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Nothing fancy, just effective. “All the vibration from the cobbles has to go somewhere,” Boonen said. “It’s better to have wheels and tires absorb the blows than higher in the bike. Do you remember what happened to Hincapie?” (George Hincapie’s steerer tube cracked at Paris-Roubaix.)

Liquigas mechanics said the Record rear brakes will be re-installed after Paris-Roubaix.

Flanders Tech: Liquigas mechanics replaced the team’s Campagnolo rear brakes with these Cannondale-branded models, which they said made for easier wheel changes while racing because of the quick release. (Campagnolo's quick releases are at the shifter lever on the handlebar.)

Instead of anchoring a bolt in the steerer tube for compressing the stem and headset, Time’s system uses a constricting headset upper.

Want to get a sneak peek at the latest and greatest in cycling gear? Here’s your chance — Interbike is adding two consumer days to its OutDoor Demo East show this fall. The show is scheduled for October 8-11 at Roger Williams Park in Providence, Rhode Island. The first two days are for the cycling industry only, but Saturday and Sunday will be open to the public.

Thomas Voeckler (Bouygues Telecom) will mount a defense of his title at this week's 57th Circuit de la Sarthe, which begins Tuesday in France. The French rider broke his clavicle on March 13 in the sixth stage of Paris-Nice and wasn’t expected to race, but the former Tour de France yellow jersey-holder will be back in competition less than four weeks after his crash. Voeckler, a winner this year at Haut Var and Etoile de Bèsseges, has also confirmed he will start the Giro d’Italia next month.

Luís León Sánchez continues on his spring rampage, winning the opening stage and donning the leader’s jersey of the Vuelta al País Vasco in Spain. But it almost didn’t happen. The 25-year-old Caisse d’Epargne rider was gapped on a fierce second-category climb with 8km remaining in the 142.5km opening stage and only regained contact with 3km to go.

Long Beach, CA – With no races on the national calendar this week, several riders from the OUCH Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis took to the streets for local races on both coasts. The result was two race wins and one overall omnium title, courtesy of John Murphy and Bobby Lea. On Saturday, Murphy followed up his Redlands Criterium win from the week before by winning a convincing sprint from a nine-rider break in the inaugural Long Beach Bicycle Festival.

Alberto Contador (Astana) confirmed he will not race any of the upcoming Ardennes classics. Contador was mulling a start in such races as Flèche Wallonne or Liège-Bastogne-Liège, but he’s left them for later rather to risk injury or illness that might setback his preparation for the Tour de France. “Basque Country will be the last race of this first block and when I finish the race, I am going to take a small vacation to disconnect. I will turn off the mobile phone and later focus on preparing for the Tour,” Contador said.

Allan Davis (Quick Step) continued his grip on the UCI world rankings following Sunday’s Tour of Flanders. Flanders, the fifth event in the newly combined ProTour-historic calendar points system, saw some movement in the ranking system. Heinrich Haussler (Cervélo TestTeam), second at Milan-San Remo, bounced from sixth to second in the rankings following his second place at Flanders. Davis leads with 182 points and Haussler slotting into second with 167. Luis León Sánchez (Caisse d’Epargne), winner of Paris-Nice, slipped from second to third, with 111 points.

Cervelo's Ted King outsprinted OUCH-Maxxis' Tim Johnson Sunday at New England's traditional road season opener, the Michael Schott Memorial Circuit Race, on Marblehead Neck in Massachusetts. The Pro/1-3 race featured a few nationally known pros with New England connections, including King, Johnson, Adam Myerson, Mark and Frank McCormack and young cyclocross star Nick Keough.

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VeloNews reader Anne-Marie Parramore sent us a remarkable series of photos taken as the peloton comes off the Koppenberg in Sunday's Tour of Flanders.

French rider Maxime Bouet (Agritubel) snagged a third-place time bonus in the final stage to claim overall victory at the 27th Volta ao Alentejo in Portugal on Sunday. Candido Barbosa (Palmeiras Resort) shot to his third victory of the week in the 169km stage from Vendas Novas to Evora, with Cesar Quiterio (CC Loulé) coming across second. Bouet slipped into third and the finish-line bonus bounced him from second to victory in the five-day stage race.

Luca Paolini (Acqua e Sapone) sprinted to his first victory of the 2009 season in Sunday’s sixth and final stage at the 39th Settimana Lombarda. Paolini out-kicked last year’s Italian champion Giovanni Visconti (ISD) and Miguel Angel Rubiano (CZP) in a photo finish out of a four-up sprint to claim the win in the 153km stage from Montello to Bergamo and conclude the week of racing across northern Italy.

Ina Teutenberg (Columbia-Highroad) sprinted to victory in the sixth women's Tour of Flanders, held over the cobblestones in the heart of Flanders from Oudenaarde to Ninove. Coming across the line second in the second round of the women’s World Cup series was Kirsten Wild (Cervélo TestTeam) with Emma Johansson (Red Sun) rounding out the podium in third.

When Stijn Devolder was asked Sunday what was different about his second Tour of Flanders victory in two years, he was close to tears. “A friend of mine died at the Tour of Qatar in February, and I promised to remember him the first time I won a race this year,” Devolder said. He was talking about Frederiek Nolf, the Topsport Vlaanderen team rider who died in his sleep one week short of his 22nd birthday.

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Tom Boonen’s race resume runs deep, having won races and stages around the world. Perhaps best known in the United States for his Tour de France stage wins and two victories at Paris-Roubaix, the Quick Step rider’s favorite race lies in his native Belgium, with the Tour of Flanders.

Frank Vandenbroucke – once one of cycling’s top stars who tumbled into a spiral of drug abuse and an apparent suicide attempt – is back in the winner’s circle. The 34-year-old Vandenbroucke won Saturday’s 15km time trial and grabbed the overall leader’s jersey at La Boucle de l’Artois, a second-division French race. Not counting a 2005 kermesse, Vandenbroucke hasn’t won a race in a decade since he won eight races in 1999, including Het Volk, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, two stages at the Vuelta a España and second in the Tour of Flanders.

Domenico Pozzovivo (CSF-Navigare) picked a good time to win his first race as a professional, winning Saturday’s decisive climbing stage at the Settimana Lombarda in northern Italy. The 26-year-old attacked out of a lead, seven-man group and held off veteran Davide Rebellin (Diquigiovanni) to win by two seconds in the 159km queen stage starting and finishing in Flero. Italian Daniele Pietopolli (LPR) finished third at two seconds back as part of a group of six chasers that also included Rebellin to grab the leader’s jersey with just one stage remaining.

David de la Fuente earned his Fuji-Servetto team an important victory in Saturday’s GP Miguel Indurain to open “Basque Week” in Spain. De la Fuente – the most aggressive rider in the 2006 Tour de France – marked a late-race surge by Alexander Kolobnov (Saxo Bank) and two-time winner Fabian Wegmann (Milram) a mountainous course through the hills around Estella. The 191.4km course featured no less than 11 rated climbs, but wasn’t decided until the final kilometer up a short steep climb to the line.