Road

Bissell’s Ian Boswell and Paul Mach finish one-two in the 50th annual Nevada City Classic.

Getting down a mountain you have just climbed is half the fun of climbing, and in a long Gran Fondo descending is more or less unavoidable.

The Clásica de San Sebastián – Spain’s most important one-day race held a week after the Tour de France on July 31 – will be more difficult this year for its 30th edition.

After racing in Europe and the Middle East earlier this season, American Ben King won the Best Young Rider competition Sunday at the Nature Valley Grand Prix. By placing 6th on the decisive final day, King secured his 7th overall spot on Father’s Day. After the race, the Trek-Livestrong rider was quick to give a shout out to his dad, who got him into cycling.

The German six-day rider Christian Grasmann of TransAlt.org p/b Rockstar Games won the 37th Harlem Skyscraper Criterium on Sunday in a breakaway that stayed away almost from the gun.

Throughout her race-winning 3,00-mile ride across the U.S., observers and fans talked of how recumbent racer Barbara Buatois looked as if she were out for a Sunday ride. And aside from appearing a bit darker than she did in Oceanside, California, at the start, she still looked much the same as she crossed the finish line in Annapolis, Maryland on Sunday, finishing in a time of 11 days, 19 hours and 48 minutes with an average speed of 10.59 mph.

2010 Nature Valley Grand Prix Stillwater Criterium women's results

Nature Valley Grand Prix Stillwater Criterium men's results

Rory Sutherland (UnitedHealthcare-Maxxis) once again used the final stage at the Nature Valley Grand Prix — and that stage's vicious Chilkoot Hill — to take the overall win.

The Mighty Tour De Nez wrapped up Saturday with a hilly, high-elevation circuit stage held at Northstar-At-Tahoe in Truckee, California. Luna's Katerina Nash and HBC's Graham Howard won the final stage.

Liquigas closed out of the Tour of Slovenia on Sunday with a double. Francesco Chicchi kicked to victory in the final stage while Vincenzo Nibali claimed the overall.

Shelley Evans (Peanut Butter & Co.-Twenty 12) went on the offensive Sunday on the 18-percent wall of Chilkoot Hill in the final criterium stage of the Nature Valley Grand Prix. Evelyn Stevens (HTC-Columbia) took a solo flyer with three laps to go to claim the stage win, but Evans took the overall win.

Lance Armstrong has played down his chances of winning an eighth Tour de France title despite lining up at the July 3-25 race with a quality-packed RadioShack team.

Replay: Live coverage of 2010 Tour de Suisse stage 9

Results from the 2010 Ster Elektrotoer.

Adam Hansen (HTC-Columbia) wins the 24th edition of the Ster Elektrotoer as Belgian Kris Boeckmans (Topsport Vlaanderen) takes the fifth and final stage.

David Moncoutie (Cofidis) wins the Route du Sud as Mitchell Docker (Skil-Shimano) takes the final stage.

Results from the 2010 Tour du Suisse.

Fränk Schleck (Saxo Bank) wins the 2010 Tour de Suisse after Tony Martin (HTC-Columbia) took the final stage, a 27km individual time trial in Liestal.

Casey B. Gibson's photos from stage 5 of the NVGP.

Start times - Final TT at Tour de Suisse

Nature Valley Grand Prix stage 5 pro women results

Nature Valley Grand Prix stage 5 pro men results

Erinne Willock (Webcor) wins the stage and Linda Melanie Villumsen (HTC-Columbia) takes the jersey at NVGP.

Team Type 1's Ken Hanson sprinted to victory at the end of a hilly road race in stage 5 of the Nature Valley Grand Prix.

Results from the 2010 Route du Sud.

Casey B. Gibson's photos from stage 4 of the NVGP.

Replay: Live coverage of the 2010 Tour de Suisse stage 8

A few months after retiring from one of the most successful careers in the sport, Kristin Armstrong is still living bike racing. Only now, the Olympic and two-time world time trial champion is in a new role as director of Peanut Butter & Co.-2012.

Caisse d'Epargne scores 1-2 in Swiss Tour stage, Gesink keeps lead

David Moncoutie (Cofidis) grabbed the leader's jersey in the Route du Sud after winning the second half of Saturday’s double-stage day.

Slovenian Jure Robic won his fifth Race Across America on Friday, finishing more than 12 hours ahead of runner-up Gerhard Gulewicz. Recumbent racer Barbara Buatois still leads the women’s race and is expected to finish early Sunday.

Jacquelyn Crowell (Team Type 1) and Juan Pablo Dotti (Aerocat Cycling Team) owned the road during Stage 2 of the Tour of America’s Dairyland presented by Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board.

Contador: ‘Alps won’t decide Tour’

Kelly Benefit Strategies was able to hold off assaults on Scott Zwizanski’s yellow jersey, but no one was able to answer Hilton Clarke in the final meters as he sprinted to his second Nature Valley stage win for UnitedHealthcare.

Shelley Evans takes over the Nature Valley lead as Chloe Hosking wins stage 4

Transported from the sedate streets of Sparks to the rowdy downtown corridors of Reno, the Tour de Nez fired up again Friday night for a stage 2 circuit race. Under-23 hard man Tucker Gerald (Park Place Dealerships) nosed out the win for the men while U.S. National team rider Janel Holcomb was awarded the top step for the women after a crash-marred final sprint.

The 18th annual Mighty Tour de Nez sprinted to a start under clear skies and perfect temps on Thursday, June 16th.

Chocolate milk and blue skies kicked off stage one of the Tour of America’s Dairyland presented by Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board on Thursday during the Shorewood Criterium Cycling Classic presented by Tim Hart DDS, Jesse Smith DDS, and Jerry Pearce, Rainbow Jersey Bicycles.

Stage 2 results, 2010 Tour of America's Dairyland

Michael Barry is in the running for the final spot of the Team Sky’s Tour de France team.

Basso readies for Tour de France

Vachon wins Route du Sud opener

Henderson wins at Elektrotoer

Replay: Live coverage of the 2010 Tour de Suisse stage 7

Burghardt scores again at Tour de Suisse, Gesink keeps jersey

Second-placed Gerhard Gulewicz's crew remained optimistic of their rider's chance at overtaking leader Jure Robic, who is charging toward his third RAAM victory.

After the Minnesota state patrol received reports of nearby tornadoes from the national weather service, stage 3 of the Nature Valley Grand Prix was brought to a halt 14 miles in.

With the start of the Tour de France just 15 days away, it’s a reasonable question to wonder which Armstrong will show up in Rotterdam. VeloNews.TV polled several prominent figures in the pro peloton for their opinion, including Michael Rogers, Jens Voigt, and last year’s Tour runner up Andy Schleck.

A rash of carbon fork steerer breakages has some concerned.

Replay: Live coverage of the 2010 Tour de Suisse stage 6

Gesink wins climbers' stage to grab lead at Tour de Suisse

British sprinter Mark Cavendish has pulled out of the Tour of Switzerland prior to the race's sixth stage, his HTC-Columbia team said Thursday.

Lampre confirms talks with Kashechkin

Noè isn’t retiring yet, Nibali to Slovenia

Soler back for Route du Sud, likely for Tour

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Hilton Clarke won the St. Paul Criterium by multiple bike lengths ahead of UnitedHealthcare teammate Karl Menzies and the Kenda-Geargrinder duo of Luca Damiani and Rob Bush. In the women’s race, HTC-Columbia’s Chloe Hosking jumped around Theresa Cliff-Ryan (Colavita) to take the stage win in downtown St. Paul.

Nature Valley Grand Prix stage 2 results from the St. Paul criterium

The largest professional and amateur cycling event ever staged in Oklahoma City took place June 12th and 13th at the Oklahoma City Rocks Criterium.

Duarte wins Montañés, mulls offers

Jos Van Emden led a Rabobank sweep of the podium spots in Wednesday’s prologue opener at the Ster Elektrotoer in Holland.

Burghardt claims stage at Swiss Tour, Martin holds lead

Alison Starnes (Tibco) yelled from the effort as she came across the hilltop finish line of the 6-mile time trial that opened the Nature Valley Grand Prix. She didn't know it at the time, but the painful effort earned Starnes her first NRC win.

2010 Nature Valley Grand Prix results

The start of the fifth stage of the Tour of Switzerland was symbolically delayed by two minutes Wednesday as riders expressed their anger at HTC-Columbia's Mark Cavendish for the crash in the finish sprint of Tuesday's stage.

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Check out CyclingTips's author page.

Check out CyclingTips's author page.

Mark Cavendish (HTC-Columbia) is being penalized and fined for causing a crash near the finish of the fourth stage of the Tour of Switzerland on Tuesday.

Tejay Van Garderen is still relishing his milestone podium spot at the recent Critérium du Dauphiné.

HTC-Columbia's Michael Rogers did not start the Tour de Suisse on Tuesday, opting instead to head to altitude to continue his specific training for the Tour de France.

Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-Farnese Vini) won stage 4 of the Tour de Suisse on Tuesday, after dodging a nasty finish sprint crash that took down Mark Cavendish, Mark Cavendish, Heinrich Haussler and Tom Boonen, among others.

Neben looks at the coach-athlete relationship

A tall reader asks why tall bikes often just look — and ride — so wrong.

Tongues are wagging that Alberto Contador looks vulnerable after he couldn’t dominate the Critérium du Dauphiné, his final test before July’s Tour de France.

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The team was not included in the list of 22 squads invited to the 2010 Vuelta, set to start Aug. 28 in Sevilla. Sixteen teams were already selected, but RadioShack was not among the final six wild-card selections revealed Monday.