LOS ANGELES (February 8, 2010) – Specific route details for the 2010 Amgen Tour of California professional cycling race will be revealed beginning tomorrow via individual stage videos, AEG, presenter of the fifth-annual event, announced today. The videos have been created in collaboration between the start and finish cities of each stage (designated at “host cities”), highlighting features of the route for the eight-day event. Two videos will be released per day throughout the week of Feb. 8, and they can be viewed online at the Amgen Tour of California Web site (www.amgentourofcalifornia.com), as well as the Amgen Tour of California’s Facebook page and on YouTube.

One of the most anticipated professional cycling races in the world, the 2010 Amgen Tour of California will be staged over eight days and will travel more than 800 miles of California’s scenic roads, highways and coastline drives. Running from May 16 – 23, 2010, the race will visit 16 host cities for official stage starts and finishes, with communities along the route getting the chance to see a lineup of some of the most elite, recognizable athletes and teams in the world. Host cities for the eight stages include: Nevada City (new city for 2010), Sacramento, Davis, Santa Rosa, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, San Jose, Modesto, Visalia, Bakersfield (new city for 2010), Pasadena, Big Bear Lake (new city for 2010), Los Angeles (new city for 2010) and Thousand Oaks/Westlake Village (new city for 2010)/Agoura Hills (new city for 2010), title-sponsor Amgen’s hometown community.

“The May timing of the 2010 edition of the Amgen Tour of California is going to allow us to visit some challenging new areas of California that previously were not possible due to the weather,” said Andrew Messick, president of AEG Sports, presenter of the race. “Through these fun and creative videos that the host cities have put together, we are going to be able to showcase the challenge and beauty of our 2010 route.”

Stage-by-stage videos revealing the route for the 2010 Amgen Tour of California will be released on the following days:

• Tuesday, Feb. 9 – Stage 1 (Nevada City to Sacramento) and Stage 2 (Davis to Santa Rosa)
• Wednesday, Feb. 10 – Stage 3 (San Francisco to Santa Cruz) and Stage 4 (San Jose to Modesto)
• Thursday, Feb. 11 – Stage 5 (Visalia to Bakersfield) and Stage 6 (Pasadena to Big Bear Lake)
• Friday, Feb. 12 – Stage 7 (Los Angeles individual time trial) and Stage 8 (Thousand Oaks/Westlake Village/Agoura Hills)

Looking Ahead To Stage 3
Tuesday’s 85-mile (136 km) stage from Dukhan to Mesaieed promises to be another warm and wind-swept day of racing on wide-open desert roads. Lelangue said with Burghardt sitting 2:06 off the lead and Ballan only another 42 seconds back (in 12th place), the priority will be on maintaining their positions on the overall classification. “We have a good group with Michael Schär and Martin Kohler and John Murphy to protect those two guys,” Lelangue said. “Burghardt is our priority No. 1 but I think there will be guys eliminated every day. So if we can gain some places for Ballan and avoid having some other sprinters in the top 10, that will be good.”

Slight Scare For Murphy
Murphy, the U.S. national criterium champion, crashed into a team car while chasing back from a puncture. After being examined by the race doctor, it was determined the 25-year-old only suffered minor scrapes and bruises. “He has a little bit of pain in his left knee, but nothing is broken and it’s not serious,” Lelangue said. “But he will definitely have a sore knee tomorrow.”

„Roger still had a lot of power in his legs at the end, “ said a happy Ralf Grabsch, MILRAM’s Directeur Sportif, after the stage. „That is exactly what is needed here – a lot of power. With this wind, you always have to pay attention. I would have like to have had a third rider in the group. But Björn Schröder and Roger Kluge did a great job. We can simply be satisfied with Roger’s third place and the white jersey.“

In the first attack of the day, Geert Steurs (Topsport Vlaanderen) and Wouter Mol (Vacansoliel) were able to get away from the peloton. The duo profited from the extremely windy conditions and quickly built up a lead of over seven minutes. The field then split up, with the two MILRAM riders Björn Schröder and Roger Kluge making it into the 19 rider-large chase group, where they did their share of lead work. But the wind and the unorganized group played into the heads of the lead duo, bringing about the breakaway win in the Tour of Qatar.

Five kilometers before the finish, Philippe Gilbert (Silence-Lotto) attacked in hopes of getting a podium place. The Belgian’s attack split the chase group. The attentive MILRAM newcomer Roger Kluge followed Gilbert’s attack and held on to the first chase group. Finally, Kluge attacked out of the group 500 meters before the finish line, with no one able to catch him., and took third place as well as the white jersey of the best young rider.

Team MILRAM for the Tour of Qatar:
Gerald Ciolek (GER/Ermatingen,SUI), Wim de Vocht (BEL/Turnhout), Roger Kluge (GER/Eisenhüttenstadt), Servais Knaven (NED/Meerle, BEL), Roy Sentjens (BEL/Nerpeelt), Björn Schröder (GER/Berlin), Niki Terpstra (NED/Haarlem), Peter Wrolich (AUT/Klagenfurt)
Directeur Sportif: Ralf Grabsch (GER)

The stages:
7.02. 1. Stage: West Bay Lagoon – West Bay Lagoon (8,2 km / TTT)
08.02. 2. Stage: Camel Race Track – Qatar Foundation (147 km)
09.02. 3. Stage: Dukhan – Mesaieed (136,5 km)
10.02. 4. Stage: The Pearl – Al Khor Corniche (146,5 km)
11.02. 5. Stage: Lusail – Madinat Al Shamal (142 km)
12.02. 6. Stage: Al Wakra – Doha Corniche (123,5 km)
Total distance: 703,7 km

Steurs and Mol launched a breakaway after barely two kilometres of the 147km course between the Camel Race Track and the Qatar Foundation, which is the longest of the race.

Geert Steurs Happy To Take Stage 2 in Qatar

The peloton, including Belgian Tom Boonen — who lies fourth overall — and his compatriot Philippe Gilbert, American Tyler Farrar and Germany’s Heinrech Haussler, crossed the line just under two minutes behind the lead pair.

Tom Boonen before the start of stage two in Qatar

Steurs dedicated his stage victory to his former team-mate Frederik Nolf, who died in the same race last year.

Norwegian national champion Kurt-Asle Arvesen will play no further part after he crashed out the day before his 35th birthday.

He tumbled at the start of the stage and broke his collarbone for the second time in a year, having sustained the same injury in last year’s Tour de France.

Tour of Qatar Stage Two Results
1. Geert Steurs (BEL/TSV) 3hr 31min 00sec,
2. Wouter Mol (NED/VAC) same time,
3. Roger Kluge (GER/MRM) at 1min 51sec,
4. Heinrich Haussler (GER/CTT) 1:54,
5. Philippe Gilbert (BEL/OLO) 1:55,
6. Roger Hammond (GBR/CTT) 1:55,
7. Tom Boonen (BEL/QST) 1:55,
8. Jeremy Hunt (GBR/CTT) 1:55,
9. Danilo Napolitano (ITA/KAT) 1:55,
10. Marcus Burghardt (GER/BMC) 1:55

Overall standings:
1. Wouter Mol (NED/VAC) 3:40:51,
2. Geert Steurs (BEL/TSV) at 09sec,
3. Roger Kluge (GER/MRM) at 2min 02sec,
4. Tom Boonen (BEL/QST) 2:05,
5. Marcus Burghardt (GER/BMC) 2:06,
6. Philippe Gilbert (BEL/OLO) 2:18,
7. Danilo Napolitano (ITA/KAT) 2:18,
8. Stuart O’Grady (AUS/SAX) 2:40,
9. Tyler Farrar (USA/GRM) 2:41,
10. Marco Velo (ITA/QST) 2:47

Photos by: Corvos Pro

Sky are 8 seconds ahead of last year’s winners Garmin with Danish team Saxo Bank back in third place.

Switzerland’s Cervelo were given a one-minute penalty and demoted to last place for an illegal changeover.

Belgian rider and defending champion Tom Boonen was 20 seconds off the lead as his Quick Step team finished in fifth place.

The 147-kilometer second stage takes place on Monday.

Stage Results:
1. Sky 9 min 41 sec,
2. Garmin at 8,
3. Saxo Bank 13,
4. Columbia 18,
5. Quick Step 20,
6. Saur-Sojasun 21,
7. Liquigas 21,
8. BMC 21,
9. Vacansoleil 22,
10. Milram 25,
11. Katusha 33,
12. Omega Pharma 33,
13. Topsport 33,
14. AG2R 37,
15. Trek 39, 16.
Cervelo 1:08

Overall Results:
1. Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR) Team Sky 9min 41 sec,
2. Juan Antonio Flecha (ESP) Team Sky s.t,
3. Bradley Wiggins (GBR) Team Sky s.t,
4. Geraint Thomas (GBR) Team Sky s.t,
5. Lars-Peter Nordhaug (NOR) Team Sky s.t,
6. Russel Downing (GBR) Team Sky at 2sec,
7. Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin at 8,
8. Martijn Maaskant (NED) Garmin 8,
9. Murilo Fischer (BRA) Garmin 8,
10. Svein Tuft (CAN) Garmin 8
Selected: 27. Tom Boonen (BEL) Quick Step 20

Photos by: Corvos Pro

Ballerini was acting as the co-driver for Alessandro Ciardi when the accident happened. Ciardi is in a coma, according to Ansa.

The 45-year-old Ballerini was a former two-time Paris-Roubaix winner and also claimed the Paris-Brussels race in 1990.

The native of Florence became Italian team coach in 2001 and led the national team at the World Championships and Olympic Games.

“Since my cancer of the intestine I’ve to be careful of what I drink or eat. No more champagne or white wine,” the 64-year-old told the press.

Questions had been asked about his health in the early 2000s after he suffered severe weight loss.

“Things are good now. I have regular check-ups and that works,” added Merckx, who won five Tour de France and five Tour of Italy titles during his career which ended in 1978.

He is currently in Doha where he is helping organize the Tour of Qatar.

A few Summers ago I belonged to the email group of a large club. Every July there was a hard and fast rule: no TDF spoilers. … a perfectly reasonable rule. During major races, I avoid all cycling news sources all day so I can watch the action unfold on TiVo. After all, I love watching bike racing, but if I already know who won, it looses 90% of its excitement…. so it was important to me that the club email group maintain TDF radio silence.

Tom Simpson’s final meters (from l’equipe)

But then Michael Rasmussen got removed from the Tour, and somebody sent out an email to the club spilling the events of the day. Nobody had seen it yet, but now we all knew. I felt cheated of two hours of Tour watching bliss. Sure, I was blown away by the revelation and disappointed by the scandal, but I guess I just wanted the events to unfold in their proper order, like a book. I was half a world away and thought the reality could wait out the seven-hour time difference.

I replied to the senders message with something like “That really sucks, but dude, you still shouldn’t have spoiled the stage!”

The sender replied with something like: “Get your head out of your ass. How can you even watch the stage or the rest of the Tour now?”

A part of me felt a little shamed, like I’d been insensitive to the gravity of it all. Until then, doping hadn’t truly bothered me. It just seemed like more of a nuisance to the regular order of things. I just didn’t feel the white-hot righteous anger like some people seemed to. It was contradictory to me that people got so worked up about doping in cycling and almost completely ignored the fact that there was probably more, and more dangerous doping practices in our National pastimes like football and baseball. And to this day, I still don’t feel the anger; I just feel the annoyance.

You’ll notice my last post was a video of Marco Pantani absolutely raping a climb set to awesomely melodramatic Italian music. I didn’t think twice about Pantani’s history and his drug problem. His doping diminishes his accomplishments, sure, but that doesn’t mean a badass video set to badass music shouldn’t be enjoyed by all, right?

And then a reader named Cale commented on the video:

Amazing what a man can do all doped up! Explain to me why some individuals in the cycling community hold this man in such high regard? To me he represents a huge black eye to the cycling world. Remind me again how he died? Remind me again what he did for cycling aside from race his bike? He was not a good person, morally and ethically he was an empty sole.

I’m not sure if he was referring to his shoe sole or calling Pantani an empty fish, but that Cale definitely is a guy who feels some indignation worthy of the Spanish Inquisition. When I read his comment I had a similar reaction to that email I got years ago: for a few seconds I was embarrassed that I’d crossed some line of political correctness. That perhaps by allowing a known doper to be portrayed in anything but an evil light, would be to implicitly condone his actions and further promote the reasons for doping in the future of the sport.

Fausto Coppi “I dope only when necessary. Which is all the time!”

I also wondered if there was some kind of “water under the bridge” clause in our doping mindspace that allowed us to still respect racers like Fausto Coppi, Jaques Anquitil, Tom Simpson. Does Cale feel so strongly about them too?

Then there are the dopers from the 90’s: VDB, Museeuw, Pantani, Riis, etc, etc. We don’t love them like the old Greats, but we don’t hate them all that much either. The 2000’s are a wholly different matter: unless they come crawling back to us like David Millar, we hate the hell out of those guys. Of course, our hate is also a little selective: Basso never admitted to doping, just “attempting” to dope, yet he doesn’t have a problem getting a ride. We all seem to assign different degrees of wrongdoing on different riders, and not always according to decade, admittance of guilt or talent. Curious as to how others felt, I opened the discussion up on Ritte’s FaceBook page and got such great responses that I want to post the discussion here:

So that was the discussion we had yesterday. Thank you to Patrick and John of Red Kite Prayer for keeping the insight flowing. When I posted the question on FB, I wanted to take the temperature of the people around me. In some way, I wanted a little guidance on what I should personally feel. What I learned is that though none of us obviously like the fact that rider’s dope, none of us let it utterly spoil our love for the sport. After all, pro bicycle racing is nothing if not a spectator sport, which is, at the root of it all, just entertainment. We take their cheating so personally, but we still hold their exploits in esteem. Perhaps we, like the riders who will do anything to keep their jobs, are addicts. And if through some cosmic twist of fate we had to dope just to watch cycling, how many of us would be filling up our own blood bags?

Lanolin.

I am a new contributor to Bicyle.net and will hopefully be giving you an insight into the new team I am part of, Adageo Energy Pro Cycling, the races we compete in, and also, a few snippets of some of the other facets of the musings of riding bikes! I have just flown back to the US from my native Australia, and left behind blue skies and 100 degree weather… at least I live in San Diego. For the most part the blue skies are still in abundance, it’s just a tad bit chillier!

This coming week will be a little get together/camp with the new team. The aim will be for everyone to meet, talk crap, ride bikes, greet and thank our sponsors and make some plans for the beginning of Adageo Energy Pro Cycling’s inaugural season.

I will also be working with Cycling Camp San Diego, run by Robert Panzera. My role within the camps are to be a ride leader and to answer any question the clients may have regarding training, racing etc. It is something I enjoy doing and is a great fit during the season.

The team will be having a full camp in the last week of February at Las Vegas to hone the form for the coming season, the final few days of the team training will coincide with the Calville Bay Classic. Hopefully it will be a good start to the year and we can bring success to our sponsors, management and to all the riders in 2010, and keep the momentum rolling into the future.

Cheers,

Cody

After the Tour Down Under, you traveled to the United States for the last five days of the team’s training camp. How did that go?
It was a really productive time. Certainly there were a lot of people to get to know. In fact, nearly everyone on the team was new to me. So in that way, it was productive. It was also good to get to know the new materials, the new equipment and the BMC Racing Team’s sponsors. Certainly, everyone is enthusiastic and motivated – that’s both on the part of the riders and staff. So it’s good to be a part of a program like that.

During the days when the media was at training camp, a lot was made about how relaxed you were and how a “new Cadel Evans” is emerging. Is that true?
(Laughs.) Yes, I am well-supported now with this team and I am used to being myself again. It’s nice.

You are still in the United States now, doing some training and sightseeing with your wife, Chiara. How has that been going?
I have been getting some attention, even though that hasn’t been my objective. This is my first time in the United States in a few years, although I’m quite familiar with America from my mountain biking years. It’s been quite a bit of fun, actually.

You have a new book titled “Close to Flying” that was recently published. Tell us how that biography came about?
My main motivation for writing the book was as a bit of a promotional thing for cycling, particularly in Australia. I wanted to help people understand the sport a little bit more and everything that is involved. In the end, the book explains a little bit about racing and a lot more about what it takes to be a professional and some of the challenges you have to confront to become a good professional. For me, it’s been quite well received. Like all things, in retrospect, if you could go back and do it all again you can do it better. But for the first time putting together a book, it has been a bit of an interesting experience going through the whole process. Hopefully, it will be available overseas soon.

If you could sum up your expectations for the 2010 season with the BMC Racing Team in one sentence, what would it be?
I want to perform to the maximum of my potential in the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France.

Evans (with Chad Beyer) is getting to know the roads of California quite well. (Photo BMC Racing Team) on www.bmcracingteam.com