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Heath Blackgrove took a surprise victory at the 30th running of the Athens Twilight Criterium Saturday in downtown Athens, Georgia. The Team Hotel San Jose rider was one of three survivors from a large breakaway late in the 80km race that refused to cooperate long enough to secure its survival to the finish. “It’s the biggest crit in America, and I’ve heard a lot of stories about it. So to win the first time doing it, with a crowd like this, is pretty special,” he said.

Garmin-Slipstream sprinter Tyler Farrar will return to racing next week after recovering from a shoulder injury that sidelined him during the spring classics. Farrar suffered an AC separation during a crash at Milan-San Remo and will race the Tour de Romandie (April 28-May 3) before a likely start at the Giro d’Italia next month. “The shoulder has healed up so I’m getting back in the game,” Farrar told VeloNews. “I’m currently down to ride the Giro, so Romandie is a way to get my legs going again before Italy.”

Ivan Basso is back in the winner’s circle for the first time since his comeback from a 16-month racing ban after claiming overall victory Saturday at the 33rd Giro del Trentino race in northern Italy. The Liquigas captain out-dueled overnight leader Janez Brajkovic (Astana) in the fourth and final stage for his first victory since he was banned for links to the Operación Puerto blood doping ring.

Big time criterium racing returns to the southeastern United States as it does every year at this time with two major events scheduled back to back in the Peach state of Georgia – Saturday’s Athens Twilight Criterium and the Historic Roswell Criterium the following day. The 30th running of the Athens Twilight Criterium will once again take place beneath the streetlights of one of the South’s biggest college towns. Because of its proximity to the University of Georgia, the crowds around the 1km course can on occasion reach the 40,000 mark.

Thus far, the 2009 Classics season has provided cycling fans plenty of drama and nail-biting finishes. Tom Boonen’s Paris-Roubaix winning escape on the Carrefour d l’Arbre cobbles, Sergei Ivanov’s cagey tactics in the final meters of the Amstel Gold Race and Davide Rebellin’s last-minute burst on the Mur de Huy stand out as key moments when the aggressor came out on top. Sunday’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège caps off the 2009 Classics season, and the question on everyone’s mind is whether tactics of attack will again prevail.

Luxembourger Frank Schleck has been cleared to start Sunday’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège after crashing hard at last week’s Amstel Gold Race. “I joined the boys for a ride down in Bastogne [today] and it’s the first day I have felt better,” Schleck said. “I have one more day to get better and I hope to make the best of it.”

The shit really hit the fan on lap number three. Some Euro with tree trunk legs and a wavy mullet charged to the front on his time trial bike and took a monster pull. Our group had swollen to more than 100 riders, and we were already chugging along at a descent clip. I knew right away that things were about to get crazy. The acceleration shredded the group just as we were barreling into a tight chicane. I focused ahead and prepared to navigate the tight s-turn. But I caught a glimpse of such a bizarre sight I had to look up. [nid:91150]

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German cycling team Telekom, later known as T-Mobile, was guilty of systematic doping between 1995 and 2006, Der Spiegel magazine claims in Monday's edition. The report, based on the conclusions of an independent inquiry, accuses former T-Mobile riders Andreas Klöden, who now rides for Astana, and Matthias Kessler, who was sacked by Astana in 2007, of using testosterone and doping products.

Price: $14 to $30 Sizes: 250 to 1000 milliliters Web site: www.cantitoeroad.com Caffelatex is a new kind of tire sealant that foams as a means to better coat the tire with sealant. The makers of Caffelatex believe their trademark "ActiFoam" causes the sealant to foam when ridden or shaken, thus completely filling the tire cavity with sealant. In turn, the foaming action should help to keep the tire beads sealed and assist in sidewall puncture prevention.

Price: $3,388 Colors: Blue, red, or white Web site: www.ridetommasini.com Tommasi introduces their new X-Fire road bike. The X-Fire uses double and triple butted Columbus XCR stainless steel to compliment its ride quality. The X-Fire is available in both stock and custom geometry. The stock geometry frames are also available in both classic and compact geometry. Tommasini recommends their carbon FKT56 fork to best suit the geometry of the X-Fire.

Katusha’s Laszlo Bodrogi is finally seeing some light at the end of the tunnel following a long and painful recovery from a broken femur suffered in last August’s Tour of Germany. The Hungarian time trial specialist, winner of the silver medal at the 2007 world time trial championships, said he hopes to return to competition at the Four Days of Dunkirk on May 5-10.

Frank Schleck, the victim of a nasty crash in the Amstel Gold Race, has been cleared to start Sunday’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Saxo Bank announced Thursday that the Luxembourg national champion will line up for Liège alongside his younger brother, Andy Schleck. The pair finished third and fourth last year, respectively. Schleck was a victim of a crash late in Amstel Gold Race on Sunday, prompting him to renounce Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday, where Andy Schleck finished second to Davide Rebellin (Diquigiovanni).

The French anti-doping agency (AFLD) said Friday it would not be taking disciplinary action against Astana’s Lance Armstrong for, what the agency had earlier alleged, violations of protocol during an out-of-competition test. Armstrong fell afoul of the French agency in March when he left an out-of-competition drug tester’s line of sight — a violation of World Anti-Doping Agency protocol — to take a post-training ride shower while his team manager confirmed the tester’s validity. Armstrong announced via his Twitter account, that he learned that he had been cleared.

It was the battle of the uphill sprint specialists in Friday’s third stage at the Giro del Trentino with South African Robbie Hunter (Barloworld) winning for the third time this season. Hunter had the most gas in the tank to fend off Stefano Garzelli (Acqua e Sapone) to win the 160km course with a rising finishing into Innervillgraten as the four-day race dipped into Austria. Danilo Di Luca crossed the line third despite efforts by his LPR team to dominate the stage.

Disgraced Italian cyclist Dario Frigo has been handed a three-month suspended jail term by a French appeals court following his arrest during the 2005 Tour de France in relation to a doping affair. At a first court hearing in Albertville, Frigo and his wife Susanna were both given a six-month suspended jail term, and fined a total of 8,757 euros after Susanna Frigo was discovered transporting doping products in her car. The couple appealed that decision and late Thursday the appeal court handed down suspended three-month jail terms to both Frigo and his wife.

The Giro d’Italia threw a lifeline to the Spanish team, Fuji-Servetto, by including the team in this year’s corsa rosa.

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Team Columbia’s Marco Pinotti reached the line in the front group in Wednesday’s Fleche Wallone classic, finishing 40th, 54 seconds behind the winner Davide Rebellin. More importantly however for Pinotti was the sixth-place finish of his teammate, Thomas Lövkvist, who crossed the line just six seconds behind Rebellin.

Team Jamis races Edge tubular mountain bike wheels at Sea Otter

2009 Columbia-Highroad

Instead of racing the Giro d’Italia, a bitter Daryl Impey is returning to his home in South Africa to recover from his horrific crash at the Tour of Turkey last weekend. Barloworld team officials said Impey — the first-year pro landed in the barriers Sunday after contact with track star Theo Bos (Rabobank) in a controversial finish-line crash that’s still creating aftershocks — will have to fly back to his native South Africa lying down in the plane. Two attendants will travel with the Tour of Turkey winner on his trip from London to South Africa.

In an exciting preview of what awaits next month in the Giro d’Italia, some of Italy’s big guns went mano-a-mano in Thursday’s summit finish at Alpi di Pampeago in the Giro del Trentino. Ivan Basso (Liquigas) walked away with neither the stage victory nor the race leader’s jersey, but he put everyone on notice that he could be the man to beat come next month.

Baseball has films such as “Field of Dreams” and “The Natural.” Football has “Rudy” and “Brian's Song.” Basketball has “Hoosiers” and … “White Men Can't Jump?” (okay, there are probably better examples than that last one.)

The Fuji-Servetto team, has been invited to race in next month's Giro d'Italia, the team announced this morning. The team also announced its long team for the event. The team will bring nine riders to the race, chosen from among: Juanjo Cobo, Fredrik Kessiakoff, Eros Capecchi, Ricardo Serrano, Jesus del Nero, Ermanno Capelli, Alberto Benitez, Iker Camano, Hector Gonzalez, Josep Jufre, Javier Megias and Angel Gomez. Other teams for this year's Giro: Organisers published the list of 22 teams for the Giro and Fuji, whose team director is Italian Alvaro Crespi, were included

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Cervélo sprinter Thor Hushovd will skip this year's Giro d'Italia to concentrate fully on his bid for stage wins and another run at the green jersey at the Tour de France in July. Hushovd, a former Tour stage winner and green points jersey recipient, had a solid spring classics season with two third places at Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix and a victory in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.

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Dutchwoman Marianne Vos (DSB Bank) attacked inside of 200 meters remaining on the Mur de Huy and never looked back, sprinting to her third-career victory at the La Flèche Wallonne Femenine, the fourth round of the 2009 UCI World Cup. Vos out-kicked World Cup leader Emma Johanson of Sweden for the win. American Amber Neben (Nürnberger) was the top North American finisher in fourth place.

Andreas Klöden (Astana) is back in the winner’s circle for the second time this season after taking a narrow, one-second victory over teammate Janez Brajkovic in Wednesday’s opening time trial at the Giro del Trentino. Astana went one-two on a mostly flat, but technically challenging 17.5km course near Lago di Garda in northern Italy to open the four-day Trentino tour. Klöden, winner of a time trial at Tirreno-Adriatico in March, covered the course in 18 minutes, 21 seconds (53.292kph) to secure the victory and snatch the overall leader’s jersey.