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Lithuanian Simona Krupeckaite won the women's 500 meter time trial in a record time of 33.296 at the world track cycling championships on Wednesday in Pruszkow, Poland Krupeckaite started second from last in the 23-strong field and powered over the two-lap event to beat the early pacesetter, Australian Anna Meares, into second place for the silver medal. In doing so Krupeckaite beat Meares' world record of 33.588, set at the 2007 world championships in Palma de Mallorca. Britain's reigning Olympic sprint champion, Victoria Pendleton, took the bronze medal in 34.102.

The Bulls team of Germany's Karl Platt and Stefan Sahm took over the lead of the Absa Cape Epic following stage 4, as the previously dominant songo.info team suffered a mechanical — and then were penalized for accepting assistance.

Dear Explainer,
An announcer on a Birmingham, Alabama, sports talk show on WJOX 94.5 called “The Roundtable” recently went off on an inexplicable rant on cyclists, which included support for the idea of cars running down cyclists simply for being on the road. "I wish people would hit them, just clip them and send them flying over their handlebars," he said. It’s pretty sick and irresponsible for a radio announcer to advocate killing or severely injuring another person for any reason at all.
Jerry
Birmingham, Alabama

Former Giro d'Italia winner Damiano Cunego (Lampre) won the second stage of the Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali–Trofeo UniCredit Banca on Wednesday. Cunego edged out Colombian Jose Serpa (Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni) in the 182.1km leg from San Lazzaro to Faenza, with third place going to Giovanni Visconti (ISD), the new overall leader. A group of nine riders broke clear on the Monte Trebbo before Cunego and Serpa separated themselves from the rest and the Italian easily took the sprint finish.

Quick Step clicked its classics program into gear Wednesday with victory by Kevin Van Impe in the 64th Dwars door Vlaanderen.   Van Impe, 27, out-kicked fellow escapee Nico Eeckhout (An Post), to claim the Belgian semi-classic.   The pair jumped with about 20km to go in the 200km semi-classic from Roeselare to Waregem that featured 12 climbs, including the Oude Kwaremount and several sections of cobbles, that served up as a nice appetizer for rougher things to come in the weeks ahead.  

Former Austrian ski coach Walter Mayer has been remanded in custody following his arrest on Sunday on suspicion of dealing in doping substances, a Vienna court announced Wednesday. Mayer, 52, who was involved in a doping scandal at the 2006 Turin Olympics, is suspected of obtaining and providing illegal doping substances, including the banned blood booster EPO. An Austrian cyclist, Christof Kerschbaum, 32, was also arrested as part of the investigation but released on Tuesday after being held in provisional detention for 11 days.

Ireland may have no velodrome, but that has not stopped one of its favorite sons from mixing it up with the men's individual pursuit contenders at the world track championships in Pruszkow, Poland. David O'Loughlin, a road rider with the An Post Sean Kelly team, already achieved a significant feat last year by qualifying for the Olympics, where he finished in 11th place behind Britain's Bradley Wiggins. Ireland has no velodrome, but that has not discouraged O'Loughlin, a three-time national road champion, from trying to excel in his favored track event.

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Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne) sprinted to his first victory of the 2009 season in Wednesday’s third stage at the Vuelta a Castilla y León. Levi Leipheimer (Astana) crossed safely with the pack in the second-category summit finish at the San Isidro ski area to retain the overall leader’s jersey he claimed after winning Tuesday’s individual time trial.