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Ryan Trebon (Kona) and Katerina Nash (Luna) took impressive solo victories at the opening day of the 2008 Crank Brothers U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross, at Champion’s Park in Louisville, Kentucky, on Saturday.

The Czech VIG+ Racing team made it five straight stage victories from five attempts Saturday as Ivan Rybarik scored his second stage win at the Crocodile Trophy of 2008. With the leaders in the general classification taking it easy during today’s 99 kilometer “out and back” stage from Chillagoe, VIG+ Racing showed its incredible depth at this year’s outback classic by stealing a stage victory with two of its domestiques.

THE UCI CYCLO- CROSS WORLD CUP ON CYCLING TV * October 26 2008; 12:20 - 13:30 (GMT) - Elite Women, Tabor * 13:50 - 15:30 (GMT) - Elite Men, Tabor * Live, 'as live', and highlights every day Worldwide (excluding USA) at up to 1800 kbps * Available in UCI or Gold packages DON'T MISS IT! Go to: www.cycling.tv/tabor The UCI Cyclo-Cross World Cup on Cycling TV

Myles Romanow, promoter of the Whitmore's Landscaping Super Cross Cup, rounds 8 and 9 of the MAC Powered by SRAM Cyclocross series, is proud to announce that one lucky entrant to his races in the Hamptons of Long Island will receive an otherwise unobtainable, made-to-measure Richard Sachs Cyclocross Team bicycle completely outfitted with SRAM Parts and Mavic Wheels.

The cross country competition kicked off the USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championships on Friday as nearly 200 collegians raced through the campus of Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk, North Carolina, for the second year in a row. The first day of competition set the stage for an old-fashioned shootout between host Lees-McRae College and last year's overall team winner Fort Lewis College in Division I, while riders from nearby Brevard College and Appalachian State earned the Division II men's and women's crowns respectively.

Shimano found that the spoke plugs shipped in lieu of rim strips with its Dura-Ace WH-7850-C24-CL wheels have a greater likelihood of producing a puncture due to the surface texture of the rim and the spoke holes coming in contact with the tube. Therefore, Shimano has issued a voluntary recall of the spoke hole plugs. The wheelset will not be recalled. The fix is to remove the spoke hole plugs and replace them with a 18mm high-pressure rim strip.

The Czech VIG+ Racing team continued its complete dominance Friday at the 2008 Crocodile Trophy with Martin Horak scoring his first stage win and fourth consecutive stage win for his team as the off-road classic reached the Australian outback town of Chillagoe. The victory will be remembered for all the right reasons, with Horak, in the most sporting of gestures, rendering assistance when his breakaway partner, Kristof Hertsens of Belgium (Team Lingier) crashed.

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Dimensions: 12x12 inches Retail Price: $13.95 Web site:www.velogear.com Also available: Inside Triathlon and IMBA calendars The 2009 VeloNews Road Racing calendar is now available at bike shops and online at VeloGear.com. The 12-by-12-inch full color calendar features images from road racing around the world. The 2009 Inside Triathlon and International Mountain Bicycling Association calendars also are now available from VeloGear.

I think it was about halfway through cyclocross race No. 2 last Saturday when cottonmouth turned to metal mouth. If you’ve raced, run or just ridden hard, you know what I’m talking about — that sickly taste that’s akin to chewing on aluminum foil or gargling pennies. It usually pops up around the same time your legs turn to jelly, your motivation evaporates and you feel like puking.

Tour de France stage winner Simon Gerrans will join up with this year's yellow jersey champion Carlos Sastre at the Cervélo team, it was announced on Friday. The Canadian outfit, which is due to join bike racing's elite in 2009, will not however be managed by Gerrans' fellow Australian, Scott Sunderland. After leaving the highly successful CSC team, which he helped to victories in Paris-Roubaix and the Tour de France, Sunderland was all set to take over at Cervélo.

It’s been an interesting end of season for American pro team Garmin-Chipotle and its team manager Jonathan Vaughters. The Garmin squad saw some impressive late-season performances by Dave Zabriskie, who finished third at the world time trial championship, and young riders Tyler Farrar and Steven Cozza.

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Lees-McRae College will once again host the USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championships, starting Friday in Banner Elk, North Carolina. The action begins Friday morning with the cross-country races held on a five-mile loop through the Appalachian Mountains. Both Division I and II men and women will compete over the varying, half-single track course, which is a permanent fixture on the Lees-McRae campus. Later that afternoon, gravity riders will attempt to qualify for the finals on the technical downhill course at Sugar Mountain Resort.

Kestrel is pleased to announce its partnership with Inviscid Design, Inc., creator of the SpeedfilTMHydration System. The partnership will provide consumers the opportunity to purchase custom Speedfil bottles to match the 2009 Kestrel Airfoil Pro SL Special Edition and Airfoil Pro SL. The partnership was first introduced at Interbike and officially launched at Ironman® World Championships; both events showed industry excitement for the unique hydration product. The custom Speedfil bottles will be sold exclusively at participating Kestrel dealers.

Mont Ventoux could play judge, jury and executioner in the 96th Tour de France in what some are already calling a climber’s course. For the 2009 Tour, officials saved the best and hardest for last, with the mighty Ventoux poised in the penultimate day of the 21-stage, 3445km route from Monaco to Paris. Tour officials, who unveiled the course to rave reviews in a ceremony in Paris on Wednesday, are hoping the race will be so tightly packed that almost anything could happen on the storied steeps of the géant de Provence.

Tomas Trunschka took a hard-fought stage win on Thursday — his second in three days — to keep the Czech team VIG+ Racing atop the leaderboard in the 2008 Crocodile Trophy. The Czechs attacked early in the 122km stage from the rainforest of Koombooloomba Dam to the outback cattle station at Gunnawarra Lagoon. Martin Horak got the ball rolling when the lead bunch entered the mountainous, technical powerline track, which has claimed many victims in this race. [nid:84540]

The Crank Brothers U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross celebrates its fifth anniversary this Saturday as the six-race series kicks off in Louisville, Kentucky. The October 24-25 Papa John’s Derby City Cup presented by Toyota will once again be held at Champions Park, a former private golf course just east of downtown Louisville. Both races boast UCI C2 status. In 2007, Louisville debuted as a stop on the USGP, a move that brought Kentucky’s its first UCI cyclocross race. The decision to expand into an untraditional cyclocross market irked many riders and fans.

Due to the start time of a live football game being rescheduled on Saturday, the first showing on October 25 has been moved to 2:00 p.m. MT on Saturday (not 5:30 p.m. MT, as originally announced). The race is being broadcast on Altitude Sports and Entertainment Network, available on cable systems in the western U.S. and on DirecTV and Dish Network in select areas nationwide.

Cervélo TestTeam is pleased to announce the signing of Simon Gerrans of Australia, Martin Reimer of Germany, Inigio Cuesta and Xavier Florencio of Spain as well as Gabriel Rasch of Norway.