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After the pits, a twisting ride through hill and meadow and a fast drop to the lake

A short, but steep hill, features a tough off-camber drop.

The final 200 meters features a sharp right-hander...

... and that uphill charge to the finish.

We counted 26 TV cameras on the course, including this arial trolley along the lake

As teams roll out their new squads for 2008, VeloNews.com is rolling out its new Web site, packed with new features.

Interbike could be looking at Las Vegas in a whole new way come 2009 —in the rear-view mirror. The trade show’s contract with the Sands Convention Center ends when the ’09 expo closes its doors, and Interbike industry consultant Lance Camisasca reviewed a couple of options for alternative venues — including Denver, Colorado, and Anaheim, California — during the 11th annual Bicycle Leadership Conference January 19 in San Diego, California. Camisasca said Interbike's top venue requirements include:

With a crowd of past, present and future BMX stars proudly looking on, USA Cycling CEO Steve Johnson and Steve Roush of the U.S. Olympic Committee officially opened the Olympic BMX training track on January 21 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California. Following the ribbon-cutting ceremony, four members of the U.S. BMX Olympic talent pool sped down the 19-foot-high starting ramp and onto the 370-meter course, which is dotted with berms and sizable jumps.

A group of roughly two-dozen women will converge on the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs on Friday to learn what they can do to encourage female leadership in cycling. They will be exposed to information from an impressive slate of attendees and speakers presenting an array of topics like health concerns for female athletes, opportunities and realities in women’s racing, as well as unique considerations when training moms.

It’s rather comical how meticulously I pack my bikes and gear for a big race trip, such as this recent adventure to Belgium. Everything is cleaned, wrapped, folded, and hermetically sealed, then put in its perfect place. However, on the return leg of trips such as this one, it’s a different story.

Could Levi Leipheimer and defending champion Alberto Contador be left out of the 2008 Tour de France because of the bad-news legacy of the Astana team? That’s what French and Spanish media reports are suggesting as the Tour de France organization mulls its invitations for the upcoming edition. Sources say lingering questions over whether Contador is linked to the Operación Puerto investigation and Astana’s scandalous legacy from 2007 might prompt Tour organizers to leave the team out of the season’s most important race when invitations are announced in the coming weeks.

The finish may still be three days away, but there's every possibility the 10th edition of the Tour Down Under will come down to the wire. And get this: The winner may well be the sprinter who can climb best.

Oscar Freire and Rabobank trainning in the south of Spain (Mojacar, Almeria)

AT&T Inc. has signed on as the presenting sponsor for the 2008 Tour de Georgia, race organizers announced Wednesday. As presenting sponsor, AT&T will own exclusive rights for communications services during the race, scheduled April 21-27. Last year, AT&T was one of the race’s “founding partner” sponsors. Its support included naming rights to the overall leader’s jersey awarded after each stage. That will continue in 2008. “AT&T is pleased to continue its involvement with the Tour de Georgia this year,” said Sylvia E. Anderson, president of AT&T Georgia.

Kona-Yourkey.com rider Ryan Trebon, the 2006 national champion and three-time Crank Brothers USGP of Cyclocross series winner, has withdrawn from this weekend’s world cyclocross championship in Treviso, Italy.

The 2008 Amgen Tour of California will boast the most comprehensive anti-doping protocol in competitive cycling, organizers proclaimed on Tuesday. The announcement comes one year after the premier U.S. stage race drew criticism for pursuing a relaxed testing campaign. “We believe that an aggressive approach to having a clean and fair race is essential to restore the credibility of top-tier bicycle racing,” said Andrew Messick, president of AEG Sports, during a press conference at the ADT Event Center velodrome in Carson, California.

Taylor Phinney’s pursuit win at the UCI World Cup in Los Angeles over the weekend sure makes us look smart for putting him and Danny Summerhill on our awards-issue cover. Thanks, Taylor.

USA Cycling has named the 35 cyclists eligible to represent the United States at the 2008 Olympic Games. The national governing body has selected a Long Team of eligible athletes in men's and women's mountain bike and women's road cycling. Its Talent Pool of track athletes will serve as a list of riders from which the Olympic team will named. Five women road racers met automatic nomination criteria while two were discretionary selections. Automatically named to the Long Team include Kristin Armstrong, Amber Neben, Tina Mayolo-Pic, Mara Abbott and Christine Thorburn.

So far, it's a Tour Down Under like we've never seen before. In years past, after two stages there's been only a handful of riders left in contention. But this year is clearly different: After Andre Greipel's scintillating stage victory in Hahndorf, three riders have the same time overall - all of them sprinters.

Four-time former Belgian champion Tom Steels begins what will be his last season before retiring at the end of this year with Landbouwkrediet. A winner of nine stages at the Tour de France, the 36-year-old Steels was the top draw in the team’s official presentation Tuesday in Brussels. The Belgian continental team is hoping Steels can go out on a winning note and will include a heavy spring schedule for Steels, once one of the most fearsome sprinters in the bunch.

Italian racer Eddy Mazzoleni could be slapped with a two-year racing ban for his role in the “Oil for Drugs” doping investigation if Italian authorities have their way. Prosecutors from the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) also recommended a life ban for journeyman rider Domenico Quagliariello in what are the toughest disciplinary rulings to come down surrounding the doping probe that dates back to 2004. The 34-year-old Mazzoleni -- third overall in the 2007 Giro d’Italia -- was dropped by the Astana team last summer after links to the ongoing investigation were revealed.

It seems Frank Vandenbroucke has more cycling lives than a cat. The oft-injured, often scandalized “enfant terrible” of cycling is making yet another comeback, this time with the small Mitsubishi team that was born out of the former Jartazi squad. Now 33, the once-mighty Belgian is determined to keep racing even if the small team is a far cry from Europe’s most important teams he once ruled with victories in the 1998 Paris-Nice and the 1999 Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

Yes we do race bicycles (and trucks) here in the Middle East

What!!? Im trying to concentrate here.

Concentration! Or is it nausea?

André Greipel takes the 2008 Down Under Classic

Dear Lennard,
I'm interested in buying the Deda Zero 100 stem you recently reviewed. However I noticed that the clamp size is listed as 31.7mm. The bar I wanted to use is the FSA K-Wing Carbon which has a clamp size listed as 31.8mm. Will the 0.1mm difference in size make this combination incompatible?
Steve Dear Steve,

It's been four years coming, but on a baking hot Tuesday in Angaston, Mark Renshaw finally delivered on what he'd long set out to do. Maybe it was the hours spent behind a motorbike over the Australian summer, paced by his father over the dead roads of Bathurst in country New South Wales. Maybe it was the added strength that comes with three full seasons as a professional, under the wise-old wings of team manager Roger Legeay.

Jenny Reed attacks with one lap to go

Renshaw nails it at the Tour Down Under opener