Gustov best for Cervélo today
Philippe Gilbert (Silence-Lotto) won his third race in a row today, the 184 km Giro del Piemonte, from Novi Ligure to Lagnasco in Fossano, Italy. He bettered Spaniard Daniel Moreno (Caisse d'Epargne) and Italian Francesco Gavazzi (Lampre-NGC), adding to his Coppa Sabatini and Paris-Tours wins. Top result for Cervélo TestTeam today was Volodymir Gustov in 29^th position.

"There was a break away of one rider from Acqua & Sapone today. Every team was fighting to be part of the breakaway today but in the end no team wanted to let a big group go, so there was just one rider," said Alex Sans Vega Sports Director. "At the maximum the rider from Acqua & Sapone had almost 10 minutes on the peloton. Then a rider from ISD closed the gap but the two were not able to stay ahead because Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni was controlling the race and brought the group back with 16 km to go. Then on the last climb Philippe Gilbert from Silence – Lotto attacked with 1.5 km to go and made it to the finish. From our team Volodymyr Hustov and Oscar Pujol Muñoz were part of the main bunch. This was the perfect preparation for Lombardy were we hope to show our strengths for the last time this season."



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The BIG Interview; Philip Deignan


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Haussler still considering nationality switch

Pujol best result for team at Giro di Lombardia
Philippe Gilbert (Silence-Lotto) rode the 242-kilometer route along Italy’s Lake Como today to win his fourth consecutive race this month defeating Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) to take the Giro di Lombardia, the final classic of the European road season. Alexandr Kolobnev (Saxo Bank) placed third. Best result today for Cervélo TestTeam was Oscar Pujol Muñoz in 30^th place.

"At the start we tried to save Philip Deignan. Serge Pauwels, Marcel Wyss, Oscar Pujol and Daniel Fleeman had to cover the breaks because we know every year there is a breakaway," said Alex Sans Vega, Sports Director. "They tried hard, especially Serge because Marcel had a bad crash after 25 km and had to stop. It was very difficult to make the break so once that was done, we tried to save our guys as much as we could for the final. Joaquín Novoa Méndez is sick and we knew from the start he was going to stop at the feed zone. Simon Gerrans did a good job, he doesn't have the same legs as a month ago but he did a very good job for the team going for bottles and bringing riders to the front. When we came to the last 20 km at the foot of the Madonna climb we still had four riders there Fleeman, Pujol, Philip and Volodymir Gustov. Pujol made an attack, certainly not the best moment that's for sure. Then at the foot of the Civiglio when the big names started to make their attacks like Gilbert, they were not able to follow. It was pretty well selected then who would be the riders for the win and then they just had to make it to the finish in the best position they could."

"I felt good today," explained Oscar Pujol, "but on the Madonna I attacked and I was a bit crazy, I didn't relax and my legs cramped. And while I did well for myself, the important thing is the team."


Note: Simon Gerrans and Serge Pauwels rode their last race for Cervélo TestTeam today.



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2009 UCI World Calendar: final standings
Cervélo TestTeam ended as the seventh best team in the world, in 2009.
While Heinrich Haussler and Thor Hushovd finished in sixteenth and seventeenth place respectively, just one point between them.

Edit:
Fleeman wins national hill-climb
Daniel Fleeman has claimed victory in the 2009 British Hill-climb Championships on Sunday afternoon in Sheffield, Great Britain. The Cervélo TestTeam rider finished 14 seconds ahead of Matt Clinton and 22 seconds clear of Jim Henderson.

Fleeman covered the short and tough 1.1 kilometre climb of Pea Royd Lane in the Sheffield suburb of Stocksbridge in three minutes and 18 seconds. He averaged a shade under 20km/h on the infamous street, which features pitches of up to 20 percent gradient.

"I didn't know anything about the climb beforehand," said Fleeman. "I had only seen a clip of the climb on YouTube. Before the start I was going to pace it evenly, but at the line I shot off like a mad man, and at the end I felt like I was dying."




Fleeman wins national hill-climb
Daniel Fleeman won the last race of his season, and possibly the last race of his Cervélo TestTeam - career..

Where the heck are the TDF episodes on bartape.net?

beans771:

Where the heck are the TDF episodes on bartape.net?

 

There is a thread titled "Beyond the Peleton", last post by the webmaster says that the next episode is out on Monday.

PEZ Talk: Fleeman Flies To British Hill Climb Win
PEZ: You really had to win today, a pro against the specialists?
Dan: Yeah, I entered three or four weeks ago; it’s a race I’ve always wanted to ride, but I’ve never managed to fit into my programme, before. After Lombardy last Saturday, when we were on the Cervelo team bus, the guys were having a beer and a pizza and I thought; ‘why have I entered that hill climb!?’ But I watched my diet and didn’t pig out or have a beer. In the week I was thinking; ‘I have to win this or I’m going to look foolish!’ I was in my buddy’s bike shop on Wednesday and he asked me how I thought it would go, I said; ‘I’ll win by five seconds,’ he was like; ‘yeah, right!’ But I actually won by three times that much!

PEZ: You just rode your usual bike?
Dan: Yeah, my training bike, it’s an S2 - what used to be the ‘Soloist – it has aluminium bars and stem, on my race bike there’s all the carbon stuff.

Sastre: A Giro for climbers
Former Tour winner waiting for Vuelta announcement to decide 2010 plans

Carlos Sastre likes the look of the '10 Giro
"Now that we've seen the Giro and Tour routes for next year, now I only need to see the Vuelta route to decide what I will do next season," Sastre said.

Sastre's comments came as he returned to the bike after not competing since following the Tour in July.

Sastre participated in a criterium in northern Spain in the hometown of Olympic gold medalist Samuel Sánchez. Sastre didn't lie when he was asked about how he felt.
"They (the legs) are not the best, but I felt enthusiastic and had that little spark again," Sastre said. "The most important thing of all is that I already feel recovered from a long rest period that I took after the Tour."

Marchante 3rd in Criterium de Alcobendas
The Criterium de Alcobendas was held yesterday near the Spanish capital of Madrid. The race is a combination of a time trial, an elimination race and a points race. The winner was Alejandro Valverde who claimed victory ahead of Alberto Contador and Cervélo TestTeam's José Ángel Gómez Marchante.

Roulston aiming for Southland hat trick
The last race as a Cervélo TestTeam rider!
Hayden Roulston says he’s feeling fresh ahead of next week’s Tour of Southland, where he’s hoping to become the third rider to take a hat trick of victories.
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Happy birthday to Dominique Rollin, he turned 27 yesterday!   

Roulston abandons Tour of Southland with knee injury
New Zealander's dream of fourth straight win over, looks ahead to 2010 with Columbia.



Cycling Australia announce people's choice finalists
Eight contenders to vie for annual award

Valverde, Sastre, Sánchez to race in Spanish criterium
Carlos Sastre Candil will participate in the Spanish Professional Cyclists Association (ACP) criterium in San Andrés del Rabanedo (León), Spain on Sunday.

Hushovd vs. Cavendish?     Some pic!

Hushovd 2nd in Amstel Curaçao Race
Cervélo TestTeam rider Thor Hushovd finished second today in the 80 km Amstel Curaçao Race (Curaçao is part of the Dutch Antilles). Tour de France winner Alberto Contador won the race and Koos Moerenhout (Rabobank) finished in third. Moerenhout initiated the winning attack and was joined by Contador and Hushovd. Contador attacked Hushovd and Moerenhout and won the race solo. Hushovd outsprinted Dutch road champion Moerenhout for second place.



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