Bicycle Racing News and Opinion:
Saturday, June 27, 2015

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Upcoming Racing

This is national championship week, though some countries hold their championships earlier in the year. I've got the 2015 national championship pagegoing and update it at least a couple of times a day.

On July 4th, the Tour de France and the Tour of Austria (Osterreich Rundfahrt) begin.

Audio Book Giveaway

Would you like a free audiobook version of Les Woodland's Tour de France: The Inside Story narrated by Oscar Sparrow? Of course you do. Go to Emma Calin's website where the book giveaway is being held. And by the way, Oscar has now voiced a couple of our books and he is a master of the art.

Of course, you are also always welcome to buy a print or Kindle version of Les' enjoyable book.

SR Suntour recalling more than 100,000 Forks

This is big. Lots and lots of these forks are out there. They were on $300 - $400 bikes from Cannondale, Diamondback, GT, Schwinn, Giant, INA International, Scott and Trek.

This news story was posted on BicycleRetailer.com:

VANCOUVER, Wash. (BRAIN) — SR Suntour North America is working with U.S. and Canadian authorities to recall more than 100,000 of its suspension forks due to concerns that the bolt attaching the upper part of the fork to the lower part can break or separate, causing the front wheel to come off bicycles.

There have been 15 reports of bolts breaking or separating, including two reports of minor injuries such as abrasions, cuts and bruises.

The recall involves 68,000 units sold in the United States and 33,600 in Canada. The SR Suntour bicycle fork models M3010 (24- and 26-inch), M3020 (24- and 26-inch), M3030 (26-, 27.5- and 29-inch), NEX (700c) and XCT (20-, 26-, 27.5 and 29-inch) were sold on bikes from Cannondale, Diamondback, GT, Schwinn, Giant, INA International, Scott and Trek.

The bicycles were sold from November 2014 through May 2015 for $300 to $400 at bicycle shops, sporting goods store and mass merchandisers, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Click here for the rest of the story posted on the Bicycle Retailer web site. And then, please check your bike if there is any chance you might own one.

Dutch buying lots of eBikes

I wish this were true of my own countrymen.

This was published in www.bike-eu.com:

AMSTELVEEN, the Netherlands – After a year that saw e-bike sales rising with a big 16.1% many in Holland expected a slowdown in 2015. The opposite happened. In the first four months of the year sales increased with even bigger numbers.

Is it because of speed e-bikes of which sales is accelerating? Or is it because of the starting e-MTB trend in combination with the fact that Dutch consumers are willing to spend money again as the country’s economy started growing?

The data of market researcher GfK Benelux doesn’t provide an answer on these questions. But what it does say about e-bike sales in the Netherlands in the first four months of 2015 in comparison to the same period in 2014 is that it grew with a big 23,5%! A total of 63,619 new e-bikes were sold at dealers in the January to April 2015 period compared to 51,510 during the same period in 2014.

Last year the Dutch e-bike market saw total sales of some 225,000 units. When in the coming months sales will continue to grow with the same pace as during the first four months of the year, 2015 total sales will end at some 265,000 units. This will represent a market share of over 25%!

Looking at e-bike sales by turnover, the growth rate stands even higher. At 26.5%. This means that prices for electric bikes are maintained at a high level. The average sales price per sold e-bike stood at € 2,065 in the named 2015 period. This is 2.4% higher compared to the the first four months of 2014.

EBikes are hot in the Netherlands. The rest of the world will eventually catch on, I'm sure.

Georg Preidler Austrian TT champ

Giant-Alpecin sent this heads-up:

Georg Preidler (AUT) raced to victory at the Austrian National Time Trial Championships, taking his first professional victory of his career.

Preidler came to the Austrian Nationals with a lot of confidence after being selected for his first Tour de France participation and a strong spring season behind him. He raced around the 25km time trial in a time of 32'06", hitting an average speed of 49km/h.

“This is unbelievable for me, I can't believe I won and beat the guys who normally are in front of me. I had good legs and was able to push hard. In the first part my power meter showed good numbers, and I thought if I can continue like this I will have a fast time. In the second part I could even accelerate, which turned out to be enough for the win.

"We have worked hard with the team's trainers towards this part of the season. I felt good in the Tour de Suisse, where I finished with a good time trial last weekend. Now I repeat that at the Nationals and I am going to the Tour de France with this excellent form.

"It's like a dream for me to start the Tour de France next week and really unbelievable to do that in the national colors. I always dreamed of that and if people would have told me that three years ago I would do so, I would have laughed, so I am really happy.” 

This being Preidler's first pro win, I had only one file picture of him, this at the 2012 Tour de Besseges. I expect to hear more about the Austrian in the future.

Nelson Oliveira Portugese TT Champ

I imagine Lampre-Merida was quite happy to send this note:

The jersey of the Portuguese time trial championship did not change the owner: it will be on the shoulders of Nelson Oliveira next year.

The Lampre-Merida cyclist obtained first place on the 36 km course in Braga (4 laps of 9 km each) stopping the watch at 44'05", 4" better than Machado (2nd) and 47" better than Mendes (3rd).

In the first, second and third lap, Oliveira was slower than Machado, but in the last lap he succeded in increasing his pace and overtaking him.

"I'm very happy, because it's always something difficult to repeat a victory, especially on this year's course, which was very demanding".

Oliveira, got his third national time trial title as pro, in addition to one title he had conquered as an Under 23 rider. The circuit was characterized by a climb, which was not long but it was quite demanding, and by a descent with headwind, where it was fundamental to have the necessary energy to turn the pedals.

"I managed my energy in the first part of the race, then I increased my pace and I had the strength to be very fast on the last lap. I got very good feedback from my legs, so I decided to participate in the road race too, with the aim to support Rui Costa. It would be great if he could wear the national champions jersey I have worn this year".

On Sunday, Oliveira, Rui Costa (today he was 8th) and Mario Costa (today 14th) will take part in Braga in the road race (193,2 km).

Nelson Oliveira

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