Road Racing

Price: $1000 Colors: Burnt Orange Sizes: 26 inch Weight: 1865 grams both wheels Web site: www.crankbrothers.com New from the Crankbrothers production line: the all-mountain Iodine wheelset.

New Italian team ISD ended Mirco Lorenzetto’s two-day stranglehold on the Giro di Sardegna, with Oscar Gatto sprinting to victory in Thursday’s 181km third stage from Oristano to Tortoli. The hilly stage featured more than 3,000 meters of climbing, but the top teams reeled a two-man break, but not before 22 riders slipped away near the end. Giovanni Visconti led things out for his teammate Gatto to keep a lid on world champion Alessandro Ballan (Lampre), who finished second but is in good position to win the overall with two stages left.

One of the lingering tech questions from the Amgen Tour of California has finally been answered, at least partially. As early as the prologue, a reader wrote to inquire about Jelly Belly’s time trial bikes, which are GT-branded but not shown on the GT Bicycles Web site. The GT-sponsored team also used these frames (with a different paint scheme) last season. We finally tracked down Michael De Leon, PR and advocacy manager for the Cannondale Sports Group, to get some of the story.

Mirco Lorenzetto used to lead out Alessandro Petacchi; now he’s beating him. The Lampre sprinter dashed to his second consecutive victory in the Giro di Sardegna on Wednesday, winning stage 2 and taking the overall lead in the five-day Italian stage race. A day after beating Petacchi in Tuesday’s opener, Lorenzetto out-kicked Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) to win the 164km stage from Porto Torres to Santu Lussurgiu.

Price: $195 to $225 Weight: 160 grams at 225mm Sizes: 27.2mm by 225 to 400mm Colors: Red, orange, blue, green, pewter, pink and black Web site: www.kenteriksen.com The Sweetpost is a new boutique seatpost from Eriksen Cycles. Based in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, and established in 2006, Eriksen Cycles is a small producer of titanium bicycle frames and seatposts. [nid:88617]

Mirco Lorenzetto dashed to victory in a bunch sprint in the opening stage of the Giro di Sardegna in Italy on Tuesday. Lampre went one-two to fend off arch-rival Alessandro Petacchi (LPR) as Lorenzetto finished just ahead of teammate Enrico Gasparotto. Reigning world champion Alessandro Ballan gave a perfect lead-out to Lorenzetto to set up the victory in the 184km stage starting and finishing in Olbia. Pre-race favorite Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) came through sixth.

Weight or air resistance?

The Amgen Tour of California wrapped up successfully with another win for Astana’s Levi Leipheimer. Also "winning" were the spectators who were treated to both great racing and an impressive consumer expo at every stage finish. Despite nasty weather for the first three days, traffic at stage finishes was heavy, and downright crowded whenever the sun came out.

With two laps of the finishing circuit remaining in the penultimate stage of the 2009 Amgen Tour of California, Fränk Schleck attacked on his Specialized Tarmac SL2 — but victory eluded him. Undaunted, Schleck again took the initiative during the final stage on Palomar Mountain and then out-sprinted his lone breakaway partner, Liquigas’ Vincenzo Nibali, in a short kick to the line.

To win his third consecutive Amgen Tour of California, Levi Leipheimer needed every bit of help he received from his seven Astana teammates. That was emphasized on Sunday when 10 riders broke clear on the upper reaches of Palomar Mountain, and Leipheimer was the only Astana man who could follow the attacks. “But even though he was alone on Palomar,” said Astana team manager Johan Bruyneel, “I could see Levi was comfortable.”

Mavic France placed a voluntary recall on all of its front R-SYS wheels this winter and a domestic recall followed suit two weeks later. The reason for the domestic delay was the CPSC’s approval of Mavic USA’s action plan for the recall. That plan was considered voluntary, but Mavic used verbiage and took action that made is seem more serious. Mavic stated consumers should “immediately cease use” and took the added measure of shipping R-SYS owners its Aksium model, which relies on steel spokes, until the situation can be rectified.

Astana's Alberto Contador started his season out with a victory by winning Portugal's Volta ao Algarve stage race on Sunday. Contador finished in the pack — in 96th place — on the 166km stage from Vila do Obispo to Portimao. Contador finished in the same time as stage winner Henrich Haussler (Cervelo TestTeam). Contador had taken the overall lead on the strength of his second place in the stage 3 mountain top finish and then his commanding win in stage 4's 34km time trial.

Ag2r-La Mondiale’s Rinaldo Nocentini scored a tough win in stage 7 of the Amgen Tour of California aboard BH’s G4 Global Concept team bike on Saturday. While we don’t have the winner’s bike to profile, we did catch up with the team earlier in the week and managed to grab some shots and details about the team’s bikes, produced by Spain's Fabricante de bicicletas de Álava.

While the Liquigas team hasn’t had the race it might have wished for at this year’s Amgen Tour of California, it does appear to have a new bike. When questioned, Cannondale reps only acknowledged that the team has been testing prototype frames. The prototypes were created using the feedback Daniele Bennati provided after racing on a Super Six frame with custom geometry last year. That frame also served as a proving ground for Cannondale to test the use of high modulus carbon fiber, which is now found in the 2009 production model.

It can be difficult to judge just how difficult a race is until you can make a direct comparison with a previous result. That was the case Saturday, when enormous crowds, probably the biggest of the week, showed up at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena to see the finale to stage 7 of the Amgen Tour of California. This stage from Santa Clarita was identical to the one that George Hincapie won 12 months ago, when he covered the 89-mile course in a time of 3:50:57. This year, the time of stage winner Rinaldo Nocentini of AG2R-La Mondiale was 26 minutes faster!

A day after being relegated to a rare second place on a summit finish, Alberto Contador turned in an authoritative time trial victory Saturday to take the overall lead at Portugal’s Volta ao Algarve. Contador beat back the likes of teammate Andreas Klöden and reigning world time trial champion Bert Grabsch (Columbia-High Road) on a fairly challenging 33.7km course in the hills along the Algarve Coast to snag his first win of the season and secure the overall leader’s jersey.

Giant Bicycles had something special at the Amgen Tour of California: Two teams riding a time trial bike it’s developing. This isn’t out of the ordinary, except for the fact that one of the teams has a different bike sponsor. You’ll notice that Rabobank and Columbia are on quite similarly designed bikes, but one says “Giant” on its downtube, while the other sports a “Highroad techdev” label.

Price: $36 Sizes: About 28 servings, 125 calories per scoop Web site: www.myogenesis.net

Price: $100 Sizes: 90, 100 and 110mm Weight: 119 to 125 grams Colors: Dark gray or black Web site: www.sixsixone.com Sunline, a producer of high-end downhill components, will have a new crosscountry stem on the market beginning in April. The Sunline XC 1 stem is aesthetically similar to stems by Rotor and Thomson, which can be attributed to their machining process.

Price: $65 Colors: Carbon finish Weight: 28 grams Web site: www.arundelbike.com

Levi Leipheimer is an undemonstrative guy. So when the Astana team leader thrust up his arms and raised three fingers 10 meters before he crossed the finish line on Friday’s stage 6 of the Amgen Tour of California, that was big. The three fingers signaled his third consecutive victory in the 15-mile Solvang time trial, and it may well signal his third overall victory come Sunday night in Escondido.

Katusha’s early season haul continued Friday as Toni Colom out-kicked triple-crown winner Alberto Contador (Astana) in the final meters of a summit finish to win the stage and take the overall leader’s jersey in stage three at the Volta ao Algarve. Colom – fresh off winning the Mallorca Challenge earlier this month – had a stronger kick at the end of the steep, second-category climb up the Alto do Malhao to relegate Contador to a rare second-place on a summit finish.

There are two bikes in the Cervélo TestTeam stable here at the Amgen Tour of California. The S2 and S3 are new aero road models and are available to consumers in 2009 and what the team is currently racing. Interestingly, none of the riders are using Cervélo’s R3 frame. Even Carlos Sastre, a R3 holdout, is competing on an aerodynamic road bike.

Garmin announces Mac compatibility

There’s no better combination in bike racing than sunshine, Lance, Levi … and Mark Cavendish. While America’s two top champions are the favorites with their legions of fans all along the route of this fourth Amgen Tour of California, Columbia-High Road’s Cavendish is fast becoming a crowd favorite.

Price: $245 Sizes: 133mm length Weight: 175 grams Web site: www.fullspeedahead.com The K-Wing Aero Integrated seatpost by FSA was designed with the intention of unifying the aero seat tube standards in the industry. It is highly adjustable with carbon aero spacers and the ability to direct the saddle side to side by up to five degrees. The post is built with a carbon Kevlar composite and stainless steel hardware and weighs just 175 grams.

A steep, 200-meter rising finish at the end of Thursday’s hilly 183km second stage in the Volta ao Algarve looked tailor-made for Damiano Cunego or Alberto Contador. But those big-name riders have bigger fish to fry later this year, which opened the door for Basque sprinter Koldo Fernández to pull the double, taking the stage win and the leader’s jersey. The Euskaltel-Euskadi speedster bolted ahead of Portuguese sprinter Manuel Cardoso (Liberty Seguros) to claim his first win of the year, with Gerard Ciolek (Milram) coming through third.

The French Anti-doping Agency AFLD on Thursday handed German cyclist Stefan Schumacher a two-year ban from racing in France after failing a doping test at the 2008 Tour de France, his lawyer said. The decision issued by the AFLD applies only to events contested on French soil, said Schumacher's attorney Michael Lehner. That ruling, however, may be extended globally if the German cycling federation or the UCI pursue the case. Schumacher said he would fight the ban.

Davide Rebellin (Diquigiovanni) might want to reconsider his decision to retire at the end of this season. The veteran Italian snagged his second stage win of the week at the Ruta del Sol and almost snuck away with the overall in the fourth and final stage, a 168km leg from Torrox Costa to Antequera. Joost Posthuma (Rabobank) finished nine seconds back of the attacking Rebellin with the rest of the front pack to claim a two-second victory over Xavier Tondo (Andalucía-CajaSur) in the five-day race across Spain’s Andalucía region.

Even Mark Cavendish didn’t expect to win stage 5 of the Amgen Tour of California on Wednesday. “It wasn’t a stage I’d targeted,” he admitted after bringing home a furious field sprint in Clovis, just holding off Tom Boonen of Quick Step, with Saxo Bank’s J.J. Haedo in third. The field sprint meant that there were no changes in the GC, with Levi Leipheimer of Astana keeping the yellow jersey by a 24-second margin over Columbia’s Michael Rogers.

Racing is clicking into gear all over Europe and several big names are revving up their 2009 racing legs at this week’s Volta ao Algarve over the green hills draped along Portugal’s southern Atlantic Coast. The five-day race marks the season debut for triple-crown winner Alberto Contador (Astana), who admitted he’s here only to stretch his legs.

Price: $150 Colors: Black, silver, blue, red, and purple Weight: 77 grams Web site: www.canecreek.com The Cane Creek 110 headset, which was released last year, is now available in most of the common platforms on the market, including the tradition 1-1/8-inch, 1.5-inch, integrated, and now the Zero Stack, which is common on Giant, Scott, BMC, and Fisher frames.

Tuesday's stage marked the first bunch sprint of the Tour of California, with Thor Hushovd taking the win and Mark Cavendish in fifth. Cav’s leadout seemed to leave him without a good wheel to follow, but his 2009 Scott Addict SL was well prepared for the expected bunch gallop. Prior to the stage, we had a few minutes to catch up with Columbia-High Road team mechanic Nick Vandecauter, who gave us a quick tour of the Cavendish machine.

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Everyone was expecting Columbia-High Road’s Mark Cavendish to ace his first chance of winning a stage of the 2009 Amgen Tour of California on Tuesday, but a tussle on the final corner kept him from even challenging the eventual stage 3 winner, Thor Hushovd of the new Cervélo TestTeam. Hushovd easily took the windblown 101.4-mile stage from San Jose to Modesto by a couple of bike lengths from three-time world champion Oscar Freire or Rabobank, with Cavendish’s lead-out man Mark Renshaw in third.

It has already been reported that the Columbia-High Road team is not using Scott time trial bikes. Photos and print stories back that up and our visit to the High Road compound the day before the prologue of the Amgen Tour of California yielded no indication that Scott Plasma TT bikes have been widely embraced by the squad. Our only look at the team's new time trial rig came by examining a display model at Scott's tent in the expo. It's a beautiful ride, but it may take a little tweaking to dial it in for roadies.

Olympic medalist Sir Chris Hoy has admitted he faces a race against time in order to be fit for the World Championships in Poland in six weeks' time. The 32-year-old Scot said Tuesday he still felt "pretty sore" after crashing out of the keirin at the World Cup in Denmark over the weekend. Hoy won three gold medals at last year's Beijing Olympics in the sprint, keirin and team sprint and he is aiming to defend his three world titles in those events in the Polish town of Pruskow.

Disc brake squeal

Defending champion Levi Leipheimer (Astana) seized the lead of the 2009 Amgen Tour of California on Monday with a daring attack on the steeps of Bonny Doon just outside the finish in Santa Cruz. Thomas Peterson (Garmin-Slipstream) won stage 2, a 115.9-mile ride from Sausalito to Santa Cruz, with Michael Rogers (Columbia-Highroad) finishing third on the day and slotting into second overall. But the race clearly belonged to Leipheimer, who shot away from his rivals to chase down a disintegrating break and snatch the leader’s jersey from Rock Racing’s Francisco Mancebo.

Twenty-year-old Swedish national champion Emilia Fahlin (Team Columbia - High Road) received the perfect lead-out from veteran teammate, Kim Anderson, as she took the sprint win from a 13-woman break in the Amgen Tour of California’s Women’s Criterium in downtown Santa Rosa on Sunday. This put her two steps higher than she was on the podium at least year’s inaugural race just ahead of second placed Lauren Tamayo (Team Tibco) and Rachel Lloyd (Proman).

From the beginning of this Amgen Tour of California, questions have surrounded Rock Racing. Up until a couple of weeks ago, one of the questions was simply, “What will they ride?” The answer arrived with an announcement that Kestrel would provide RT900 frames and forks, and Shimano would provide wheels and components. However, a visit to the team trailer to check out the new bikes invited only more mystery.

Rock Racing's Francisco Mancebo won stage 1 of the 2009 Amgen Tour of California, a 107.6-mile stage held in brutal weather that not only affected racers, but the race itself. A long, Hail Mary solo effort earned Mancebo the stage and the leader’s jersey, and put Astana and the rest of the teams on the defensive, with a shattered field coming into the drenched finishing circuits in Santa Rosa. At day’s end, the list of general classification contenders shortened drastically, to those among the 18 riders who finished 67 seconds behind Mancebo.

If the roster for this year’s Tour of California is being hailed as possibly the best ever assembled on North American soil, can the same be said of the menagerie of bikes? Without a doubt, a few hours of wandering the pits before and during the prologue turned up some exotic and attractive machinery. Here are a few highlights from the prologue, the likes of which have probably never been seen before in Sacramento.

Basso's Cannondale Slice

Riders weren’t the only ones going full gas the day of the prologue. Mechanics from all teams also put in strong efforts to assemble fleets of TT and road bikes, in the days and even hours leading up to the race’s kick-off. We’re not just talking fine-tuning, either, but in many cases all-out assembly. Steerer tubes were cut, components installed and tires mounted. And the pro wrenches weren’t too shy to use zip ties and electrical tape when the situation called for it.

Colombia's Jose Rodolfo Serpa Perez (Diquigiovanni-Androni) won the 14th Tour de Langkawi Sunday, which ended with a criterium in Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur. Serpa Perez, of the Diquigiovanni-Androni team, completed the seven-day, 1031.7km stage race with an overall time of 24:22:12. Australian Jai Crawford, representing his country's national team, took second, 27 seconds back. "I've never been an overall winner before this, as I never get to break away, said Serpa. “I'm really happy with the win. This year all my teammates have been a real help."

Olympic champion Sir Chris Hoy has pulled out of racing the final day of the World Cup track meet in Copenhagen after a dramatic crash in the final of the men's keirin on Saturday. Hoy was the hero for Britain at last year's Olympics where he won three gold medals in the sprint, keirin and team sprint and in just over a month's time he will aim to defend his three world titles in those events at Pruskow, Poland. But in his first competition since Beijing the Scot was sent flying after making contact with Frenchman Kevin Sireau, who went on to win the race, in the chaotic keirin event.

George Hincapie described the scene at the Amgen Tour of California prologue in Sacramento Saturday, saying only Tour de France crowds could compare. And those crowds were treated to a Tour de France-caliber show, with Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank) blazing the downtown 3.9km course with a winning time of 4:32.

Price: $1.99 per package Sizes: 60 grams; 200 calories Web site: www.clifbar.com Now Clif Shot Bloks are easier to eat. The new FastPak packaging streamlines the blocks into a single column of six, allowing you to pop them into your mouth with just one hand. With 33 percent less packaging, no longer will you have to finagle blocks out of a large wrapper and risk more than just a few stray blocks.

A day after setting a new American record and winning gold in the individual 4 kilometer pursuit, Taylor Phinney set another American record on his way to winning the 1K time trial. Phinney's time of 1:01.641 was a split second faster than the previous U.S. record of 1:01.825, set by Erin Hartwell, in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1995. The world record of 58.875 was set by Arnaud Tournant in La Paz, Bolivia in 2001.

If there is any doubt about Astana’s commitment to Levi Leipheimer as the undisputed leader and odds-on favorite to win the Amgen Tour of California, one look at his new Trek time trial bike will quickly dispel it.

Jonathan Chodroff (OUCH p/b Maxxis) blazed a 28:57 and Ruth Clemence (Simple Green) posted a 33:28 to take their respective leaders jerseys in the first stage of Arizona's Valley of the Sun stage race.

After a two-day break Mattia Gavazzi got back to his winning ways, bagging his fourth stage victory in the 14th edition of Le Tour de Langkawi, a 146.8 kilometer Stage Six from Batang Kali to Shah Alam on Saturday. The Italian sprinter registered his team Serramenti Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocatoli's 20th ever stage win at the Malaysian race, after yet another bunch sprint. This time it required a photo-finish to separate between three frontrunners: Ag2r La Mondiale's Aurelian Clerc, Garmin-Slipstream's Chris Sutton and Gavazzi, as the trio crossed the line side-by-side.

American Taylor Phinney broke a thirteen year old American record for the 4,000-meter individual pursuit on Friday, on his way to winning a gold medal at the Copenhagen World Cup. Phinney's 4:15.223 effort in the qualifying round broke the previous American record of 4:19.800 set by Mariano Friedick in 1996. Phinney turned a 4:19.119 in the finals to beat Ireland's David O'Loughlin and register his first World Cup victory this season. Phinney's mother Connie Carpenter-Phinney noted that Phinney had never ridden under 4:20 in competition and his last kilo was his fastest, at 1:00:5.

Louis Garneau is introducing a new helmet just in time for the Tour of California. Rock Racing and Team Type 1 will wear the Diamond helmet beginning Sunday, during the first road stage from Davis to Santa Rosa. The helmet promises to be light, comfortable, and of course stylish for these professional teams.[nid:87682]

Colombian climber Jose Serpa (Diquigiovanni-Androni) won the fifth stage of the Tour de Langkawi and moved into the overall lead after a tough ride that ended in Malaysia's hillside gambling resort of Genting Highlands on Friday. The 29-year-old Serpa, second overall in the 2007 Tour de Langkawi, won Friday by launching a blistering attack on the final climb to Genting. "This year I am in good condition, so I have no problem with breakaway and very happy with the win today," said Serpa.

Price: $1999 frameset Colors: Natural carbon weave finish with clear coat Sizes: 53, 55, and 58cm Web site: www.aerocatbike.com

In advance of the Amgen Tour of California, BH Bikes has created an AG2R-La Mondiale team replica G4. Sporting the same component group and paint job as the bikes ridden by the team, this promises to help push the BH brand toward broader recognition in the U.S. Fittingly, this season marks the 100th anniversary of the Spanish company.

Katusha’s Toni Colom gave his newly-formed team its first overall stage race victory of the season winning, the Mallorcan Trophy, a five-stage race which ended here Thursday, for the second time. German sprinter Gerald Ciolek (Milram) claimed victory in the fifth and final stage held over 147km between Magaluf and Palmanova. Katusha, Russian-funded and the newest addition to the pro cycling peloton, dominated the race almost from start to finish.

Indonesia's Samai Samai Thursday took the fourth stage of the Tour de Langkawi, ending Mattia Gavazzi's three-stage winning streak. "I never thought that today would be the best day for me in the Tour de Langkawi," said Samai, a member of the Le Tua Cycling Team. "I'm really proud as I only had a month of practice with Le Tua in Malaysia,” he said. “This win proves that now I'm the best rider in Asia."

Price: $59 to $129 Web site: www.deuterusa.com Deuter is coming out with three new hydration packs and a brand new drip-proof bit valve. The new Helix valve is standard issue with the 2009 hydration pack range and is also available on its own. The valve can be sealed shut and reopened with a twist. Even when the valve is open it should be resistant to leaking thanks to the new internal, spring-loaded plunger that seals the system.

Spaniard Antonio Colom (Team Katusha) won the penultimate stage of the Mallorca Challenge on Wednesday and charged into the overall lead. Colom won the 143.3km stage around Bunyola in 3:54:49, 56 minutes ahead of Edvald Boasson (Team Columbia-High Road) and Jérôme Pineau (Quick Step). Colom now leads Pineau by 41 seconds going into the finale, a 147.6km leg from Magaluf to Palmanova, with Boasson third in the same time.

Caisse d'Epargne won stage two of the 36th Tour Méditerranéen on Wednesday, and Spaniard Luis Sanchez took over the leader’s yellow jersey from Belarussian sprinter Yauheni Hutarovich (Française des Jeux). The American Garmin-Slipstream squad took second in the 25km team time trial between Narbonne and Gruissan, with Barloworld third.

Mattia Gavazzi is on a roll. The 25-year-old Italian on Diquigiovanni-Androni won the third stage of the Tour de Langkawi on Wednesday which ended in the historic Malaysian port city of Malacca, his third victory in as many days. Australian Chris Sutton (Garmin-Slipstream) team took second place. Gavazzi, the overall race leader, won the 186-kilometer (115.58-mile) stage in four hours, 33 minutes and 29 seconds. Gavazzi won the opening stage from Putrajaya to Senawang on Monday and the second stage from Senawang to Malacca Tuesday.

Just one day before heading out to the Amgen Tour of California, Tom Zirbel (Bissell Pro Cycling) stopped by the VeloNews offices with his Pinarello FM1 time trial bike. He was on his way out for a last day of training before joining the star-studded peloton in Sacramento for Saturday’s prologue. We got some photos and component highlights, and enjoyed a relaxed conversation with Zirbel.

The third and final stage of the Women's Tour of Qatar saw Italy’s Giorgia Bronzini triumph for the second time of the event, outsprinting her rivals to clinch the win on the Al Khor Corniche. Overall victory went to Dutch rider Kirsten Wild. As the 84 remaining riders started, only 6 seconds separated Wild from her closest Bronzini on the GC.

Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) opened his 2009 account with victory in Tuesday’s third stage of the Mallorca Challenge after avoiding a final-turn crash by Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne) late in the stage.   The Italian sprinter made it over three rated climbs midway through the 182.6km circuit course starting and finishing in Inca and then avoided a spill in the final kilometer to go that took out Valverde and Manuel Quinziato (Liquigas). Luckily for Valverde, who decided to race to help his teammate Jose Joaquim Rojas challenge for the overall, he wasn't seriously injured.

Mattia Gavazzi (Diquigiovanni-Androni) maintained his hold on both the points and leader’s jerseys at Malaysia’s Tour de Langkawi, by winning the 160.9km stage to Senawang to Malacca on Tuesday, his second win in as many stages. Gavazzi expressed surprise to have already notched up three victories this year, adding his two Langkawi stage wins to an earlier win at the Tour de San Luis.

Making it work

Just before a trip to the San Diego wind tunnel, Olympic gold medalist Kristin Armstrong shared some photos and component details of her new Cervélo S2 road bike. Armstrong is a star member of the new Cervélo TestTeam, and the new team is already working to contribute new information to the company. We also caught up by email with Cervélo race engineer Damon Rinard while he was at the San Diego low speed wind tunnel for a few insights.

Bike details

Australian cyclist Cadel Evans announced on Monday that he would not compete in the Giro d'Italia this season because he was determined to win the Tour de France in July. The 31-year-old, who was second in last year's Tour, explained that while he would have liked to compete in the Giro it simply did not fit into his plans as he prepares to take on Alberto Contador and seven-time winner Lance Armstrong. "There has been a lot of talk about the Giro in the press," said the Silence team leader.

USA Cycling National Development Team riders Austin Carroll and Guy East become the first American Madison pair to win the U.I.V. Talent Cup Amateur Six-Day competition, which wrapped up with this weekend in Alkmaar, Netherlands. The duo is now guaranteed a professional contract for competition in two UIV Professional Six-day events during the 2010-11 season.

Eva Lutz (Nürnberger) won stage 2 of the Women’s Tour of Qatar on Monday. Veronicca Andreason (Bigla Cycling Team) took second in the 100km stage with Rochelle Gilmore (Lotto-Belison) third at 14 seconds back in a group that included Kirsten Wild (Cervélo TestTeam) and race leader Giorgia Bronzini (Italy). Wild took the leader’s jersey from Bronzini and now holds a five-second advantage over her with Kirtsy Broun (Australia) third at 12 seconds. Stage 1. Eva Lutz (G), Nürnberger, 110km in 2:49:56 (38.839 km/h)

Katusha made it two in a row Monday at the Mallorca Challenge, with Robbie McEwen darting clear for his first European win in 2009. A day after setting up Katusha teammate Gert Steegmans for the victory, McEwen out-kicked compatriot Graeme Brown (Rabobank) in the 176.5km stage, which started and finished in Cala Millor.

Italian Mattia Gavazzi (Diquigiovanni-Androni) won the first stage of the Tour de Langkawi cycling race in Malaysia's administrative capital of Putrajaya on Monday. Australian Chris Sutton from Garmin Slipstream took second place.[nid:87467] Gavazzi won the 133.8 kilometre (83.14 mile) stage in three hours, six minutes and 42 seconds. The seven-stage race began in Putrajaya, south of Kuala Lumpur on Monday and heads south to the tourist town of Malacca, then north to the Genting Highlands, before ending on February 15 in the capital Kuala Lumpur.

The questions came in to us here at VeloNews after stage 5 of the Tour Down Under: What sunglasses did Lance have on? The answer: Oakley’s new sports spec, called Jawbone.

Colors: Pearl white with light blue details Sizes: 36 to 43; half sizes 39.5 to 42.5 Price: $170 Web site: www.northwave.com The Devine S.B.S. is Northwave’s high-end women’s road shoe. It is the women’s specific equivalent road shoe to the men’s Typhoon S.B.S. Northwave says that its lower heel and forefoot volume is more accommodating to a woman’s foot.

Two days after the end of the men's Tour of Qatar, the first women's event began with a 94-kilometer stage that started at the Islamic Art Museum in Doha and finished at Doha Shafallah. Italian national team member Giorgia Bronzini won by outsprinting Dutch riders Kirsten Wild and Ellen Van Dijk. The silver points’ jersey went to Wild while Van Dijk becomes the best young rider of the event. [nid:87443]

Frenchman Thomas Voeckler of Bouygues Telecom claimed overall victory in the Etoile de Besseges stage race, formerly the traditional season-opener, here Sunday. Voeckler, who famously battled the advances of Lance Armstrong to keep hold of the Tour de France yellow jersey in 2004, finished comfortably ahead of Slovenian Jure Kocjan and Russian Yuri Trofimov, last year's winner, in the general classification. Another Frenchman, Jean-Eudes Demaret of Cofidis, won the fifth and final stage after 145 km of racing between Gagnieres and Besseges. [nid:87402]

Fly V Australia rider Ben Day won a snowy and rainy Boulevard road race in east San Diego County Saturday while Floyd Landis used the hilly 90-mile hometown event to quietly return to racing after a two-year suspension. Landis’ Canadian OUCH teammate Cameron Evans took second while Fly V Australia riders and Amgen Tour of California invitees David Kemp, Charles Dionne, and Bernard Sulzberger rounded out the third through fifth. The race rolled out in a driving snowstorm that had barreled into the mountains 60 miles east of downtown San Diego the morning of the event. [nid:87423]