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Lance Armstrong powered to victory at this weekend’s Tour de Gruene, winning both the individual and team time trials in convincing fashion. Armstrong’s participation was a welcome surprise to co-promoters Will Rotzler and Tom Sickmann, who learned of the Tour de France winner’s plans just days before the event. Sickmann attributed record participation levels for the tour to the “Lance factor,” adding that, “people don’t look at him like a rock star, or celebrity, they see someone who has transcended sport with his story. They see inspiration; they see hope.”

The second day of UCI cyclocross racing in Boulder, Colorado, saw repeat scenarios develop as on Sunday, with an identical result in the women’s race and a new winner from the same podium finishers from Saturday’s men’s race. In men’s racing, a lead group quickly formed containing Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com teammates Tim Johnson and Jeremy Powers, Ryan Trebon (Kona) and Saturday’s winner Todd Wells (GT).

On a warm day under clear skies, Melanie Swartz and Ryan Dewald stormed to victory at the Wayne Scott Xross in Fair Hill Maryland on Saturday. The long and relatively flat course through the Cecil County Fairgrounds was fast and technical with few opportunities to recover. In the Elite Men’s race, Greg Wittwer (ALAN North America) took a lead on the first lap and made the rest of the field ? and himself ? suffer. “I was going real hard,” he said after the race. “I saw from the earlier races that the races were staying together in the front and I wanted to spread it out.”

Cyclocrossworld.com-Cannondale's Jamey Driscoll and Stevens Cycles' Natasha Elliott won in Northampton, Massachusetts on Saturday, at the Cycle-Smart Invitational race. Driscoll's win ahead of Specialized's Andy Jacques-Maynes solidified his lead in the Verge New England series. Check back soon for photos and a complete report.

It was no day at the beach for the hundreds of professional and amateur ’crossers who competed in the opening round of the Boulder Cup, held Saturday on a sand-laden course at the Boulder Reservoir in Colorado. Todd Wells (GT) and Georgia Gould (Luna) took wins in the elite races, which stood as the fifth of eight round of the North American Cyclocross Trophy (NACT).

Riders from Britain's successful Beijing Olympic team was out in front again as the hosts won all six golds up for grabs in Manchester Saturday on the second day of the opening leg of the World Cup. Ed Clancy and Geraint Thomas, half of Britain's gold medal-winning and record-breaking team pursuit quartet in Beijing, joined up with Rob Hayles and Steven Burke to enjoy a triumph on their home track. Bradley Wiggins, a member of the team that stood atop the podium in China, opted out in preference for Sunday's Madison while Paul Manning has retired.

Great Britain's track cyclists scored gold in five World Cup events at the Manchester Velodrome on Friday night in their first action since the team’s domination of events at the Beijing Olympics. Performance director Dave Brailsford said it was time to concentrate less on Britain's exploits in China, where the team won seven of 10 events in the velodrome, and to look towards the London Olympics in 2012. And his team was in a confident mood as a mixture of familiar faces and new names took top step on the podium as the Manchester leg of the World Cup series kicked off.

The Giro d’Italia will have some pretty spectacular digs for its 100th anniversary bash. Giro officials announced that the centennary edition of the rosa corsa will begin May 9 in Venice. The Giro will return to city of canals for the first time in 12 years. With Lance Armstrong leading an all-star cast that also will likely include 2008 Tour de France winner Carlos Sastre and Damiano Cunego, the Giro couldn’t ask for a better send off to celebrate a century of history.

Britain's track team may have dominated the boards of the Olympic velodrome in China, but for the man who helped orchestrate those remarkable achievements it's back to business. Dave Brailsford, the Performance Director of British track cycling, returned from Beijing a happy man after seeing his riders claim seven of the 10 gold medals on offer at the Laoshan velodrome in August. But he won't let his squad of deserved medal winners rest on their laurels.

USA Cycling is launching a revamped track program intended to get young trackies more international experience early in their careers. In recent years, USAC has sent national teams to four track World Cups each season. Under the new program, the team will send some riders to all the UCI Track Calendar events, as appropriate, including European Grand Prix races and 6-day races. USA Cycling also will launch several domestic track training camps.

Australia’s Naomi Hansen, the woman who for the past ten days has managed a smile, even in her darkest moments, was handed the ultimate accolade by her fellow Crocodile Trophy combatants Friday when the race reached its final destination of Cape Tribulation in Tropical North Queensland. As the peloton rolled onto the beautiful beach, fringed with World Heritage-listed Rainforest, race winner Ondrej Fojtik (VIG+ Racing) steered his bike to one-side, making way for the Coopers Shimano Dream Team cyclist, who crossed the finish line in first place to claim the stage winner’s boomerang.

New England cyclocrossers are headed to Northampton, Massachusetts, this weekend for the Cycle-Smart International, the oldest UCI cyclocross race in the U.S. This year's event is a two-day affair for the first time since 1996 and race director (and pro racer) Adam Myerson said the course will be significantly different each day.

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The nation’s top cyclocross racers will descend upon Boulder, Colorado, this weekend for a pair of UCI events held under expected warm, sunny skies. Saturday’s event, a UCI C2, will be held along the sandy shores of the Boulder Reservoir, while Sunday’s Boulder Cup, a UCI C1, will be held on the grass at Harlow Platts Park. Both events are part of the North American Cyclocross Trophy series, which culminates November 23 at Whitmore’s Landscaping Super Cross Cup in Southampton, New York.

The quaint town of Gruene (pronounced 'green'), Texas, will host Lance Armstrong for the 25th anniversary of the Tour de Gruene. The silver anniversary event will not be the first time Armstrong has participated: he also jumped into the event's team time trial in 1996, teaming with Eddy Merckx just weeks after Armstrong was diagnosed with testicular cancer.

The Kona Bike Park Program is growing. Fast. For 2009, the Kona Bicycle Company will establish an additional five new bike parks throughout Europe and North America adding to its current 21 parks. As always, Kona’s stance on providing increased benefits to all of these resorts and their users is at the forefront of establishing these new parks. Early this year, Kona partnered with WWF, the world conservation organization to create an important initiative: Environmental Bike Park Guidelines.

The North American Handmade Bicycle Show (NAHBS) today announces the launch of its “Original Six” 2009 promotional campaign, highlighting a select group of frame builders that has exhibited every year since the show began five years ago. The Original Six builders exhibited at the first NAHBS in Houston, Texas in 2005. They will return as the show celebrates its fifth year, February 27 – March 1, 2009 at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis.

Sizes: 48 to 62 cm. Colors: Steel: Cobalt Blue, Onyx or Competition Red (shown) with Serotta solid white decals. Titanium: matte finish with solid white Serotta decals. Retail price: Framesets: $1,795 steel, $2,295 titanium. Complete bikes start at under $3,000. Web site: www.serotta.com/heritage The Serotta Classique is part of the bike company's three-model Heritage Collection, which includes a cyclocross, fixed gear and road frames (and complete bikes) in either steel or titanium.

The wheel in front of me twitches and pulses with enormous energy as it tries desperately to pull away from my gasping breaths. My legs ache, the pain beginning deep, unbelievably deep, slowly creeping up through the layers of my consciousness, finally reaching the threshold where my struggle to ignore it is overcome and it comes gushing out in great spasms.

Top German cyclist Linus Gerdemann, known for his staunch anti-doping stance, has criticized the return of Lance Armstrong to professional cycling, citing the doping suspicions — all of them unproven — that have dogged the seven-time Tour de France winner. "This is not positive for the credibility of cycling," said Gerdemann, winner of the Tour of Germany. "But there's nothing anyone can do about it."

I had just arrived in New York to visit Diana and we were finishing up a beautiful ride. I remember asking Diana how much further because the hunger pains were beginning to set in. It was only going to be 10km but I was ready to eat. We were climbing up a road after getting horned from an oncoming driver not wanting to see any cyclists on the road. The last image I remember is turning up the road and riding behind Diana....BAM!