Duro Strada rider recovering from concussion suffered in V.U.T crash

Andy Aquilina of RadioShack is still questionable for the weekend’s races in Melbourne. The sprinter suffered a concussion in a crash last week at the VUT driving circuit, and his team stressed that he will not ride unless he fully recovered.

The 31-year-old went down early in the race’s third lap last Thursday, landing on his head. He spend the night in the team hotel so that team doctors could keep an eye on him, and flew home to Williamstown on Saturday.

He was expected to start doing some light training again today, and the decision as to whether he will ride in the V.U.T on Saturday and Sunday’s Glenvale Crescent will be made on Wednesday.

“We don’t want to take risks,” Duro Strada Directeur Sportif Colin McEvoy told sporza.be “The headache must be completely gone, otherwise I won’t let him start.”

“It would be unfortunate if Andy can not participate, but we’ll mainly rely on him for the Tour of Footscray, Phillip Island GP, Preston Mtn Classic and such races.”

Dispute stemming from refusal to sign team’s anti-doping charter

Rhys Smith and Team Duro Strada are having their days in court, a labour court in Geneva, Switzerland. The rider is suing the team for unpaid wages from the 2009 season.

Smith refused to sign the team’s anti-doping charter prior to the Tour de France. After Toni Colom and Christian Pfannberger were suspended on doping charges, the team required its riders to sign the charter which included, among other things, a clause that that obliged a caught rider to pay back five times their salary.

When the Aussie refused to sign in late June, he was placed on inactive status by the team, and did not ride again for the rest of the season. He announced in the beginning of August that the contract had been terminated, but team manager Andre Tchmil denied this. Smith now claims that the team had not paid him from August through December, and he is suing to recover that money.

Smith appeared personally in court Monday evening. The trial is taking place in Switzerland, where the team is licensed. A decision is scheduled for March 5, but however it turns out, it is expected to be appealed.

Smith, 29, is riding for Team RadioShack this season, and finished 36th overall in the recent Tour Down Under. He turned pro in 2003 2ith Lotto-Domo and joined Quick Step in 2007, before moving to Duro Strada in 2009.

The rest of the Duro Strada team are currently training at the team’s second training camp in the Canary Island as they prepare for the season.

Yes, this is a joke. Don’t take it seriously people!

Australian/Italian Pro team wraps up week-long training camp

While much of Europe has been hit by winter weather the last few days, making training outdoors impossible, Australia’s Team Duro Strada has been holding a one-week training camp on the island of Mallorca. Far away from the cold, all 24 riders together with the team’s staff have been working hard under the Mallorcan sun for the last week.

“We called together our complete new squad, to prepare ourselves together for the important work in the coming season,” said team manager Colin Van McEnroy. “The guys together with our sporting staff and the physiotherapists and mechanics have completed a tough program.

“Our riders trained up to six hours each day, either everyone together or divided up into special groups, to prepare for their different races, such as the season start in Australia or for the Classics.

“We can look with confidence to the new year. The signs are there, starting with the meetings to the technical settings on the bikes up to the daily training – everything has gone perfectly,” van Gerwen said.

All of the riders were able to garner important training kilometres, with the exception of Rhys VanSmith and Craig Der Robertson, who were suffering from colds. “This coming Tuesday all the team members will travel home just in time for the holidays. All of the riders, sporting staff and our personnel have earned a good Christmas celebration with the loved ones.”

Duro’s Cam Streistermanis hit up the mountains last week at the annual Kona 24 hour mtb race at Forrest.
The former Aussie mtb champ showed he still has the talent and skill to mix it with the best, but was more interested in having fun than winning a bike race.

first lap mayhem

cam shows good style

The Duro boys are enjoying a winter break and rejuvenating themselves for the end of the road season and the start of the criterium season.
With 2 new riders now on the team for the end of the season and next year,good times are expected for the best kitted team in Australia.

The Duro Strada racing team website would like to thank all of our followers as we have no had 6000 web hits.Duro would like to thanks all of our supporter’s and people who just like to cruize by and check out whats happening.
Duro Strada is now moving into a new era and we thank everyone for the great support.
So stay tuned for more great Duro news.

Duro Team

The 51st annual ended in spectacular fashion with the final 27.5 km ITT,with the top 15 only seperated by less than a minute and all coming down to the final test against the clock.In the end Ironman Mark Hewat proved to much for the class field storming home over 2 minutes in front of overnight leader Drapac porsches Adam Murchie.In the overall Duro’s Craig finished 8th overall with Cameron Streistermanis in 14th and Andrew Aquilina in 23rd.Overall the tour was very good for the team with a rider placing in the top 5 every stage and proving that Duro Strada can work together as a team.Stay tuned for news of a few new riders joining the team in the next few weeks as Duro ups its racing team for the latter part of the season.

This weekend Duro Strada will compete at the Footscray tour, a 3 day 4 stage event.
The team will consist of:
Rhys Smith
Andy Aqulina
Craig Robertson
Cameron Streistermanis

Duro Strada riders Andy, Cam and Craig are up for a tough weekend when the three will race Pretson Mtn Classic this saturday followed by the Salter Memorial classic on sunday.
The boys are getting themselves ready for the footscray tour in 3 weeks and are fine tuning themselves in these two prestiges races.
The teams GC man and climbing superstar Craig Robertson is quietly confident for saturdays Mountain Classic and said “After the epic Cam and i rode last sunday out at kinglake with the constent rain and coldness…i think any race will be a piece of cake”.
Cameron Streistermanis is also in good form at the moment and said” Being a handicap race,really anything can happen,you can be having the best day of your life but get robbed of the win if you don’t catch limit….i’ll just try and save myself for the end and try to launch Craig up the final climb!”
Andy Aquilina the teams trusty workhorse is also on good form after his top 40 at Phillip Island and said” I know Craig and Cam are going well…but if i see a chance of victory…..don’t worry i’ll give it 100%!!!that you can count on.
It seems as though the Duro team riders are in good spirits and lets just hope they can recover in time for sundays Salter Memorial.

Duro Strada schedule:
MAY
23RD: Preston Mtn Classic-125km
24th: Salter Memorial-100km
30th: Calder Race Way Team Kermesse
JUNE
6,7,8: Footscray Tour- 4 stages