Interbike, the largest bicycle trade show in the U.S., opened Monday with the first of two days of outdoor bicycle testing at Bootleg Canyon, a park about a half hour outside Las Vegas, Nevada. After the demos in Boulder City, the show will continue with three indoor days at the Sands Expo & Convention Center in Las Vegas.
Although he could potentially earn his third successive rainbow jersey in the individual time trial, Olympic medalist Fabian Cancellara has announced that he will skip this week's world cycling championships in Varese, Italy. "I lack the force," the 27-year-old time trial king wrote on the Swiss Cycling Federation’s Web site. "You can't win races with passion alone." Cancellara, who has won the past two world time trial titles, was among the favorites to win the race against the 43.7-kilometer race against the clock on Thursday.
The chance of making history by winning a third consecutive road race crown at cycling's world championships this week has been keeping Paolo Bettini dreaming all summer. But at the men's road race on Sunday, September 28, the energetic little rider known as the 'Cricket' will need to outmuscle, and outfox, at least three potential rival teams aiming to bring home the coveted rainbow jersey. And one rider in particular, Tour de France points winner Oscar Freire, who has arguably more reason than the Italian to push his legs that extra mile.
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Tim Johnson and Jeremy Powers of Cannondale-cyclocrossworld.com played the numbers on Kona's Ryan Trebon at Sunday's Rad Racing GP in Tacoma, Washington, with Johnson coming away with the win in a two-up sprint. Wendy Simms (Kona) won the women's race after dropping Sue Butler (Monavie-Cannondale.com) in the final lap. The cyclocross race followed Saturday's nearby Star Crossed event in which Powers was able to get the better of Trebon after the Kona rider crashed in the last lap.
to VeloNews.com's Live Coverage of the 21st - and Final! - stage of the 2008 Vuelta a España, a largely ceremonial cruise from San Sebastian de los Reyes to the traditional finish in Madrid.
With his third grand tour victory in barely a year, Alberto Contador has quickly grown from cycling’s boy wonder to the peloton’s new alpha male. The 25-year-old Spanish climber lived up to expectations to win the 63rd Vuelta a España to complete cycling’s “triple crown” and becomes just the fifth rider to win all three grand tours.
Vuelta a España director Victor Cordero called the 63rd edition of the Spanish tour the “best in years.” “We are very satisfied to see Contador likely to win and to see the quality of racing during this Vuelta,” Cordero told VeloNews on Saturday evening. “It’s the best Vuelta in years and we hope to build on this momentum in the coming years.”
All the talk about Lance Armstrong’s comeback hasn’t tickled any thoughts of a return by Russian veteran Viatcheslav Ekimov. Now 42, Ekimov is busy enough these days working as a sport director at Astana and as a coach at the Russian national team. “I won’t be coming back,” Ekimov told VeloNews with a laugh. “I already came back once. I am finished with racing. I got it out of my system.”
The domestic cyclocross season began Saturday with a pair of upset wins under lights at the Full Speed Ahead Starcrossed event held at Marymoor Velodrome, in Redmond, Washington, near Seattle. Both the men’s and women’s victories were piloted aboard Cannondales, as Jeremy Powers (Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com) and Sue Butler (Monavie-Cannondale) emerged as underdog victors against Kona riders — Powers ahead of perennial domestic top dog Ryan Trebon, and Butler against Canadian national champion Wendy Simms.
Against the impressive backdrop of the Lehigh Valley’s South Mountain, the best of the MAC Cyclocross Series opened their 2008 season with the UCI Nittany Lion Cyclocross at Penn State University’s satellite campus in Fogelsville Pennsylvania on Saturday.
to VeloNews.com's Live Coverage of the 20th stage of the 2008 Vuelta a España, a 17.1-kilometer individual time trial from La Granja de San Ildefonso to the summit of the Category 1 Puerto de Navacerrada.
Riders will be leaving the starting house beginning at 2:45 p.m. We have posted a complete list of riders and their departure times: www.velonews.com/article/83409
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How close was it between Levi Leipheimer and Alberto Contador in Saturday’s nail-biting 17.1km time trial at the Vuelta a España? Very close. Leipheimer gave his Astana teammate a scare and blasted up the Cat. 1 Puerto de Navacerrada to win his second time trial stage at this year’s Vuelta and chewed considerably into Contador’s 1:17 head start in the Vuelta’s penultimate stage. Leipheimer stopped the clock in 33 minutes, 6 seconds (30.997kph), 31 seconds faster than Contador and Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne) to secure second place overall.
The full start list and departure times for the stage 20 individual time trial at the Vuelta a España, a 17.1-kilometer individual time trial from La Granja de San Ildefonso to the summit of the Category 1 Puerto de Navacerrada. Follow the progress of the Vuelta's top riders with our Live up-to-the-minute coverage.
It was a weekend of great contrast here in the land of the coached. The latest adventure started in Crested Butte last Friday when I got a call from the VeloNews edit desk. Turned out one Lance Armstrong was going to be racing near Aspen the following Sunday, and they wanted to know if I could pop by and grab an interview. The recently un-retired Tour champ would be contesting the 12 Hours of Snowmass cross-country race, and hopefully talking more about why he’s decided to turn in his AARP membership card.
to VeloNews.com's Live Coverage of the 19th stage of the 2008 Vuelta a Espana, a relatively short, but potentially difficult 145.5-kilometer race from Las Rozas to Segovia.
The route tackles the southern face of the Category 1 Puerto de Navacerrada (Saturday’s climbing time trial will ride up the northern approach) and then the Cat. 1 Puerto de Navafría before descending toward Segovia.
Challenge, the handmade Italian tire manufacturer, has a new tire that’s ready for the coming cyclocross season. The Grifo Fango mud tire rounds out the brand’s line that includes the Grifo XS file tread, which is built for sand and smooth courses and the Grifo, an all-conditions tire that’s over 20 years old, easily recognized by its chevron tread pattern.
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Off-the-cuff comments last weekend by Lance Armstrong that he wants to take his comeback tour worldwide raised hopes in Australia that the seven-time Tour de France champion’s return to racing might start in January’s Tour Down Under. Not so fast, matey. Armstrong, who turned 37 on Thursday, said he hasn’t finalized his comeback plans yet and will make a full disclosure Wednesday in New York while attending the Clinton Global Initiative.
David Arroyo won the second stage in a row for Caisse d’Epargne while Alberto Contador fended off last-gasp attempts to blow apart the race in Friday’s two-climb, 145.5km stage across the rugged sierra north of Madrid to safely retain the overall lead Vuelta a España. Arroyo, 28, is one of the worker bees who occasionally gets to taste the honey themselves. The veteran gregario was fulfilling his obligations to follow the breakaways over two first category climbs to set up team captain Alejandro Valverde when fate turned his way.
Jesse Lalonde (Gary Fisher 29 / BKB / T6) and Holly Liske (Hayes Disc Brakes) won at the Smokin Spoke on Sunday afternoon. The Spoke, the tenth race in the 2008 Subaru-sponsored Wisconsin Off Road Series, was held at Camp Tesomas in Rhinelander, Wisconsin.
to VeloNews.com's Live Coverage of thr 18th Stage of the 2008 Vuelta a Espana, a 167.4-kilometer ride from Valladolid to Las Rozas. This stage rolls south across the central plateau, starting in Valladolid and climbs over the Sierra de Guardarrama north of Madrid before ending in Las Rozas. The first 122km gradually takes the peloton from an altitude of 700 meters to the start of the day's only rated climb.
Spain is an uproar Thursday night over alleged comments from Tour de France champion Carlos Sastre accusing Team CSC-Saxo Bank manager Bjarne Riis of trying to undermine his efforts to win the Vuelta a España. Sastre — who is leaving Riis’s team to joining the start-up Cervélo team in 2009 — was quoted in a lengthy interview with the Spanish wire service, EFE, suggesting that Riis has divided the team against him during the three-week Vuelta. Sastre later denied making those statements.
Cycling’s biggest players will meet Friday in Madrid to try to heal the division and ill will that have split the sport the past few years. Whether the meeting among members of the UCI, the organizers of the three grand tours and the top professional teams can ease the way for resolution or reopen old wounds remains to be seen.
After numerous doping scandals surrounding the Tour de France in recent years, the German city of Düsseldorf has withdrawn its bid to host the start of the 2010 race, it was announced Thursday. Düsseldorf mayor Dirk Elbers formally withdrew the city’s candidacy after a meeting in the west German city on Wednesday night, saying it would have cost 6 million euros (8.5 million US dollars) to host the start. "We had promised ourselves a raised positive profile all over the world through the Tour's coverage, but that is not assured now," Elbers told German sports agency SID.
Spanish rider Imanol Erviti out-kicked Nicholas Roche from an 18-man breakaway that lit up Thursday’s 18th stage to pump some fresh excitement into the Vuelta a España. With the favorites cooling their jets ahead of this weekend’s final showdown in the mountains north of Madrid, two-time world champion Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) snuck away in the big, dangerous breakaway that the Vuelta was waiting for.
TIME? PRO ?Cycling’s ?Daniel? Ramsey ?took ?the? next-to-last ?leg ?of ?the? 2008? USA?CRITS ?Series ?in? San?Francisco Sunday at ?the ?inaugural? running? of? the ?San ?Francisco? Twilight? Criterium.? Ramsey,? one? of? the ?more ?experienced? members ?of? the? TIME? squad,? was ?the ?beneficiary ?of ?a? mechanical ?that? ?took third ?place ?finisher ?Jorge? Alvarado ?(Kahala/Lagrange) ?out ?of ?the? final? moments? of ?competition.? ?
It might seem odd that the rider who’s finished second in the past two editions of the Tour de France would welcome back the rider who ruled the race with an iron fist for seven years straight. But that’s Cadel Evans for you, perhaps the most polite rider in the peloton. Lance Armstrong’s looming return to elite cycling might have most pros quietly muttering in their muesli, but Evans is openly welcoming back Big Tex.
To VeloNews.com's Live Coverage of the 17th stage of the 2008 Vuelta a Espana, a generally flat race from Zamora to Valladolid.
Chris Carmichael admits he was stunned when Lance Armstrong first started talking about coming out of retirement to make a run at an eighth Tour de France title. But a few months after first hearing the news, America’s best-known cycling coach has embraced the idea of trying to help Armstrong retake the yellow jersey in Paris.
Miguel Indurain doesn’t doubt that Lance Armstrong will be able to return to a high level in his comeback in 2009. But the five-time Tour de France champion wonders if Armstrong will be able to win the Tour again after being away from competition for more than three years. “I’m sure he will be able to return to competition, but to win again is something else,” Indurain said on Spanish television TVE. “It’s a lot of time, but he’s maintained his fitness. Above all, he’s a professional. The question is whether he can return to his same level.”
Tom Boonen and Paolo Bettini have each won two stages in this year’s Vuelta a España and had already planned to pull out after Wednesday’s stage into Valladolid, so the Quick Step superstars decided to sit up in their final sprint and leave it the second-tier sprinters to take a shot. Budding Belgian talent Wouter Weylandt stepped boldly into the void, holding off a wild sprint ahead of Matti Breschel (CSC-Saxo Bank) to win by a half-tire length to give Quick Step victory its fifth win at the Vuelta.
Veteran Belgian cyclist Rik Verbrugghe, who rides for Cofidis, announced Wednesday he will retire after next month's Tour of Lombardy. Verbrugghe said he had found it difficult to bounce back from a dramatic crash in the 2006 Tour de France, when he broke his leg after careering down a ravine. "I went through a dark period back then, a difficult reassessment. And even though I returned to the top level, after this incident I started to think of ending my career," the 34-year-old said Wednesday. Verbrugghe fell in last month's San Sebastian Classic, breaking his collarbone.
to VeloNews.com's Live Coverage of the 16th stage of the 2008 Vuelta a Espana, a 186.3km race from Ponferrada to Zamora.
The United States Olympic Committee has apologized to four Olympic track cyclists whose decision to wear facemasks into Beijing sparked controversy on the eve of the 2008 games. In a letter to cyclists Mike Friedman, Bobby Lea, Sarah Hammer and Jennie Reed, USOC Chief Executive Officer James E. Scherr said, “We apologize if you felt that the USOC or your National Governing Body did not appropriately support you through this incident, and you should rest assured it was not our intent.”
Next year's Tour de France is set for a two-stage incursion to Barcelona, according to the Catalan city's Mayor Jordi Hereu on Tuesday. "This is important for the city, but also for the Tour, for cycling and sport in general," said Hereu. The city's top sports coordinator, Pere Alcober, said Barcelona would host a stage finish on July 8 and the start of a stage on July 9. Dates for next year's race, which is scheduled to start in the principality of Monaco, have yet to be confirmed by race organizers.
Olympic medalists Kristin Armstrong and Levi Leipheimer will headline a strong U.S. team for the upcoming Varese world road cycling championships Sept. 23-38. Seventeen athletes will compete in Elite and U23 categories as part of a squad that is defined by experience on the women’s side and youth on the men’s.
It was a fast and exciting conclusion Tuesday into Zamora to one of the slowest and most tedious stages any grand tour has endured in years. Tom Boonen (Quick Step) pipped Filippo Pozzato (Liquigas) to win his second stage of this year’s Vuelta a España, but the 186.3km stage was marked by its sluggish speed and lackadaisical attitude of the peloton.
Alberto Contador came close Monday to learning that sometimes clichés are true. Ever since he took the Vuelta a España race leader’s jersey with an emphatic victory atop the Angliru on Saturday, he’s been sounding like a broken record and kept repeating that nothing’s won until the final stage in Madrid on Sunday. Contador dodged a bullet Monday when he rode away with relatively light abrasions and scrapes to his left elbow, knee and shoulder after he hit the deck in Monday’s 202km 15th stage after riding into the gutter and falling hard on his left side.
to VeloNews.com's Live Coverage of the 15th stage of the 2008 Vuelta a Espana, a 202-kilometer ride from Cudillero to Ponferrada.
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David García gave Xacobeo-Galicia the stage victory Monday that the team missed when Ezequiel Mosquera didn’t receive much charity from Astana in Sunday’s summit finish high in the Catabrian mountains. García charged out of a busted-up 17-man breakaway with 3km to go, but the real story was Alberto Contador, who brushed off a spill in Monday’s 202km 15th stage from Cudillero to Ponferreda to retain his lead at the 63rd Vuelta a España. [nid:83282]The Vuelta leader fell with about 50km to go, but suffered little more than scrapes to his left knee and elbow.
Reigning world champion Paolo Bettini will spearhead the Italian team's bid to keep the coveted rainbow jersey in Italian hands at the world road race cycling championships in two weeks time. Bettini, a recent two-stage winner at the Vuelta a España, leads a mixed nine-man team which includes climbers such as Damiano Cunego and sprinters like Luca Paolini. Italian national coach Franco Ballerini has no place in the team, however, for Danilo Di Luca, last year's Giro d’Italia champion who sat out a three-month doping ban earlier this year.
With the final curve of the race season in full view, we cycling fans are focused on the remaining professional calendar, as well as our own regular season end. Whether the last event on your calendar is a road race, cross country race, criterium, or century ride, you can dial in a good nutrition plan to fuel your best efforts. Chances are that your nutrition plan will just need a little tweaking before you head into the off season or prepare for cyclocross training and racing.
to VeloNews.com's Live Coverage of the 14th stage of the 2008 Vuelta a Espana, a 158.4-kilometer race from Oviedo to a mountain-top finish at the Fuentes de Invierno Ski Resort.
It's another tough day, opeing with a series of Category 3 climbs:
The Alto del Padrón (which summits at12.km)
The Alto de San Tirso (22km)
The Alto de Santa Emiliano (34.5km)
Any doubts about the seriousness of Lance Armstrong’s recently announced comeback were likely put to rest Sunday, as the recently un-retired seven-time Tour de France champion claimed his latest victory, pairing with two local Colorado pros to win the three-man division of the 12 Hours of Snowmass mountain bike race.
In a blustery, weather-shortened final stage of the Tour of Missouri, Italian Francesco Chicchi (Liquigas) surprised Columbia's Mark Cavendish and Garmin-Chipotle's Tyler Farrar to win in St. Louis, as Garmin's Christian Vande Velde secured the overall win in a hotly contested GC battle. Chicchi's stage win, in sight of the city's iconic Gateway Arch, concluded a week-long rivalry between America's biggest pro teams — indeed it was one of only two stages of this year's edition of the "Toura Missoura" that was not won by either Garmin or Columbia.
In many ways, Sunday's cross-country World Cup Final in Schladming, Austria was anti-climactic, since Julien Absalon (Orbea) and Marie-Helene Premont (Rocky Mountain) had already sewn up the overall titles. Despite the lack of a battle for the overall titles, there were still plenty of riders looking for a final good result before the end of the season.
Agritubel's Geoffroy Lequarte said winning the Tour of Britain couldn't have come at a better time as far as the forthcoming world championships are concerned. Finishing in the main field on the final stage 110-kilometer stage between Blackpool and Liverpool in north-west England, Lequarte - who started Sunday with a six-second advantage over the field - had done enough to take the Tour of Britain title. LPR's Alesandro Petachi won the stage while Australia's Matthew Goss, the second-stage winner, took the points title.
German television broadcaster ARD, which screens the Tour de France in that country in partnership with rival network ZDF, said Sunday it greets Lance Armstrong's planned comeback with skepticism. Armstrong, who will be 37 on Thursday, announced last week that he plans to come out of retirement in a bid to win next year's Tour de France for the eighth time. With Armstrong having been accused of doping in the past, Tour organizers have said he will be able to ride in the world's premier event next year if he complies with their strict rules in the fight against doping.
for live coverage of stage 6
To VeloNews.com's live coverage of stage 6, a 96-mile stage from Hermann to St. Charles. We join the race at mile 39, on the run-in to the first KOM of the day. We have an 11-man breakaway up the road with a 4:10 gap.
Racing for the U.S. national team, American Tejay Van Garderen won the ninth and final stage of the Tour de l’Avenir Sunday, securing his eighth overall position on the general classification, 3:13 behind Belgian winner Jan Bakelants. American Peter Stetina, who wore the leader’s jersey for one stage, finished the race 10th overall, 4:22 down on GC.
No gifts. Alberto Contador might be Spain’s newest prince, but he’s not ready to play the role of kingmaker yet at the Vuelta a España. Contador wasn’t about to give away a golden opportunity to win his second stage in a row and tighten his grip on the Vuelta’s golden leader’s jersey despite Ezequiel Mosquera’s hope for mercy in Sunday’s 14th stage. The 32-year-old Xacobeo-Galicia rider poured everything into a daring attack with 5km to go in the Vuelta’s final hard mountain summit to drop everyone except Contador and Astana teammate Levi Leipheimer.
to VeloNews.com's Live Coverage of the 13th stage of the 2008 Vuelta a Espana, a 209.5-kilometer race from San Vicente de la Barquera to the top of the Alto de L´Angliru.
This is a stage that everyone has either been waiting for or dreading. We suspect that the majority of the remaining 154 riders in the Vuelta fall into that latter category.
Team Columbia and Garmin-Chipotle continued to pound one another — and the rest of the field — at the Tour of Missouri, with Mark Cavendish taking stage 6 in a sprint and Christian Vande Velde retaining the jersey after his Garmin teammates patrolled the front on an aggressive, windy day. Toyota-United’s Ivan Dominguez took second, followed by Jelly Belly’s Brad Huff, a Missourian native hoping for a home-state win.
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Check out CyclingTips's author page.
for live coverage of stage 5
To VeloNews.com's live coverage of stage 5 of the Tour of Missouri, a 109-mile stage from St. James to Jefferson City. We join the race at mile 60. A 12-man break is up the rode with about a 3-minute lead on the peloton.
Alberto Contador (Astana) is king of the hill in Spain. Spain’s climbing sensation added more fodder to the argument that he’s the best contemporary rider with a thrilling victory atop the most vicious climb in Europe. Contador attacked with 5km to go in Saturday’s 209.5km 13th stage to drive home victory up the feared Angliru climb and grab the overall lead at the Vuelta a España.
Call it situational amnesia, call it intense athletic focus, call it an innate (perhaps genetic) animal instinct for winning bicycle races. Just don't expect a lot of details when you ask Rabobank's 20-year-old Boy Van Poppel how he won Friday's fifth stage of the Tour of Missouri. “People always ask how you do it and ... I forget. I always forget what I am doing because it goes very fast and I don't think. You don't think, you do it. If you think, maybe you don't win.”[nid:83124]
The first mountain bike World Cup titles of 2008 were awarded Friday in Schladming, Austria, with 4-cross world champion Rafael Alvarez de Lara Lucas (Specialized) taking his first title and Anneke Beerten (MS Intense) her second. Romain Saladini (Team Sunn) won the men's final, while Czech rider Romana Labounkova took her first-ever win in the women's race.
Levi Leipheimer (Astana) enters Saturday’s showdown in the Angliru in perfect position. Teammate Alberto Contador has an entire nation – not to mention the whole Vuelta peloton – watching his every move. Poised in second place at 11 seconds back, the veteran American can bide his time and watch the fireworks before making his move. Back to the Vuelta for just the second time since his breakthrough third place in 2001, Leipheimer is in prime position to make a run for his third career grand tour podium and perhaps even more.
Alessandro Petacchi (LPR Brakes) grabbed his second stage win of the Tour of Britain in Gateshead, England, on Friday while France's Geoffroy Lequatre retained the leader's yellow jersey. Rob Hayles (British National) just missed out on catching Petacchi on the line after a sprint finish to the sixth stage while stage four and five winner Edvald Boasson Hagen of Team Columbia was a place further back. Lequatre, who rides for Agritubel, retained the yellow jersey for the third successive day with home hope Steve Cummings second in the overall standings.
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for live coverage of stage 4
We join today’s 95-mile stage from Lebanon to Rolla in progress.
Former world champion Tom Boonen and Philippe Gilbert will spearhead Belgium's bid for the world road race championships' rainbow jersey later this month. Both riders are among a strong nine-man team, announced by the Belgian cycling league (RLVB) Friday, which also includes Vuelta a España stage winner Greg Van Avermaet and Tour of Flanders champion Stijn Devolder. Boonen is one of several top riders hoping to come out top on the road race course at Varese, Italy on September 28 - and will likely have extra motivation.
Whatever the reasons for Lance Armstrong deciding to make a comeback to the Tour de France after a three-year absence — whether to raise awareness of a worldwide cancer initiative, to lay to rest the decade-old doping accusations that still hound him or simply for the heck of it — he knows that the eyes of the world will be on him.
Saturday’s summit finish up the feared Angliru should provide Alberto Contador (Astana) with the launching pad he’s been impatiently waiting for to rocket decisively into the lead at the Vuelta a España. So far through nearly two weeks of racing, determined rivals have stymied the precocious Spanish climber on roads that he claims just haven’t been steep enough for his taste.
for live coverage of stage 11
to VeloNews.com's Live Coverage of the 12th stage of the Vuelta a España, a 186.4-kilometer race from Burgos to Suances.
Today's stage a potential leg-breaker ideal for head-bangers looking to finally hold off the sprinters.
Anyone thinking Christian Vande Velde had the overall win locked up at the Tour of Missouri was reminded Thursday that nothing is over in stage racing until the last finish line. The Garmin-Chipotle rider's 21-second lead over Columbia’s Michael Rogers looked to be in serious jeopardy on stage 4, an undulating 95-mile route from Lebanon to Rolla with three KOM points — a trio of rollers arbitrarily chosen by the race organization out of dozens that unfolded before the peloton.
Lance Armstrong’s comeback could keep José Luís “Chechu” Rubiera on the bike for another year. The 35-year-old Spanish rider was planning on retiring at the conclusion of the 63rd Vuelta a España, but now he’s considering racing one more season to be part of Armstrong’s planned return to competition in 2009.
Lance Armstrong’s comeback seems to have fueled ambitions in others who’ve hung up the cleats but are now having second thoughts. Dutch rider Michael Boogerd and Spanish climber Joseba Beloki both say they’re open to returning, but Jan Ullrich says he isn’t interested in re-entering the fray.
Columbia’s Edvald Boasson Hagen took his second consecutive stage win of this year’s Tour of Britain with a late surge 700 meters before the finish line in Dalby Forest, holding off breakaway companions Matt Goss (CSC-Saxo Bank) and Danilo Di Luca (LPR Brakes-Ballan) as the field closed in. The Norwegian had earlier showed his excellent time-trialing skills by bridging a 12-second gap from the peloton to join three other breakaway riders as the race paced through Beverley.
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Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) jumped with 300 meters to go on a rising finish into rainy Suances to fend off an attacking Alberto Contador on Thursday to win for a second time in the 63rd Vuelta a España. Bettini, who won on a similar finish into Toledo in stage 6, fended off compatriot Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) in a wild and wet stage into northern Spain that saw Alejandro Valverde’s podium chances fade when he lost more than three minutes.
for VeloNews live coverage of stage 3
To VeloNews.com's live coverage of the Tour of Missouri time trial
He posted 40:24 on the 18-mile course.