Road

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.

Check out CyclingTips's author page.

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.

Germany's Stefan Schumacher, who won both time trial stages of this year's Tour de France, has signed a two-year contract to ride for Quick Step next season, it was announced on Thursday. With his previous team Gerolsteiner set to disband at the end of the year, the 27-year-old, who won a bronze medal winner at the world road championships in Stuttgart last year, is delighted to sign for the Belgium-based outfit.

As with elsewhere in the cycling world, there are a number of opinions at the Tour of Missouri about Lance Armstrong’s comeback. Here are those of three men with managerial roles at the top of the sport.

Bob Stapleton

The world championships are still more than two weeks away, but the big dogs are starting to hit their fighting form. Wednesday’s hot and windy 11th stage at the Vuelta a España across the meseta looks nothing like the undulating roads around Varese the pros will square off on Sept. 28, but a thrilling finish-line duel between Tom Boonen and Oscar Freire gave a titillating preview of what’s waiting.

Australia's Stuart O'Grady has inked a new deal with CSC that will keep him with the Danish outfit for another two years, the team announced Wednesday. O'Grady, one of the most successful Australians in the peloton and a former winner of the tough Paris-Roubaix one-day classic, was thought to be winding down towards eventual retirement. However, the 35-year-old Adelaider admitted the lure of another two years with one of the world's most successful teams was too enticing to pass up.

Racing just a few hundred miles from his team sponsor’s headquarters, Garmin-Chipotle rider Christian Vande Velde won the Tour of Missouri’s difficult stage 3 time trial and is poised to take overall victory when the race finishes in St. Louis on Sunday.

Suggested Retail: $36.95 Weight: 2.3 grams ea. Dimensions: 2m x 1.2mm Web site: www.powercordz.com The PowerCordz 1.2mm Derailleur Cordz Set includes what the company says are the lightest derailleur cables in the world, tipping the scale at 2.3 grams each, about a quarter the weight of steel cables.

Four American Olympic track cyclists want an apology from the United States Olympic Committee for its actions in the wake of their decisions to wear protective facemasks in Beijing last month. On August 4 Americans Sarah Hammer, Jennie Reed, Mike Friedman and Bobby Lea all stepped off their flight at Beijing’s Capital International Airport wearing black masks to protect against Beijing’s air pollution. The masks were issued to the cyclists from the sports science department of the USOC.

A challenging uphill final stretch made for an exciting stage finish to day four of the Tour of Britain, as Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Columbia) came from behind to beat breakaway companion Giairo Ermeti (LPR Brakes - Ballan) on the line in Stoke-on-Trent. Race leader Emilien Berges punctured with around 7k to go, losing over a minute and dropping to ninth place overall. Teammate Geoffroy Lequatre inherited the yellow jersey going into Thursday's stage in Yorkshire. Ben Swift won all of the day’s three E.ON King of the Mountains climbs to overtake Kristian

Check out CyclingTips's author page.

The possible arrival of seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong to Astana could complicate Alberto Contador’s plans to win his second Tour crown. If the 2007 Tour champion is quietly cursing Armstrong’s imminent comeback, however, he certainly isn’t giving anything away publicly. The Spanish climber said Wednesday that Armstrong would be welcomed with open arms if the Texan rejoins his former sport director Johan Bruyneel at Astana.

Even Johan Bruyneel doesn’t know where Lance Armstrong is going to race next year in his comeback season. The Belgian director - who led Armstrong to seven consecutive Tour crowns - said the news of Armstrong’s return caught him by surprise, but he’s already greasing the wheels for his return to Astana. “I spoke with him yesterday and he hasn’t decided anything,” Bruyneel said before the start of Wednesday’s stage. “Considering the relationship that we have, we would not permit him to race with another team. There’s no way.”

Lance Armstrong will be able to compete in next year's Tour de France as long as he fully submits to the latest anti-doping controls, the race's director Christian Prudhomme said on Wednesday. The 36-year-old American rocked the world of cycling on Tuesday by confirming that he was planning an audacious comeback with a view to winning a record eighth Tour de France next summer.

There were no surprises in Springfield. With his second consecutive field-sprint victory at the Tour of Missouri, a mad dash to the finish line in the university town of Springfield, Columbia phenom Mark Cavendish extended his 2008 win streak to 16 road victories as well as a world Madison championship on the track. Additionally, the 23-year-old from the Isle of Man — also known as a Manxman, or, in street slang, a “Manxsta” — has now won multiple stages at this year’s Giro d’Italia, Three Days of De Panne, Tour de France, Tour of Ireland and the Tour of Missouri.

Crédit Agricole couldn’t imagine a better going away present than a stage victory Tuesday in the 63rd Vuelta a España in what’s its swansong grand tour. The long-standing French team — set to fold at the end of the 2008 season after a new sponsor couldn’t be found to replace the departing French bank — earned a rare bunch sprint victory with French veteran Sébastien Hinault.

Emilien Berges (Agritubel) won the third stage of the Tour of Britain on Tuesday, taking the overall leader's yellow jersey from Alessandro Petacchi (LPR Brakes-Ballan). Berges broke away from eight other escapees on the flat run into Burnham, crossing the line just ahead of his teammate Geoffroy Lequarte. Italian Gabriele Bosisio (LPR Brakes-Ballan) finished third.

Riders and managers at the Tour of Spain Tuesday reacted to the rumors of Lance Armstrong's return to the sport: Johan Bruyneel (Astana general manager): We've heard the rumors starting a few weeks ago when he rode this mountain bike race (Leadville 100). Right now all we can say it's a rumor. What’s sure, if he wanted to come back, I wouldn’t say no. And I could never imagine him riding for another team. It would be here. And if he did come back, it would be to win. But right now, all I can say is that it’s rumors.

Peter Stetina stormed into the leader’s jersey Tuesday at the Tour de l’Avenir and took such a formidable lead that he could become the first American to win the race since Greg LeMond in 1982. Stetina, 21, joined a five-man breakaway that surged away in the opening kilometers of a hilly stage across the Massif Central in the 181.5km fourth stage from Saint-Symphorien-sur-Coise to Saint-Flour. Holland’s Ricardo Van der Velde won the stage out of the breakaway, but Stetina takes a 2:27 lead over Frenchman Jerome Coppel.

Six-time Tour de France stage winner Thor Hushovd will be riding for the new Cervélo TestTeam in the upcoming season. The thirty-year-old Norwegian is the second rider to join the new team, following 2008 Tour de France winner Carlos Sastre of Spain. In addition to the six individual and one team stage victories in the Tour, Hushovd also won the green jersey in the points classification in the 2005 Tour. In 2006, he won the Belgian semi-Classic Gent-Wevelgem, and is a three-time Norwegian champion.

Check out CyclingTips's author page.

Lance Armstrong’s former sporting director says reports of the American’s comeback are merely “a rumor,” and Astana’s press officer repeated his denial that the team had struck any deal with the seven-time Tour de France champion. In dismissing the story first reported by VeloNews.com, Astana’s Johan Bruyneel told Agence France Presse that it would be “difficult” for the 36-year-old American to return to the top level of the sport. Still, Bruyneel added: "If he were serious about a comeback ... myself having a team I could not imagine him at CSC or Rabobank,” he said.

Dear Readers,
I’m back in Boulder for a few hours after returning from Eurobike in Friedrichshafen, Germany and am working ahead a bit before heading off to Moab. By the time you reading this, I’ll be shepherding 100 middle school students around trails in Moab as I’ve done every third year since 1999 with Horizons K-8, a public school in Boulder of which my wife is principal.

Mark Cavendish (Columbia) won the first stage of the 2008 Tour of Missouri on Monday, outkicking Garmin-Chipotle's Tyler Farrar in a chaotic field sprint at the end of a 90-mile stage that started in St. Joseph. On a rainy, cool day, Cavendish's teammates reeled in a three-man breakaway in the final miles, then drilled the pace on the final three technical circuits, reducing the size of the front group to only 25 riders at one point.

Australia's Matthew Goss (CSC-Saxo Bank) won the second stage of the Tour of Britain after outsprinting the field on Monday. Goss avoided the chaos caused by a collision towards the end of the stage in Newbury, south-west of London, and finished just ahead of the Garmin-Chipotle duo of Julian Dean and Chris Sutton. Alessandro Petacchi (LPR Brakes), who won the first stage in London, retained the overall leader's yellow jersey after a sixth-place finish.

Call it the hot potato leader’s jersey. Egoi Martínez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) became the seventh rider in nine days of racing to hold the golden jersey at the 63rd Vuelta a España. Astana might have had the jersey when it started Monday’s 200.8km ninth stage across the southern flanks of the Pyrénées, but it sure didn’t want to have it when the race arrived in Sabiñánigo some five hours later.

Lance Armstrong will come out of retirement next year to compete in five road races with the Astana team, according to sources familiar with the developing situation. Armstrong, who turns 37 this month, will compete in the Amgen Tour of California, Paris-Nice, the Tour de Georgia, the Dauphiné Libéré and the Tour de France — and will race for neither salary nor bonuses, the sources, who asked to remain anonymous, told VeloNews. Armstrong's manager, Mark Higgins, did not respond to questions. And an Astana spokesman denied the report to The Associated Press.

Check out CyclingTips's author page.

American veteran Bobby Julich, a former podium finisher at the Tour de France, has announced the end to his 15-year professional career. Julich relaunched his career with the CSC team of former 1996 Tour de France winner Bjarne Riis in 2004, and could now join the team on a coaching/managerial basis. "I have had a long career as a professional cyclist and it has been an honor to be part of a team like Team CSC for the last five years," said Julich, who followed his Olympic time trial bronze medal in 2004 with a strong 2005 season.

Bernhard Kohl, the Austrian chimneysweep who rode to a surprising third place in the Tour de France this year, has signed a contract with the Silence-Lotto team of Tour runner-up Cadel Evans. Kohl, who also won the climber’s jersey at the Tour, is currently a member of the German Gerolsteiner team, which is closing its doors at the end of the season.

The 63rd Vuelta a España might look like it’s still a close race after rolling out of two hard days in the Pyrénées. Sure, David Moncoutie (Cofidis) won a well-deserved comeback stage victory out of an all-day, five-man breakaway and Levi Leipheimer (Astana) recaptured the race leader’s jersey at the end of Sunday’s 151km eighth stage to Pla de Beret. And, yes, it still looks tight on paper, with the GC stacked with seven riders within less than three minutes of the lead.

Italian sprinter Alessandro Petacchi (LPR Brakes-Ballan) opened The Tour of Britain on Sunday with an exciting sprint finish in the shadow of Big Ben, holding off Rob Hayles (Great Britain) and Magnus Backstedt (Garmin-Chipotle) to take victory in London. The rain relented long enough to allow the peloton to attack the 10-lap, 86km circuit in relatively dry conditions in front of an estimated crowd of more than 100,000.

Ukrainian Yuri Metlushenko (Amore e Vita-McDonalds) won his second North American sprint finish of 2008 on Sunday, pulling away from the field in the final 200 meters to take the Univest Criterium of Doylestown in Pennsylvania. Jake Keough (Kelly Benefits Strategies-Medifast) took second with Yosvany Falcon (Toshiba-Santo) third, and Swede Frederik Ericcson (Cykelcity.se.-Klehr Harrison) claimed the overall omnium championship to provide a truly international finish to the 11th annual Univest Grand Prix.

Silence-Lotto’s Robbie McEwen advanced Australia fair by winning the 213.7km Cyclassics ProTour event ahead of compatriots Mark Renshaw and Allan Davis as the green and gold ruled in Hamburg, Germany, on Sunday. The day after Germany's Linus Gerdemann (Gerolsteiner) won the Tour of Germany, Silence Lotto's McEwen stole the show from the local professional riders as Australian riders did a 1-2-3 in Hamburg to win the 13th edition of the Cyclassics event.

Garmin-Chipotle’s Lucas Euser rode to an epic victory in Saturday’s Univest Grand Prix in Pennsylvania, relying on a dominant team performance that drove the outcome of the race every bit as much as the soggy remnants of Tropical Storm Hanna. After nearly four hours in Hanna’s rain, Euser attacked breakaway companion Frederik Ericsson (CykelCity) in a blinding downpour and near-darkness to secure his first professional victory.

Saturday is the last dealer day at the Eurobike show in Friedrichshafen, Germany. This is arguably not only the biggest but also the most important bike show in the world.

Alessandro Ballan (Lampre) was close all season in races he was expected to win: third in Paris-Roubaix and second in Monte Paschi Eroica and GP Ouest France-Plouay. With the 63rd Vuelta a España’s tackling its first summit finish, everyone expected the Spanish mountain goats to take over -- and no one expected Ballan. But it was the classics head-banger who delivered the surprise victory through pouring rain and cold and snuck away with the leader’s jersey as an added bonus.

Brendan Cornett (Cyclemania) found a clean line through the final corner and brought it up the short, steep finish climb to win the Topsfield road race in Massachusetts on Saturday. Second place went to Ciaran Mangan (CCB/Volkswagen). Third spot was Brad Sheehan. The race is held on a challenging 4.25 mile scenic loop on very narrow stone wall-lined New England roads. The rain held off for the race, although there was heavy rain before and after the rain associated with hurricane Hannah.

As the organizer of the third of the world’s three grand tours, Victor Cordero spotted a unique opportunity to turn the 2008 Vuelta a Espana into something special when Spaniard Alberto Contador won this year’s Giro d’Italia.

I’d like to tell you that this week’s headline refers to a late-summer triumph here on the ultra-competitive Boulder road racing circuit, but I can’t. No mountain bike wins either. Not even a lotto scratch ticket.

Garmin-Chipotle’s Will Frischkorn returns to Souderton, Pennsylvania, this weekend to defend his title at the Univest Grand Prix, lining up against a top field of domestic and international teams in a race that has grown to be one of the country’s largest. The weekend features Saturday’s tough 100-mile road race, which courses through the rolling countryside of Bucks and Montgomery counties before the uphill finish in Souderton, and continues on Sunday with the fast, tactical Univest Criterium of Doylestown.

The Eurobike show started on Thursday in Friedrichshafen, Germany, and it is a huge show. Here are a few interesting shots from Day 1.

Carlos Sastre couldn’t put it off anymore. Despite his hope to ride the Vuelta a España without any unnecessary distractions, the rumor mill of where the 2008 Tour de France champion was going to land in 2009 was turning into just that. To end the growing media circus, Sastre confirmed what many already knew. After seven years racing under the tutelage of Bjarne Riis and Team CSC, Sastre will join the start-up Cervélo Test Team for 2009.

Americans captured four medals and one world title last weekend at the 2008 UCI masters road world championships in St. Johaan, Austria. Kenny Fuller of Corona del Mar, California won the world title in the men’s 60-64 time trial to lead the U.S. medal performances. Fuller clocked a winning time of 26:6.62 seconds over the 20-kilometer course to finish 2.46 seconds up on silver medalist Kare Christoffersen of Norway.

How happy was Paolo Bettini after ripping across the finish ahead of Philippe Gilbert (FDJeux) victorious in Thursday's sixth stage at the Vuelta a España? The two-time reigning world champion pumped both arms in the air, then his fist and before yelling something very Italian that might not be printable, even on the Web. Ever since 2005, Bettini's used the Vuelta as a trampoline for success at the world championships. He's won at least one stage in each Vuelta since then and won back-to-back rainbow jerseys in 2006-07.

Felt Bicycles has extended its sponsorship of Team Garmin-Chipotle presented by H30 until 2011. Under the extension, Team Garmin-Chipotle will race exclusively on Felt’s framesets for the next three years, including Felt models F1, Z1, AR and DA in 2009.

The Eurobike show starts Thursday in Friedrichshafen, Germany, but I wandered around during setup yesterday and collected some photos. The show goes through Saturday for dealers, and Sunday is open to the public. I’m here through Saturday morning; I fly home on Sunday in order to accompany 100 middle-schoolers to Moab on Monday for a week of mountain biking.

On Sunday, three-time Italian time trial champion Marco Pinotti won the Tour of Ireland with a solo attack in the last 10k of the stage. The textbook attack was setup by his Columbia teammate Michael Barry, who was caught leading into the final circuit in Cork.

The career plans of Carlos Sastre were the subject of widespread speculation Wednesday, as the reigning Tour de France champion was linked to both the new Russian team Katusha and Canada’s Cervelo squad. The 33-year-old, whose contract with CSC expires at year's end, was reported to have signed a two-year deal with Katusha. That team, financed by a group of Russian companies, which has also recently snapped up Australian Robbie McEwen, Belgian Gert Steegmans and Italian Filippo Pozzato. Sastre, however, dismissed the report as speculation.

Back in 2001, Levi Leipheimer became the only American to stand on the Vuelta a España podium with a breakout third-place finish that announced his arrival to the elite levels of the sport. Flash forward to Wednesday’s 42.5km individual time trial on the flat, wide-open roads around Cuidad Real and Leipheimer made more history at the Vuelta. Following a fabulous come-from-behind victory, Leipheimer becomes the fifth American to win a Vuelta stage and just the second to wear the leader’s jersey.

It’s the “Tour de France” for the Under-23 crowd. The 45th Tour de l’Avenir clicks into gear Friday with an opening prologue followed by nine days of racing on a course that slices straight south across France toward the Pyrénées. Nineteen teams of six riders aged from 19 to 22 for a total of 114 riders will fight for the honors in the most prestigious U23 race on the calendar. Former winners include the likes of Felice Gimondi, Joop Zoetemelk and Greg LeMond, so success in the Avenir typically bodes well for a strong career in the pro ranks.

1. Aurélien Clerc, Bouygues Telecom, starts at 1:41 p.m.
2. Oscar Gatto, Gerolsteiner, starts at 1:42 p.m.
3. Stef Clement, Bouygues Telecom, starts at 1:43 p.m.
4. Cyril Lemoine, Credit Agricole, starts at 1:44 p.m.
5. Kevin Van Impe, Quick Step, starts at 1:45 p.m.
6. Ivan Santaromita, Liquigas, starts at 1:46 p.m.
7. Volodymyr Diudia, Team Milram, starts at 1:47 p.m.
8. Fco. José Martinez Perez, Andalucia-Cajasur, starts at 1:48 p.m.
9. Mikhail Ignatiev, Tinkoff Credit Systems, starts at 1:49 p.m.
10.