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Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Tuesday, December 17, 2019

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CCC Team to target five key victories 

CCC Team sent me this:

16 December 2019, Denia, ESP: CCC Team will aim to finish the 2020 season with five major wins, team President Jim Ochowicz today announced at the team’s pre-season media day in Denia, Spain.

“After our inaugural year as CCC Team in 2019, we are approaching the next season with a bolstered roster of 28 riders and we have identified an ambitious, but achievable, list of victories we will target,” Ochowicz explained.

“As usual, we are starting the season looking to secure a Monument. Greg Van Avermaet delivered the first Monument win for the team back in 2017 and is more than capable of adding another one to his palmarès. With Matteo Trentin joining us in 2020, we now have multiple cards to play when it comes to the spring Classics. I am excited to see Greg and Matteo race together and believe we will have an aggressive and successful spring campaign. This goes hand in hand with our second goal of winning a UCI WorldTour one day race, which we achieved in 2019 with Greg’s win in Montreal, so we have another 21 opportunities in 2020.”

Greg van Avermaet

Greg van Avermaet wins the 2017 Paris-Roubaix when the team was sponsored by BMC. Sirotti photo

“Moving on to the Grand Tours, we want to win a stage in each of the three races. Our 2019 roster has been boosted by three 2019 Grand Tour stage winners in Fausto Masnada, Matteo Trentin, and Ilnur Zakarin, who join our continuing riders who have also achieved this feat at least once in their career. Finally, we will aim to win a UCI WorldTour stage race throughout the season. Patrick Bevin came extremely close in 2019 at the Santos Tour Down Under, and Van Avermaet and Zakarin have WorldTour stage race victories to their names already.”

“In total, that is six races we are targeting but, of course, if you win a Monument, you tick the WorldTour one day race off the list as well. So, these are the five races we want to win in 2020. As a team, we are motivated to achieve our goals and believe we have a talented and motivated group of riders capable of doing so.”

In 2020, Piotr Wadecki will assume the role of General Manager of CCC Team, working closely with Ochowicz, the team’s President, while Steve Bauer will transition from Director of VIP Services to Sporting Manager.

“In 2019, CCC Team made history as the first Polish UCI WorldTour team. In 2020, we want to build on this momentum and really achieve the results we know we can. We have welcomed new talent and if our training camp in Denia this week is anything to go by, we will be lining up for the first races of the season with a strong 28-rider team. As General Manager, I am excited to see what we can do in 2020,” Wadecki explained.

Ochowicz and Wadecki will continue to lead the day to day operations of the team and Bauer will oversee the team’s Sports Director group and assume responsibility for race calendar and rider roster planning. Gavin Chilcott continues as Chief Operating Officer, managing the business activities of the team.

“As we continue to grow the team from a sporting perspective, we welcome the news that CCC Team has been awarded a three-year WorldTeam license by the UCI, giving the organization a platform to continue developing robust future business and sports objectives,” Chilcott said.

“I am looking forward to working more intensely with the sport group than I have in recent years. The wealth of experience and expertise we have throughout our CCC Team sport group is a tremendous asset. My vision is to always work to align this expertise into achieving our collective CCC Team performance goals. 2020 is an exciting year before us,” Bauer added.

CCC Team’s 2020 racing kit, made by Exteondo, retains the signature CCC orange color and design that was seen in the peloton in 2019. CCC’s in-house shoe brand Sprandi will be more prominent in 2020 on the front and back, sides, and sleeves of the jersey, as well as the front of the bib short. Whilst CADEX, the team’s wheel and saddle partner, will feature on the jersey for the first time.

“The promotion of the Sprandi brand will be an important focus for the CCC company in 2020. Many cycling fans will be familiar with the brand from the former title sponsorship of CCC Sprandi Polkowice [now CCC Development Team] and now, with the logo featuring prominently on CCC Team’s jersey, we hope to build more awareness of Sprandi while competing at the WorldTour level,” CCC President Dariusz Miłek said.

Patxi Vila will become Team Movistar's Head of Performance

Here's the team's news release:

The Movistar Team confirmed Monday that Patxi Vila (Vera de Bidasoa, ESP; 1975) will be part of its staff, starting in 2020, as Head of Performance. A pro cyclist for ten years between the iBanesto.com (2001-02), Lampre (2003-08) and De Rosa (2011-12) squads, Vila has also amassed invaluable experience alongside big riders as a member of Tinkoff (2015-16) and Bora-Hansgrohe (2017-19), other than performance specialist for bike manufacturer Specialized (2013-2014).

“Through all these years, already before becoming a pro rider and both during my sporting and technical careers, I’ve always held the Movistar Team as a reference,” Vila explains. “It’s my home team, and the place where my idols made a name for themselves, such as Pedro Delgado or Miguel Indurain. I’ve spent three wonderful seasons as part of the Bora-Hansgrohe squad, supporting the team’s sporting success, and in this moment of profound transformations the Movistar Team is currently undergoing, I thought it was the right time to come back home.”

“I want to support the team with my work experience after having gathered knowledge across all areas one can be part of as a team member – I’ve been a professional cyclist, worked for riders as a coach, acted as a sports director and made all sorts of technical adjustments as part of a brand producing bikes and components. Because of all that, I feel like my main role here will be making things easier for everyone I work with, both riders and staff, and support the team’s overall operation.”

“Combined with that, the fact that I can get back to working near my home, close to my loved ones, and spending time into a team with people who speak Spanish, is something really important for me from a personal standpoint. It’s an easier atmosphere, a culture I’m more used to, which helps you work better. I’m so grateful to Eusebio and all of my team-mates for the warm welcome, and can’t wait to get going and help the team continue to build this new path to success.”

Group files lawsuit against park service for allowing e-bikes on non-motorized trails

Bicycle Retailer & Industry News sent me this:

WASHINGTON (BRAIN) — The Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and a coalition of conservation groups are the primary plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the National Park Service for allowing e-bikes on non-motorized trails.

Peer charges that Interior Secretary David Bernhardt and Deputy NPS Director P. Daniel Smith regularly met in private with an industry-dominated advisory committee called the "E-bike Partner & Agency Group" at Interior headquarters and through conference calls. The suit says the meetings violate the Federal Advisory Committee Act, which requires transparency to prevent secret lobbying.

"The impetus from industry is not surprising given that, as a former industry lobbyist himself, Secretary Bernhardt is known for hearing industry concerns and not public concerns," said PEER Executive Director Tim Whitehouse in a release.

Whitehouse later told BRAIN the NPS' decision is an example of how an agency is not supposed to act.

"The use of e-bikes on many trails in the National Park System will negatively impact hikers, bicyclists, horseback riders and other users and strain the service's ability to handle accidents and injuries," Whitehouse said. "Most trails should be off-limits to motorized bikes, including e-bikes."

Whitehouse also noted that other Bernhardt NPS directives, such as prohibiting parks from trying to limit plastic bottle sales, are a form of commercialization affecting policies.

"E-bikes represent another inroad of commercialized recreation into our national parks," Whitehouse said.

An NPS spokesperson told BRAIN it disagrees with the lawsuit's premise.

"We will continue to work with park superintendents to implement our common sense e-bikes' policy," the NPS spokesperson said.

You can read the entire story here.

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