Road

BMC and Health Net-Maxxis made their mark at the Tour de Nez on Thursday, placing riders at the front of the morning uphill 2.75-mile time trial at Northstar at Tahoe and the evening Truckee Criterium. BMC's Ian McKissick won the time trial and his team helped him protect the lead in the crit, where Health Net's Roman Kilun won after outsprinting a three-man breakaway.

In his final year of espoir eligibility, Swiss phenom Nino Schurter stormed to his second world U23 cross-country title in three years. The 2006 U23 champ, who took silver last year, rode on the heels of South Africa’s Burry Stander for the first five or six laps in Val di Sole, Italy, before attacking on the penultimate loop for the win. “I attacked twice on the backside [of the course] and [Stander] could not close the gap,” said a triumphant Schurter. “It was in my advantage to have a mate riding behind us.”[nid:78672]

Tom Boonen (Quick Step) returned to the spotlight for the right reasons Friday after blazing to victory in the 170km fourth stage at the Ster Elektrotoer in Holland. The Belgian classics star made headlines earlier this month after he tested positive for cocaine in an out-of-competition test that forced him out of next month’s Tour de France, but he decided to keep racing rather than retreat from increasing media pressure.

CSC's world time trial champion, Fabian Cancellara, won the seventh stage of the Tour de Suisse on Friday with a trademark solo attack in the final kilometers. Just like Cancellara's win at this year's Milan-San Remo and last July's stage 3 of the Tour de France, Cancellara attacked as the top sprinters were gearing up for a field sprint, and held them off for a narrow victory in a daring display of raw power.

One of the strongest pro fields in recent history competed at the 48th Father’s Day cycling classic in the Sierra foothills town of Nevada City, California on June 15th. As thousands of spectators lined the streets of this historic and bicycle-crazed town, it became clear with 10 laps to go in the men's race that the 48th winner of the Nevada City Bicycle Classic was likely to be one of the two riders who had built a 30-second gap from the pack.

I've been tossing around the idea of trying to "move" to Italy one of these days. I was really only half serious. But now, as I sit here writing this from our balcony overlooking the Torrente (river) Nocem, about to go eat delicious pizza once again, I'm getting a bit more serious. It's real nice here.

The Canadian Cycling Association nominated its road racing team for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing this August. Leading the men’s side the selections are Ryder Hesjedal of Victoria who has posted several top-10 international results this season, veteran Michael Barry of Toronto a integral member of the successful High Road pro team and Svein Tuft of Langley, B.C. the America Tour champion last year, who is coming off a quadruple-gold medal performance at the Pan Am Championships.

Suggested retail: $8.95 for a tube of ten tablets. Web site: www.drinkzym.com BE Innovations has added 100mg of caffeine and B12 vitamins to its ZYM electrolyte tablets, which are intended to be carried along on a ride and dropped into 16-20 ounces of fresh water to create an electrolyte drink. The new ZYM Catapult tablets add the Guarana caffeine and the B12 to the ZYM Endurance tabs, which remain available for those who prefer no caffeine.

Retail price: $1.25 per wipe Web site: www.kongconcepts.com Grease Monkey Wipes are individually packaged degreasing towels that clean without water, perfect for cleaning up after a mid-ride repair. The wipes are non-toxic. Each package contains a 8-by-7 inch towel that can clean off grease, oil, road tar, permanent marker and adhesives. The wipes use a citrus-based formula enhanced with lanolin, vitamin E, and aloe vera.

Editor's Note: In an article published June 13th, VeloNews.com incorrectly reported that George Hincapie automatically qualified for the U.S. Olympic team by taking second in the time trial at the 2007 Tour of Benelux. Hincapie did not compete in the 2007 Tour of Benelux, and has not met any automatic nomination criteria under USA Cycling's Olympic selection procedures. we regret the error and apologize for any confusion. The article has been corrected and is re-published below.

Barloworld is hoping this year’s Tour de France is as good as last year’s. In 2007, the wild-card team was one of the Tour’s biggest surprises, winning a sprint stage with Robbie Hunter and a mountain stage and the King of the Mountains jersey with breakout Colombian Mauricio Soler. For this year, the team is heading into its second Tour with quiet ambitions that things will be just as good.

It’s been a busy first half of the 2008 season for Craig Lewis. No big results, but lots of racing and lots of improvement for the future. Fresh off wrapping up the Dauphiné Libéré, the 22-year-old Lewis will take a short break before his first major personal goal for the 2008 season — taking a strong run at the Tour of Austria, July 6-13.

Luxembourg's Kim Kirchen, riding for the High Road team, surged into the overall lead of the Tour of Switzerland after winning the sixth stage on Thursday. [nid:78578] The stage was a 188km race from Ambri to Verbier, punctuated by two major climbs, the hors categorie Nufenenpass early in the race and the Category 1 finishing climb to Verbier.

The Tour de Nez, a five-stage race that bills itself as "the Coolest Race in America," got underway Wednesday with a criterium at a Reno, Nevada, casino. The Bissell team gave Michigan's Steven Howard a perfect lead out, setting him up for a bike-length win ahead of Riccardo Escuela (Successful Living) and Eric Wohlberg (Symmetrics). [nid:77952]

While High Road Sports boss Bob Stapleton was excited earlier this week to announce that Columbia Sportswear has signed on as the new title sponsor of his UCI ProTour team, the California team manager also expressed concern over the political environment in which the top international teams are competing. “The power struggles within the sport are reaching a zenith right now,” Stapleton said on a conference call. “I originally thought that you would see a new structure emerge even as early as this summer.

Felt Bicycles launched a new aerodynamic road frame under the legs of Garmin-Chipotle rider Martijn Maaskant last week. Maaskant rode the bike to a seventh-place finish in the 210k one-day Dutch Food Classic on Wednesday. Gerolsteiner's Robert Forster won the race. The new frame, called the AR, was intended to combine the aerodynamics of Felt's time trial and track bikes with the road manners of its road bikes.

Under course-drying Italian sunshine, Slovenia’s pint-sized wunderkind Tanja Zakelj swiped the U23 women’s cross-country crown from China, which had dominated the espoir field since 2006. The win earned Zakelj her third worlds medal in four years — she finished third as a junior in 2005 and won the junior title in 2006.

American Tejay Van Garderen finished second overall at the Circuito Montañes, an eight-stage UCI 2.2-ranked race in Spain that concluded Tuesday. Van Garderen, 19, was competing for his Rabobank Continental squad, which also earned the overall team title. It was Van Garderen's second podium finish at a UCI stage race this season. He was also second overall and won a stage at last month's Fleche du Sud in Luxembourg, where he was also best young rider and took the points competition.

Gerolsteiner's Markus Fothen won the 189.7km fifth stage of the Tour de Suisse on Wednesday, following the crash of his breakaway companion, Frank Schleck (CSC), who appeared ready to take over the race leader’s yellow jersey before the mishap. Astana’s Serguei Ivanov crossed second at 50 seconds with Fothen’s Swiss teammate, Markus Zberg, taking third at 57 seconds.

Sodium replacement during training can prevent hyponatremia

In Feltre, Italy, this week, just 15km away from the memorial to Tullio Campagnolo at the summit of the Croce d’Aune pass, Campagnolo reintroduced its Super Record racing group. Super Record was Campagnolo’s mystical racing group, but it has been decommissioned for more than 20 years. For 2009, it, along with new Record and Chorus groups, will help celebrate the brand’s 75th anniversary. In addition to the groups, Campagnolo will offer new versions of its four top wheelsets: Hyperon Ultra Two, Bora Ultra Two, Shamal 2-Way Fit and Eurus 2-Way Fit.[nid:77896]

For the third time in 10 days, a major international cycling team has announced a new title sponsor heading into next month’s Tour de France. GPS maker Garmin International has signed on as the title sponsor of American professional continental team Slipstream-Chipotle through 2010, Garmin and the team announced Wednesday.

There are cyclists that can plan out their entire season in advance. They have names like Alberto, Tom, Levi, Cadel, Gilberto, and Sylvain. There are a few more that fall on that list, but not many. Everybody else?

France’s four-person squad of Jean-Christoph Peraud, Arnaud Jouffroy, Laurence Leboucher and Alexis Vuillermoz stormed to a convincing win in the first event of the 2008 UCI mountain bike world championships, the team relay. The French led from start to finish, and stomped pre-race favorites Switzerland by more than two minutes. “It was very challenging at the start because [the Swiss] were favored to win,” Peraud said with the aid of a translator. [nid:77862]

Silence-Lotto's Robbie McEwen won a sprint finish in the 170km fourth stage of the Tour of Switzerland on Tuesday for his second consecutive stage win. The 35-year-old McEwen crossed the line ahead of Spaniard Oscar Freire of Rabobank and German Gerald Ciolek of High Road in exactly the same order as in Monday's third stage. [nid:77868]

Australian cyclist Nathan O'Neill has been banned from competition for 15 months for a doping violation, officials said Tuesday. The Commonwealth Games gold medallist and eight-time Australian time trial champion tested positive for the stimulant Phentermine after winning the Tour of Elk Grove in Illinois last August. He was racing for the Health Net squad at the time.

Spain's recently-crowned Tour of Italy champion Alberto Contador has said he wants to compete in the Beijing Olympics. "The next objective is the Olympic Games," he told Spanish public television late Monday. Contador said he wants to take part in the road race and the time trial in August, although he is "more mentally prepared for the time trial." "But the two events are very hard and it remains to be seen how I will perform," he said. "To be 100 percent, you must arrive in China well beforehand, and I don't know what the training conditions will be like."

Questions about fork failure from squirrel collisions, talcum powder and rolling resistance and bottom bracket life spans.

Michael Mathers (Rocky Mountain Racing) and Judy Freeman (Tough Girl/Contessa) won the opening event of the Winter Park Mountain Bike Series this weekend, a tough hillclimb up a ski resort access road with more than 2,000 feet of climbing and a finish at over 11,000 feet elevation. Mathers won in 33:12, followed by single speeder Walt Wehner (WaltWorks/Fuentes Design) in 33:24 and Tokyo Joe’s rider Brady Kappius at 33:50. It was the first time in series' 16-year history that three riders eclipsed the 34-minute mark.[nid:77853]

Silence-Lotto's Aussie sprinter Robbie McEwen won Monday's third stage of the tour of Switzerland, outsprinting Rabobank's Oscar Freire and High Road's Gerald Ciolek. "Leif Hoste and Greg Van Avermaet did well for me on the sprint," said McEwen. "It's exactly the tactic that we discussed this morning. "It's one of the first times that I've sprinted with the two of them and it worked well." This win, he said, "was good for confidence ahead of the Tour de France."

[nid:77758][nid:77759][nid:77754][nid:77755] Erik Barlevav of the Time Pro Cycling team scored the biggest win of his young career with a narrow advantage win over Rock Racing's Rahsaan Bahati on Sunday at the Harlem Cycling Classic. Barlevav's final effort was so intense that he lost control of his bicycle and crashed just after the finish line. The first-year professional managed to get up unassisted and take a victory lap with a bouquet of flowers.

Team High Road will start the Tour de France in a new uniform featuring the U.S.-based team's new title sponsor: Columbia Sportswear Company. High Road Sports, Inc., the team’s owner, announced the deal Monday. The team will don its new kit at the start of the Tour on July 5. “We’re very pleased to welcome Columbia to Team High Road and to cycling,” said Bob Stapleton, High Road’s owner. “This is a positive sign for the sport itself.”

The 23rd Tour de Beauce ended on Sunday with Symmetrics' Svein Tuft recording the first Canadian victory since 1995. Tuft and his team held off repeated attacks by both the Tecos Trek and Team Type 1 squads to take the overall victory. Matt Wilson gave Team Type 1 a victory in the final stage, and that team also wrapped up the Points and Climber's Jerseys, plus the top overall team on general classification.

Chilkoot Hill is just an eighth of a mile long, but with its 24-percent grade, it practically reaches up to bite you on the nose. It’s a hill with which Rory Sutherland (Health Net), the GC leader going into the final stage in Stillwater, is quite familiar. “It suits me down to the ground,” he said. But under sunny skies and mild breezes and among several thousand enthusiastic fans, one thing got between Sutherland and the finish line. His name was David Veilleux, and he’s just 20 years old.

Don’t be surprised to see some cross-pollination between the Tour de France and the Amgen Tour of California during the French grand tour this July. Amgen Tour organizers AEG Sports have signed a marketing partnership with Amaury Sports Organization (ASO), the French owners and promoters of events such as the Tour, Paris-Nice, Paris-Roubaix and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the two organizers will announce Monday.

Igor Anton (Euskaltel-Euskadi) pulled on the leader's yellow jersey after climbing to victory in Sunday's second stage of the Tour de Suisse. The Spanish climber crossed the line six seconds ahead of Luxembourg's Kim Kirchen (Team High Road), Italy's Damiano Cunego (Lampre-Fondital) and CSC's Frank Schleck following the 197km run to the ski station of Flumserberg, which finished in rain and freezing conditions at 1400 meters altitude.

Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne) locked up the most important stage-race victory of his already-prolific career Sunday with the 60th Dauphiné Libéré crown and pushed his name to the top of the list of Tour de France favorites. Despite the three-climb, 128km route across Massif de la Chartreuse above Grenoble in Sunday’s finale, Valverde’s Caisse d’Epargne teammates controlled the action to secure the 37-second victory over last year’s Tour runner-up, Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto).

Health Net’s Rory Sutherland is a rangy Australian who is built a little too lean for a typical sprinter but a little too long for a typical climber. It may be that he’s a perfect fit for a race like the Nature Valley Grand Prix, which features a lot of flat roads that suddenly tilt up in a rider’s face and require a short burst of intense power.

There were two races underway Saturday at the Tour de Beauce - the race for the stage win and the race for the Yellow Jersey. Team Sparkasse won the first battle by taking first and second, while Symmetrics and team leader Svein Tuft won the second, by preserving Tuft's hold on the overall lead despite the efforts of both Team Type 1 and Tecos Trek.