All Content

Felt-Holowesko's Alex Howes has a unique way of signaling attack, but riders might take note in the future if the reigning U23 road champion opts for unusual nutritional choices near the finish of a race. On Sunday, near the end of the tough 153km fourth stage, Howes bit off a hunk of hot dog and shot away from the day's long breakaway to take his first NRC win on the mountaintop finish at Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort at the 2009 Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah. [nid:96996]

Liquigas-Doimo heads to the 64th Vuelta a España with a strong team and even stronger ambitions. Led by GC threats Ivan Basso and Roman Kreuziger, Liquigas will start the Spanish tour with high hopes for a shot at overall victory as well as stage victories with the likes of Daniele Bennati and Manuel Quinziato.

British rider Emma Pooley (Cervélo) won Saturday’s GP de Plouay in a solo move in the ninth round of the 10-race World Cup series. Pooley won 2:30 ahead of the nearest rival after leaving the pack behind in a lone breakaway of more than 50km. The Olympic time trial silver medalist was surprised she hung on to win. Nicole Cooke gave chase on the last lap at the Cote de Kerihuel, but the Olympic champion couldn’t hold the pace, and Pooley stayed clear to claim her second World Cup win of the year.

The final race on the 2009 Pro GRT will be the Whiteface 5K Downhill, Aug. 30 in Lake Placid, N.Y.

Lance Armstrong isn’t the only man racing at the Tour of Ireland who has already retired once from the sport. British rider Malcolm Elliott came back in 2003 at the age of 41, and he doesn’t intend to quit after this season, either. Elliott turned pro in 1984 with Raleigh-Weinmann. He came to the attention of American cycling fans in 1993 when he joined Chevrolet-LA Sheriffs.

Mark Cavendish (Columbia-HTC) did what he does best at the end of stage 2 of the Tour of Ireland. After a fast, slightly downhill leadout from his man Bernie Eisel, Cavendish turned on the afterburners to take the victory ahead of Rabobank’s Michael Van Staeyen and Saxo Bank’s Stuart O’Grady. “It’s great to win,” Cavendish said. “It was a tough circuit but once the peloton came back together we took control with 2km to go.”

Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Slipstream) won the fourth stage of the Eneco Tour on Saturday, his third victory of the stage race through the Benelux countries. Farrar, further secured his hold on the overall leader’s jersey, outsprinting Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen (Columbia) and Italian Francesco Gavazzi (Lampre). Farrar also won the first and second stages. Sunday’s fifth stage covers 204.3 kilometers over many of the same roads included in the Amstel Gold Race. The Eneco Tour ends Tuesday, with a 13.1km time trial in Amersfoort, in Holland.

If money hadn’t been tight at this year’s Tour of Ireland, Lance Armstrong and the other notables in the field would have been tracing the wheelmarks of Irish legends Sean Kelly and Stephen Roche in a historic time trial. But the world’s economic downtown forced the organizers to shorten their race from five to three days. “Our biggest regret was cutting the time-trial stage,” race development director Darach McQuaid toldVeloNews. “We were going to repeat the famous time trial from Carrick-on-Suir to Clonmel.”

The top ten of the general classification at the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah after the stage 3 individual time trial is filled with familiar names – Mancebo, Baldwin, Bookwalter. One name in that top ten is making waves in the Beehive State this week – that of fifth-place Kelly Benefit Strategies rookie Matthew Busche.

From the August, 2009, issue of VeloNews magazine: Five months into the season, Floyd Landis has made little impact on domestic racing

The blistering heat that has marked the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah gave way to blistering times Friday night as the stage 3 individual time trial rolled onto the grand prix track at the Miller Motorsports Park near Tooele, Utah. Tom Zirbel (Bissell) redeemed his sub-par performance in Tuesday’s prologue and returned to the form he has exhibited for most of 2009. Zirbel punished his cranks for 14.5 km to put in the fastest time of the night in 17:00, 14 and 19 seconds ahead of BMC teammates Ian McKissick and Brent Bookwalter, respectively.

Interbike Partners with GSD to Promote Providence ‘Cross Festival World’s Premier Bicycle Trade Show Brings Consumer Edition to New England PROVIDENCE, R.I. (Aug. 21, 2009) – For cyclists the approach of autumn has brought two things: cyclo-cross and Interbike. New England has always boasted it had the finest cyclo-cross in America, but the world?s largest trade show required a trip to Las Vegas.

Press Release

Headsweats Inks Official Tour de France Product Deal

Press Release

ESI's 100-percent silicone MTB grips offer great comfort and wear-in to your hands' shape.

Media and fans swarmed Lance Armstrong before the start of the Tour of Ireland, which kicked off at the Ritz-Carlton in Powerscourt, just south of Dublin. The hundreds of people pressing in on the Tour de France star confirmed what Leadville Trail 100 organizers already knew: Armstrong brings the crowds. Tour of Ireland project director Darach McQuaid said Armstrong’s presence means a lot to the organizing committee.

Romain Feillu (Agritubel) snatched the sprint in Friday’s finale at the 42nd Tour du Limousin as the main bunch roared into Limoges for the fourth and final stage. Feillu out-kicked Perrick Fedrigo (BBox) to claim the 180.1km stage from Chalus to Limoges to wrap-up the four-day stage race across western France. Mathieu Perget (Caisse d’Epargne) finished safely in the pack to claim the overall victory, the first stage-race win of his young professional career.

Do you want to contribute to Mailbag, a regular feature of VeloNews.com? Here's how:

• Keep it short. And remember that we reserve the right to edit for grammar, length and clarity.
• Include your full name, hometown and state or nation.
• Send it to webletters@insideinc.com.

The 800-pound gorilla

Russell Downing (CandiTV) outkicked two Saxo Bank riders out of a small group to win the first stage of the 2009 Tour of Ireland. Astana and Saxo Bank drove the peloton hard up and over the day’s categorized climbs, shattering the field and setting a group of 23 riders free with just under 40km to go. Alexander Kolobnev and Matti Breschel (both Saxo Bank) finished second and third ahead of Philip Deignan (Cervélo) on the 196km stage from Powerscourt to Waterford.

Singletrack designed by and for mountain bikers gives riders a reason to discover the Northern California coast near Shelter Cove.

Tom Boonen (Quick Step) won the third stage of the Eneco Tour at Hasselt, Belgium, on Friday, edging out overall leader Tyler Farrar of Garmin-Slipstream in a sprint finish which saw Italian Francesco Chicchi take third spot. "I had earmarked this stage and it's super to have won it," said Boonen. "It was really nice today to have been riding in my home region. We went right past my parents' place and my village, my house, my training ground."

Nearly 700 racers lined up for the Trek Border Battle, the eighth race in the Wisconsin Off Road Series.

Française des Jeux’s Yoann Offredo has been ruled out of next week’s Vuelta a España, after suffering injuries in the Eneco Tour. The 22-year-old Offredo crashed in the second stage of the Eneco Tour on Thursday and suffered a collarbone fracture. Offredo had been listed on Française des Jeux’s preliminary start list for the Vuelta.