Late November traditionally marks the point when riders begin serious training for the new season and Nacer Bouhanni announced via Twitter that he is back in the saddle after a six-week break.
The Frenchman moved to Cofidis in 2015, becoming the team’s leader and number one sprinter. He had a difficult start to the season but went on to win 11 races, including two stages at the Critérium du Dauphiné. However he crashed out of the Tour de France on stage 5 and quit the Vuelta a Espana on stage 7 due to crash injuries.
Bouhanni recently spent a week of his off-season at a boxing school in the Ardennes, even sparring with Olympic medallist Daouda Sow.
He announced his return to training with a tweet, showing him wrapped up in his red Cofidis winter training clothing.
Formolo wins ‘Coraggio e Avanti’ award
Davide Formolo (Cannondale) was awarded the ‘Coraggio e Avanti’ award by Adispro, the Italian Association of directeur sportif, on Sunday at a special event in a convent in Tuscany.
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The 23-year-old won a stage of the Giro d’Italia to La Spezia with a solo attack and is considered one of the most promising riders of his generation.
Other awards were given to Marta Bastianelli, and directeur sportif Franco Gini and Giuseppe Martinelli, who lead Fabio Aru to victory at the Vuelta e Espana with the Astana team.
USA U23 criterium champion to ride for El Baque-Compos in Spain
David Lombardo, the 2015 under-23 USA criterium national champion will race in Spain with the El Baqué-Campos Team in 2016.
The 19-year-old from Crystal Lake, Illinois rode as a Junior with the Hincapie Development Team in 2014 and with the Hagens Berman U23 this season. Lombardo will be based in the Basque town of Berango, near Bilbao and race with 16 other young riders in the El Baqué-Campos team.
Ed Clancy named in Great Britain track team for New Zealand World Cup
Olympic team pursuit rider Ed Clancy has recovered from a back injury and was named for the Great Britain team for the next round of the track World Cup in New Zealand (Dec 4-6).
Clancy missed the recent track World Cup in Cali, Colombia due to his injuries but will anchor a young Great Britain squad, while veterans such as Bradley Wiggins focus on their training. Also in the men’s endurance group are Chris Latham, Germain Burton, Mark Stewart and Oliver Wood.
In the men’s sprint group, Olympic gold medallists Jason Kenny and Philip Hindes are joined by Lewis Oliva and Callum Skinner as they look to improve on recent poor performances and secure Olympic qualification. Becky James is back in the women’s sprint group.
Great Britain Cycling Team technical director, Shane Sutton, said, “We’ll be going to New Zealand with the aim of scoring vital Olympic qualification points, particularly in the sprint events and it’s great to see Becky James come back into the fold.”
