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Swobo announces “Message in a Bottle Project”

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Do touch that dial (and turn it off)

There were no major shakeups in the overall world ranking following Sunday’s conclusion of the Tour de Suisse. Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne) remains atop the leader board of the individual ranking, with no changes in the top 5. Damiano Cunego (Lampre) jumped from 15th to sixth and Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas) from 27th to ninth. Caisse d’Epargne retained its lead in the team rankings, but Columbia-Highroad made a big move to surge into second place.

The Schleck brothers will carry Saxo Bank’s hopes for a podium finish into next month’s Tour de France. The Luxembourg tandem of Fränk and Andy Schleck led the nine-man team selection released Monday by Saxo Bank. The brothers are the team’s best bet to finish among the top three at the Tour following the departure from the squad of last year’s winner, Carlos Sastre.

After a spring layoff from the writing gig, Kona pro mountain bike and cyclocross racer Barry Wicks is back by popular demand.

In a year full of pro cycling surprises — Lance returns, Tyler retires, ASO and the UCI seem to get along — Cervélo’s entrance into the team sponsorship game had to rank high on the unsuspected scale. After a long and fruitful relationship with Bjarne Riis and his CSC squad, the Toronto-based bike company opted to go out on its own and get in the ProTour game. Even more surprising, the new squad managed to sign two of the sports biggest stars in reigning Tour de France champion Carlos Sastre and Norwegian sprint stalwart Thor Hushovd.

The Columbia-Highroad team continued its dominant pace, sweeping the top-three places at the RaboSter Tour in Holland. The three-day event was won for the second year running by Ina-Yoko Teutenberg, taking her 18th victory of the season. Second was Chantal Beltman, just three seconds behind, while prologue winner Linda Villumsen was third at 11 seconds. Columbia-Highroad also finished first in the teams classification, whilst Teutenberg was top rider both in the intermediate sprints and the points competitions.

With the Tour de France looming and most of Europe’s national championships this weekend, there’s not a lot on the racing calendar this week. Two one-day races in Belgium and Italy, respectively, make for a light week on the men’s European scene. That doesn’t mean everyone’s heading to the beach. Most of the top pros will be racing in their respective national championships this week, with hopes of wearing their national jersey at the Tour start line in Monaco on July 4.

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British climber Emma Pooley (Cervélo TestTeam) wrapped up the Grande Boucle Feminine Internationale after fending off a last-gasp bid by archrival Marianne Vos (DSB Bank) in Sunday’s finale. The Dutch rider Vos won Sunday’s hilly final stage into Anglet, but Pooley was able to mark the moves and finished fourth in a five-up sprint to secure the overall prize of the so-called “women’s Tour de France.” Despite the victory and a 10-second time bonus, Vos couldn’t overcome Pooley.

Lance Armstrong and Shelly Olds won their respective Nevada City Classics on Sunday, both using strong solo efforts to ride to victory in the 49th annual race through the Northern California mining town. The Proman team softened the women's field up with a blend of tempo and aggression before Olds delivered the final blow, racing off alone to take the win.

PRESS RELEASE

Before the start of the 28th Race Across America, pundits were predicting (or perhaps hoping) that this would not be another Jure Robic runaway. With one of the strongest fields ever, it seemed that someone would have the muscle to challenge the Slovenian army major.

Hometown favorite Fabian Cancellara won the Tour de Suisse on Sunday after dominating the ninth and final stage of the race, an individual time trial in Bern. Saxo Bank's big time-trial specialist, clad in the Swiss national champion's kit, blitzed the 38.5km course in 45 minutes and 59 seconds, for an average speed of 50.236km/h (31.2mph). He knew he had the overall locked up and took the time to cross the line with both hands in the air, road-stage style. Tony Martin (Columbia-Highroad) took second on the stage at 1:27 with Thomas Dekker (Silence-Lotto) third at 1:42.

Giant Factory Team rider Adam Craig won the 2008 national championship cross-country race in Mount Snow, Vermont, using a single 35-tooth chainring and half of MRP’s System 3 Carbon downhill chainguide. That race underscored his and other top cross-country racers’ commitment to leave behind multiple front chainrings for a light and simple single-ring solution.

Chad Gerlach (Amore & Vita) and Amber Rais (Team TIBCO) wrapped up their respective omnium titles on Saturday in the finale to the Tour de Nez. Jesse Moore (California Giant Berry Farms) won the men’s race, launching a solo break just 10 minutes into the 90-minute criterium, run on a tough 2-mile circuit through the Village at the Northstar-at-Tahoe resort. Graham Howard (Bissell) bridged up and the two kept a 25-second lead on the bunch until Moore’s teammate Justin England jumped the gap, giving Cal Giant the advantage with five laps to go.