Road

Yauheni Hutarovich (FDJ) won the opening stage of the five-day Étoile de Bessèges in Tuesday’s 150km run from Beaucaire to Bellegarde in southern France.

Organizers of the Tour of California said Wednesday that athletes in this year's race will be subject to a rigorous anti-doping program that it says goes far beyond the programs at other races.

Fans hoping to see the professional debut of Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing) will have to wait a little while longer. Phinney, the U.S. national time trial champion, announced on his blog Wednesday that he will miss his planned start at the Tour of Qatar due to a knee injury.

VeloNews' European correspondent Andrew Hood has had a chance to touch base with some of the top U.S. road pros in recent weeks, and he's gathered up highlights from their 2010 campaign and what they expect for the coming season.

MADRID (VN) — Movistar’s entry into the choppy waters of Spanish cycling made headlines south of the Pyrénées simply due to the size and symbolic significance of what the telecommunications giant brings to the table.

SYDNEY (AFP) — Up and coming Australian cyclist Jack Bobridge claimed one of track cycling's biggest prizes Wednesday when he beat Chris Boardman's 15-year-old world record for the 4km pursuit.

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David Etxebarria — the former Spanish classics specialist who was marginalized during the Operación Puerto doping investigation of 2006 — criticized Alberto Contador in a series of searing Twitter postings.

Don Catlin, former director of the UCLA Olympic Analytical Lab and, briefly, the overseer of Lance Armstrong's anti-doping program during his 2009 comeback, says a recent Sports Illustrated article on Armstrong contains innuendo and mischaracterizes elements of the story about him.

The Univest grand Prix organizer weighs in on the dispute between the Tour of the Battenkill and USA Cycling.

Mike Anderson, who worked as a mechanic and handyman for Lance Armstrong during the Texan’s years of Tour de France domination, has told VeloNews that he stands by accusations he has made that Armstrong possessed performance-enhancing drugs, and said he is “ashamed” of his former association with the star cyclist.

Former USA Cycling president Jim Ochowicz has downplayed allegations from Floyd Landis that he has been involved in political maneuvering between U.S. riders and the UCI.

Stage:

• 1. Andrea GUARDINI, (ITA), at 2:24:30
• 2. Robert FöRSTER, (GER) Unitedhealthcare Presented by Maxxis, at 0
• 3. Anuar MANAN, (MAS), at 0
• 4. Christoff VAN HEERDEN, (RSA) Mtn Cycling, at 0
• 5. Kenny Robert VAN HUMMEL, (NED) Skil-Shimano, at 0

• 1. Jonathan MONSALVE, (VEN) Androni Giocattoli-Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni, at 30:08:57
• 2. Libardo NINO CORREDOR, (COL) Letua Cycling Team, at 5
• 3. Emanuele SELLA, (ITA) Androni Giocattoli-Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni, at 24
• 4. Dennis VAN NIEKERK, (RSA) Mtn Cycling, at 25
• 5. Rahim EMEMI, (IRI) Azad University Iran, at 25

Nick Legan puts a pair of Mercury carbon clinchers to the test.

Three-time U.S. national road champion “Fast” Freddie Rodriguez will join Team Specialized Racing in 2011 as a board member, mentor and rider.

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Details of the 2011 Amgen Tour of California stage routes and participating teams are beginning to take shape. Most notably, VeloNews has learned, the race will feature two summit finishes, including one atop San José’s steep Sierra Road climb on stage 4.

After six days of trying, the breakaway specialists in Le Tour de Langkawi finally had their say Monday, going clear during a shortened stage to Nilai and fighting it out for the win.

Stage:

• 1. Boris SHPILEVSKY, (RUS) Petrochemical Tabriz Cycling Team, at 2:40:52
• 2. Perrig QUEMENEUR, (FRA), at 2
• 3. Robert FöRSTER, (GER) Unitedhealthcare Presented by Maxxis, at 5
• 4. Baptiste PLACKAERT, (BEL) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago, at 5
• 5. Omar LOMBARDI, (ITA) Colnago-CSF, at 5

• 1. Jonathan MONSALVE, (VEN) Androni Giocattoli-Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni, at 27:44:27
• 2. Libardo NINO CORREDOR, (COL) Letua Cycling Team, at 5
• 3. Emanuele SELLA, (ITA) Androni Giocattoli-Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni, at 24
• 4. Dennis VAN NIEKERK, (RSA) Mtn Cycling, at 25
• 5. Rahim EMEMI, (IRI) Azad University Iran, at 25

The USA CRITS Championship Series is on the rise in 2011. The series will roll out in Athens, Georgia, in April and will include ten men’s and eight women’s events, up from eight and five a year ago, respectively. Isaac Howe (Mountain Khakis-Jittery Joe’s) and Erica Allar (Vera Bradley Foundation) won the series overall titles in 2010.

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Team Movistar’s official presentation is Tuesday in Madrid, but Franco Pellizotti won’t be signing a late-hour contract with the Spanish team because his ongoing doping case remains unresolved.

Cuesta, who will turn 42 in June, landed a deal over the weekend with the Spanish pro continental team Caja Rural that will keep him the peloton through the 2011 season.

Building on the magazine’s award-winning aero wheel test, VeloNews creates a new, intensive method of bicycle evaluation

Stage 3

• 1. Manuel Belletti (Ita), Colnago-CSF, at 4:29:42
• 2. Danilo Napolitano (Ita), Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo, s.t.
• 3. Sacha Modolo (Ita), Colnago-CSF, s.t.
• 4. Gianluca Maggiore (Ita), s.t.
• 5. Oscar Gatto (Ita), s.t.

Final overall

• 1. Daniele Pietropolli (Ita), Lampre-Farnese Vini, 13:52:54
• 2. Jose Rodolfo Serpa Perez (Col), Androni Giocattoli-Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni, at 0:06
• 3. Daniel Oss (Ita), Liquigas-Doimo, at 0:09
• 4. Damiano Caruso (Ita), Liquigas-Doimo, at 0:10
• 5. Fortunato Baliani (Ita), at 0:10

Daniele Pietropolli (Lampre-ISD) wins the Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria as Manuel Belletti (Colnago-CSF Inox) takes the finale.

• 1. Jérémy Roy (Fra), Française des Jeux , at 3:30:55
• 2. Sylvain Georges (Fra), Auber 93 , at 2:38
• 3. Romain Feillu (Fra), at 2:43
• 4. Jure Kocjan (Slo), Team Type 1 , at 2:43
• 5. Arthur Vichot (Fra), Française des Jeux , at 2:43

Jéremy Roy (FDJ) rode away with the GP La Marseillaise on Sunday in France to win the first one-day race of the 2011 European racing calendar.

Steve Thomas chats with Libardo Nino, the 42-year-old Colombian climbing who is just two seconds out of the lead at the Tour de Langkawi.

After taking a frustrated second on Saturday's stage to Tampin, UnitedHealthcare's Robert Forster went one better to blaze home first into Jasin on the eighth leg of the Tour de Langkawi.

Stage 8:

• 1. Robert FöRSTER, (GER) UnitedHealthcare, in 3:23:32
• 2. André SCHULZE, (GER) CCC Polsat Polkowice, at s.t.
• 3. Dene ROGERS, (NZL), at s.t.
• 4. Andrea GUARDINI, (ITA), at s.t.
• 5. Boris SHPILEVSKY, (RUS) Petrochemical Tabriz Cycling Team, at s.t.

• 1. Jonathan MONSALVE, (VEN) Androni Giocattoli-Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni, at 25:03:12
• 2. Libardo NINO CORREDOR, (COL) Letua Cycling Team, at 2
• 3. Emanuele SELLA, (ITA) Androni Giocattoli-Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni, at 21
• 4. Dennis VAN NIEKERK, (RSA) Mtn Cycling, at 23
• 5. Rahim EMEMI, (IRI) Azad University Iran, at 24

Zdenek Stybar overcomes a battalion of Belgians to defend his world cyclocross crown.

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Pegasus Racing, which just six months ago aimed to become Australia’s first ProTour team, has been denied a Continental license, leaving more than a dozen riders without jobs for 2011.

Stage 7

• 1. Andrea Guardini (ITA), Farnese Vini-Neri Sotttoli, 149.5km in 3:24:57
• 2. Robert Forster (GER), United Healthcare Pro Cycling, s.t.
• 3. Dene Rogers (NZL), Giant Kenda Pro Cycling Team, s.t.
• 4. Boris Shpilevsky (RUS), Tabriz Petrochemical Team, s.t.
• 5. Marcel Kittel (GER), Skil Shimano Cycling Team, s.t.

Overall, after stage 7

• 1. Libardo Nino Corredor (COL), Le Tua Cycling Team, 21:39:42
• 2. Jonnatha Monsalve (VEN), Androni Giocattoli, at 0:02
• 3. Emanuele Sella (ITA), Androni Giocattoli, at 0:19
• 4. Dennis Van Niekerk (RSA), Mtn Qhubeka, at 0:22
• 5. Rahim Emami (IRI), Azad University Cycling Team, s.t.

Andrea Guardini (Farnese Vini-Neri Sottoli) won his fourth bunch sprint in the Tour de Langkawi on Saturday.

The Netherlands' Lars Van der Haar took the worlds Under-23 men's title, charging to the line as teammate Mike Teunissen outsprinted the Czech Republic's Karel Hnik to take second on a muddy and slippery course in St. Wendel, Germany on Saturday.

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France's Clément Venturini led a three-up French sweep of the juniors' men's event at the 2011 world cyclocross championships in St. Wendel, Germany, on Saturday.

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The public soap opera that has developed over the past few week between Trent Lowe, Matt White and Slipstream Sports has had all the intrigue of a John Grisham novel — blackmail, betrayal, firings, lawyers and a Spanish doctor with a controversial past.

The cycling union announced Friday that non-European events must invite their regions’ top teams. For the U.S., the region is the Americas, and this means three Colombian squads may earn invites to the U.S.’s biggest races, likely displacing some U.S. teams.

MONACO (AFP) - Embattled Tour de France winner Alberto Contador was wiped from the record when his former Astana team staged its 2011 launch on Friday.

PUIGPUNYENT, Spain (VN) – Bjarne Riis said he will stick by Alberto Contador during his ongoing fight against doping charges so long as evidence suggests that clenbuterol came from accidental contamination.

MALLORCA, Spain (VN) – An angry Alberto Contador vows to fight against a doping ban and reasserted his claims of innocence against charges that he doped to win the 2010 Tour de France.

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Stage 6:

• 1. Andrea Guardini, (ITA) Farnese Vini - Neri Sotttoli, s.t.
• 2. Anuar Manan, (MAS) Terengganu Proasia Cycling, s.t.
• 3. Takashi Miyazawa, (JPN) Farnese Vini - Neri Sotttoli, s.t.
• 4. Harrif Salleh Mohd, (MAS) Terengganu Proasia Cycling, s.t.
• 5. Jae Jang Chan, (KOR) Korea National Team, s.t.

• 1. Libardo Nino Corredor, (COL) Le Tua Cycling Team, in 18h14'45"
• 2. Jonnatha Monsalve, (VEN) Androni Giocattoli, at 0:02
• 3. Emanuele Sella, (ITA) Androni Giocattoli, at 0:19
• 4. Dennis Van Niekerk, (RSA) Mtn Qhubeka, at 0:22
• 5. Rahim Emami, (IRI) Azad University Cycling Team, s.t.

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Showing that he can still compete strongly at 43 years of age, Libardo Nino Corredor (Le Tua) took over the general classification lead at the Tour de Langkawi Thursday. The veteran Colombian rider placed second on the gruelling stage to Genting Highlands, battling wind and rain to finish just behind the victorious Venezuelan rider Jonnatha Monsalve (Androni Giocattoli).

MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Spanish cyclist David Garcia has been handed a two-year doping ban following his positive test at the last Tour of Spain, the Spanish Cycling Federation said Thursday.

Quack! Nick answers questions about Q-factor, tire choices for epic rides and more

Martin Hardie, the Australian law professor representing former Garmin rider Trent Lowe, is rejecting claims made by Slipstream Sports that Lowe demanded €500,000 or he would go public with his 2009 visit to a clinic run by former U.S. Postal Service doctor Luis del Moral.

PALMA DE MAJORCA, Spain (AFP) - Tour de France champion Alberto Contador feels he has been "unfairly punished" by Spain's cycling federation, which has proposed suspending him for one year for a positive doping test, his spokesman said Thursday.

The UCI on Thursday sought to clarify that a one-year ban for Alberto Contador — announced by the rider's spokesman Wednesday — is only a preliminary proposal by the Spanish Cycling Federation.

Andy Schleck does not consider himself a Tour winner, he told the Dutch paper Wielerland. "For me Alberto is the winner of the 2010 Tour. I would love to win the Tour on my own." Schleck has said previously that he did not want to win the Tour via Contador's suspension.

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A reader wants to know why an unethical athlete would look to clenbuterol for performance-enhancement.

Now that evidence suggests the metabolites of plasticizers in Alberto Contador's urine samples a reader wants to know if that's proof of doping.

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MADRID, Spain (AFP) - The Spanish Cycling Federation will inform Tour de France champion Alberto Contador of the results of its investigation into his positive drugs test from the 2010 race very shortly, a spokesman for the federation told AFP on Wednesday.

Two weeks ago, (UnitedHealthcare) was looking for miles in the saddle ahead of the Tour of Langkawi. On Thursday he’ll be looking for the leader’s jersey when the race hits the brutal slopes of the Genting Highlands.

The curious case of Trent Lowe’s 2009 visit to Spanish doctor Luis del Moral, which cost Garmin-Cervélo director Matt White his job Sunday, added a bizarre chapter Tuesday when Slipstream Sports, the management group behind the Garmin team, issued a statement claiming that Lowe had threatened to blackmail the team for €500,000 (US$670,000) over potentially damaging information.

Stage:

• 1. Takeaki Ayabe, (JPN) Aisan Racing Team, 3h42'15"
• 2. Libardo Nino Corredor, (COL) Le Tua Cycling Team, same time
• 3. Amir Zargari, (IRI) Azad University Cycling Team, s.t.
• 4. Thomas Bonnin, (FRA) Skil Shimano Cycling Team, s.t.
• 5. Christopher Jones, (USA) United Healthcare Pro Cycling, s.t.
GC:
• 1. Takeaki Ayabe, (JPN) Aisan Racing Team, at
• 2. Libardo Nino Corredor, (COL) Le Tua Cycling Team, at 0:04
• 3. Amir Zargari, (IRI) Azad University Cycling Team, at 0:06
• 4. Hossein Askari, (IRI) Tabriz Petrochemical Team, at 0:09
• 5. Thomas Bonnin, (FRA) Skil Shimano Cycling Team, at 0:10