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Tom Boonen (Quick Step) returned to the spotlight for the right reasons Friday after blazing to victory in the 170km fourth stage at the Ster Elektrotoer in Holland. The Belgian classics star made headlines earlier this month after he tested positive for cocaine in an out-of-competition test that forced him out of next month’s Tour de France, but he decided to keep racing rather than retreat from increasing media pressure.

CSC's world time trial champion, Fabian Cancellara, won the seventh stage of the Tour de Suisse on Friday with a trademark solo attack in the final kilometers. Just like Cancellara's win at this year's Milan-San Remo and last July's stage 3 of the Tour de France, Cancellara attacked as the top sprinters were gearing up for a field sprint, and held them off for a narrow victory in a daring display of raw power.

One of the strongest pro fields in recent history competed at the 48th Father’s Day cycling classic in the Sierra foothills town of Nevada City, California on June 15th. As thousands of spectators lined the streets of this historic and bicycle-crazed town, it became clear with 10 laps to go in the men's race that the 48th winner of the Nevada City Bicycle Classic was likely to be one of the two riders who had built a 30-second gap from the pack.

I've been tossing around the idea of trying to "move" to Italy one of these days. I was really only half serious. But now, as I sit here writing this from our balcony overlooking the Torrente (river) Nocem, about to go eat delicious pizza once again, I'm getting a bit more serious. It's real nice here.

Less than five years since he last took the line as an elite bike racer, Marc Gullickson faces a new cycling challenge. As USA Cycling’s newly hired mountain-bike coordinator, “Gully” is charged with helping select the United States’ four-person cross-country team for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

The world’s best mountain bike riders are heading to Greg Minnaar’s backyard for 2009. The UCI World Cup will host its opening round of 2009 in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, hometown of Minnaar, the 2003 world downhill champ. It’s the first time since 1998 that South Africa has hosted a World Cup round. The April 11-12, 2009, Pietermaritzburg World Cup features the big three of mountain bike racing — cross-country, downhill and four cross.

The Canadian Cycling Association nominated its road racing team for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing this August. Leading the men’s side the selections are Ryder Hesjedal of Victoria who has posted several top-10 international results this season, veteran Michael Barry of Toronto a integral member of the successful High Road pro team and Svein Tuft of Langley, B.C. the America Tour champion last year, who is coming off a quadruple-gold medal performance at the Pan Am Championships.

Suggested retail: $8.95 for a tube of ten tablets. Web site: www.drinkzym.com BE Innovations has added 100mg of caffeine and B12 vitamins to its ZYM electrolyte tablets, which are intended to be carried along on a ride and dropped into 16-20 ounces of fresh water to create an electrolyte drink. The new ZYM Catapult tablets add the Guarana caffeine and the B12 to the ZYM Endurance tabs, which remain available for those who prefer no caffeine.

Retail price: $1.25 per wipe Web site: www.kongconcepts.com Grease Monkey Wipes are individually packaged degreasing towels that clean without water, perfect for cleaning up after a mid-ride repair. The wipes are non-toxic. Each package contains a 8-by-7 inch towel that can clean off grease, oil, road tar, permanent marker and adhesives. The wipes use a citrus-based formula enhanced with lanolin, vitamin E, and aloe vera.

Editor's Note: In an article published June 13th, VeloNews.com incorrectly reported that George Hincapie automatically qualified for the U.S. Olympic team by taking second in the time trial at the 2007 Tour of Benelux. Hincapie did not compete in the 2007 Tour of Benelux, and has not met any automatic nomination criteria under USA Cycling's Olympic selection procedures. we regret the error and apologize for any confusion. The article has been corrected and is re-published below.

The winner of Saturday’s downhill world championship race might not even have to turn one pedal stroke to victory. That’s because the root-covered, rock strewn course in Val di Sole, Italy, boasts such a constantly steep grade that riders will focus more on controlling their speed than propelling their rigs.

The final podium of the 2008 world junior cross-country championship looked eerily similar to that from ’08 cyclocross worlds, held in January in Treviso, Italy. Only this time it was Slovakia’s Peter Sagan on the top rung, with Frenchman Arnaud Jouffroy in second — a flip-flop from the teenagers' positions on the ’cross worlds podium. Reigning world mountain-bike junior champ Matthias Rupp, third back at ’cross words, was third again at the mountain bike worlds.

Barloworld is hoping this year’s Tour de France is as good as last year’s. In 2007, the wild-card team was one of the Tour’s biggest surprises, winning a sprint stage with Robbie Hunter and a mountain stage and the King of the Mountains jersey with breakout Colombian Mauricio Soler. For this year, the team is heading into its second Tour with quiet ambitions that things will be just as good.