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Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Saturday, November 12, 2022

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2022 Tour de France | 2022 Giro d'Italia

Man is a strange animal. He generally cannot read the handwriting on the wall until his back is up against it. - Adlai Stevenson 1st

Bill & Carol McGann’s book The Story of the Tour de France, 2022: The Fastest Tour Ever is available as in both Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Upcoming racing

• Nov 20: Vlaamse Druivenveldrit Overijse Cross
• Dec 4: Scheldecross Antwerp
• Dec 10: Exact Cross Essen
• Dec 26: Gavere Cyclocross
• Dec 27: Heusden-Zolder Cyclocross
• Dec 29: Diegem Cyclocross
• Dec 30: Azencross-Loenhout
• Jan 1: GP Sven Nys Cyclocross
• Jan 14 - 22: Schwalbe Classic & Tour Down Under
• Jan 22 - 29: Vuelta a San Juan
• Jan 25 - 29: Challenge Illes Balears-Volta Ciclista a Mallorca
• Jan 28 & 29: Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race

Latest completed racing:

• Nov 5 & 6: European Cyclocross Championships
• Nov 1: Trofee Oudenaarde-Koppenbergcross
• Oct 29: Superprestige Ruddervoorde Cyclocross
• Oct 11 - 18: Tour de Langkawi
• Oct 16: Japan Cup
• Oct 16: Veneto Classic
• Oct 16: Chrono des Nations
• Oct 12: Giro del Veneto

Cycling Weekly posted this:

[2012 Tour de France winner] Sir Bradley Wiggins is disputing a near 1 million Pound claim against him made by the liquidators of his companies and is selling a property to raise funds.

The 2012 Tour de France winner’s company Wiggins Rights Limited, the company used to “exploit Bradley Wiggins’s name and image rights”, entered voluntary liquidation in 2020 with debts of £650,000.

2012 Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins shown after that edition's final stage. Sirotti photo

In an update on the liquidation filed at Companies House last month, administrators Georgina Eason and Michael Sanders of accountancy firm MHA Macintyre Hudson said they had increased the amount being claimed from Wiggins to £979,953.

Administrators are seeking money from Wiggins to repay an overdrawn director’s loan account. In 2021 they had submitted a claim for £760,373 but have now increased it to close to £1m “after reviewing the company’s books and records”.
A spokesperson for Bradley Wiggins said that he disputed the claim.

The claim is the latest in a string of financial issues for the Olympic gold medallist.

In 2020 the Daily Mail reported, Wiggins faced a bankruptcy petition brought by HM Revenue and Customs at the High Court but his lawyers came to an arrangement with the taxman and the petition was dismissed with HMRC’s agreement.

According to administrator’s documents from September, Wiggins is in an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA), a financial set-up designed to help people pay back creditors and stave off bankruptcy.

The administrators report that an offer for a property that is “the primary asset within the IVA” has been accepted. Administrators expect that to help pay back £600,695.

They also said they had established that the company owns the legal title to the trademarks “Bradley Wiggins”, “Wiggins” and “Wiggo” and had instructed law firm Lewis Silkin to “assist with extending them beyond their expiry”.

You can read the entire story here.

Eurosport posted this update:

Primoz Roglic still has some way to go before making a return to competitive cycling, and says he is a month away from a full recovery.

Cyclingnews reports that the Jumbo-Visma rider had surgery on October 10 and needed a bone graft on his left shoulder, but appears to be on course for a return in their December training camp.

Roglic finishes 2022 Vuelta stage 16 after crashing. Sirotti photo

"Rehab is going as planned. As you can see, I've got a bit of movement," Roglic said in a video, and was able to show some movement in his right arm.
"I still need to wait, probably a month or so to jump on the bike but I'm busy with other projects. Next week we release a calendar for our Foundation. Check out the link. I'll keep you posted."

The 33-year-old has suffered with several knocks in a challenging season, and dislocated his shoulder in a crash on Stage 5 at the Tour de France, and ultimately had to withdraw from the race at Stage 15.

There was another crash at the Vuelta a Espana in a controversial end to the race, as Jumbo-Visma blamed Bahrain Victorious rider Fred Wright for the incident, despite footage appearing to show the Slovenian moving across his path.

You can read the entire story here.

The team posted this:

The last chapter of the season opened with a strong team performance at the CRO Race. After a solid first two days with two top 10 finishes, the first stage set to shape the GC was on the menu. A hilly day, things came down to the final kick to the line, where the gravel roads guaranteed an exciting final. When the race kicked off, Development Team DSM rider Oscar Onley was the only rider who could challenge Tour de France winner Vingegaard for the stage win. He came short by just a few centimetres, but jumped on the provisional GC podium and took over the lead in the mountain classification. It was the queen stage that shaped the final GC and after a day full of climbing, a small group of favourites stayed clear including Team DSM’s Chris Hamilton and Oscar Onley. Both showed amazing fighting spirit, trying to jump away from their opponents several times, and following their attacks.

In the end, it all came down to a battle at the line where Oscar came close to the win and took his second podium of the week and secured an impressive third place in GC and the youth classification, with Chris Hamilton rounding off the strong team performance with 9th overall.

Our Women’s program took to the start line for the season’s last one-day race at Binche Chimay Binche and on the selective parcours, the team stayed on top of things, bringing a reduced group to the local laps. On the final kilometre, Pfeiffer Georgi did a massive pull to bring European Champion Lorena Wiebes to the front, causing splits in the bunch and ensuring that only a small group fought for the win. Lorena launched her sprint at the right moment and brought home her 23rd and last win of the season for the team.

Back to the last of the men’s one day races, Casper van Uden and Romain Bardet brought home two more top 10 results, at the Münsterland Giro and Il Lombardia respectively, making it a successful last period of racing for the program.

The first edition of the Tour de Romandie Féminin concluded the Women’s WorldTour racing with three challenging days of racing. On the opening day, Liane Lippert got things off to a flying start as she sprinted to a strong second place in a reduced bunch sprint. Day two saw the peloton take on the long climb of Thyon 2000, where Liane followed the best until deep in the final, finishing in 4th place, with teammate Juliette Labous in 10th. Liane finished the race 4th in GC and Juliette rounded up the team’s strong performance in 9th. In addition, Elise Uijen won the mountains jersey and Liane the best young rider; the icing on the cake after a great last race of the season.

Tobias Lund Andresen rounded off the Development program’s season at Paris-Tours Espoirs with a solid 9th, his last race before his promotion to the WorldTour program from 2023.

With one race win, several classifications and jerseys and 10 more top 10s, it was a successful last chapter of 2022 for the whole team. Now off season is calling for the riders, 2023 preps are already in full swing for our staff back at HQ. We had a great 2023 kick-off with all riders and staff last week where we already started to get to know each other. With that motivation in mind we are already looking forward to seeing what the new year brings!

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