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Closely matched, Paulissen and Fugelsang cross the line in first place

Masters leaders Andrew McLean (left) and Damian Booth know what good teamwork is

Early on the race often resembles a road event

Bajadali gambled... and won.

Zajicek puts it all on the line

BMC monitored the break, expecting to keep the gap at around a minute. Then everything went wrong.

Moninger slipped from 1st to 9th on GC

Sutherland wins for the second time this week

Anderson wins and Neben celebrates.

Neben led from day one.

Neben knew what she had to do to win the overall.

Anderson avoided a final-corner crash and earned her first win at Redlands.

This time there won’t be an asterisk next to his victory. Oscar Freire (Rabobank) unleashed a masterful sprint to win Saturday’s centenary celebration of Milan-San Remo ahead of Allan Davis to claim victory in emphatic style to erase the memories of 2004 when he won by a whisker ahead of the celebrating Erik Zabel.

The Australian cycling community was in shock Saturday upon hearing that Damian McDonald, a 34-year-old retired cyclist who took a gold medal at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Canada, had been killed in a massive collision in Melbourne’s Burnley Tunnel. In a scene Australian newspapers have described as horrific, an eight-vehicle pileup sparked a series of explosions and a subsequent blaze believed to have topped 1000 degrees. Motorists reported a “huge” fireball erupting from the crash scene, causing more than 400 people to leave their vehicles and flee the tunnel. Sprinklers and

A volley of shouts greeted the lead group of 20 riders as they sped toward the wooded summit of the Buffelsnek climb, the first serious incline of the 2007 Absa Cape Epic. The upcoming feed zone would be the only chance for a water fill for the next 45km, they said, and anyone who had doubts about running on empty under the African sun should stop for a bottle. A collective moan came from the pack as the athletes hit their brakes. Everyone in the group stopped. The problem was caused by a broken-down truck on Prince Alfred Pass, the day’s highest and final climb. The obstacle prevented the

The men’s and women’s criterium stages of the Redlands Classic on Saturday had almost identical results, with each dominated by a small breakaway group (five for the men, four for the women) that finished half-a-minute ahead of the pack.

Freire nails it.

The day's escape was expected...

A good part of the day involves a pleasant ride along the coast

Kopp suffered a broken nose and a concussion.

The traditional start in Milan...

... the usual celebration in San Remo...

... with a long and beautiful ride in between.

Voeckler on the attack.

Popovych quickly countered that move, leaving Voeckler behind, but Pellizotti stayed with him for a while.

Popovych was caught at the base of the Poggio.

Ricco and Gilbert were caught with 2km to go

.. chased when things got worrisome...

... and eventually reeled in.

Gilbert leads on the Poggio

Freire wins Milan-San Remo

Ready to race

Sutherland on the attack...

Moninger easily protected his hold on the jersey

BMC monitored the field before and after the day's break went.

... and takes the win.

Ready to ride, Redlands attracts one of the top women's fields in the U.S.

Teutenberg moves toward the front of the field

Up and comer Brooke Miller leads the break.

Neben: 'You have to make a decision about today or tomorrow.'

Teutenberg: 'There's no reason not to work'

Teutenberg initiated the break

It's Moninger and England again, only on a flat course.

Slipstream came to the front of the chase, but couldn't get away.

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David Millar – fresh off his victory in the prologue at Paris-Nice – says he’s taking aim at the overall title at next month’s Tour de Georgia. The Saunier Duval-Prodir rider – who vows he’s left behind his cheating ways after serving a two-year ban for admitting to French authorities he used EPO – says Georgia is an ideal race for his characteristics. “I’m going for the overall at Georgia,” said Millar, who ended up 12th overall at the Race to the Sun. “It’s a good race for me. I’m feeling good at Paris-Nice, things went better than expected there.” First, he’s going to take in a few

Some of cycling’s brightest stars will be absent or battling injury on Saturday as Milan-San Remo celebrates its centenary. While defending champion Filippo Pozzato (Liquigas) will be on hand, absent from the 2007 edition of “La Primavera” will be last year's Giro d’Italia winner, Ivan Basso (Discovery Channel), and former ProTour series winner Danilo Di Luca (Liquigas). Basso, 29, has struggled to recover from spraining a wrist at Tirreno-Adriatico last Friday, while Di Luca is still experiencing the after-effects of flu. Meanwhile, world champion Paolo Bettini (Quick Step-Innergetic)

The world’s longest mountain-bike stage race, South Africa’s Absa Cape Epic, kicks off on Saturday. The eight-day event, which bills itself as “The Magical and Untamed African Mountain-Bike Race,” begins at the seaside resort town of Knysna (pronounced nice-nuh), and traces a winding line through South Africa’s vast interior before finishing on March 31 at the Lourensford Wine Estate, just outside of Cape Town. The 1086 professional and amateur mountain-bike racers participating in the 2007 event face intimidating statistics: 886 kilometers of pedaling and 15,045 meters of climbing separate

Two climbers from Boulder, Colorado, won the pro men’s and pro women’s Oak Glen stage of the Redlands Classic on Friday afternoon. But that’s where the similarity ends. Men’s winner (and new race leader) Scott Moninger is 40 years old and has won about 250 races in his 18 seasons as a professional. Mara Abbott is 21, still at college, and in only her second season as a road racer. Her victory over prologue winner (and still race leader) Amber Neben moved Abbott into second place overall. After he out-kicked Toyota-United’s Justin England for the stage win, the omnipotent Moninger (BMC)

Millar hopes for a peachy Georgia

Ekimov has been Discovery's lucky charm this season

Pozzato has gotten off to a strong start in 2007, winning Het Volk

Over the river . . .

. . . and through the mud . . .

. . . to Africa's house we go

Tom Ritchey and Thomas Frischknecht

Moninger punches it

Neben kept her cool — and her jersey

Downing and Dominguez are off early, fighting for sprint points

The Mavic wheelmen were busy at Oak Glen

So was the peloton

Chasing Curi

Abbott en route to a flowery stage win

Say, is that Steven Spielberg over there?

I remember an old Bill Cosby routine where he was "just walkin' down the street and they yanked me into the room."A lot of my life has played out that way."How'd you get your job?" (I was ...) How'd you meet your wife?" (...just walkin'...)"How'd you sell your books?" (...down the street...)"How come you're doing live shots from a snowbank?" (...and they...)"How'd you wind up replacing Larry Green on Ride the Rockies?" (...yankedme into the room.")That last one is the one that surprises me most of all. I've been tryingto tie myself to Ridethe Rockies, the

Outside of the USA Cycling Pro Tour events, which include the Tours of California and Georgia, Southern California’s venerable Redlands Classic boasts one of the best fields and most challenging courses of the season. Particularly this week’s 23rd edition, when, following its absence in 2006, the climb to Oak Glen is back. It will host the mountaintop finish of the 156.6km stage 1 on Friday, following Thursday afternoon’s 5km prologue, while the familiar Redlands criterium and Sunset Road Race complete the four days of racing this weekend.

Australian Tour de France hope Cadel Evans isn’t going to become Mr. July. The ex-mountain biker – fresh off finishing a solid seventh at Paris-Nice - is eyeing two form peaks this season, with the first one coming just around the corner, in time for next month’s Ardennes classics. “I’ll race Pais Vasco to get ready for the Ardennes,” Evans told VeloNews. “I want to be good in April this year. Last year, I had some headaches in the races. I am hoping for some good results in the spring classics.” The bumpy Ardennes races obviously best suit Evans’ explosive climbing capabilities and he’s

On a new uphill 5km prologue course, which was made tougher by strong SantaAnna winds Thursday, defending Redlands Classic champion Amben Neben (Stahl-SCVelo) took out a strong option on a repeat victory with a resounding 33-secondwin over runner-up Christine Thorburn (Webcor Builders). Race favoriteOenone Wood (T-Mobile) placed only eighth, with a 1:07 deficit on Neben.

The Ancient Cyclist, at the Red Zinger Boulder to Breckenridge road race, an event in which he was not forced to don cycling shorts

A talented climber, 2006 winner Amber Neben may benefit from the return of Oak Glen, but she’ll still have her hands full in her efforts to repeat at Redlands.

This year, the road to Oak Glen will feature a couple of Cat. 2 climbs as a warm-up for the big haul.

For Evans, Paris-Nice was an early season test. Now he aims for the Ardennes Classics

Neben picks up where she left off last year

Men's winner Svein Tuft guts it out on the climb.

Chris Baldwin is looking for the finish line near the top of the climb.

Kim Anderson works up a sweat warming up for the prologue

Former Natl Champion Kathryn Curi returns to racing after a tough year recuperating from an accident.