Road

Flanders is hell. Flanders is beautiful. The terrain and environment are terrible for cycling: the wind howls, the roads are bumpy, cracked or cobbled, the air is damp when it isn’t raining and rarely does the sun shine. But the roads are packed with cyclists. There is a race nearly everyday somewhere in Flanders that crisscrosses the bleak open muddy farm fields. The Flandriens know, feel, and live the sport.

Dede Barry’s 2002 win in Montreal stood as America’s sole women’s road World Cup victory before Katheryn Curi-Mattis out-sprinted breakaway companion Emma Rickards to take Australia’s 2008 Geelong World Cup last month. The two attacked with 75km remaining in the 120km race, then held off a hard-charging Team High Road — looking to set up sprinter Ina Teutenburg. The finished a minute ahead of the pack in the Feb. 24 race.

Rabobank's Oscar Freire won a sprint finish to the sixth and penultimate stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico race in Italy on Monday. Freire took the 196km stage from Civitanova Marche and Castelfidaro ahead of two Italians — Filippo Pozzato and Danilo Di Luca. Fabian Cancellara of CSC retained the overall lead ahead of Tuesday's final stage.

NEWS FLASH: I put Centaur Ergopower levers on my SRAM Red-equipped bike and have been riding it happily ever since with nary a hiccup in the shifting. I have a SRAM 10-speed chain, SRAM Red chainrings, SRAM Red front derailleur, SRAM Red rear derailleur, and SRAM Red 10-speed cogset mated with the Centaur 10-speed Ergopower levers. This means that Campagnolo and SRAM 10-speed road shifters, including their bar-end models, pull almost exactly the same amount of cable with each click.

So … ?

In a hard, fast race full of attacks but few breaks, world-class German sprinter Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (Team High Road) triumphed in the final stretch of the Visalia Criterium on Sunday, pulling around Brooke Miller (Team Tibco), who took second just in front of teammate and lead-out, Lauren Franges. Rounding out the top five were Canadian Anne Samplonius (Cheerwine) and Meredith Miller (Aaron’s).

Marathon cross-country specialists Thomas Dietsch (Gewiss-Bianchi) and Pia Sundstedt (Rocky Mountain) grabbed wins at the 90km UCI marathon World Cup opener in Manavgat, Turkey on Sunday. American Monique “Pua” Sawicki (Ellsworth-Topeak) finished in seventh place in the women’s race.

Starting and finishing in Nice, the riders battled the local cat 1 climbs in the final stage of the 2008 Paris-Nice.

John Murphy relied on some savvy team work by his Health Net - Maxxis team to preserve his lead in the Tour de Taiwan Sunday. Murphy and his teammates successfully defended the lead against challenges from last year's winner Team Type 1's Shawn Milne, who started the stage 9 seconds behind Murphy on the GC.

A rash of new anti-doping controls and cycling’s tightening noose around would-be cheaters is ruffling some feathers in the peloton. Riders staged a protest before the start of Sunday’s final stage at Paris-Nice for what they characterized as unfair treatment of Kevin Van Impe, a Belgian rider who was forced to give urine samples for a surprise control Saturday as he was preparing the funeral of his infant son.

Health Net-Maxxis' John Murphy held onto the overall lead and the points competition lead following Saturday's penultimate stage of the Tour de Taiwan. The stage was a 58km criterium held outside the Taipei International Bicycle Show, a major industry event. Murphy held off a challenge from last year’s winner, Shawn Milne of Team Type 1. Milne won the event last years for the Health Net team and entered Saturday's stage seven seconds behind Murphy.

Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara (Team CSC) took the overall lead at Tirreno-Adriatico after winning Sunday’s fifth stage, a 26km time trial from Macerata to Recanati. The two-time world time-trial champion finished in 33 minutes and 41 seconds, with American David Zabriskie (Slipstream-Chipotle) second at at 0:22 and Thomas L?okvist (Team High Road) third at 0:53.

Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) survived a flurry of attacks to win the 66th edition of Paris-Nice on Sunday after Luis-León Sanchez (Caisse d’Epargne) took the slimmest of victories in the final stage around Nice. Rebellin, who saw the leader's jersey slip away to Alberto Contador in the finale last year, was delighted to have held onto it this time around.

Tour de France organizer Amaury Sport Organization (ASO) said Sunday it would announce next week which teams it has selected for this year's race. ASO made the announcement after holding "constructive" talks with teams ahead of the final stage of Paris-Nice, which it also organises.

Kristin Armstrong (Cervelo Lifeforce) put the hurt on a world-class field of pro women Saturday, winning the 40km Yokohl Ranch Exeter Time Trial, with over four minutes separating her from second place Aussie, Alex Rhodes (Team High Road), and third place Canadian, Felicia Gomez (Aaron’s). Canadian national time trial champion Anne Samplonius (Cheerwine) came in fourth, followed by US National Team member, Katharine Carroll (Aaron’s).

Chavanel got his redemption as Gesink lost the yellow jersey to Rebellin during stage 6. Graham Watson was there to document it all.

Belgian cyclist Kevin Van Impe was taken for a routine drugs test just as he was at the crematorium filling in papers following the death of his baby son, media reported Saturday. The Quick Step rider was at Lochristi crematorium when a drugs tester turned up and demanded he provide a sample, warning that otherwise he could face a two-year suspension. "He wouldn't even come back later in the day. It was either do it right on the spot or it would be taken as if I had refused," Van Impe told Web site www.sport.be.

Italian sprint king Alessandro Petacchi gained revenge on Oscar Freire by claiming the fourth stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico over 166km from Porto Recanati to Civitanova Marche on Saturday. Three days ago Petacchi was edged out by Freire in the race's opening stage. But this time the Team Milram rider turned the tables on the Spanish Rabobank leader with Italian Filippo Pozzato of Liquigas in third. Those three are the big favorites for the important Milan-San Remo classic on March 22.

Bright-eyed, 21-year-old Robert Gesink might have time on his side, but Davide Rebellin used all of the savvy of his 15-year career to snatch away the Paris-Nice yellow jersey Saturday in nail-biting sixth stage won by Sylvain Chavanel.

After a solid debut to the 2008 season, Slipstream-Chipotle can’t catch a break in Paris-Nice. Bad news keeps piling up just as the team was looking to impress ASO bosses this week and earn a ticket to the Tour de France. While optimistic it will earn an invite to July’s big dance, team insiders are hoping that Tour brass will consider the team’s strong anti-doping message and consistent early season results rather than how it’s stumbling through the season’s first major stage race.

Health Net-Maxxis rider Kyle Gritters followed course directions in Friday's Tour de Taiwan stage — even when the race officials didn’t — to win the stage. Gritters' teammate John Murphy retains the overall lead and the leads the points competition in the race, which concludes Sunday. The rolling, 127km stage was chaotic, according to team directeur sportif Mike Tamayo, due to the rainy, windy conditions. But he said things got really interesting in the latter part of the stage.

Graham Watson captured the action, including Barredo's narrow victory during stage 5 of the 2008 Paris-Nice.

Niklas Axelsson (PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni) slipped into the leader's jersey at Tirreno-Adriatico on Friday after finishing third in stage 3. Spaniard Joachim Rodriguez (Caisse d'Epargne) won the 195km leg from Gubbio to Montelupone with Italian Danilo Di Luca (Team LPR) second. An early escape by Jose Garcia Acosta (Caisse d'Epargne) and Lloyd Mondori (Ag2r) took a lead of more than eight minutes before being swept up in the final 20km.

Carlos Barredo (Quick Step) is one of those riders who can do just about anything. He chases down breakaways for the GC captains, goes on the attack to take off the pressure in the spring classics and even managed to finish 10th in last year’s Vuelta a España. Friday was payback time for the 26-year-old Barredo, who attacked late in the 172.5km fifth stage across Provence to drop the remnants of a 17-man breakaway and claim Quick Step’s third win in six days of racing at the 66th Paris-Nice.

UCI chief pat McQuaid on Friday promised to back reigning Tour de France champion Alberto Contador should he decide to take legal action over his exclusion from this year's race. The tour's organisers, Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), ruled on February 13 that Contador's Astana team would be barred from competing in this year's race as a result of doping scandals over the past two years. But International Cycling Union (UCI) president McQuaid said the decision is unfair.

Unibet.com, the ProTour team that disintegrated last year after being barred from most events, is back, with a new name and new sponsor. The UCI has granted a one-year "wild card" license to the Swedish UCI professional continental team Cycle Collstrop, sponsored by a timber company. Last year the team was granted a ProTour license while sponsored by Unibet.com, a Swedish gambling Web site.

American Shawn Milne (Team Type 1) won Thursday's fifth stage of the Tour de Taiwan, moving into second place behind Health Net's John Murphy. It was the first professional race victory for the team. Milne won the Tour de Taiwan last year while on the Health Net team. His victory on Thursday came in a field sprint at the end of the 92-mile Hsinchu City circuit race, the event's longest stage. Murphy was sixth, while also picking up three points and a two-second time bonus for his second place in an intermediate sprint. Murphy is leading the GC and the points competition.

Graham Watson was following the tough stage 4, finishing up the infamous Mt. Ventoux.

Italian Raffaele Illiano (Diquigiovanni-Androni) won the second stage of Tirreno-Adriatico on Thursday, edging out countryman Enrico Gasparotto (Barloworld) in a sprint finish. Niklas Axelsson (Diquigiovanni-Androni) was third. The trio, with German Linus Gerdemann (Team High Road) and Saunier Duval teammates Riccardo Ricco and Eros Capecchi, went clear of the peloton on the last climb of the day, about 25km from the finale of the 203km leg from Civitavecchia to Gubbio.

Robert Gesink (Rabobank) couldn’t have picked a bigger stage to announce himself to the world. Holland’s first pure climber in a generation surged into the yellow jersey after Thursday’s summit finish on Mont Ventoux in a searing attack with 5km to go that left everyone choking on his fumes — except 2007 Tour de France runner-up Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto). While Evans slipped past to win the stage, Gesink proved he’ll be a man to reckon with as he took control of Paris-Nice with three tough stages to go.

The information-technology company CSC is leaving professional cycling when its contract with Riis Cycling expires at the end of this year. A company spokesman said the decision reflects a shift in priorities as CSC makes new investments to implement a long-term growth plan. "Our involvement in the sport of cycling has been a positive and productive experience," said Henrik Bo Pedersen, the CSC executive responsible for overseeing the sponsorship.

The National Race Calendar resumes this weekend with the Sequoia Cycling Classic in Central California. The town of Exeter will be the start of Saturday’s Yokohl Ranch Exeter Time Trial, a 40-kilometer out-and-back course with two significant climbs, and neighboring Visalia will host Sunday’s Visalia Criterium.

John Murphy of Health Net - Maxxis finished seventh in the third stage of the Tour of Taiwan, retaining the leader's jersey he earned earlier this week. Murphy's team said he used the climbing form developed at the Tour of California to stay within three seconds of the Australian stage winner, Peter McDonald (Drapac Porsche). McDonald moved up to second on GC, five seconds behind Murphy. Shawn Milne of Team Type 1 was third on the day and is now fourth on GC.

Titus Cycles, Inc., an Arizona high-end bicycle makers, has been purchased by Great Arizona Investments, a group that has holdings in a variety of industries. The new owners have created a business called GAI Cycles to operate Titus and any other cycling projects they enter. Titus, based in Tempe, had been owned by Vyatek Sports. The company was founded in 1991 and makes road and mountain bikes in stock and custom sizes, from aluminum, carbon and titanium. Titus CEO Pat Hus said the company has grown significantly in the last three years.

After racing the final 22 kilometers alone, off the front, Francaise des Jeux rider Philippe Gilbert crossed the finish of Omloop Het Volk last week in victory. It was the second Het Volk win for the Belgian; his first came in 2006. The 2008 win was special to two of his sponsors and was a milestone for road technology, because Gilbert crossed the line on a tubeless wheel and tire.

Finally the race to the sun presents some welcome sunshine. Graham Watson was there to capture the action.

Oscar Freire (Rabobank) proved fastest among an elite group of sprinters on Wednesday, winning the first stage of Tirreno-Adriatico. Freire won the 160km stage around Civitavecchia in 4:10:01, just nicking Alessandro Petacchi (Milram) and Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Caisse D'Epargne). The former world champion will wear the leader's blue jersey in Thursday's second stage, over 203km from from Civitavecchia to Gubbio.

Disgraced German cyclist Patrik Sinkewitz on Wednesday has denied reports claiming he made allegations about former T-Mobile teammates' doping practices to federal officers. "I did not say anything concrete on the doping practices of other riders," Sinkewitz told German tabloid Bild on Wednesday. "I do not know where this information comes from."

A Frenchman hasn’t stood atop the Paris-Nice podium since Laurent Jalabert won the last of his three straight titles in 1997. Sylvain Chavanel (Cofidis) promises he can restore French pride in the "Race to the Sun" after moving into the race leader’s jersey in Wednesday’s roller-coaster stage that saw Finnish rider Kjell Carlström (Liquigas) take a breakaway stage victory into St. Étienne.

Another wet day at Paris-Nice and photographer Graham Watson was there to keep track of events.

Health Net’s John Murphy moved into the overall lead at the 2008 Tour de Taiwan, solidifying his hold on the sprint jersey as well by earning sprint points and time bonuses in the 111-kilometer second stage. Murphy won the second and third intermediate sprints out on the road during a circuit race, run on a 14 km course, and finished 10th on the stage while helping teammate Kirk O’Bee to 7th on the stage. Time bonuses for the two sprints moved him ahead of previous leader Kam Po Wong of Team Hong Kong.

What can I do about foot pain while cycling?

Current and former world road champions Paolo Bettini, Tom Boonen, Igor Astarloa and Oscar Freire will be among those toeing the start line at the opening of Tirenno-Adriatico Wednesday. Aside from the rainbow stripes, these men share another trait in common: a desire to win the season’s first big one-day classic, Milan-San Remo. Other world-class sprinters slated to race T-A include CSC’s Stuart O'Grady, Milram teammates Alessandro Petacchi and Erik Zabel, and Silence-Lotto’s Robbie McEwen. The seven-day, 1122km race opens in Mar Tirreno and heads east to Mar Adriatico.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) confirmed Tuesday that it will examine Giro d’Italia champion Danilo Di Luca's appeal against a three-month ban for his connection with a doping scandal on March 20. The rider was suspended in October 2007 for his association with Italian doctor Carlo Santuccione, the key figure in the so-called “oil for drugs” scandal, dating back to 2004. Santuccione was investigated for allegedly supplying banned substances to Italian sportsmen.

Crashes and nasty weather are turning the 66th Paris-Nice into a war of attrition as Gert Steegmans (Quick Step) sprinted to his second straight win Tuesday in an exciting, attack-riddled 201km soggy march. The big Belgian didn’t want to wait for the bunch and made easy work of a four-up sprint on a slight rise into Belleville, three seconds ahead of a 44-rider chase group that was missing several GC contenders, among them Fränk Schleck (CSC – 76th at 2:56) and Haimar Zubeldia (Euskaltel-Euskadi – 53rd at 1:15) and José Angel Gómez Marchante (Saunier Duval – abandon).

It’s not often you see Gert Steegmans first in line. Since last season, the 6-foot, 3-inch Belgian has often been second in line at Quick Step, developing into the preferred lead-out man for cycling superstar Tom Boonen. Before that, he was the pilot for Robbie McEwen at Silence-Lotto. The soft-spoken Steegmans is never one to shove his way into the limelight, but when he won Stage 2 in last year’s Tour de France, he couldn’t help but get noticed. This season, Steegmans is getting more freedom to ride for his own victories.

For a guy who would rather be somewhere else, Thor Hushovd is making the most of a bad situation. The Crédit Agricole fast man surged to an impressive victory in Sunday’s prologue and then sprinted to third in Monday’s first stage to retain his grip on the race leader’s yellow jersey. Not bad for a guy who’d rather be in Italy.

Dear Lennard,
In a recent article you make mention of the fact that you do not use adhesive tapes, like that produced by Tufo, on tubular wheels, preferring instead to use the old system of building up with glue.

Three-time world time trial champion Michael Rogers will be out of competition for at least eight weeks as he recovers from Epstein Barr Virus, his team announced Monday. Team High Road physicians and Rogers' personal doctors confirmed the diagnosis. It is the second time the Australian has had the virus. Rogers plans to rest completely for at least four weeks, the team said. Rogers has not felt strong since last fall, said his agent, Paul DeGuyter.

Paris-Nice organizers shortened Monday's stage 1 due to heavy rain and wind, but the result was one of the most exciting days in years. When the race hit the crosswinds, echelons formed and some favorites risked getting knocked out of contention. In the end, most of them caught back on to the front group and even race leader Thor Hushovd, who had been dropped on the days only climb, caught the front group and finished third to retain his yellow jersey. Graham Watson captured the stage and shared his gallery with VeloNews readers.

On a stage dominated by local riders, Health Net-Maxxis’s John Murphy took the green jersey and sits second overall after the first stage of the Tour of Taiwan. Besides Health Net, the other American team in the race is Team Type 1. Their top rider after the first stage was Emile Abraham in 25th.

One of the worst winter storms of the year ripped across central France on Monday and left the Paris-Nice peloton looking like shredded wheat in a brutal, weather-shortened first stage. Only a Belgian could be happy racing in howling crosswinds, piercing rain and plummeting temperatures, so it shouldn’t come as a complete surprise as Tom Boonen’s favorite lead-out man, Gert Steegmans, out-toughed a reduced bunch in a 40-up sprint on a steep climbing finish into Nevers to claim victory.

Bobbie Traksel (P3 Transfer) won the Three Days of West Flanders on Sunday after claiming victory in the third and final stage, a 186km leg beginning and ending in Ichtegem. The 26-year-old Netherlander took the final overall four seconds ahead of Belgian Niko Eeckhout (Topsport Vlaanderen) and 15 ahead of Russian Serguei Ivanov (Astana).

German prosecutors are reportedly prepared to drop charges against Jan Ullrich if the fallen cycling star cooperates with a doping inquiry and pays a one million euro fine. The report, which appears in Monday's edition of Focus magazine, suggests the tribunal in Bonn handling Ullrich's case is set to present this deal to the former T-Mobile rider's lawyers.

If it’s short, fast and flat, chances are good that Thor Hushovd (Credit Agricole) will be among the favorites in any opening prologue. The 30-year-old Norwegian sprinter confirmed he’s one of the peloton’s best “short course” time trial specialists Sunday with a solid four-second victory in the wet and windy 4.6km opener at the 66th Paris-Nice.

Paris-Nice used to be cycling’s sparkling season kickoff, a chance for the sport to shake off the winter doldrums and click fully into gear for the year’s first major stage race. The once shining “Race to the Sun” has since been transformed into the sport’s major battleground in the ugly, drawn-out power struggle between cycling’s governing body and the sport’s preeminent race organizer, Amaury Sport Organisation. At the dawn of Sunday’s prologue start of the 66th edition, the UCI and ASO are showing no signs of a last-minute cease-fire.

CSC's powerhouse Fabian Cancellara won Saturday's new Italian one-day, the Monte Paschi Eroica. The long-time amateur race, which includes miles of gravel roads, was held for the first time as a professional race last fall. The first pro edition also was won by a CSC rider, Alexandr Kolobnev.

Spaniard Alejandro Valverde of the Caisse d'Epargne team won the Tour of Murcia cycling race for the third time on Saturday. Compatriot Kolko Fernandez, riding for Euskaltel-Euskadi, won the 134.9km fifth and final stage from San Javier to Murcia. Valverde, winner in 2004 and 2007 and who stamped his mark on this year's renewal in Friday's stage, said that having achieved one of his targets for the season, he hoped it would prove to be a launchpad for the rest of his campaign.

Alejandro Valverde pedaled himself into position Friday to win the Vuelta a Murcia for the third time. The Caisse d’Epargne rider won the decisive 23.1km climbing time trial and moved into the overall lead with just one stage remaining in the five-day stage race in Spain with his first win of the 2008 season. Valverde, who hails from the Spanish region, won the race against the clock from Alhama to Aledo in 33 minutes, 32 seconds, some two seconds faster than Stefano Garzelli (Acqua e Sapone) and six seconds faster than 2007 Tour de France champion Alberto Contador (Astana).

Following a successful debut last year, the Monte Paschi Eroica will be held March 8 in Italy over 181km that includes seven sectors of gravel. World champion Paolo Bettini and his Quick Step-Innergetic will be among the 8-man squads taking the start, along with High Road and Slipstream-Chipotle. Last year’s edition was held in the fall in Tuscany, and was won by CSC’s Alexandr Kolobnev soon after he took second at the world championships.

Swiss rider Aurélien Clerc (Bouygues Telecom) sprinted to victory in the opening stage Friday of the Three Days of West Flanders and claimed the overall leader’s jersey in the west Belgian race. Clerc was fastest in the 176km stage from Courtrai to Bellegem, finishing ahead of Belarussian Jevgeni Goetarovitsj (FDJeux), with Dutch rider Bobby Traksel (P3 Transfer-Batavus) coming through third.

World cycling chief Pat McQuaid on Friday stoked the feud with race organizers Amaury Sports Organisation (ASO), accusing them of colluding to form a private league with the backing of the French cycling federation. International Cycling Union (UCI) president McQuaid made his accusations in a column in French daily Le Monde just two days before the start of the Paris-Nice stage race.

Earlier this week, UCI president Pat McQuaid emailed pro racers warning they could be fined or banned from future UCI events — including the world championships — if they race in next week’s Paris-Nice stage race. Paris-Nice's owner, ASO, is running the race independently of the UCI. So how can McQuaid make these threats?

Following weeks of dispute between cycling’s international governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and Amaury Sports Organisation (ASO), the organizer of the Tour de France, UCI president Pat McQuaid sent the following open letter to the French newspaper Le Monde on Friday.

Filmmaker Brian Vernor is best known in the bicycle industry for his documentary “Pure Sweet Hell,” which chronicled the cyclocross lifestyle on 8mm black-and-white film. His most recent project is filming and riding the Tour d’Afrique, a four-month bicycle adventure road race across the African continent. This year marks the sixth running of the race, which begins in Cairo, Egypt, and finishes in Cape Town, South Africa. Riders pass through 10 countries at an average distance of 75 miles a day.