Lance Armstrong never rode la corsa rosa during his professional career, but he confirmed Monday he will race the 2009 Giro d’Italia as part of his comeback season. Armstrong, 37, announced in a video posted on the webpage of the Italian sports daily, La Gazzetta dello Sport, he will be at the start of the centenary celebration of the Italian grand tour beginning May 9.
Shadd Smith took another win in the De Stad Series as he won the Elite Men's race in Sunday's Chris Cross Cyclocross race and extended his points lead in the series.[nid:84346] Smith's teammate Joseph Schmalz put in a great ride for second place with Thomas Price and Brian Jenson taking third and fourth. Jeff Winkler continues to improve in 'cross and came back from a first lap crash to take the final podium spot.
Atypical cyclocross weather once again was around for the Chicago Cyclocross Cup #3 that had enthusiasts travel to Hawthorn Woods, a Chicago suburb. Sun and temperatures in the high 70s greeted the racers in this installment.
Second place overall at the 2008 Tour de France with Cadel Evans was good enough for Silence-Lotto brass, who still believe their Aussie pupil has the goods to win cycling’s biggest race. Evans was the pre-race favorite, but his hopes were upended when he crashed in the Pyrénées and then undone by Carlos Sastre’s attack on Alpe d’Huez in the final week. Silence-Lotto sport director Hendrick Redant said the Belgian team was content with Evans’ second Tour podium and believe a reloaded Silence-Lotto team will bode good things for 2009.
Kona's Ryan Trebon and Velo Bella-Kona's Amy Dombroski took over the lead of the North American Cyclocross Trophy Series after their dominant weekend at the Erdinger Gran Prix of Gloucester race in Massachusetts. Trebon and Dombroski each won their respective races both days. Dombroski also holds the lead in the Verge New England Cyclo-cross series, which also awarded points at Gloucester. Jamey Driscoll (Cyclocrossworld.com-Cannondale), who was fourth and third at Gloucester, holds the men's lead in the Verge series. North American Cyclocross Trophy series standings, men:
Belgian one-day specialist Philippe Gilbert handed his Francaise des Jeux team the ideal farewell gift by winning the Paris-Tours one-day classic on Sunday. Gilbert's first victory in the 102nd edition of the race, held over 252km, comes only weeks before he ends his five-year stay with the French outfit by moving to Silence-Lotto. The Belgian had been among a four-strong group of frontrunners that was being hunted down by the peloton inside the closing kilometer. However the four worked together to keep the pack at bay.
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It shook out a bit differently, but the second day of the Erdinger Gran Prix of Gloucester ended up with the same men and women atop the podium: Kona's Ryan Trebon and Velo Bella-Kona's Amy Dombroski. Trebon and national champ Tim Johnson (Cyclocrossworld.com-Cannondale) separated themselves from the field on the first lap and dueled for most of the one hour race on another Indian Summer day on the Massachusetts coast. Just like Saturday, however, Trebon ramped up the pace in the last two laps and Johnson was simply unable to keep up.
In the country’s only three-day weekend of UCI cyclocross, Katie Compton (Spike Professional/Primus Mootry) and Jeremy Powers (Cyclocrossworld.com) completed their respective hat-tricks in the Cincinnati International Cyclocross Festival, winning the BioWheels/United Dairy Farmers Harbin Park International on Sunday.
With his LPR Brakes team barred from racing at Paris-Tours, Alessandro Petacchi couldn’t defend his title from last year’s “sprinter’s classic.” Petacchi won on Sunday anyway, sprinting to victory in the 12th GP Beghelli in Italy ahead of Mihail Khalilov (Flaminia), with Giuseppe Palumbo (Acqua e Sapone) coming across third. LPR Brakes was excluded from Paris-Tours because the team didn’t meet requirements for the UCI’s biological passport program, meaning Petacchi – who won the French classic last year with Milram – wouldn’t be able to defend his title.
The final moments of the 2008 Vuelta Chihuahua were a virtual to-do list for Spaniard Javier Benitez. Fix collar: check. Straighten jersey: done. Blow kisses to crowd: got it. Toss arms in the air and win stage: mission accomplished for the third time in seven days.
Members of Tecos catch up on the news, which included the shooting of 11 people two days earlier in Chihuahua. Mexico’s largest state has been engulfed in the country’s bloody drug war.