Team Quick Step is going through some financial troubles going into the 2010 season, admits the team’s general manager Patrick Lefevere. The team has no plans to sign any additional riders for next year. “We need to start the next season with 26 or 27 riders, and I don’t have any hope of increasing the number of riders,” Lefevere said to Gazet van Antwerpen. Less riders means less races in 2010 for Team Quick Step. “In May, the Giro, the Tour of Belgium and the Tour of California are all running almost simultaneously. We will have to skip one of these races. I have to fight to find the money and it still remains to be seen whether I have the money for Allan Davis,” Lefevere adds. Allan Davis announced that he was leaving the team earlier this month, but Lefevere doesn’t plan…

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US-based Continental team Type 1 has invited the public to take part in a ride with the team as part of its “Pedal with the Pros” fundraiser in February. For $5,000, participants will be flown to northeastern Georgia, where they will be housed, fed, and receive Team Type 1 gear. The team’s CEO, Phil Southerland, said that the fundraiser started with inquiries from fans about how they can show support for the only pro team with type 1 diabetes. “This is a great way to give those people a real hands-on experience at what the ‘pro lifestyle’ – and more specifically, what the ‘pro lifestyle with diabetes’ is like. We can show people with and without the disease the additional steps our athletes take to be the best they can be, and how we use diabetes to make us better people,” he said. He…

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Former national champion Bert Roesems is throwing in the towel at 37, after a 13-year career in cycling. He began his journey by turning pro in 1997, riding with the Vlaanderen 2002 team. He then spent three seasons with Tonissteiner-Colnago. He won the Belgian Time Trial Championships, as well as the Chrono des Herbiers, in 2004, which led to him riding with Team Lotto from 2005-2008. He spent the 2009 season with Cinelli-Down Under. Rosesems was involved in a crash in 2007 which left him with a broken pelvis, and he hasn’t been the same on the bike since. “I am quitting with a good feeling. I made the most of my career – 13 fantastic years,” he said. With a degree in communications, Roesems wants to start a career in sports management….

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The ongoing personal conflict between seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong and two-time Tour winner Alberto Contador does not seem to be slowing down at all. In fact, it seems to be getting worse, as Contador apparently spread lies throughout the Spanish media. Armstrong thinks that the fame has gone to Contador’s head: “If you have just won the Tour for the second time and you are the king of Spain, it is normal that all stories are all right. His career has barely begun. Let us talk again in about fifteen years.” And of the rumors going around the media: “So many dirty things, unbelievable. Complete bulls***, pieces of slime, fat lies.” About the time trial tires rumor: “First, this is not true. Secondly, it is easy to prove. You only have to grab the phone and call the bicycle manufacturer Trek. I…

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Johan Bruyneel recently addressed claims made by two-time Tour de France winner Alberto Contador, saying that he didn’t receive the “technical support” he needed during last year’s Tour. He said earlier this month that he had to go to a bike shop to buy the time trial tires that he wanted for the 2009 Tour. Bruyneel, in an online chat at El Mundo, said that the statements were not at all true. “The members of the team, and above all, the leaders of the team, all had the same material. The truth is I am not sure where this information came from. I can guarantee you that they all had the same material,” he said.

Via Velo News….

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Gran Royale makes its first crack at the fixed gear world with their bike called the Lurker. The Gran Royale Lurker 2010 fixed gear is a freestyle bike, and while the Gran Royale company is a sister site to the popular Eastern company. Some of the features are full chromoly frame, integrated seat clamp and headtube, Precision Sealed Bearings, and the Tubular fork allows you to hit barspins. As of now, the Gran Royale Lurker 2010 is sold as a complete bike, and comes in a wide size selection. MSRP is $699.95, available in black or purple.

Source: Prollyisnotprobably…

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28-year-old Dutch cyclist Theo Eltink has announced on his Website today that he will be retiring from the sport of cycling. His contract with Skil-Shimano was not renewed, and he has not been able to secure a new team for 2010. “I had hoped this last month that something suitable could come along…but to no avail. I have nothing to regret in my career. I have given it everything and can 100 percent look myself in the mirror,” Eltink said. Eltink turned pro in 2005 with Rabobank, and stayed there for four seasons. He moved to Dutch Pro Continental team Skil-Shimano in 2009. Eltink has completed both the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España three times each, his best being 24th place in the 2006 Vuelta….

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