Monsieur's Trip

The 2014 cycling season is going to come to an end soon. But there are numerous cyclists who have no contract for the 2015 cycling season. Grand Tour winners (stage winners as well as overall winners), one Olympic champion and 2010 Critérium du Dauphiné victor are some of the riders who are still looking for a cycling team for the next year. Here is a list of the riders still without contracts.

Chris Horner signed a last minute contract with the team Lampre-Merida in 2014 even though he had won the Vuelta a Espana in 2013. He has not yet been signed for the 2015 season because the 2014 season was not that good for him and he was expelled from Vuelta a Espana 2014 as well.

Samuel Sanchez’s contract with BMC racing is going to get over in 2014. There are rumors that he is going to sign a contract with Lampre-Merida. But nothing has been confirmed yet.

Jack Bobridge has been associated with three teams- Garmin-Sharp (2009-2011), Orica-GreenEdge (2012) and Blanco Pro Cycling team (2013). He really hopes he can participate in the 2015 WorldTour.

Alessandro Petacchi has been left out by the Omega Pharma-Quick Step team. It seems that he will become a part of the Italian team called Neri Sottoli.

The 2014 cycling season was disappointing for Gert Steegmans who was a part of Omega Pharma. He could sign a contract with Trek or Lotto NL.

Steve Morabito might get linked with the French team called FDJ for the year 2015.

Enrico Gasparotto’s contract with Astana team has not been renewed yet.

Francisco Ventoso had no space in the Movistar’s renewed contracts for 2015.

Janez Brajkovic has represented Astana team for three years and now he is interested to work with a team from America.

Coppa Bernocchi is the place where Vincenzo Nibali is preparing for the world championship. It is for the first time that Vincenzo Nibali is going to come to Coppa Bernocchi after his triumph in the Tour de France in July.

He is planning to focus on the World Championship. He wants to perform well for his team and take it forward. It was in the event of charity that he stated it. He has to goals to conquer the Tour and then the World. He surpassed other riders in Tour de France. He did take part in the criteriums as well but were not part of the races which were official. There are other riders also who can win the race. Going by the practicality it is believed that it is going to be impossible for Nibali to come with the same force since he is coming after a break and with much added responsibility.

His trainer of Astana however pointed out that he has not gained much weight it is mere kilo which he has gained. He should be well fit and suited to the event coming up at Ponferrada. When it comes to the race of one day Nibali always proves to be a tough challenge for his rival riders and this time too it is going to be the same according to his trainer. He is someone who causes tensions for others. Otherwise if he just has those one of the bad days he is still useful for the team. After the World Championship, Nibali has not yet disclosed his plans. He could go to the base if his sponsor in Kazakhastan for racing in the Tour Almaty. There is no doubt regarding his credibility but to keep up to the pressure is going to be the challenge.

The American professional cyclist, Tom Danielson is part of the Team Garmin-Sharp and is considered to be one of the most talented cyclists of America. He has even been compared to Lance Armstrong for all the successes he has achieved in his cycling career till now.

The Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah is a very prestigious cycling event that takes place every year in the month of August and the most successful cyclists and teams participate in this seven-day event. This year the Tour of Utah took place from the 4^th of August to 10^th of August, 2014.

Tom Danielson was leading the tour in the overall standing because his performance in all the stages of the event was highly impressive. In the final stage of the tour Tom Danielson stood in the 5^th position. However, his 5^th position did nothing to hamper his 1^st position in the overall standing.

Danielson must have experienced a déjà vu as he was again able to win the Tour of Utah like last year. It was due to his effort all throughout the week that he was able to claim victory of the title this year as well.

Tom said that he really wanted to cry after winning the tour because he felt elated as his hard work had paid off. He is going to remain the defending champion for the Tour of Utah next year in August as well.

Christopher Horner came second in the overall standing followed by Winner Anacona who came third.

Cadel Evans performance in the tour has also been quite good as he was able to win the last two stages (stage 6 and stage 7) of the event and prove his worth and talent.

We will just have to wait and watch whether the Danielson will be able to defend his title next year or not.

Tour France 2014 is quite expected to topple up the existing WorldTour rankings, redefining the names in both team and individual rankings.

The Tour France winner scores 200 points, with the points rewarded to top twenty cyclists overall on sliding scale. The stage triumphs are worth twenty points which makes each of days of the championship highly significant & prestigious for WorldTour UCI rankings. Often it is seen that the Tour France winner ends up winning the WorldTour UCI rankings.

Alberto Contador from Tinkoff-Saxo is currently leading individual ranks with a whooping 397 points given his excellent performances in spring stage-races. Nairo Quintana , the Giro winner from Movistar I in the 2^nd place with a great 345 points while Rui Costa, the World road race champion from Lampre Merida is in the 3^rd position with 268 points post his amazing overall triumph at Tour Suisse. Another Movistar rider Aljandro Valverde is in the 6^th place with around 262 points. Interestingly, 2013 Tour France champion Chris Froome is on the 15^th place with say 163 points.

In regards to team rankings, Omega Pharma is currently on the lead with a superb 796 points & thanks to Cavendis’s success at sprint stage might be a strong help for the team in defending its lead in World rankings. Movistar is in the 2^nd place with a close 781 points while the 3^rd one is Tinkoff-Saxo with a great 647 points. It’s Spain which seems to dominate rankings, followed by Colombia, Netherlands & Australia.

This year will mark the 101^st season of Tour France. The race will commence on July 5 with stage 1 starting at Yorkshire of northern England from where it would take clockwise direction across France finalizing there by the 27^th of July.