Knaven: High Road from black to white

By Susan Westemeyer

Servais Knaven broke the biggest news out of the Team High Road training camp on Mallorca, which ended last week – the black jerseys are only temporary and will be replaced by new ones in the Tour of California. They will be white, "and therefore completely different. I find it a very beautiful design." A photo was not yet available.

The 36 year-old said that the team spent a lot of time with International Cycling Union (UCI) representatives concerning the "whereabouts" requirements. Writing on his website, servaisknaven.com, he noted that there is a new internet site which each rider must fill out himself, giving up-to-the-minute information as to his location at any given time.

"But I think that for someone like me with four children it is very cumbersome to always indicate exactly where I am. One moment I am swimming with Senne (age 5), then skating with Britt (age 7) and Senne, then doing gymnastics with Britt, and so on. I hope that the controllers will show some flexibility so that there will be no unnecessarily missed tests. But all in all it will be a serious change in my life."

The Dutch rider flew to his home in Belgium after the Mallorca training camp for a week before leaving for the next training camp and team presentation in California. While he was happy to be with his wife and four daughters again, he was not happy with how it all turned out. The other five had all been sick while he was gone, and upon his return home, they promptly gave him the sickness. After a few days in bed he was able to get back on his bike again on Monday.