Road

Garmin-Slipstream has released pictures of its 2009 team kit, which continues with the team's trademark argyle styling, but removes restaurant chain Chipotle. Chipotle remains a team sponsor, but not a title sponsor. "We are still powered by Chipotle burritos, as we always have been. Chipotle is our secret training weapon," team director Jonathan Vaughters said. The Slipstream name returns to the title to emphasize the team owners' "focus on ethical sporting and developing the next generation of American champions," according to a team release.

China won the fourth leg of the UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classic series in Beijing on Sunday. The hosts claimed the team title after clinching three more silver medals on the third and final day of the competition. China hauled in a total of 108 points, boosting them to joint third place in the nation world cup standings on 210 points, behind Britain on 216 and leaders Germany on 262.

Lance Armstrong will publicize the results of the drug tests he has undergone since coming out of retirement last year, he said in Adelaide Saturday. Armstrong will release his recent test results with the support and endorsement of anti-doping scientist Don Catlin, Armstrong said. Later, Armstrong and his Astana team released a press release on the subject.

Tom Boonen liked his West Coast adventure so much last year he’s heading back for a second crack at the Tour of California. The Quick Step star told VeloNews that the hard week of racing at California last year helped pave the way for his second career Paris-Roubaix victory two months later. “(Organizers) didn’t even have to ask. I want to go back to California,” Boonen said during an interview Friday. “I really liked the race last year. The quality of racing and the fans were great.”

New Russian super-team Katusha and its eye-popping 15 million euro annual budget are safe from the broiling world economy – at least for now. That’s what Katusha team president Andrei Tchmil assured VeloNews during an interview Friday. “The situation is difficult right now in the world economy, but nothing has changed,” Tchmil said. “We have the support of our sponsors. We are moving forward with confidence.”

After nearly three years of legal wrangling, Spanish prosecutors may be ready to reopen the Operación Puerto doping investigation, which a judge had put on hold last September, El Pais newspaper reported Saturday. A provincial court in Madrid has ruled that there were indications of "an offence against public health" that merited renewed examination and had therefore called for the investigation to be re-activated, according to El Pais.

Riders from Lithuania, New Zealand, Malaysia and China collected valuable points at the UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classic in Beijing on Saturday. With just two months remaining before the World Championships in Poland, many leading athletes have chosen to skip a return to the 2008 Olympic venue for this fourth leg in the five-part series. The second day of competition at the Laoshan velodrome featured four men's and three women's events and the absence of star names gave an opportunity for some fresh faces to step onto the podium.

Up until a few weeks ago, my personal “camp” experiences had never gone very well. The one time I went to soccer camp, when I was 10, I cut my knee on a rock, got stitches, and later ended up on a flight for life helicopter when the whole mess got so infected one of my doctors said they might have to amputate. Fortunately the antibiotics kicked in and I got to keep my leg, but I never went back to soccer camp.

Alberto Contador admits that he initially had reservations about the return of Lance Armstrong, but says now he’s excited about sharing leadership duties with the seven-time Tour de France champion. Speaking to L’Equipe after receiving the Velo d’Or prize this week in Paris, Contador said having Armstrong around should only help him.

In the year of the comeback, Oscar Pereiro is also making his way back into the peloton following his harrowing crash in last year’s Tour de France. The 2006 Tour winner is set to make his season debut at the Tour Down Under, but he’s still nursing a few aches and pains from his fall off a narrow switchback over the Italian Alps.

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The image of a dozen riders trying to stay warm before a chilly training ride Thursday along Spain’s Mediterranean Coast doesn’t quite match up with the ambitious plans Katusha has laid out for 2009 and beyond. The ultimate goal of the Russian-backed Katusha team is nothing less than to deliver a Russian winner of the Tour de France, and do so from a Russian team. That’s heady stuff for any first-year team, but when the team’s backers include Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and an annual budget of 15 million euros, Katusha means business.

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Check out CyclingTips's author page.

Colors: Green, black, white, red, blue, grey Sizes: Small to Extra Large Price: $1999 (frame and rear shock) Web site: www.intensecycles.com Are you unsure about your mountain bike riding style? Are you a pure cross country rider or do you enjoy technical descents that are akin to a hardtailer’s hell? Perhaps you find yourself somewhere in the middle? If so, the new Spider 2 by Intense bridges the gap between trail and cross country.

It’s that time of the year. Riders in both the U.S. and in Europe are enjoying their respective training camps. Most professional road teams have had a couple already. Some teams divide it up by arranging one for media, one for the guys racing in the spring classics and one for the guys racing the tours. Well for me, it’s ten days in Alicante, Spain. After the really cold weather that was ripping through Europe the last couple weeks, I just had to get out of Dodge.

In what is one of his last appearances on the velodrome, Erik Zabel joined Leif Lampater in winning the 45th edition of the Six Days of Bremen in Germany late Tuesday. The 38-year-old Zabel competed in the penultimate track event of his career in Bremen, with plans to make his farewell appearance at the Six Days of Berlin, slated for January 22-27. Zabel and Lampater finished ahead of the German-Swiss duo Olaf Pollack and Franco Marvulle. Pollack suffered a heavy crash during the last laps of the race and was later diagnosed with a broken clavicle.

I’ve often mentioned the most cherished time of year for cyclists, the off-season. It’s what you think of in every difficult moment all season long. You’re suffering in some godforsaken Belgian gutter in mid-March and in the back of the head is already what lies six months ahead.

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Imagine you're 18, 19, or 20-some-odd years old. You’re one of the your nation’s best young cycling talents at a time when top professionals are scrambling to find teams, taking major pay cuts, or simply calling it quits. Then, one day, late in the season, you get a call from the son of the world’s greatest cyclist, ever. It’s Axel Merckx, a year post-retirement from his own formidable pro career. He wants to know if you’ll be on his new team.

Alberto Contador will follow a familiar path to the Tour de France and it won’t go through Italy.   The 2008 Giro d’Italia champ reconfirmed that the Tour will be his top priority this season and that he will not defend his Giro crown.   With Astana assured of a place in this year’s Tour, Contador said weeks ago he would not defend his Giro victory and instead focus on July.  

Baden Cooke found himself between a Rock and a hard place last fall when a deal he thought he had struck with Rock Racing turned out to be no deal at all. The Australian sprinter says the American squad initially offered him a two-year contract and an opportunity to race in one-day classics and grand tours in Europe. But that contract somehow got lost in the shuffle, and Cooke says the deal that team owner Michael Ball eventually offered was considerably less lucrative — a six-month agreement for a much more modest domestic race schedule.

According to word around town, every hotel, motel, bed & breakfast and backpackers’ inn is booked out in Adelaide, under normal circumstances the fifth-largest city in Australia with a population just over the million mark and apart from its award-winning vineyards, no real world-quality to speak of. But in the few hours we've seen so far and for the next two weeks, Adelaide will be anything but normal. Because Lance is here.

Considering that professional racers spend thousands of hours a year on their bikes, it’s surprisingly rare to find many who actually look comfortable on their steeds. Everyone knows what a bad bike fit feels like and most pros seem to share the same menu of dull aches, pains and injuries encountered by the rest of us. A few are blessed, like Fabian Cancellara, who seems genetically wired to ride a bicycle.

Dear Lennard,
I would like to change my Dura-Ace 7800 53/39 crank set for a compact 50/34 set and am considering the new Shimano 7950 but noticed that Shimano states that to run the 7900 crank set, the new 7900 chain and front derailleur are also required. Can I not simply put a 7950 compact crank set on my 7800 system and if so, will shifting be compromised? If indeed the new front derailleur is required, do I then need to change my shifters to 7900 as well?
Paul

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Frank Pipp, most recently with the HealthNet-Maxxis team, has joined the Bissell Pro Cycling Team for 2009, bringing the Bissell roster up to 16 riders. Team manager Glen Mitchell said Pipp adds some sprint speed to the team, which already is known for its strong time trialing and climbing. “Frank is a proven performer and will be a great asset for Bissell,” Mitchell said.  “He definitely brings another dimension for the team to utilize. In the final kilometers of races, he will be a key rider, whether setting up another team member or utilizing his own fast sprint.”  

Sizes: 8 oz (227g) tube Price: $18 Web site: www.beljumbudder.com Is your chamois rubbing you the wrong way? Perhaps this new chamois creme can help. Beljum Budder is a high quality chamois creme and skin lubricant designed to perform and protect the nether regions of friction-riddled endurance athletes. Not only does Beljum Budder make for a smooth and comfortable ride, it’s safe to use–made with all natural ingredients.

VeloNews.com will offer complete online coverage — including race highlight videos and video interviews — of Australia's Tour Down Under, Jan. 20-25. The ProTour event is the first major race of Lance Armstrong's comeback and features a star-filled roster of ProTour teams.

While you may not have totally obliterated the good eating habits of last season, it's time to get your 2009 nutrition plan into shape.

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Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong said Monday it would be unrealistic to expect him to win his first race in three years in next week's Tour Down Under. The American cycling great declared he was in the best shape of his life at the start of a season as he prepared to return to professional racing at the age of 37. Armstrong's appearance in the Adelaide tour has generated huge international interest, enough for organisers to take extra security measures to protect him during the event.

What a difference a year makes. This time last January, Bob Stapleton’s team entered the 2008 season without a title sponsor, with a largely young and inexperienced team and uncertain about its future. Flash forward to 2009 and Highroad roars confidently into the season with new sponsor (Columbia, introduced ahead of last year’s Tour de France, back as co-sponsor), a new bike sponsor (Scott) and a bevy of young riders that is the envy of the peloton.

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Lars Boom (Rabobank) took an important step toward the defense of his world cyclocross title, winning the Dutch national championship in Huijbergen on Sunday. Boom beat Thijs Al and veteran Richard Groenendaal in his first major race since injuring his elbow in a big crash in late December. In Belgium, former world champion Sven Nys defended his national title, outsprinting Niels Albert and Kevin Pauwels in Ruddervoorde. [nid:86474] Both Boom and Nys are considered favorites for the world title in the upcoming championships on February 1 in Hoogerheide, in The Netherlands.

Ivan Basso, considered to be one of the favorites going into this May’s Giro d’Italia, is slated to start his 2009 campaign at Argentina’s Tour de San Luis, January 19 to 25. Basso will co-captain the Liquigas team with fellow Italian Vincenzo Nibali. "I am going to Argentina with plans to work hard and come back in good condition,” Basso said. “January is a good month to start your season and to gauge your fitness.

A police security team will shadow cycling superstar Lance Armstrong during his time at Australia's Tour Down Under next week, reports said Saturday. Given the extraordinary interest surrounding the seven-time Tour de France winner's comeback to elite cycling, organizers said they would be taking extra security measures to protect Armstrong. Armstrong is expected to arrive here over the weekend from Hawaii ahead of the January 18 start to the tour, according to the reports.

Defending Tour de France champion Carlos Sastre will kick start his 2009 season at the Tour of California in February to debut with his Cervélo new team colors. The 33-year-old Spanish climber says the Tour remains his top goal for the upcoming season, but said still hasn’t decided if the road to France will pass through the Giro d’Italia or not.

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Check out CyclingTips's author page.

While the U.S. women's, junior and U23 teams approach this month's Cyclocross World Championships with some of the strongest teams ever, the men's team is surrounded by uncertainty. The country's most accomplished international male racer, Jonathan Page, could be kept out of the race because of a missed doping control in November. And several of the country's top prospects have bowed out, mostly because of road or mountain bike team obligations.

Mavic has issued a voluntary recall of its R-SYS front wheels, the company announced this week. Mavic is advising consumers not to use the front wheels from any of its R-SYS wheelsets (R-SYS, R-SYS Test and R-SYS Premium) because of the possible risk of spoke failure. The system relies on a unique set of tubular carbon spokes. While front wheels rely solely on the tubular carbon spoke, the rears combine those with Zicral spokes and the risk of failure is, therefore, lessened.

Leonardo Piepoli said he fell victim to temptation last summer when he doped during the Tour de France and won a stage using CERA. In an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport, the Italian climber expressed strong words of regret and misgivings for his decision to take the banned blood booster that has left his career in tatters. “It was a moment of weakness, folly, recklessness. The justification: I was trying to fill a hole in my preparation,” he explained. “What I have done, at 37, with a wife and kid, is unconscionable.”

Columbia’s Michael Rogers finally added a national time trial title to his resume with victory in the Australian cycling championships in Buninyong, Victoria, on Thursday. The three-time world champion last claimed an Australian time trial win in 1996 when he won the U19 event but since then has forged a spectacular career in professional cycling, including three successive world time trial titles between 2003 and 2005.

The first of the European teams have arrived in Australia for this month's Tour Down Under, but the travel details of cycling superstar Lance Armstrong were still under wraps as of Thursday. Race organizers, mindful of the extraordinary interest that the seven-time Tour de France champion's comeback has generated, have not released his arrival plans for fears of an unwieldy media scrum at Adelaide Airport. Armstrong's Astana team is scheduled to arrive early on Sunday, but reports said the American great is not expected until next week, just ahead of the January 18 start of the tour.

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In a year of the comeback, perhaps it’s inevitable that Michael Rasmussen will join the band of riders pedaling back into the fray. The Danish climbing specialist – who was ignominiously ejected from the 2007 Tour de France just days from what appeared to be a likely overall victory and later fired by his Rabobank team – says he’s hoping to race in this year’s Vuelta a España if he can find a team willing to sign him.

Reigning world champion Alessandro Ballan isn’t changing his program going into 2009. Perhaps it’s no surprise that the gangly Italian is focusing on the spring classics, where he helped carve his reputation with victory in Flanders in 2007 and consistency at Roubaix ahead of his breakout victory in Varese last fall. For 2009, his top goals in the first half of the season will be the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. A detour through Milan-San Remo is also likely for the Lampre rider, but a start in the Giro d’Italia remains uncertain.

Milram, Germany’s last remaining professional cycling team, announced its 25-strong squad for the 2009 season on Wednesday. The team, which features 14 new recruits and 17 German riders, is the sole professional cycling outfit in Germany after the demise of Gerolsteiner. Milram will be without retired sprint king Erik Zabel for the upcoming season but will be able to count on two great hopes in Gerald Ciolek and Linus Gerdemann.

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Graeme Brown of Rabobank held off challenges from Robbie McEwen (Team Katuysha), Simon Gerrans (Cervelo Test) and Bernie Sulzberger (Virgin Blue) to win the 2009 Jayco Bay Cycling Classic on Tuesday. Brown led the Classic going into the penultimate stage by the barest margin of one point.

Organizers of the Amgen Tour of California have released details of the 2009 route, a nine-day, 750-mile course that will travel almost the entire length of California, from Sacramento to Escondido. This year's race is one day and about 100 miles longer than the 2008 route. [nid:85582] This year the race will also feature a $15,000 women's criterium, run in conjunction with stage 1 in Santa Rosa.

Organizers of the 2009 Amgen Tour of California have released the list of eight ProTour teams that will compete in the Feb. 14-22 event. Besides the ProTour teams, the race will announce its list of confirmed Continental or Continental Pro teams next month. Full rosters will be released in February. The eight ProTour teams: ·         Ag2r-La Mondiale (FRA) ·         Astana (LUX) ·         Garmin-Slipstream (USA) ·         Liquigas (ITA) ·         Quick Step (BEL) ·         Rabobank (Netherlands)