Road

Fueling up once the alarm sounds is critical.

A day after Michael Albasini won after a long breakaway, Marco Pinotti delivered Columbia-Highroad’s second straight stage victory at the Vuelta al País Vasco on Friday. The veteran Italian put his strong time trialing skills to good use in a late attack and then held off a late charge from Vicenzo Nibali (Liquigas) to win a cold and rainy fifth stage from Gueñes to Zalla.

Johan Bruyneel vigorously defended Lance Armstrong against accusations by French authorities that the seven-time Tour de France champion may have run afoul with anti-doping rules during an out-of-competition test last month in southern France. The Astana general manager, who arrived at the Vuelta al País Vasco on Thursday evening, told the Spanish sports daily MARCA that Armstrong did nothing wrong and insisted that the French have it out for Armstrong.

Chris Horner (Astana) jumped on a plane Friday to return to the United States, but he’s hopeful he’ll be on another flight back to Europe in time to start the Giro d’Italia. Horner, 37, survived a harrowing crash in Thursday’s fourth stage at the Vuelta al País Vasco when he went sliding under a steel guard-rail and escaped without serious injury. Initial X-rays taken Thursday evening at a Spanish hospital did not reveal any broken bones, but the veteran American will undergo more examinations upon his return to the U.S.

The Italian cycling community is big on traditions, and the Giro d’Italia organizer’s choice to repeat one of the most famous stages in the event’s 100-year history was greeted with enthusiasm when it was announced in the winter. At 254-kilometer, stage 10 from Cuneo to Pinerolo through the high Alps was identical to the one in 1949, when campionissimo Fausto Coppi destroyed the opposition with a massive 200km-plus solo breakaway that saw him finish almost 12 minutes ahead of the runner-up, his national rival Gino Bartali, and more than 19 minutes ahead of the rest.

Andrew Bajadali secured the final overall win of the Tour of Thailand Thursday, after his Kelly Benefit Strategies team controlled the action for much of the final stage, a 76km circuit race in Udon Thani. Kelly's wrapped up the race with Jake Erker in fourth overall, Zach Bell sixth and Dan Bowman seventh. The team also won the team classification and finished second on points.

The product development offices Crankbrothers comfortably fill a medium-sized building three blocks from the water in downtown Laguna Beach, California. Step out the front door and you are presented two choices: Turn right to surf or left and take a short spin to rough trails that require a healthy dose of bike handling skill to negotiate. The area is the stomping ground of the Laguna Rads, a long-established group of mountain bike riders, many of whom were instrumental in shaping the sport in its early days.

As the Paris-Roubaix weekend draws near, several teams have announced plans to use special edition frames in the legendary race. German brand Canyon Bicycles, sponsor of Silence-Lotto, has created a “Pavé” version of its Ultimate AL frameset for the team to use. And thanks to a wild-card invitation, the BMC racing team will take the start in Compeigne, with four riders piloting a new carbon-aluminum SLX model, instead of the standard ProMachine SLC01 carbon model.

Silence-Lotto's special edition from Canyon Bicycles

Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Slipstream) finished third in the 161km fourth stage at the Vuelta al País Vasco in Spain, joining a successful, three-man breakaway on Thursday. Michael Albasini (Columbia-Highroad) kicked to victory, with Jurgen Van den Broucke (Silence-Lotto) coming through second and Vande Velde slotting into third after an all-day break in a hilly, seven-climb stage in Spain’s Basque Country.

Edvald Boasson Hagen. His name doesn’t exactly roll off your tongue, but it’s a name you’d better remember because the young Norwegian is only 21 and he has just won his first spring classic. Ghent-Wevelgem may not be the biggest of the classics, and a lot of young riders have won it and not gone on to bigger and better results. But it seems that Boasson Hagen is a little different, a little more special.

Antonio Colom is one of those Spanish riders well known and respected within the peloton, but perhaps not so famous beyond the Pyrénées. A solid climber and consistent performer in week-long stage races, Colom should be called “Mr. Spring,” for his consistent performances in early season races such as Paris-Nice, Ruta del Sol and the Mallorca Challenge. Colom, who turns 31 next month, is in his 10th season as a professional. After a few years on smaller Spanish teams, he joined the Banesto team in 2004 for three seasons before two years with Astana.

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Kelly Benefit Strategies was arguably the most prominent domestic squad to be denied an invitation to February's Tour of California, but the scrappy team has refocused its season and is currently on a tear, dominating stage races on two continents. At the Tour of Thailand, Kelly's Andrew Bajadali took over the GC lead Wednesday, taking the leader's jersey off the shoulders of teammate Jake Erker, who had led the race all week. With one stage left in Thailand, Kelly leads the team GC and has four riders in the top five on GC.

Agritubel's David Le Lay took a narrow lead in the Circuit de la Sarthe stage race in France on Wednesday, after winning the morning's 94km road race and then finishing 10 seconds off the pace, in 14th place, in the afternoon's 6k individual time trial. Jimmy Engoulvent (Besson Chausures-Sojasun) won the time trial, finishing one second ahead of Astana's Andreas Kloden. American Jeff Louder of BMC was eighth and moved into tenth place on the GC following the time trial. The race concludes Friday.

Scott teases time trial bike

The Nature Valley Grand Prix women’s race is joining the men’s as an invitational in 2009. Both races filled in 2008, with teams being turned away. The men’s race had filled for the past five years, but this was a first for the women.

In a thrilling preview of what awaits in the Tour de France later this summer, some of cycling’s top climbers went mano-a-mano up the precipitous green hills of Spain’s Basque Country in Wednesday’s third stage at the Vuelta al País Vasco. Alberto Contador (Astana) attacked with 5km to go on the short but steep Cat. 1 Alto de Ixua to drop rivals he’ll be facing off against in July and ride into the overall leader’s jersey.

Lance Armstrong's Astana team expressed optimism Wednesday over his prospects of recovering from his broken collarbone in time to line up for next month's Tour of Italy. The seven-time Tour de France winner's participation in the Giro, which starts on May 9 was thrown into doubt after he required surgery following his fall in the Vuelta Castilla y Leon race in Spain on March 25. The Texan had a stainless steel plate and 12 screws inserted to stabilize his right collarbone, which was broken in four places, but is now back in training.

The Giro d’Italia is losing one of its marquee stages across the Alps for its centennial celebration due to access problems on the French side of the border. Race officials announced Wednesday that the blockbuster, five-climb 250km stage over the Col d’Izoard and other emblematic climbs in the French Alps scheduled for stage 10 on May 19 between Cuneo and Pinerolo will be altered and stay entirely inside Italy.

Tyler Farrar’s recovery from a shoulder injury is on track and he’s expecting to return to racing next month at the Tour de Romandie. The Garmin-Slipstream sprinter ? who beat back Mark Cavendish in a stage victory at Tirreno-Adriatico in mid-March ? crashed during Milan-San Remo and suffered an AC separation in his right shoulder. No surgery was required, but the injury kept Farrar out of the northern classics this year.

Just two and a half weeks after scoring a brilliant sprint victory in the longest of the European single-day races, Milan-San Remo, Mark Cavendish of the Columbia-Highroad team looks all set to add another classic to his burgeoning list of wins.

Lance Armstrong said he is outraged at claims from France that he had not behaved himself during an out of competition drug test earlier this season. The French Anti-doping Agency (AFLD) had announced on Monday that they had compiled a report on the seven-time Tour de France champion's behavior while undergoing the test. AFLD president Pierre Bordry revealed that he had sent the report to the International Cycling Union (UCI) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on March 30. He did not reveal the report's contents.

Enrico Rossi (Ceramica Flaminia) snagged a narrow victory after being away in an 150km breakaway Tuesday to surprise the peloton in the opening stage of the Circuit de la Sarthe in France. Rossi attacked at 35km in the 192km stage and won by a whisker ahead of the chasing pack, taking a 13-second victory ahead of the sprinters and grabbing the leader’s jersey as an added bonus. Besson Chaussures and FDJeux thought they had things under control to set up their fast men, Jimmy Casper and Sébastien Chavanel, respectively.

Yury Trofimov (Bouygues Telecom) upset the chasing peloton to win Tuesday’s second stage at the Vuelta al País Vasco in Spain after slipping away in a four-man breakaway in the six-climb, 160km route. Trofimov dropped fellow escapee Rein Taarame (Cofidis) with 2.5km to go and crossed the line five seconds clear to celebrate a hard-fought victory. Ben Swift (Katusha) led the main pack across the line with third at 1:10 back.

Andreas Klöden lines up Tuesday for the start of the Circuit de la Sarthe as one of the top favorites for victory. The Astana rider, winner of the French race in 2007, revealed he’s on some strong early season form with a stage victory and third-place overall at Tirreno-Adriatico last month and fifth in his season debut at the Volta ao Algarve in February. For the veteran German, races like Sarthe and next month’s Tour de Romandie (which he won in 2008) are all part of a plan to arrive at the Tour de France in the best possible condition.

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Bissell’s Paul Mach and Jeremy Vennell roared into the windswept Columbia River Gorge and took the top two spots on the podium of the inaugural Cherry Blossom Cycling Classic in its very first stage. There was more drama in the women’s competition. Heather Albert (Riverstone Women’s Racing Team) battled Robin Secrist (Veloforma) and Patricia Bailey (Wines of Washington) throughout the three-day, four-stage race, which ran April 3-5. Bailey won three stages, but in the end the difference proved to be Secrist's victory in the stage-2 time trial.

USA Cycling is hosting 34 athletes in Europe this month, exposing them to some character-building April racing. The organization has brought 14 U23 men, six juniors and 14 women to Europe. The group will race a total of 130 days collectively. “This season marks the 10th year of our U23 National Team program, and the group of athletes we have competing this month represents one of the largest and most talented groups in recent memory,” said Steve Johnson, USA Cycling's chief executive officer.

After a relatively mild winter, colder temperatures and frequent snowfall have come to Colorado. The wide variation in our springtime weather — from 50s and sun one day to 20s and snow the next — has created a perfect opportunity to put the Castelli Insolito Radiation winter jacket to the test. With a retail price of $500, this jacket is not for the faint of heart. But it is packed with features that make it suitable for fall, winter, and springtime rides. I found that this single Castelli jacket could potentially replace two or three separate pieces of my winter wardrobe.

Editor's Note: Be sure to check out the VeloNews.com Cobbles Week home page, which will be updated with previews, interviews and race coverage as this week continues. The page includes Mapmyride maps of the three cobbled classics, a special retrospective gallery of spring classics covers from VeloNews, going back to 1987, and Graham Watson galleries. Basque hills and French cobblestones dominate racing this week in Europe.

Although not as harsh as Paris-Roubaix, the cobbles of the Tour of Flanders do warrant a few concessions from racers’ typical bikes. For wheels, standard steel spokes and box rims are the rule (although of course there are exceptions). Beyond that, each team's mechanics have their own take on the ideal set-up for the Ronde van Vlaanderen. Here are a few of the details we found at a few teams’ hotels and inside the start village in Brugge.

Thomas Voeckler (Bouygues Telecom) will mount a defense of his title at this week's 57th Circuit de la Sarthe, which begins Tuesday in France. The French rider broke his clavicle on March 13 in the sixth stage of Paris-Nice and wasn’t expected to race, but the former Tour de France yellow jersey-holder will be back in competition less than four weeks after his crash. Voeckler, a winner this year at Haut Var and Etoile de Bèsseges, has also confirmed he will start the Giro d’Italia next month.

Luís León Sánchez continues on his spring rampage, winning the opening stage and donning the leader’s jersey of the Vuelta al País Vasco in Spain. But it almost didn’t happen. The 25-year-old Caisse d’Epargne rider was gapped on a fierce second-category climb with 8km remaining in the 142.5km opening stage and only regained contact with 3km to go.

Long Beach, CA – With no races on the national calendar this week, several riders from the OUCH Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis took to the streets for local races on both coasts. The result was two race wins and one overall omnium title, courtesy of John Murphy and Bobby Lea. On Saturday, Murphy followed up his Redlands Criterium win from the week before by winning a convincing sprint from a nine-rider break in the inaugural Long Beach Bicycle Festival.

Alberto Contador (Astana) confirmed he will not race any of the upcoming Ardennes classics. Contador was mulling a start in such races as Flèche Wallonne or Liège-Bastogne-Liège, but he’s left them for later rather to risk injury or illness that might setback his preparation for the Tour de France. “Basque Country will be the last race of this first block and when I finish the race, I am going to take a small vacation to disconnect. I will turn off the mobile phone and later focus on preparing for the Tour,” Contador said.

Allan Davis (Quick Step) continued his grip on the UCI world rankings following Sunday’s Tour of Flanders. Flanders, the fifth event in the newly combined ProTour-historic calendar points system, saw some movement in the ranking system. Heinrich Haussler (Cervélo TestTeam), second at Milan-San Remo, bounced from sixth to second in the rankings following his second place at Flanders. Davis leads with 182 points and Haussler slotting into second with 167. Luis León Sánchez (Caisse d’Epargne), winner of Paris-Nice, slipped from second to third, with 111 points.

Cervelo's Ted King outsprinted OUCH-Maxxis' Tim Johnson Sunday at New England's traditional road season opener, the Michael Schott Memorial Circuit Race, on Marblehead Neck in Massachusetts. The Pro/1-3 race featured a few nationally known pros with New England connections, including King, Johnson, Adam Myerson, Mark and Frank McCormack and young cyclocross star Nick Keough.

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VeloNews reader Anne-Marie Parramore sent us a remarkable series of photos taken as the peloton comes off the Koppenberg in Sunday's Tour of Flanders.

French rider Maxime Bouet (Agritubel) snagged a third-place time bonus in the final stage to claim overall victory at the 27th Volta ao Alentejo in Portugal on Sunday. Candido Barbosa (Palmeiras Resort) shot to his third victory of the week in the 169km stage from Vendas Novas to Evora, with Cesar Quiterio (CC Loulé) coming across second. Bouet slipped into third and the finish-line bonus bounced him from second to victory in the five-day stage race.

Luca Paolini (Acqua e Sapone) sprinted to his first victory of the 2009 season in Sunday’s sixth and final stage at the 39th Settimana Lombarda. Paolini out-kicked last year’s Italian champion Giovanni Visconti (ISD) and Miguel Angel Rubiano (CZP) in a photo finish out of a four-up sprint to claim the win in the 153km stage from Montello to Bergamo and conclude the week of racing across northern Italy.

Ina Teutenberg (Columbia-Highroad) sprinted to victory in the sixth women's Tour of Flanders, held over the cobblestones in the heart of Flanders from Oudenaarde to Ninove. Coming across the line second in the second round of the women’s World Cup series was Kirsten Wild (Cervélo TestTeam) with Emma Johansson (Red Sun) rounding out the podium in third.

When Stijn Devolder was asked Sunday what was different about his second Tour of Flanders victory in two years, he was close to tears. “A friend of mine died at the Tour of Qatar in February, and I promised to remember him the first time I won a race this year,” Devolder said. He was talking about Frederiek Nolf, the Topsport Vlaanderen team rider who died in his sleep one week short of his 22nd birthday.

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Tom Boonen’s race resume runs deep, having won races and stages around the world. Perhaps best known in the United States for his Tour de France stage wins and two victories at Paris-Roubaix, the Quick Step rider’s favorite race lies in his native Belgium, with the Tour of Flanders.

Frank Vandenbroucke – once one of cycling’s top stars who tumbled into a spiral of drug abuse and an apparent suicide attempt – is back in the winner’s circle. The 34-year-old Vandenbroucke won Saturday’s 15km time trial and grabbed the overall leader’s jersey at La Boucle de l’Artois, a second-division French race. Not counting a 2005 kermesse, Vandenbroucke hasn’t won a race in a decade since he won eight races in 1999, including Het Volk, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, two stages at the Vuelta a España and second in the Tour of Flanders.

Domenico Pozzovivo (CSF-Navigare) picked a good time to win his first race as a professional, winning Saturday’s decisive climbing stage at the Settimana Lombarda in northern Italy. The 26-year-old attacked out of a lead, seven-man group and held off veteran Davide Rebellin (Diquigiovanni) to win by two seconds in the 159km queen stage starting and finishing in Flero. Italian Daniele Pietopolli (LPR) finished third at two seconds back as part of a group of six chasers that also included Rebellin to grab the leader’s jersey with just one stage remaining.

David de la Fuente earned his Fuji-Servetto team an important victory in Saturday’s GP Miguel Indurain to open “Basque Week” in Spain. De la Fuente – the most aggressive rider in the 2006 Tour de France – marked a late-race surge by Alexander Kolobnov (Saxo Bank) and two-time winner Fabian Wegmann (Milram) a mountainous course through the hills around Estella. The 191.4km course featured no less than 11 rated climbs, but wasn’t decided until the final kilometer up a short steep climb to the line.

Two days after winning a stage by default, Candido Barbosa (Palmeiras Resort) won straight up in Saturday’s fourth stage at the Volta ao Alentejo in Portugal. Barbosa out-kicked Daniel Petrov (Madeinox Boavista) in the 164.7km stage from Alter do Chao to Nisa to claim victory. Coming through third was Francisco Mancebo (Rock Racing), giving the American squad its second top-three of the week. There were no major shakeups in the overall standings. Hector Guerra (Liberty Seguros), winner of Friday’s time trial, retained the overall leader’s jersey.

Over the course of a nearly 100-year history, the Tour of Flanders has never been as popular as it is today. With a $2 million budget, crowds estimated at 700,000, and 840 volunteers patrolling the 261.5km route, the fabled cobblestone classic from Bruges to Meerbeke is Belgium’s largest annual sport event. The organizing newspaper, Het Nieuwsblad, devoted 24 pages to its Saturday race preview, and expects to fill another 24 pages on Sunday.

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Fabian Cancellara is ready for the Tour of Flanders, he just doesn’t know how ready. The Saxo Bank star said earlier this year that winning the Ronde van Vlaanderen was a big goal of his — but that was before a shoulder injury and a sinus problem sidetracked his training. On Friday evening in Belgium, Cancellara said the important thing is that he is here to race with his team.

Daniele Bennati isn’t going to let muscle pain keep him out of the Tour of Flanders, though it’s likely he’ll have plenty more of that after Sunday’s punishing course. The Liquigas sprinter confirmed he will race Sunday despite some lingering pain from a crash dating back to the second stage of Tirreno-Adriatico. Team doctors said Bennati was suffering from intense muscle pain in his right thigh, which flared up again during this week’s Three Days of De Panne. Bennati, however, insists on racing and the team is standing by his decision.

French rider Jerome Coppel delivered another victory for FDJeux after kicking to victory in Friday’s Route Adélie de Vitré in France. Coppel came through one second ahead of the chasing David Le Lay (Agritubel), with Romain Feillu (Agritubel) coming through third to round out the podium. Critérium International winner Jens Voigt (Saxo Bank) came through with a group at 3:45 in 35th.

Spanish rider Hector Guerra (Liberty Seguros) took control of the Volta ao Alentejo in Portugal on Friday, pulling the double in the 19km time trial.   Guerra won the race in 24:05, 18 seconds faster than runner-up Christophe Moreau (Agritubel).   Guerra also takes over the lead, moving just two seconds ahead of Vitaliy Kondrut (ISD).  

Price: $90 Colors: Red, orange, pink, yellow, green, blue, silver, and black Web site: www.rockymounts.com RockyMounts is replacing its Lariat SL rack with the all-new PitchFork. The new rack is RockyMounts' standard in fork-mounted bike carriers for Thule and Yakima crossbars. The new design is a bit more sleek with a low-profile design for better aerodynamics.

Another sprint in Italy and another victory for Alessandro Petacchi.   The Italian snagged his second win at the Settimana Lombarda in Friday’s stage into Vertova to retain his grip on the overall lead.   Already a winner on Wednesday (plus a member of LPR’s winning team time trial squad to open the race Tuesday), Petacchi made easy work of Luca Paolini (Acqua e Sapone). Francisco Ventoso, the Spanish sprinter on Carmiooro, crossed the line third in the 183.6km course.   The race continues Saturday with the 159km fifth stage starting and finishing in Flero.

Shimano is revamping its Ultegra group, cutting weight from the second-in-line road parts and, in trademark trickle-down fashion, incorporating many features that the company added to its Dura-Ace group last year. The company claims that the new Ultegra 6700 group will be more than 150 grams lighter than the current Ultegra 6600 and 45 grams lighter than the Ultegra SL group.

Rabobank 1 Brown, Graeme 2 Flecha Giannoni, Juan... 3 Hayman, Mathew 4 Horrillo Mun?oz, Pedro 5 Leezer, Tom 6 Nuyens, Nick 7 Stamsnijder, Tom 8 Van Emden, Jos Quick Step 11 Boonen, Tom 12 Devolder, Stijn 13 Hovelijnck, Kurt 14 Hulsmans, Kevin 15 Tosatto, Matteo 16 Van Impe, Kevin 17 Velo, Marco 18 Weylandt, Wouter Silence - Lotto 21 Cretskens, Wilfried 22 Elijzen, Michiel 23 Hoste, Leif 24 Kaisen, Olivier 25 Lang, Sebastian 26 Ljungblad, Jonas 27 Roelandts, Jurgen 28 Scheirlinckx, Staf

Tom Boonen has won the Tour of Flanders twice, but that doesn’t at all diminish his desire for a win again here at the first cobbled classic. “I’m eager,” Boonen told VeloNews. “It’s a big challenge trying to be good in that same period every year. And I’ve achieved that goal almost every year. I think my sensation now is a little bit better than the same period last year. But being good and winning are still a big difference.”

Astana has its fingers crossed for a strong showing in Sunday’s Tour of Flanders, bringing a mixed squad of young yet ambitious riders keen to prove their place among the favorites. With GC riders like Levi Leipheimer and Alberto Contador cooling their jets after finishing 1-2 in the Vuelta a Castilla y León last week, the Astana squad brings its Kazakh contingent to the Belgian classic. Maxim Iglinskiy, third in the E3-Prijs Vlaanderen last weekend, will be the team’s best chance, with riders like Assan Bazayev and Dmitriy Muravyev hoping to be in the mix.

Columbia-Highroad brings a multi-pronged attack for Sunday’s Tour of Flanders, with George Hincapie and Marcus Burghardt lining up as the team’s two top options. The veteran American, third at Flanders in 2006, and Burghardt, winner of the 2007 Ghent-Wevelgem, will be supported by a strong Columbia team laden with motivated riders.

Tour de France champion Carlos Sastre continues on his road toward the Giro d’Italia with a trip to the hilly, six-day Vuelta al País Vasco. The Cervélo TestTeam captain wants to see marked improvement in his condition during challenging and highly competitive week of racing in Spain’s hilly Basque Country. “It’s the last stage race that I will race before the Giro and I hope to feel the accumulation of the work I’ve done,” Sastre said. “The goal is to arrive at the start of the Giro in the best condition.”

The public prosecutor's office in Vienna on Friday announced five new arrests in the anti-doping case that has rocked Austrian sport over the last few weeks. Five unnamed people were arrested in the provinces of Vienna, Lower and Upper Austria and Carinthia between February and the beginning of April, said prosecutor spokesman Gerhard Jarosch. Some of them were active in the "fitness and weight training" sectors and are suspected of dealing in doping agents on a commercial scale, thereby contravening anti-doping and pharmaceutical laws, Jarosch said.

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Check out CyclingTips's author page.

Garmin-Slipstream rider Blake Caldwell, who narrowly missed out on a national road championship in a photo finish against Tyler Hamilton last September, fell while training in Spain Thursday and broke his femur. Team manager Jonathan Vaughters confirmed that Caldwell had fractured the neck of his femoral head while training in Girona. “It’s a similar injury to what happened to Floyd Landis,” Vaughters said. “Hopefully Blake won’t have all the same problems Floyd had.”

Samuel Caldeira (Palmeiras Resort-Prio Tavira) was first across the line in the second stage of the Volta ao Alentejo in Portugal on Thursday, but judges relegated him for dangerous sprinting.   Instead, Filipe Cardoso (Liberty Seguros) was awarded the victory in the 209.9km stage, with Cesar Quiterio (CC Loulé) taking second and Bruno Lima (Madeinox Boavista) with third.  

Frederik Willems (Liquigas), won the Three Days of De Panne on Thursday following the race-concluding 15.3km time trial which was won by Garmin’s Bradley Wiggins. Willems nipped in ahead of Dutch racers Joost Posthuma and Tom Leezer for his third career success in seven years as a pro. Wiggins won the time trial, which followed on from a 112km third regular stage where Isle of Man sprinter Mark Cavendish saw off all-comers with his second consecutive victory over Australian rival Robbie McEwen.

Another sprint at Settimana Lombarda in Italy, but a different winner this time as Mattia Gavazzi gives underdog Diquigiovanni yet another win on the 2009 season. Gavazzi won the 164km third stage by out-kicking Yuri Metlushenko (Amore e Vita), with former world track champion Theo Bos (Rabobank continental) continuing to show progress with his second consecutive third place. Overnight leader Alessandro Petacchi (LPR) conserved the leader’s jersey going into Friday’s fourth stage.

One of the most famous and unique endurance races in the world takes place annually in Alaska. The Iditarod sled dog race was won on March 18, when Alaskan Lance Mackey reached the end of the 1049-mile route from Anchorage to Nome in nine days, 21 hours, 38 minutes and 46 seconds. The last finisher came in nearly six days later.

Quick Step 1. Stijn Devolder 2. Tom Boonen 3. Sylvain Chavanel Kevin De Weert Kevin Van Impe Maarten Wynants Matteo Tosatto Carlos Barredo Silence-Lotto 11 CRETSKENS Wilfried 12 DELAGE Mickael 13 GILBERT Philippe 14 HOSTE Leif 15 LANG Sebastian 16 SCHEIRLINCKX Staf 17 VAN AVERMAET Greg 18 VANSUMMEREN Johan AG2R-La Mondiale 21 CLERC Aurélien 22 DION Renaud 23 ELMIGER Martin 24 HINAULT Sébastien 25 PINEAU Cédric 26 POULHIES Stéphane 27 ROUSSEAU Nicolas 28 SMUKULIS Gatis Astana 31 BAZAYEV Assan 32 IGLINSKY Maxim

Garmin-Slipstream is enjoying its best March ever. With stage victories by Christian Vande Velde in Paris-Nice and Tyler Farrar in Tirreno-Adriatico, the team has stepped up nicely in its second season at the elite level. David Zabriskie rode to third at the Castilla y León tour last week and Danny Pate capped a strong spring with third overall at Critérium International. The results marked the first podiums at top-level, European stage races for both riders.

Milram will bring its young guns to the Tour of Flanders on Sunday, hoping for a shot at surprising the favorites. The team is betting its lot on Niki Terpstra and Martin Velits, with strong support from former Paris-Roubaix winner Servais Knaven and riders like Gerard Ciolek.

In a repeat of his victory Wednesday, Mark Cavendish (Columbia-Highroad) relegated Robbie McEwen (Katusha) to second place for the second day running at the Three Days of De Panne. The recently crowned Milan-San Remo champion roared to victory in Thursday’s short, 112km stage, pushing back a threat from McEwen by a half-wheel. Dutch rider Andre Schulze came through third. Overnight leader Filippo Pozzato (Katusha), who won the opening stage as part of a breakaway, lost 40 seconds and ceded the leader’s jersey to Frederik Willems (Liquigas).

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Ghent-Wevelgem is one of Belgium's classic April races, held every year on the Wednesday between the bookending weekends of The Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. The first race, held in 1934, was brutal, taking riders over rough cobblestone roads. It hasn't gotten any easier. Long called "the sprinter's classic," because of its relatively flat run-in, today riders must twice climb the very steep, narrow and cobbled Kemmelberg climb. It is here the race is often decided.

The Tour of Flanders dates to 1913. Photographer Graham Watson has not been capturing its action for that long, but you might find some surprises among our favorite Watson photos from the last three decades of the race. This Sunday's race is sure to create some more memorable scenes, and Watson, and VeloNews, will be there to capture them. Check back Sunday for more of his photos, along with live coverage and a race report from VeloNews' John Wilcockson.