Follow Team Saxo Bank @ Twitter

Saxo Bank riders stretch before a training ride on Gran Canaria (@albertocontador)

Your hot line to riders, staff and sponsors in 2012!

Alberto Contador and an increasing number of his teammates offer you an open line of communication via their Twitter accounts. Some Saxo Bank staff tweet, too. Follow them this season to show your support and stay current on everything from training camps, race reflections, health updates, crazy photos and what’s for dinner!

Team Saxo Bank riders:

Alberto Contador: @albertocontador
Jesús Hernández: @jesushernandez3
Sergio Paulinho: @sergiompaulinho
Bruno Pires: @brunopires
Ran Margaliot: @RanMargaliot
Karsten Kroon: @KarstenKroon
Christopher Juul Jensen: @JensenJuul
Jonathan Cantwell: @J_Cantwell
Troels Vinther: @Troels_Vinther
Michael Mørkov: @MichaelMorkov
Luke Roberts: @lukeroberts77
Karsten Kroon: @karstenkroon

Team Saxo Bank staff

Hannah Grant, chef: @dailystews
Anders Damgaard, communications: @Damgaard1974

Sponsors

Saxo Bank: @saxobank
Specialized: @iamspecialized

And be sure to follow the Alberto Contador Notebook! @Contador_Notebk

Are there other Team Saxo Bank riders or key contacts with Twitter accounts? Help us complete the list! Please contact contadorfans@hotmail.com .

Thanks to M. Sarti for contributing to this post.

"Awesome dinner in the making Troels attacks the butternut squash !" (Chef Hannah Grant @dailystews)

Back to the Alberto Contador Notebook

Cuitu Negru, resurfaced, will be Vuelta 2012 queen stage

Cuitu Negru before resurfacing (as.com)

Asturias, the majestic province in the north of Spain, yielded back-to-back victories to Alberto Contador in his bid for a first Vuelta win in 2008. Slaying the twin giants of l’Angliru and Fuentes de Invierno put Contador in the leader’s jersey to stay, and were key in adding his name to the record books as one of just five Triple Crown winners – the only Spanish winner – and one of only three to win both the Giro and the Vuelta in the same season.

Since then, Asturias has been the scene of other spectacular stages in the Vuelta a España, like Carlos Barredo’s audacious solo to Lagos de Covadonga in 2010 and the charge of El Bisonte on the Angliru last year. Clearly, the Principality can be relied upon to lend the Vuelta drama worthy of Spain’s hard-won first kingdom, and to demand of cyclists the valor of the medieval king Pelayo.

This year, Asturias offers three consecutive summit finishes, including a behemoth making a first-time appearance - Cuitu Negru. Will Contador try for another title? And, if he made it two in a row on Asturian slopes in 2008, could he make it three in 2012?

Caja Rural signs David de la Fuente

Caja Rural signs David de la Fuente: “It´s a great challenge to see where my limit is”

January 3 | Biciciclismo – Caja Rural has reached an agreement with David de la Fuente and he will ride with the Navarre-based group in 2012. Left stranded without a team after the disappearance of Geox-TMC, the Cantabrian cyclist will be a star reinforcement for Mikel Azparren’s organization.

With this agreement, Caja Rural has finalized its roster for 2012, a year in which the team hopes to take a step forward and continue to grow. De la Fuente, a professional since 2003, comes to the team with three victories as a professional: GP Miguel Indurain, Stage 2 of the Tour of Germany and the GP Llodio, as well as the Most Combattive prize in the Tour, plus having been a gregario to Alberto Contador in his most recent Tour victory and to Juanjo Cobo in last season’s Vuelta a España. His teams have been: Vini Caldirola-Saunier Duval (2003), Saunier Duval-Prodir (2004-2007), Saunier Duval-Scott (2008), Scott-American Beef (2008), Fuji-Servetto (2009), Astana (2010) and Geox-TMC (2011).

The arrival of De la Fuente, 30, an experienced, versatile and reliable cyclist, fills the last slot in a strong Caja Rural for 2012, where the plan is for the team to acquit itself well enough to get an invitation to the Vuelta a España next August 18 in Pamplona.

Mikel Azparren, manager of Caja Rural, was pleased with the signing and said that “with David de la Fuente our roster is closed. We’ve managed to round out a very complete team for tackling the challenges of 2012.”