Oscar Freire (Rabobank) proved fastest among an elite group of sprinters on Wednesday, winning the first stage of Tirreno-Adriatico. Freire won the 160km stage around Civitavecchia in 4:10:01, just nicking Alessandro Petacchi (Milram) and Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Caisse D'Epargne). The former world champion will wear the leader's blue jersey in Thursday's second stage, over 203km from from Civitavecchia to Gubbio.
A Frenchman hasn’t stood atop the Paris-Nice podium since Laurent Jalabert won the last of his three straight titles in 1997. Sylvain Chavanel (Cofidis) promises he can restore French pride in the "Race to the Sun" after moving into the race leader’s jersey in Wednesday’s roller-coaster stage that saw Finnish rider Kjell Carlström (Liquigas) take a breakaway stage victory into St. Étienne.
What can I do about foot pain while cycling?
Crashes and nasty weather are turning the 66th Paris-Nice into a war of attrition as Gert Steegmans (Quick Step) sprinted to his second straight win Tuesday in an exciting, attack-riddled 201km soggy march. The big Belgian didn’t want to wait for the bunch and made easy work of a four-up sprint on a slight rise into Belleville, three seconds ahead of a 44-rider chase group that was missing several GC contenders, among them Fränk Schleck (CSC – 76th at 2:56) and Haimar Zubeldia (Euskaltel-Euskadi – 53rd at 1:15) and José Angel Gómez Marchante (Saunier Duval – abandon).
Dear Lennard,
In a recent article you make mention of the fact that you do not use adhesive tapes, like that produced by Tufo, on tubular wheels, preferring instead to use the old system of building up with glue.
On a stage dominated by local riders, Health Net-Maxxis’s John Murphy took the green jersey and sits second overall after the first stage of the Tour of Taiwan. Besides Health Net, the other American team in the race is Team Type 1. Their top rider after the first stage was Emile Abraham in 25th.
One of the worst winter storms of the year ripped across central France on Monday and left the Paris-Nice peloton looking like shredded wheat in a brutal, weather-shortened first stage. Only a Belgian could be happy racing in howling crosswinds, piercing rain and plummeting temperatures, so it shouldn’t come as a complete surprise as Tom Boonen’s favorite lead-out man, Gert Steegmans, out-toughed a reduced bunch in a 40-up sprint on a steep climbing finish into Nevers to claim victory.
Bobbie Traksel (P3 Transfer) won the Three Days of West Flanders on Sunday after claiming victory in the third and final stage, a 186km leg beginning and ending in Ichtegem. The 26-year-old Netherlander took the final overall four seconds ahead of Belgian Niko Eeckhout (Topsport Vlaanderen) and 15 ahead of Russian Serguei Ivanov (Astana).
If it’s short, fast and flat, chances are good that Thor Hushovd (Credit Agricole) will be among the favorites in any opening prologue. The 30-year-old Norwegian sprinter confirmed he’s one of the peloton’s best “short course” time trial specialists Sunday with a solid four-second victory in the wet and windy 4.6km opener at the 66th Paris-Nice.
CSC's powerhouse Fabian Cancellara won Saturday's new Italian one-day, the Monte Paschi Eroica. The long-time amateur race, which includes miles of gravel roads, was held for the first time as a professional race last fall. The first pro edition also was won by a CSC rider, Alexandr Kolobnev.
Spaniard Alejandro Valverde of the Caisse d'Epargne team won the Tour of Murcia cycling race for the third time on Saturday. Compatriot Kolko Fernandez, riding for Euskaltel-Euskadi, won the 134.9km fifth and final stage from San Javier to Murcia. Valverde, winner in 2004 and 2007 and who stamped his mark on this year's renewal in Friday's stage, said that having achieved one of his targets for the season, he hoped it would prove to be a launchpad for the rest of his campaign.
Alejandro Valverde pedaled himself into position Friday to win the Vuelta a Murcia for the third time. The Caisse d’Epargne rider won the decisive 23.1km climbing time trial and moved into the overall lead with just one stage remaining in the five-day stage race in Spain with his first win of the 2008 season. Valverde, who hails from the Spanish region, won the race against the clock from Alhama to Aledo in 33 minutes, 32 seconds, some two seconds faster than Stefano Garzelli (Acqua e Sapone) and six seconds faster than 2007 Tour de France champion Alberto Contador (Astana).
At the start of the year, Team CSC brass were predicting that a stronger, more confident Juan José Haedo would win more in his second season in Europe. So far, the Argentine ace is living up to expectations. After winning races in Argentina and in California earlier this season, Haedo won Sunday’s Clásica de Almería ahead of three-time world champion Oscar Freire (Rabobank).
A German rider with a penchant for lightweight rides has put together a 3195-gram (7.04-pound) road bike that he says is sturdy enough for him to ride up to 1000 kilometers a week. Günter Mai from Lampertheim has modified virtually every part on the bike, including the set of custom Lew Racing Pro VT-1 wheels. Off the shelf VT-1 wheels weigh 850 grams a pair and are made for use by riders up to 185 pounds. They sell for about $6000, while custom wheels like Mai's cost $15,000.
Spanish veteran José Luís “Chechu” Rubiera was looking at retirement last winter following the collapse of his Discovery Channel team, where he rode alongside Lance Armstrong for five of his seven Tour de France victories. New-look Astana offered him a lifeline with a one-year contract and the popular Spanish rider didn’t take long to pay back the favor.
Bart Gillespie (Monavie-Cannondale) and Kelli Emmett (Giant) won the opening round of Utah’s 2008 Intermountain Cup, the Red Rock Desert Rampage, held in St. George on March 1. Gillespie, overall winner of the 2007 series and the seventh-place finisher at the 2007 USA Cycling national cross-country championships in Mount Snow, Vermont, dominated the men’s race, beating second-place finisher Cale Redpath (3D Racing) by nearly seven minutes.
Graeme Brown (Rabobank) got revenge for losing Sunday’s Clásica de Almería by sprinting to victory Tuesday in the opening stage of the five-day Vuelta a Murcia in Spain. Brown and Rabobank teammate Oscar Freire were upstaged by Juan José Haedo (CSC) on Sunday, but the Aussie sprinter got it right in 197.3km stage from San Pedro del Pinatar to Lorca to snag his second win on the 2008 season.
Will orthotics help my foot pain?
A recurring pain
Dear Lennard,
I'm writing because I just read the shoe review in the VeloNews Buyer's Guide, and you mention in there that you use a custom orthotic.
I was happy to see that the Shimano SH R300's I just purchased got high marks, but I am still having issues with my right foot even with the new shoes. I got the new shoes because I was having the problem with my four-year-old Northwave Evolutions.
Belgian Roel Paulissen (Cannondale-Vredestein) and Czech Tereza Hurikova took overall victories at the Afxentia Stage Race, a three-day cross-country race held on the island of Cyprus. The competition included two cross-country races — each counting as rounds of Cyprus’ Sunshine Cup series — as well as an individual time trial sandwiched between.
One of the legends of American bike racing is planning a 6-day-style track race for this fall in Las Vegas, to coincide with the Interbike trade show there. Jack Simes III, a member of the U.S. Olympic team in 1960, '64 and '68, and coach of the 1976 Olympic team, has booked the arena at Mandalay Bay resort on the Vegas strip, and plans to hold the events on a new 166-meter plywood track. The races would be held September 23-25, with events from about 7 p.m. until 1 a.m. each night. Planned events include Madison races, sprints, one-lap record attempts and motor-paced Derny races.
Last month, Travis Ott, Gary Fisher’s brand manager and Subaru-Gary Fisher team director, personally delivered a new cross-country racing version of the brand’s HiFi full suspension frame to team riders Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski and Heather Irmiger. During our meeting in their hometown of Boulder, Colorado, at one of the coffee shops preferred by the pros, Horgan-Kobelski and Irmiger, who are married, gave the bikes a good look over while Ott ran through the basics of the new design.
CSC's Juan Jose Haedo won the 23rd Clasica de Almeria in Spain on Sunday, beating out Rabobank's Oscar Freire and Graeme Brown in a sprint to take the 187km race.
Quick Step's Steven De Jongh outkicked fellow Dutchman Sebastian Langeveld to win Sunday’s 61st Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne in an attacked-riddled race that saw two-time defending world champion Paolo Bettini crash for the second day in a row. The mighty Quick Step train righted itself Sunday with De Jongh’s winning ride a day after missing out on the spoils against an unstoppable Philippe Gilbert (FDJeux) in Het Volk.
Just nine American track racers will journey to the 2008 UCI track world championships, held March 26-30 in Manchester, Great Britain. USA Cycling will send sprinters Jennie Reed, Michael Blatchford and Adam Duvendeck as well as endurance riders Sarah Hammer, Michael Friedman, Bobby Lea, Colby Pearce and Taylor Phinney. Reed races endurance and sprint events.
Belgian rider Philippe Gilbert (FDJeux) won Het Volk for the second time in three years in the best style possible: with a dramatic solo victory. Gilbert, winner of the Belgian season opener in 2006, attacked a lead group of favorites on the Eikenberg climb with about 60km to go in the 199km course across the Belgian heartland of Flanders. [nid:72951]He then reeled in the day’s main breakaway that included Mike Friedman (Slipstream-Chipotle) and before attacking again with a punishing acceleration with 22km to go to solo home to victory.
Another stage at the Volta a Valenciana and another breakaway by a rider from Slipstream-Chipotle. For the fourth stage in a row, the American squad put a man into the main move in the five-day Valencia tour in Spain. This time it was Lucas Euser showing off the argyle with Antonio Piedra (Contentpolis-Murcia) in more than 100km at the front.
The third stage of the Volta a Valenciana ended on a controversial note Thursday as a misdirected peloton split between a highway and a frontage road in the decisive final 5km of the 166.5km climbing course around Ibi. Ruben Plaza (Benfica) stole away the leader’s jersey from José Iván Gutiérrez (Caisse d’Epargne) in one of the most bizarre mishaps in recent cycling history.
Erik Zabel isn’t washed up yet. The 37-year-old Milram ace out-sprinted younger rivals to snag his first win of what will likely be his final season in the 178km second stage of the Volta a Valenciana in Spain. Zabel — who saw his reputation sullied last year after admitting he used the banned blood booster EPO during the 1996 season — finished off an exciting stage that saw Slipstream-Chipotle’s Timmy Duggan feature in the day’s main breakaway.
Craig Calfee hopes to prove that one person with one idea can make a difference in some of the poorest corners of the planet. The maker of some of the most exclusive and sought after carbon-fiber bikes on the market, Calfee plans to use his knowledge to teach Africans how to build themselves bamboo cargo bikes.
The sprinters were sharpening their knives before Tuesday’s opening stage of the five-day Volta a Valenciana in Spain, but a late-race attack featuring 24 riders stayed away to foil their chances. Spanish rider José Iván Gutiérrez (Caisse d’Epargne) out-kicked compatriot Ruben Plaza (SL Benfica) and Xavier Florencio (Bouygues Telecom) to snag the win and take the overall leader’s jersey in the 157km stage from Sagunto to Port de Sagunto.
The original Blur LT was introduced three years ago and the all-mountain rig has become the brand’s bestseller. But the company is releasing a remodeled design intended to keep it at the top of its heap. The most visible new feature is the use of a carbon fiber upper VPP link. Less visible but more important is a careful re-tooling of the linkage’s shock rate. Santa Cruz engineers mellowed the rate out to offer a supple beginning stroke and and a linear feel all the way through to bottom out.
This past weekend’s trip to the Wisconsin north woods for the 35th American Birkebeiner, which for many cyclists is a festival of extreme winter cross-training, got me thinking about traditions. Being able to count on the recurrence of a tradition is comforting. Yet underneath, traditions can be fragile, no matter how long they have survived.
Adding a ray of sunshine to an otherwise cloudy week of racing for Team High Road, American George Hincapie won the final stage of the 2008 Amgen Tour of California on Sunday, the 93.4-mile journey from Santa Clarita to Pasadena. The American took the victory in downtown Pasadena ahead of breakaway companions Michael Creed, Jason McCartney, Rory Sutherland and Tom Zirbel. [nid:72801]
American Katheryn Mattis (Webcor Builders) outsprinted Australia's Emma Rickards (Cervelo Lifeforce) to claim victory in the opening round of the UCI Women's Road Cycling World Cup series Sunday in Geelong, Australia. The pace was high from the gun with 12 riders breaking away early. But Team High Road powered the chase on the front of the peloton and the break were reeled in on the fourth lap. Cervelo Lifeforce riders then launched a series of attacks with Rickards finally breaking clear followed close behind by Mattis.
The tears in Mark Cavendish's eyes at the podium presentation for stage 6 of the Amgen Tour of California on Saturday were not from joy, but frustration. While the 22-year old High Road rider won the bunch kick in downtown Santa Clarita after the 105.4-mile journey from Santa Barbara, shortly before the ceremony race officials told the Brit he had been relegated to last place. His foul? Hanging onto a team car a few miles from the finish, while his bike was being fixed after a crash. [nid:72746]
Astana’s Levi Leipheimer took a substantial leap forward in his quest to defend his Amgen Tour of California victory, winning the stage 5 individual time trial in Solvang. The American, who was the final rider to leave the starting gate, finished the rolling 15-mile course in 30:47, 29 seconds up on British time trial champ David Millar (Slipstream-Chipotle), with American Christian Vande Velde in third at 45 seconds back.
With a show of raw power reminiscent of Tom Boonen’s victories in the spring classics, Canadian Dominique Rollin muscled his way to a solo victory in the Amgen Tour of California’s rain-soaked fourth stage. The 25-year-old shattered a dwindling seven-man breakaway with 15 miles remaining in the brutal 135.3-mile slog from Seaside to San Luis Obispo, and then held off breakaway companions George Hincapie (High Road) and Iker Camano (Saunier Duval-Scott) by 18 seconds to take the biggest win of his young career.
Brooke Miller won the 2008 Amgen Women's Criterium, an event held during the first stage of the Amgen Tour of California and the first event of this year's National Racing Calendar. Miller, a Cleveland resident who won ten races in Europe last year in her first season racing abroad, edged Cheerwine’s Laura Van Gilder and Team High Road’s Emila Fahlin
Rabobank’s 21-year-old Robert Gesink climbed his way to the biggest win of his young career Wednesday in stage 3 of the Amgen Tour of California. Levi Leipheimer, who went clear with Gesink from a select bunch of chasers over Sierra Road, finished second on the day to take the leader’s jersey. Slipstream-Chipotle’s Tyler Farrar started the day in the jersey — but with a stomach bug. He dropped out midway through the stage. However, it was inevitable that the American sprinter would have relinquished the lead on the race's most difficult climbing stage.
Tom Boonen has now won stages of major races on three continents. The big Belgian blew past High Road’s Mark Cavendish to grab the stage 2 win of the Amgen Tour of California in a drizzly downtown Sacramento. Gerolsteiner’s Heinrich Haussler came second with the recently out-of-retirement Mario Cipollini showing he still can turn the pedals with a third-place performance.
From the perspective of executives at Pearl Izumi, the company’s sale to Shimano American Corp., announced Tuesday, was a relief. Other potential buyers — mostly venture capitalists — were eyeing the Colorado-based clothing company like a house flipper eyes a fixer-upper: something to throw a new coat of paint on, then re-sell for a huge profit. Shimano officials, however, look at Pearl like a young family sees a home, with plans to move in for the long haul. At least that’s how Pearl officials see it.
One more gear?
Dear Lennard,
We have a 27-mile climb just outside of town that I ride up occasionally. My problem is that I tend to spin out on my way back down and find it difficult to keep up with some of my riding partners. A friend of mine told me that I could swap my 10-speed Shimano cassette (12-25) for a SRAM (11-26), which would give me both a better climbing and descending gear. Although I understand 45MPH is plenty fast, is the swap compatible?
Brian
Dear Brian,
Yellow jersey Fabian Cancellara had both hands up in the air well before any of the sprinters crossed the stage 1 Tour of California finish line — his CSC teammate JJ Haedo had the clear win. After three laps of a crowd-packed Santa Rosa circuit, Haedo hit from his CSC leadout coming up from an underpass. “When you see that last 200 meters you just go as hard as you can, and you don’t look back, otherwise you can lose,” Haedo said. High Road’s Gerald Ciolek finished second on the stage up from Sausalito, with Gerolsteiner’s Heinrich Haussler in third.
Gerolsteiner rider Fabian Wegmann is the one rider in the Amgen Tour of California on the latest prototype version of the Shimano Dura-Ace group. VeloNews spotted it before the start of stage 1 in Sausalito, and got the walkthrough with Gerolsteiner's Michael Rich, a friend and training partner of Wegmann, and the team's directeur sportif in California.
What more fitting an opening to the Tour of California than the best racers in the world flying down asphalt between rows of palm trees, and who a more fitting winner than current world time trial champion Fabian Cancellara (CSC)? The Swiss rider turned a time of 3:51.211 to handily beat second-place rider Bradley Wiggins (High Road) by four seconds over the 2.1-mile course. “With my beautiful rainbow jersey, to win here in Palo Alto, it is really good,” Cancellara said.
Jennie Reed and the Madison team of Colby Pearce and Bobby Lea turned in a pair of silver-medal performances on Sunday as the Copenhagen Track World Cup concluded in Denmark. That raised the final U.S. medal count to five.
Russian veteran Alexandre Botcharov (Crédit Agricole) secured his first stage-race victory of his career Sunday while French attacker Sylvain Chavanel (Cofidis) claimed the finale in the 35th Tour Mediterranean. Chavanel — who saw his 2007 season short-circuited when he was among the casualties on the Kemmelberg melee in Ghent-Wevelgem last April, which left him with 65 stitches and a triple-fractured wrist — looks back in good form with a solid win ahead of three fellow escapees.
A rider in his ninth year as a pro, a director whose career spans 24 years, and an unified team with the best climber in the race. It was this winning combination that, barring disaster, will grant Moldavian Ruslan Ivanov the best victory of his career Sunday as the Tour de Langkawi concludes in Kuala Lumpur.
The final round of the 2007-08 UCI Track World Cup Classics got underway in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Friday as the U.S. contingent collected a pair of bronze medals on opening night of the three-day competition. Sarah Hammer placed third in the women's 3000-meter individual pursuit while countrywoman Theresa Cliff-Ryan claimed her first career World Cup medal with a third-place effort in the women's 10-kilometer scratch race.
Ben Kneller (Jittery Joe's) and Lana Atchley (Team Rock) won their respective time trials on Friday to kick off the Valley of the Sun Stage Race in Arizona. Kneller won the flat, out-and-back 22km Trek Time Trial in Buckeye in 29 minutes, 27 seconds. He crossed five seconds up on both Sam Johnson (Hagens Berman Cycling Team) and Karl Bordine (Star WVO). Atchley took a more convincing win, finishing in 32:26, 58 seconds ahead of Emily Zell (Proman Racing) and 1:40 up on Catherine Dickson (Tribe Racing).
Holding a precariously small lead in the overall standings at the Tour de Langkawi for the last six days, Matthieu Sprick finally lost his hold on the maillot jaune Friday in Kuantan. Trying his hardest without result, Drapac-Porsche's young sprinter Mitchell Docker knew time was fast running out to lead the Tour de Langkawi, however briefly that now might be, and that the seventh leg could well be his last chance before Saturday’s queen stage to Fraser Hill.
Before the race started, Jose Serpa was tipped to be a serious contender for the overall classification of the 2008 Tour de Langkawi. But with 25 teams and 150-odd riders, controlling the race is near impossible and making the right break is a bit of a lottery. So when things didn't go to plan on Day 1, he decided to tack and change course.
Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole) has donned the first yellow jersey of the 35th Tour Méditerranéen after winning the first stage, a 120km run between La Crau and Hyères. The 30-year-old Norwegian, winner of the green jersey in the 2005 Tour de France, outsprinted Italian Liquigas teammates Francesco Chicchi and Alberto Curtolo to take the victory.
He'd won the first three bunch sprints, but each time there had been a breakaway ahead. Nonetheless, Alberto Loddo’s Tinkoff teammates continued to believe in him, so on Tuesday they sacrificed everything for him, only to see him boxed in at the finish. It was all for nothing. By this time last year he'd already won two stages and was on his way to a hat trick.
It is often said that races are won - and lost - in the off season. One thing is certain: The rider who steps to the top of the podium on the last day of 2008 Tour of California has surely been training with rock-solid focus over these past few months, and those who haven’t will soon pay the price. The Tour of California is back with a vengeance.
A forced time-out can sometimes be a good thing. As long as you're allowed to return to what you did before, have the strength to come back and deal with the consequences, it can make you a better rider. Perhaps even a better man.
Dear Lennard,
I'm confused about the BB30 design. How do they increase the spindle diameter from 24mm to 30mm and put the same sized bearings inside the BB shell? Is a larger diameter BB shell the design change the article mentions?
James
Dear James,
Yes, the bottom bracket shell is larger. Here are specs: www.bb30standard.com.
Lennard
This time the sprinters got it right. A day after Philippe Gilbert (Francaise des Jeux) upset the peloton’s fastest men with a late-stage attack, the sprinters got it back on track Monday in the second stage at the Mallorca Challenge in Spain’s Balearic islands. A heavily bearded Graeme Brown (Rabobank) won easily ahead of Denis Flahaut (Saunier Duval) and Gert Steegmans (QuickStep) in an eight-up sprint that saw the bunch splinter in the late going in the 162.7km rolling stage across eastern Mallorca from Cala Millor to Son Servera.
The North American Handmade Bicycle Show was quite a draw this year for boutique frame builders and their fans — including Lance Armstrong, Brian Lopes and Robin Williams.
From now on, February 11, 2008, will be known as a significant milestone in the globalization of cycling. It saw an successful all-Asian breakaway that lasted some 150km, and the first Korean winner in the Tour de Langkawi. Cycling is no longer a sport that excites only those in Europe, or attracts fans interested only in European racing. One of a quintet of riders who escaped on the longest leg of the race, Won Jae Lee (Seoul Cycling) wasn't the favorite - that was Meitan Hompo's Koji Fukushima, who initiated the move on his own after 60km before being caught 20km down the road.
Yury Trofimov (Bouygues Telecom) sewed up overall victory in the 38th Etoile de Bessèges on Sunday. The Russian won the five-day French race after finishing safely in the bunch behind Borut Bozic (Cycle Collstrop) in Sunday’s 145km finale into Bessè. The 24-year-old Trofimov took the jersey in the third stage and then followed the sprinters into his biggest win of his career. Mike Friedman fought into the day’s main breakaway for Slipstream-Chipotle and was only reeled in with less than 5km to go to set up the mass gallop.
Philippe Gilbert (Française des Jeux) uncorked a late-race solo attack and surprised the sprinters to win Sunday's opening of the five-day Mallorca Challenge. Sprinters typically hold court in the 100km circuit race, run on a flat, out-and-back circuit along Palma’s stunning seaside promenade anchored by the towering Gothic cathedral. But Gilbert had something else in mind.
A half hour before the doors opened for day two of the North American Handmade Bicycle Show in Portland, the crowds piled into the Oregon Convention Center’s lobby to wait. Each had paid $18 for a day’s worth of access to more than 150 of North America’s finest small- and medium-sized frame builders, as well as a few big-time component manufacturers.
After the dramatic events of Saturday, the sprinters' teams decided there would be none of the same Sunday in Sitiawan. However, a disorganized chase in the final kilometers led to chaos — but thriving in chaos was Jeremy Hunt, who showed that at age 33, he's still got the legs to beat the best. Without a lead-out train in sight and sensing a lack of unity, the veteran Briton, who switched teams this year to Crédit Agricole, found himself in a 10-man move that skipped clear of the peloton 5km from the finish.
After just one day in the saddle, the Tour de Langkawi finds itself in an intriguing position. On a stifling Saturday afternoon in the mainland's far north, a select breakaway group charged to the finish in Kepala Batas way ahead of schedule and more than 20 minutes clear of the rest of the field. And in one fell swoop, it's likely to have changed the race for overall honors into a 19 horse race.
The 2008 North American Handmade Bike Show kicked off Friday in Portland, Oregon, with more than 152 exhibitors ranging from solitary tradesmen to the giants of the industry.
Santa Barbara, California’s Adam Duvendeck turned heads with his eighth-place finish in the men’s sprint at the Los Angeles round of the World Cup, held January 17-20 in Carson City, California. The result stood as the top finish by an American male sprinter throughout the entire meet, and set the 26-year-old Duvendeck up as a strong candidate to represent the United States at the Beijing Games.
Before moving on to less important matters, I’d like to acknowledge the passing on Monday of Sheldon Brown, one of the giants of bicycle maintenance, technology and general bicycle mechanical understanding. He will be sorely missed, particularly for those seeking simple, straightforward answers to a vast array of bicycle-related questions. His white bearded visage with eagle-adorned helmet has long been the online face of Harris Cyclery in West Newton, Massachusetts.
If you look closely at the disc wheels on Astana’s time trial bikes, you may notice striations running from the hub to rim; much like those on a Lightweight Disc wheel. Well, there’s a reason for that. Despite the Bontrager branding, Astana is riding on Lightweight Disc wheels. Even though the wheel sports a large Bontrager logo, the wheel is actually the 850-gram DT Swiss equipped disc is made by Carbon Sports who sells the wheels under the name Lightweight.
Heath Blackgrove (Toyota-United) and Janel Holcomb (Webcor Builders) won Saturday’s Boulevard Road Race in Crestwood, California. The eighth annual race was run by the University of California San Diego cycling team. The 90-mile men’s race was a sweep for the Toyota-United squad, which put Blackgrove on the top step of the podium followed by teammates Ben Day second and Jonnie Clarke third. Holcomb took the 67-mile women’s race ahead of Leah Guloien (CA Pools Racing) and Cara Gillis (Team Vegan).
Tom Boonen might be known as Mr. Classics, but the road to glory in April goes through the wind-blasted deserts of Qatar. Ever since trekking to this Arabic nation overflowing with petro-dollars for the first time in 2004, Boonen has used the weeklong sprint-fest as a trampoline for spring-classic success. “The last few years we’ve been good here, so it’s become somewhat of a habit,” said Boonen, who relegated Alberto Loddo (Tinkoff) to second with Luciano Pagliarini (Sauner Duval-Scott) third in Friday’s finale. “If we weren’t going good, then I’d be worried.”
Danilo Napolitano (Lampre) received a nice birthday present Thursday as he steered clear of a nasty crash that KO’d classics candidate Magnus Backstedt (Slipstream-Chipotle) and won stage 5 of the Tour of Qatar ahead of race leader Tom Boonen (Quick Step). While Backstedt wound up with a broken right clavicle, barrel-chested Napolitano bolted ahead of Boonen’s derailed train to snag his first win over Boonen, who retained the overall lead over teammate Steven De Jongh with just one day to go.
Maybe Tom Boonen is mortal after all. After winning the opening two stages of the 7th edition of the Tour of Qatar (three if you count Sunday’s opening’s time trial), Boonen was relegated to second in Wednesday’s 131.5km fourth stage when a brisk wind and a surprisingly strong Alberto Loddo (Tinkoff) took him down a notch.
Despite spills and splits in the bunch, Tom Boonen (QuickStep) just keeps stacking up victories at the Tour of Qatar. The Belgian bomber won for the second day in a row despite getting caught up behind a late-stage crash that pushed the race leader into a second group with about 40km to go in Wednesday’s jittery 147.5 third stage. When the group came back together, QuickStep drove it home to deliver Boonen to the line in winning fashion in what’s his 13th career Tour of Qatar stage win
The first day of the second annual Serotta Science of Cycling Symposium offered participants some welcome opportunities to take on a few sacred cows of the sport.
A storm blew across the Qatari desert Monday, but it wasn’t one of the sirocco winds that can scour this flat desert wasteland. Instead, it came in the form of a super-motivated Quick Step team that left the Tour of Qatar peloton flayed like a lonely flag tattered in the wind. Coming a day after its team time trial victory, QuickStep didn’t miss a step and hammered through stiff crosswinds in Monday’s 137.5km second stage from Al Zubarah to the Doha Golf Club to shatter the race into pieces.