Gadret returns to cyclo-cross, Twitter says 'yes' to USA Cycling's 2016 national calendar
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Campbell Flakemore (BMC)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
John Gadret (Movistar) before stage 6 of the Tour de France(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
GT Factory Racing's Rachel Atherton will be hoping to get her first UCI MTB World Cup Pietermaritzburg victory under her belt this weekend after claiming the World Champs title at the same venue last year.(Image credit: Gameplan Media)
Phil Gaimon (Optum) takes home another Redlands trophy after winning the overall. (Image credit: Jonathan Devich/epicimages.us)
Team Sky's bus is up for sale on eBay(Image credit: eBay)
Campbell Flakemore has decided to call an end to his time at BMC after just one season as a professional cyclist. Flakemore signed a two-year deal with the BMC team after winning the under-23 World Championship time trial title in 2014, but that has been dissolved following the young Australian’s decision.
Flakemore had a tough induction into the WorldTour when he crashed on stage 2 of the Tour Down Under and broke his collarbone. He returned to ride some of the classics and the Tour of California, and finished his season at the Vattenfall Cyclassics in August. According to the Adelaide Advertiser newspaper, Flakemore is likely to take a year away from cycling.
"I haven’t got any plans (to keep riding), maybe after 12 months. I've ridden my bike once in the last 10 weeks, so I haven’t really got any drive to do it," he told the paper. "It wasn’t something that happened overnight. Even last year I was umming and ahhing whether to go another season, then you get a professional contract and it’s pretty hard to turn down. It was something I owed to myself and sadly it didn’t work out but I’m happy."
Team Sky bus on eBay
You can find almost anything on eBay including an old Team Sky motorhome it seems. The three-litre Eura Mobile ACTIVA 820HS is currently up for sale on the online auction site with bids now topping £30,000.
Speaking to Cyclingnews, the team are not sure at which races the bus was actually used but said that it had been with the team for the past four or five years and is likely to have gone to the Tour de France or Giro d’Italia at some point. It is one of the team’s smaller busses and would tend to be used in time trials, where it would be stationed at the finish, and smaller races. Looking at the names printed on the side of the bus it would appear to have the 2014 roster on the side.
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Team Sky haven’t fallen on hard times and resorted to pawning off their stuff online. The bus was previously sold off, as many teams do with pieces of equipment at the end of the year - although it’s unusual to see such large items up for grabs – and the new owner is now selling it off.
Gadret returns to cyclo-cross
Later than he would have liked, John Gadret has found himself a new contract for 2016. The Frenchman will return to his cyclo-cross roots as he rides for the Cross Team by G4. The team is a joint venture of former pro Steve Chainel and his wife Lucie. Gadret is unable to ride with them immediately as he is still in contract with Movistar but will begin competing at the start of next year.
Following the announcement from the team Gadret posted on Twitter "Happy to join my frist in @crossteambyg4 on 1st January 2016. Returning to my first love."
Gadret is a two-time French national champion in cyclo-cross but has also been competing on the road since 2004. He joined AG2R La Mondiale in 2006 and later moved to Movistar for the 2014 season. The 36-year-old claimed his biggest result on the road when he finished third at the 2011 Giro d’Italia and won a stage.
Trek Factory Racing Downhill team
Trek Factory Racing have added another string to their bow with the announcement of a new Downhill team for 2016. All three of the Atherton siblings – Gee, Rachel and Dan – will wear the outfit, as will Taylor Vernon. Between the Athertons, they will bring a total of six world titles and 15 national titles. The team which will ride the full World Cup calendar plus some of the Red Bull events.
"I'm stoked to be working with Trek. I remember watching my fellow Brit Tracy Moseley absolutely tearing apart the field at Worlds in 2010 on her Trek Session, then going on to dominate the 2011 season. Trek is a brand with a lot of positive associations for me," said Rachel.
Trek Factory Racing already field road and cross country mountain biking teams.
Cyclingnews Twitter followers say 'Yes' to USA Cycling's merged national calendar in 2016
In our latest Twitter Poll, Cyclingnews asked followers if USA Cycling should have merged the National Racing Calendar and the National Criterium Calendar to form a new combined national calendar for 2016. The response: 64 per cent voted 'yes' and 36 per cent voted 'no'.
