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Spanish cyclist Alejandro Valverde has appealed his doping ban imposed by Italian authorities last month to the world sport's top court said on Friday. The Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) last month banned Valverde from racing in Italy for two years due to his alleged involvement in the Operation Puerto blood doping scandal, thereby ruling him out of the Tour de France, which this year passes through Italy's Val D'Aosta region on July 21. Valverde called on the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to "exonerate

Rockstar Games Presents the 36th Annual David Walker Memorial Cycling Classic New York, NY — Rockstar Games is the new presenting sponsor of the venerated Skyscraper Harlem Cycling Classic, it was announced today. The 36th anniversary edition will be be held on its traditional Father’s Day date, Sunday, June 21st, at Marcus Garvey Park in New York City.

The Belgian Quick Step team announced Friday that it is reviewing its legal options in a final-hour bid to overturn a decision by Tour de France race organizers to ban classics specialists Tom Boonen from the 2009 edition. Tour officials announced Thursday that Boonen would not be allowed to start the 2009 Tour on July 4, citing Boonen’s recent troubles with a second out-of-competition test for cocaine.

Astana named six of its nine riders who will battle for overall and stage wins in next month's Tour de France, where Alberto Contador of Spain will start as a yellow jersey favorite.

Contador, the 2007 champion, will be joined by seven-time winner Lance Armstrong, Andreas Klöden, Levi Leipheimer, Yaroslav Popovych and Haimar Zubeldia.

The remaining three riders will be picked from a group that includes Jani Brajkovic, Chris Horner, Benjamin Noval, Dmitriy Muravyev, Sergio Paulinho, Gregory Rast and Tomas Vaitkus.

Euskaltel-Euskadi will be hoping for big performances at the Tour de France following relatively lackluster spring campaign.

The Basque Country-based Euskaltel team will ride this year without the services of consistent top-10 threat Haimar Zubeldia (who’s already punched himself a ticket back to the Tour with Astana), so the team will look to Igor Antón and Mikel Astarloza to fill the void.

Astarloza has already finished in the top-10 and rode well to a top-5 finish at the Dauphiné Libéré.

Dutch cycling great Steven Rooks became the latest retired cyclist to confess to taking EPO in a book released this week. The 48-year-old - second in the 1988 Tour de France when he won the classic Alpe d'Huez stage - admits in the book about the Tour de France "Het laatste geel" (The last yellow) that he resorted to taking the drug after his best years were behind him. "Yes, I took EPO. It was necessary in order to compete at the highest level," said Rooks.

California’s Tour de Nez began Thursday with the downtown Truckee criterium, the first of three days of racing in the 17th edition of the race. Run under sunny skies, warm temperatures and stiff winds, the pro men’s field put on a show for the thousands of assembled fans, as it was Lifetime Fitness/VeloVie rider Chad Gerlach who took the pro men’s race in a one up sprint against Jonathan Baker of the Natural Grocer’s team.

Sprinter Ivan Dominguez has returned to the U.S.-based Rock Racing team after a five-month ProTour stint with Fuji-Servetto. Dominguez initially signed with Rock Racing before the 2009 season, but left the team in early January to accept a spot with the new ProTour squad. His return to domestic racing was a personal decision, he said, based on a desire to be closer to his family and the races he loves.

Mark Cavendish earned his second stage win at the Tour of Switzerland on Thursday, the 178 kilometer sixth stage from Oberriet to Bad Zurzach. The 24-year-old Columbia-Highroad rider – winner of four stages in last year's Tour de France – won in a sprint finish ahead of Spain's three-time world road race champion Oscar Freire (Rabobank). Cavendish had already won Monday's stage from Davos to Lumino. "It may have appeared easy but it wasn't that evident to me," said Cavendish. "We had to cope with a second category climb eaarly in the stage and then a strong headwind."

Quick Step's Tom Boonen has been banned from competing in the Tour de France due to his positive drug test for cocaine, organizers ASO (Amaury Sport Organisation) announced on Thursday. The 28-year-old tested positive for cocaine in April, less than a year after he first tested positive for the drug in May 2008. The three-time winner of Paris-Roubaix may also face disciplinary proceedings by UCI. Boonen's team have backed him and previously promised to provide legal support if he was refused entry to the Tour.

Rabobank will bring a strong and balanced team to the 2009 Tour de France, with a quiver full of stage hunters and podium contender Denis Menchov. It will be interesting to see how Menchov performs in the Tour after being pushed to the limit by Danilo Di Luca to claim a thrilling victory at the Giro d’Italia in May. Third last year at the Tour (after Bernhard Kohl's results are negated), Menchov will be one of the favorites for victory, especially if he can ride as consistently and strongly as he did at the Giro.

The Columbia-Highroad juggernaut continues, with German sprinter André Greipel charging to victory in the second stage of the Ster Elektotoer in Holland on Thursday. Greipel out-kicked Danilo Napolitano (Katusha) and Tom Boonen (Quick Step) in the second stage from Eindhoven to Sittard-Geleen. Overnight leader Niki Terpstra (Milram) finished safely in the pack to retain his leader’s jersey in the five-day Dutch race.

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The Astana team announced Thursday that it has reached an agreement with its Kazakh sponsors that will ensure its continued operation through the year. In a release issued Thursday, the team credited productive meetings between Johann Bruyneel and intermediary Rinus Wagtmans, who served as a representative of Kazakhstan’s government for an accord, “which gives riders and staff of the Team sufficient guarantees for the operation and functioning of the Team for the remainder of the season.”

The stage 3 crash that American Christian Vande Velde suffered at May’s Giro d’Italia, which resulted in vertebra, pelvic and rib fractures, dealt a heavy blow to the Garmin-Slipstream leader’s hopes for a strong follow-up to his fourth-place finish in the 2008 Tour de France.

A panel of independent experts has concluded that Quick Step’s Tom Boonen did not actually ingest the cocaine for which he tested positive six weeks ago, Belgian media reported Thursday. The panel based its conclusion on the small quantity of the substance found in the Belgian racer's hair samples examined by the Belgian University of Louvain and the University of Strasbourg in France, Sporza television reported.

Luis León Sánchez says he’s ready to lead Caisse d’Epargne if star Alejandro Valverde isn’t allowed to race. Valverde is appealing a decision by Italian authorities to ban him for two years for what they say is clear evidence linking him to the Operación Puerto blood doping scandal. If Valverde isn’t allowed to race the Tour, his Caisse d’Epargne team will lean heavily on the 25-year-old León Sánchez during the season’s most important race.

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The Race Across America is always a challenge—nothing about riding 3000 miles from the West Coast to the East Coast could ever be considered easy. But this year it is going to be particularly tough for a solo to win as possibly the most competitive, most experience field to grace this 28-year old event is now on course. Among those on an eastward heading to Annapolis, Maryland are two past winners and several riders with top five rides in their RAAM palmares.

What is the environmental impact of a ProTour race?

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The UCI’s anti-doping chief Anne Gripper said the vast majority of the elite peloton appears to be riding clean after months-long analysis of tell-tale blood parameters. Gripper was speaking at a press conference in Paris Wednesday where it was announced the pioneering 'biological passport' scheme launched by the UCI had snared five riders.

Milram's Niki Terpstra won the 6.9km prologue of the Ster Elektrotoer sgtage race in Holland on Wednesday, taking the first leader's jersey of the race. Terpstra beat Liuwa Westra (Vacansoleil) by two seconds.

Columbia-Highroad's Michael Albasini won the fifth stage of the Tour of Switzerland, a 202-kilometer race from Staefa in Switzerland to Serfaus in Austria. Tadej Valjavec (Ag2r) retained the race lead, even managing to drop his biggest rival on Wednesday – Saxo Bank's Andy Schleck - down the overall standings. Valjavec now leads Swiss rider Oliver Zaugg, of Liquigas, by 14 seconds with four stages remaining.

The Union Cycliste Internationale is seeking disciplinary measures against five riders based on results from its so-called “biological passport” program. The five — 2003 world road champion Igor Astarloa, Pietro Caucchioli (Lampre-N.G.C.), Francesco De Bonis (Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni), Ruben Lobato Elvira and Ricardo Serrano (Fuji-Servetto) — are said to be in “apparent violation of the Anti-Doping Rules on the basis of the information provided by the blood profile in their biological passports,” the UCI charged in a press release Wednesday.

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Lance Armstrong will continue his preparations for the Tour de France by racing in the Nevada City Classic on Sunday, the seven-time Tour de France champion has announced. Armstrong said he and Astana teammates Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner will compete in the 49th edition of the Nevada City Classic, which is run on a a 1.7km circuit in the historic mining town nestled in the northern California mountains.

Former Rock Racing rider Tyler Hamilton has accepted an eight-year suspension from sport after a positive doping test earlier this year, his second violation since 2004. Hamilton could have faced a lifetime ban due to his 2004 suspension for homologous blood doping, a violation first noted by anti-doping officials at that year’s Olympic Games.

The strongest, most durable bike at the ShoAir Pro XCT mountain bike race in Colorado Springs this past weekend wasn’t a full-suspension, cross-country racing rig, or even an all-mountain trail bike. It was a 45-pound, coaster-braked singlespeed, equipped with riser bars, a rear rack, fenders and is capable of carrying a 100-kilogram cargo load. But it’s not a bike you’ll ever see in your local bike shop.

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Tejay Van Garderen (Rabobank) finished with the bunch on Tuesday to take the overall victory in the Circuito Montañes in northern Spain. Vicente Grau Jorda (Camargo-Ferroatlantica-Floortex) won the 152km seventh stage from Potes to Santander in a bunch sprint ahead of Van Garderen’s teammate Boy Van Poppel, with Jorge Martín Montenegro (Andalucía-Cajasur) third. But Van Garderen crossed safely in 39th place to claim the final leader’s jersey by 35 seconds over Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolas (Orbea). Sergio Pardilla Bellón (Carmiooro-A Style) finished third overall at 1:01.

Matti Breschel (Saxo Bank) triumphed in the fourth stage of the Tour of Switzerland on Tuesday. The Dane held off Astana's Maxim Iglinsky by a whisker to take his third victory of the year in the 195km ride from Biasca to Staefa. Tadej Valjavec (Ag2r-La Mondiale) finished third in the nine-man sprint to take the leader's jersey from Saxo's Fabian Cancellara, who crossed 1:03 down on the escapees. Cancellara had led the race since winning the opening time trial.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) confirmed Tuesday that disgraced Kazakh cyclist Alexandre Vinokourov must serve out a two-year doping ban until late July. In a statement the court said it had set aside the one-year suspension handed down by Kazakhstan's cycling federation in December 2007, following an arbitration request. It decided instead that Vinokourov's period of ineligibility, which was applicable after he and his Astana team were expelled from the 2007 Tour de France for blood doping, should run for two years under international cycling rules.

Why does my tubular tire thump near the valve stem? I have ridden them several times and I have noticed a significant pulsation whenever I coast at 20-28 mph. I don't notice it when I am pedaling although it is probably there.

The Tour de Suisse takes center stage this week as the “other” grand tour enters its decisive stages in the mountains. Going into Tuesday’s fourth stage, Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank) is stubbornly hanging onto the leader’s jersey he earned with victory in the opening prologue and shows no signs of letting go. A string of upcoming mountain stages will put Cancellara to the test. There’s a clutch of other races later this week, with events in Slovenia, France and Holland while women’s racing continues with the Grande Boucle Féminine in France.

A doping investigation initially targeting two University doctors has now snared four more, albeit on lesser charges, according to German public prosecutor Wolfgang Maier on Monday. Maier confirmed a report, to appear Tuesday in the Badischer Zeitung newspaper, which claimed four other doctors have been actively investigated in the case. Maier did not reveal names but told the SID agency they faced lesser charges to those of Lothar Heinrich and Andreas Schmid, both of whom were sacked two years ago for helping administer doping substances.

Alejandro Valverde's win at the Dauphine solidified his position atop the UCI's world rankings, and also brought hit team, Caisse d'Epargne, and country, Spain, to the top of their respective rankings. Valverde has earned points at Fleche Wallone (where he was seventh), the Tour de Romandie (where he was in the top 10 in three stages) and with his wins at the Volta Catalunya and the Dauphine. The rankings are weighted toward the grand tours, which is how Denis Menchov remains in third with the 218 points he picked up on the way to winning the Giro d'Italia.

French cycling team Cofidis unveiled a nine-man Tour de France team Monday which manager Eric Boyer has shaped principally for success in the mountains. Frenchman David Moncoutie, who won the hilly penultimate stage of the Dauphine Libere on Saturday, will be the team's main hope on the Tour's climbs along with fellow specialists Amael Moinard and Remi Pauriol. Christophe Kern, who also impressed during the Dauphine, has also been given instructions to perform well in the Alps and Pyrenees.

Team Astana has suspended Kazakh rider Assan Bazayev for 15 days for not providing sufficient whereabouts information required as part of the UCI’s biological passport program. The 28-year-old Bazayev was supposed to start the nine-day Tour de Suisse on Saturday, but Astana officials slapped him with an internal, 15-day racing ban Friday because he wasn’t being vigilant enough about informing anti-doping controllers on where he was.

Astana has revealed its short list for the upcoming Tour de France. Fifteen riders are vying for nine spots on the Astana tour squad, which will be anchored by returning seven-time Tour champion Lance Armstrong and 2007 Tour winner Alberto Contador. Also all but assured of spots are Tour podium finishers Levi Leipheimer and Andreas Klöden.

Ever since Shimano introduced the 7900 Di2 group at last fall’s Interbike show, it’s been surrounded by questions (as is any revolutionary new product). At first, the major question was simply Shimano’s wisdom in daring to venture down a path previously abandoned by Mavic and Campagnolo. Then the question was: will it pass the litmus test of adoption by professional riders and mechanics, who are historically traditional and resistant to change? Finally, will the parts ever actually become available at retail — and if so, will consumers buy?

Defending Tour de France champion Carlos Sastre is headed to Switzerland to preview some of the key mountain stages for next month’s race. Sastre, fresh off winning two stages at the Giro d’Italia and finishing fourth overall, will join teammates from his Cervélo TestTeam to train in the Alps until Friday. “The riders who will dispute the Tour are going to take some deep training rides and personally I want to review some of the climbs that I don’t know of the stages that will be featured in the Alps,” Sastre said before traveling to Geneva on Monday.

Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara held on to the lead of the Tour of Switzerland as Britain's Mark Cavendish powered to victory on the 195.4km third stage on Monday. The 24-year-old from the Isle of Man, who won four stages at last year's Tour de France, produced an impressive decisive surge in the dying meters after Norwegian Thor Hushovd's final dash for the line ran out of steam. As Cavendish soaked up the win, Spanish ace Oscar Freire of Rabobank came through late to leave Cervelo's main sprinter Hushovd in third place. [nid:93406]

Tejay Van Garderen moved into the overall lead Monday after stage six at the Circuito Montañes in northern Spain, an important proving ground for up-and-coming pros. The American rider on the Rabobank continental team finished second to Sergio Pardilla (Carmiooro) in the 143.6km stage from Torrelavega to Santo Toribio, some 20 seconds behind the Spanish rider. With just one stage remaining, Van Garderen moves up into the overall lead, now 35 seconds ahead of Jonathan Castroviejo (Orbea), with Pardilla slotting into third at 1:01 back.

It’s looking more likely that a Japanese rider will be at the Tour de France for the first time in more than a decade. Bbox Bouygues Telecom has named Yukiya Arashiro as one of the riders assured to start the 2009 Tour on July 4 in Monaco. The others include Thomas Voeckler, Pierrick Fédrigo, Pierre Rolland and William Bonnet. Bouygues team boss Jean-René Bernaudeau had high praise for Arashiro, a former Japanese national time trial and road champion who’s racing in Europe for the first time this season.