Road

The Everti 29R is a hardtail titanium 29er frame, designed and built in British Columbia. Kurt Knock of Everti said the frame has been in development for about a year. It features 3/2.5 titanium, with double-butted top and seat tubes, and straight-gauge elsewhere. The downtube is oversized and ovalized at the head tube, and the head tube is longer than most 29ers to distribute the extra stress created by a longer fork, Knock said. The frame also features a mini-gusset at the head tube/downtube juncture and full length cable housing.

Technical writer Lennard Zinn is canvassing Sea Otter for tidbits — today he comes back with (among other things), three different ways on one team to devise a 2X9 system on a cross country bike.

Julien Absalon can cross Houffalize off his list. Before his victory at Sunday’s World Cup opener in Belgium, the Frenchman had won on every classic World Cup course save this one. In 2007 he came close, but had to settle for second behind a streaking Jose Antonio Hermida.

It might surprise you to find out just what it takes to build a one-off bike. Travis Brown can sure tell you. The Trek test rider and product developer lost one after last year’s early fall single-speed world championships. Trek built Brown a custom polished one of a kind 69er single speed for the event in September. After a pre-ride, derby and race, Brown UPS’d his bike back to the U.S. and the men in brown promptly lost it.

The Cauberg climb was the scene of a stunning finale Sunday of a wild, action-packed Amstel Gold Race that saw Damiano Cunego (Lampre) score a huge victory against the attacking Frank Schleck (CSC). Realizing his only shot against faster rivals such as Cunego and third-place finisher Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne) was to attack, the Luxembourger surged away with a vengeance with 500 meters to go to drop everyone out an elite group of nine riders except Cunego. Schleck’s raid almost worked, but Italy’s “Little Prince” had another ending in mind.

Two of Italy’s biggest stars are on the mend and hope to be back at their best in time for major upcoming goals. Two-time world champ Paolo Bettini is skipping both Amstel Gold Race and Flèche Wallone due to a broken rib suffered in last week’s Vuelta al País Vasco while Daniele Bennati will finally make his debut with Liquigas following a lengthy recovery from a knee injury.

Powerful gusting winds didn’t sway 19-year-old Tiffany Cromwell (Colavita Olive Oil-Sutter Home) or Michael Grabinger (Successful Living), who took NRC victories on the Laguna Seca Raceway Saturday at the Sea Otter Classic. The men’s and women’s events played out very differently. Cromwell rode solo off the front of a break for the final few laps. Grabinger, however, made it into an unusual four-man breakaway with two teammates and David Clinger (Rock Racing). The men lapped the field — twice — before Successful Living lined up a leadout in the stiff crosswind.

Anna Milkowski is a member of Team Advil-Chapstick. This diary entry was completed a few hours after she won the 2008 Tour of the Battenkill Valley in New York — Editor Redlands exists as a haze — a temporary exchange of lobster gloves and neoprene flippers for sunscreen and swimming pools — then a quick return to winter. The experience hinted I had survived this challenging winter of indoor riding and even a yard-sale crash on black ice, but the season began for real today with the Battenkill Roubaix in Salem, New York.

Near-record setting temperatures sent dust, gravel and rocks flying at the Tour of the Battenkill Valley on Saturday, but racers from the Great White North, perhaps the least adjusted to the heat, managed to dominate the event. Bruno Langlois, racing for Team Volkswagen, pipped five-time Canadian national champion Mark Walters (Team R.A.C.E.), following an 82-mile event that sent racers over a combination of dirt and paved roads in a quiet corner of New York State.

The list of favorites for Sunday's Amstel Gold Race seems nearly as long as the number of years the race has been held: 43. For the first time in more than a decade, neither one of Holland’s eternal favorites for Amstel Gold — Erik Dekker or Michael Boogerd — can be counted on to carry national pride. Each won Amstel once, beating Lance Armstrong each time in what was one of the biggest wins in each of their respective careers.

Team Type 1 Sets Sights On A Stage Win In Georgia Tybee Island, Ga. — Team Type 1 brings an arsenal to the Tour de Georgia presented by AT&T that is equipped to deliver a stage win during the seven-day, 590-mile (949.5 km) race that begins Monday. Team Type 1’s roster for the race will be Emile Abraham (TRI), Moises Aldape (MEX), Fabio Calabria (AUS), Glen Chadwick (AUS), Chris Jones (USA), Valeriy Kobzarenko (UKR), Ian MacGregor (USA) and Matt Wilson (AUS).

As the Sea Otter Classic swings into full force in addition to people pouring in for the festival and the races kicking into gear, there proved to be no shortage of new stuff to see. The weather is holding, which is always a question in April on the Monterey Peninsula, so without further ado let us dive right into it.

Dotsie Bausch (Colavita/Sutter Home) and Ruth Clemence (Simple Green) outkicked the women's pro field with two laps to go in the road race before battling each other in a power struggle all the way to the finish. The 20-women field stayed tightly packed for most of the race until a restless Clemence made a move, bringing Bausch with her. "I tried to attack on a hill to break things up and we just stayed away," Clemence said.

Giant Bicycles gets to add one more Super D win to go with the two it picked up last year in the debut event at the Sea Otter Classic. Carl Decker succeeded in overpowering former World Cup downhill pro Jurgen Beneke (Marin/Mercury Rev) on a short climb near the top and managed to stay away from Beneke for the remainder of the three-mile race. "I wanted to be up over the top before Jurgen, who is very strong in the downhill," said Decker.

With no individual time trial and a trip planned up the steep Brasstown Bald mountain, the seven-day 2008 Tour de Georgia presented by AT&T, appears to be a climber’s race. Odds-on race favorites include 2006 overall winner Tom Danielson (Slipstream-Chipotle), Astana’s U.S. national champion Levi Leipheimer and Rock Racing’s Spanish climbing sensation Oscar Sevilla.

Rock Racing team owner Michael Ball said Friday that his team earned an invite to the Tour de Georgia based on just one simple condition. "They said, 'can you conduct yourselves in a way that doesn't freak us out?' " Ball said in a conference call with reporters. He said that at Georgia he will not be accompanied by the Hollywood-style entourage that followed him at the Amgen Tour of California. He also said the team would not bring podium girl models to Georgia, although he said that's because the models were unavailable, not because of his promise to avoid freaking anyone out.

Click here for complete Tour de Georgia coverage Monday, April 21, stage 1 — The race will make its first ever visit to the seacoast when it starts at Tybee Island. The 71.8-mile stage passes through the coastal lowcountry, with several intermediate sprints before the finish in Savannah. The race has not visited the historic city since it hosted the prologue in 2003.

In addition to race reports, analysis and video clips from the start and finish of each stage, VeloNews.com will provide daily Live coverage from the Tour de Georgia. The Tour de Georgia Web site will host an Adobe Tour Tracker for live GPS tracking, standings, photo galleries, and chat during each stage. Additionally, video coverage will be webcast daily, on wcsn.com in the United States and cycling.tv outside the United States. Steve Schlanger and Nathan O'Neil will commentate the webcasts.

Click here for full Tour de Georgia Coverage Astana (Luxembourg) 2. Chris Horner (USA) 3. Levi Leipheimer (USA) 4. Antonio Colom (Sp) 5. Roman Kireyev (Kaz) 6. Michael Schar (Swi) 7. Aaron Kemps (Aus) 8. Andrey Mizurov (Kaz) 9. José Luis Rubiera (Sp) Team directors: Viatcheslav Ekimov, Alexandr Shefer Team CSC (Denmark) 11. Bobby Julich (USA) 12. Bradley McGee (Aus) 13. Iñigo Cuesta (Sp) 14. Jason McCartney (USA) 15. Anders Lund (Dk) 16. Juan Jose Haedo (Arg) 17. Lasse Bochman (Dk)

Trek development rider Travis Brown was at the Trek team truck at the Sea Otter Classic sporting a never-before-seen set of white and red Bontrager mountain bike shoes. The shoes have a large RXL logo on the middle strap that threw many for a loop. "People keep asking me if they’re from Polo Sport," said Brown. Ralph Lauren was a common sight at Sea Otter in previous years with his now dissolved RLX Polo Sport mountain bike team.

These days, power is getting all the press. With all the power measuring gizmos and fancy analysis software, power has taken over as the main parameter to track. It’s absolutely absolute. It’s like having a dynamometer on your dashboard, measuring your horsepower in real time. Indeed, power is a powerful number, but it’s not the only number that counts. There’s more than one gauge on the dashboard and they are all important.

With the world’s best racers descending upon Houffalize, Belgium, for the World Cup opener, the Sea Otter Classic needed to supplement this year’s world class downhill races with something extra to keep the event growing. For the Sea Otter, now in its 18th year, the answer was to bolster the festival and promote the tradeshow aspect of the event. It’s a trend that has been building for the last few years as more and more manufacturers are using the Sea Otter as a launching point for new product coming down the pike.

A Nevada court has delayed ruling on a request by the owners of Lew Racing to bar competitor Edge Composites from displaying or selling products that Lew alleges were made using a “secret process” it developed.

High Road's Edvald Boasson Hagen won in a sprint between four breakaway companions to prevail in the GP Denain on Thursday. The 20-year-old Hagen took a commanding win over AG2R's Jimmy Casper and Credit Agricole's Jimmy Engoulvent. FDJ's Fredric Guesdon trailed by 10 seconds. Hagen was part of a day-long break of 15 that was then whittled down to six riders on the last lap.

Most of the Graham Watson photos you see in VeloNews and on VeloNews.com illustrate the race action and, of course, the classic victory shots. His photos of the spring classic atmosphere are less often seen. Here's a selection of his atmosphere shots from this years Tour of Flanders, Ghent-Wevelgem, and Wallers-Arenberg.

Last year, the women’s world championship road race covered 172 kilometers, a distance that stirred little comment. With that in mind, it may be difficult to recall that as recently as 1990 a proposed 129km women’s road race was deemed “excessive” by the sport’s international governing body, which refused to sanction it. That race, and the 16 other stages surrounding it, not to mention the 22,000 feet the stages climbed and the 1067km (663 miles) they covered, took place anyway.

High Road's Mark Cavendish won the 207km Grand Prix de l'Escaut (also known as the Scheldeprijs Vlaanderen) for the second successive year on Wednesday just ahead of top sprinters Tom Boonen of Belgium and Australia's Robbie McEwen. Germany's Eric Zabel took fourth place but it needed a photo-finish to separate Cavendish and former world road race champion Boonen.

Chris Horner thought he was trading up when he left his role of helping Cadel Evans at Lotto to ride in support of Alberto Contador and Levi Leipheimer at Astana. Exclusions from many of the season’s biggest races, however, could mean Horner will miss the Tour de France for the first time in four years. Instead of riding up l’Alpe d’Huez come July, he’ll likely be at the Cascade Classic.

The Italian Olympic Committee’s court of last instance acquitted defending Giro d’Italia champion Danilo Di Luca of doping charges on Wednesday. Prosecutors representing the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) had been seeking a two-year suspension for Di Luca after he returned an “anomalous sample” following the 17th stage of last year's Giro in May. Had he been found guilty of a violation, his Giro title, too, would have been negated.

The Italian Olympic Committee (Coni) court of appeals on Wednesday acquitted cyclist Danilo Di Luca on doping charges which, had he been found guity, would have brought a two-year ban. Coni had requested a two-year suspension for the former ProTour champion after he returned an anomalous sample following the 17th stage of last year's Tour of Italy in May. Check back soon for more details

Your tax refund is in the mail, spring is finally here, and the first quarter of the 2008 racing season is finished. Now is a good time to check on your progress and move your nutritional goals up on the priority list to ensure that they are receiving the proper focus. While you may have completed some early season races, chances are that you are building to more important races that take place in the next few months.

Weigh your body-composition goals

The line-up for the upcoming Tour de Georgia changed Tuesday when ProTour team Saunier Duval-Scott announced that it would not be able to attend the race. Replacing the Spanish ProTour team is domestic squad Rock Racing, which had filed a lawsuit last week seeking a court-ordered injunction to be invited to the race based on what the team said was an oral agreement with organizer Medalist Sports.

Still savoring his second Paris-Roubaix victory, Quick Step’s Tom Boonen said Tuesday he now wants to focus all of his efforts on retaining his Tour de France green points jersey this July. The 27-year-old Belgian, who celebrated victory in the legendary spring classic on Sunday, said he was going to take a 10-day break after Wednesday's Escaut Grand Prix and recover from a busy spring. "I need to relax on the days following the Paris-Roubaix," said Boonen, who has won six stages on the Tour de France. "You need to let the muscles relax after such a race.

Reigning Olympic and world champion Paolo Bettini has ruled out the possibility that he will ride Sunday’s Amstel Gold Race in the Netherlands. The 34-year-old two-time world road race champion has not recovered from the fractured rib he suffered last Thursday in the Tour of the Basque Country. According to his Quick Step team, the Italian hopes to be recovered in time for next week’s Tour of Trentino, (April 22-25), and be fully race fit for Liége-Bastogne-Liége classic on April 27.

What better way to begin my maiden voyage into the world of cycling diaries then to write about the Redlands Bicycle Classic, comparing it to racing in Europe in the spring? Racing in California in March and April is not always the best preparation for Europe. It makes you soft. Nice weather, wide open roads, and a small, non-aggressive women's peloton — it’s a pampered life, including host housing that is comparable to living in "Pleasantville.” I have never seen such manicured lawns, houses the size of castles, and host families so welcoming that it is almost surreal.

Dear Lennard,
I've just read your article article about the SRAM ceramic bottom bracket and its maintenance. We at CeramicSpeed have been working with ceramic bearings for the past 11 years, introducing systems for bicycle applications eight years ago.

Stuart O'Grady took another step towards erasing the memory of the Tour de France crash which nearly ended his career with a stunning ride at the Paris-Roubaix classic Sunday. O'Grady, the first Australian to claim cycling's biggest one-day prize in 2007, went into the cobblestone-riddled epic lacking full form and knowing that only "a miracle" would give him the chance of a repeat. But he produced a stunner to finish fifth shortly after his CSC team leader Fabian Cancellara had been humbled only by an explosive winning sprint from Belgian Tom Boonen.

One-time Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich continues to maintain his innocence, despite paying a "six figure" fine to end the doping fraud case that has dogged him since July 2006. The public prosecutor’s office in Bonn announced on Monday that it was formally ending an investigation of the German cyclist after Ullrich paid a fine in the case. Prosecutors had accused the 1997 Tour de France winner of taking performance-enhancing drugs, leading to a fraud case against the 34-year-old based on his alleged deception of the public, sponsors and his team.

Kyle Gritters (Health Net-Maxxis) broke free from a large break to take first at the Garrett Lemire Memorial Grand Prix Sunday in Ojai, California. He was followed closely by teammate John Murphy and Toyota-United’s Hilton Clarke. Australian Tiffany Cromwell (Colavita-Sutter Home) soloed across the line in the women’s race, well ahead of teammate Iona Wynter-Parks, who also finished alone, before Rachel Tzinberg (Bicycle John’s) took the bunch sprint just seconds later.

Minutes before the start of Sunday’s Paris-Roubaix in the French town of Compiegne, Slipstream-Chipotle boss Jonathan Vaughters predicted big things for his young Dutch rider, Martijn Maaskant. “Martijn is going to have a good ride today — he is going to be the surprise of the race,” Vaughters said. The 24-year-old Maaskant did not disappoint. In just his first crack at “The Hell of the North,” Maaskant finished fourth in the Roubaix municipal velodrome, crossing the line 3:39 behind race winner Tom Boonen.

The nasty rain didn’t show up for the 106th Paris-Roubaix, but a superb Tom Boonen sure did. On a Sunday of cool sunshine and favorable winds, the Quick Step team leader took his second Roubaix victory, three years after the first, with an unstoppable sprint over his final breakaway companions Fabian Cancellara (CSC) and Alessandro Ballan (Lampre).

Wet weather changes everything in Paris-Roubaix, and the forecast for this Sunday’s 106th edition is rain showers with a brisk tail wind throughout the day. These conditions will pose a new challenge for many riders, including the media’s big favorite, 2006 winner Fabian Cancellara of CSC. The big Swiss has never ridden the Hell of the North in the rain, and although he feels 100 percent better than he did at last weekend’s Tour of Flanders, he tipped other riders to be on the podium in the Roubaix velodrome Sunday night.

On the eve of his first try at Paris-Roubaix’s infamous pave´, Mike Friedman understandably has a few butterflies in his stomach. The 25-year-old Slipstream-Chipotle strongman is only a handful of months into his first-ever European campaign. And Friedman, affectionately called “Meatball” by the peloton, stands as one of his team’s chief lieutenants for its captain, 2004 Roubaix winner Magnus Backstedt.

Alberto Contador wrapped up another 2008 stage race win Saturday when he dominated the final time trial of the Vuelta al Pais Vasco, the tour of the Basque country. Contador grabbed the lead on the first stage with a blistering attack on the final climb. Throughout the six-stage race, sprinters like High Road's Kim Kirchen were able to grab stage wins while Contador's Astana team kept tight reins on the peloton to protect Contador's narrow lead.

Spain's Alberto Contador overcame toothache to add the Tour of the Basque Country to his triumph in last year's Tour de France after success in the sixth and final stage here Saturday. The Astana ace, who has dominated the week since taking the first stage, beat Australian Cadel Evans by 20 seconds in the 20km individual time trial to wrap up the ProTour event. Evans (Silence-Lotto) finished second too in the overall standings, 30sec adrift.

Team High Road's Chantal Beltman won the Ronde Van Drenthe race on Saturday, notching the team's second consecutive World Cup win. World champion Marianne Vos was second and High Road's Ina-Yoko Teutenberg was third at the race held in Drenthe, The Netherlands. The route includes several cobbled sections. Beltman took off in a three-woman breakaway after the second section of cobbles and broke away from the group with five kilometers left in the race. She built up a maximum lead of just 20 seconds, and finished 6 seconds ahead of the chase.

This year's Paris-Roubaix will come too early for defending champion Stuart O'Grady. But despite an admitted lack of form the Aussie is determined to play a key role in his CSC team's bid for a third victory in the world's toughest one-day bike race. "We're going there to win, and we're going to have to take risks," said O'Grady, who is primed to work for team leader Fabian Cancellara as he estimates his own form to be only "85 percent." If Fabian has a bad day then one of us can go up the road and take his place. That's the strength of our team."

Former world champion Tom Boonen said he is determined to make amends for his mediocre season so far by winning the prestigious Paris-Roubaix one-day classic. However Boonen is wary of a few rivals who he said have been preparing specially for cycling's toughest one-day classic. Boonen won the race for the first time in 2005, and goes into Sunday's epic knowing it could be his last chance to save his season after being upstaged by Quick Step teammate Stijn Devolder at the Tour of Flanders last week.

Disgraced former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich is to pay out a million euro fine to end a fraud case which German prosecutors have been investigating, Focus news magazine reported on its Web site Saturday. Prosecutors accused the 1997 Tour de France winner of taking performance-enhancing drugs, leading under German law to fraud charges against the 34-year-old on the basis he deceived the public, sponsors and his team.

Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara has been promised the unwavering support of his CSC team as they go into battle for a third consecutive Paris-Roubaix crown on Sunday. CSC ride into the 259.5km cobblestoned classic, known ominously as the 'Hell of the North', as the favourites having won the past two years through Cancellara in 2006 and defending champion Stuart O'Grady.

In preparation for its first crack at Paris-Roubaix — arguably the world’s most demanding single-day event for riders and their bikes — Slipstream-Chipotle wisely called on their team captain Magnus Backstedt for technical recommendations. Maggy, the 2004 winner of the “Hell of the North,” keyed the team’s mechanics in to a few secrets of smoothing out the bumpy ride.

Quick Step rider Paolo Bettini fractured a rib when he fell in Thursday's fourth stage of the Tour of the Basque country, histeam said Saturday after he had hospital tests in Cecina, Italy. "I have suffered a lot this past couple of days. I hurt all over but today I am a little more optimistic. Last year I rode more than two weeks at the Giro with a cracked rib," said Bettini in a statement, promising to get back in the saddle as soon as possible.

Rock Racing is suing the Tour de Georgia's owner and its organizing company, asking to be let into the race that starts April 21. The team's owner, Rock Racing LLC, filed a complaint April 8 asking for an injunction against the race's owner — the Tour de Georgia Foundation, and its organizer, Medalist Sports, court records show. A hearing in the case is scheduled for Tuesday in superior court in Fulton County, Georgia. Rock Racing spokeswoman Martine Charles said the team had an "oral agreement" with Medalist Sports to participate in the race.

Italy's Damiano Cunego, riding for Lampre, won Friday's penultimate fifth stage of the Vuelta al Pais Vasco (the Tour of the Basque Country), a 162km run between Vitoria and Orio. Spain's Alberto Contador crossed the line in second in the same time as Cunego to retain the overall lead he's held since the first stage. Cunego lies second, eight seconds adrift. The day's ride was held in hostile weather and was marked by numerous falls just before the finish triggered by a near-the-line collision between Ricardo Ricco and David Herrero.

With weather reports calling for chances of precipitation ranging from 20- to 61-percent for Sunday’s race, Silence-Lotto isn’t taking any chances. The team’s eight Roubaix riders prerode with purpose-built X-Fire carbon cyclocross bikes on the course Thursday. The ’cross bike is built from Ridley’s 24-ton high modulus carbon fiber and its geometry is acceptable enough for Paris-Roubaix. Plus it offers a longer, more stable wheelbase and plenty of clearance for larger tires.

Nick Nuyens proved he could ride as a classics contender with his second-place finish at Sunday’s Tour of Flanders. Nuyens, Cofidis’ newest strongman, bridged to a surging Juan Antonio Flecha in the final kilometers of Belgium’s most famous single-day race in an attempt to bring back Quick Step’s streaking Stijn Devolder. While Devolder took the win, Nuyens took the sprint for second, as well as his best-ever classics result.

The days prior to Paris-Roubaix are the traditional practice and reconnaissance days for the top teams, who ride key sections of the course while photographers, reporters and fans watch. On Friday VeloNews' Fred Dreier and John Wilcockson headed out to the Arenberg Forest to check out the scene, and Wilcockson, engaging in a little bit of participatory journalism, even found himself helping pound some stakes for crowd control barriers.

American cross-country mountain bike racer Adam Craig has his sights set on the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. That means for the next few months he will be battling it out on the World Cup and National Mountain Bike Series with his fellow Americans for a slot on the U.S. team. In between races, Craig skis, kayaks and is the rally car co-driver for his Giant teammate Carl Decker. VeloNews.com is along for the ride. —Editor

As a general rule, cycling is a game best played outdoors. There’s more room to roam, sights to see and places to go. But there are also exceptions to every rule, which is certainly the case in this case. Bad weather, short days and any number of other factors occasionally force even the most dedicated bike riders to stay indoors. You pull the trainer out from your closet, load up a Tour de France highlights DVD, and hammer away in the basement. It’s far from ideal but still better than running.

A list of the 28 cobblestoned sectors on this year's Paris-Roubaix one-day classic, which begins Sunday in Compiegne north of Paris and finishes in the Roubaix velodrome after 259.5km of racing. Race organisers ASO (Amaury Sports Organization) have ranked each sector on a scale of one to five, five being the most difficult. Only three sectors are ranked five — the Arenberg Forest at 163.5km, Mons-en-Pevele at 210.5km and the Carrefour de l'Arbre at 242km. In total, cobblestoned sectors make up 52.8 km of the race's total, 100 meters more than last year.

The U.S. Open of Cycling, whose inaugural event last year will be remembered for its epic snowy conditions and network television coverage, will not take place this year, the race's promoter said Friday. The event was run last year in Virginia. Promoters announced last month that they had moved it to a May date for 2008 and changed the venue to Providence, Rhode Island. But Richard Durishin of Red Five Sports Group said the late changes did not allow time to line up sponsors and other business partners.

Danish oufit CSC will be fired up to make amends for their debacle on the cobble of the snow-hit Flanders last week when they line up two former champions at Paris-Roubaix this Sunday. CSC goes into the 259.5km cobblestoned classic, known ominously as the 'Hell of the North,' as big favorites having won the past two years through Swiss Fabian Cancellara and Australian Stuart O'Grady. A rare hat-trick of wins is credible, and will be further boosted by their bid to banish the demons of last week's Tour of Flanders where they were decimated by crashes and punctures.

Is this the year? Is this the year that the stars will be aligned for George Hincapie on the cobblestones of Paris-Roubaix? Is this the year that the tall 34-year-old American can follow up his two sixth places, two fourth places and his runner-up spot (of 2005) with another big performance on Sunday? Is this the year he can win?

VeloNews spoke with Rabobank’s Juan Antonio Flecha just a little more that 24 hours after he helped deliver teammate Oscar Freire to his win at the 70th edition of Ghent-Wevelgem.

In this four-part video tutorial, VeloNews Tech Editor Matt Pacocha walks us through the procedures involved in properly gluing tubular tires.

• Part 1: Tools, preparation & removing the old tire
• Part 2: Cleaning the rim & stretching the tire
• Part 3: Prepping the tire and applying the glue

Team High Road's Kim Kirchen won Thursday's fourth stage of the Pais Vasco in a sprint finish, while Astana's Alberto Contador retained the overall lead. It was Kirchen's second stage victory in this year's event, and left him in fifth place in the overall standings. Contador came in 20th with the same time as the stage winner to retain his overall lead, three seconds ahead of compatriot Ezequiel Mosquera. Kirchen covered the 171 kilometers between Viana and Vitoria-Gasteiz in four hours, 17 minutes and 33 seconds to edge his teammate Morris Possoni of Italy at the line.

Paris-Roubaix organisers might be feeling "reassured" after a favorable, midweek preview of the famed cobblestone sectors that will feature prominently on the race. However weather predictions for Sunday could make the world famous one-day classic, known ominously as the 'Hell of the North,' an even less inviting affair for some. The 2008 edition will be held over a total of 259.5 km, from Compiegne to the north of Paris to Roubaix just outside of Lille.[nid:74480]

You’re saying there’s a chance? Well, when there was, Mario was ready to turn some heads. Carbon Sports, the manufacturer of Lightweight wheels, was commissioned to build Rock Racing's Mario Cipollini something special for Milan-San Remo, but when Cipo and Rock Racing didn’t get an invite, then parted ways, this special wheelset became obsolete — to Cipollini anyway.

This week’s two-year suspension of Eddy Mazzoleni, third in last year’s Giro d’Italia, for links to the “Oil for Drugs” doping scandal raises the prospects that 2007 winner, Danilo Di Luca, could soon face the same fate. Di Luca is facing allegations leveled by officials from Italy’s Olympic Committee (CONI) that he underwent banned transfusions en route to his Giro victory. If Di Luca is banned, last year’s runner-up Andy Schleck (CSC) could be elevated to overall winner, something that the 22-year-old says he’s not relishing.

Christian Vande Velde powered to victory in Wednesday’s time trial stage at the Circuit de la Sarthe to deliver Slipstream-Chipolte its first European victory of its breakout 2008 season. Vande Velde’s consistent performances all spring finally paid off with an impressive victory on the 8.3km course in Angers. He covered the course in 10 minutes, 10.58 seconds (53.948kph) and stopped the clock 10 seconds faster than his closest rival, Benoit Vaugrenard (FDJeux).

Our annual Buyer's Guide features several tours of bicycle and bicycle accessory factories and labs. Here are some outtake photos from VeloNews' photo editor Brad Kaminski's visit to the Bell Sports headquarters in Santa Cruz, California. To read Fred Dreier's complete article on Bell Sports, along with other factory tours and in-depth product reviews, you'll have to grab a copy of our Buyer's Guide.

Spain's David Herrero of the Karpin team won the 195km third stage of the Tour of the Basque Country on Wednesday between Erandio and Viana while Astana's Alberto Contador retained the overall lead. Herrero had finished third in the first two stages of the race, and now lies third overall, eight seconds behind Contador. The 28-year-old Herrero beat out compatriot Luis Leon Sanchez and Italy's Olympic champion Paolo Bettini in a sprint finish for a time of 4:54:24.

A heightened threat of rock fall on one mountain pass has forced Tour de France organizers to alter the route of a stage in this year’s edition. The Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) announced Wednesday that the 15th stage of the 2008 Tour would now start from Embrun, rather than Digne-les-Bains, and feature the 2744m Agnel climb before arriving in Prato Nevoso in Italy. The stage was originally to have included the ascent at Larche but that is now being avoided due to the "very high" risk of rock fall, ASO noted in a press release.

Oscar Freire’s knack for winning chaotic sprints made him a favorite to win the 70th edition of Ghent-Wevelgem as a huge 77-rider pack thundered toward the finish line in this small Belgian town. And while the cagey 32-year-old did emerge victorious to become the event’s first Spanish champion, Freire and his Rabobank teammates earned the win the old-fashioned way.

Quick Step rider Carlos Barredo might have been a little bit groggy before Monday’s start of the Tour of the Basque Country; he certainly had reason to be. Barredo raced Sunday’s Tour of Flanders and barely had time to wipe down before he was being hustled away to the airport in Brussels for a flight to Spain, where a team car was waiting for him to shuttle him to the team hotel above San Sebástian. The Spanish rider didn’t get to bed until 1:30 a.m. after what was a very long day.

Over the years, dozens of top sprinters, from Freddy Maertens to Sean Kelly to Mario Cipollini, have won Ghent-Wevelgem, which celebrates its 70th edition on Wednesday. But the UCI ProTour classic rarely ends in a field sprint. When Cipollini earned his third Wevelgem scalp in 2002, he was in a small breakaway group with Americans Fred Rodriguez and George Hincapie. Hincapie won the race the year before in a photo-finish over Dutchman Leo Van Bon, also in a small-group sprint.

The whistling of wind; the hiss of spray kicked up from mud-covered roads onto hollow down tubes; the light crackling sound of hail smashing into helmets; the honking of blown noses, clearing both spring sickness and mud; a hacking cough piercing the air every few minutes; and the worst sound of all: blood-curdling yells, followed by the inevitable sound of metal on pavement and snapping carbon, and more yells, and then probably some unsavories not fit for print. Yep, those are the sounds of “spring” in northern Europe. Repeat that sequence for six hours and you’ve got a bike race.