Viviani announces race schedule

Elia Viviani is preparing for the first Paris - Roubaix career.  The Sky rider has confirmed his calendar which will begin next week on the roads of the Tour de San Luis, in an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport. 

The Italian sprinter will mix track and road racing in the first part of the season. After Argentina he will fly to the Emirates for the Dubai Tour and then train on the track in Montichiari. At the end of February, he will be at the start the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne , followed by the World Championships on the track in London where he will do the Omnium, Madison, the team pursuit and the scratch race. 

After the Worlds, the focus will be on the classics. He will hone his form at Tirreno - Adriatico and then do Milan - Sanremo, E3 Harelbeke, Gent-Wevelgem, 3 Days of De Panne, Scheldeprijs and Paris - Roubaix. The cobbled classics will be the last event before the Giro d’Italia. 

In July, the Tour of Poland will be the only race before the assault on an Olympic medal on the track in Rio. 

Team Roth manager steps down

Roberto Marchetti will depart Team Roth with with immediate effect. The general manager has decided to retire for health reasons.

"We regret his departure," the team said in a statement on Facebook. “The great successes during the past season and the promotion of the Swiss cycling team based in Gerlafingen to the world's second highest division ‘ProContinental’ were in large part the merit of Roberto Marchetti. The Roth Gruppe professional cycteam thanks Roberto Marchetti for his extraordinarily good work and wishes him a fast recovery.”

Until a replacement is found, Stefan Blaser takes over the tasks.

In November, Roth secured a ProContinental license but faced a setback when Skoda himself withdrew as title sponsor. The team is searching for a new additional backer.

Malori: The Olympic time trial is harder than expected

Yesterday Adriano Malori had the opportunity to try the route of the time trial for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. The Movistar riders tested the course of Grumari which will be 24.8 kilometers long and tackled twice.

"It is a hard course, very hard, more than I expected,” he said according to Spaziociclismo. “Today it was very humid and we sweated a lot. There are sections where you can make a difference. It will be important to go faster on the climbs than I have ever done. We did a good job and it was very helpful to be able to test it.”

Wiggins to ride on the road at Mallorca Challenge 

Bradley Wiggins will race the 2016 Mallorca Challenge. The Team Wiggins leader is expected to be the captain of the British national team for the four one-day races scheduled for January 28 to 31. 

It will be the third participation of the British rider at the Challenge Mallorca after 2013 and in 2014.

GP Nobili Rubinetterie cancelled

The GP Nobili Rubinetterie will not be held in 2016. The organizers have decided to cancel the event which was scheduled for March 1, because of financial difficulties. 

The goal of the organizers is to be back again in 2017.

A few years ago, the race was moved to the Thursday before Milan-Sanremo and had become a key test for the classic. Last year’s race was won by Giacomo Nizzolo.

Dimension Data with two new Spaniard at the Ruta del Sol

Igor Anton and Omar Fraile will be part of the Dimension Data Team at the Vuelta a Andalucía-Ruta del Sol which will be held from the 17th to the 21st of February. Natnael Berhane, Matt Brammeier, Stephen Cummings, Kristian Sbaragli and Kanstantsin Siutsou complete a competitive roster.

Team Dimension Data is the new name of the South African team MTN Qhubeka which already participated the last two previous editions of the Vuelta a Andalucia. This year they will return as a WorldTour team.

Tejay van Garderen, Bauke Mollema, Rafal Majka, Roman Kreuziger, Beñat Intxausti, Juanjo Lobato and Warren Barguil are some of the names that have confirmed their participation in the race that will include two mountain stages, an individual time trial of 21 kilometers, a flat stage and another hilly stage.

There will be 20 teams at the start. In 2015 Froome beat Contador, with Intxausti in third. Valverde won in 2012, 2013 and 2014; Irizar in 2011, Rogers in 2010, Posthuma in 2009, Freire in 2008 and Lastras in 2007.