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Rabobank sprinter Theo Bos has signed a two-year contract with the Cervélo TestTeam. The 26-year-old Dutchman and the team made the announcement at the world road championships in Mendrisio, Switzerland. Bos originally made his mark as a track racer, earning five world titles and a silver medal in the matched sprint at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Bos made the move to road racing in 2009, winning several events including the Ronde van Noord-Holland and the Omloop der Kempen.

A court in St. Petersburg, Russia, has sentenced the murderer of Olympic gold medalist Dmitry Nelyubin to 18 years in prison and fined him 45,000 Euros. The court had earlier found Alim Azagoyez guilty of stabbing Nelyubin in the early hours of January 1, 2005. Nelyubin was a member of the gold-medal-winning Soviet team pursuit squad at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul Olympics.

Running unopposed, UCI president Pat McQuaid was reelected to another four-year term Friday following a UCI congress held in conjunction with the world road race championships. The 60-year-old Irishman was the only candidate for the post, which he took over from Dutchman Hein Verbruggen in 2005. A former professional racer in the 1970s, McQuaid has also worked as a cycling coach, race organizer and president of Ireland's national federation. During his tenure McQuaid has worked hard to help globalize the sport, especially in Asia, the Americas and Oceania.

Australian Cadel Evans said he has virtually no chance of winning cycling's coveted rainbow jersey on home soil next year when the world road race championships are held in Geelong. Evans, who finished runner-up in the Tour de France in 2007 and 2008, is among a handful of contenders looking to end Spain and Italy's domination of the competition's road race here on Sunday. And he feels the profile of the 13.8km circuit that the peloton will race 19 times for a total distance of 262.2km suits his climbing talents better than the 2010 course.

Heading into its sixth season, the U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross kicks off Saturday in Madison, Wisconsin, with The Planet Bike Cup, a new event to the series. The timing of the addition makes it possible for riders such as Katie Compton and Jonathan Page, both sponsored by Planet Bike, to participate in the USGP — an opportunity both have had to forgo in the past due to their World Cup racing schedules.

Vuelta a España stage-winner Ryder Hesjedal has agreed to stay with Garmin-Slipstream through the 2011 season. “I’ve signed to stay with the team for two more years. The team has been pleased with me and I am very happy with the team,” Hesjedal told VeloNews. “It was pretty simple. We were always on the same page. We were in agreement early in the year to work out an agreement.”

Eric Barlevav won the final race of the USA Crits series Thursday night in Las Vegas, with his Mountain Khakis teammate Mark Hekman winning the field sprint behind to claim the series title. To put the cherry on top, Mountain Khakis won the team overall prize for the 2009 USA Crits. “It’s huge to win here,” said Barlevav. “USA Crits was definitely a big goal for our team. We tried to win all the races, and we tried to win the overall, so this is great for us.”

Kona wanted what all full-suspension bike manufacturers want in a trailbike, a platform that does everything well. But the solution isn't always so simple.

Diadora’s ProTrail 2.0 is the off-road counterpart to the ProRacer 2.0. A unique feature is the included Multi-Pad (with red bumpers), which secures the contact for pedals like the crankbrothers Egg Beater.

The middle Velcro strap uses a cam lock to secure the fit.

The ProRacer 2.0’s upper strap is removable.

… but the buckle also pivots back should mud or other debris jam down into the ratcheting mechanism.

Diadora’s micro buckle adjusts easily up and down, which is fairly standard…

The ProRacer 2.0’s have a rigid but thin (2.8mm) carbon sole that weighs 66 grams and includes a replaceable rubber heel plate.

In 2009, defending world champion Alessandro Ballan will race worlds in a 285-gram pair of the green and black kicks.

The new $499 ProRacer 2.0 is the latest top-shelf offering from the company that has been making cycling shoes since 1981, when Bartolini won the Giro d’Italia, the Vuelta a España and the world championships in a pair of Diadoras.

There are rocks in this base layer. No, really. Pearl uses Minerale fabric, which incorporates microporous volcanic rock that is ground up and extruded into the yarn. The end result? Sweat evaporates quickly and, Pearl claims, the odor is pulled into the fabric.

On a 90-degree day, standard black bib shorts can get pretty toasty.

Diadora’s Unique Fit Insole is heat-based cycling insole made from cork. Once heated in a toaster, the natural material conforms to the foot’s shape in the shoe. Once cooled, the sculpted material keeps the foot stable, which reduces friction and therefore heat. Plus, cork damps vibration.

As a demonstration, Pearl has two bibs shorts mounted under a single heat lamp. The Pearl bibs with In-R-Cool (shown) give a relatively lower reading than standard bibs (next photo).

This black thinks it’s white. Or so argues Pearl Izumi, which extruded a reflective agent into the yarn. The technology, called In-R-Cool, is used in jerseys and bib shorts.

The ultra-breathable summer jersey is just one of the products that has come out of Pearl’s sponsorship of Garmin.

Working with Garmin-Slipstream, Pearl Izumi has incorporated many of the elements the pro riders requested into its off-the-shelf products.

Time’s iClic cleat looks similar to the company’s RXS version, but the metal engagement is replaced with composite for this one.

The only metal parts on the pedal are the axle and the two bolts seen here on the bottom of the unit.

The red part is the trigger. Four models are available, from the $460 Titan Carbon that weighs 175 grams a pair, down to the steel axle version.

Stepping into the pedal triggers the rear carbon body to engage firmly like a ski binding.

Time’s new iClic pedal uses a trigger-actuated engagement instead of the traditional spring-loaded engagement.

The Multi-Pad can easily be replaced when the red rubber wears down.

With hundreds of brands crammed into the Sands Convention Center, there are plenty of products — ranging from the humbug to the showstopper, and from the truly helpful to the truly useless. We found three companies with some innovative improvements to current standards and solutions to common problems. Take a look.

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A round-trip revelation in the way-back machine makes a stop in Marin and ends in a room beneath millions and millions of dollars worth of lust-worthy products on the Interbike floor.

Riding the momentum of Kristin Armstrong’s gold-medal performance at Wednesdays’ world time trial championship, the U.S. women’s road team is hoping to extract a little more hardware out of the UCI world road championship on Saturday.

“Thirty seconds!” yells the UCI official and instantaneously you see the fidgeting of fingers on hoods and legs clipped into pedals. In cyclocross, the sprint is at the beginning of the race, rarely the end. So racers get their bodies ready for that first shock to their systems from the word go. Legs bouncing all around in fast-twitch anticipation of the gun, eyes focused forward or on the wheel or course in front of them, heart rates instinctively racing without even having pedaled a stroke.