Welcome to Daily News, your roundup of news items from across the world of cycling. We keep this post updated throughout the week so that you can stay informed on all things bike racing, tech, industry, culture, advocacy, and more.
Here is what is making the headlines this week …
Tuesday, October 15, 2024
- Urán is apparently hoping to become a pro footballer
- Cavendish still mum on 2025 plans but eyes future management role
- Body Rocket launches pre-orders on Kickstarter
- Brembo acquires Öhlins
- Winner’s Circle: Taminiaux sprints to victory in Guangxi
- Quick Hits
Urán is apparently hoping to become a pro footballer
Rigoberto Urán (EF Education-EasyPost) is retiring from bike racing after a long career in the pro peloton, but he is not hanging up the cleats. Quite the opposite: The 37-year-old told El Colombiano that he is aiming to become a footballer now, and as far as we can tell, he was not kidding.
“I am going to dedicate myself to professional football, it is an unfulfilled dream, and I am going to try to see what happens,” he said. “Now the novela de Rigo is nominated at the [International] Emmy Awards, it’s crazy, but my objective is to be a professional footballer. I have nothing to lose, you know that I am pretty crazy by I like to do things.”
Over the course of his time in the pro peloton, Urán won stages at all three Grand Tours and also racked up three Grand Tour podium finishes. At the same time, he also became a huge celebrity in Colombia and a successful businessman too, with a recent telenovela portraying his emergence as a young star.
Urán’s bike racing career came to a frustrating end two months ago at the Vuelta a España, where he crashed out and broke his hip, bringing a premature end to his swan song season. Nonetheless, he told El Colombiano that he saw cycling as his “life” and his “university,” and that it had “given him everything.”
Cavendish still mum on 2025 plans but eyes future management role
Speaking of retirement, Mark Cavendish (Astana-Qazaqstan) is still not making it known just what he’ll be doing in 2025. As he reiterated in a recent interview with Men’s Health, he won’t be returning to the Tour de France, but whether he continues to race in other events next season remains unclear. In any case, the 39-year-old Manxman is eyeing a future transition into a management role.
“For me, though, it’s not about stopping, it’s about starting something new,” he said. “I will always ride a bike, but the past few years I’ve known what I want to do after. I’ve set the wheels in motion for that. I want to stay in management in the sport, I still love it. I brought a lot of people to this team [Astana Qazaqstan] over the past two years, and I know what it takes to be successful. I’ve been building up to the moment I’m not racing.” [Men’s Health]
Body Rocket launches pre-orders on Kickstarter
Body Rocket, the real-time aerodynamic drag measurement system for cyclists and triathletes, has opened pre-orders on Kickstarter. Using sensors at the handlebar, seatpost, and pedals, the system provides live drag force data directly to a rider’s Garmin device. Offering “wind tunnel-level accuracy” on the road, the system is designed to help athletes optimise aerodynamics and boost performance without complex setups.
Pre-order pricing starts at £2,200, with shipping slated for May 2025. Early bird options are available, and some of them include a coaching package with ex-pro cyclist Alex Dowsett’s Thighs Club. [Kickstarter]
Brembo acquires Öhlins
Italian braking specialist Brembo has announced it will purchase the Swedish suspension manufacturer Öhlins for US$405 million, the largest acquisition in the company’s 63-year history.
Öhlins currently offers a range of high-end mountain bike suspension – a division of the company that recently saw some lay-offs. Meanwhile, Brembo dabbled in prototyping and testing mountain bike brakes in the mid-2000s.
Winner’s Circle: Taminiaux sprints to victory in Guangxi
Lionel Taminiaux (Lotto-Dstny) picked up his first WorldTour win in the opening stage of the Tour of Guangxi on Tuesday. The 28-year-old Belgian very narrowly bested Gijs van Hoecke (Intermarché-Wanty) in Fangchenggang, with Juan Sebastián Molano (UAE Team Emirates) settling for third.
Quick Hits
Alexandra Manly is heading to AG Insurance-Soudal … Sarah Roy signs with EF-Oatly-Cannondale … Milan Vader will join Q36.5.
Monday, October 14, 2024
- Remco Evenepoel is ‘not stupid’
- Driver who killed Rebellin sentenced to four-year prison term
- Thomas: Pidcock situation is ‘just messed up’
- Pogačar, Kopecky, and Vollering headline Vélo d’Or nominees
- Fuglsang will call it a career in 2025
- Quick Hits
Remco Evenepoel is ‘not stupid’
Remco Evenepoel recently addressed months of rumors of a potential team change when he said he would be staying at Soudal-Quick Step, and now, his team boss has shown his appreciation for the Belgian star. In an interview with Cyclingnews, Patrick Lefevere praised Evenepoel’s outlook and his willingness to stick with Soudal even as he pursues a range of goals that apparently include wins at the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France to go with the one he already has at the Vuelta a España.
He’s not stupid,” Lefevere told Cyclingnews.
“His goal was to do the Tour in 2025 and he did it one year before the goal. They have to give us the time we need to adapt with the possibilities we have. I can’t call a Sheikh and ask for an extra five million euros, it doesn’t work like that. Remco understands that.”
Lefevere also said that “nobody made an offer” to buy Evenepoel out at Soudal, despite ample reporting to the contrary by multiple outlets this season. In any case, Evenepoe just closed out what was a very successful 2024 campaign with a runner-up ride at Il Lombardia, where he was an emotional finisher on Saturday afternoon, four years after he suffered a crash at the race that left him badly injured. Evenepoel dedicated his ride to Soudal sports director Davide Bramati, whom he credits with having saved his life when he crashed at the 2020 edition of the race.
Driver who killed Rebellin sentenced to four-year prison term
An Italian court has sentenced the truck driver who hit and killed Davide Rebellin to four years in prison. Wolfgang Rieke, the German driver of the vehicle, hit Rebellin while the recently retired Italian was riding near Vicenza in November of 2022.
Rieke fled the scene and went back to Germany, but he was extradited to Italy and tried for the crime.
Thomas: Pidcock situation is ‘just messed up’
Nobody, including Ineos Grenadiers star Geraint Thomas, seems to know just exactly what the heck is going on over at Ineos right now after the team made an 11th-hour decision to leave Tom Pidcock off of its roster for Il Lombardia.
“It’s just messed up,” Thomas said of the situation in conversation with teammate Laurens De Plus when the duo took over the Eurosport Instagram account over the weekend.
“He’s not happy, the team’s not happy. How has it got to this point? I don’t know. People who are around Tom I don’t think help. The fact is that he had a great chance of performing today.”
Pogačar, Kopecky, and Vollering headline Vélo d’Or nominees
The finalists for the Vélo d’Or, a prize for the season’s best rider as determined by a jury of journalists, have been unveiled, and the list includes the big names you’d expect to be there.
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) is the obvious favorite on the men’s side, with the likes of Evenepoel, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty), and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) among the other nominees. On the women’s side, which seems likely to be a closer contest, nominees include SD Worx-ProTime teammates Lotte Kopecky and Demi Vollering, as well as Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) and Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM).
Fuglsang will call it a career in 2025
Two-time Monument winner Jakob Fuglsang (Israel-Premier Tech) will ride on for another season, and then he will hang up the wheels. The veteran Danish rider, who will turn 40 in March, has raced at the first or second division since all the way back in 2009, and over the course of his lengthy career, he has claimed both Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Il Lombardia and won the Critérium du Dauphine twice.
Quick Hits
Look will sell Corima wheels back to co-founder Jean-Pierre Martin … Primož Roglič is considering a return to the Giro in 2025 … Alpecin-Deceuninck and Groupama-FDJ are both skipping the Tour of Guangxi.
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