New MTB calendar, Quintana eyes Ardennes after Tour: Daily News Digest
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Hello again, CyclingTips readers.
Cheers to arriving at another weekend!
Friday closed out the week with some rescheduling news, a bit more from the transfer rumors department, and headlines about the objectives of some big names.
The highlights: The UCI has unveiled its newly reshuffled mountain bike calendar, Movistar is rumored to be interested in Chris Froome, Nairo Quintana has his sights set on the Tour and the Ardennes Classics, and Vincenzo Nibali wants to ride Paris-Roubaix one day.
Read on for more … and, of course, enjoy your weekend!
Dane Cash
News Editor
What’s news
| Quintana eyes Tour and then Ardennes
With his Arkéa-Samsic team only confirmed for one of the Grand Tours this year, Nairo Quintana is set to break from his traditional approach of racing two three-week races each season.
Instead, the 30-year-old Colombian will target the Tour de France and will then look to the Ardennes Classics, he has told Eurosport. Quintana may not have much of a track record in the lumpy one-day races, but they should suit his climbing talents, which were on full display earlier this year when he got his season off to a strong start with multiple victories before racing was halted around the world.
| Movistar reportedly interested in Froome
On the heels of a Cyclingnews report that Chris Froome was in talks with other teams about a possible mid-season transfer from Ineos, Ciclo21 reports that Movistar is one of the interested parties.
The Spanish squad did lose some big talents this past transfer season when the aforementioned Quintana as well as Mikel Landa headed elsewhere. That said, reports of Froome’s possible departure from Ineos remain merely reports for now.
| UCI unveils new MTB calendar
The UCI has unveiled its new mountain bike calendar for 2020, announcing a new venue for Cross-Country Worlds in the process.
Originally scheduled to be held in Albstadt, Germany, from June 25 to 28, Cross-country Worlds will now be held alongside Downhill Worlds in Leogang, Austria, in an event that will run from October 5 to 11.
The World Cup series, meanwhile, is now scheduled to run from September, starting with the Lenzerheide World Cup in Switzerland, through the beginning of November at a total of six destinations, three of which will host both cross-country and downhill racing.
| Nibali dreams of Roubaix
Among the topics Vincenzo Nibali addressed in a Q&A with TuttoBiciWeb published on Thursday afternoon was his interest in riding Paris-Roubaix before he retires. The French one-day is the only Monument that the Italian veteran has yet to race (he made his first Tour of Flanders appearance in 2018).
“It is the only one that I am missing among the beautiful races, I could be there,” he said of Paris-Roubaix. “Although it is not well suited to me, and I never rode it because it didn’t come at the right time in my calendar. But yes, I would like to try it.”
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SUBSCRIBE TO THE DAILY NEWS DIGEST PODCASTToday’s featured image of Nairo Quintana at Paris-Nice comes from Cor Vos.
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