Category: General Page 8 of 17

Several of you have asked me a variation of the following question: If SlipStreamz are so great at reducing wind noise, why aren’t more pro teams using them so that they can hear their team radios better?

That’s a great question and one for which I’ve never had an answer.

Today I got a press release which indicates that SlipStreamz must be working harder at getting team sponsorship. What’s interesting to note is that the team has been using SlipStreamz even before the sponsorship deal.

Click here for the full press release:

The 2007 edition of the Dauphine Libere is now underway. This is the traditional warm-up for the Tour de France and all of the ProTour teams are here testing out their best riders and deciding who will race in the Tour next month.

Click here for a complete list of team rosters:

Interbike announced today that it is going to be the presenting sponsor of the World Criterium Championship, to be held in Las Vegas, Nevada the night of Thursday, September 27, 2007 – day two of Interbike’s international bicycle expo.

The World Criterium Championship is the final race in the 10-city 2007 USA Crits Championship Series and will be held at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas, near Interbike’s home at the Sands Convention Center.

“Each year we consider several after-hours events to entertain show attendees,” said Lance Camisasca, Interbike’s show director. “This year we are excited to support the World Criterium Championship, a world premier bike race. Besides it being a great event for the industry, it will also be a great event to promote cycling in Las Vegas, as well as nationally with lots of media attention.”

The World Criterium Championship will be produced by Swagger, LLC a sports marketing and event production company based in Athens, GA which produces many of the country’s premier cycling events, including the legendary Athens Twilight. Its principals Ravi Rajcoomar and Gene Dixon have a long history in the cycling and event business.

The World Criterium Championship will have Men and Women Pro-Class races, and for Interbike exhibitors, an Industry Cup Challenge. The Pro- Women’s race will be at 7:00 p.m., the Industry Cup at 8:00 p.m., and the Pro-Men will race at 9:00 p.m. with an after party hosted at Mandalay Bay.

The fast and technical, six turn, 1-kilometer course will wind through many of the popular areas of the Mandalay Bay resort guaranteeing large numbers of spectators for the event.

A FredCast listener who is very involved with the American Diabetes Association‘s Tour de Cure sent along the following text from a recent letter they received about Greg Lemond (including a quote from Greg himself). I don’t have independent confirmation of the validity of this news, but the source is usually very reliable.

It is with a heavy heart that I share with you this news. We just received notice that Greg LeMond’s mother is gravely ill and he is spending most of his hours at her bedside. She needs a liver transplant to recover and the outlook is not good. He has cancelled his Tour plans for next weekend in Utah, and other Tours he had planned to attend. A note from Greg:

I am going to have to cancel the Tour de Cure for Minneapolis and I have decided that I will be canceling both the Salt Lake City Tour de Cure and the Palo Alto rides. We may be planning on a funeral that weekend and I personally am not ready to meet and greet people at this time.

This must be very difficult for Greg, so please join me in sending thoughts and prayers to him and his family.

Check out the contest ongoing right now over at the Cyclelicious blog.

Find the best cycling related picture and post a link in the comments field of this post. The picture can be of a bike shop, someone riding down the street, or even a cycling sculpture. You can find a few cities on StreetView right now (including New York City, San Francisco, and Miami), but keep your eyes peeled. The contest will end at 11:59 PM EST on Tuesday, June 12th.

The winner gets a $10 Amazon Gift Card.

This is an awesome idea. I can’t wait to see what people find!

Here is a list of the teams that have been invited to participate in the 2007 Tour de France:

AG2R
Agritubel
Astana
Barloworld
Bouygues Telecom
Caisse d’Epargne
Cofidis
Credit Agricole
CSC
Discovery Channel
Euskaltel
Francaise des Jeux
Gerolsteiner
Lampre
Liquigas
Milram
Predictor-Lotto
Quick Step
Rabobank
Saunier Duval
T-Mobile

As predicted last night on The FredCast #71, Bjarne Riis held a press conference today and admitted to the use of the performance enhancing drug EPO from 1993 through 1998 including his stint racing on the German Telekom team and his victory in the 1996 Tour de France.

According to Agence France Press, Riis was quoted as saying, “I have taken banned substances, I have taken EPO. I bought it and took it myself.”

Riis told reporters that he is not a worthy Tour de France winner and said that his yellow jersey is sitting at home in a cardboard box. “They are welcome to come and get it.” he said.

Click this link to read Riis’ prepared statement:

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