Vuelta a Colombia to launch women's race, Androni sign young Colombian, Cyclingnews podcast
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Bradley Wiggins eases up after the men's team pursuit final.(Image credit: Bettini)
Gianni Savio gets up on stage with his Androni team(Image credit: Sirotti)
The elite women peloton leaves the mountains for the run down to Uriarra Crossing.(Image credit: Greg Long Photography)
Egan Bernal (Colombia) leads at start(Image credit: Tour of Japan)
The peloton passes under the La Course sign(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Track stars head to Manchester Revolution meet
Bradley Wiggins, Elia Viviani, Laura Trott and Katie Archibald are set to form part of a strong line-up for the second meet in the Revolution Series at the Manchester velodrome on Saturday.
Those four riders all enjoyed success at the European Track Championships last week, with Wiggins triumphing with Great Britain in the team pursuit and Viviani defending his Omnium title, while Trott and Archibald won the team pursuit together before going on to claim individual golds - Trott in the scratch race and Omnium, Archibald in the individual pursuit.
Owain Doull won gold alongside Wiggins that day and the pair will team up once again in Manchester as part of Team Wiggins. Iljo Keisse, Ian Stannard, and Adam Blythe are also down to ride, while Viviani will come up against a key adversary in reigning Olympic Omnium champion Lasse Norman Hansen, who he got the better of at the Euros. However, the Omnium is not on the event's schedule this time.
"I raced Revolution for the first time at the beginning of the year so know how high the quality of the racing will be, especially with riders like Wiggins and Doull in the line-up," said Viviani in a statement from Team Sky.
"I've got some good form following the Euros and Omnium victory so I'm hoping to get Team Sky off to a good start in the Elite Championship."
The event will see riders battling out for points for their teams that will count towards the Revolution Elite Championship, while certain races also have UCI points on offer, which allow qualification to the winter World Cup and World Championships events.
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Young Colombian to Androni-Giocattoli
The Androni-Giocattoli team has made an investment for the future in signing Egan Bernal, an 18-year-old Colombian, on a four-year contract.
Bernal, who turns 19 in January, has showed promise primarily on the mountain bike. He won silver and bronze in the discipline at the last two junior World Championships and is currently ranked number one in the world at junior level. Prior to signing a deal he underwent tests with the Italian team, who said he showed "outstanding values".
The signing means that Gianni Savio once again has a Colombian in his squad's ranks after the likes of Fredy Gonzalez, Ivan Parra, Jose Serpa, and Nelson Rodriguez.
The team have also announced that Franco Pellizotti has signed a contract extension and will once again be road captain for next season.
Vuelta a Colombia to feature women’s race next year
There will be a new women's road race on the calendar next year, with the Vuelta a Colombia set to launch a women's version of its existing men's event.
The plan is for a six-day stage race, made up of five road stages and an individual time trial, for late October 2016. Further details, such as the planned route, will come during the course of next season, while the men's event is scheduled for next June.
"In the same way as the world's top races, which have recently launched a female version, the Vuelta a Colombia will offer a sister event to the country's most important women," read a statement from the Colombian Cycling Federation.
"The new race, which from 2016 will form part of the Colombian domestic calendar, will revolve around strengthening the position of women in high-level competition and will become the most important race of the season."
The Cyclingnews podcast: Tour de France route analysis
This week's episode of the Cyclingnews team is all about the 2016 Tour de France. Cyclingnews' editor-in-chief Daniel Benson and news editor Sadhbh O'Shea were at the official presentation of the race in Paris on Tuesday, and they were joined by Het Nieuwsblad's Jan-Pieter de Vlieger to analyse the route to be covered by the 21 stages.
The team discuss and dissect the standout features and intricacies of a route that features two time trials - neither of which is flat - nine mountain stages, four summit finishes, and six sprint stages.
We also hear from 2015 champion Chris Froome, his team principal Dave Brailsford, and sprinter Mark Cavendish, who is looking to take the yellow jersey on the opening day - a road stage that looks set for a bunch sprint.
Click here to subscribe to the Cyclingnews podcast on iTunes.
