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Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Tuesday, January 26, 2021

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2020 Tour de France | 2020 Giro d'Italia

The audiobook version of The Story of the Tour de France, Volume 1 is available.

Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die. - Saint Augustine


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Zdenek Stybar to race the World Cyclo-cross Championships

Here’s the news from Stybar’s Deceuninck-Quick Step team:

Deceuninck – Quick-Step’s rider has revealed that he will be at the start of the event held in Oostende, Belgium, on Sunday 31st.

The 35-year-old Czech rider Zdenek Stybar has added the World Cyclo-cross Championships to his early season plans, following changes to his program caused by the evolving Covid-19 pandemic. And with this year’s edition being held in Belgium, it was an easy choice for the three-time winner (2010, 2011, 2014).

Zdenek Stybar

Zdenek Stybar racing in the 2019 Tour of Flanders. Sirotti photo

Speaking of the change in program, Zdenek said: “It was not expected that I would ride the Worlds this year, but things have evolved. As we know this discipline is my passion, so after watching some races on television I felt in my stomach that I really wanted to race. It would not have normally fit in to my schedule, but things have changed and having done a lot of training my condition feels good. I weighed up my options and discussed it with Patrick Lefevere, as well the team’s management, and I am very grateful to have received the team’s support. So, from there I started the process of preparing the materials and decided that I will go for it.”

“The World Championships will always have a special feeling, as it is where I have started my career and I have my special victories at the event. I am not going there with the expectation of winning this time, but I will go flat out to push myself and try to get the best result possible. There are two outstanding favourites in Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel, but then after that it is a quite open race for third place. The parcours will be nice and not too technical and will suit powerful riders. This is good for me, and as my last block of training went really well, it means that I can try to push hard”, added Zdenek.

Shimano takes over neutral support at Tour de France

Bicycle Retailer & Industry News sent me this:

PARIS (VeloNews) — Shimano will be taking over the neutral support role at the Tour de France and other marquee races this year, replacing longtime partner Mavic that began race support with its distinctive yellow vehicles in the 1970s.

Mavic yellow support var

A Mavic support car participating in the 2019 Paris-Roubaix. Sirotti photo

ASO officials confirmed Tuesday that Shimano, the Japanese component maker, which also provides neutral support at the Vuelta a España, will provide neutral support at the Tour and ASO's other fleet of men's and women's races, including Paris-Roubaix.

Details of the deal were not revealed, but Mavic was struggling in 2020 before new owners, the French investment group Bourrelier, stepped in to save the historic brand. The new partnership comes as Shimano will celebrate its centenary this year.

"We have complete trust in the Shimano team to deliver a professional service towards teams and riders, as they have been doing for much of their 100-year history," said Thierry Gouvenou, ASO's heading of cycling.

You can read the entire story here.

Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary