Omega Pharma-Lotto opens up the new year with a new name, among other things. They also got a new Website, for even more freshness in the new year. They have adopted the full name of their co-sponsor, Omega Pharma, in hopes to publicize the company rather than its products. General manager Geert Coeman said that the team got off to a “a (rather too) slow start” last season, but eventually got rolling in the right direction. With Cadel Evans leaving the team, Jurgen Van den Broek will be the go-to man for the Grand Tours, with help from newcomer Daniel Moreno. Looking back on last year, Sports Manager Marc Sergeant said that 2009 “brought us all sorts of miseries and problems as well as disillusions by results and by men, but I prefer to remember the fantastic moments we lived through our riders.”…

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German cyclist Tony Martin has been named Germany’s cyclist of the year in 2009, voted by readers of the German cycling federation’s Web site. He just barely beat out his countryman Heinrich Haussler with 18.8 percent of the vote, Haussler having 17.9. 23-year-old Martin, of Columbia-HTC, saw his ProTour debut in 2008, but 2009 was his defining year. He wore the white jersey for best young rider in the Tour de France from stages 3 to 14, and he also won the award for most aggressive rider on that day. He finished his phenomenal season by taking the bronze medal at the World Championships time trial in Mendrisio, Switzerland….

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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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