Road

The shit really hit the fan on lap number three. Some Euro with tree trunk legs and a wavy mullet charged to the front on his time trial bike and took a monster pull. Our group had swollen to more than 100 riders, and we were already chugging along at a descent clip. I knew right away that things were about to get crazy. The acceleration shredded the group just as we were barreling into a tight chicane. I focused ahead and prepared to navigate the tight s-turn. But I caught a glimpse of such a bizarre sight I had to look up. [nid:91150]

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German cycling team Telekom, later known as T-Mobile, was guilty of systematic doping between 1995 and 2006, Der Spiegel magazine claims in Monday's edition. The report, based on the conclusions of an independent inquiry, accuses former T-Mobile riders Andreas Klöden, who now rides for Astana, and Matthias Kessler, who was sacked by Astana in 2007, of using testosterone and doping products.

Price: $14 to $30 Sizes: 250 to 1000 milliliters Web site: www.cantitoeroad.com Caffelatex is a new kind of tire sealant that foams as a means to better coat the tire with sealant. The makers of Caffelatex believe their trademark "ActiFoam" causes the sealant to foam when ridden or shaken, thus completely filling the tire cavity with sealant. In turn, the foaming action should help to keep the tire beads sealed and assist in sidewall puncture prevention.

Price: $3,388 Colors: Blue, red, or white Web site: www.ridetommasini.com Tommasi introduces their new X-Fire road bike. The X-Fire uses double and triple butted Columbus XCR stainless steel to compliment its ride quality. The X-Fire is available in both stock and custom geometry. The stock geometry frames are also available in both classic and compact geometry. Tommasini recommends their carbon FKT56 fork to best suit the geometry of the X-Fire.

Katusha’s Laszlo Bodrogi is finally seeing some light at the end of the tunnel following a long and painful recovery from a broken femur suffered in last August’s Tour of Germany. The Hungarian time trial specialist, winner of the silver medal at the 2007 world time trial championships, said he hopes to return to competition at the Four Days of Dunkirk on May 5-10.

Frank Schleck, the victim of a nasty crash in the Amstel Gold Race, has been cleared to start Sunday’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Saxo Bank announced Thursday that the Luxembourg national champion will line up for Liège alongside his younger brother, Andy Schleck. The pair finished third and fourth last year, respectively. Schleck was a victim of a crash late in Amstel Gold Race on Sunday, prompting him to renounce Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday, where Andy Schleck finished second to Davide Rebellin (Diquigiovanni).

The French anti-doping agency (AFLD) said Friday it would not be taking disciplinary action against Astana’s Lance Armstrong for, what the agency had earlier alleged, violations of protocol during an out-of-competition test. Armstrong fell afoul of the French agency in March when he left an out-of-competition drug tester’s line of sight — a violation of World Anti-Doping Agency protocol — to take a post-training ride shower while his team manager confirmed the tester’s validity. Armstrong announced via his Twitter account, that he learned that he had been cleared.

It was the battle of the uphill sprint specialists in Friday’s third stage at the Giro del Trentino with South African Robbie Hunter (Barloworld) winning for the third time this season. Hunter had the most gas in the tank to fend off Stefano Garzelli (Acqua e Sapone) to win the 160km course with a rising finishing into Innervillgraten as the four-day race dipped into Austria. Danilo Di Luca crossed the line third despite efforts by his LPR team to dominate the stage.

Disgraced Italian cyclist Dario Frigo has been handed a three-month suspended jail term by a French appeals court following his arrest during the 2005 Tour de France in relation to a doping affair. At a first court hearing in Albertville, Frigo and his wife Susanna were both given a six-month suspended jail term, and fined a total of 8,757 euros after Susanna Frigo was discovered transporting doping products in her car. The couple appealed that decision and late Thursday the appeal court handed down suspended three-month jail terms to both Frigo and his wife.

The Giro d’Italia threw a lifeline to the Spanish team, Fuji-Servetto, by including the team in this year’s corsa rosa.

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Team Columbia’s Marco Pinotti reached the line in the front group in Wednesday’s Fleche Wallone classic, finishing 40th, 54 seconds behind the winner Davide Rebellin. More importantly however for Pinotti was the sixth-place finish of his teammate, Thomas Lövkvist, who crossed the line just six seconds behind Rebellin.

Team Jamis races Edge tubular mountain bike wheels at Sea Otter

Instead of racing the Giro d’Italia, a bitter Daryl Impey is returning to his home in South Africa to recover from his horrific crash at the Tour of Turkey last weekend. Barloworld team officials said Impey — the first-year pro landed in the barriers Sunday after contact with track star Theo Bos (Rabobank) in a controversial finish-line crash that’s still creating aftershocks — will have to fly back to his native South Africa lying down in the plane. Two attendants will travel with the Tour of Turkey winner on his trip from London to South Africa.

In an exciting preview of what awaits next month in the Giro d’Italia, some of Italy’s big guns went mano-a-mano in Thursday’s summit finish at Alpi di Pampeago in the Giro del Trentino. Ivan Basso (Liquigas) walked away with neither the stage victory nor the race leader’s jersey, but he put everyone on notice that he could be the man to beat come next month.

Baseball has films such as “Field of Dreams” and “The Natural.” Football has “Rudy” and “Brian's Song.” Basketball has “Hoosiers” and … “White Men Can't Jump?” (okay, there are probably better examples than that last one.)

The Fuji-Servetto team, has been invited to race in next month's Giro d'Italia, the team announced this morning. The team also announced its long team for the event. The team will bring nine riders to the race, chosen from among: Juanjo Cobo, Fredrik Kessiakoff, Eros Capecchi, Ricardo Serrano, Jesus del Nero, Ermanno Capelli, Alberto Benitez, Iker Camano, Hector Gonzalez, Josep Jufre, Javier Megias and Angel Gomez. Other teams for this year's Giro: Organisers published the list of 22 teams for the Giro and Fuji, whose team director is Italian Alvaro Crespi, were included

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Cervélo sprinter Thor Hushovd will skip this year's Giro d'Italia to concentrate fully on his bid for stage wins and another run at the green jersey at the Tour de France in July. Hushovd, a former Tour stage winner and green points jersey recipient, had a solid spring classics season with two third places at Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix and a victory in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.

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Dutchwoman Marianne Vos (DSB Bank) attacked inside of 200 meters remaining on the Mur de Huy and never looked back, sprinting to her third-career victory at the La Flèche Wallonne Femenine, the fourth round of the 2009 UCI World Cup. Vos out-kicked World Cup leader Emma Johanson of Sweden for the win. American Amber Neben (Nürnberger) was the top North American finisher in fourth place.

Andreas Klöden (Astana) is back in the winner’s circle for the second time this season after taking a narrow, one-second victory over teammate Janez Brajkovic in Wednesday’s opening time trial at the Giro del Trentino. Astana went one-two on a mostly flat, but technically challenging 17.5km course near Lago di Garda in northern Italy to open the four-day Trentino tour. Klöden, winner of a time trial at Tirreno-Adriatico in March, covered the course in 18 minutes, 21 seconds (53.292kph) to secure the victory and snatch the overall leader’s jersey.

There’s no secret why Davide Rebellin pointed to his head after winning his third La Flèche Wallonne title on Wednesday. The Italian veteran proved he had the legs to summit the Mur de Huy alongside the other strongmen of the Ardennes races. But it was the cagy Italian’s brains that earned him the winning margin on the slopes of the feared climb. “It might just be the best of my three wins," Rebellin said. “I've been working hard in that respect (climbing)."

Dear Readers,
A bike tech column is going to naturally gravitate toward discussing new equipment. I regularly get letters, however, extolling the virtues of a more sustainable approach with less emphasis on the latest equipment. Given that it’s Earth Day, I thought it a good time to give voice to a couple of these letters. And for Earth Day (and every day), ride your bike and avoid motorized transportation as much as you can.
Lennard

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Kristin Armstrong wants to end her long and successful career this year on a winning note. The ideal scenario would be recapturing the rainbow jersey in the world championships in September in what will be her last major competition of her career. Rather than leave the sport after winning the Olympic gold medal in the individual time trial in Beijing last summer, Armstrong made the commitment to race this year, in part, to help nurture young talent on her Cervélo TestTeam.

All eyes will be on Dutchwoman Marianne Vos at Wednesday’s La Fleche Wallonne Femenine, the women’s component of Fleche-Wallonne. Vos is the two-time defending champion of the women’s race, which this year marks the fourth round of the UCI women’s World Cup. And Vos won the last World Cup, the Ronde van Drenthe, held in her home country on April 13.

X-rays revealed Tuesday that Tom Boonen suffered a fissure in his right foot during a finish-line pileup at Scheldeprijs last week in Belgium.   Doctors ordered a 10-day rest for the recently crowned Paris-Roubaix champion, but Boonen’s injury couldn’t have come at a better time.   Considering that his first major goals of the season are already in the rear view mirror, Boonen could be philosophical about the setback.  

Price: $50 Sizes: One month supply Web site: www.intelligentendurance.com Intelligent Endurance is a new supplement producer that aims at improving athletic performance through the use their combination of vitamins, minerals, and herbs. Intelligent Endurance believes that their daily serving of ten natural ingredients will help to holistically bring the mind and body together to promote endurance and help the athlete reach his or her full potential.

Price: $60 Weight: 250 to 265 grams Sizes: 700x18-23 and 700x25-32 Colors: Black, white, silver, and carbon Web site: www.sks-germany.com The new SKS Raceblade fender is a wrap-around fender made for frame and fork designs that typically prohibit the use of traditional fenders. The Raceblade mounts tightly to a bicycle's seatstays and fork blades — no eyelets necessary.

Statistics can’t quite illustrate the challenge posed by the Mur de Huy, the final climb of La Fleche Wallonne. Sure, the climb’s average gradient is 9.3 percent. The road soars up 420 feet over the course of three-quarters of a mile. One particularly nasty ramp hits 25 percent. And the climb comes at the tail end of a five-hour race.

Dutch racer Theo Bos says he feels sick about Sunday’s crash in the final kilometer of the Presidential Tour of Turkey. His crash with yellow jersey wearer Daryl Impey (Barloworld) has generated a huge amount of Internet chatter and calls for Bos to be punished for his role in it.

Luxembourg's Frank Schleck has pulled out of Wednesday's Fleche-Wallonne race and is doubtful for Sunday's Liege-Bastogne-Liege after his fall in the Amstel Gold Race, his Saxo Bank team revealed on Tuesday. Schleck was taken to hospital after falling spectacularly during the Dutch race on Sunday but was discharged shortly afterward. The 29-year-old had hoped to compete in all three Ardennes classics this season, but his team said the seriousness of his fall prompted them to take extra precautions.

Event organizers are determined to save Philadelphia's one-day classic road race, one of the most important events on the domestic calendar for nearly a quarter century, facing severe financial challenges less than seven weeks before race day. "We’re tough," Dave Chauner told VeloNews. Chauner is the co-founder of the event now titled the TD Bank Philadelphia International Cycling Championships, a race known to most in the cycling community simply as "Philly." The race is scheduled for June 7.

Beer wasn't atop my list of cravings as I inched up the Cauberg, rolled under the jumbotron and crossed the final finish line of the Amstel Gold Race cyclosportive. Pedaling 250 kilometers through Hollands hilly Limberg region had me wanting to get off my bicycle – pronto. The freezing rain that fell for the final two hours also didn't exactly put yours truly in the mood for some chilly suds. And after stuffing waffles and the sugary Euro sports drink Isostar down my pie hole for 10 hours, I craved something salty: corn chips, popcorn or frites.

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The 2010 Tour of Italy is to start from Amsterdam, the Dutch news agency ANP reported on Monday, quoting a spokeswoman for the city authorities who added a further announcement is due to be made at a news conference on Thursday. The Netherlands is already to host the start of the 2010 Tour of Spain from Assen in August and likewise Rotterdam is to host the start of next year's Tour de France.

This year’s Sea Otter Classic, like so many of its predecessors, served as a launching pad for companies looking to introduce new products. The event also maintained tradition by hosting a few funky one-off project bikes, and a few sneak peeks at products in the works. Here’s a quick look at some legitimately launched products, and a few that were mostly kept behind the curtain. Also, to get yourself in the mood, take a look at Brad Kaminski's 360-degree panoramic shot of the Sea Otter tech expo.

A one-off, 12-pound Trek

Dutch climbing specialist Robert Gesink has been forced to pull out of Wednesday's Flèche Wallonne because of a painful right knee. The 22-year-old Rabobank rider, fourth in last year's race, felt the pain towards the end of Sunday's Amstel Gold Race, in which he finished third. A subsequent scan convinced team doctors that he should have two days' complete rest and resume training on Thursday, when a decision will be taken on whether he competes in Liège-Bastogne-Liège next Sunday.

Mont Ventoux will be the top attraction of a challenging 2009 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, a favorite warm-up for Tour de France contenders. BMC snagged an important invitation to race the demanding, eight-day course across the heart of the French Alps June 7-14, which might help ease some of the team’s disappointment after being overlooked for the Tour de Suisse later that month. Race officials on Monday announced details of the 2009 route, which will have few opportunities for sprinters and plenty of challenges for riders bucking for the overall.

Even though he didn’t race this weekend, Heinrich Haussler (Cervélo TestTeam), retained the top spot in the UCI world rankings. The German-Aussie sprinter headed to the beach following his impressive spring campaign and skipped Sunday’s Amstel Gold Race, but he held enough of a margin to retain the lead of the updated rankings released Monday. In fact, there were no major shakeups, with the exception of Philippe Gilbert (Silence-Lotto), who catapulted from 21st to ninth after finishing fourth in the Dutch classic.

The Ardennes classics at Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastone-Liège dominate the European racing calendar this week. Race organizers wisely get out of the way and let these two behemoths take center stage in an exciting finale to the spring classics season. In Italy, the Giro del Trentino serves as a preview of who’s on form for the upcoming Giro d’Italia while the women’s World Cup continues with the Flèche Wallonne Féminine on Wednesday.

Wednesday, April 22

What is one to make of a season that has involved multiple crashes while also riding on the best form of a near 20-year professional career? If you’re Chris Horner, you look at the glass half full. The always-smiling Horner, the number-three American on an all-star Astana team that also features Lance Armstrong and Levi Leipheimer, departed the Tour of the Basque Country earlier this month after a crash sent him flying over his handlebar and sliding under a guardrail, injuring his right shoulder.

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It wasn’t a move meant to last, but when Scott Nydam, of BMC Racing, rolled across the line to win the Tour of the Battenkill pro men’s Invitational following a 112-mile breakaway — about half of it solo — the rider from Sebastopol, California, said the victory was a long time coming. “Five months of training and a lot of preparation went into this,” Nydam said. “It all came out today.”

Rock Racing on Sunday confirmed it had fired Michael Creed, Caesar Grajales and Chris Baldwin. Team owner Michael Ball said the move was made to save money.

Cross-country world champion Christoph Sauser seldom races in the United States, but he made the long trip from South Africa, site of the 2009 UCI World Cup kickoff, to tackle the short track and cross country at the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, California. That team sponsor Specialized Bicycles sits just up the road in Morgan Hill likely influenced his travel plans.

It’s no way to win a bike race — Daryl Impey (Barloworld) took the overall title in the 45th Presidential Tour of Turkey on Sunday despite crashing heavily in the last kilometer of the final stage after contact with former track sprinter Theo Bos (Rabobank).

The small Spanish village of Antigüedad hardly even makes the map, but the 500 or so inhabitants have built a tongue-in-cheek monument marking the spot where the hamlet made worldwide headlines. When Lance Armstrong crashed out of the first stage of the Vuelta a Castilla y León with a broken clavicle on March 23, the world’s attention turned to the innocuous, narrow stretch of road across the barren fields of northern Spain.

Frank Schleck (Saxo Bank) and Matt Lloyd (Silence-Lotto) crashed heavily in Sunday’s Amstel Gold Race and left the course in ambulances, wearing cervical collars around their necks. Schleck, who won here in 2006, never lost consciousness and was later diagnosed as having suffered a mild concussion, according to his team. There was no immediate word on Lloyd’s condition. "It is not as serious as we first feared," said Saxo Bank sporting director Kim Andersen. "Frank is fine and that is the most important thing. I was really concerned for him when I saw him lying on the ground!"

Sergei Ivanov (Katusha) won the 44th edition of the Amstel Gold Race on Sunday in a dramatic two-up sprint with Saxo Bank's Karsten Kroon as a frantic chase fell just a few seconds short of success. "For me it's the biggest win of my career," said a clearly delighted Ivanov after emerging the strongest of a final three-man break that also included Robert Gesink (Rabobank), who hung on for third on the steeps of the Cauberg, just a few seconds ahead of the charging peloton.

Evelyn Stevens (CRCA/Radical Media) out sprinted a seven-woman breakaway to win the 62-mile women's Pro-1-2-3 race at the Tour of the Battenkill Saturday. Stevens, in her second year of racing, also won the Valley of the Sun road race in Arizona in February. The 200km (124-mile) men's pro invitational race will be held Sunday. In Saturday's 82-mile pro-am men's race, Chad Beyer (BMC) outsprinted Bissell's Tom Zirbel to take the win. Team Type 1's Ken Hanson was third. [nid:90864]

Former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich, who retired in 2007, could be set to return to competitive cycling as a team adviser, it was a former teammate said Sunday. Danilo Hondo, who is competing in the Tour of Turkey for Czech team PSK Whirlpool, told the German tabloid Bild he wants to create a new cycling team and that his former Team Telekom teammate would play a role. "Jan is always a subject (which one talks about when discussing cycling), we have talked about it," Hondo said. “Jan is always a magnet which could make things move things.”

Team Bissell again put its number to use in the Sea Otter circuit, stacking the two key moves of the day with riders. Andy Jacques-Maynes and Jeremy Vennell rode the last few laps together with Colavita’s Luis Amaran, with Jacques-Maynes attacking over the last climb and holding his gap to the finish. Astana’s Levi Leipheimer rode comfortably in the group behind. With the three-time Tour of California champion riding the front of the chase, that group eventually whittled down to a small front group of about 10.

Halfway through the short track, it was a three-way race for the podium. And all three men were riding for Specialized: Todd Wells, Burry Stander and world champion Christoph Sauser. Sauser burped his tire and did not finish, but Wells charged on for the win, with Stander taking second and Giant’s Carl Decker outsprinting Jeremiah Bishop (Monavie-Cannondale) for third. Kona’s Ryan Trebon and Subaru-Gary Fisher’s Sam Schultz and Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski were also in the hunt.

Riding alone the last three laps, Catharine Pendrel (Luna) looked like she had the Sea Otter short track sewn up, but Emily Batty (Trek) had other plans. Chasing just behind with Heather Irmiger (Subaru-Gary Fisher), Batty jumped with half a lap to go on a paved climb, and held her lead to the finish. “I just felt like I had so much energy,” Batty said. “It will be a good opener for (the cross-country race) tomorrow.” Norway’s Lene Byberg (Specialized) leapt past Irmiger and Pendrel to finish second, with Pendrel rounding out the podium.

Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (Columbia-Highroad) sprinted to victory Ronde Van Gelderland in the Netherlands on Saturday to claim her 11th win of the 2009 season.   Teutenberg worked into the decisive 13-rider breakaway with two Columbia-Highroad teammates that pulled clear in the opening 20km. The group came back after the break lost momentum and there were a flurry of counter-attacks until it regrouped with 10km to go to set up a mass gallop.  

SRAM takes advantage of Sea Otter’s captive audience of domestic and international press every year with a big product launch. This year the brand showed 2010 mountain products from its RockShox, Avid, SRAM and Truvativ lines.

Suspension

Rock Racing has fired domestic all-rounder Michael Creed, citing poor performance so far this season, and further reducing its roster following Friday's announcement of Tyler Hamilton's retirement. VeloNews has been unable to confirm that two other Rock riders were dismissed this week, as well. Rock Racing spokesmen did not immediately return phone calls and emails seeking confirmation on Saturday.

Raffling for a worthy cause is smart fundraising, according to Ibis co-owner and front man Scot Nicol. If the product is cool, the cause is solid and the tickets aren’t too expensive, then you can raise some good money. For example: Last year Ibis donated a Silk SL road bike to fatcyclist.com to support the webmaster’s fight against cancer. That bike brought in $37,500 for the LAF foundation through the Livestrong Challenge avenue.

Michael Lange, a 25-year-old pro cyclist who raced for Jelly Belly last year, has accepted a two-year suspension following a positive test for the stimulent Strychnine last summer at the Tour of Qinghai Lake in China. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which announced the suspension, said Strychnine is prohibited under the USADA and UCI rules. "While Mr. Lange tested positive for a specified substance and has accepted the penalty for the violation, no facts were revealed that he intentionally ingested Strychnine," USADA said in a statement.

Grega Bole (Amica Chips) sprinted to victory in Saturday’s GP Nobili Rubinetterie-Borgamanero race in Italy. The Slovenian, third in Ronde van Drenthe on Monday, was fastest out of a winning three-man breakaway in the 191.7km course. Fortunato Baliano (CSF) wasn’t so lucky and had to settle for second while Andriy Grivko (ISD) crossed the line third. Daniele Callegarin (CZP) led a six-man group that included former Italian national champion Giovanni Visconti (ISD) and Chris Froome (Barloworld) at 17 seconds back.

It was a battle of the Frenchmen in Saturday’s Tour du Finistère in western France in the fourth leg of the French Cup series. Dimitri Champion (Bretagne-Schuller) lived up to his name to bring home the flowers in the 199.3km course around Quimper. Fourth last year in the French national championships, Champion drove home a solo victory ahead of Pierrick Fédrigo (Bouygues) and Anthony Geslin (FDJeux). Champion was part of the winning move that split in the final lap of the finishing circuit. He attacked with 8km to go and held off the chasers to snatch a hard-fought victory.

A Spanish judge has once again blocked efforts by cycling authorities to get their hands on evidence from the Operación Puerto doping ring. Antonio Serrano — the Spanish judge who’s handled the legal proceedings since police blew the lid open on the Spanish doping scandal in May 2006 — ruled Wednesday to deny releasing Puerto evidence to the Spanish cycling federation (RFEC).

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The latest and possibly most significant tech development being revealed here at the Sea Otter classic in Monterey is a completely free, inexhaustible, universally available energy source: the sun. In contrast to Thursday’s windy chill, exhibitors and spectators alike were treated to possibly the warmest day on the Laguna Seca infield in recent memory. Actual dust was found coating some of the otherwise shiny and new bike parts on display. Giant

Editor's Note VeloNews technical editor Zack Vestal attended FOX Racing Shox' 2010 model year introduction this week. This is his second report on he new products. His first report was published Thursday. FOX Racing Shox product and marketing managers had some difficulty at Zaca Station, peeling the cycling media away from the desert trucks and motorbikes on display. But when Mario Galasso, bike product manager, began showing off the new 2010 FOX forks and rear shocks, he quickly earned everyone’s attention.

On Friday, SRAM released its new Force group, which features redesigned brakes, new graphics and the addition of a BB30 crank. The company also displayed its latest version of Zipp 303 wheels, which first hit the road on the cobbles of the 2009 Paris-Roubaix. SRAM Force With the inclusion of the new BB30 crank and bottom bracket, a Force group now weighs 1,957 grams (the standard group with a GXP crankset weighs 2,097 grams).

Astana's Levi Leipheimer glided up the finishing climb to victory at the Sea Otter Classic road race Friday, finishing just ahead of the three Bissell men with whom he was in a long breakaway. Leipheimer's Santa Rosa training buddy, Paul Mach, took second with his Bissell teammate Morgan Schmitt rounding out the podium. Ben Jacques-Maynes, the fourth man in the break, came in just behind.

Defending champion Damiano Cunego is among the favourites going into Sunday's Amstel Gold Race, the only spring classic which takes place in the Netherlands. The 258.6km road race leads from Maastricht to Valkenburg in the hilly Limburg region in the south of the country, near the borders with Belgium and Germany. It features 31 torturous climbs, culminating in a 1000m ascent of the notorious Cauberg, and makes a grim mockery of the Netherlands' reputation as a flat country.

Price: $200 Web site: www.thuleracks.com The Thule 515 Prologue Pack is a new all inclusive bike rack system. The Prologue pack includes two Prologue fork mounts with locks and an extended ride-on adapter bar to fit factory car racks.

Cervélo TestTeam has been the surprise of the 2009 spring classics. The new squad has been racking up impressive results, including podiums in the opening three classics with Thor Hushovd (third at Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix) and the sensational Heinrich Haussler (second at Milan-San Remo and Flanders). That trend continued this week with Dominique Rollin notching his first European podium with third at the Belgian semi-classic Scheldeprijs on Wednesday.

San Luis Obispo, California, 17th April 2009 - Columbia-Highroad is heading to the Amstel Gold Race in Holland on Sunday with no clear leader but with some key riders clearly approaching top condition for the Ardennes Classics. “I wouldn’t say my form is fantastic, but my winning a stage in the Tour of the Basque Country last week is a very encouraging sign all the same,” says Italian Marco Pinotti. “Amstel isn’t a race which suits me 100 percent, but we’ve got a very well-balanced squad and hopefully I’ll be able to do something to support the team’s overall effort.”

American national road champion Tyler Hamilton announced his retirement from cycling on Friday after confirming that he tested positive for a banned substance in an herbal supplement he used to treat depression. The 38-year-old Hamilton confirmed that he had tested positive for Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) a multi-functional steroid he said was in an herbal remedy he took after he had stopped using prescription anti-depressants. Hamilton said his depression was initially diagnosed in 2003, a year that on the surface “was the best year of my life.”

Sunday’s menu calls for beer and bergs in southern Holland as the top riders in the world tackle the Amstel Gold Race, the hilly classic named for its sudsy title sponsor. This marks the 44th running of Amstel, which, along with Belgium’s Fleche-Wallonne (April 22) and Liege-Bastogne-Liege (April 26), comprises the Ardennes week of racing. But while Belgium has already enjoyed a full week of Classics, the Netherlands has not. It’s no surprise that beer swilling Dutch cycling fans arrive en masse to watch their country’s premier cycling event.

Carlos Barredo will have some big shoes to fill as Quick Step enters the Ardennes classics without the dominating presence of Paolo Bettini. Quick Step has grown accustomed to dominating the spring classics, first with Tom Boonen and Stijn Devolder on the cobbles and then with Bettini in the hilly classics such as Amstel Gold Race and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. With Bettini enjoying retirement, Quick Step is looking to the 27-year-old Barredo to step up and carry the team colors across the Ardennes.

What does a prototype Ford F-150 SVT Raptor off-road truck have in common with Adam Craig’s Giant Anthem X Advanced SL? Aside from race-tuned motors, onboard navigation systems, and hydraulic brakes, they both share suspension technology from FOX Racing Shox.

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When you come to Sea Otter with a sharp eye, you’ll bound see all sorts of cool stuff, whether it’s new team equipment or an in-the-works prototype. We saw wheels from Easton, a new bike from legend John Tomac and some natural wax lube designed by a MIT grad student — among other things.