If You’re Not Moving Forwards, You’re Moving Backwards
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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.
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.
Columbia’s Tony Martin won the eighth stage of the Tour of Switzerland from Le Sentier to Crans-Montana on Saturday. Wearing the pink climber's jersey, the German outsprinted Damiano Cunego (Lampre) and Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank), starting his dash to the line 500 meters from the finish. "I realized Cunego was chasing behind, and he got fairly close, but I made it in the first place to the finish all the same," said Martin.
A Belgian court will not re-file the dropped criminal charges that stemmed from Tom Boonen’s first positive test for cocaine despite a second positive in April, local media claimed Saturday. Boonen, however, could still face charges relating to a second positive test for the drug, on April 25 2009. Boonen first tested positive for cocaine in May 2008, although he escaped any criminal charges on the condition he would stay away from any future drugs scandal over a three-year period.
When national criterium champion Rahsaan Bahati rolls up to the start line of the June 28 Manhattan Beach Grand Prix, he will do so once again as a professional cyclist. Bahati, a two-time winner and the defending champion at Manhattan Beach, signed a pro contract with Rock Racing, the team he has ridden with since 2007, he told VeloNews Friday.
Organizers of the Tour de France said Friday they will conduct “a safety experiment” in next month’s race by banning the use of rider radios on two stages. The measure will affect the Limoges-Issoudun stage on July 14 and the Vittel-Colmar stage on July 17. The steps mean that team managers will have to revert to communicating with racers by relying upon more traditional methods.
La Ruta de los Conquistadores, the Costa Rican race organizers call the “World’s Toughest Mountain Bike Race,” is facing nearly $180,000 in debt and a complete reshuffling of its upper management. The financial and managerial storm centers on a dispute between race owner Roman Urbina and former director Luis Diego Viquez, whom Urbina fired three weeks ago. Both parties told VeloNews that their only concern now is that the race survives the crisis.
Windham Resort, a small ski area located 140 miles north of New York City, will host the final round of the 2010 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup on August 28-29. The race will include the big three of World Cup racing: cross-country, downhill and Four-cross. The event marks the first mountain bike World Cup to be held on American soil since 2005, when Angel Fire resort in New Mexico hosted a round of off-road racing’s premier series.
Columbia-Highroad’s André Greipel won his second straight stage win and his ninth win of the season in the Ster-ElektroToer in Holland on Friday, and has now become the race’s overall leader. Greipel was the fastest in the bunch sprint which decided the 179-kilometer hilly stage starting and finishing in Schimmert, outgunning Australian Allan Davis and Slovenian Borut Bozic.
Luxembourg's Kim Kirchen (Columbia-Highroad) won the seventh stage of the Tour of Switzerland, a 204-kilometer ride from Bad Zurzach to Vallorbe on Friday. Last year's winner, Czech rider Roman Kreuziger, was second over the line and Germany's Linus Gerdemann third. It was the fifth stage win at the Swiss tour for the Columbia team.