Road

There are certain topics that Oscar Pereiro is downright sick and tired of talking about. Top among the list is the ongoing legal struggle of Floyd Landis. Landis is still awaiting the outcome of his final appeal before the International Court of Arbitration for Sport that could reverse an earlier decision to strip him of his 2006 Tour de France crown following a testosterone positive. For Pereiro, who was officially recognized by the UCI and by ASO as the winner of the 2006 Tour, he’s finally had enough of the topic.

If you believe Barloworld team manager Claudio Corti, Colombian climbing sensation Mauricio Soler is starting next week’s Giro d’Italia only with ambitions to win a stage or two. Instead of making a run for the maglia rosa, Corti says the Giro will serve as a springboard for Soler to improve on his remarkable haul in last year’s Tour de France that included 11th place overall, a stage victory and the best climber’s jersey.

Toyota-United made it two NRC victories in a row during a big weekend of racing in the Southeast, by taking the win at Sunday’s Nalley Historic Roswell Criterium just outside of metro Atlanta. Caleb Manion benefited from the same race situation that delivered teammate Hilton Clarke to the line first during the Sunny King Criterium on the previous day in Anniston, Alabama. In Anniston, Manion figured in the winning breakaway, and in Roswell he was also one of four riders that left the 70-man field behind.

Sebastian Haedo, younger brother of CSC sprinter Juan Jose Haedo, did the family name proud on Sunday by winning the U.S. Air Force Cycling Classic in Arlington, Virginia. The Colavita-Sutter Home sprinter scored what could be a breakthrough win in his young professional career by coming out ahead in the bunch kick that decided this third event of USA Cycling’s Pro Tour calendar. “It’s very important because it’s a UCI race,” said Haedo at the finish. “We’ve been having a great year and getting so many second places, we needed a big win.

Team Tecos-Trek's Colombian climber, Gregorio Ladino Vega, used the Tour of the Gila's mountainous final stage on Sunday to regain the race lead he lost in the stage 3 time trial. [nid:75825]Bissell's Burke Swindlehurst, a three-time winner of the Gila overall, won the final stage and vaulted from sixth to second. Bissell's Tom Zirbel started the day in the pink leader's jersey, and stayed with the lead group over the first major climb, but crashed on the descent and abandoned the race. His team said Zirbel broke his collarbone, some ribs and a finger.

It could have been 2006 at the Mountain Bike World Cup in Madrid, with Julien Absalon (Orbea) and Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjå (Multivan Merida) winning this third round of the series. For Absalon, it was business as usual, as he took his third straight victory. However, for Dahle Flesjå it was an emotional moment as she completed her journey back to the forefront of the field after a year of illness. Absalon cemented his lead in the men's overall standings, while Marie-Helene Premont (Rocky Mountain) donned the leader's jersey for the women, the third leader in three races.

Veteran French cyclist Jeannie Longo, who is hoping to qualify for the Beijing Olympics this summer, won the Trophee des Grimpeurs (Climbers' Trophy) for the fourth time on Sunday. Longo, who turns 50 on October 31, had already won the event which counts towards the French Cup of womens' cycling, in 2001, 2004 and 2007. She covered the 62.6km course in 1hr 40min 30sec to finish more than three minutes ahead of leading rivals Christel Ferrier-Bruneau and Magali Le Floc'h as she notched up the 1020th win of her career.

Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) won the fifth and final stage of the Tour de Romandie as Astana’s Andreas Klöden took the overall title. Bennati proved fastest of the bunch after it swept up a late break by Nick Nuyens (Cofidis), who took off with 10km to race and was reeled in 5km from the finish of the 152.4km stage from Le Bouveret to Lausanne. Markus Zberg (Gerolsteiner) and Maxim Iglinsky (Astana) took second and third on the day while Klöden crossed with the bunch to secure the overall win ahead of Roman Kreuzger (Liquigas) and Marco Pinotti (Team High Road).

Hilton Clarke stood on the top step of an all-Aussie podium at this year’s Sunny King Criterium in Anniston, Alabama, having secured Toyota-United’s second major victory of the day. Clarke’s teammate Henk Vogels took the win at the Tour of the Gila’s Downtown Silver City Criterium earlier in the day.

The Italian sports newspaper, Gazzetta dello Sport reported on Saturday that Giro d'Italia organizers may be ready to do an about-face and invite the Astana team to this year’s race. At least one team official has confirmed that the invitation has already been extended. The team issued a statement on Sunday, confirming the invitation and that it will bring its three top riders to the event: Alberto Contador, Levi Leipheimer and the winner of the Tour of Romandie, Andreas Klöden. Astana general manager Johan Bruyneel gladly accepted the invitation.

The last turn of the Tour of the Gila's criterium is key for daredevil sprinters with the nerve to attack into the narrow left-hander and charge to the finish less than 300 meters away. The riders enter the turn at top speed thanks to a wide-open descent, and a mistake means high-siding it into a raised Old Western-style sidewalk on the outside of the turn. On Saturday, to the glee of the spectators who assemble on the sidewalk, the men's and women's winner each attacked coming into the turn and held their advantage to the line.

Francesco De Bonis (Gerolsteiner) pulled off a gutsy victory in the mountainous stage 4 of the Tour de Romandie, answering late charges by Manuel Beltran (Liquigas) and John Gadret (Ag2r-La Mondiale) to cross the line first in Zinal after having spent most of the day out front. Andreas Klöden (Astana) retained the overall lead by 35 seconds over Roman Kreuziger (Cze), Liquigas with Marco Pinotti (Team High Road) third at 0:43.

Milram sprint specialist Alessandro Petacchi will miss next week’s start of the Giro d’Italia after he was diagnosed with bronchitis, the German/Italian team said Saturday. "I'm very sorry that I won't be able to start in the Giro d'Italia," said Petacchi in a statement. "Yesterday (Friday), I thought that I would be able to start, even if my condition is very bad because I have not been able to train the last 12 days. I feel better now but there is not enough time for a good training.

Axel Merckx was back at the races last month in the Ardennes, but this time dressed in civilian clothes. The son of Eddy Merckx was made a triumphant return in his native Belgium and had a handful of cycling tourists in tow as he made the rounds before Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

Toyota Motor Sales, USA, will not renew its three-year contract to sponsor the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team, the team announced Friday. Team owner Sean Tucker held a conference call with team riders, staff and managers to tell them that the car company will let its three-year contract expire at the end of this season. Tucker said he is looking to find another sponsor in the next 100 days.

Kelly Benefit Strategies rider Alex Candelario negotiated a tricky circuit and rode his leadout train to victory in the latest installment of the USA CRITS Speed Week series on Thursday in Greenwood, South Carolina, “The team rode really well,” Candelario said. “We knew we’d probably be riding for a field sprint, so we lined up all the boys with 10 laps to go. They did a great job of keeping guys in check. One of the Rock Racing guys jumped in the final, but Martin Gilbert responded and dropped me off at 250 meters to go.”

On another blustery day in southwestern New Mexico, Bissell's big men Tom Zirbel and Ben Jacques-Maynes hammered on the GC contenders to take the first two spots in the 16.4-mile Tyrone time trial. Zirbel turned a 34:26, beating his teammate by about 17 second and third place rider Chris Wherry (Toyota-United) by 49 seconds.

At least one top professional cyclist is to face doping charges after thousands of blood samples were analyzed as part of the Union Cycliste International’s blood passport program, the UCI said Friday. The UCI did not reveal the identity of the cyclist concerned, but said he is one of 23 riders who "warranted further scrutiny" following 2172 tests on blood samples as part of their far-reaching passport scheme.

Andreas Klöden (Astana) won the stage 3 individual time trial and seized the overall lead of the Tour de Romandie on Friday. The 18.8km course included a dozen flat kilometers, a 266-meter climb with a pitch of 12 percent, and a rapid descent to the Place de la Planta with a twisting, turning final 500 meters that almost proved the Astana man’s undoing — Klöden clipped a barrier in the finale, but kept it upright to win the stage in 25 minutes and 32 seconds.

Last year’s runner-up Andy Schleck and Spanish climber Carlos Sastre will both skip this month’s Giro d’Italia in favor of a run at the Tour de France podium. The two Team CSC stars have opted to put everything on the Tour and will leave the Giro to other riders on the squad. While Schleck, 22, had already decided in favor of the Tour even before his dramatic run through Liège-Bastogne-Liège on Sunday, Sastre ended speculation over the weekend that he might start the Giro.

Tyler Wren (Colavita-Sutter Home) won Thursday's second stage of the Tour of the Gila with a final kilometer solo attack, while overall leader Gregorio Ladino Vega's Team Tecos-Trek put on another powerful show, setting a blistering pace over 80 miles of wind and hills. The Tecos effort kept a small breakaway within two minutes of the pack for most of the stage. It also forced a number of abandons throughout the day.

Karsten Kroon (Team CSC) won the 48th Rund um den Henninger Turm for the second time on Thursday. The 32-year-old Dutchman took the 179km race by outsprinting a nine-rider lead group that included Italian Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) and Columbian Mauricio Ardila (Rabobank). "I had a strong spring, unfortunately without success," said Kroon, who first won here in 2004. "But today I felt very good. Andy Schleck has worked great for me."

Robbie McEwen (Silence-Lotto) sprang from a mad dash to the line to win stage 2 of the Tour de Romandie on Thursday. The Aussie speedster free-lanced his way to the front in a chaotic bunch sprint and shot off Milram rider Björn Schröder’s wheel to claim his first victory of 2008 ahead of Daniele Bennati (Lampre) and Matti Breschel (CSC). Michael Albasini (Liquigas) retained the overall lead.

Ryder Hesjedal is making the most of his new opportunity to race against the best in Europe. Following the collapse of the Phonak team in 2006, Hesjedal raced on the North American circuit last season before signing with Slipstream-Chipotle to return to Europe this year. The Canadian ex-mountain biker has quietly been posting some of Slipstream-Chipotle’s best results this spring, capped by a top-10 at Tirreno-Adriatico.

Sampson Sports has put together some of its existing and new products to create a time trial bike package that it says will allow riders to affordably assemble a sub-16-pound aero bike. The package includes Sampson's new Stratics time trial bars with Sampson's stem, brake levers, brakes, cranks, bottom bracket, pedals, saddle, and front and rear derailleur. The package includes Shimano Dura-Ace shifters and cassette. Sampson Sports' Eric Sampson said combining the package with a 1700-gram frame and 2100-gram wheels will produce a 15.5-pound bike.

The International Court of Arbitration for Sport on Wednesday upheld the three-month suspension of 2007 Giro d’Italia winner Danilo Di Luca for his relationship with the doctor at the center of the “Oil for Drugs” scandal. The arbitrator assigned to the case rejected Di Luca’s appeal of the suspension ? served at the end of last year ? noting that there was ample evidence to support allegations that he had worked with Dr. Carlo Santuccione in 2004.

Team Tecos-Trek continued its domination of Southwestern road cycling Wednesday by taking two of the top three spots on the first stage of the Tour of the Gila, a 94.1-mile stage that ended with a brutal climb to Mogollon, New Mexico. Colombian Gregorio Ladino Vega won the stage after gliding away from a select group at the base of the climb. He quickly gapped the group, which included Toyota-United's Chris Baldwin and Heath Blackgrove and built up a gap of about a half minute by the top of the 2,100-foot climb. Baldwin finished sixth.

The French government on Wednesday moved to toughen anti-doping legislation ahead of this summer's Tour de France. Members of Parliament adopted a new law which penalizes the possession and trafficking of doping products in sport with prison sentences and fines. Under the new measures offenders will receive up of five years in jail and a 75,000-euro fine, when it relates to drug trafficking, explained French Minister for Sport Bernard Laporte.

Michael Albasini (Liquigas) seized the lead of the Tour de Romandie on Wednesday as Maxim Iglinsky (Astana) won stage 1, a 182km grind from Morges to Saignelégier. The Liquigas man, third in Tuesday's prologue and second today ahead of Markus Zberg (Gerolsteiner), proved fastest of an elite group that chased down a late breakaway by Alexandre Botcharov (Crédit Agricole), Mikel Astarloza (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Jussi Veikkanen (Française des Jeux) on the descent from the category-1 climb to Saulcy.

Riding a bike is fun. That’s why we all start riding, right? For most people that’s still why we ride, even when it becomes your job. Sometimes though when you’re mid-season and starting to wear down a bit it’s easy to forget how much straight up fun can be had on a bike.

Ritchey is all about white for the new season. The California company showed a new "Wet White" WCS alloy road handlebar at Sea Otter. It's already in use by the brand’s star domestic road team, Health Net–Maxxis and by the Tibco women's team. The company also is making a matching Wet White WCS 4-Axis alloy stem.

The second round of the 2008 Speed Week Series arrived in Beaufort, South Carolina on Tuesday the 29th of April for the Beaufort Memorial Cycling Classic, with Toyota-United’s Hilton Clark and Tina Pic (Colavita-Sutter Home) taking top honors. Set in the heart of what’s known as South Carolina’s “low country,” hundreds of top elite and professional cyclists raced around the “Queen of the Carolina Sea Islands,” and the state’s second oldest city.

In last week’s column, I mentioned suspension as a likely Next Big Thing in road bikes. I also promised another prediction this week. This one I think is coming, but it’s going to take awhile.

Team High Road will not be among the 20 teams racing the 2008 Vuelta a España. Organizers unveiled their list of invitees for the third grand tour of the season on Tuesday. “We had initially intended to support the Vuelta," said said team owner Bob Stapleton. "However, in the absence of a firm commitment from the race organizer, Team High Road has withdrawn its application and will support the Tour of Britain, the Tour of Ireland and the Tour of Missouri – which compliment the marketing objectives of High Road."

Neither Nathan O’Neill nor Mara Abbott will be on hand to defend their crowns on Wednesday when the 2008 Ben D. Altamirano Tour of the Gila kicks off in Silver City, New Mexico. But there will be plenty of horsepower in the elite men’s and women’s fields as the race gets under way with the Silver City-Mogollon Road Race. Chris Baldwin (Toyota-United), runner-up here last year and second at the 2008 Redlands Bicycle Classic, will be in Silver City with an eight-man team that includes Justin England, Chris Wherry and Henk Vogels.

Mark Cavendish continued High Road's winning streak by claiming the kickoff to the Tour de Romandie on Tuesday. The Brit won the 1.9km prologue in 2:07:60 ahead of Daniele Bennati (Liquigas), who was given the same time. Michael Albasini (Liquigas) rounded out the podium at one second back.

Caisse d'Epargne's Alejandro Valverde gave his future Tour de France rivals an early reminder of his explosive climbing talents by winning his second Liège-Bastogne-Liège classic Sunday.

The Italian cycling team Liquigas has been kicked out of the Frankfurt Grand Prix semi-classic for failing to add its signature to a protocol on doping. "Our anti-doping program calls for team bosses to sign a statement of honor but Liquigas has made it known to us that it won't be signing this declaration," explained race organizer Bernd Moos-Achenbach on Monday. "And so we've therefore taken the consequences. "Some teams haven't yet taken on board the fact that cycling is in a serious situation," he added.

Marco Pinotti of Team High Road raced last week’s Flèche Wallonne classic in Belgium for the fourth time in his career, however this is the first time he has finished the race.

Final Overall 1. Kanstantsin Siutsou (Blr), Team High Road, 22.44'44" 2. Trent Lowe* (Aus), Slipstream-Chipotle, 0:04 3. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Astana, 0:14 4. Antonio Colom (Sp), Astana, 1:02 5. Inigo Cuesta (Sp), CSC, 1:11 6. Oscar Sevilla (Sp), Rock Racing, 1:25 7. Christian Vande Velde (USA), Slipstream-Chipotle, 1:32 8. Moises Aldape (MEX), TT1, 1:37 9. Rory Sutherland (Aus), Health Net Maxxis, 2:08 10. Bobby Julich (USA), CSC, 2:31 11. Rubiera Vigil José Luis (Sp), Astana, 2:39 12. Scott Nydam (USA), BMC, 2:49 13. George Hincapie (USA), Team High Road, 3:19

Coach Frank Overton has been keeping VeloNews.com readers up to speed on Health Net-Maxxis rider Frank Pipp's wattage output for the entire Tour de Georgia. On Sunday, Pipp finished off a successful week by riding stage 7 at 324 normalized watts or 86 percent of his threshold power for 2 hours and 19 minutes. "Considering how tired he was, 86 percent sometimes feels like 150 percent after over 900 kilometers racing," Overton said.

In probably the most dominant team showing since the revival of La Vuelta de Bisbee, Team Tecos from Mexico swept the top four spots in the final stage to push Colombian Gregorio Vega to a wire-to-wire victory. Vega donned the yellow jersey following Friday’s prologue and wore it all weekend, beating teammates Fausto Muñoz, Carlos Guinez and Francisco Navarro, who finished second through fourth in the overall.

Basically any time a week of racing bikes somewhere kicks ass, we’re going to do a Ten Reasons piece. There’s just so much to tell on these perfect weeks that there would be pages and pages for you, the unfortunate reader, to wade through. We’ll just condense things a bit here … Ten Reasons why World Cup #2 in Offenburg was the bollocks:

This year’s Sea Otter was better than ever with regards to new product roll-outs. There was too much to see during the short four days I was in Monterey, but we caught the vast majority in the hottest new stuff category. I’ll cover the rest of the best in this final photo gallery, but look for a few more stories from the Otter that go deeper than these galleries have. You should expect a rundown of Shimano’s new Saint group online tis week, while reports on Tomac, Yeti and FSA will pop up in future pages of VeloNews and VeloNews.com.

Cadel Evans' plans to go one better than his runner-up place at last year's Tour de France remain intact after what has proved to be an ultimately confidence-boosting week of bike racing. Yet on Sunday the 30-year-old Australian was left wondering about his form at the prestigious Liege-Bastogne-Liege one-day classic, where at least one of his yellow jersey rivals put his climbing potential on full display.

Italian Davide Rebellin conceded defeat to the "faster legs" of Spanish rival Alejandro Valverde after their thrilling battle for one of the most prestigious crowns in one-day cycling Sunday. A runner-up to Italian Danilo Di Luca last year and winner in 2006, Valverde left Rebellin struggling to match his pace when he capped the tough, 12-climb 261km epic with a winning sprint a few hundred meters from the finish line. Rebellin's victory here in 2004 rounded off a superb week in which he won the Amstel Gold Race and the Fleche Wallonne classics.

The final stage didn't bring any major changes to the standings, but it was still certainly fun to watch. Here are some photos of the 2008 Tour de Georgia finale from Casey Gibson.