05-Aug-2011: Two new young talents in international cycling will be joining Quick-Step Cycling Team starting next season. 

The two prominent Polish riders Michal Kwiatkowski and Michal Golas will be riding with the team for the next 2 seasons (2012-2013).

The two athletes have already been major players on the pro circuit for a few years, and they’ve proven their abilities in the recent past.

21-year-old Kwiatkowski has been standing out as an all-round rider, with good skills as time trialist. His successes in the junior categories include a memorable Junior World Champion Title in 2008, the European Road Champion Title in 2007 and the Time-trial Title in 2008. In 2011 the Polish rider took third place in the GC Driedaagse Van de Panne-Koksijde and in the Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen.

27-year-old Golas, who’s been riding pro since 2007, has shown remarkable skills as an all around rider and team player, contributing to the successes of several of his team mates.

“The arrival of these two young Polish riders contributes to the team’s current project of internationalisation for the near future,” said Patrick Lefevere. “They are two interesting, young guys in whom we want to invest for the future of the team. In addition, Poland is an important country and it’s growing in terms of cycling culture and passion, as shown by the ever improving quality of the Tour de Pologne.

Movistar Team had their minutes of podium again today at the 2011 Tour de France as José Joaquín Rojas went back to put on his green jersey as leader of the points classification in the Grande Boucle. José Joaquín Rojas gained the coveted maillot back on stage 7, a long, 218k ride through the heart of the country from Le Mans to Châteauroux, marked again by crashed which could fortunately be avoided by the lads directed by Eusebio Unzué.

With the daily break on front -four escapees this time-, Rojas was 2nd into the bunch sprint at the intermediate bonus, just after Cavendish and two places ahead of Belgian Philippe Gilbert, which put him as virtual maillot vert before confirming it at the proper finish with the 9th place, the Murcian now on top with nine points over Gilbert and 17 over Cavendish, who nears the Movistar Team sprinter after his win on Friday. Rojas commented on stage during the way back to the hotel: “One of the main goals on today was taking the green jersey back and we did it, but I think it was my worst sprint in this year's Tour. It was a super-nervious finish, and even though I find my place from nowhere in other sprints, I couldn't make it today. It was really hard for me to get into position, and the only positive thing I keep from today's is that I seized the jersey again. I can't ask more from the team; they are where they're supposed to be and Ventoso was at my side until the 2km banner. It might have seemed as a transition day from the television, but it was a hard day for our stamina. I hope to go through better days and, overall, making many more stages on this jersey. My biggest enemy? Maybe Cavendish more than Gilbert, because he's showing he's super strong, but there's still two weeks left and it's hard to say who will be my biggest rival to win this jersey in Paris."

The first real mountain-top finish of this year's French grandtour comes tomorrow at the Super-Besse ski resort (Cat. 3), which will be tackled after the Col de la Croix-de-Saint-Robert, the first Cat. 2 ascent of this tour.

06-Jul-2011: At about 10 km before the feed-zone Sylvain Chavanel fell hard on his right side, ending up off road and dislocating the acromion-clavicular joint in his right shoulder. 

"In the fall I also hit my head and broke my helmet” Chavanel says. “The consequences could have been much worse. Tomorrow morning I’m lining up for the start as usual, but it’s obvious that tomorrow I can look forward to a day of suffering." 

At about 70 km from the arrival it was Boonen, Steegmans, Ciolek and Engels who bit the asphalt. The four guys were pedalling close together when someone ahead of them took a fall and they all ended up on the ground.

"To avoid the riders ahead of me I braked but my front wheel touched another athlete’s back wheel” Boonen says .“I flew over my bike in an endo and I fell, hitting my head and the right side of my body. My helmet busted on impact."

In the fall Boonen suffered a series of abrasions to his shoulder, elbow and right gluteus, which is sporting a rather deep cut. 

"After the first few minutes of shock I got back on my bike and I wanted to finish the stage” continues Boonen. “I have to thank Engels for his support. Alone I would have risked ending up outside of the maximum time. Now all I only want to recover some Energy from tomorrow."

Boonen will be starting tomorrow’s stage.

In the fall Gert Steegmans took some scrapes to his knee and his left shoulder. The Belgian rider is also suffering from pain in his left wrist. Steegmans will line up for the start tomorrow. 

Kevin De Weert also fell with Contador in a stretch about 100 km from the arrival, fortunately without any consequences.

Alexandre Vinokourov will ride for the last Tour de France in his career as cyclist. At a press conference this afternoon he outlined his goals, discussed his feelings about this 

race, and finally talked about his future and that of team Astana.

Alexandre, what is your goal for this 2011 Tour?

As I said from the beginning of the season, my goal for that year would be to wear the yellow jersey a few days, to end my career on a beautiful note. Then, I'd like to win a mountain stage if possible. Then, we will focus on the best team classification . Concerning the general, I know I can not expect an overall victory, I have already finished third in Tour de France (in 2003) and fifth (in 2005) and I am pleased to see that I'm in good shape. I’ve seen I can feel good during one week race like the Critérium du Dauphiné recently, but three weeks is more difficult, we'll see what can happen!

Have you spotted a stage where you would love to attack?

I have not scheduled a stage in particular, I saw that the arrival of tomorrow could suit me for example. There is also the stage Tuesday with the Mur de Bretagne and other stages at the end of first week. But I do not program in advance, when I feel good, I feel that the legs respond well, I'm going.

In your opinion, is it the Pyrenees or the Alps which will decide the general classification of the Tour?

I think that the Pyrenees will be very selective, but are the Alps will decide the final victory. In particular the stage in the Alpes d'Huez after climbing the Galibier, rankings will surely change, and also the time trial in Grenoble might change the standings.  

This will be your participation in the ninth Tour de France, what do you think of this race? What is your fondest memory?

It's the biggest race in the world, here we have different sensations than other races, it's incomparable. And it works up to the year for this moment. I think it's a great race and also a great spectacle for the spectators. My best memory, may be the final podium in 2003. And also, my victory on the Champs Elysees in 2005, it was a great surprise, I had already tried several times to win this stage and this is the kind of events that happen once in a lifetime, it’s a very good memory.

It's really your last Tour de France?

Yes, this will be my last Tour, well, my last Tour on the bike. As I said from the beginning of the season, I will end my cycling career this year, in September, I will turn 38, it seems to be the right time. If there was not the Astana team, I think I could continue for 2 or 3 years, not to win the long race, but to win some stages. But I want to do as riders like Richard Virenque and Laurent Jalabert who decided to stop their career at the right time.

What will you do next? Will you become a manager of the Astana team?

Regarding my future, nothing is decided yet, first I will stay focus on this Tour de France. Then I will take a few days off in Kazakhstan, I will discuss with the sponsors of the team and the Kazakh government on that occasion. I'd love to continue to work within the Astana team, is a project dear to my heart. Become manager is always possible, it is true that this team has been created around me in the beginning, but I don’t want to go too fast. For example I can start working alongside Giuseppe Martinelli to learn, if I had to work in the direction of the team, I want to take my time.

What about the future of the Astana team?

We have a Pro Tour license for 3 years and our sponsor has committed to three years (until 2013), until there are good results, I think it will continue. We follow a political and a sport project with this team, not a commercial purpose. We're here to represent an entire nation and we are really proud of it. For years to come, we don’t want to recruit only stars from other countries, we also plan to train young Kazakhs to win some good races. We hope that the Astana team will be part of a training project, with the creation of a second team Astana to train promising young Kazakhs, so that they incorporate the Pro Team Astana after a solid preparation. For example, Andrey Zeits (who finished 2nd overall in Tour of Turkey 2011) who is here with us in Tour de France, is representative of this new generation of Kazakh riders. He has potential, and if he works hard, I think that one day he will be able to win races such as Paris-Nice.

27-Jun-2011: Quick-Step Cycling Team is pleased to announce contract renewals for Dries Devenyns, Kristof Vandewalle and Guillaume Van Keirsbulck.


All 3 of the team’s athletes will wear the Quick-Step Cycling Team jersey through the end of the 2013 season.

“Dries, Kristof and Guillaume are three athletes who have different skills, who’ve proven their worth and have always been team players,” explained Team Manager Patrick Lefevere. “This is also one of the reasons they’re a part of our work project. We’re counting on them a lot, both for the present as well as the immediate future. These athletes are young talent that are essential to our team’s strategy”.

Quick-Step Cycling Team will have 23 riders competing in their respective road national championship races next weekend.

“The national champion jersey is one of the most prestigious and sought-after in the cycling world," said Tom Steels, who won fourth national championship titles in Belgium. "Having the symbol of one's nation on the shoulders for a year is a privilege. We will get on the starting line with a strong, compact group in Belgium, ideally having Boonen as a captain," continues Sports Director Tom Steels "In the other seven nations where our riders will compete, there will be strong individuals like Chavanel and Pineau in France, or Ciolek in Germany. They will try to grab a final win if the chance arise. It wouldn't be bad to start the Tour de France with a national champion jersey belonging to one of our riders."

BELGIUM

Tom Boonen, Andy Cappelle, Kevin De Weert, Dries Devenyns, Nikolas Maes, Frederique Robert, Kevin Seeldraeyers, Gert Steegmans, Kevin Van Impe, Guillaume Van Keirsbulck, Kristof Vandewalle, Julien Vermote.

ITALY

Marco Bandiera, Davide Malacarne

FRANCE

Sylvain Chavanel, Jerome Pineau

HOLLAND

Ad Engels, Niki Terpstra

GERMANY

Gerald Ciolek, Andreas Stauff

CZECH REPUBLIC

Zdenek Stybar

CURACAO

Marc De Maar

SLOVENIA




Jan Tratn

Quick-Step Cycling team officially announced the team that will compete at the upcoming Tour de France.

"We have a very competitive team for the Tour de France, that will be able to challenge everyone in every situation," said Sports Director Wilfried Peeters. "We will try to race aggressively just like we did last year. The first week of the competition is very interesting. Some of the arrivals perfectly fit the characteristics of our riders. Generally speaking anyway the Tour, throughout the three weeks, always offers good chances to shine for riders who attack like Chavanel, Pineau, Devenyns and Terpstra. We will try to keep up with those who break away from the peloton, and we'll do everything we can to win a stage, this being our main goal for the race. We will also have riders like Boonen, Ciolek and Steegmans in our team, who will be able to try and win sprints should the occasion arise. They will also try different winning solutions in other circumstances. The team will support De Weert in any case in the most difficult stages, and whenever necessary. Engels will be the one to support De Weert mainly, being a rider with great experience. De Weert's main objective will be to try and further improve his placement compared to his last Tour de France. We have an expert and motivated team in general, with everyone being well-aware of their role and tasks. We start this Tour de France in the best possible conditions, both physically and mentally."