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Lehigh County Executive Don Cunningham on Tuesday threw his enthusiastic support behind efforts to bring the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame to the county’s velodrome, known as the Valley Preferred Cycling Center. During a press conference Cunningham announced plans to lease county-owned land adjacent to the velodrome, which – added to the nearby Bob Rodale Cycling and Fitness Park – would create a triple-draw destination for cycling fans from all over the country and the region. The County Board of Commissioners will consider Cunningham’s lease resolution at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.

David Millar of Team Garmin-Chipotle discusses his five years under “constant pressure to dope” during tonight’s episode of HBO’s “Real Sports." The segment, reported by correspondent Jon Frankel and titled “Clean Slate,” (check your local listings for showtime), chronicles Millar’s journey from suspended doper to advocate for a new model of cycling team.

Russian Denis Menchov, one of the pre-race favorites, has been named as team leader for the nine-man Rabobank squad for the July 5-27 Tour de France, the Dutch team announced in the Netherlands on Tuesday. Menchov is a double winner of the Vuelta a España who finished fifth in the 2006 Tour de France. The team will also be in the hunt for stage wins, and perhaps the Tour’s points jersey, with the addition of Oscar Freire, the Spaniard who is a triple world road race champion (1999, 2001 and 2004). Freire won the Gent-Wevelgem ProTour one-day classic in April and is

The newly renamed Garmin-Chipotle team unveiled its Tour de France roster, which features three of only four Americans in the entire Tour peloton. The team, formerly known as Slipstream-Chipotle, is making its debut in the world’s biggest bicycle race, but the roster, released on Tuesday, includes several Tour de France veterans.

This year’s Tour de France should be a little more interesting following news Tuesday that outspoken Italian rider Riccardo Riccò will take the July 5 start in Brest. Riccò ? whose verbal outbursts are almost as lethal as his accelerations in the mountains ? will take aim at the best young rider’s white jersey during his second Tour appearance. The 24-year-old Riccò, seen by many in Italy as the heir to deceased Giro and Tour winner Marco Pantani, is considered a longshot for the Tour's yellow jersey.

The first surprise in Johan Bruyneel’s new autobiography is that he lived vicariously through Lance Armstrong. The Belgian achieved as a sport director what he could never do during his 11-year racing career. “I was lucky enough to win two stages and take the yellow jersey, but I knew that I could never win the whole race,” Bruyneel told VeloNews in a recent interview. “It’s a big compensation to do as a sport director what I couldn’t do myself physically.”

Dear Readers,
I’ve got a bit of product testing and Tour de Suisse course scouting to tell you about.

Suggested retail: $20. Web site: www.mirrycle.com The Mirrycle Road Mirror was developed exclusively to fit Shimano STI shifter/brake levers while allowing the unrestricted use of the lever. The company says the mirror fits Sora, Tiagra, 105, Ultegra and Dura-Ace levers. The mirror can be folded out of the way or quickly removed for bike storage or rides where a mirror isn't desired. It can be attached to the right or left lever.

The San Francisco Twilight Criterium on September 13 is the newest race in the USA CRITS series. "Nothing compares to a 40 mph night-time race,” said event supporter Ryan Dawkins, president of Project Sport. Dawkins is working with Andy Ball, CEO of Webcor Builders, to put on the event. The four-corner, one-kilometer course will start and finish at Union Street—the so-called Rodeo Drive of San Francisco. The Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz and the San Francisco Bay will be visible from almost the entire course.[nid:78866]

Lark Birdsong - Monument Valley - RAAM 2008

The Cactus Cup, one of the most popular early season mountain bikes events when it was held in the Scottsdale, Arizona, area in the 1990s, is returning, this time in the fall in Las Vegas. The Mountain’s Edge 2008 Cactus Cup is scheduled for September 19–21. The event comes just before the Interbike trade show in Las Vegas, which begins with its Dirt Demo on Sept. 22. The event includes a three-day pro and semi-pro stage race and single day races for other categories. The races are being held at Mountain's Edge, a planned community in Southwest Las Vegas.

Lindsey Wilson College today announced that they will partner with AeroCat Bicycles to be the official team bike supplier for the 2008 road season and beyond. Lindsey Wilson Cycling and its rich tradition of cycling excellence will rely on the advanced technology of Aerocat’s carbon monocoque frame and forks to provide them with the lightest, fastest, and best handling bikes in all of Division 1 collegiate racing.

Suggested retail: $79.99 Sizes: small, medium, large, extra large. Available from: www.kbsmedifast.com or www.mtborah.com The Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast domestic road team is using new jerseys manufactured from a knit fabric with 47 percent recycled fibers from post-consumer and post-industrial waste. Mt. Borah, which makes the team jerseys, estimates that for every dozen jerseys made with the process, two gallons of gas are saved.

Germany’s Gerolsteiner hopes it can crack the top 10 and win a stage in the upcoming Tour de France. The team brings Markus Fothen and Bernhard Kohl as GC hopes with Stefan Schumacher leading the charge in the hunt for an elusive stage victory. “Fothen and Kohl can challenge for the overall race, while we are looking for stage victories in the last week,” said team sporting director Christian Henn.

The Basque climbers at Euskaltel-Euskadi will be angling toward the podium this year. Haimar Zubeldia and Mikel Astarloza, fifth and ninth in last year’s Tour, headline the orange-clad Basques in its collective effort to improve on the team’s steady 2007 performance.

Thanks to the support of Presenting Sponsor AT&T, as well as several local businesses and volunteers, the 2008 Glencoe Grand Prix will feature numerous improvements for both riders and spectators when racing returns to downtown Glencoe this Aug. 10. Riders can expect lager purses, lower entry fees, winner’s jerseys, chip timing, more premium lap prizes, SRAM Neutral support and better overall

The Vail Valley Foundation, organizers of the inaugural Colorado Stage International Cycle Classic, announced the launch of their newest website www.coloradostagebike.com on Tuesday. The site marks the company’s sixth launch in nine months and the official website for the Colorado Stage.

Roslyn, Washington June 11th, 2008:

France's reigning Olympic mountain bike champion Julien Absalon has admitted that losing his world title has relieved him of some of the pressure ahead of this summer's Olympics. Absalon, the world cross-country champion a remarkable four years in a row (2004-2007), failed to finish the men's world championship race Sunday in Italy won by Christoph Sauser of Switzerland.

Spain's Alberto Contador, who is looking to win the Tour of Spain in September to add to victories in the Tour of Italy and Tour de France, said Monday that winning the world's three main cycling races would be better than winning an Olympic medal. "I want to do well at the Tour of Spain even if that means that in order to prepare myself better for it I am not at 100 percent for the Games," he told reporters in Madrid. "I have won the Tour de France and the Giro and if I achieved a triple it would be more historical than getting an Olympic medal," he added.

Bobby Julich won’t be heading back to the Tour de France for another crack at the maillot jaune. The 36-year-old veteran ? third overall in 1998 ? was left off the nine-man, Tour-bound squad revealed Monday by Team CSC-Saxo Bank. “I think we could have taken two teams to the Tour de France, with so many good riders to choose from,” said team manager Bjarne Riis on the team’s Web page. “We have taken the nine sharpest riders and we hope we can meet our ambitions with them.”

The second year of the Tour of Missouri will capitalize on the success of the inaugural race, again visiting Kansas City and St. Louis, but will also bring the action to new towns. The seven-day race from St. Joseph to St. Louis will kick off September 8 and feature squads from Team Columbia (formerly High Road) and Garmin-Chipotle (formerly Slipstream). Here is a breakdown of the stages. Stage 1 – Monday, September 8 St. Joseph to Kansas City, 90 miles

With the Univest Grand Prix no longer a U25 amateur-only event, organizers of this year’s inaugural Tour of Pennsylvania stage race are wasting no time stepping up to claim the unofficial title of the biggest U25 amateur race in the country. While even the best domestic events typically have humble beginnings, thanks to generous sponsorship from American Eagle Outfitters and the enthusiastic backing of the city of Pittsburgh, organizers seems to be launching one of North America’s top-notch stage races virtually from scratch.

You’ve already seen Giant’s new road bike, the TCR Advanced SL. Prototypes have been in service by the High Road (now Columbia) team since last year’s Tour de France. The bike and its radically shaped tubes have been highly visible all season, so it comes as no surprise that it will be in the company's product line for 2009.

Overcoming training plateaus and preparing for altitude in the Midwest

Irish rider Daniel Martin handed Team Garmin-Chipotle a tidy victory after holding onto his lead in Sunday’s finale at the 32nd Route du Sud. Martin, 21, who claimed the leader’s jersey in Saturday’s “queen stage” across the Pyrenees, sewed up the win by finishing safely in the main pack at 6:50 behind stage winner Jussie Veikanen (FDJeux) in the final 207.1km stage from Saint-Gaudens to Castres.