. We’ve seen solo and small bunch sprint finishes in the past, and either could occur again.
History:
Mitchelton-SCOTT women have twice won the road race event with Spratt in 2016 and Annemiek van Vleuten in 2017, whilst the men have yet to taste success in Geelong.
Amanda Spratt:
“The Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race is one of the most professional one-day races we do in the entire season. The organisation look after all the teams so well and this in combination with the live television coverage and a beautiful course always makes me excited to race.
“The course remains the same this year, but even though we know the parcours the history of this race shows that it can be quite unpredictable - there have been solo winners, small groups and bigger bunches arriving at the finish line.
“I think we have a strong team that can cover all of those scenarios so I’m looking forward to playing the game. I’ve had a good rest after Tour Down Under, and even though I know my shape is good, I will also be more than happy to work hard to set up one of my teammates for a great result of that’s how it plays out.”
Daryl Impey:
"The Cadel Road Race is another important race on the calendar, especially for our team, and it is certainly a course I can do well on. Last year I made a small error in the final which cost me the race, hopefully we can rectify that this year.
“Tour Down Under has given me great confidence going into this year’s event so hopefully we can go two spots better this year."
Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race – Race Details:
Thursday, 24 January: Race Melbourne – Women (63.6km) and Men (74.2km)
Saturday, 26 January: Women’s Road Race (113km)
Sunday, 27 January: Men’s Road Race (163km)
UAE-Team Emirates to race Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race
The team sent me this:
After a good showing in the Tour Down Under, the UAE Team Emirates riders will stay in Australia and race the next WorldTour event, the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race this January 27th.
Allan Peiper will direct the team alongside fellow Australian Neil Stephens. They will work with the same seven riders who made the team’s debut in the Tour Down Under.
– Sven Erik Bystrøm (Norway)
– Ivo Oliveira (Portugal)
– Jasper Philipsen (Belgium)
– Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia)
– Jan Polanc (Slovenia)
– Rory Sutherland (Australia)
– Diego Ulissi (Italy)
The race covers 163km with the start and finish in Geelong. The roads suit riders with the ability to combine a sprint with staying power.
Jasper Philipsen at the 2019 Tour Down Under stage five awards ceremony. Sirotti photo
Eyes are on Jasper Philipsen, stage winner in the Tour Down Under. “The route for the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race suits my characteristics,” Philipsen said. “It’s new for me, so it’s an unknown, but we are looking to control things and our morale is high. The first week of racing in Australia was great for me. The team was perfect and we are going to push ourselves to continue this positive trend“.
Partial government shutdown means CPSC is not announcing recalls
Bicycle Retailer & Industry News sent me this:
WASHINGTON (BRAIN) — The partial federal government shutdown means that at least two active industry recalls have not yet been announced by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, although the companies responsible have issued recalls on their own and with government agencies in other countries.
According to a CPSC memo, only 20 members of the CPSC's staff of 550 are working during the shutdown. The employees are working only on recalls of products that "create a substantial and immediate threat to the safety of human life," according to the memo.
The Commission's online recall page has not been updated since Dec. 20. Its Twitter account has not been updated since Dec. 26. The partial shutdown began on Dec. 22.
On Jan. 8, Specialized announced it was recalling thousands of bikes globally over concerns about possible breakage of a headset collar on road bikes with its Future Shock feature. The company has promoted the recall through its own channels and is working with government authorities in countries including Australia, where it is recalling about 4,500 bikes, and Canada, where it is recalling about 4,900 bikes.
On its website, Specialized said it has notified the CPSC of the recall and was "working closely with them on a news release announcing the recall shortly." A Specialized employee familiar with the issue told BRAIN the delay in releasing a CPSC news release was due to the partial government shutdown.
SRAM announced a recall in Canada this week that, to date, has not been announced in the U.S. The company said it expected to announce the recall in the U.S. on Friday through its own channels. A CPSC recall notice will go out after the shutdown ends.
SRAM began working with the CPSC on the recall before the shutdown, said Brian Benzer, the company's vp of corporate development. "(The shutdown) hasn't been an inconvenience in any way," Benzer said. "There is a skeleton staff there and we asked a supervisor if we could proceed and he said we could. They've been very helpful and cooperative," he said.
Benzer said its recall announcement in the U.S. was not delayed because of the shutdown because the company had been planning on making the announcement about this time. He didn't expect any difficulties once an official CPSC announcement is made.
California attorney Steven Hansen, who works with bike industry clients on recalls and other issues, said suppliers are still required to notify the CSPC about potential recalls, even if the Commission is operating with a reduced staff.
"The official line at the CPSC is that the government shutdown is not an acceptable excuse for a company to delay notifying the CPSC under the existing legal time frames, which are very short," Hansen said. He said the industry should expect delays in response from the CPSC during the shutdown, especially because bike-savvy specialist compliance officers may be unavailable.
You can read the entire story here.
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