UCI letter: New anti-doping hotline

Today UCI President, Pat McQuaid, sent out a letter to all the professional riders urging them to use a new "confidential hotline" should the rider witness any doping abuse.

"We need to do more to ensure that the UCI is as accessible as possible, and in particular to you the riders, should you wish to discuss issues or concerns relating to doping", Pat McQuaid writes in the letter.

In the past I've talk with many riders stating they would never 'rat out' any team mates if they saw them using illegal drugs but hopefully things have really changed now. Cycling is once again being seen as the 'dope sport' by the public, but according to Pat McQuaid we can all "be assured that cycling will find a new path forward". I hope that he (for once) is right.

You can read the whole letter from Pat McQuaid here:

From Africa to the Tour de France

Team MTN-Qhubeka - © www.qhubeka.org

One of the most interesting projects on the cycling scene right now is the African Team MTN-Qhubeka. After a strong season lead by super talent Reinardt Janse van Rensburg (14 wins this year), Team MTN-Qhubeka topped the UCI Africa Tour ranking while Janse van Rensburg ended 9^th on the Europe Tour ranking.

The African team have big plans for the coming years and now it’s the time to take the next step. If everything goes according to the plan the team will be racing a dual program next year. One team in Europe as a Pro-Continental team and another one in the races on other continents as an African feeder team with the intention of raising the awareness of cycling on the African continent.

Sponsor upgrade

Earlier this year MTN (a South Africa-based telecommunication company) announced that they would increase their investment in the cycling team in order to lead the first African team all the way to the Tour de France. A goal the team aim to reach by 2015. “Our vision is to see an African rider wearing the yellow jersey”, Chief Marketing Officer at MTN SA, Serame Taukobong tells.

In order for this to happen the team need to gear up on many levels. First of all becoming a Pro Continental team - the first African one ever seen - and to help its case Team MTN-Qhubeka have already signed strong riders like time trial specialist Ignatas Konovalovas (stage winner in the Giro d’italia), sprinter Gerald Ciolek (former U23 World Champion and stage winner in the Vuelta España) and climber Sergio Pardilla (former runner up in Tour of Austria, Volta a Portugal and Tour de l'Ain and Top20 in the Giro d’Italia) for the upcoming season.

Team MTN-Qhubeka
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What’s important to notice here is that this isn’t just another “big company" sponsored cycling team as we know them. Qhubeka (meaning ‘to progress‘ and ‘to move forward’) is a charity giving bicycles to children in rural areas across Africa and the whole idea behind the project is to raise awareness of cycling and inspire young people to start cycling.

Some of the riders on the team turning professional now grew up without electricity and running water and that it’s possible to get where they are now is the story the team want to tell. A positive story the cycling world really needs these days.

That’s also why it’s so important to keep Qhubeka in the team name despite the lack of financial aids. To make sure that Qhubeka will stay, the team is right now negotiating with a big multinational company. So far this new moneysponsor remains unknown but looking at the latest donation from Qhubeka (see picture above) it seems like it’s the South Korean electronics giant Samsung who will help the team become Pro Continental next year.

Saying goodbye to the star

Unfortunately season star rider Reinardt Janse van Rensburg won’t be a part of the team next year. Being the fourth most winning rider of all this season, only surpassed by Andre Greipel (19 wins), Peter Sagan (16) and Mark Cavendish (15), Janse van Rensburg was naturally a high priority for many big team teams wanting to boost their points and keep their status. Team MTN-Qhubeka encouraged Reinardt Janse van Rensburg to wait before signing with another team, but never seeing a project like this in African ever before, Janse van Rensburg couldn’t take the chance of waiting and decided to go elsewhere.

“Losing him is a huge loss to the team. It’s very sad to see a rider leaving after 3 years of development, especially since our teams focus is the development of African cycling”,  Team Principal of Team MTN-Qhubeka, Doug Ryder  tells C-Cycling and adds “we are hoping that Reinardt will integrate into the team again in the coming years”.

Reinardt Janse van Rensburg hasn’t officially announced his team for next year, but Argos-Shimano seems to be his pick.

Future in Europe

Next year Team MTN-Qhubeka will be based in Lucca, Italy and for many of the team’s African riders it will be their first time living in Europe. Therefore the team is right now in process of establishing a service course and a team house in order to make the riders’ transition to Europe as smooth and easy as possible. 

Brent Copeland & Doug Ryder
Picture from Twitter

“The riders need to live in the environment and conditions of Europe and get used to the European races for the team to achieve its objectives of developing world class African riders. It is important for our team and riders to be close to each other for training and support and close to the service course where all the team race decisions will be made. Most of the riders have not been away from home for that amount of time so they will support each other when times are tough”, Doug Ryder explains.

To help out with the language and to make sure they integrate well in Europe the riders will be able to count on the support of former Lampre DS Brent Copeland who will act as European Manager for the team. South African Copeland has lived 10 years in Italy and according to Doug Ryder; “The riders are looking forward to this new adventure and the lifestyle in Tuscany”.

Success criteria

As a new team on the Pro-Continental scene you can’t really expect Team MTN-Qhubeka to achieve great results right away. This year the African team had 24 victories (being the 9^th most winning team in 2012) and knowing Pro-Continental is a big step forward, Team Principal Doug Ryder points out that less than half of the wins in 2012 will make for a successful season next year. 

The team’s success criteria for 2013 are:

- Making Top20 on the UCI Europe Tour ranking

- Making Top15 in the World Champions Team Time Trial

- 10 UCI race wins

Team roster

Despite losing Reinardt Janse van Rensburg, Team MTN-Qhubeka are still able to show a strong line up on their team roster. Right now the team are still negotiating with riders for the coming season but as of today the roster looks like this:

Gerald Ciolek (GER)

Ignatus Konovalovas (LTU)

Sergio Pardilla (SPA)

Jay Thomson (RSA)

Louis Meintjes (RSA)

Johann van Zyl (RSA)

Andreas Stauff (GER)

Youcef Reguigui (ALG)

Kristian Sbaragli (ITA)

Frekalsi Debesay (ERI)

Tsgabu Grmay (ETH)

Adrien Niyonshuti (RWA)

Meron Russom (ERI)

Jani Tewelde (ERI)

Songezo Jim (RSA)

Bradl ey Potgieter (RSA)

Dennis van Niekerk (RSA)

Jacques Janse van Rensburg (RSA)
Jaco Venter (RSA)

Martin Wesemann (RSA)

                            

In a time where cycling seems to be bleeding more than ever Team MTN-Qhubeka sure is one bright story that deserves to be told.

EXCLUSIVE - No new sponsors to save Gianetti & Matxin

A couple of weeks ago I wrote that Mauro Gianetti had at least two concrete offers on the table to save the former Team GEOX. One of these was the deal with President Hugo Chavez and the Venezuelan government while the other was with ‘regular’ international company. At the time it seemed like it was only a matter of time before a new sponsor deal would be signed but now the optimism is gone. I just got off the phone with Mauro Gianetti.

“The situation isn’t easy. Right now we are still waiting for a decision from the Venezuelan government. It’s a big, long term project and of course you can’t just rush to a decision, I understand that. I’m in touch with them every day though, but I don’t think it will be possible to continue on the level we would like to next year. Maybe we can make a deal for 2012 to carry on with a smaller budget, but I don’t know. To be honest it’s very complicated right now”, Gianetti explains.

Last Friday the UCI gave Gianetti & Matxin another week to find a new sponsor, but according to Gianetti that’s not enough time.

“Ever since GEOX announced the end of their sponsorship, I have been doing everything I could to secure a new deal. But now we just have to face the reality of modern cycling. It’s extremely difficult to find a new sponsor and if you look around there are really no new sponsors among the big teams. Not even Highroad managed to find a new sponsor. Due to the low economy it’s just not possible right now and we have to face that. Maybe we can sign a deal in one or two months, because I’m really talking with a lot of companies. The opportunity is there but the time isn’t”.

Denis Menchov has already been rumored to Katusha for several months and according to Mauro Gianetti that would indeed be the best solution. “I hope he sign the deal soon. Denis is a good rider and a good person and I think that Katusha should have the best Russian rider on their team”.

Also Juanjo Cobo, who has been faithful to Gianetti & Matxin in this difficult time, is now ‘free to leave’. “He has been approached by some teams. I can’t say which ones, but of course he is not going to stay now, I mean he is the winner of the Vuelta”, Gianetti says. According to my information Cobo will most likely continue on one of the World Tour licensed teams next year.

So unfortunately it really seems like the former GEOX team won’t continue next year and if they do, only on a level much lower than before. Such a shame for cycling!

Pat McQuaid or Plexico Burrews?

Less than a week after the Contador CAS hearing, UCI president Pat McQuaid now confirms to Cyclingnews that his organization is close to open a handful of anti-doping cases based on information from the biologic passport.

My question is then; "Why is Pat McQuaid telling this now?". In a time when cycling once again is struggling with cases against its top riders, how can it possible be a good idea to say that there are more cases coming, without being able to name any implicated riders? Instead of focusing on the next season, suddenly everybody and their neigh bough now starts to think “who are those riders?”, “I’m sure it’s him, he was just too good this year” etc. etc.

I may be blind here, but please Pat McQuaid; explain to me why you are leaking this information now and not just stay quiet until the cases are opened? It sure seems like UCI is shooting their own feet here…

Dice the sentence

There is something seriously wrong with the cycling system and I doubt many will argue with that fact. Alexander Kolobnev seems likely to slip through with a small fine, Alex Rasmussen and Jeannie Longo go free despite 3 missed anti-doping tests while the Ezequiel Mosquera and Alberto Contador cases drag out. Everybody knows how long the Contador case has been going for now and apparently the UCI didn’t even send their case against Mosquera to the Spanish federation until the end of April even though his positive test occurred during the Vuelta in September.

How come it has to take this long to determine if a rider is guilty or not and why are the end results so far from each other? Sometimes it really looks like the cycling organs deciding these things just end up throwing dices to decide…

I wouldn’t be surprised if the UCI, WADA and all the national federations have this site on the top of the bookmark list.

The system needs to get fixed - same rules for everybody, ya!