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The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority announced Wednesday that the International Court of Arbitration for Sport has ordered an increase in an earlier suspension handed down to Nathan O’Neill. Following a hearing in June of last year, O’Neill received a 15-month suspension for testing positive for the stimulant Phentermine at the 2007 Tour of Elk Grove, in Illinois. A hearing panel had found that O’Neill had not intentionally used the drug for competition and gave him a sentence lighter than the usual two-year ban for a first-time offense.

Scores of top names are heading to Spain in February and March to log some early season race miles ahead of the season’s first major races. Officials at the Mallorca Challenge (February 8-12) and the Vuelta al Castilla y León (March 23-27) announced that some of cycling’s biggest stars are expected to attend their respective races. Among the top names heading to Mallorca include Robbie McEwen (Katusha), Beijing Olympic gold medalist Samuel Sánchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and 2006 Tour de France winner Oscar Pereiro and Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne).

Cycling chief Pat McQuaid on Wednesday welcomed a Spanish judge's decision to reopen the Operación Puerto inquiry into blood doping. Operación Puerto, Spain's most far-reaching doping investigation, was put on ice last September but a Madrid court ordered it to be restarted this month. Public prosecutors, the Spanish Sports Council, the Spanish cycling federation, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and the World Anti-Doping Agency were among those calling for the probe to be re-opened.

Australian journalist Benjamin Fitzmaurice got a look at the underside of Lance Armstrong's Trek Madone at the Tour Down Under this week, and saw something unexpected: "The bike has some letters and numbers on the bottom bracket," Fitzmaurice said. "The guy from Trek said that he would show us but could not tell us what they meant. When we shot the bottom bracket a guy from Astana staff came rushing over to question what we were doing ..."

As we headed to the January 18 World Cup in Roubaix, France, I was excited to race again after 10 days of good weather and training rides in Spain. The race has a great atmosphere at one of the most special cycling venues in Europe.

The Gulf state of Qatar will launch a women's tour next month, bringing together 15 teams, including six national squads, and 90 riders. The women's Tour of Qatar will run February 8-10, following the men's tour, which runs from February 1-6. Although 90 riders from 14 countries on five continents will gather for the three-stage race, there will be no local riders competing. "We hope to gradually develop women's sport in Qatar," said Sheikh Khalid Bin Ali Abdulla al-Thani, head of the Qatari cycling federation.

Ivan Basso says he’s not worried about Spanish officials possibly re-opening the Operación Puerto blood-doping investigation because he’s “already paid his price.” Basso, making his season debut this week in the Tour de San Luís in Argentina, told the Spanish daily MARCA that he’s already turned the page after serving a racing ban.

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Following a difficult year that saw his career aspirations go off the boil, Quick Step’s Queenslander Allan Davis found his form at exactly the right time, flying up the final 500 meters in Wednesday’s finish in Stirling to capture both the second stage and race lead in the 2009 Tour Down Under.

Lucas Sebastian Haedo, an Argentinian who races for the American Colavita team, won stage 2 of his home country's Tour de San Luis on Tuesday. Haedo held off Nazaret Prado of Brazil and Alfredo Lucero of Argentina to win the 174km stage from San Luis/La Toma to Mirador Del Potrero.

Santa Cruz is unveiling its latest cross-country machine, a carbon fiber Blur XC, which looks to be the fastest endurance race bike the brand has ever built.

Editor's Note: Drew Geer is an endurance mountain bike racer who has been using a computer training log since 1998 and has hand-written training logs going back to 1972. He's been an Apple Mac user since 1984. Geer paid retail for each of the products he reviewed in this article.

Dear Lennard,

Lance Armstrong may have to wait months before displaying the top-end race speed that was characteristic of his seven-year domination of the Tour de France.

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He said last year Australia was where he found himself. Facing sponsorship uncertainties, Columbia-High Road’s André Greipel went on to a stellar 12-win season that was only topped by his teammate Mark Cavendish. And Tuesday in Mawson Lakes, Germany’s ‘Gorilla’ picked up where he left off, the defending champion sailing straight down the middle of the road to capture the opening road stage of the 2009 Tour Down Under and find himself in familiar surroundings in the leader’s ochre jersey.

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Editor's Note: Tom LeCarner, VeloNews' copy editor, is an avid cyclist who has been unable to ride and train for most of 2008 because of knee pain. He is being treated at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine and using Specialized Body Geometry equipment and services at Specialized's expense, and reporting on his progress in regular columns. You can read LeCarner's previous columns here.