Road

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.

The Mt. Hood Cycling Classic ventured into new territory Wednesday with a new venue for the sixth year of the event: a hilly criterium held in a verdant city park wrapping around a long-extinct volcano. The new event delivered large crowds and down-to-the-wire racing action that saw the mens and womens overall leads switch hands in the final meters of the crits. The fact that Portland was enjoying some of the nicest weather of the spring only helped improve the festive atmosphere in Mt. Tabor Park.

Riders are at their wits’ end with the seemingly endless string of transfers, delays and hassles associated with the opening days of the 91st Giro d’Italia. In the first three stages of racing on Sicily, there were no less than 500km of transfers, nearly as much as the peloton has raced. Tensions came to a head following the botched ferry transfer across the Straits of Messina from Sicily to Italy on Monday evening, when what should have been a 20-minute ferry ride turned into a four-hour odyssey.

Tinkoff’s Pavel Brutt feinted and feigned his way to victory in the final kilometers of a five-man breakaway that held off the chasing peloton by 30 seconds in Wednesday’s fifth stage at the 91st Giro d’Italia.

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A pair of New Zealander track riders — in the States for some summer road racing to tune up before the Olympics — took the first two spots in the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic women's prologue on Tuesday. Joanne Kiesanowski of the Tibco team, a four-time national points race champion who has moved her focus to the road recently, finished less than a second ahead of Alison Shanks of Jazz Apple, a New Zealand-based team. Shanks is a pursuit rider on the track.

There are few active racers who can be described as a legend with no dispute. Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli, who has won 51 French and world championships, is at the top of the list. When Longo, a last-minute entrant at the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic, arrived at race headquarters Tuesday, many of the other women racers lost their pre-race cool, looking more star-struck than intimidated by Longo's racing ability. "I'm just in awe," said Flavia Oliveira, who will join Longo on the River City Racing composite team. "I just want to bask in all of her knowledge."

High Road's Mark Cavendish survived another chaotic dash to the line to win stage 4 of the Giro d'Italia on Tuesday. Gerolsteiner's Robert Forster crossed second and Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) third. Franco Pellozotti (Liquigas) retained the overall lead. "This is my finest victory," said Cavendish, whose teammates escorted him back to the front after a climb split the bunch with 20km to go. "It was the result of my team's work which kept me surrounded over the last 20km. The wind was blowing hard and Bennati went off at a good time, but I was able to follow him and overtake him.

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Nichole Wangsgard and Lucas Sebastian Haedo — both of Colavita-Sutter Home — scored criterium wins in the final stage of Arkansas’ May stage race. Health Net's Rory Sutherland and Cheerwine's Robin Farina took the overall. Action Images photographer Kurt Jambretz was there to capture all the action.

Lingering snows in the high country have forced organizers to re-route a key stage of Mt. Hood Cycling Classic, but they promise the improvised route for stage 5 is just as challenging — maybe even more so. The six-day stage race gets underway Tuesday with a 1.7-mile prologue. The race is now in its sixth year and appears to be picking up steam: the 2008 edition boasts the strongest fields it has ever attracted.

Men's line-up

Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) survived to win a crash-laden 222km third stage at the Giro d’Italia on Monday that saw scores of riders hit the deck in a nervous, technical race around the flanks of Mt. Etna. While Europe’s most active volcano remained quiet, there was plenty of action on the road as wind and light rain thrashed the peloton in what was one of the few chances for sprinters in this climb-heavy edition of the Giro.

American cross-country mountain bike racer Adam Craig has his sights set on the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. That means for the next few months he will be battling it out on the World Cup and National Mountain Bike Series with his fellow Americans for a slot on the U.S. team. In between races, Craig skis, kayaks and is the rally car co-driver for his Giant teammate Carl Decker. VeloNews.com is along for the ride. —Editor

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Tiny Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk, North Carolina, can finally say it owns the best collegiate road cycling team in the United States. After a series of near misses at collegiate cycling’s biggest race, the Bobcats finally grabbed the coveted Division I team omnium, squeaking by Fort Lewis College, 473-424. The Bobcats’ Andrew Talansky and Carla Swart also took home the Division I individual omnium titles — another first for the school of 900 students.

Christian Vande Velde stepped off the Slipstream-Chipotle team bus Sunday morning along the beach at Cerfalù with a big smile on his face. Proudly decked out in the maglia rosa, Vande Velde was clearly enjoying his moment as the first American since Andy Hampsten won the 1988 Giro to wear the Giro’s leader’s jersey. “We hope today goes just like yesterday, but we know it’s a complicated stage,” Vande Velde said. “To win yesterday’s stage was our big goal, everything else is just icing on the cake at this point.”

Category 1 racer Ryan Barnett is recovering in an Atlanta hospital from a collision with a car on May 3. Barnett, who is the marketing manager for Blue Competition Cycles, was out for a quick spin prior to Sunday's Sandy Springs Classic criterium when the accident occurred, said Blue's Brady Rogers. Barnett fractured his skull, broke ribs and his pelvis and fractured his back in the T3 and T4 vertebrae area, Rogers said. He said Barnett has some paralysis from the waist down.

VeloNews staff and wire reports David Zabriskie’s 2008 Giro d’Italia ended Sunday when he was caught at a pileup with about 55km to go in the 207km second stage from Cerfalù to Agrigento. Zabriskie, 29, went down with several other riders as the peloton approached a railroad crossing. Zabriskie, who started the day second overall, was knocked off his bike and was unable to rejoin the pack. Doctors immediately attended to the reigning U.S. time trial champion and transported him to a local hospital.

Phil Zajicek (Health Net-Maxxis) and Mara Abbott (Team High Road) won the kickoff to the 2008 Tour of Colorado race series on Saturday in Boulder. The 9.14-mile Excel Sports Sunshine Hill Climb up Sunshine Canyon served up 3226 feet in elevation gain with a maximum grade of 23 percent. Conditions didn’t make the climb any easier, with temperatures in the low 40s under cloudy skies at the start and mid-30s with snow at the finish.

Cofidis rider Stephane Auge of France claimed overall victory in the Four Days of Dunkirk cycling race on Sunday. Norwegian Thor Hushovd, riding for the Credit Agricole team, won Sunday's sixth and final 128.4km stage between Coudekerque and Dunkirk in a sprint finish. Please check back soon for results.

Riccardo Riccò (Saunier Duval-Scott) uncorked a tremendous sprint in the final 100 meters to win Sunday’s exciting 207km second stage, but Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas) snuck into fourth to short circuit Christian Vande Velde’s run in the maglia rosa by just one second.

Carla Swart clung to the back of the elite seven-woman breakaway in the waning minutes of the 2008 Division I women’s road championship, held Saturday in Fort Collins, Colorado. Outnumbered and without teammates, the Lees-McRae sophomore didn’t appear to have the numbers or legs to win. Looks, however, can be deceiving.

Lucas Sebastian Haedo (Colavita-Sutter Home) took the stage 2 sprint win at the Joe Martin Stage Race in Arkansas. Action Images photographer Kurt Jambretz was there to catch all the action.

Slipstream-Chipotle’s victory in Saturday’s team time trial began weeks ago. The building blocks of the team’s historic victory that put Christian Vande Velde as the first American in the pink jersey in 20 years started with the team’s meticulous planning and execution. Just days after the Ardennes classics, the team gathered in its European base in Girona, Spain, to work on the time trial rotations and technique.

I have been in Sicily since Wednesday and have been watching the buildup in excitement and preparation among the teams, both riders and staff members. The atmosphere has been light and was getting less so as the race draws closer. And here also is the first of many cool Giro bikes you will see here in the coming days and weeks.

Ivan Basso should not be held up as a model for young riders, Scottish rider David Millar said on Saturday. Millar said that despite 30-year-old Basso — who is allowed to ride competitively again from October 24, 2008, and has agreed a two-year deal with Liquigas — serving a two-year ban for his involvement in the Operation Puerto scandal he was in no way a role model for those aspiring to become professional cyclists.

France's Cyril Dessel, of the AG2R-La Mondiale team, won Saturday's 179.4km fifth stage of the Four Days of Dunkirk cycling race between Calais and Cap Blanc-Nez. Cofidis rider Stephane Auge of France, who won Tuesday's first stage, retained the leader's pink jersey and looks set fair to win the race following Sunday's sixth and final stage, a 128.4km stretch around Dunkirk. Dessel clocked 4:23:48 to finish ahead of Gerald Ciolek of Germany and France's Samuel Dumoulin during this relatively short but tense stage.

Christian Vande Velde might have the pink jersey, but it was a team victory in every sense of the word Saturday for Slipstream-Chipotle in the 23.6km team time trial to open the 91st Giro d’Italia. Vande Velde, 31, becomes the first American since Andy Hampsten won the 1988 Giro to don the prized maglia rosa, but he’d love nothing more than to have eight more to pass among his teammates.

Levi Leipheimer was at home in California when he woke up a week ago with a surprise message. Instead of racing the Volta a Catalunya and the Dauphiné Libéré as planned, he was going to the Giro d’Italia. Leipheimer’s Giro debut in Saturday’s team time trial might have come as a surprise, but the American promises to make the most of the unexpected opportunity. Along with Astana teammates Andreas Klöden and Alberto Contador, the team starts with three options for the podium.

The Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team has donated $5,000 cash to Fausto Munoz Esparza, the rider who was paralyzed in a high-speed crash in last Sunday’s final stage of the Tour of Gila in New Mexico. The team said the donation consists of the Toyota-United teams riders’ prize money earned at the Tour of Gila, plus staff donations. In addition, Toyota-United will auction off a team jersey signed by all 14 riders. The jersey auction will begin Monday on Bay.

In Palermo, Italy Rabobank is trying a new approach this year for its quiet but steady Russian GC threat, Denis Menchov. After watching him win two of the past three editions of the Vuelta a España after racing the Tour de France, the team figures three hard weeks of racing is just what Menchov needs ahead of July’s Tour.

In Palermo, Italy Alberto Contador was sipping a beer on the beach in Spain last week when he received a phone call from Astana team boss Johan Bruyneel. The news caught the defending Tour de France champion by surprise: Pack your bags, you’re heading to the Giro d’Italia. “I was sitting at a chiringuito on the beach with my girlfriend, now here I am at the Giro!” Contador told VeloNews on Friday. “I wasn’t expecting to be at this Giro, so we’ll see how it goes.”

The USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships started Friday with the team time trial in northern Colorado. Photographer Casey Gibson was there. With traditional powerhouses shining in Division I and some impressive underdog performances in the Division II race, the University of California-Davis and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology took the lead in the overall team standings.

Greetings. There’s been a lot going on these last two weeks, so I’m going to skip the snappy lead and get to it. Let’s start with some race talk. I managed to get myself to the East Coast at the end of April for the sixth running of the Tour de Georgia. As you all know by now, it was a pretty exciting race, marked by the unexpected emergence of Belarusian Kanstantsin Sivtsov.

Health Net - Maxxis' Rory Sutherland won his second prologue of the 2008 National Racing Calendar on Thursday, setting a course record at the Joe Martin Stage Race's opening Devil's Den Time Trial. The Australian storming through uphill 2 1/2-mile race in 8:14, ten seconds ahead of Anthony Colby (Colavita-Sutter Home). Sutherland also won the prologue at the Redlands Bicycle Classic earlier this spring.

Frenchman Pierrick Fedrigo, riding for the Bouygues Telecom team, claimed victory in the fourth stage of the Four Days of Dunkirk race on Friday. Fedrigo beat home Australian Allan Davis and Spaniard Jose Joaquin Gil Rojas in a sprint finish. Frenchman Stephane Auge, of Cofidis, retained the race leader's jersey after the 193km stage between Wasquehal and Calais.

With a world champion, winners of all three of last year’s grand tours and a top-notch field of sprinters, does the Giro d’Italia boast the best lineup of the season? If you ask the riders ahead of Saturday’s start of the 91st Giro, they seem to agree. “Without any shadow of a doubt, this year’s Giro has the best field of any race,” said defending champion Danilo Di Luca (LPR). “We have a deep field in the Giro this year. Whoever wins this Giro can be proud of what they achieve.”

Argentinian Ariel Maximiliano Richeze, who rides for CSF, tested positive for doping last month and has been withdrawn from the Giro d'Italia, his team announced Friday. Richeze tested positive for an anabolic steroid during his victory in the fourth stage of the Circuit de la Sarthe on April 11 in the French city of Le Mans. He went on to win the seventh stage of the Tour of Turkey on April 20. His withdrawal on the eve of the Giro means CSF will join the peloton with just eight riders.

The principal climbs in the 2008 edition of the Giro d'Italia: Stage 7: Vasto - Pescocostanzo, 180 km Rionero Sannitico: 10 km climb at 6.3 average gradient climb to Pescocostanzo: 2.8 km at 6 Stage 11: Urbania - Cesena, 199 km Monte Carpegna: 6 km at 9.9 Stage 14: Verona - Alpe di Pampeago, 195 km Passo Manghen: 23.4 km at 7.1 climb to summit finish at Alpe di Pampeago: 7.7 km at 9.6 Stage 15: Arabbo - Passo Fedaia, 153 km Passo Pordoi: 9.2 km at 6.9 Passo di San Pellegrino: 11.8 km at 6.4 Passo Giau: 15.7 km at 7.9

Climbers who can keep their time trial losses to a minimum will be among the top contenders for the pink jersey in the Giro d'Italia which clicks into gear Saturday. The 91st edition of the Giro begins with a team time trial, and includes three other, individual, races against the clock as it snakes its way up from Sicily towards the crucial mountains stages in the Dolomites. With five mountain-top finishes in total, including one uphill time trial, the race's top prize is more than likely to be claimed by a master climber.

Editor’s note: Watch for John Wilcockson’s Friday morning column on a regular basis, taking you inside the world of cycling. This week he introduces one of the young, unsung heroes of the European peloton. Matt Lloyd loves racing in Italy. So when he lines up Saturday with his Silence-Lotto team at the Giro d’Italia he’ll feel right at home.

Paolo Bettini sees his best chance to end his winless streak that dates back to last year’s world championships in Sunday’s second stage of the Giro d'Italia, a race into Agrigento that traces the course from the 1994 worlds. The final 13.2km of the 207km stage from Cerfalù to Agrigento covers the circuit used for the 1994 worlds and the reigning two-time world champ can’t think of a better place to notch his first win of the year.

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What can I do about a noisy Mavic freehub?

More than 60 colleges and universities are sending teams to the USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships in Fort Collins, Colorado this weekend. The three-day event is being hosted by Colorado State University, this year's Rocky Mountain Collegiate Cycling Conference DI champions.

In Palermo, Italy Perhaps it’s only appropriate that during the 20th anniversary year of Andy Hampsten’s historic 1988 Giro d’Italia victory that another American rider could recapture the maglia rosa. While it’s too early to say if one of six U.S. riders from three teams starting the 91st Giro can survive the grueling Dolomites with a shot for final victory, there’s a very real possibility that one of them could grab pink jersey in Saturday’s team time trial.

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Belgian Kenny De Haes of the Topsport team claimed victory in the third stage of the Four Days of Dunkirk race Thursday after upsetting Norwegian sprint ace Thor Hushovd at the line. Frenchman Stephane Auge of Cofidis retained the race leader's jersey after the 193km stage from Le Cateau-Cambresis to Saint-Quentin, France. Cofidis and the Skil team of the race's best climber Clement Lhotellerie, were forced to work throughout most of Thursday's stage to protect their respective jerseys.

Mauricio Soler is hoping the warm Italian sun will return so he can live up to expectations to try to heat up the 91st Giro d’Italia. Until things warm up in Italy’s northern mountains, the Colombian climber is discounting his chances at this year’s Giro. Last year’s best climber at the Tour de France hates cold weather and was stricken with a mild case of bronchitis training in the snowbound Italian Dolomites last week.

Belgium's Gert Steegmans of the Quick Step team won a sprint finish in the second stage of the Four Days of Dunkirk on Wednesday. France's Stephane Auge of the Cofidis team retained the leader's pink jersey after the 192km stretch from Henin-Beaumont. Steegmans, who averaged an impressive 40.2km/h, crossed the line just ahead of Australia's Marc Renshaw and Jean-Patrick Nazon of France.

The International Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland, (CAS) ruled Tuesday that Italian sprint star Alessandro Petacchi will be ineligible to compete until August 31, because of a doping case stemming from last year's Giro d'Italia.

Organizers of the Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling have announced the 25 professional men’s teams that will compete in the Pennsylvania races early next month. The teams include Tour de France-bound CSC, Team High Road and Slipstream-Chipotle. Domestic squads include Toyota-United, Health Net-Maxxis and the Pennsylvania-based Rite Aid team. Rock Racing will send ProTour veterans Freddie Rodriguez, Tyler Hamilton, Victor Hugo Peña and 2008 Redlands Classic winner Santiago Botero.

The Joe Martin Stage Race, set to start Thursday, will feature two road races, an uphill time trial, and a downtown criterium in the race’s hometown of Fayetteville, Arkansas. Organizers are expecting over 700 athletes from 17 countries and more than 40 states to compete in this year's race, said race director Bruce Dunn. Health Net-Maxxis has won the Joe Martin the last three years and anchoring the returning group is 2007 NRC winner Rory Sutherland, the 25-year-old powerhouse from Canberra, Australia.

Monique,
During a stage race I feel like I have my pre-race and race and post race nutrition worked out and feel happy with that part of my fueling, but could you give me some advice on what to eat during the day after my race so that I'm at my best the next day? I would think that I would need to take carbs in and protein but have in the past eaten too much, which would slow my recovery, especially eating too much before bed. Any advice on this topic would be great.
Thanks,
Larry