Daily Cycling News Digest – February 18, 2021

Here’s the cycling news highlights for Thursday, February 18, 2021

Team Qhubeka ASSOS Celebrates Strong Start to 2021 Season

After getting off to a rocky start securing its future late last year, Team Qhubeka ASSOS is celebrating a strong start to the 2021 season.

The team has competed at Étoile de Bessèges and Tour de la Provence, showing some strong early season form with the culmination being a first victory for Team Qhubeka ASSOS by the European and Italian champion, Giacomo Nizzolo, in Clásica de Almería.

“The three races that we’ve been involved in, to kick off our season: Besseges, Provence and Almeria, all-in-all represents 10 race starts and two General Classifications. In total that is 12 classements, where Team Qhubeka ASSOS both have won one race and also secured another four top-10 places,” says Michaelsen. “If you consider some of the financial conditions that the team was in and from which we have built the roster, we could not realistically have expected those sorts of results so soon.”

Almost all of Team Qhubeka Assos riders were assembled near Girona for a pre-season training camp in late January which seems to have laid the groundwork for some of this early success, as Michaelsen illustrates.

“From the camp, where we unfortunately had Sergio Henao and Dylan Sunderland not available, my aim was – and it still is – to instill a spirit of “One Team”. This will be an ongoing theme throughout the season and it in fact falls perfectly in line with our team’s underpinning philosophy of “Ubuntu – I am because we are”. You’ll see that phrase emblazoned across all of our vehicles, as well as on the neck of our riders race jerseys.”

UAE Team Emirates’ announce squad for UAE Tour

UAE Team Emirates have named their 7 riders for the first big goal of the year: the UAE Tour. The Emirati team go into the race eager for strong results after a good showing in 2020 where Tadej Pogačar won a dramatic stage 5 before going onto to win the Tour de France later that year.

The team goes into the race with a dynamic squad who will focus on stage victories, while also eyeing up the overall title with Tadej Pogačar, and with Fernando Gaviria to lead the line in the sprints.

Team Manager Joxean Matxin Fernandez (Spa) along with Sports Directors Andrej Hauptman (Slo) and Marco Marzano (Ita) will lead the following riders : Tadej Pogačar (Slo), Davide Formolo (Ita), Jan Polanc (Slo), Mikkel Bjerg (Den), Rafal Majka (Pol), Fernando Gaviria (Col), Maximiliano Richeze (Arg)

Joxean Matxin Fernandez (Manager) : “Our aim will be to pick up where we left the race last year : with a victory,” said Team ManagerJoxean Matxin Fernandez. “Whether it’s the GC or a stage or both, we are searching for that first win of 2021 and to achieve it on home soil would be fantastic.

“We’re on home territory and we know that all eyes will be on us but it’s something we’ll use as further motivation. Pogačar will be our leader but the reality is it’s a squad that can adapt to any situation and we will have different cards to play, especially on the climbs.

“Gaviria has a good track record here also and will be our main man for the sprint finishes.”

João Almeida and Sam Bennett Lead Deceuninck – Quick-Step at UAE Tour

One of the best sprinters of last season, during which he claimed a total of seven wins and the prestigious Tour de France green jersey, Sam Bennett is ready to return to action, more than three months since his last outing at the Vuelta a España. Supported by a strong cast, including Shane Archbold, Iljo Keisse and Michael Mørkøv, the 30-year-old Irishman will look to be in the mix on the flat, with four of the race’s seven stages expected to come down to a bunch sprint.

“It’s been a good winter and I am looking forward to starting the season. You always wait for the first race to see where the condition is, so Sunday can’t come soon enough. There will be plenty of sprint opportunities and I hope to do good, although I expect some stiff competition. The team had a great start to the season in France last week and it would be nice if we could continue that – it’s what we want”, said Sam.

João Almeida will be another rider to kick off his campaign in the Middle East. A revelation of the complicated 2020 season, when he made his debut at World Tour level and impressed with a series of spectacular results, including fourth overall and a 15-day spell in the famed Giro d’Italia maglia rosa, João can’t wait to pin a number again.

Team Bahrain Victorious Ready for First Worldtour Race

The Bahrain Victorious line-up will be led by Wout Poels and Jack Haig with Phil Bauhaus, Damiano Caruso, Gino Mäder, Jonathan Milan and Fred Wright riding in support. Poels and Haig enter the race off the back of strong performances at Tour de la Provence. They will compete against some of the biggest stars in cycling, such as 2020 Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar, four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome and last year’s winner of the UAE Tour Adam Yates.

Alongside Poels and Haig, the team is strong, with Damiano Caruso starting his first race after a top ten finish at last year’s Tour de France in support of our GC contenders, and Phil Bauhaus will battle it out for the sprint stages after his impressive win on the final stage of the Tour de la Provence. It will also be Jonathan Milan’s first WorldTour race and an exciting test for the 20-year-old Italian eyeing the ITT on Stage 2.

Sports Director Franco Pellizotti commented on the importance of the race: ” We have a strong team for the first WorldTour race of the season. It’s an important one for Bahrain, being in the Middle East. However, It’s an important race for all the teams being the first WorldTour race, which shows with the team line-ups.”

112th Milano–Sanremo: la Classicissima returns for Primavera

Spring is back and ‘La Classicissima’ Returns With It

On Saturday 20 March, the 112th edition of the Milano-Sanremo will take place, following the classic route with one alteration. The riders will not tackle the Passo del Turchino as it is currently inaccessible due to a landslide. The route will instead pass over the Colle di Giovo climb, then descend onto the Via Aurelia to Albisola. They’ll then follow the traditional course for the remaining 112km, climbing the three Capi before reaching Cipressa and Poggio and arriving on Via Roma for the race’s iconic finish. The total race distance will be 299km.

Following the Cipressa climb (5.6km with an average gradient of 4.1%) the riders will be faced with a very fast and challenging descent that leads back to the SS 1 Via Aurelia. At 9km from the finish, the ascent of Poggio di Sanremo begins (3.7km long with an average gradient of less than 4% and a maximum of 8%, reached just before the crest of the climb). On the climb, the road is slightly narrower, with four hairpin turns in the first 2km. The asphalt-paved descent that follows is extremely technical, narrow at points and features a succession of hairpins, twists and turns all the way up to the junction with the SS 1 Via Aurelia. The final part of the descent enters the city of Sanremo. The last bend, leading onto the home straight, is 750m from the finish line.