Road Racing

VALDEPENAS DE JAEN, Spain (AFP) - Spaniard Joaquim Rodriguez won the mountainous fifth stage of the Tour of Spain on Wednesday, a 187km ride from the ski resort of Sierra Nevada.

How did the USA Pro Challenge attract the Tour podium?

Erik Slack’s Team Exergy Felt F1. An unusual selection of parts.

HTC-Highroad sport director Jens Zemke said Cavendish was spent from the effort of the first four days of racing. "He had nothing left. He was totally empty," Zemke told VeloNews. "He said he was so tired he could have fallen asleep in the car. It was 40C on the road today. He had no more power and could not continue."

Nick Legan ferrets out some tech tidbits from the USAPCC prologue

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Cannondale's new aero Slice. Ready for Basso's use.

A look at the new lightweight SRAM cassette that Levi Leipheimer used in the USAPCC prologue

Quarq’s CinQo Saturn power meter: Knowledge is power, and vice versa.

TOTANA, Spain (VN) - Andrew Talansky is making his grand-tour debut with one simple goal: arriving to Madrid.

Stage

• 1. Pablo Lastras Garcia, Movistar Team (mov), in 3:58:00
• 2. Sylvain Chavanel, Quickstep Cycling Team (qst), at 15
• 3. Markel Irizar Aranburu, Team RadioShack (rsh), at 15
• 4. Ruslan Pydgornyy, Vacansoleil-Dcm Pro Cycling Team (vcd), at 15
• 5. Nicolas Roche, Ag2r La Mondiale (alm), at 1:43

• 1. Pablo Lastras Garcia, Movistar Team (mov), in 8:25:59
• 2. Sylvain Chavanel, Quickstep Cycling Team (qst), at 20
• 3. Markel Irizar Aranburu, Team RadioShack (rsh), at 1:08
• 4. Ruslan Pydgornyy, Vacansoleil-Dcm Pro Cycling Team (vcd), at 1:24
• 5. Jakob Fuglsang, Leopard Trek (leo), at 1:55

TOTANA, Spain (AFP) — Spanish rider Pablo Lastras (Movistar) won the third stage of the Tour of Spain and took the overall leader's red jersey on Monday on a 164-kilometre ride from Petrer to Totana.

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Graham Watson captures the action in stage 2 of the 2011 Vuelta a España.

HTC-Highroad promises to ride its last grand tour with its collective head held high as Tim Duggan hopes to clinch an extension with Liquigas-Cannondale.

Stage 2

• 1. Christopher Sutton, Team Sky, at 4:11:41
• 2. Vicente Reynes, Omega Pharma-Lotto, same time
• 3. Marcel Kittel, Skil-Shimano, s.t.
• 4. Tyler Farrar, Garmin-Cervélo, s.t.
• 5. Matti Breschel, Rabobank Cycling Team, s.t.

Chris Sutton sprints to victory in Vuelta's 2nd stage; Daniele Bennati takes lead.

Edvald Boasson Hagen wins the 2011 Vattenfall Cyclassics.

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Ned Overend and Tinker Juarez go one-two on Mount Washington as Marti Shea defends her 2010 crown.

Jakob Fuglsang wants to keep his red jersey; Iñigo Cuesta is on the sidelines; and organizers hope an earlier race draws bigger crowds.

Graham Watson snaps the team time trial opening the 2011 Vuelta a España.

Stage 1

• 1. Leopard-Trek, 16:30
• 2. Liquigas-Cannondale, at 0:04
• 3. HTC-Highroad, at 0:09


• 4. Astana, at 0:10
• 5. Movistar, at 0:14

GC

• 1. Jakob Fuglsang, Leopard-Trek, 16:30
• 2. Fabian Cancellara, Leopard-Trek, same time
• 3. Maxime Monfort, Leopard-Trek, s.t.
• 4. Thomas Rohregger, Leopard-Trek, s.t.
• 5. Daniele Bennati, Leopard-Trek, s.t.

Jakob Fuglsang takes the red leader's jersey as Leopard-Trek wins the opening team time trial.

A long, decisive time trial at midrace could give the edge to two-time Vuelta champ Denis Menchov.

BENIDORM, Spain (VN) — Taylor Phinney knows that the next few weeks of his life won't be easy.

BENIDORM, Spain (VN) — Love them or hate them, time bonuses are on the menu for the three-week Vuelta a España.

BENIDORM, Spain (VN) — Race organizers did the climbing specialists a favor this year by placing a long yet decisive individual time trial right in the middle of the three-week Vuelta a España that should see the mountains crown the overall winner on September 11 in Madrid.

BENIDORM, Spain (VN) — The 22 starting teams will face a short, 13.5km, but challenging team time trial course to open the 66th Vuelta a España around this bustling beach resort along Spain's Mediterranean Coast.

American Matt Baranoski (Perkasie, Penn./SUB 49) earned a bronze medal in the kilo event at the junior world track championships in Moscow, Russia, on Friday.

Pros' replacement parts, where to carry your stuff, carbon brake pads and more

The American team qualified ninth and set a new American record for the team pursuit at the UCI junior track championships in Moscow Thursday.

Quick Look: Garmin ready to deliver its pedal-based power meter next spring; plus a quick review of the new Edge 200 computer

BENIDORM, Spain (VN) — The season's third grand tour clicks into gear Saturday with a team time trial in this seaside summer resort that's already packed to the gills with tourists seeking sand, sun and sex. How many of those are here for the Vuelta a España is not exactly clear, but the Spanish tour will start with no shortage of contenders for overall victory when the race roars into Madrid on September 11 for the final sprint.

RadioShack lines up for the Vuelta a España with a strong team centered around Jani Brajkovic and Andreas Klöden.

BERLIN (AFP) — German veteran Andreas Klöden of RadioShack has said he is not aiming for victory in the Tour of Spain, which starts Saturday, after suffering heavy falls on last month's Tour de France.

Taylor Phinney will be making his grand-tour debut with a BMC team looking to win stages and sneak into breakaways at the Vuelta a España.

Lennard takes questions on electric tire pumps, hanging bikes form hooks and gets more feedback on road tubeless

PARIS (AFP) — Italian rider Michele Scarponi said he will look to legendary sprinter Alessandro Petacchi for inspiration after Lampre announced that he will lead their challenge on the Tour of Spain.

Fat and fun road tires, if you don't mind the occasional flat

PARIS (AFP) — Dutch outfit Vacansoleil will line-up in this year'sp Vuelta a España without last year's runner-up Ezequiel Mosquera. The 35-year-old Spaniard took second place while riding for Xacobeo, but it was later revealed that he had tested positive for the banned substance Hydroxyethyl Starch, also known as HES, during an in-competition test at the race.

After being left out of the Tour de France and riding to a sub-par Giro d'Italia, it's all-in for Geox-TMC during the upcoming Vuelta a España.

Three grand-tour rookies are part of a slim North American contingent for this year's Vuelta a España that will likely include only four starting U.S. riders.

Bradley Wiggins hopes to erase the bad memories of his disappointing Tour de France with a strong comeback performance in the Vuelta a España.

LEON, Spain (VN) — Tom Boonen and Sylvain Chavanel headline Quick Step for the upcoming Vuelta a España.

Specialized is trotting out a fat line of new gear for 2012: LZ has the scoop...

Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky) won the final stage and the overall at the Eneco Tour on Sunday.

Great Britain's Mark Cavendish won the Olympic road race test event in London on Sunday.

Matteo Bono (Lampre-ISD) won the fifth stage of the Eneco Tour here on Saturday as Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky) retained the overall lead.

Saxo Bank-Sungard has confirmed that it will have no Spanish riders in its line-up for this year's Vuelta a España, which starts next Saturday in Benidorm.

LEON, Spain (VN) — Call it the "rebound and reload tour."

2011 Vuelta a España preliminary startlist

The Scott FOIL: An aero road frame without compromise

Reigning world champion Thor Hushovd will not be racing the Vuelta a España with Garmin-Cervélo, a decision that team boss Jonathan Vaughters strongly defended for "what's best for the team."

Caley Fretz rides Shimano's new electric group. Is it better than its big brother Dura-Ace Di2?

Two more big names are confirmed for the Vuelta a España with Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD) and Jurgen Van den Broeck.

Pro saddle choices, worn-out wrenches and more

New shoes, stems and handlebars from the component giant

Lennard gets more feedback on tubulars v. tubeless, plus answers questions on fork fatigue, inner-tube fatigue, pedal threads and more

Carbon tubulars are excellent in gusty conditions and less expensive than the comparable Zipp 303

PARIS (AFP) - Irish rider Nicolas Roche will lead the AG2R team in the forthcoming Tour of Spain the French outfit announced on Monday.

Joaquim "Purito" Rodríguez (Katusha) hung on in Sunday's mountaintop finish to secure a morale-boosting victory at the Vuelta a Burgos just two weeks ahead of the start of the Vuelta a España.

Bobby Sweeting (Kenda-Geargrinder) and Leah Kirchmann (Colavita-Forno d'Asolo) win stage 2 of the sixth annual Alexian Brothers Tour of Elk Grove.

Simon Gerrans (Sky) won the Tour of Denmark on Sunday as Theo Bos (Rabobank) sprinted to victory in the final stage.

Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) won the 68th Tour of Poland on Saturday after finishing second on the final stage.

Karl Menzies (UnitedHealthcare) and Anne Samplonius (NOW-Novartis) won the kickoff to the Alexian Brothers Tour of Elk Grove in Illnois on Friday.

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Light carbon climbing wheels at a good price

PARIS (AFP) - Kazakhstan's Andrey Kashechkin announced Thursday he would race the Vuelta a España this month with former team Astana, with whom he has signed a deal until the end of 2013.

Dirt road ridin', team chef job opportunities and more

Ezequiel Mosquera broke his silence Tuesday and demanded that his ongoing possible doping case be resolved one way or another.

Lennard takes Q's on aging tubulars, tubeless tire maintenance, tire pump gauge accuracy and more.

BERLIN (AFP) - Germany's capital Berlin is set to bid to host the prologue of the Tour de France in either 2016 or 2017, it was confirmed on Monday.

Annemiek Van Vleuten (Nederland Bloeit) won the eighth round of the women's World Cup on Sunday.