Bahrain-Merida for Guangxi, CCC extends with six, Dowsett closes time with Movistar in China
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Sonny Colbrelli talks with reporters after Coppa Sabatini(Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
Janez Brajkovic (Bahrain-Merida)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
CCC Sprandi Polkowice riding the TTT at the Bergen World Championships(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Alex Dowsett (Movistar)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Davide Rebellin (CCC Sprandi Polkowice)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Despite edging towards the half a century mark, Davide Rebellin is not yet prepared to let go of his cycling career and is still notching up victories. Rebellin won the penultimate stage of the 2.1 ranked Tour of Iran on Thursday, beating Italian Nicola Toffali.
Rebellin (Kuwait Cartucho.es) broke free of the main group with Toffali, 22 years his junior, and the pair worked together to build a comfortable cushion ahead of the finale in Tabriz. Toffali remained with Rebellin until close to the end, but the elder of the two came out on top in the run to the line.
"At 30 kilometres to go Toffali and I started, with a good understanding between us in this moment. We managed to maintain the distance from the group and to be able to play our options for victory. It all went to perfection,” Rebellin explained.
It turns out that the younger Italian is the son of Rebellin's former training partner, Marco Toffali. Rebellin's career has spanned a quarter of a decade, but his victories were blighted when he tested positive for EPO after the Beijing Olympics in 2008. He has continually maintained his innocence.
Dutchman Rob Ruijgh (Tarteletto-Isorex) won the overall classification, beating Ilya Davidenok (Tabriz Shahrdary) by four seconds.
Bahrain-Merida hunting stage wins in Tour of Guangxi
Bahrain-Merida will head to the Tour of Guangxi next week with the intention of adding a few more stage wins to their palmares before they call time on their debut season in the peloton. The team brings with them sprinters Sonny Colbrelli and Niccolo Bonifazio as well as general classification rider Janez Brajkovic.
Completing the line-up will be Grega Bole, Luka Pibernik, Wang Meiyin and Yukia Arashiro. Whereas the others have more concrete targets ahead of the race, these four will be given a free role to try and get into the breakaway on any given day.
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”Tour of Guangxi is a new race in the international calendar, and for the first edition it is already on the World Tour which means almost all the best teams in the world will be there to try and score last points of the 2017 season. Our team Bahrain-Merida will go with full ambitions for stage wins with riders who have performed well on past weeks, I’m thinking especially at Sonny and Niccolò, and Jani will focus more on GC. Grega, Luka, Meiyin and Yukiya will have a free card to join breakaways and show in a great manner our Bahrain-Merida colours on the road.”
Bahrain-Merida for the Tour of Guangxi: Yukiya Arashiro, Grega Bole, Niccolò Bonifazio, Janez Brajkovič, Sonny Colbrelli, Luka Pibernik, Meiyin Wang.
CCC extend with six riders
CCC Sprandi Polkowice has extended contracts with six riders for next season, including Polish champion Adrian Kurek. Joining Kurek in remaining with the squad are Łukasz Owsian, Michał Paluta, Kamil Małecki, Patryk Stosz and Jonas Koch.
“We are very excited that these guys will stay with us next season. Łukasz Owsian and Adrian Kurek have been racing for our team for six and five years respectively,” said sports director Piotr Wadecki. “They are true professionals, and we know that we can always count on them. The other four riders are still very young and they all have developed a lot in the recent years. Especially Kamil Małecki who signed with us after his last season as a junior and we helped him take his first steps in professional cycling. His progress has been outstanding and now, as a 21-year old, he claimed some good results in elite and U23 category.”
The team is set to lose a number of riders over the winter, including Marcin Bialoblocki, Jan Hirt, who is going to Astana, and Felix Großschartner to Bora-Hansgrohe. They have signed Marko Kump from UAE Team Emirates, Manuel Amaro Antunes, and Pawel Cieslik.
Dowsett to make final Movistar appearance at Guangxi
Alex Dowsett will ride for the final time in Movistar colours at next week’s Tour de Guangxi. Dowsett is set to race for Katusha-Alpecin next season after five seasons with the Spanish outfit.
Joining Dowsett will be Andrey Amador, who replaces Winner Anacona in the seven-rider line-up. Anacona had originally been slated to ride in China, but he ended his season after crashing out of Il Lombardia last weekend. Completing the Movistar line-up for Guangxi are Nuno Bico, Héctor Carretero, Jesús Herrada, José Herrada, Dayer Quintana.
The inaugural Tour of Guangxi starts in Beihai City on Thursday, October 19 and finishes on October 24 in Guilin.
Movistar Team for Tour of Guangxi: Andrey Amador, Nuno Bico, Héctor Carretero, Alex Dowsett, Jesús Herrada, José Herrada, Dayer Quintana.
