In today’s road racing news Amador moves to INEOS, Livestrong without Armstrong, EF Education First wins TTT and more…
Livestrong re-emerges Without Armstrong
Livestrong, the cancer charity whose yellow wristbands became a global brand under founder Lance Armstrong, is seeking to reinvent itself, years after donations and revenues crashed along with the disgraced cyclist’s career.
Armstrong was nowhere to be seen earlier this month during Livestrong’s ”relaunch” ceremony in Austin. The charity announced plans to end its one-on-one cancer support services, where a patient could call for help dealing with insurance, counseling and medical trials. Instead, it will pivot to spending $5-6 million annually to support entrepreneurs developing products to improve treatment and patient care.
Livestrong was a pioneer in providing one-on-one help to guide people through difficult and sometimes traumatic cancer diagnosis and treatment. The model has been successfully copied by many. The company therefore needs to find new, unique ways to help patients, Livestrong President and CEO Greg Lee said.
Andrey Amador joins Team INEOS
Andrey Amador has broken his contract with the Movistar Team and will make his debut with Team INEOS at the UAE Tour.
The Costa Rican rider, aged 33, has long been admired by the Team and is renowned as one of the sport’s outstanding riders. He arrives after spending the first 11 years of his professional career with the Movistar setup.
Andrey said: “Who wouldn’t be excited to sign with Team INEOS? I’m very happy to be part of this great Team. I have spent all of my sporting career with Movistar and I owe them a lot – but I felt now is the right time in my career to seek some new motivations. This is a new challenge and I will give everything I have for this Team.”
EF Education First Opens Tour of Colombia with Strong TTT Performance
The EF Education First squad put in a strong showing in the opening team time trial of the Tour of Columbia, besting Deceuninck-Quick Step by 45 seconds and Team INEOS by 46 seconds.
The team, which included newly crowned Colombian time trial and road race champions Dani Martínez and Sergio Higuita, Ecuadorian national champion Jonathan Caicedo, Tejay van Garderen, Rigoberto Urán and Lawson Craddock, was by no means the big favorite going into the day.
“I thought we were going to win, or at least get close to winning,” said EF Pro Cycling CEO Jonathan Vaughters. “But to build up a lead of 45 seconds over a 16km course is nuts! I haven’t seen a margin of victory like that in a team time trial for probably 10 years.”
Bevin Makes 2020 Debut at Vuelta Ciclista a la Region de Murcia
Matteo Trentin will lead CCC Team at the two-day Vuelta Ciclista a la Region de Murcia on February 14 and 15, while Patrick Bevin will make his season debut.
Despite the climbing-heavy parcours, Trentin has showed his versatility at the race with fourth place overall at the then one-day race in 2018, and seventh place in 2019 having finished in the top ten on both stages.
After withdrawing before the start of the Santos Tour Down Under, Bevin has opted to forgo the New Zealand National Championships in order to start his European racing season earlier than planned.
“I am lining up at Vuelta Ciclista a la Region de Murica very excited to start my season. I want to slot straight into the team objectives but it is my first race after an extended break from racing. My precautionary withdrawal from the Tour Down Under was extremely frustrating but I appreciate the work the team has done, along with the Olympic Medical Team in New Zealand, to make sure that I am 100 percent fit and healthy to begin my season”
Bernal to change Tour Colombia strategy after disappointing TTT (AFP)
Tour de France champion Egan Bernal said his Ineos outfit will have to “rethink” its strategy after a disappointing opening team time-trial at the Tour Colombia on Tuesday.
Education First Pro Cycling (EF) put Ecuador’s Jonathan Caicedo in the leader’s jersey. The Deceunick-Quick Step team of French star Julian Alaphilippe came second at 45sec with Ineos third at 46sec.
“We’re going to see how we can rethink the race. The truth is we didn’t expect to lose so much time, we’ll have to change our strategy,” said 23-year-old Bernal.
“We made a couple of mistakes… We didn’t expect to lose so much time, it wasn’t a bad time-trial, what Education First did was a very good time-trial.”
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