Colin Lewis Cycle Chat October 2011

Cycle Chat 29.10.11

We are sorry the last 2 weeks Cycle Chat have been late in publishing but holidays are much more important particularly when we don't seem to have enough of them!!

Its nearly here!! The yellow the Shimano Ultegra Di2 electronic transmission bike is arriving in the shop next week!! Push button control rather than levers!! There have been rave reviews but could be summed up by saying "Incredibly smooth, precise and reliable shift performance that cable-actuated systems can't match. " Call in or give us a ring on 01803-553095 to book your test ride!! It will be on sale sometime in November!!

In the previous 2 Cycle Chats you will have seen that Yanto Barker and Jon Locke have secured great contracts for next year and our other cyclist that we follow, Jeremy Hunt, has now signed for another year with Sky. This is a great coup for Jeremy with years catching up and also Sky's upping their position to include Mark Cavendish alongside Bradley Wiggins in their ranks.

This is thinking on paper that after the recent win for Mark in the recent World Championships that Mark had a say in Jeremy's contract. Jeremy had worked very closely with Mark in the first laps particularly up the hills where he paced Mark allowing him back into the peloton and then back to the front so as not to drain Mark too much. It worked. That was Jeremy's job for what he was selected for and trained for 3 years.

All in all 2012 is going to be a very interesting year for us Brits to see how Sky will manage Bradley and Mark. Will it over-extend the team or will it bring out of each rider that added dimension which will make them the top team for 2012?? I think the latter!!

This Sky's line up for 2012:-

Davide Appollonio (Ita)
Michael Barry (Can)
Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor)
Mark Cavendish (GBr) - from HTC Highroad
Alex Dowsett (GBr)
Bernhard Eisel (Aut) - from HTC Highroad
Juan Antonio Flecha (Spa)
Chris Froome (GBr)
Mathew Hayman (Aus)
Sergio Henao (Col) - from Gobernacion de Antioquia
Jeremy Hunt (GBr)
Peter Kennaugh (GBr)
Christian Knees (Ger)
Thomas Lofkvist (Swe)
Lars-Petter Nordhaug (Nor)
Danny Pate (USA) - from HTC Highroad
Richie Porte (Aus) - from Saxo Bank-SunGard
Salvatore Puccio (Ita) - from Menfi-AG
Michael Rogers (Aus)
Luke Rowe (GBr) - from GB Academy
Kanstanstin Siutsou (Blr) - from HTC Highroad
Ian Stannard (GBr)
Chris Sutton (Aus)
Ben Swift (GBr)
Geraint Thomas (GBr)
Rigoberto Uran (Col)
Bradley Wiggins (GBr)
Xabier Zandio (Spa)

This is the Endura Team line up for 2012:

Jack Anderson (Aus)
Alexandre Blain (Fra)
Ian Bibby (GB)
Iker Camano (Spa)
Zak Dempster (Aus)
Rene Mandri (Est)
Jonny McEvoy (GB)
Rob Partridge (GB)
Erick Rowsell (GB)
Jon Tiernan-Locke (GB)
Scott Thwaites (GB)
Paul Voss (Ger)
Alex Wetterhall (Swe)
Ian Wilkinson (GB)
Dean Windsor (Aus)

Until next week,

Bob.

Cycle Chat 22.10.11

From last week where we said that the 3 riders we follow i.e. Jeremy Hunt(Sky), Yanto Barker (Pendragon) and Jon Locke (Rapha) were all looking for new contracts for 2012 we can report that Yanto and Jon are all lined up and from what we know about Jeremy he is wise enough to have things sorted out for 2012!!

First of all Yanto (now a TV star following his recent presenting role at the Tour of Britain) will be joining the UK Youth team for the 2012 season.

Yanto feels an affinity with the charity and its purpose, and is excited to be racing back at an international level with riders like Magnus Backstedt.

He also likes the prospect of racing with a solid team which is also led by Magnus, along with the support of one of his childhood heroes, Nigel Mansell!!

In 2012, Team UK Youth will aim to build on their positive performance in their inaugural season, and the addition of former Great Britain international Yanto is sure to help the team match these aspirations.

Yanto is a great role model for young people and will help power the message of UK Youth.

Founded in 1911, UK Youth is a leading national youth work charity supporting over 750,000 young people, helping them to raise their aspirations, realise their potential and have their achievements recognised via non-formal, accredited education programmes and activities.

Jon is off to Endura with Rapha focus being switched towards developing young, home-grown talent and not being in the UCI Pro Continental for 2012.

Endura are part of the UCI Pro Continental which will give Jon (as well as a bigger salary!!) more opportunities for higher category races at home as well as abroad. He is very pleased with this contract and is looking forward as well as training for 2012!!

Just had in the shop a Cervélo C5 frame which is on sale at £2500. This is designed to be the state of the art in streamline tested by the Cervélo team in the guise of Garmin. The last one we had which was a whole bike was very quickly sold so if you are interested don't hesitate!!

Also just in is the Giant TCR whole bike again at £2500. The TCR is a very impressive bike being swift and solid with a lovely ride quality. This includes a high-quality carbon frameset which forms the basis of an exciting road bike.

Interested?? Call in the shop at Paignton or give us a ring on 01803-553095.

Until next week,

Bob.

Cycle Chat 15.10.11

Watch out for the Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 electronic transmission coming shortly. Push button control rather than levers!! There have been rave reviews but could be summed up by saying " Incredibly smooth, precise and reliable shift performance that cable-actuated systems can't match. "

Watch this space for further news!!

Jeremy Hunt (Sky), Yanto Barker (Pendragon and Jon Locke (Rapha) who are the riders we follow all with connections with the Mid Devon Club and CLCycles are needing new contracts for 2012.

First of all Jeremy getting near to retirement would love to finish off his long career with another year with Sky. Now with Mark Cavendish signing for Sky Jeremy is one of those hard workers for him in the peloton and also in the final thrust of the sprint. He also has a great strength in the early season one day classics such as the Paris-Roubaix.

Pendragon are finishing their sponsorship of their Cycle team leaving Yanto looking for a new team for the 2012. No news as yet.

And finally Jon who after his very successful Tour of Britain with the King of the Mountains win and a 6th overall although able to continue with Rapha is on the search for a team giving him more prospects for his future.

We will keep you in touch with any news as soon as we get it!!

British Cycling will receive a further £1 million in National Lottery funding for next year.

The money, part of £3.5m that will be given to the governing bodies of the country's most successful sports, will be used to boost their grassroots programmes and help deliver a lasting sporting legacy beyond London 2012.

Sport England awarded the funding, which will be used to get another 12,000 people cycling regularly.

The 2012 Tour de France stages were unofficially announced this week:-

P Prologue Sat 30 June Liège > Liège 6.1 km
1 Road stage Sun 1 July Liège > Seraing 198 km
2 Road stage Mon 2 July Visé > Tournai 207 km
3 Road stage Tues 3 July Orchies > Boulogne-sur-Mer 197 km
4 Road stage Weds 4 July Abbeville > Rouen 214 km
5 Road stage Thurs 5 July Rouen > Saint-Quentin 197 km
6 Road stage Fri 6 July Épernay > Metz 210 km
7 Road stage Sat 7 July Tomblaine > La Planche des Belles Filles 199 km
8 Road stage Sun 8 July Belfort > Porrentruy 154 km
9 Time trial Mon 9 July Arc-et-Senans > Besançon 38 km
10 Road stage Weds 11 July Mâcon > Bellegarde-sur-Valserine 194 km
11 Mountains Thurs 12 July Albertville > La Toussuire - Les Sybelles 140 km
12 Mountains Fri 13 July Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne > Annonay 220 km
13 Road stage Sat 14 July Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux > Le Cap d'Agde 215 km
14 Road stage Sun 15 July Limoux > Foix 192 km
15 Road stage Mon 16 July Samatan > Pau 160 km
16 Mountains Weds 18 July Pau > Bagnères-de-Luchon 197 km
17 Mountains Thurs 19 July Bagnères-de-Luchon > Peyragudes 144 km
18 Road stage Fri 20 July Blagnac > Brive-la-Gaillarde 215 km
19 Time trial Sat 21 July Bonneval > Chartres 52 km
20 Road stage Sun 22 July Rambouillet > Paris Champs-Élysées 130 km

Also announced are the dates for the ninth edition of The Tour of Britain from Sunday 9 to Sunday 16 September.

The Tour will continue to be held across eight days, once again visiting England, Scotland and Wales in one edition, providing a chance for British spectators to see Olympic medallists in action less than a month after the London Olympics.

With the World Championships in Limburg held just a week after the conclusion of The Tour of Britain, the race will once again prove to be a perfect warm-up for the Worlds, as illustrated by Mark Cavendish's victory last month, just days after he took the honours in the final Tour of Britain stage in central London.

See you next week,

Bob.

Cycle Chat 08.10.11

Last week's was devoted entirely to the HUGE win by the British men's team in the Road Race World Championships but because of that no mention was made of the other HUGE British achievements.

Elinor Barker gave the GB Cycling Team a great start to the World Road Championships with second place in an extremely tight Junior Women's Time Trial finishing under 2 seconds down on the winner, Jessica Allen of the Australian team.

Great Britain's Mark Christian in the Under 23 TT and was briefly in the top ten, but faded over the second half of the course to finish 30th of 65 finishers.

The Junior Men's Time Trial, which was won by Dane Mads Wurtz-Schmidt. The GB Cycling Team's first year junior Jon Dibben finished 8th.

The Elite Women's Time Trial took in 2 laps of a 13.9km course and saw Britain's Emma Pooley defending the title she won in Australia last year. On a course that didn't seem to suit her, Pooley produced a strong ride to claim the bronze behind Judith Arndt and Linda Villumsen of New Zealand.

Bradley Wiggins scored a silver medal in Elite Men's TT - Britain's second Time Trial World Championship podium in two years.

Lucy Garner is the 2011 Junior World Road Race Champion, sprinting to the line in her rookie year and distancing her competitors in a moment reminiscent of Nicole Cooke's 2008 Olympic win.

Britain's Andy Fenn continued Britain's medal run on day four of the UCI Road World Championships, finishing third in a punishing final sprint to the line of the under-23 men's road race.

Pierre Henri Lecuisinier of France took the World Junior Road Race title in a thrilling final sprint in Copenhagen. Owain Doull, active all morning was the best of the GB contingent, finishing 24th.

Giorgia Bronzini of Italy retained her world title in a bunch sprint at the end of a cagey Elite Women's Road Race. Marianne Vos took silver, Teutenberg bronze with Great Britain's Nicole Cooke finishing fourth.

Mark Cavendish is Elite Men's Road World Champion, after a courageous, dominant performance from the GB team, who had to close down a multitude of dangerous breakaway attacks. The GB team took the race on from the start, sticking to their plan with rigour, policing the front of the peloton, never tempted to play the percentage game and throw a man into one of the numerous guerrilla attacks by other nations.

Rule Britannia!!

Meanwhile on the other side of the World in the Tour of Beijing David Millar is lying 2nd, Chris Froome 3rd and Steve Cummins 4th pressing in on leader Tony Martin. Jeremy Hunt is way down in 128th some 15 mins back after a steep day!!

Until next week,

Bob.

Colin Lewis Cycles Limited, 17 Dartmouth Road, Paignton, TQ4 5AD. Telephone: 01803 553095. Registered company number: 4095543.