Landa eyes Giro and Tour, Cofidis will have a women’s team in 2022: Daily News Digest
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Hello again, CyclingTips readers,
As we close out the week, some of the big names on the Bahrain Victorious team have laid out their 2021 plans, Cofidis has announced that it will have a women’s squad in 2022, UAE-Team Emirates riders and staff have received coronavirus vaccines at the team’s training camp, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot has revealed the team she will be riding for this season, and Cannondale Factory Racing has unveiled its 2021 roster.
Read on for the latest from the cycling world.
Dane Cash
News Editor
What’s News
Landa plans to race the Giro and the Tour in 2021
Mikel Landa plans to start both the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France this season. The 31-year-old climber was one of several Bahrain Victorious riders to reveal his 2021 plans in interviews on Friday.
As Cyclingnews reports, Landa plans to race the Vuelta a Andalucia, either the Volta a Catalunya or Tirreno-Adriatico, and the Itzulia Basque Country before his main objectives of the season, the Giro and the Tour. Landa has finished as high as third overall and the Giro and counts two fourth-place overall finishes at the Tour on his career palmares.
As Wielerflits reports, Pello Bilbao, who rode to fifth overall at the 2020 Giro, will join Landa in racing both the Giro and the Tour this year. Meanwhile, Wout Poels, who has twice finished sixth overall at the Vuelta a España, reportedly has his sights set on the Tour.
According to Cyclingnews, Sonny Colbrelli, Dylan Teuns, and Matej Mohoric will be among the main leaders for the team in the Classics.
Cofidis will have a women’s team in 2022
Cofidis is launching a women’s team next year.
Currently fielding a men’s WorldTour outfit as well as a paracycling team, the French squad will launch a women’s squad for the 2022 season. Noting that the sponsor Cofidis is “a group of 5,500 people in which the majority are women,” team president Thierry Vittu said that adding a women’s squad would make the team a better representation of the company as a whole.
“It won’t be this year because we need time to put it together and gather the resources, but in 2022 we will have a women’s team,” Vittu said.
UAE-Team Emirates riders receive coronavirus vaccine
The riders and staff of UAE-Team Emirates have received coronavirus vaccines at their training camp in the United Arab Emirates, the team said on Friday.
The WorldTour squad, which saw multiple riders and staff test positive for COVID-19 at last year’s UAE Tour, is the first pro cycling team to be vaccinated. 32 riders and 27 staff members have received the Sinopharm vaccine, which started trials in several countries, including the UAE, last year.
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot joins Absolute Absalon-BMC
Cross-country mountain bike world champ Pauline Ferrand-Prévot will ride for Absolute Absalon-BMC this season and next season, rider and team have announced.
Ferrand-Prévot, 28, announced in December that her time with Canyon-Sram was ending after four seasons. At the moment, the versatile multi-time world champ is squarely focused on her MTB goals, with the MTB event at the Tokyo Olympics her main target for 2021.
Cannondale Factory Racing unveils 2021 roster
In other MTB news, the Cannondale Factory Racing team has announced its roster for 2021.
Simon Andreassen and Alan Hatherly will both join the team this year. Andreassen, 23, is a former junior cross-country world champion who took his first elite World Cup win in 2020 in the first round at Nove Mesto. Hatherly, 24, is a former under-23 cross-country world champion, who rode to top 10s with the elites in both Nove Mesto XC races in 2020. The pair of newcomers join Henrique Avancini and Manuel Fumic on the Cannondale Factory Racing squad this season, and the team says it is focused on World Cup races, the World Championships, the Olympics, and the Cape Epic.
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