Fabian Cancellara was among the big name favorites for the Tour of Flanders crown left regretting the harsh conditions and race tactics which produced a surprise winner here on Sunday. The Swiss ace came into the race as a big favorite after a commanding performance in the Italian one-day classic Milan-San Remo a fortnight ago, won shortly after he had triumphed at the Tirreno-Adriatico stage race.
Alberto Contador’s “Revenge Tour 2008” continued Monday as the Astana rider uncorked a blistering acceleration on the last of seven climbs to bolt away from a soggy and cold peloton in the 137km opener at the Vuelta al País Vasco. Contador won the stage three seconds ahead of Ezequiel Mosquera (Karpin-Galicia) and takes an unexpected eight-second lead on his main adversaries in an exciting opening day of the six-day Basque Country tour.
A decision on the fraud case against disgraced former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich is expected in the next week, it was revealed on Monday. Prosecutors in Bonn have been investigating the 1997 Tour de France winner since July 2006 after it was alleged that he was involved in taking performance-enhancing drugs. The 34-year-old faces fraud charges, alleging that by using banned substances, he deceived the public, sponsors and his team.
When it’s a hard day in the Tour of Flanders, the home riders nearly always come out on top. And Sunday’s 92nd edition of the gnarly Belgian classic was one of the hardest, with hail showers, even some snow, and long bouts of heavy rain blasting the riders through the middle part of the 264km race, which started and ended in spring sunshine. So it was fitting that the reigning champion of Belgium, Stijn Devolder of Quick Step-Innergetic, emerged with a gutsy solo triumph.
They won’t be facing off against each other in the Tour de France this summer, so this week’s Tour of the Basque Country in Spain will provide a glimpse of what should have been the season’s biggest showdown.
Connie Carpenter is reporting that her husband, Davis Phinney, had successful surgery Friday to install a device to reduce the symptoms of his Parkinson's disease. In a letter to friends, Carpenter said the deep brain surgery "went very well." She said after the surgery Phinney, a Tour de France stage winner and Olympian, said he was hungry. "He's tired (the surgery was well over four hours and he was awake for much of it), but hunger is a good sign!" she said.
Willamette Valley Stage Race, Oregon
Teamwork at the Party Pardee in Ione, CA
Randy Van Zee, a long time cyclist and 2004 solo competitor in the Race Across America, died Friday after being rear-ended by a car while on a ride near his home in Iowa. Police are still investigating the collision. The car was driven by a 21-year-old woman from Archer, Iowa. Van Zee, who was 56, finished in 8th place in the 2004 RAAM. He was a counselor who worked for Hope Haven, Inc. for 29 years before moving to Sheldon, Iowa, in 2002, where he worked as a vocational rehabilitation counselor for the state of Iowa. He is survived by his wife, children and six grandchildren.
Georgia Gould (Luna) and Geoff Kabush (Maxxis) dominated the cross-country finale to claim the stage-race titles in round two of the National Mountain Bike Series, run on a fast, technical, desert course at McDowell Mountain Regional Park near Fountain Hills, Arizona. Kabush and Gould, both of whom also won Friday's Super D time trial, now lead the NMBS standings with two of six rounds completed.
Professional endurance competitor Rebecca Rusch has tackled her fair share of adventure races and 24-hour mountain bike races throughout the years. Now, the Idahoan is in South Africa, at the Absa Cape Epic, a nine-day mountain bike stage race across the country’s scenic Western Cape. Following an accident that resulted in a broken collarbone, teammate Cristina Begy withdrew from the race, but Rusch decided to continue, albeit unofficially, on her own. — Editor
Alex Wrubleski (Webcor Builders) and Santiago Botero (Rock Racing) wrapped up the overall titles at California's Redlands Classic on Sunday. Wrubleski not only won the Beaver Medical Group Sunset Road Race in a bunch sprint, just ahead of Leigh Hobson (Cheerwine) and Kim Anderson (Team High Road), but took just enough bonus time in Sunday’s final stage of the Redlands Cycling Classic to take the overall from Mara Abbott (Team High Road) by a mere second.
The American Slipstream-Chipotle squad endured a day of highs and lows at the 2008 Tour of Flanders, the American squad’s debut at Belgium’s biggest one-day race. The high came at the finish line, where the team’s 24-year-old Belgian rider Martin Maaskant was the 12th man to cross the line, finishing 21 seconds in arrears alongside a handful of the sport’s classics stars, including George Hincapie, Alessandro Ballan, Fabian Cancellara and Tom Boonen.
Danilo Di Luca (LPR) won the Settimana Lombardia race on Sunday following the sixth and final stage over 162.7km around Bergamo. Teammates Paolo Savoldelli and Daniele Pietropolli finished second and third respectively. Italy's Francesco Failli (Acqua e Sapone), won the stage in a sprint finish. It was the 43rd career win for 32-year-old Di Luca, the reigning Giro d'Italia champion. Di Luca is embroiled in an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to have a three-month suspension he served for a doping offense last year overturned.
German ace Judith Arndt out-kicked American Kristin Armstrong to win the women’s Tour of Flanders, the third round of the 2008 UCI women’s World Cup. It was the fourth career World Cup victory for Arndt, the silver medalist from the 2004 Olympics, and the first for her team under its new High Road label. “It was a perfect victory; a perfect day for us,” said Arndt. “It was a team victory.”