The Tour de Mumbai will be held this weekend as India hosts the first-ever UCI-sanctioned road racing event in the country.


It certainly appears that a lot is riding on this event, since not only does the race feature several world-class cyclists racing with the best riders that India has to offer, but the race organizers are also looking for the race to boost public awareness of the sport.


Baqar Nasser, a former Indian national champion and now a member of the race committee, says that he is already excited at the opportunity of seeing so many top-notch cyclists competing in the invitation-only event. He adds that the local talent will be expected to race with a high level of competition. “I think they will be in the top 10,” Nasser says of the Indian cycling team.


The Tour de Mumbai is also supported by legendary cyclist Eddie Merckx, who is famous for winning the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and several other world-class cycling events several times over. Merckx is also widely recognized as “the best cyclist in the world”.


An expected 120-strong starting lineup for the Tour de Mumbai will also see Australian riders Stuart O’Grady and Baden Cooke in action. Both riders are coming into the race with invaluable Tour de France experience, having contended for the overall points jersey in the famous road racing event.


O’Grady and Cooke will have ample opportunity to showcase their sprinting prowess, as the 2.8km Tour de Mumbai course will feature 36 laps with every 5th lap a sprint.


The event is part of India’s mass “cyclothon” program that aims to spread better awareness and appreciation of cycling throughout the cricket-crazy country. Pat McQuaid, the UCI president, adds that he is hoping to see more Indians get on bicycles as a result of the program.[...]

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Alexandr Kolobnev, winner of the silver medal at the road World Championship in Switzerland, is leaving team Saxo Bank for team Katusha. Kolobnev’s former team manager has given his consent for the switching of teams, as he only had one year remaining on his contract. “I think that Kolobnev will be a good rider for our team. He’s a strong climber for the one-day races. He has twice won the silver at the World Championships. I’m sure that he will do well with Katusha,” says Andrei Tchmil.

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Italian classics racer Davide Rebellin has been stripped of his Olympic silver medal, which he won in 2008 in the road race. The UCI announced Tuesday that the 37-year-old cyclist tested positive for the blood-booster CERA, and that the ICO (International Olympic Committee) has disqualified Rebellin, and his silver medal will now go to Switzerland’s Olympic time trial champion, Fabian Cancellara, and the bronze to Russia’s Alexander Kolobnev. “The finishing order is automatically changed,” says the UCI, who based the decision on its own rule, 12.1.022. The failed test didn’t come until April, after Rebellin had won the 2009 Fleche Wallonne. Kolobnev, the new recipient of the bronze medal, says “I don’t know anything from the results or what’s going on. No one has contacted me from officially from the IOC, the UCI hasn’t told me anything. I know the story only from the press, on the web sites. What do I think? I think it’s bad work of the anti-doping system. They guaranteed that no one goes away from Beijing with medals if there was a problem with anti-doping, but that story came out later. Maybe I have bronze medal or maybe not. It doesn’t change anything in my life.”

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On Saturday, October 24th, Cyclist David Sherman was killed in a hit-and-run accident. The driver of the car was found still driving the same car days after the accident. She claimed that she hit a deer, but witnesses ensured that the driver, Grayson Dawson, was charged with felony hit and run and death by motor vehicle. Dawson, at the time of the accident, was driving on a revoked license for failing to appear in court more than two weeks earlier. She is currently out on a $5,000 bail. A memorial ride for David Sherman starts at 1:30pm on Sunday, November 15th, from the Fitness Center at High Point Regional Hospital in downtown High Point, NC. Contributions will be accepted in David’s name at Yield to Life.

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