Road

Andy Hampsten and his 7-Eleven-Hoonved team appeared to have everything under control before the 1988 Giro d’Italia’s final stage, a long time trial on a rolling circuit at Vittorio Veneto. The American climber, 26, enjoyed a spaghetti lunch after a short morning stage and then rested in his room prior to the Giro’s ultimate challenge.

Balance is a concept that most everyone believes in principle. If you have it, things go along nicely. If you don’t before long things start to unravel. Balance applies to almost everything. As it pertains to cycling, it’s easy to take balance for granted until the unraveling starts. At first, we just happily pedal. Then after lots of happy pedaling, a knee will begin to hurt, or an Achilles will flare up. It’s never both knees, it’s always just one. It’s one side or the other. What went wrong? We just want to pedal. What’s the harm in that?

This Sunday’s 11th edition of the CSC Invitational marks the start of a week of international racing along the East Coast. Many teams will be using the flat 1km course in downtown Arlington, Virginia, as a primer for the upcoming Philly race week (comprised this year of three of the biggest races on the US PRO calendar including the Lehigh Valley (June 3) and Reading (June 5) Classics and culminating in the 24th edition of the Philadelphia International Championship on June 8th.

It was 20 years ago Saturday that Andy Hampsten rode through a blizzard over the Passo di Gavia to claim the pink jersey and become the first and only American to win the Giro d’Italia. Most people seem to remember that it was Hampsten who also won the stage, but it was another young, up-and-coming rider who was first across the line into Bormio on June 5, 1988.

Toyota-United's Dominique Rollin won this week's Ricola Twilight Grand Prix in Basking Ridge, New Jersey Jeff Hopkins (Team Inferno) was a close second to Rollin at the Wednesday night race, now in its third year, held in downtown Basking Ridge. Photographer Kurt Jambretz of Action Images was there to capture the action.

A composite team of top collegiate women cyclists will compete in next month's Nature Valley Grand Prix in Minnesota. The Ryan Collegiate All-Stars Team was selected at the collegiate road national championships earlier this month in Fort Collins, Colorado. Selection was based on the final individual overall standings for riders who were not already on teams that were attending Nature Valley.

It really comes as no surprise, but now it’s official: Alberto Contador (Astana) says he won’t be racing next month’s Dauphiné Libéré. Leading the Giro d’Italia with just three days to go, Contador will likely head back to the beach once the Giro ends Sunday to resume his vacation that was interrupted when the team received its unexpected Giro invite a week before the race started.

Former world champion Igor Astarloa, who pulled out of the Giro d'Italia after just one stage, is facing dismissal, his Milram team announced Thursday. The team had apparently asked the Spanish rider not to start stage 2 of the Giro after internal blood tests showed an aberrant result. The result did not mean that the 32-year-old Astarloa had tested positive, the team added, noting that a decision to fire him is pending. His lawyer, meanwhile, is contesting the results.

It was a world championship-style victory for Jens Voigt (CSC) in Thursday’s 147km 17th stage that traced the routes of the 2008 and 2009 worlds courses. Voigt attacked an all-star group that included two-time world champ Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) and the national champions of Italy and Spain with 35km to go at the start of two finishing circuits on the Varese worlds course the peloton will see in October. Chasers left it too late and never saw Voigt again as the German diesel hammered home to one of his most impressive victories of his head-banging career.

Levi Leipheimer came to the Giro d’Italia as part of the last-minute invitation for Astana that included Alberto Contador and Andreas Klöden as co-leaders. Leipheimer was at home in California when he got the call and he quickly made arrangements to fly to Sicily. No one knew what to expect. The team wanted nothing more than to make the most of the unexpected situation. Flash forward three weeks and Contador is poised to become just the second Spanish rider to win the Giro.

Is Mark Cavendish so good that he’s already gifting sprints? In the manner that High Road teammate André Greipel sprinted to victory ahead of Cavendish and Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) ? when Cavendish looked back to Bennati at least three times to check that the Italian wasn’t pulling through ? it would seem so. No way, says Greipel. The burly 26-year-old bristled at the suggestion that the biggest victory of his professional career was handed to him by his younger teammate.

If there were any doubts that Andy Hampsten was entitled to the 1988 Giro’s pink jersey, they would be exposed on the crucial stage 18, an individual 18km mountain time trial from Levico Terme up to the ski station of Vetriolo Terme. With Frenchman Jean-François Bernard out of the race because of a crash the previous day, the logical favorites for the stage win were the other top climber/time trialists: Hampsten, Erik Breukink, Urs Zimmermann and Roberto Visentini.

Rock Racing is the new title sponsor of the Skyscraper Harlem Cycling Classic. The 35th anniversary edition will be be held on Father’s Day, Sunday, June 15th, at Marcus Garvey Park, 5th Avenue and 121st Streets, in New York City. The crit is a stop on the USA Crits racing series and will be broadcast by World Championship Sports Network (WCSN). Rock Racing team owner Michael Ball said it was important for Rock Racing to support an event that has annually brought world class cycling talent to one of the nation's longest-standing African-American cultural and business centers.

Doug Ellis was on the way to the Verona train station when he hitched a ride with a pair of journalists. We couldn’t help but pull out the tape recorder when we drove the chairman of Slipstream Sports on his way to catch a train after the start of Saturday’s 14th stage. Here are excerpts of the in-transit interview: VeloNews: How important was it to win the opening team time trial?

Monday’s spectacular yet controversial stage up Plan de Corones capped a trio of decisive mountaintop finishes that saw Alberto Contador whittle out a slender but perhaps decisive lead going into the final week of the 91st Giro d’Italia. Contador hasn’t won a stage yet, but he’s finessed his way into a 41-second lead over Riccardo Riccò thanks to a superb time trial in stage 10 and three consistent performances across the Dolomites.

One by one the team stepped on to the bus, sweat pouring from their faces, their jerseys wide-open, radio earpieces hanging from their salt-encrusted helmet straps, road dirt and carbon brake dust on their faces, veins pulsing on their sweat soaked arms and legs. As helmets were buckled and seats found, each said in his own way, with his own accent, “That was the best lead-out I have ever been a part of.”

The Colavita Sutter Home team took three of the six podium spots at the Tour of Somerville on Monday. Lucas Sebastian Haedo and Kyle Wamsley took the first two spots in the men's race, while Jonathan Page was third. Wamsley was second at Saturday's Kelly Cup NRC race in Baltimore. National crit champ Tina Pic won the women's race, outsprinting Cheerwine's Kelly Benjamin and Aaron's Erica Allar.

A pair of gravity veterans took home the USA Cycling 4X Pro National Championship in Angel Fire, New Mexico on Sunday. Rich Houseman (Temecula, California) claimed the stars-and-stripes jersey for the pro men, while Melissa Buhl (Chandler, Arizona) won the title for pro women.

Frayed nerves that were already threadbare after two torturous weeks at the 91st Giro d’Italia spilled over Monday in the 12.9km mountaintop time trial up gravel roads to Plan de Corones. While it made for great TV and proved popular with the tens of thousands of fans who trekked up the summit, it proved to be another source of irritation in an already exasperated, race-weary peloton.

At least there were two riders who were in high spirits after Monday’s grueling 12.9km climbing time trial up the spectacular summit at Plan de Corones. While nearly the entire peloton was a chorus of complaints over the difficulty of the controversial 16th stage up slippery gravel roads with grades as steep as 24 percent, Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas) and Alberto Contador (Astana) both had plenty of reason to celebrate.

When Andy Hampsten survived the snowstorm over the Passo di Gavia at the 1988 Giro d’Italia and took over the maglia rosa (see Hampsten and the 1988 Pink Jersey: Part 1) the battle to become the first American to win the world’s second most prestigious grand tour was far from over. There were still seven days to go, including two time trials and four mountain stages, before the finish in Vittorio Veneto.

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Starting under darkening skies with scattered rain showers, the 4th annual Priority Health Tour de Leelanau was fortunate to end in bright sunshine after some very aggressive racing. Organizers said the Tour de Leelanau drew the deepest fields of racers to ever compete in Michigan. Starting in the fishing village of Leland and ending in Peshawbestown on the edge of Traverse Bay, the race course for the Tour de Leelanau traveled from corner to corner of this scenic Michigan county.

Alberto Contador (Astana) went from beach bum to Spain’s best chance to win the Giro d’Italia since Miguel Indurain won back-to-back editions in 1992-93. Contador rides into Monday’s decisive individual time trial at Plan de Corones nursing a slender but significant 33-second lead to Riccardo Riccò (Saunier Duval-Prodir).

Spain's Gustavo Cesar (Karpin Galicia) claimed the overall victory in the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya on Sunday. Jose Leon Carrasco (Andalucia-Cajasur) took the sixth and final stage, a 122.1km run from Palleja to Barcelona. France's Remi Pauriol (Crédit Agricole) took an eight-second overall lead into the finale, but finished outside the top 10 and slipped to third overall behind Cesar and Rigoberto Uran (Caisse d’Epargne).

Susanne Ljungskog (Menikini-Selle Italia) won the Tour de l'Aude on Sunday. The ninth and final stage, a 71km leg around Limoux, went to Germany's Judith Arndt (Team High Road), who outsprinted Ljungskog and Nicole Cooke of the British national team.

Under normal conditions, Alberto Contador (Astana) claiming the maglia rosa might bring some certainty to the 91st Giro d’Italia. But there’s nothing predictable about this explosive and unpredictable race with a week still to go. The defending Tour de France champ faltered in Sunday’s six-climb, 154km 15th stage, but had just enough spin in his legs to slink into the overall lead by 33 seconds — a lead that by his own admission might be only temporary.

David Veilleux (Kelly Benefit Strategies) won Saturday's Kelly Cup criterium in Baltimore's Patterson Park. The 20-year-old Canadian outsprinted Colavita's Kyle Wamsley and compatriot Dominque Rollin (Toyota-United). Mid way through the race a seven-man breakaway formed that included Jonny Sundt and Veilluex from Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast. But with less than ten laps to go the break split and Sundt returned to the field and Veilleux was left in a four-man break. Veilleux went into the last 100 meters on Rollin's wheel then came around Rollin and held off Wamsley for the win.

High Road speedster Ina Yoko Teutenberg won her second stage of the Tour de l'Aude on Saturday. Teutenberg was the fastest in a group of some 30 riders that broke away on the hilly eighth stage, starting and finishing in the town of Bram. “I was a bit lucky because I was really tired after getting into the break and it was windy, too.” Teutenberg said. “Another rider went for it on the other side of the road at the finish and I thought it would be close but I finally won by about a bike length.”

How do you define an epic? It’s a noun grossly over-used by sportswriters, particularly those who write about cycling. Through the years, European journalists have described heroic deeds by brave athletes on bicycles with gushing prose that was rarely deserved. They even titled road racing’s formative years The Heroic Era.

The Iron Horse Bicycle Classic has been canceled for only the second time in its 37-year history due to heavy snow in the San Juan Mountains north of Durango. Race director Gaige Sippy told The Durango Herald that the Colorado State Patrol pulled the plug at 6 a.m. Saturday after five inches of snow fell at Durango Mountain Resort overnight, with a foot of the white stuff burying the finish line in Silverton.

Emanuele Sella (CSF-Navigare) swapped tears of frustration for tears of joy Saturday after winning a blockbuster stage as the overall favorites squared off up the grueling 7.7km climb to the Alpe di Pampeago summit in the 91st Giro’s first clash in the Dolomites. The 195km, two-climb stage lived up to expectations to deliver big surprises as Sella pulled away early as part of a 13-man breakaway at 13km that also included Christian Vande Velde (Slipstream-Chipotle).

The 2008 National Racing Calendar turns a page into the summer season this weekend with a trio of NRC events in New Jersey, Michigan and Maryland.

The three races

I’m going to go against the norm this week and start with the bad news. Right now I’m sitting in the Steaming Bean coffee shop in rainy Durango, Colorado, one day out from what is supposed to be my first A-priority event of the 2008 season, the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic road race. For those unfamiliar, the Iron Horse is among America’s longest running cycling events, this year celebrating its 37th anniversary.

Alberto Contador (Astana) is poised to become the first Spanish rider to wear the pink jersey since Juan Carlos Dominguez won the opening prologue in 2002. The only question now seems to be which day it will happen as the defending Tour de France champ enters a trio of tortuous climbing stages across the heart of the Dolomites positioned perfectly for a maglia rosa assault.

It’s unlikely that Mark Cavendish will become the peloton’s new gentleman sprinter, but he was gracious enough Friday to say thanks to Daniele Bennati for not closing down the sprint 100 meters shy of his second win in the 91st Giro d’Italia. The High Road sprinter didn’t elaborate on whether or not he also said arrivederci as he burst past his Liquigas rival in what’s fast becoming recognized as the most lethal last-second punch in the peloton.

Liquigas's Daniele Bennati won Thursday's 12th stage of the Giro d’Italia, winning a furious sprint by the narrowest of margins over Mark Cavendish (High Road) at the end of a 172-kilometer race from Forli to Carpi. Quick Step's Giovanni Visconti finished in the main field and kept the the maglia rosa of the overall race leader.

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Italian Alessandro Bertolini (Diquigiovanni) won Wednesday's wild ride into Cesena in the 11th stage at the Giro d'Italia that saw a cascade of crashes in yet another wild day of racing at the corsa rosa. Overnight leader Giovanni Visconti (Quick Step) defended his pink jersey, but only after being dropped twice and overcoming a crash with 30km to go in the 199km, mountainous stage over what were once the training routes of Marco Pantani.

Tuesday offered another time trial at the Giro, this time from Pesaro to Urbino. The first half was flat, and its second half climbed about 400 meters, including a 10 percent stretch at midway and a 12 percent section three-quarters of the way through. Riders had to decide if they wanted a full-on TT bike, which would be great for the first half and not so great on the second half, or a road bike with a clip-on that would be sub-par for the first half and shine on the second half?

Portuguese police say they found evidence of widespread doping after raids Monday on LA-MSS, a continental team that includes several Operación Puerto “refugees,” wire services reported Tuesday. Police didn’t officially reveal the name of the team, but the Portuguese sport daily, A Bola, reported in its Tuesday edition that Portuguese authorities visited the residences of riders on the LA-MSS team. Authorities said the investigation, which was conducted under the national anti-doping council and the national anti-corruption bureau, is ongoing.

Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole) powered to his second consecutive victory Tuesday to conserve his lead at the 88th Volta a Catalunya in Spain. A winner of Monday’s opening prologue, Hushovd out-kicked Bernard Eisel (High Road) to sprint to victory in the 167.8km stage from Riudellots de la Selva to Banyoles. Hushovd widened his grip on the overall leader’s jersey to second-place George Hincapie (High Road) by 10 seconds thanks to a finish-line bonus.

Marzio Bruseghin (Lampre) might raise Italian donkeys, but he rode like a thoroughbred in Tuesday’s rainy and very difficult 39.4-kilometer to upset the favored Andreas Klöden (Astana). The 33-year-old Bruseghin, who has more than a dozen donkeys and grows wine grapes on his farm in Vittorio Veneto, surged to just his third career victory in impressive fashion. The veteran Italian relegated the heavily favored Klöden to third by 40 seconds, but the real surprise was the second-place ride at just eight seconds off the pace by the injured Alberto Contador (Astana).

Six weeks ago, Slipstream-Chipotle’s Timmy Duggan was slated to be a member of team time trial winning squads at both the Tour de Georgia and the Giro d’Italia. Instead, Duggan went down in a pileup in Georgia the day before the TTT and suffered a brain injury that landed him in an Athens hospital for several days. Duggan hasn’t raced since and his season’s plans are now up in the air.

After a week of avoiding crashes and keeping a low profile, Andreas Klöden (Astana) will reluctantly step into the spotlight in Tuesday’s 39.4km individual time trial that will be the 91st Giro d’Italia’s first major litmus test. The media-shy Klöden will be favorite for the decisive 10th stage as the main contenders for the maglia rosa step up to show their cards after nine nervous and exciting days of racing.

Kazakhstan’s Zulfia Zabirova won the third stage of the Tour de l'Aude on Monday, soloing in to victory at the end of 111km race around Corbi Lézignan-res. High Road’s Judith Arndt continues to hold the overall lead in what has grown to be one of the world’s premiere stage races for women.

Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole) notched an impressive prologue win in Monday’s opener at the Volta a Catalunya against some pretty impressive company. Hushovd, 30, used his combination of strength and technical skills to claim a six-second victory over George Hincapie (High Road) on the short, but challenging 3.7km course in Lloret de Mar. Spanish rider José Ivan Gutiérrez (Caisse d’Epargne) and Tomas Lovkvist (High Road) tied at seven seconds off the pace with world time trial champion Fabian Cancellara (CSC) stopping the lock nine seconds in arrears.

Reigning Tour de France champion Alberto Contador (Astana) has promised to continue riding in the Giro d’Italia, despite learning that he suffered a minor elbow fracture in a crash last Saturday. "Contador's visit to the radiologist today (Monday) revealed a fissure in the radius head of his left elbow," his Astana team said in a statement on Monday. "The fracture without dislocation stems from his Stage 8 crash from Rivisondoli to Tivoli (on Saturday)."

Most sports have a distinct off-season. For the super ambitious cyclist, there is a cycling medium for any time of year. Road and mountain bike racing goes all spring and summer, 'cross rages in the fall and winter, and with the sweet indoor ADT velodrome in LA, track goes all year round. I have many athletes finish their road or mountain bike season in September, go right into 'cross, and a few are good enough to make the worlds 'cross team, committing them through the end of January … leaving them a month before the next road/mtb season starts in earnest.

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Somebody once made the mistake of asking “What do you think about out there during five hour races? It can’t all be focus, right?” You asked for it! A sampling of my really, really random inner monologue from the second stage at the Four Days of Dunkirk, starting while rolling from the camper to the start: Wow. It’s really nice today. Why are we starting in a dive strip mall parking lot? Lame. I need to pee.

There is one less stage race on the National Racing Calendar as Pennsylvania's Tour de 'Toona has cut back from being a seven-day race to a single-day criterium. The crit will be held July 27th and have a $30,000 prize list. Organizers plan to return to a stage race format in 2009, race director Larry Bilotto said. “This was not an easy call to make; by initiating just a one-year reduction, we feel we can produce an even stronger International Tour de ‘Toona stage race in 2009.”

Colavita's national crit champ Tina Pic won her second Mt. Hood Cycling Classic stage on Sunday while 19-year-old Julie Beveridge (Aaron's) locked up the overall title despite a nasty crash in the last corner of the race. Jeanie Longo-Ciprelli (River City Bicycles) grabbed third place in the sprint and took a four-second time bonus that moved her from third to second on GC, passing three-time Mt. Hood winner Leah Goldstein (ValueAct Capital)

Judith Arndt surged into the overall lead at the Tour de L’Aude on Sunday after her Team High Road squad rode to second in the team time trial in stage 2. The Dutch national team was fastest in the 27km course starting and finishing in Port La Nouvelle, covering the route in 35 minutes, 44 seconds (45.33kph). That wasn’t enough to snag the maillot jaune, however. Ardnt and her High Road teammates finished second in the stage at just six seconds back and allowed the two-time winner Arndt to slip into the leader’s jersey.

French sprinter Sébastian Chavanel (FDJeux) won the fourth and final stage Sunday to claim the overall title at the Tour de Picardie in France. Chavanel scored time bonuses at intermediate sprints in the afternoon road race of Sunday’s two-part finale to grab the overall crown by a slender, one-second margin.

Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) wants nothing more than to win a stage in the Giro d’Italia wearing the rainbow jersey. “The Cricket” came close but fell short in 2007, and when he successfully defended the world championship last fall in Stuttgart, one of the first things he said he wanted to do was win in Italy wearing the rainbow stripes. Bettini, 34, still has some unfinished business after losing in a photo-finish to Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) in a hotly contested sprint in Sunday’s 218km ninth stage from Civitavecchia to San Vicenzo.

Health Net-Maxxis reeled in a dangerous breakaway on Saturday to preserve Rory Sutherland's overall lead in the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic. The break went away at mile 35 of the 101-mile stage and contained Bissell's Edward King, who was just 1:41 behind Sutherland on GC. The break also contained dangerous climbers Andrew Bajadali (Kelly Benefits), Michael Grabinger (Successful Living) and James Mattis (California Giant Berry), each of whom brought along a teammate. Bissell's King had two teammates.

Martin Elmiger (Ag2r-La Mondiale) is the new leader at the Tour de Picardie after winning Saturday’s second stage in an attack-riddled stage from Ribemont to Clérmont-de-l’Oise. Elmiger was part of a late counter-attack that surged away when the day’s main breakaway was caught with about 20km to go. Elmiger stayed clear a few seconds of the chasing lead pack to win the stage and take the leader’s jersey.

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After two brushes with the top of the podium, Health Net-Maxxis rider Rory Sutherland got the stage win he was looking for Friday in the critical time trial stage of the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic in Oregon. Sutherland won by about 25 seconds over Bissell's Ben Jacques-Maynes and more than 30 seconds over Thursday's stage winner, Darren Lill of BMC. Besides the stage win Sutherland moved into the race lead ahead of Jacques-Maynes and Lill. Sutherland was third in the stage 1 criterium and second in the stage 2 circuit race.

Time differences taken at the finish line in Thursday’s sixth stage at the Giro d’Italia stand for now. Members of the race jury ruled Friday after analyzing photos that a crash involving a police motorcycle just under 1km to go “did not cause a time gap” in the rising finish into the fishing village at Peschici. Astana team officials said they would meet Saturday morning with the president of the race jury to further discuss the issue. Other teams have also protested the decision to let the time gaps stand.

Australian Katie Mactier won the prologue of the 24th Tour de l'Aude on Friday in the streets of Gruissan. The flat course clearly suited the Australian, despite a swirling wind at the seaside resort. Ellen Van Dijk was second in the 3.9km time trial with American Alison Powers third. Saturday brings the 106 racers a 113km road stage.

German veteran Sebastian Siedler (Skil-Shimano) survived a finish-line crash to snag the maillot jaune after sprinting to victory in the opening stage of the Tour de Picardie on Friday in France. The 30-year-old Siedler stabbed his bike across the line ahead of Belgian Kenny de Haes (Topsport) and French rider Sébastien Chavanel (FDJeux) in the 179km circuit course from Crécy-en-Ponthieu to Guise.

Milram has sacked its fabled sprinter, Alessandro Petacchi, after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ordered that he serve a year’s suspension for taking more than the authorized dose of salbutamol. “Every breach of our team policy is going to be penalized,” said general manager Gerry van Gerwen. "All infractions of internal rules are the object of a sanction and this is also true for Alessandro Petacchi."

Riccardo Riccò (Saunier Duval-Scott) ripped to another dramatic victory in Saturday’s 208km eighth stage to prove he’s top dog in the first week of racing in the 91st Giro d’Italia. Riccò, 24, snagged his second stage in a week by out-kicking world champion Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) at the end of another hilltop finale into Tivoli with Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) taking third.

It was a battle on three fronts in the first mountain stage of the 91st Giro d’Italia, and a preview of the suffering to come. Up front, Gabriele Bosisio (Team LPR) was the last man standing from a huge mob that peeled away early in the four-climb, 180km romp from Vasto to Pescocostanzo to claim his team’s first Giro stage. In the middle, Danilo Di Luca (LPR), Riccardo Riccò (Saunier Duval) and Alberto Contador (Astana) revealed they’ll be contenders after they attacked a lead group of favorites to carry home a 50-second prize over their GC rivals.

Astana is looking to make the most of the unexpected trip to the Giro d’Italia. With its marquee lineup that includes Levi Leipheimer, Alberto Contador and Andreas Kloden, the team would normally be expected to dominate the race. But Astana’s invite didn’t come until a week before the 91st Giro kick-started in Sicily last weekend and the team had less-than-ideal preparation for one of the season’s hardest races.

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In every generation, it seems, there is someone in the peloton that all the other riders point to when asked: Who’s the fastest descender? Who’s the man who can race down mountain roads seemingly effortlessly and leave the rest behind?

BMC's South African, Darren Lill, won Thursday's second stage of the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic by peeling away from the remnants of the peloton on the final climb a bit less than a kilometer to go. Lill, who won the fifth stage at Mt. Hood last year, barely held off a late charge by Health Net's Rory Sutherland and Symmetric's Christian Meier. Lill took over the leader's jersey from Toyota-United's Hilton Clarke, who was dropped by the lead group about 8km from the finish of the hilly circuit race.

Bike fit is no joking matter for a professional racer. Fit is the single most important aspect of the bike. If the bike doesn’t fit, it really doesn’t matter how light or technologically advanced it is — it’s not going to be very fast. Take the case of Liquigas rider Daniele Bennati. He has short legs, long arms and a long torso. So the team’s bike sponsor, Cannondale, built him a custom SuperSix carbon bike, which he has been racing for two and a half months.

For the second day in a row, a breakaway stayed clear of the peloton, with another unsung hero from a smaller team in the form of Matteo Priamo (CSF-Panaria) taking center stage. Unlike yesterday, the attackers had enough rope to end Franco Pellizotti’s four-day run in the pink jersey. Italian national champion Giovanni Visconti (Quick Step) and German Matthias Russ (Gerolsteiner) ended the day tied on time, but Visconti took the maglia rosa based on differences taken in the team time trial.