7 riders showed the door

Euskaltel have released a list of seven riders that won't be around next year. The riders didn't get their contracts extended, and are as a result free to look for new teams. The seven riders are:

• Joseba Zubeldia
• Iban Iriondo
• Unai Uribarri
• Iban Mayoz
• Unai Etxebarria
• Andoni Aranaga
• Aketza Peña

Really sad to see them all go, but pro cycling is a though life, so I guess there's no mercy. Unai Etxebarria will retire, but what the rest of them will do I don't know. I'm afraid it'll be hard for most of them to find another team, especially these days...

Haimar down but not out

Haimar has not abandoned the Vuelta. It's as simple as that. He crashed and hurt his left collarbone but, contrary to earlier reports, he didn't abandon. He hurt his collarbone, but didn't break it. He came in completely alone 11 minutes down. That means according to himself that "I will probably take the start tomorrow as well, unless it gets worse over the night". Good news. Haimar will be important for Samu's podium bid, so to lose Haimar on the third stage would have been a catastrophe. Anyway, back to the racing....

The whole team looked really strong today. Seeing all nine riders at the front of the pack was a joy to watch, and they all looked good. Samu rode brilliantly to claim 11th place, while Igor "felt really good" according to himself and landed 21st place. Dioni, Alán (who's now a brilliant 12th overall) and Iñaki also came in with this leading group, so that no doubt bodes well for the remainder of the race. Iñigo was 34 seconds down, Aitor 49 while Koldo was 5:31 back.

Tomorrow will see the pack tackle it's first mountainous stage, and my bet is on Samu to win it. Seriously, he'll win it I think. He's peformed well on the slopes of the Covadonga earlier, and considering his excellent shape, I just can't see why he can't do so again. Aupa Euskaltel!

Monday's the day?

I've got this strange feeling that tomorrow will be the day the test result will be unveiled. Don't know why, but I think Monday is a good day for such statements. Surely they must be finished now up in Ghent, so UCI, spread the word! If not, I'm going to get angry... This is taking WAY too long...

Alán Pérez 14th in Spain

Alán Pérez did an awesome job in the Vuelta a España today. The Grand Tour debutant finished a nice 14th on the stage, as a group of approximately 30 riders got to fight it out for the win. The rest of the riders came in some minutes later due to a crash in the pack, but as the pile-up happened inside the last 3 kilometres, they all ended up on the same time. Koldo was in the thick of the action, and had a hefty argument with Italian star Daniele Bennati that went on for ages. The two sweared at each other, probably blaming each other for the crash, but hopefully they're friends again by now. Though, who was at fault, is unclear to me, but I'll leave that open to debate. The rest of the riders all came in with the pack.

No success in Plouay

Euskaltel didn't leave their mark on this year's GP Ouest-France Plouay, but nonetheless placed 11th on the team rankings and climbed to 14th in that same competition overall. Ibán Mayoz was the team's best performer, grabbing a good 32nd on the same time as the pack. Beñat and Jon followed in 38th and 39th, while the last Euskaltel rider to complete the race, Unai Etxebarria, placed a lowly 121st, several minutes down. No great performance from Euskaltel, but then again, I don't think they could care to much. This is not their season goal.

Koldo 7th as Euskaltel get off to a good start

Euskaltel enjoyed a good start to this year's Vuelta. In the final dash for the line, Koldo showed his good form by grabbing 7th place, while Alán and Iñaki got 18th and 19th respectively. That's a great performance, and as a result Euskaltel are 2nd in the team rankings. Except for that, not much to report. All riders came in with the pack, and will look to do so again today, as it should all come down to another sprint.

Poll results: B-sample to come back positive?

I guess you've all grown a little tired of my poll at the right-hand menu by now. "B-sample to come back positive?" has been around for quite some time now, and I had originally planned to keep it up until the test result was unveiled. Though, as we all know, when that will happen is up in the air at the moment, so I decided that enough is enough and I replaced it. Though, it was an interesting poll wasn't it? In the end, only 55 % thought Iban's B-sample would come back positive. That must surely be an all-time low when it comes to dope tests positive for EPO. But it shows we've all got faith, or at least hope, in Iban. Or perhaps it's just because this process seems to be neverending. Anyway, new poll, so vote!

The silence

My guess: the B-sample is non-negative, and the UCI are now working their butts off to find out why the A-sample turned out positive. That's what I reckon is the most probable option at the moment. If it confirmed the finding of the first test, then why the delay? I can't see one reason why the UCI would want to do that if the B-test was also positive. But, hey, I don't know, I'm no doping expert. But this whole case just seems strange... If "Matxin", Iban's sports director at Saunier, is to be believed, something he most surely is, then the result should have been unveiled on Monday. That's almost four days ago. But why this silence from the UCI? Why don't they keep the fans up to date on the process? I'm struggling to come up with one single reason. Silence is never a good thing, but perhaps in this case it is. Let's hope so.

Euskaltel support anti-doping movement

Euskaltel is one of twelve Pro Tour teams which has agreed on tougher out-of-competition tests as of 2008. The program will see Euskaltel take 600 tests, 80 % of these being out of competition, for next season. The Professional Cycling Teams Association further stated after a anti-doping meeting that this new hard line on doping would commence in January 2008, and that all tests will be paid for by the respective teams. This initiative was welcomed with oper arms from WADA and the UCI. Great to see Euskaltel finally getting tough on the cheats. Aupa!

Samu looking forward to Vuelta

Samu Sánchez, who'll lead Euskaltel's charge in the upcoming Vuelta a España starting on Saturday, outlined his ambitions and expectations for the race to Basque daily GARA. Click and read:

http://www.gara.net/paperezkoa/20070830/35726/es/El-podio-Vuelta-seria-sueno-hecho-realidad-para-equipo

The long wait

I don't know what to write to be honest. I just feel that I have a responsibility to keep you all up to date with Iban's B-sample testing. I'm sorry if my posts lack depth these days, but finding something to write about these days is hard to say the least. Iban, the UCI and the guys in Gent are all keeping their mouths shut, so nothing new to report, only that the testing process must surely have been finalized now. You can't test the same sample for more than a week and a half, so probably something has happened to the sample or perhaps it's gone missing. Nothing surprises me anymore when it comes to doping-tests in France and Belgium. Anyway, stay positive, and maybe there's a happy ending to all this mess. As long as there is life there is hope.

Mikel 19th overall as ENECO ends

The ENECO Tour came to an end today with a decisive 29,6 km long ITT. Although this isn't normally Euskaltel's playing ground, I reckon they did quite well today. Mikel once again showed good form by finishing 15th, claiming 19th overall in the process, while Rubén was 40th and Unai Etxebarria 49th. This meant Euskaltel got ranked 11th in today's team rankings, a position which is rather good I think. In the overall team rankings Euskaltel grabbed the same spot, resulting in Euskaltel only needing 2 points to leap-frog Gerolsteiner into 14th in the UCI team rankings. Complete stage results:

• 15th, Mikel Astarloza, 1:04
• 40th, Rubén Pérez, 2:10
• 49th, Unai Etxebarria, 2:22
• 73rd, Iban Mayoz, 3:00
• 95th, Jorge Azanza, 3:35
• 109th, Beñat Albizuri, 4:12
• 114th, Joseba Zubeldia, 4:37
• 126th, Aitor Galdos, 6:02

Final general classification:

• 19th, Mikel Astarloza
• 31st, Rubén Pérez
• 44th, Beñat Albizuri
• 59th, Iban Mayoz
• 80th, Unai Etxebarria
• 82nd, Jorge Azanza
• 101st, Aitor Galdos
• 108th, Joseba Zubeldia

Haimar's view on the Vuelta

Haimar has spoken at length to el Diario Vasco about the upcoming Vuelta a España. Click to read Haimar's view on "a very open race": http://www.diariovasco.com/20070829/deportes/ciclismo/zubeldia-vuelve-vuelta-espana-20070829.html

Another day goes by...

OK, I admit it, I have no idea when Iban's B-sample result will be made official. It's been a while... Though, it can only take so long, so I think every hour now is a possibility. But in a way it's good as well; that it's taking so long I mean. It's more good than bad if you are to analyze it. The chances that something doesn't add up, or that's something in the test doesn't make sense, gets bigger each day now. Though, I won't get my hopes up too much...