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Nick Nuyens proved he could ride as a classics contender with his second-place finish at Sunday’s Tour of Flanders. Nuyens, Cofidis’ newest strongman, bridged to a surging Juan Antonio Flecha in the final kilometers of Belgium’s most famous single-day race in an attempt to bring back Quick Step’s streaking Stijn Devolder. While Devolder took the win, Nuyens took the sprint for second, as well as his best-ever classics result.

The days prior to Paris-Roubaix are the traditional practice and reconnaissance days for the top teams, who ride key sections of the course while photographers, reporters and fans watch. On Friday VeloNews' Fred Dreier and John Wilcockson headed out to the Arenberg Forest to check out the scene, and Wilcockson, engaging in a little bit of participatory journalism, even found himself helping pound some stakes for crowd control barriers.

American cross-country mountain bike racer Adam Craig has his sights set on the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. That means for the next few months he will be battling it out on the World Cup and National Mountain Bike Series with his fellow Americans for a slot on the U.S. team. In between races, Craig skis, kayaks and is the rally car co-driver for his Giant teammate Carl Decker. VeloNews.com is along for the ride. —Editor

SportSouth has partnered with the Tour de Georgia presented by AT&T, a seven-stage U.S. professional cycling race, to televise a series of 30-minute daily recap shows during the 2008 Tour de Georgia, which runs from Monday, April 21 through Sunday, April 27. SportSouth’s coverage of the 2008 Tour de Georgia begins on Saturday, April 19 at 10:30 p.m. ET with a 30-minute race preview show featuring in-depth analysis of the course and cyclists. Please see below for the daily race recap show debut and re-air times.

Trips for Kids (TFK) proudly announces its attendance at this year's Sea Otter Marketplace Expo selling new and used donated merchandise from its Re-Cyclery Bike Thrift Shop. Its affordable bike parts, clothing, and accessories will be available at booth #138 on Friday, April 18 through Sunday, April 20 at the Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, Calif.

As a general rule, cycling is a game best played outdoors. There’s more room to roam, sights to see and places to go. But there are also exceptions to every rule, which is certainly the case in this case. Bad weather, short days and any number of other factors occasionally force even the most dedicated bike riders to stay indoors. You pull the trainer out from your closet, load up a Tour de France highlights DVD, and hammer away in the basement. It’s far from ideal but still better than running.

A list of the 28 cobblestoned sectors on this year's Paris-Roubaix one-day classic, which begins Sunday in Compiegne north of Paris and finishes in the Roubaix velodrome after 259.5km of racing. Race organisers ASO (Amaury Sports Organization) have ranked each sector on a scale of one to five, five being the most difficult. Only three sectors are ranked five — the Arenberg Forest at 163.5km, Mons-en-Pevele at 210.5km and the Carrefour de l'Arbre at 242km. In total, cobblestoned sectors make up 52.8 km of the race's total, 100 meters more than last year.

The U.S. Open of Cycling, whose inaugural event last year will be remembered for its epic snowy conditions and network television coverage, will not take place this year, the race's promoter said Friday. The event was run last year in Virginia. Promoters announced last month that they had moved it to a May date for 2008 and changed the venue to Providence, Rhode Island. But Richard Durishin of Red Five Sports Group said the late changes did not allow time to line up sponsors and other business partners.

Danish oufit CSC will be fired up to make amends for their debacle on the cobble of the snow-hit Flanders last week when they line up two former champions at Paris-Roubaix this Sunday. CSC goes into the 259.5km cobblestoned classic, known ominously as the 'Hell of the North,' as big favorites having won the past two years through Swiss Fabian Cancellara and Australian Stuart O'Grady. A rare hat-trick of wins is credible, and will be further boosted by their bid to banish the demons of last week's Tour of Flanders where they were decimated by crashes and punctures.

Is this the year? Is this the year that the stars will be aligned for George Hincapie on the cobblestones of Paris-Roubaix? Is this the year that the tall 34-year-old American can follow up his two sixth places, two fourth places and his runner-up spot (of 2005) with another big performance on Sunday? Is this the year he can win?

VeloNews spoke with Rabobank’s Juan Antonio Flecha just a little more that 24 hours after he helped deliver teammate Oscar Freire to his win at the 70th edition of Ghent-Wevelgem.

Noran Engineering, Inc. (NEi) today announced it will broadcast the 2nd part of a series of webinars that will focus on the use of finite element analysis (FEA) during the design cycle with its NEi Fusion FEA tool. This webinar will cover composites analysis in the design stage and focus on construction of finite element models with orthotropic materials, obtaining structural analysis solutions, and the subsequent post processing capabilities to pinpoint problem areas down to specific plies in a composite part. The webinar is scheduled for 11:00am U.S.

Coming back from a small bout of sickness, Ina-Yoko Teutenberg held off rival sprinters in today in the Netherlands to win Drentse 8 van Dwingeloo. Teutenberg finished off the work of the High Road Team who had chased hard to reel in a 3’40” break, coming around Nürngerber’s Regina Schleicher to take her first victory in Europe for the season and the 21st season victory for High Road Women.

Returning to this year's Tour of the Battenkill in Salem, NY on April 19 is Team R.A.C.E. Pro cycling team of Canada. Team R.A.C.E Pro returns with an expanded squad that includes one-day classic specialist and 5-time Canadian National Road Champion Mark Walters, as well as 2007 Univest Omnium Champion Ryan Roth. Both are aiming for Beijing Olympic berths in 2008. Team R.A.C.E. Pro is managed by Tour de France Stage Winner and Olympic Silver Medalist Steve Bauer and Josee Larocque of Cycle Sport Management, Inc.

Trek Travel, the luxury cycling tour operator, is offering a limited number of entries into the prestigious Etape du Tour cyclosportive, or mass participation bicycle ride, that traces the route of an entire stage of the Tour de France. This year the event, which expects nearly 9,000 participants, will take place on Sunday, July 6, and will cover Stage 10 of the 2008 Tour de France. It leaves from the town of Pau, climbs the infamous Col du Tourmalet, and finishes on the climb of Hautacam, site of one of Lance Armstrong’s greatest conquests.

In this four-part video tutorial, VeloNews Tech Editor Matt Pacocha walks us through the procedures involved in properly gluing tubular tires.

• Part 1: Tools, preparation & removing the old tire
• Part 2: Cleaning the rim & stretching the tire
• Part 3: Prepping the tire and applying the glue

HIGH ROAD POISED TO STRIKE HARD IN HELL OF THE NORTH Paris, France - 10 April 2008 - High Road is ready to strike hard in Paris-Roubaix this Sunday. “We’ve got riders like [Bernhard] Eisel, [Andreas] Klier, [Roger] Hammond and [George] Hincapie who are born to ride the cobblestones.” sports director Brian Holm said. “People seem to have forgotten but Servais Knaven is a former winner of Paris-Roubaix [in 2001]. Maybe he’s no longer in his prime as a bike rider, but he’s pretty close to it.”

Team High Road's Kim Kirchen won Thursday's fourth stage of the Pais Vasco in a sprint finish, while Astana's Alberto Contador retained the overall lead. It was Kirchen's second stage victory in this year's event, and left him in fifth place in the overall standings. Contador came in 20th with the same time as the stage winner to retain his overall lead, three seconds ahead of compatriot Ezequiel Mosquera. Kirchen covered the 171 kilometers between Viana and Vitoria-Gasteiz in four hours, 17 minutes and 33 seconds to edge his teammate Morris Possoni of Italy at the line.

The Credit Agricole team practices on the Arenberg Forest cobbles in Wallers, three days ahead of Paris-Roubaix.

MILRAM's Classics specialists with Ralf Grabsch start Sunday in Paris-Roubaix MILRAM's Classics specialists will take on the challenge of the "Hell of the North“ this coming Sunday, April 13. Led by Ralf Grabsch, the MILRAM Team will ride the 106th edition of the famous one-day Classic Paris-Roubaix. Directeur Sportif Antonio Bevilaqua will also look to Germans Christian Knees, Enrico Poitschke, Markus Eichler and Martin Müller, as well as Fabio Sabatini (Italy), Martin Velits (Slovakia) and Netherlands youngster Niki Terpstra.

Paris-Roubaix organisers might be feeling "reassured" after a favorable, midweek preview of the famed cobblestone sectors that will feature prominently on the race. However weather predictions for Sunday could make the world famous one-day classic, known ominously as the 'Hell of the North,' an even less inviting affair for some. The 2008 edition will be held over a total of 259.5 km, from Compiegne to the north of Paris to Roubaix just outside of Lille.[nid:74480]

You’re saying there’s a chance? Well, when there was, Mario was ready to turn some heads. Carbon Sports, the manufacturer of Lightweight wheels, was commissioned to build Rock Racing's Mario Cipollini something special for Milan-San Remo, but when Cipo and Rock Racing didn’t get an invite, then parted ways, this special wheelset became obsolete — to Cipollini anyway.

This week’s two-year suspension of Eddy Mazzoleni, third in last year’s Giro d’Italia, for links to the “Oil for Drugs” doping scandal raises the prospects that 2007 winner, Danilo Di Luca, could soon face the same fate. Di Luca is facing allegations leveled by officials from Italy’s Olympic Committee (CONI) that he underwent banned transfusions en route to his Giro victory. If Di Luca is banned, last year’s runner-up Andy Schleck (CSC) could be elevated to overall winner, something that the 22-year-old says he’s not relishing.

Bob,
Thank you for an outstanding article on the facts and media bias in the fatal Cupertino accident. I wanted to let you know that in the wake of the accident the San Francisco Chronicle ran a story in which they analyzed accident data, and reported that "Bicyclists were twice as likely as to be at fault."
D.C.,
Napa, California Dear D.C.,

Some start earlier than others

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Christian Vande Velde powered to victory in Wednesday’s time trial stage at the Circuit de la Sarthe to deliver Slipstream-Chipolte its first European victory of its breakout 2008 season. Vande Velde’s consistent performances all spring finally paid off with an impressive victory on the 8.3km course in Angers. He covered the course in 10 minutes, 10.58 seconds (53.948kph) and stopped the clock 10 seconds faster than his closest rival, Benoit Vaugrenard (FDJeux).

Making their mark both stateside and in South America last weekend, Kona Factory Team riders proudly stood atop the podium in Fountain Hills, Arizona and the Pan-Am Mountain Bike Championships in Venezuela. Competing in three races last weekend at the McDowell Mountain Park in the second NMBS event, team riders Barry Wicks, Ryan Trebon and Wendy Simms all secured top-three finishes in at least one race. Kris Sneddon also competed and finished in the top-15 in all of his races.