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Sylvain Chavanel’s spectacular spring just keeps getting better. With the biggest victories of his career coming since February, the 28-year-old Frenchman attacked with about 20km to go to hold off the Belgian specialists in Sunday’s rain-soaked 48th Brabantse Pijl. Three riders – Ermanno Capelli (Saunier Duval), Wouter Mol (Batavus) and Raynold Smith (Collstrop) – attacked at 35km to build up a 5:35 lead before Cofidis took control of the chase.

American Jennie Reed ended Britain's gold rush when she overpowered Victoria Pendleton to win the keirin in the final event of the world track cycling championships on Sunday. Defending champion Pendleton, a gold winner in the team sprint and sprint, claimed the silver medal, with Germany's Christin Muche taking the bronze after a photo-finish decision.

Jens Voigt (Team CSC) won the Critérium International on Sunday in Charleville-Mezieres. The 36-year-old Voigt took the leader’s yellow jersey after finishing second in the morning’s stage 2, a 98.5km leg between Les Vieilles Forges and Monthermé won by Australian Simon Gerrans (Crédit Agricole) with Spaniard Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne) third. The third and final stage, a 8.3km time trial, was won by Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team High Road), seven seconds ahead of teammate Tony Martin and a further six in front of Gustav Larsson (Team CSC).

Alejandro Borrajo (Colavita-Sutter Home) sprinted to victory Saturday in stage 2 of the San Dimas Stage Race. Borrajo overpowered Henk Vogels (Toyota-United) and Jonathan Cantwell (Jittery Joes) to take the 84-mile San Dimas Hospital Road Race. Oscar Sevilla (Rock Racing) retained his leader’s jersey, but at a cost — a 5 percent time cut that trimmed 17 riders from the field saw the team lose Peter Dawson, Rahsaan Bahati and Adam Switters, leaving a five-man squad to defend Sevilla’s lead in Sunday’s finale, the Incycle/Cannondale San Dimas Classic criterium.

Eric Schildge (Fiordifrutta) edged out CCB International's Colin Jaskiewicz and Daniel Estevez (CRCA/Sakonnet Technology U25) in a photo finish at the Michael Schott Memorial Race in Marblehead, Massachusetts, on Sunday. The Marblehead race, held on a rolling 2.2-mile circuit on a rocky neck jutting into the Atlantic Ocean, is one of the longest running one-day races in New England, and a traditional season opener for the New England road scene.

Australian Simon Gerrans (Crédit Agricole) won stage two of the Critérium International on Sunday ahead of breakaway companion Jens Voigt (CSC), who took the yellow jersey and seems ideally positioned for the final victory. Gerrans finished four seconds ahead of the German and 90 seconds up on Spaniard Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne), who took the bunch sprint for third in the 98.5km stage between Les Vieilles Forges and Monthermé. The race was neutralized for more than 30 minutes because of a demonstration by employees of a nearby factory.

Carlos Hernandez (P&S-Specialized) and Leda Cox (America's Dairyland) won stage 2 of the 22nd Tucson Bicycle Classic on Saturday, a windswept affair run on a rolling, 20-mile circuit. Hernandez and teammate David Salomon finished one-two in the Sahuarita Loop Road race (80 miles for men, 60 for women). The duo crossed in 3:12:25, 13 seconds ahead of a chase group containing race leader Joshua Liberles (Colavita New Mexico-JNF), led in by Alex Bhogal (Mazurcoaching.com).

World BMX champion, Kyle Bennett (Free Agent), and Jill Kintner (GT) claimed elite national BMX titles at USA Cycling’s 2008 BMX National Championships in DeSoto, Texas, on Saturday. With both Bennett and Kintner seeking to clinch automatic nominations to the Olympic team, their victories added eight points each to their existing leads in the national points rankings. Bennett began his national title pursuit by winning his first moto despite a tough start from the outside lane.

Hillsboro-Roubaix 2008

Visalia Criterium Chicane

A beaming Jennie Reed, cheered on by her American teammate, Taylor Phinney, stepped down from the medal podium in Manchester after claiming the bronze medal in the women's sprints, to pronounce herself "very pleased" with her third place, behind Simona Krupeckaite of Lithuania and - look away now if you're suffering from Brit-fest fatigue - gold medal winner, Victoria Pendleton of Team GB.

Geoff Kabush (Maxxis) and Georgia Gould (Luna) picked up where they left off on the National Mountain Bike Series, winning the 2008 NMBS cross-country opener in Fontana, California, on Saturday.

Reigning world marathon cross-country champion Christoph Sauser and his young teammate Burry Stander grabbed the overall lead of South Africa’s Absa Cape Epic in winning the race’ stage 1 from Knysna to George. The Rocky Mountain duo of Pia Sundstedt and Alison Sydor took the victory in the women’s race, also moving into the overall lead with seven stages remaining.

Kurt-Asle Arvesen (CSC) is one of those riders who can be counted on to work into breakaways and win. He pulled off a stunning victory last year in stage 8 in the Giro d’Italia against Paolo Bettini in the rainbow jersey and George Hincapie as part of a huge, 18-rider move. In 2005, he has two major close calls, finishing second in Paris-Tours and second to Paolo Savoldelli in a stage in Lance Armstrong’s last Tour de France. The 33-year-old Norwegian used all of his accumulated savvy Saturday to out-fox a six-man breakaway in the 51st E3 Prijs Vlaanderen in Belgium.

Those no-hope breakaways that inevitably get reeled in within sight of the finish line seem to be working more these days. Some say it’s a sign that the peloton is cleaning up and that attacking riders have more chances of winning. Others insist it’s business as usual, at least tactically, and that sometimes breakaways work, but usually not.

South Africa's Absa Cape Epic kicked off Friday, March 28, with a prologue around the port city of Knysna on the country's Western Cape. Saturday saw the riders tackle a 123km journey to the inland town of George. Lucky for us, South Africa's trails and forests provide a spectacular backdrop to a remarkable race.

Silence-Lotto’s Cadel Evans won the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali, which finished with the fifth and final stage over 169.1 kilometers from Castellarano to Sassuolo on Saturday. Emanuele Sella won the final stage by holding off the fast charging Stefano Garzelli and Vincenzo Nibali at the finish. Sella surprised all by breaking for home with just over one kilometer still to ride. Garzelii and Nibali were trying to overhaul Evans in the overall standings but the Australian held on to win by 17 seconds ahead of Garzelli, with Nibali third at 1:15.

Joshua Liberles (Colavita-New Mexico-JNF) and Melissa McWhirter (Colavita-Arizona) took the honors on Friday as the 22nd Tucson Bicycle Classic kicked off with the Old Tucson/McCain Loop Road Time Trial. Liberles finished the 3-mile course, which featured a pair of stiff climbs, in seven minutes and 35 seconds. Drew Miller (Landis-Trek) took second at three seconds back with Phillip Gaimon (Fiordifrutta) third at eight seconds. McWhirter won the women’s race in eight minutes, 16 seconds, with Sarah Swanson (Summit Velo) second at 0:22 and Melanie Meyers (Specialized) third at 0:27.