Daily News Digest, Features, Ian Garrison, News, Sebastian Henao, Vasil Kiryienka, wout van aert - October 24, 2019

American TT champ Ian Garrison signs with Deceuninck: Daily News Digest

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Welcome to your Daily News Digest. Here’s what’s happening today:

American time trial champ Ian Garrison will make the jump to the WorldTour next year with Deceuninck-Quick-Step, Nick Nuyens is seeking over €1 million from Wout van Aert, Vasil Kiryienka renews with Ineos. Those stories and more in today’s Daily News Digest.

Story of the Day: Deceuninck-Quick-Step signs American up-and-comer Ian Garrison

Ian Garrison, the reigning American men’s time trial champion, is headed to cycling’s big leagues with one of the sport’s biggest teams. The promising 21-year-old will join Deceuninck-Quick-Step in 2020.

Garrison has ridden with the Hagens Berman Axeon development squad for the past three years, making a big impression as an under-23 rider. He won a stage at last year’s Tour de Beauce en route to 10th overall there, and has enjoyed results throughout his 2019 campaign. This June, he won the U23 TT title and followed it up with the elite title one week later, and then scored a silver medal in the U23 TT at Yorkshire Worlds.

Now, he will make the jump to the WorldTour with Deceuninck-Quick-Step, having signed a two-year deal with the team.

“It is an incredible opportunity to ride with a squad of this level. It is something that I have always dreamed of, as I have been a fan of the Wolfpack for a long time and watched them race, so I am excited to be a part of it and learn,” Garrison said.

“I am still young at 21 and I want to have a long career and seeing the progress that Deceuninck-Quick-Step have helped other young riders make is a big part of my decision and trusting in that they can get the best from me.”

Socially Speaking

Now that the 2019 WorldTour calendar is officially in the rearview mirror, the pros will have a chance to think about something other than racing for at least a little while. If you’re wondering what that might look like, Velon’s Twitter account has you covered …

The season finished up at @TourofGuangxi, so what now for the riders and staff of the WorldTour teams? Sleep, housewarmings, wood chopping, back packing… Find out more here!

????????? @Geertvanbondt @alexedmo @peterstetina @MaxSchachmann @CFHagen @Ackes171 #TOG2019 pic.twitter.com/BBnp9qVTDh

— Velon CC (@VelonCC) October 23, 2019

Race Radio

Nick Nuyens seeks €1.1 million from Wout van Aert

Nick Nuyens, the former manager of the Veranda’s Willems-Crelan squad (and 2011 Tour of Flanders winner), is seeking €1.1 million in damages from Wout van Aert, who pulled out of his contract with the team at the end of last season to join Jumbo-Visma.

Van Aert, who is still working his way back from injury after crashing during this year’s Tour de France, was in court in Belgium on Wednesday for a hearing on the case, according to Het Nieuwsblad. A ruling is expected on November 26.

The three-time world cyclocross champion left Veranda’s Willems-Crelan in September of 2018 as the organization was looking into staying afloat by merging with another team. Van Aert expressed frustration with not being informed on those possibilities. The squad ultimately linked up with Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij to become Roompot-Charles for this season.

Nuyens’s side has argued that van Aert was looking for a way to join Jumbo-Visma, and should be on the hook for lost income from would-be sponsors. Van Aert expressed surprised at the sum being demanded.

“A completely skewed amount,” van Aert said, according to Het Nieuwsblad. “I would find it very strange if I were sentenced for that, but we have to wait for the verdict.”

“At the time it was not all about doing the money for me, my career always came first. When I did not respond to their contract proposal, I ended up in a situation in which I did not want to end up. I was placed in a completely new team, which I had never chosen. I didn’t like that at all, but I was never listened to. How it all went led to a huge breach of trust. So there was no other option for us, talk about it and possibly a friendly solution was no longer an option.”

Ineos extends Kiryienka and Henao

Vasil Kiryienka and Sebastian Henao will ride on with Ineos in 2020.

Kiryienka, the 2015 world TT champ, has been with the squad since 2013. The 38-year-old Belarusian has played an important role as a Grand Tour support rider while hunting his own results in time trials and breakaway days, with four Grand Tour stage victories on his career palmares.

Kiryienka battled health issues in early 2019, but recovered in time to win the TT title at the European Games.

“The current season was not easy for me,” Kiryienka said. “It was hard to realize that there were some physiological changes in my body that might not allow me to continue to do what I love. But thanks to the support from the team my condition returned to normal.”

Henao, 26, has ridden with the organization since turning pro with the then-Sky team in 2014. Most often playing a mountain domestique role, the Colombian has made starts at all but one Giro d’Italia since then, while delivering a handful of top 10s in one-week races.

Lefevere: Bora offered Bennett for Hodeg

According to Cyclingnews, Patrick Lefevere has said that Bora-Hansgrohe offered to send Sam Bennett, currently in a contract dispute with the German team, to Deceuninck-Quick-Step in exchange for Álvaro Hodeg. The feasibility of such a move within the pro cycling world is unclear, which Lefevere pointed out while also saying he declined Bora’s proposal.

“They [Bora] were interested in exchanging riders but I refused. They were looking for Hodeg but I’m not interested in trading cattle,” Lefevere told Cyclingnews. “I don’t have the balls to go to a young kid of 23 and say I’ve got news, you’re going to Bora next year. First of all we’re not a football team, so we can’t buy and sell a rider.”

Bennett is currently awaiting word from the UCI arbitration system on his future. The Irish sprinter is looking to leave Bora, which did not send him to the Giro d’Italia or the Tour de France this year, but the team says he signed a letter of intent to stick with the squad into 2020.

Deceuninck-Quick-Step has reportedly offered Bennett a spot, should he indeed find himself on the market.

Tech News

Veloflex SPS clincher tires add bead reinforcement for all carbon rims

Enve whipped up more than a bit of controversy when it raised a compatibility issue involving high-performance clincher tires and carbon clincher rims, saying that tires made with particularly supple – i.e. fragile – casing materials were subject to potentially catastrophic damage.

But is that sort of damage due to tires being too fragile, or certain carbon clinchers being too sharp and/or abrasive? Some carbon clinchers indeed have tire hooks that are machined after the molding process, which exposes raw carbon fibers, and some also disregard the established ETRTO protocols that dictate the minimum edge radius that is intended to prevent this sort of damage in the first place.

Either way, Veloflex is skirting the issue entirely with a newly reinforced bead area called SPS (Sidewall Protection System). According to Veloflex, SPS makes the tires “suitable for all carbon rims available on the market, regardless of the type or brand.” Veloflex hasn’t provided details on what the SPS reinforcement is made of, but it’s worth noting that it only extends far enough to guard the casing from the rim interface, so any effect on ride quality or rolling resistance should be minimal at worst.

Veloflex is implementing SPS across its entire range of clinchers effective immediately.

More information can be found at www.veloflex.it.

Hunt’s new limitless 48 Aero wheels recalled

Hunt Wheels has announced a recall of its new 46 Limitless Aero Disc wheelset. The recall comes after reports of rim damage issues resulting from pothole impacts.

With a unique external-foam-fill disc-specific rim design, these new wheels have only recently started to reach customers and Hunt has seemingly been quick to address the issue. Updated and strengthened replacement rims are apparently in production, with estimates of December to January for delivery. You can read more of the recall at cyclingindustry.news.