Happy Holidays

I would like to take a minute and wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

May your Holidays be enchanting and your company inspiring.

Enjoy these days and don't forget to come back to the site in the new year.

See you soon!

Mikkel

PS. In case you need a positive cycling story to remember this year by let me recommend you this one - this is truly an amazing project!

Exclusive Interview - Thomas Löfkvist (IAM Cycling)

Thomas Löfkvist.

Thomas Löfkvist has had an awful year on the bike in 2012 where everything that could go wrong did go wrong. Now the Swedish rider, based in Switzerland, hopes that 2013 will bring more luck as he is set to lead out the new Swiss IAM Cycling team. 

Thomas, first of all, congratulation with the new contract with IAM. What made you pick IAM over the other teams interested in you?

Thanks a lot. My choice of IAM was something that evolved. I was in Geneva a couple of times to talk with the management. The important factor, which made me pick IAM in the end, was the way they wanted to build up the team and the enthusiasm Mr. Thetaz showed for the project.

You’ve just been at the first team camp in Geneva. How was your first impression of the team and your new team mates?

Yes, we were five days in Geneva to meet the team administration, to get our new bikes, new clothes and to spend some time getting to know each other. Last Friday we had a Christmas dinner with the whole IAM SA. I think it’s a great group of people and I went home with a very good “gut-feeling”.

How is IAM Cycling different from your previous teams?

IAM have a whole new structure meaning we are starting from scratch without any preconceived ideas about how things should be done. I was really surprised how open minded they are. That is especially thanks to Kjell Carlström who has brought many new ideas to the table.

Do you already know your race schedule for next year?

Well, I have received a preliminary schedule that will be focused on the one-week stage races and I’m very happy with that.

I guess Tour de Suisse and Tour de Romandie will be the two biggest goals for the team next year?

No doubts about that. With a Swiss sponsor Tour de Suisse and Romandie will be the team’s two main goals and that goes for me too. I have ambitions of showing off the IAM colors successfully in those races!

Which other races are you aiming at next year?

First of all the two Swiss stages races but also Tirreno-Adriatico in the spring. After that we will have to wait and plan the rest of the year.

What about this season? Is it best just to forget it or can you take anything positive with you from 2012?

I rather just forget this damn year. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong.  I managed to time my peak perfectly for Tour de Suisse [Löfkvist’s big goal of this season], but that got ruined by my knee injury. Then I came back strong in the end of the season, but got hold up behind the big crash at the World Champions and in Emilia I was in the winning group when my derailleur broke. There is really nothing positive I can take with me from this year.

Looking at the future. IAM Cycling are hoping to do the Tour within a few years. Will that be with you as their team leader?

Well, my ambition of doing Top10 in a GC is still there, so I will keep on trying every time I can.

Last one. Since it’s Christmas and everything, what is your biggest wish for 2013?

A problem free year on the bike!

Let the race begin!

Contador keeps Kreuziger behind him to take the win.
Photo from Contador on Twitter.

Alberto Contador and Team Saxo-Tinkoff were worried they wouldn’t be handed one of the 18 World Tour licenses and therefore had to live on mercy from the race organizers next year. Luckily that didn’t happened and now Contador and the rest of the Danish team can prepare for a great 2013.

One of the most important helpers for Alberto Contador next year will be Roman Kreuziger and according to the Czech climber he’s already made good friends with his new Spanish captain.  

“It was easy, we have a common interest for fast cars. Alberto is crazy about them! He has about five cars at home so I guess I have to work hard to keep up with him”, Roman Kreuziger told Czech newspaper Dnes.

Contador as winner of the Go-Kart
tournament on Gran Canaria.

At their team camp on Gran Canaria last month, Team Saxo-Tinkoff also had a Go-Kart ournament arranged and according to the staff, Alberto Contador was quick to school his team on how to do it right before he later ended up on top of the podium as the overall winner.

Roman Kreuziger showed his potential too, taking second place. “It’s probably his friendship with Fernando Alonso that helped him”, Kreuziger explained.

You can watch a 9 minutes video of Team Saxo-Tinkoff's Go-Kart day on Gran Canaria by clicking here.

Saxo-Tinkoff in - Katusha out

Bjarne Riis can keep smiling as his
team finally got a World Tour license.

Today The International Cycling Union (UCI) finally revealed all the 18 World Tour teams for 2013 and in the end Bjarne Riis and Team Saxo-Tinkoff managed to secure their status in the cycling elite. Instead Katusha - who ended 2^nd on the UCI World Tour team ranking - was left out.

Earlier this week Roman Kreuziger explained that for him it wouldn’t really matter if Team Saxo-Tinkoff got the World Tour license or not as he was sure they would be given wild cards to all the big races anyway. “Everybody wants to have Alberto [Contador] in the their race so I’m not worried”, Kreuziger said and I’m sure the situation will be the same for Katusha.

Having Joaquim ‘Purito’ Rodriguez - winner of the individual UCI World Tour ranking for the second year in a row - plus strong riders like Dani Moreno, Denis Menchov, Alexander Kristoff etc. on the team surely counts when the race organizers are sending out invitations. I for one will be very surprised not to see Purito and Katusha in the big races in 2013…

These are the 18 World Tour teams for next year:

Astana Pro Team

BMC Racing Team

Cannondale

Lampre – Merida

Omega Pharma – Quick Step Cycling Team 

ORICA GreenEDGE

Sky Procycling

Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team

Movistar Team

AG2R La Mondiale 

Euskaltel Euskadi

Former Rabobank

Garmin Sharp

Team Argos–Shimano 

Team Saxo – Tinkoff

FDJ

Lotto Belisol

RadioShackNissan

Wiggins is the big favorite for SPOTY

Last year Mark Cavendish crowned an excellent year by winning BBC Sports Personality Of The Year (SPOTY) and now it seems like cycling once again will take the prize.

Yesterday the final 12 nominees for this year’s SPOTY award were revealed and among these we find Bradley Wiggins. Wiggo has won everything he aimed at winning this year and according to the bookmakers he is now the big favorite to repeat what Cavendish accomplished last year.

Bradley Wiggins trades right now at odds 1.40 to win BBC Sports Personality Of The Year meaning that you will only win €4 Euros if you bet €10. Second favorite, according to the bookies, is Mo Farah who became the only seventh man in history to win both the 5000 meters and 10.000 meters at the Olympic Games. Third favorite is Andy Murray who won the Olympic tennis tournament and US Open this year. Farah and Murray are trading at odds 6 and 11 to win.

The winner of BBC Sports Personality Of The Year 2012 will be revealed on Sunday 16 December.

Exclusive Interview - Gianni Savio (Team Manager, Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela)

Gianni Savio.

Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela managed to win the Italian Team Championship for the second year in a row and by that secure a spot in next year’s Giro d’Italia. All in all Gianni Savio’s team won 17 races this season so naturally the Italian team manager was very satisfied with how 2012 turned out.

Gianni, first of all congratulations on winning the championship.

Thank you! It was very important to us. First of all because it’s an honor to win the Italian Championship and secondly because we now have a wild card for the Giro d’Italia next year. It’s good that we can start the next season without any stress.

I take it you are quite satisfied with this season?
Indeed! I’m very, very satisfied with this year and to be honest it will be more than difficult to repeat it next year. But of course we will try. We always have the same passion and determination, but... It will not be easy to do as well as this year.

What has been the best moment for the team this year?

I would like you point out three moments. The first one is the Giro d’Italia stage we won with Miguel Angel Rubiano. It was a fantastic day and he was even virtual maglia rosa in the last kilometer. The second moment was when Franco Pellizotti won the Italian Championship. We signed him in May just before the Giro after he had come back from a very difficult time and for him to win the Italian Champions was unbelievable, not only for his career but also for himself as a person. The last one was in Giro dell'Emilia where we secured the Italian Team Championship. There was a ‘sporting war’ going on between Androni and Colnago and luckily for us Pellizotti [ending 3^rd] managed to keep Pozzovivo [ending 4^th] behind him. Don’t forget that if Pozzovivo had won this race, Colnago would have won the Championship!

What about the worst moment of the season?

Hmm… Maybe the beginning of Giro di Padania. Colnago won the TTT and the day after Modolo won a stage. It really didn’t look good for our team [thinking of the Italian Championship], but we managed to finish in a very strong way. We showed a lot of character and determination by putting two riders [Chiarini & Pellizotti] on the final podium behind Nibali.

Looking ahead. How do you see your team next year?

I think we still have a very competitive team. We managed to keep most of our important riders, so next year we will be able to count on Pellizotti, Sella, Felline, Chiarini and Rubiano. I think we have a good team. Furthermore I have signed some very promising young riders such as Matteo Di Serafino and Diego Rosa who is an incredible climber. I would have liked to keep both Ferrari, Serpa and De Marchi but they all got some very good offers from the ProTour teams and with our budget we simply couldn’t match that. My philosophy has always been to be able to pay everybody on the team; riders, mechanics, soigneurs etc. etc. and therefore we couldn’t afford to keep those riders.

And a quick comment about Rujano?

Well… This year Rujano did nothing. Nothing at all. He didn’t finish the Giro and generally he didn’t do well this season. Not only on a sporting level but also on a moral level. 

In the past you have been the only manager able to get results from Rujano. Do you think he will succeed at Vacansoleil-DCM?
It’s impossible to say if he will manage to do well with his new team. Rujano is a very special person with a mind of his own and only - only, only, only - Rujano knows what Rujano will be able to do.

You have one the brightest talents in Fabio Felline on your team. What can we expect from him in 2013?

Felline is still very young and it’s important not to put any pressure on him. That being said, I still think he will have a very good season next year and I think he will be a protagonist in the classics and in the Giro d’Italia. There are many good stages for him in the Giro. In the U23 World Champions he was one of the favorites, but I don’t think the Italian team rode like a team. When I give directions to my riders before a race everybody knows their role, but in the U23 race the Italian team seemed confused. Felline was alone in the final and he had already spent too much energy on attacking. I think that with another strategy it could have turned out differently for him.

Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela just had their first team meeting of the season in Rivarolo Canavese where they were presented with the prize of winning the Italian Team Championship. The team will get together again in the middle of December [9-16] before starting the new season in Argentina with Tour de San Luis.

Even though 2012 has been a huge success for the team, Gianni Savio hasn’t given up on the idea of joining the world’s elite and upgrade to the UCI WorldTour. You can read all about this by clicking here.

EXCLUSIVE - Gianni Savio wants to go ProTour

Gianni Savio at the Giro d'Italia 2012.

Team Manager of Androni Giocattoli, Gianni Savio, is no longer satisfied with his Italian team only being in cycling’s second division as a Pro-Continental team. The charismatic Italian plans to do what Mauro Gianetti and Joxean ‘Matxin’ Fernandez failed to accomplish last year when they went to Venezuela in order to save the crumbling GEOX team after the shoe company cancelled its sponsorship.

In the beginning of 2012, Gianni Savio -  who also acts as national coach for the Venezuelan cycling team - secured a deal with the South American government which meant the official team name in 2012 has been Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela. Building the team for 2013, Gianni Savio had to let go of three of his star riders when he couldn’t match the ProTour teams’ offers for Alessandro De Marchi (Cannondale) and José Serpa and Roberto Ferrari (both Lampre) due to a small budget but if everything goes according to plan this won’t be a problem in the future.

“Right now I’m negotiating with the Venezuelan government about  the chances of upgrading the team to ProTour status. We talked about it at the Olympics this summer and in January I will fly to Caracas (the Venezuelan capital) to have another meeting about the project”, Gianni Savio tells C-Cycling and adds that it will probably take a couple of years until the ProTour team will be up and running.

“I think it will be difficult to have it all ready for 2014, but I hope that in 2015 it will be possible”.

You might ask yourself why Gianni Savio should be able to do what Gianneti and Matxin couldn’t. According to Savio, the answer is simple: “I know Venezuela. I know what is possible and what is not possible. They [Gianetti and Matxin] presented a project that simply wasn’t possible. I’m more realistic and that is also why I say 2015 and not 2014”.

Right now, Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela have 17 riders on contract for the next season and according to Gianni Savio the team will see a couple a new faces in the beginning of next year. “I think I will sign two or maybe three young Venezuelan riders in January. I think we have space for that”, he reveals.

In addition to the ProTour plan Gianni Savio will already lead a Venezuelan team with young riders from South America - helped out by a couple of his own riders - next year. “The Venezuelan government wants to invest in cycling and it would be good for the riders to come and try to race in Europe. I hope and think that this team will be ready next year.”, Gianni Savio explains.

A full interview with Gianni Savio will be online here on C-Cycling in the weekend. Stay tuned.