Boasson Hagen signs with Total-Direct Energie: Daily News Digest
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Hi there, CyclingTips readers,
Considering we’re already more than half way through November, the list of unsigned riders for 2021 is pretty long in this unusual cycling season, but as of Tuesday it no longer includes four-time Grand Tour stage winner Edvald Boasson Hagen.
Read on for more on that and the other news stories from the world of cycling.
Dane Cash
News Editor
What’s News
| Total-Direct Energie adds Boasson Hagen and Lawless for 2021
Total-Direct Energie announced on Tuesday that it had signed Edvald Boasson Hagen and Chris Lawless for 2021.
Boasson Hagen will join the French ProTeam after six seasons with the NTT organization. The 33-year-old Norwegian, who was seen as one of the most promising prospects in cycling in his early career, has won three stages at the Tour de France and one at the Giro d’Italia to go with a Gent-Wevelgem title and numerous big results in one-week and one-day races. As of 2020, Boasson Hagen has ridden in 32 Monuments and 14 Grand Tours.
Lawless, who turned 25 earlier this month, has ridden with the Ineos organization for the past three seasons. A versatile rider that has found success on hilly profiles so far in his young pro career, Lawless took the overall win at the Tour de Yorkshire in 2019.
| Bauer joining Astana as sports director
As Canadian Cycling Magazine reports, Steve Bauer will be a sports director for Astana-Premier Tech next season. The former pro, one of Canada’s most successful riders ever, worked as sporting manager at CCC this season. He heads to Astana as Canadian company Premier Tech moves into a co-title sponsorship role there.
“I am thankful to Hugo Houle, who was instrumental in this opportunity for me to join Astana Premier Tech,” Bauer said, according to Canadian Cycling Magazine. “The Canadian influence of Hugo and the company Premier Tech was the key factor in my new direction.”
| Influential coach Edward Borysewicz dies at 81
Edward “Eddie B” Borysewicz, who played a significant role in the development of American bike racing and coached the likes of Greg Lemond and Lance Armstrong, died on Tuesday at age 81, reportedly due to complications from COVID-19.
Borysewicz became a coach with the US national team in the late 1970s and developed a number of young talents there, including Greg Lemond. The US team went on to take nine medals at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. Controversy arose after it emerged that some riders had undergone blood transfusions, which were not illegal at the time. Borysewicz was fined but denied having been involved.
He later left the national team and started a team, which went through various iterations on the way to becoming the Subaru-Montgomery team that signed a young Lance Armstrong as an amateur. The team would later become U.S. Postal Service. Borysewicz left the squad in 1997, and spent the past several years as a coach.
| Tour de Langkawi cancelled for 2021
The Tour de Langkawi has been cancelled for 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The 2.Pro-rated stage race was set to run from late January to early February of next year, but after consultation with the Malaysian government, organizers have called off the 2021 race and will focus on planning for 2022.
| Running a doping program could soon be a criminal offense in the US
A bill that has now passed in both the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate is set to make it a criminal offense to run a doping program.
The bill, the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act of 2019, will make it “unlawful to knowingly influence (or attempt or conspire to influence) a major international sports competition by use of a prohibited substance or prohibited method.” Having passed through both houses of Congress, the bill must now be signed by the US president to become law.
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| Quiz: Who’s racing for which team in 2021?
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Today’s featured image of Edvald Boasson Hagen on the Plugstreets at Gent-Wevelgem comes from Kristof Ramon.
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