Thomas and Rowe talk Froome transfer: Daily News Digest
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Hello again, CyclingTips readers.
As we arrive at the weekend, the cycling headlines feature some interesting updates on some of the big storylines around the sport.
For starters, Gerry Ryan has shed some light on his decision to scuttle the arrangement between Mitchelton-Scott and the Manuela Fundación. As the Sydney Morning Herald reports, Ryan said that he called off the deal after getting a fuller picture of what had been agreed to and deciding he did not want to transfer ownership of the team.
Elsewhere in the peloton, Geraint Thomas and Luke Rowe have opined on the situation of Chris Froome – who will leave Ineos this offseason for Israel Start-Up Nation – on their Watts Occurring podcast. Thomas and Rowe agree that next year could be “weird.”
Read on for more …
Dane Cash
News Editor
What’s news
| Thomas: Change of scenery will be ‘weird’ for Froome
Geraint Thomas and Luke Rowe discussed the upcoming transfer of Chris Froome from Ineos to Israel Start-Up Nation in the latest episode of their Watts Occurring podcast, published on Thursday. Rowe said that it would be “sad to see him go,” and he and Thomas agreed that it would be “weird” to see him on a different team next year, with Thomas noting that the change of scenery after so long with the Sky/Ineos organization could be strange for Froome too.
“It will be weird for him, though, as well, I think,” Thomas said. “More weird, suddenly in a different environment. “It’ll be some change, that.”
Rowe agreed, pointing to the differences between the longtime WorldTour outfit for which all three currently ride and the newly-WorldTour team to which Froome is headed, saying, “There are a lot of things here that we’ve got so dialed that, being honest, he’ll be taking a step back on a lot of things, going to that team.”
| Colorado Classic cancelled for 2020
Colorado Classic organizers have announced that the race has been cancelled for this season due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Instead, the race announced a virtual ride that will help raise funds for the teams and riders who would have been in attendance this year. The event will be held on Zwift on July 29.
“This campaign is intended to financially support the teams who would have attended the Colorado Classic, many of whom rely on competition and prize money to support their livelihoods,” read a message posted on the race’s Twitter account. “By supporting these athletes, we are supporting generations of cyclists to come.”
| Gerry Ryan sheds light on decision to call off Manuela Fundación deal
In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, Mitchelton-Scott team owner Gerry Ryan has shed more light on his decision to pull out of an arrangement that would have seen the squad becoming Team Manuela Fundación.
Ryan said that he called off the deal upon getting a better understanding of what was to transpire – a transfer not only of title sponsorship, but of team ownership as well – after most of the initial discussions were handled by Shayne Bannan and Álvaro Crespi.
“I wasn’t totally across the deal and when I started to look at the deal … it wasn’t the deal that I thought it was,” Ryan said, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
“I decided, no, they could have sponsorship but not ownership.”
| Israel Start-Up Nation preps for the return of racing at Andorra training camp
While the 2021 iteration of Israel Start-Up Nation has been getting plenty of attention lately, this year’s team is busy preparing for the return of the racing season, with many of the squad’s marquee riders currently in Andorra at training camp.
Among those in attendance is Dan Martin, who is expected to lead the GC charge at the upcoming Tour de France after joining the team this past offseason. Some of the other attendees, meanwhile, are vying for still-undecided Tour roster spots, including Guy Sagiv and Guy Niv; according to a team spokesperson, Sagiv, Niv, and Omer Goldstein are in the running for a Tour selection and a chance to become the first Israeli rider to race the men’s Tour de France.
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SUBSCRIBE TO THE DAILY NEWS DIGEST PODCASTToday’s featured image of Mark Cavendish topping Tyler Farrar and Alessandro Petacchi to win stage 15 of the Tour de France on this day in 2011 comes from Cor Vos.
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