All Content

Taylor Phinney will get to wear the white leader's jersey of the Fleche du Sud another day, as he defended it in Thursday's first stage of the Luxembourg race. The American track champion won the prologue Wednesday, his first win in the Trek-Livestrong colors. Stage 1 went to Germany's Marcel Kittel, who was second in the prologue, at three seconds. But Phinney sprinted to third place on the stage, finishing in the same time as Kittel. Luxembourg's Cyrille Heymans was second.

American Kristin Armstrong moved into second overall at the Tour De L'Aude Feminin on Thursday, after finishing with a three-woman break that came in more than six minutes ahead of the field. Armstrong finished third in the break, 14 seconds behind stage winner Trixi Worrack (Nurnberger Versicherung) and five seconds behind Armstrong's Cervelo TestTeam teammate, Claudia Hausler. Dutchwoman Marianne Vos (Dsb Bank) led in the field for fourth place, 6:14 behind Armstrong.

Denis Menchov (Rabobank) became the first Russian since Pavel Tonkov to don the maglia rosa after his impressive performance in Thursday’s 60.6km time trial along the Cinque Terre. The 31-year-old is already a winner of two editions of the Vuelta a España and takes a slender, 20-second lead to Levi Leipheimer (Astana) going into the decisive second half of the 2009 Giro d’Italia. Menchov spoke to the assembled Giro media following his victory. Here are excerpts from the press conference: Question: Were the time differences as you expected?

A spectacular 60km course along Italy’s stunning Cinque Terre lived up to expectations Thursday as Denis Menchov (Rabobank) pulled the double, winning the stage and snatching away the maglia rosa from Danilo Di Luca (LPR). Levi Leipheimer (Astana) – who had won three time trials in three starts this season ? almost walked away with the jackpot, finishing just 20 seconds slower than Menchov and climbing into third overall at 40 seconds back.

With the centennial edition of the Giro d’Italia at its halfway point, and with less than three minutes covering the top 10 riders on GC, doing well in Thursday’s ultra-tough Cinque Terre time trial is the key to overall victory. But besides the expected challenges to Danilo Di Luca’s pink jersey by Denis Menchov (Rabobank), Michael Rogers (Columbia-Highroad), Levi Leipheimer (Astana) and Ivan Basso (Liquigas), a handful of other TT specialists will by vying for the prestigious stage win.

Magura USA and the upscale red rock town of Sedona, Arizona, played host to the brand’s annual press camp during the week of May 18, 2009. The company used the event to announce two new additions to Magura USA’s distribution portfolio: UVEX helmets and sunglasses, and Vaude bags, packs, and clothing. The two new brands add to the company’s existing distributorship of Syntace, creating a significant beachhead for German brands in the United States.

Check out CyclingTips's author page.

Check out CyclingTips's author page.

An autopsy showed that multi-sport athlete Steve Larsen likely did not die of a heart attack, his brother told VeloNews Wednesday. Mike Larsen said the autopsy ruled out a heart attack and a blood clot. The cause of death may have been viral or related to allergies, he said. "The last few weeks he had been having serious troubles with his breathing," Mike Larsen said. He said his brother had been seeing a doctor about his breathing troubles and had been unable to finish his workouts.

American Kristin Armstrong won the fifth stage of the Tour de l’Aude Féminin on Wednesday, outsprinting her breakaway companions Amber Neben and Grace Verbeke. Olympic champion Armstrong (Cervelo TestTeam) and world TT champ Neben (Nurnberger Versicherung) are the best-placed Americans in the prestigious 10-day race. After Wednesday's stage, Armstrong moved into fourth place, 1:15 behind her teammate, race leader Regina Bruins. Neben, who led the race earlier in the week, is now in sixth, 1:25 behind Bruins.

Taylor Phinney (Trek-Livestrong) won the 4.2km prologue of the Fleche du Sud stage race in Luxembourg on Wednesday.

The world’s best cross-country mountain bike racers will break out the hardtails this weekend for the fourth round of the UCI World Cup, held Sunday in Madrid, Spain. The dusty course spins an eight-kilometer circuit through an urban park in the Spanish capital, and includes plenty of fast hardpack and flat pedaling sections. Speeds on the track are high — the Madrid course lacks serious technical obstacles, but includes a plethora of punchy climbs, loose corners and gravel.

German cross-country racer Wolfram Kurchat caught and dropped Olympic champ Julien Absalon on the seventh and final lap to win the May 17 Bike the Rock cross-country race in Heubach, Germany. The event was the third round of the 2009 MTB-Bundesliga International, Germany’s national cross-country racing series.

Dear Readers, While doing Live Updates during the Giro d’Italia this past week, I am pleased to see that our new update tool offers readers the chance to chime in with questions during our coverage. We do get to read all of them and I often try to include some of them during our coverage. Unfortunately, I can’t answer all of them personally. But there are some pretty interesting questions posed and I thought I’d use this week’s column to answer some of the more common questions I’ve received over the last few days.

When there’s a race against the clock, Fabian Cancellara is usually the man to beat. But the reigning Olympic time trial champion just laughed when asked by VeloNews if he was a favorite for Thursday’s climb-heavy race against the clock along the Cinque Terre coast. “No, it’s a crazy course. I won the Olympics, but what we have on the map tomorrow is crazy,” the Saxo Bank rider said. “This is more like a cyclo-tourist event. It’s pretty from Sestri Levante to Cinque Terre, it’s nice for the show, but I think a time trial of 1 hour, 40 minutes is a bit crazy.”

Is Lance Armstrong boycotting the assembled media at the Giro d’Italia? Astana team officials say that’s not the case, but the seven-time Tour de France champion is playing hard-to-get for journalists covering the centenary edition of the corsa rosa. “It’s not a boycott, but he’s not happy with what the Italians wrote about him: that he was the instigator of the protest on Sunday,” Astana team spokesman Philippe Maertens told VeloNews. “From now on, Lance said he wants to focus on the race and help Levi to try to win the Giro.”

Steve Larsen, probably the only professional who competed and won major races as a mountain biker, road biker and triathlete, died Tuesday evening after collapsing during a running workout. Larsen was 39 and he and his wife Carrie Larsen have five children. "He was doing a track workout and he collapsed. They did CPR immediately and an ambulance arrived quickly, but they weren't able to save him," his friend Michael Nyberg told VeloNews Another friend of the family confirmed Larsen's death, saying that an autopsy is pending, but that he apparently suffered a heart attack.

Mark Cavendish (Columbia-High Road) couldn’t help himself when the 11th stage of the Giro d’Italia hit the coast road that leads down the Italian Riviera and toward the finish line of greatest glory of his young, but prolific career at Milan-San Remo. The pack hit the Via Aurelia after a revived Lance Armstrong led the peloton down the Passo di Turchino at full speed ahead toward Arenzano.

Team Astana lost a key support rider in the Giro d'Italia Wednesday when Chris Horner dropped out due to injuries from a crash early on Tuesday's stage. Meanwhile, team leader Levi Leipheimer took a fall mid-way through Wednesday's stage but quickly remounted and continued, telling team officials he was not seriously hurt. And American Christian Vande Velde, who left the Giro after a crash on stage 3, has learned he suffered more bone fractures than originally thought.

As we near the summit of the mountain the speed increases. The peloton passes the one-kilometer to go sign, riders suddenly burst out of their saddles to hold the wheel in front, no longer able to maintain the speed while seated. Over the race radio we are told the descent is dangerous and that we should race for the front of the peloton to avoid crashes and take fewer risks. Every director in the motorcade behind gives the same command, which lifts the pelotons’ speed and creates instantaneous nervousness in the group.

Check out CyclingTips's author page.

Check out CyclingTips's author page.

Ted King is making quite the impression with his Cervélo TestTeam in his grand tour debut. Cervélo sport director Jean-Paul Van Poppel said the team is pleased with how the 26-year-old from New Hampshire is holding up midway through the Giro d’Italia. “Ted is doing fine. He’s a good team worker and we’re really happy with him,” Van Poppel said. “He has a fantastic attitude. He’s a well-mannered American boy. He’s pretty quiet, but you can tell he pays attention and he’s learning. There’s no better education for a young rider like him than a stage race.”

Regina Bruins (Cervelo TestTeam), a 22-year-old Dutch rider, took the lead of the Tour de l'Aude Tuesday, after finishing fourth in a four-woman breakaway that came in more than two minutes ahead of the overnight race leader, American Amber Neben. The stage was won by multi-discipline world champion Marianne Vos, also from the Netherlands. Britain's Nicole Cooke was second and Germany's Claudio Hausler (Cervelo) was third.

On Thursday, July 16, 2009, Bahati Racing and Cannondale will host its first Ultimate Pro-Tour Cycling Experience camp. This four-day training camp led by the 2008 National Criterium Pro Cyclist, Rahsaan Bahati, provides professional riding instruction, as well as guidance for strength training, racing tactics and skills, sports nutrition, recovery, and time and energy management.