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Seatposts with 1-bolt saddle rail clamps are not uncommon—in fact, several designs have all proven to work just fine. But Ritchey’s WCS 1-Bolt system is especially effective in that it’s adaptable to saddles with different rail dimensions.

The results of an autopsy performed in Senegal indicate that cyclist Frank Vandenbroucke died of a double pulmonary embolism combined with an existing heart problem, Belgian newspapers reported Saturday. Vandenbroucke, 34, was found dead earlier this week in his hotel room in the Senegalese resort of Saly, where he had been on holiday with cyclist friend Fabio Polazzi. According to reports published in Het Laatste Nieuws and Het Nieuwsblad, investigators concluded that Vandenbroucke died a natural death and his body had now been released for a return to Belgium.

The UCI licensing commission has granted a four-year ProTour license to the new U.S.-sponsored Radio Shack team. "Following examination of the request received, the License Commission has awarded a four-year UCI ProTour license for the period 2010 to 2013 to Team Radio Shack (USA)," the UCI, cycling's world ruling body, said in a statement released on Friday. The team will be headed up by former Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, who made his comeback from retirement in January 2009. Armstrong will be joined on the team by fellow Americans Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner.

The mystery surrounding Garmin-Slipstream’s tactics for the final stage of the Jayco Herald Sun Tour, a 62km circuit in Melbourne, was solved Saturday evening as the team committed to defending the lead of yellow jersey Bradley Wiggins, rather than triple-stage winner Chris Sutton, who sat second overall by just five seconds. Fly V Australia’s Jonathan Cantwell won the stage in front of large crowds ahead of Michael Matthews (Jayco AIS), bookending the tour following his win in the opening preface criterium.

Former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich consulted Eufemiano Fuentes, the Madrid gynecologist at the center of the Operación Puerto doping case, 24 times between 2003 and 2006, Der Spiegel said in a report to appear on Monday. Der Spiegel's report was based on a 2,219-page investigation into Ullrich by German police which concluded that the rider "used Dr Fuentes doping system to improve his performances." Ullrich visited Madrid on 24 occasions for consultations with Fuentes, it said.

It's all academic: Two top-level pros take home Stars & Stripes jerseys at Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championships in Truckee, California.

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The 2010 National Racing Calendar is pared down a bit from what was announced for the 2009 season — but, since several 2009 events were canceled — the 2010 NRC has about as many events as this year's. Next year the NRC will include 27 events in 22 states, comprising 15 criteriums, eight multi-day stage races, two one-day road races, one circuit race and one omnium. While there is no series prize list, the combined prize lists from the individual events totals $981,000. Events must offer a certain level of prize list and meet other requirements to be part of the calendar.

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The slow wheels of Spanish justice are almost grinding to a halt in the never-ending saga of the Operación Puerto blood doping ring. According to reports in the Spanish media, oral testimony ordered in January of this year by an appeals court likely won’t happen until 2011. Earlier this year, a Madrid appeals court ordered ruling judge Antonio Serrano to hear oral testimony to further try to determine if any laws were broken under existing Spanish law at the time of the May 2006 raids.

I'm not a lawyer either, but I believe Charles Pelkey’s interpretation of Virginia law is correct. Military members are subject to civil prosecution all the time.

Saturday’s Giro di Lombardia – the “Race of the Falling Leaves” – is Italy’s long good-bye to yet another exciting, daring and controversy-filled season. In the last major European event of the 2009 campaign, Lombardia always packs an emotional and palpating punch to put the peloton to rest for an ever-shortening winter to recharge the batteries going into the next year.

Over a technical and windy 10km time trial course in Geelong, Garmin-Slipstream’s Bradley Wiggins took not only the stage 5 win at Australia’s Jayco Herald Sun Tour, but also the race lead with one stage remaining. Wiggins blitzed the course around Geelong’s Botanical Gardens and along its coastal roads, which used some of the same roads as both the annual Jayco Bay Cycling Classic series and the 2010 UCI world road championships, in a time of 13:07, 14 seconds faster than the second-place finisher, Garmin teammate Svein Tuft.

Just days after concluding his 15th pro season at Paris-Tours, veteran Spanish rider Vicente "Chente" García Acosta will be back next year for one more season in the saddle. The 37-year-old from Pamplona has finished no less than 25 grand tours, and recently signed a one-year contract extension to keep him in the pack with Caisse d’Epargne in 2010.

BERKELEY, Calif. – The Bay Area’s cycling social event of the season, the NorCal League’s CycleFest 2009 will feature the CEO of Slipstream Sports, Jonathan Vaughters, as its special guest at its main annual fundraiser, a three-day gathering, November 6-8 in Mill Valley.

This cyclocross season, filmmaker Andy Frothingham is following two professional racers through their seasons, checking in with them at events around the country and at their homes in Colorado between races. The second episode is presented here today.

October 15, 2009 (Louisville, KY) - The series that stoked the exponential growth of cyclocross in the United States and in the Ohio Valley - the U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross - returns to Louisville, KY for it's third consecutive season on October 24th and 25th downtown at Champions' Park.

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Alejandro Valverde finally has a date with destiny. November 16, to be exact, when the Court of Arbitration for Sport will hear testimony in the ongoing appeal on his two-year racing ban in Italy for links to the Operación Puerto blood doping scandal. The reigning Vuelta a España champion is fending off allegations leveled by Italian authorities that he was one of the top clients of Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes, a Madrid gynecologist and alleged ring-leader of the Puerto ring.

Philippe Gilbert must be wishing he had this ripping form a few weeks ago at the world championships in Mendrisio. Just days after taking scalps at Paris-Tours and Coppa Sabatini, the Belgian bomber rounded out his October treble with victory Thursday at Giro del Piemonte in the season’s penultimate race. Sixth at the road worlds in Switzerland, Gilbert has been laying it on thick during the final races of the 2009 European racing calendar, taking three consecutive victories this week.

Related: Interactive Google Map of the 2010 Tour route

While Garmin-Slipstream’s Chris Sutton made it a hat trick at Australia’s Jayco Herald Sun Tour Thursday, beating out Fly V Australia’s Jonathan Cantwell in a bunch kick for a third consecutive stage, what was more interesting was how the general classification now sets up for Thursday’s 10km time trial. The fourth stage of this tour, a 139km roundabout route from Anglesea to Barwon Heads, played out in nearly identical fashion to the previous day: two riders escaped, were caught close to the finish, and Sutton, led out by teammate Bradley Wiggins, beat Cantwell in a sprint.

Carlos Sastre, the 2008 Tour de France champion, says he won’t commit to racing the 2010 Tour until he’s studied the routes of all three grand tours. After getting a glimpse of what’s a harder, more climber-friendly Tour in Wednesday’s roll-out of the 2010 route, Sastre’s comments over doubts of a possible Tour start come as a surprise.

In the cutthroat pro peloton, Garmin-Slipstream rider Bradley Wiggins is the exception — a non-stop joker with outside interests in music, fashion, Mod-era scooters and when he’s not preparing for a race, a pint or two of beer. Take, for example, this exchange between the British rider and a TV reporter prior to the start of Thursday’s fourth stage of the Jayco Herald Sun Tour. (Background info: British Sky Broadcasting, the sponsor of the new-for-2010 British cycling team Sky, is the United Kingdom’s largest pay-TV provider.)

Nearly 700 racers and as many spectators braved crisp fall temperatures at the season finale of the 2009 Wisconsin Off Road Series, held Oct. 10-11 in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.

The debut of "Race Across the Sky" will be a one-night, in-theater event featuring a taped roundtable discussion with Lance Armstrong, Dave Wiens, Chris Carmichael, Leadville Trail100 founder Ken Chlouber and other elite cyclists.

Dear Readers, I have to admit that I unknowingly opened a can of worms when I picked Mike Tsai’s letter to answer in last week’s column,”Whose bike path is it anyway?”

American Council on Exercise (ACE) , America’s leading authority on fitness, education and training organization, has selected Peaksware, LLC to provide all ACE-certified professionals with TrainingPeaks Professional Edition software, a comprehensive solution for improved client management; exercise program planning, featuring exercises from ACE’s Exercise Library; and a publishing platform for exercise videos, custom workouts, training plans and meal plans.

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Related: Interactive Google Map of the 2010 Tour route

Here are some reactions from the main players during Wednesday’s Tour de France presentation: Alberto Contador – 1st overall: “My authentic rival is Andy Schleck. Looking at the time trial, it’s better for me than last year. This Tour is better for me than last year, especially with a stage finish atop a climb so difficult as the Tourmalet.