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Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Tuesday, January 10, 2023

Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary | Our YouTube page
2022 Tour de France | 2022 Giro d'Italia

Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is God's handwriting. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Bill and Carol McGann's book The Story of the Tour de France, Vol 2: 1976 - 2018 is available in print, Kindle eBook & Audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Upcoming racing

• Jan 14 - 22: Schwalbe Classic & Tour Down Under
• Jan 22 - 29: Vuelta a San Juan
• Jan 25 - 29: Challenge Illes Balears-Volta Ciclista a Mallorca
• Jan 28 & 29: Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race

Latest completed racing:

• Jan 1: GP Sven Nys Cyclocross
• Dec 30: Azencross-Loenhout
• Dec 28: Diegem Cyclocross
• Dec 27: Heusden-Zolder Cyclocross
• Dec 26: Gavere Cyclocross
• Dec 10: Exact Cross Essen
• Dec 4: Scheldecross Antwerp

I got the note below from David Stanley, who both voices my audiobooks and contributes to this site. Please read his note and go to the link below it and contribute. You will be helping good-guy Charles Pelkey get though a tough time.

Charles Pelkey

I’m David Stanley and our good friend Charles Pelkey needs a little help. The Live Update Guy, the courageous cycling journalist, our compassionate friend – he is in the fight of his life.

As many know, Charles is a breast cancer survivor. However, over the last 6 months, Charles has been struggling with massive circulatory issues. CP has not been able to work for the last 6 months. In addition, he has gone through 4 major arterial and vascular surgeries which total nearly 25 hours in the OR.

While Charles has medical insurance, it’s all the other expenses that have been staggering. As a result, the family home is in jeopardy. That’s why, with CP’s permission, I ask each of you who has been touched by Charles as a friend or cyclist or colleague or reader of his work to make a contribution. Whether you can give $5 or $500, please think seriously and help out our friend in a most dire time.

Just click here to go to the gofundme for Charles.

Bicycle Retailer & Industry News sent me this important update:

WASHINGTON (BRAIN) — QBP is recalling about 8,740 carbon dropbars in the U.S. and another 350 in Canada because they can crack where brake/shift levers are installed. The bars were sold under the Salsa and Whisky brands and included on three Salsa bike models.

The company has received 37 reports of the handlebars cracking in use; no injuries have been reported.

The recall involves Salsa Cowchipper, Salsa Cowbell, Whisky No.9 12F, and Whisky No.9 24F carbon handlebars. The model name is printed on the handlebar. The bars were also spec'd on the Salsa Cutthroat, Warbird, and Warroad bikes. The handlebars were sold separately from January 2018 through August 2022; they were sold as original equipment on complete bikes from August 2018 through June 2022.

Consumers are being told to stop using the handlebars and contact a local bike retailer for a free installation of a replacement carbon or aluminum handlebar.

Consumers can contact QBP at 800-346-3340 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. CT, Monday through Friday or email recall@qbp.com.

Here's the Bicycle Retailer web page with more links and contacts.

The team sent me this:

Tour Down Under: JAN 17 - 22

Luke Roberts - Team DSM coach:
"After a two year absence from the calendar we are very happy to be returning to Australia to kick off the season at the Tour Down Under. This year promises to be exciting racing with the inclusion of some challenging climbs coming late in the stages. Starting out with a 5.5 kilometre prologue the general classification will be sorted slightly from the beginning, then we will expect a race for bonus seconds throughout the week. The finishes on stage three into Campbelltown and the final stage up to Mount Lofty will be the chance for the better climbers to make the difference over the fast men. With Patrick and Chris we have two riders that know the race well and have proven themselves in previous editions, so our goal will be to target a top result in the overall classification."

Patrick Bevin wins the third stage of the 2022 Tour de Romandie. Sirotti photo

Line-up:

• Patrick Bevin (NZL)
• Romain Combaud (FRA)
• Matthew Dinham (AUS)
• Chris Hamilton (AUS)
• Marius Mayrhofer (GER)
• Tim Naberman (NED)
• Martijn Tusveld (NED)

Here’s the team’s news:

For the first time since 2020, the Tour Down Under will open the World Tour calendar, a 5.5km prologue kicking off proceedings at the 23rd edition, which promises to give the sprinters at most two opportunities to fight for victory. Surprisingly, one of these will come on the Willunga stage, meaning that this year the now iconic climb of the race won’t make an appearance, with the spotlight now being on the ascent of Mount Lofty, a climb never before used at the Tour Down Under.

Featuring on the final day of the race, one taking in an elevation gain of more than 3000 meters, Mount Lofty will come at the end of a stage punctuated by numerous short but demanding hills, and will average 7.3% over 1300 meters, with the steepest part coming beyond the flamme rouge.

Mattia Cattaneo (shown racing in the 2021 Tour of Luxembourg) will be racing in Australia. Sirotti photo

Mattia Cattaneo, Dries Devenyns, James Knox, Mauro Schmid, Jannik Steimle, Martin Svrcek and Stan Van Tricht will be the seven riders lining up for Soudal Quick-Step in Adelaide, where our 21st season will officially commence next week.

“It won’t be an easy Tour Down Under, that’s for sure. It’s an unusual edition, with a short opening stage against the clock – where we hope to place some of our guys in the top 10 – and not that many chances for the sprinters. On some of the days, we can expect smaller groups to fight for victory – and our objective is to be there and try something – before the main showdown on the hard Mount Lofty”, explained sports director Geert Van Bondt. “We have a strong and motivated squad, with the experienced Dries as our road captain, and guys like Mattia, Jannik or Mauro who can be in the mix and get some good results during the week.”

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