Serge Pauwels topped the Cyclingnews Tour Tracker charts as the rider who spent the most amount of time in a breakaway during this year’s Tour de France.
According to the Tour Tracker’s breakaway data, the MTN-Qhubeka rider spent a total of 17:19:20 hours in breakaways during the three weeks of racing.
Pierre-Luc Perichon (Bretagne-Séché-Environnment) was the second on the list having spent 16:52:51 in breakaways. Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) was in breakaways for a total of 16:40:44, and took the third spot.
Other riders who spent a significant amount of time in the breakaways were Romain Bardet (Ag2r-La Mondiale) at 16:02:33, and he also earned the event’s most aggressive rider award and won stage 18 to Gap, Daniel Teklehaimanot (MTN-Qhubeka) 15:58:04 and Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) 15:50:00, who also won his fourth green jersey classification.
Europcar, however, was the team that spent the most amount of time in the breakaways, with a whopping total of 75:21:38 hours. MTN-Qhubeka, as a team, spent 51:10:40 in the breakaways and Bretagne-Séché-Environnment spent 51:04:51.
Garzelli joins Nippo Vini Fantini as directeur sportif
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Stefano Garzelli, the former Giro d’Italia winner and teammate of Marco Pantani has joined the Italian Nippo Vini Fantini team as a directeur sportif and will make his debut in the team car at next week's Vuelta a Burgos.
Garzelli worked briefly with the Neri Sottoli team as a directeur sportif last year but has focused on television commentary work this season. Garzelli won the 2000 Giro d’Italia while riding for Mercatone Uno.
“It’ll be a pleasure collaborate with the Nippo Vini Fantini team and so work with directeur sportif of the calibre of Stefano Giuliani and Martio Manzoni. I can’t wait to return to a role that excites me, while not giving up my work with television."
Nippo Vini Fantini also confirmed that Damiano Cunego and Daniele Colli –who fractured his arm after hitting a photographer leaning over the barriers at the Giro d'Italia this year, will return to racing at the Vuelta Burgos and also ride the Tour du Limousin in France.
Savio to appeal Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec’s 30-day suspension
Androni Giocattoli’s team manager Gianni Savio announced on Wednesday that he will appeal the 30-day suspension handed to the team by the UCI’s Disciplinary Commission.
The team was suspended in accordance with Article 7.12.1 following the notification of two anti-doping rule violations within the same team in a period of 12 months.
“We’ll appeal to UCI for a lifting of the suspension,” Savio said. “Since Article 7.12.1 foresees that the suspension shall be lifted if the Team proves to bear no responsibility.”
The UCI announced on Monday that it had provisionally suspended Fabio Taborre after he tested positive for the developmental blood booster FG-4592, detected in an out-of-competition control on June 16. Davide Appollonio tested positive for EPO on June 14.
“Not only are we totally unrelated to the facts, but we will also provide all the documents demonstrating the measures adopted to fight against doping: from the seminars guided by Lawyer Giuseppe Napoleone, the education courses, the many letters sent to all the components of the team, to the signing of the strict Internal Rules certified by Notary Marco Marvaso.
Upon notification of the second anti-doping rule violation, Savio had agreed to self-suspend his team under the MPCC terms. “Following MPCC guidelines, we had already self-suspended our team for the month of August, anyway we’ll appeal against the suspension by UCI as a matter of principle.”
In addition, at the start of the season the riders on the Androni Giocattoli team agreed to pay a €100,000 fine if they were suspended for doping when signing their contracts.
“We have delegated Lawyer Napoleone to prosecute Davide Appollonio and Fabio Taborre requiring compensation for damages, as foreseen by the attachment of the Internal Rules. I think it is very significant to add that also all the riders and the whole technical staff of the team have given Lawyer Napoleon mandate to prosecute the two riders tested positive.”
Merckx mentor Albani passes away
Giorgio Albani, one of the legendary figures of Italian cycling, has passed away at the age of 86.
Albani was a successful rider in the 1950s, winning 34 races, including seven stages at the Giro d’Italia, where he also wore the pink jersey in 1952 when he beat Fiorenzo Magni and Fausto Coppi to win a stage in Bologna. However, Albani was most famous as senior directeur spprtif at the Molteni team and played a key role in convincing Eddy Merckx to race for the Italian team at the peak of his career between 1971 and 1976.
From 1982, Albani worked on the organisation of the Giro d’Italia, sharing his race experience and knowledge to ensure the success of the race.
Albani’s funeral will be held in Monza on Thursday, with many of his former riders and friends from the world of cycling expected to attend.
Breschel prepared for Tour of Denmark
Tinkoff-Saxo’s Matti Breschel has recovered from his injuries sustained in a training crash in June and is looking forward to competing in the upcoming UCI 2.HC Tour of Denmark from August 4 to 8.
Breschel was involved in an accident while out training behind a scooter with his father, where he described “an oncoming car cut a corner and drove right into us.” He said that he hit the back of the scooter. He was forced to pull out of the Danish National Championships at the end of June because the accident left him with several bruises but no fractures. His father sustained a broken collarbone.
He returned to racing at the Tour de Wallonie, in preparation for the Tour of Denmark, where he placed third on the final stage in Thuin on Wednesday.
“I’m fairly satisfied although the stage win would have been nice to top off Wallonie,” Breschel said in a team press release. “It’s a good start after a long period without racing, where I’ve just been training also to bounce back from my injury in June.
“I think the legs are responding well and my shape is improving ahead of Tour of Denmark. Tour de Wallonie has been an important preparation and I’m looking forward to see what results we can create in Denmark next week”.
