Small Euskie point, there are actually six leaving: Zubes, Galparsoro, Bru, Albizuri, Apperibay and Luengo. The latter two are retiring, the previous three are simply contractless (see CN) Some significant downsizing going on there. The price of keeping Sammy?

Also a note, Tony was honoured as the best non-Belgian rider by Belgian magazines Het Nieuwsblad and Sporza, per the team site.

Is there an official ruling on the spelling of Katyusha yet? This his going to be Sergei Honchar all over again. The spelling seems to be both Katyusha and Katusha. Sometimes probably even within the one newspaper report. One name, one spelling, that’s what I say. Or does that make me look like impose the colonial yoke of oppression?

I prefer it with the y and hope that’ the one they stick with. And if I do a Google of “katyusha” OR “katusha” they ask me if I don’t really mean “katyusha” OR “katyusha”.

Not that winning the points classificationat the Vuelta isn’t important but can you really compare it to winning Paris-Roubaix or the Tour of Flanders? Van Avermaet won 4 times this year but Devolder won 6 times and Boonen 15. Not that Van Avermaet’s year wasn’t impressive but it wasn’t as good as the other two up for the award. Lefevere isn’t too happy either

“Es ist Zeit, die Gegenwart zu kommunizieren, auf die erfolgreichste Saison zurückzublicken und sich Gedanken für die Zukunft zu machen.” according to the pressrelease.

“It’s time to talk about the present, look back at a successful season and think of the future” (roughly, someone with better german might want to correct me)

My guess is an announcement that he will focus 100% on winning Flanders and after that he will begin to alter his training with the aim of competing for the GC in the Tour de France in the coming years.

Torygraph story. Roche’s youngest son, Florian, is recovering from leukaemia, having received a bone-marrow transplant from his older brother Alexis in February. So he’s getting on his bike for a London-Paris charity ride next June. As well as running the NY marathon at the weekend.

would wreck my 401(k) and cause havoc on the job and housing markets, but I never suspected I’d also lose Oleg Tinkoff. Oh the suffering – when will this madness end!!!!!

EE will not contest the entire Pro Tour schedule next season. Their current plan calls for skipping the Tour Down Under, Tour of Poland, and Giro d’Italia.

and I think I’ve identified the root of your typo-problems: big hands – small computer

Also, your laptop seems to be missing quite a lot of keys.

…is supposedly “close” to a contract with Milram, according to Milram manager van Gerwen via SportWereld. the Google translation gives me something about the negotiations being well advanced yet nothing definitive yet, and also something about October 31 (a goal or a deadline perhaps?). Mind you, the Google translation also gives me “There are still significant details which need to be falsified” – I’d be leery about a contract where the details need to be falsified, but maybe that’s just me ;-).

They’re letting him ride Amstel Curacao. The Luxembourg Federation said it was up to CSC, and according to Brian Nygaard, CSC considers Amstel Curacao more of a showcase than a real race, just part of Andy and Frank’s Caribbean vacation. That seems a bit disingenuous to me, though, since presumably Frank will be riding in team colors. If they really didn’t want him representing CSC right now, I’m thinking they would have stopped him. So, quite possibly an indication that they all think things are going to work out.

I’d initially heard rumours that both Christian Meier and Cameron Meyer were going to be stagiaires at Garmin for the end of this season – obviously, the former was but the latter continued to ride for South Australia-AIS. I was actually wondering whether a reporter somewhere along the way got the two totally mixed up (particularly when CN listed “Cameron Meyer” of Symmetrics going to Garmin next year on their transfer list, they did correct it when I pointed it out). But CN does now have that the second “C. Meyer” (the Australian one) has also signed a contract with Garmin for the next 2 years (in addition to the Canadian one). Any guesses on how many times next year the media gets confused between the two (especially if listed as “C. Meyer”/C. Meier")?

but the NY Times had an interesting article about the resurgence of sport in Russia under Putin, focusing mainly on hockey. They mention one of the big sponsors, Gazprom.