Cycling - Spokes and Nipples

Nathan Haas will leave a Katusha-Alpecin team mired in uncertainty and ride for Cofidis next year, signing a two-year contract with the WorldTour-hopeful French team. Haas joined Katusha in 2018 after spending two seasons with Dimension Data and three with whats now EF Education First, but has struggled for results. His only victory came on stage 2 of the 2018 Tour of Oman, and he has been unable to build on his fourth place finish at the 2017 Amstel Gold Race. The team are yet to assure the funds to continue in 2020 but Haas was already looking to move on, and liked the sound of the project developing at Cofidis under Cedric Vasseur, who took over as manager in 2018. ADVERTISEMENT The French team, created in 1997, are aiming to return to the top tier of the sport and have already stated their intent in the transfer market with the acquisitions of Elia Viviani and Guilla...

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Victor de la Parte ( CCC Team ) suffered multiple fractures as a result of the mass crash that saw him and three other riders abandon the Vuelta a Espa�a on stage 6. The Spaniard, who was placed 13th overall at the time, was immediately taken to hospital for X-rays. His team confirmed he had suffered a fractured left scapula and rib. Victor was involved in a crash which took down a big group of riders, said team doctor Daniele Zaccaria. He was riding in the middle of the bunch when it happened, and there was not much he could do to avoid the riders who fell in front of him. ADVERTISEMENT He was immediately taken to hospital where X-rays revealed a fractured scapula and rib on his left side. EF Education First were the team worst affected by the crash, which occurred when riders hit a wet patch on a descent 90km into the stage. Team leader Rigoberto Ur�n and k...

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The confusion surrounding Movistar s leadership hierarchy in the Vuelta a Espa�a appears to have been laid to rest after Nairo Quintana told Spanish media that teammate Alejandro Valverde is heading the squads bid to win the race for a second time in four years. Both Quintana and Valverde have triumphed in the Vuelta in the past, the Colombian in 2016, two years after taking the Giro dItalia, and Valverde back in 2009. Initially it appeared that Quintana would be Movistars main GC challenger after Valverde told the AS newspaper last Monday that Nairo is more leader than I am, and Quintana then won stage 2 of the race into Calpe from a six-rider breakaway. ADVERTISEMENT However, in the same interview Valverde did not rule himself out of the GC battle, and said that he was taking things on the day-by-day. And Quintana, whilst clearly with options for the overall...

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New Zealands George Bennett has described as real nasty the stage 6 Vuelta a Espa�a pile-up that saw four riders , including former race leader Nicolas Roche (Team Sunweb), abandon the race. The Jumbo-Visma rider was one of three from his team who went down, including Tony Martin and American Neilson Powless - both of whom had already crashed in the stage 1 team time trial. That crash on Saturday saw Steven Kruijswijk finally abandon on stage 4 with an injured knee, whilst after the stage 6 pile-up Bennett, like Powless and Martin, could continue to race. ADVERTISEMENT Im not sure if it was someone from EF who went down first or if it was Tony [Martin], Bennett told reporters when asked what caused the crash. It was real nasty. I dont feel too good after it, but I feel a lot better than the guys in hospital. Thats part of racing - crashing. It was all going al...

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When it comes to betting on the UCI Road World Championships Road Race in September, one rider who already has worn the rainbow jersey, Belgiums Phillipe Gilbert ( Deceunink-QuickStep ), is surely an option that the bookies will have high on their list of possible winners. But in this years Vuelta a Espa�a , so far, Gilbert has been flying a little bit under the radar. Deceuninck-Quick Step came within a whisker of victory in the opening team time trial - and only lost through no fault of their own - and then have taken a bunch sprint stage win with Fabio Jakobsen. ADVERTISEMENT Meanwhile, Gilbert is biding his time for further down the line. Its too bad we missed the TTT you know, it would have changed a lot of things, the 37-year-old told Cyclingnews at the start of stage 6 Thursday in Mora del Rubielos. Then we had the first sprint [on stage 3] and we misse...

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The Vuelta a Espa�a s lead changed hands for a third time in six days on Wednesday as Bahrain-Merida s Dylan Teuns claimed his first-ever Grand Tour overall leaders jersey at the end of a long breakaway. Teuns was easily pipped to the line on stage 6 by Jesus Herrada (Cofidis) in a two-man duel at Ares de Maestrats grinding uphill finish. But having left the only other GC dangerman, David de La Cruz (Team Ineos), behind with four kilometres to go, the 27-year-old Belgian was still able to wrest the lead from Astanas Miguel Angel Lopez. ADVERTISEMENT Second last year in the Vueltas Monte Oiz stage won by Michael Woods (EF Education First), this time round the Belgians second place on an uphill finish in the Spanish Grand Tour netted him a much bigger consolation prize. It also reversed the result he achieved in the first week of the Tour de France in july, when Te...

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EF Education First suffered a knock-out blow to their Vuelta a Espa�a hopes after the squad were involved in a major crash halfway through stage 6. Team leader Rigoberto Ur�n was one of the worst affected, with both the Colombian and one of the teams best climbers, Hugh Carthy, forced out of the race. Others who suffered badly in the crash were former race leader Nicolas Roche (Team Sunweb), and Victor de la Parte (CCC Team), both of whom abandoned. ADVERTISEMENT A Jumbo-Visma rider lost control on a very fast descent, EF Education First team director Juanma Garate told Spanish TV later during the stage, and a good chunk of our team went down with him. Both Rigo and Hugh are in an ambulance right now, theyre badly hurt. Weve no luck in this race. Initial reports said that both Uran, lying sixth overall, and Carthy, who had been instrumental in shredding the fiel...

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