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Het Volk opens classics season, Giro di Sardegna re-born
With so much racing going on in Europe at any one time, we start this new weekly feature previewing the upcoming racing action to help fans – and us – keep track of who’s going where. There’s the ProTour, the Historic calendar and the European Tour, not to mention women’s and amateur racing. For this space, we’ll keep our eye on "D," all of the above, minus the U23/amateur scene. It’s still late February, but there are plenty of races to keep things interesting. Het Volk – oops, we mean the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad – opens the classics season in Belgium.
A look at the stage 8 power readings of OUCH’s Rory Sutherland, who finished fourth.
Rory Sutherland, as usual, closed out the Tour of California with a top result. Just like in the 2008 edition, Rory finished the final stage a wheel length behind George Hincapie. But this time instead of coming for the win, George and Rory were sprinting for third place just 40 seconds behind the winning duo of Frank Schleck and Vincenzo Nibali.
2009 ATOC stage 8, Live Coverage archive
- 11:52 AM: Good day and welcome
to VeloNews.com's Live Coverage of the eighth and final stage of the 2009 Amgen Tour of California, a challenging 96.8-mile race from Ranch Bernardo to Escondido, punctuated by the hors- categorie climb up Palomar Mountain.
Many riders are saying that the most decisive climb, however, may come on the Category 4 Cole Grade.
Looking over at the GC and one can only conclude that this race is far from decided.
Levi’s hat trick, Schleck’s stage as Amgen Tour ends
To win his third consecutive Amgen Tour of California, Levi Leipheimer needed every bit of help he received from his seven Astana teammates. That was emphasized on Sunday when 10 riders broke clear on the upper reaches of Palomar Mountain, and Leipheimer was the only Astana man who could follow the attacks. “But even though he was alone on Palomar,” said Astana team manager Johan Bruyneel, “I could see Levi was comfortable.”
Mavic’s new R-SYS carbon spoke technology
Mavic France placed a voluntary recall on all of its front R-SYS wheels this winter and a domestic recall followed suit two weeks later. The reason for the domestic delay was the CPSC’s approval of Mavic USA’s action plan for the recall. That plan was considered voluntary, but Mavic used verbiage and took action that made is seem more serious. Mavic stated consumers should “immediately cease use” and took the added measure of shipping R-SYS owners its Aksium model, which relies on steel spokes, until the situation can be rectified.
Alberto Contador wins Portugal’s Volta au Algarve stage race on the strength of his stage 4 time trial.
Astana's Alberto Contador started his season out with a victory by winning Portugal's Volta ao Algarve stage race on Sunday. Contador finished in the pack — in 96th place — on the 166km stage from Vila do Obispo to Portimao. Contador finished in the same time as stage winner Henrich Haussler (Cervelo TestTeam). Contador had taken the overall lead on the strength of his second place in the stage 3 mountain top finish and then his commanding win in stage 4's 34km time trial.
A Day Off The Bike
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On Tap at AToC: Stage 8 – Palomar
Ever since the Amgen Tour of California organizer Medalist Sports began mapping out the 2009 course about a year ago, rumors started circulating about their plan to include a climb up 5,123-foot Palomar Mountain near San Diego. The rumors about its inclusion turned to speculation about its effect when the plan was confirmed: the peloton would indeed tackle the 13-mile-long climb midway though stage 8’s 97-mile course between Rancho Bernardo and Escondido.
Spanish Conquest – BH bicycles take the stage in California
Ag2r-La Mondiale’s Rinaldo Nocentini scored a tough win in stage 7 of the Amgen Tour of California aboard BH’s G4 Global Concept team bike on Saturday. While we don’t have the winner’s bike to profile, we did catch up with the team earlier in the week and managed to grab some shots and details about the team’s bikes, produced by Spain's Fabricante de bicicletas de Álava.
Fast and furious – Gustav Larsson’s power profile for Stage 7 of the Amgen Tour of California
Gustav Larsson survived another fast-paced stage and finished safely ensconced in the peloton, which finished about two minutes behind the day’s winning break. Saxo Bank was represented in the break by Frank Schleck who put in a very strong attack with two laps to go on the Rose Bowl circuit in Pasadena, but came up short, taking eighth place. The action among the leading group of ten was similar to a Belgian kermesse: one attack after another.
Landis meets the press … briefly
Nine days after missing an Amgen Tour of California pre-race press conference due to a training crash, OUCH-Maxxis rider Floyd Landis met with a packed pressroom inside the Rose Bowl on Saturday. After comments by stage winner Rinaldo Nocentini and the day’s most courageous rider Christian Vande Velde, Landis filed into the cavernous pressroom. His appearance represented the first real chance most journalists in the room had to speak with the former AToC winner, since access to him before and after each stage this week has been very limited.