French rider Julien El Fares (Cofidis) held off the chasing peloton to win the first stage of Tirreno-Adriatico. Led by Liquigas and Columbia-Highroad, the chasing pack fell 11 seconds short of ending the Frenchman’s adventure in the 147km stage to Capannori on Wednesday. El Fares dropped his fellow escapee, Vladimir Duma (Flaminia), with about 20km to go but Duma chased back with 9km to go. They held a slender lead of 1:34 to hungry sprinters.
Christian Vande Velde’s world went from black to kisses from the podium girls in just four days at Paris-Nice. The Garmin-Slipstream captain attacked with 20km to go out of a seven-man breakaway to snatch a thrilling solo victory in a hard-fought rainy and cold day in Wednesday’s fourth stage at the 67th Paris-Nice. “I was good at (Tour of) California, nothing special, so to come out and do that today, it gives me a lot of confidence,” Vande Velde told VeloNews. “The form is coming along really well. I am just surprising myself.”
Alberto Contador gave up his yellow jersey — at least temporarily — to Quick Step's Sylvain Chavanel Tuesday after losing 1:10 in the third stage to a breakaway group containing Chavanel.
Dear readers,
I’ve enjoyed the recent exchange on CO2 cartridges, and judging by the volume of lighthearted mail I’ve received on it, so have a lot of you. I thought we’d thoroughly covered all of the technical aspects of it to the point that no more needed to be said.
Price: $70 Weight: 71 grams Web site: www.eastonbike.com Easton EC90 bar ends, new for 2009, are made of Easton composite carbon fiber and are ergonomically molded. One-piece carbon construction lends strength and a clean look. The pair weighs in at just 71 grams and is approved for use with Easton bars. The EC90 bar ends carry a limited 5-year warranty.
Price: $389 Weight: 315 grams per brake with rotor Sizes: 160, 180, and 203mm rotor sizes Web site: www.magura.com The Magura Marta SL hydraulic disc brake is now available in a magnesium model, which is about 20 grams lighter than the original SL model. The Marta SL Magnesium uses magnesium for the master cylinder and the slave cylinder, typically the heaviest parts of the system. For added look and feel, carbon levers are used and for additional weight saving, Magura uses titanium hardware.
Heinrich Haussler slammed home his third victory of the 2009 season on Monday in the second stage at the 67th Paris-Nice. The Cervélo TestTeam rider cranked up his sprint with 250m to go in the 195.5km stage and had plenty of time to thump his chest as he crossed the line clear by three bike lengths. Coming through second was Mark Renshaw (Columbia-Highroad) with Mirco Lorenzetto (Lampre) slotting into third. "The sprint wasn't easy. We were racing into a headwind so I tucked my bike in behind Renshaw and the Columbia team,” said the 25-year-old Haussler.
Price: $575 to $900 Sizes: 120mm spacing Colors: Silver, black, gold, red, blue, green, and purple Web site: www.philwood.com As part of their 38th anniversary, Phil Wood will be releasing 100 specialty track hubs. The 3.5 Track Limited hub has a 3.5-inch flange and is only available in 32 and 36 spoke models. [nid:89071]
J.R. Grabinger (Fly V Australia p/b Successful Living) and Janel Holcomb (Webcor Builders) collected the overall titles at the 23rd annual Tucson Bicycle Classic on Sunday. Nick Clayville (Hagens Berman LLP) won the final stage, the Speedway/Anklam Circuit Race, crossing five seconds ahead of Sean Mazich (Team Waste Management) and Chad Beyer (BMC). But Grabinger finished with the bunch at 1:48 to claim the overall after three days of racing. Michael Mathis (CRCA-Empire Cycling Team) took the runner-up spot at 17 seconds back with Waste Management’s Scott Stewart third at 0:24.
Canadian Andrew Pinfold (OUCH-Maxxis) won the final stage of the 2009 Vuelta Mexico Telmex on Sunday, wrapping up the eight-stage race by winning a massive field sprint at the finale of the Hospedaje circuit race.
Denis Menchov wrapped up the overall title at the Vuelta a Murcia in Spain on Sunday to claim his first victory since winning the 2007 Vuelta a España. There was no major shakeup in the overall standings as a busted-up peloton came in for a mass sprint for the fifth and final stage.
Alberto Contador likes to say he doesn’t feel obliged to win, so perhaps it's just that he can’t help himself. The 25-year-old Spaniard is turning into a modern-day cannibal, seemingly winning at will as he continues his superb start of the 2009 season.
J.R. Grabinger (Fly V Australia p/b Successful Living) and Janel Holcomb (Webcor Builders) lead the 23rd annual Tucson Bicycle Classic going into stage 3, the Speedway/Anklam Circuit Race. Grabinger holds a 12-second lead on overall runner-up Michael Mathis (CRCA-Empire Cycling Team) with Caleb Fairly (Felt-Holowesko-Garmin) third at 14 seconds. In women’s racing, Holcomb sits just six seconds up on Melissa McWhirter (Veloforma) with Webcor teammate Rebecca Much third at 11 seconds.
Tecos' Florencio Ramos won stage of la Vuelta Mexico on Saturday, while Team Type 1's Shawn Milne was second and Jackson Rodriguez (Serramenti PVC) continued to lead the general classification. Americans featured in the day's key breakaway and remain atop the sprint and U23 competition leader boards.
Spanish rider Rubén Plaza (Liberty Seguros) won Saturday’s “etapa reina” climbing stage at the Vuelta a Murcia in Spain and Denis Menchov (Rabobank) surged into the overall lead. Plaza was first out of a group of 10 riders that pulled clear after topping over the Cat. 1 Collado Bermejo some 22km from the finish line in Alhama de Murcia. Coming through second was Jesús Herrada (Contentpolis) while Menchov crossed the line third in the 156km fourth stage.
Swedish rider Thomas Lövkvist (Columbia-Highroad) bolted home to victory in the 3rd Monte Paschi Strade Bianche Toscana on Saturday as foreign riders dominated the popular one-day race on gravel roads across Tuscany. Coming through second was German Fabian Wegmann (Milram) at four seconds back with Swiss rider Martin Elmiger (Ag2r-La Mondiale) completing the podium with third.
Cameron Evans (OUCH Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis) won a three-up sprint to take the victory at the end of Stage 6 of la Vuelta Mexico. The rolling, 190 km stage saw a break succeed for the third consecutive day. And for the third consecutive day, an OUCH rider made the most of it. “We knew a break had a good shot to stay away to the finish,” Evans said. “We wanted to make sure we had a guy in every move.”
Columbia-Highroad’s romp through the opening weeks of 2009 continues. This time with Frantisek Rabon, who took a surprise victory in Friday’s 16km time trial at the third stage of the Vuelta a Murcia in Spain.
Rock Racing’s David Vitoria rode to his second straight stage win and donned the King of the Mountains jersey Thursday following the fifth stage of the Vuelta Mexico Telmex. Meanwhile Jackson Rodriguez (Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni) took over the overall leadership of the race, displacing his teammate Gilberto Simoni.
Heavy winds wreaked havoc in Thursday’s second stage at the Vuelta a Murcia in Spain, prompting officials to cut the distance and then halt the race due to blustery weather. Dangerous winds topping 80kph before the race started prompted race organizers to trim the distance by nearly 75km and eliminate the day’s main obstacle at the Cat. 1 Alto de San Juan.
Several show-goers were surprised to see a De Rosa booth at NAHBS, placed within sight of trendy urban single-speeds and wild one-off full suspension mountain bikes. The De Rosa bikes on display cut a uniquely classic image compared to some of the exotic and experimental show bikes. Here’s a look at both ends of the spectrum: the handcrafted De Rosas, backed by years of history and family tradition; and some one-off show bikes not found anywhere else.
Rock Racing's David Vitoria won the Vuelta Mexico Telmex's fourth stage in a solo breakaway, while Italian Gilberto Simoni retains the overall lead in the race. Vitoria, a fourth-year Swiss pro, escaped from three others — Arquimedes Lam (Tecos), Francesco Rivera (Amica Chips-Knauf) and Andrew Pinfold (OUCH-Maxxis) — on a steep climb in the closing miles to beat Lam by 20 seconds. Pinfold was third, 1:53 behind.
Price: $1.70 each Weight: 30 grams per packet Flavors: Wild Berries Web site: www.carbboom.com Carb Boom now offers all natural wild berry Energy Chews. These nutrient-rich snacks are perfect for times when an energy gel is not enough and an energy bar is too hard to chew.
Belgian rider Wouter Weylandt (Quick Step) won the GP Samyn ahead of compatriot Bjorn Leukemans (Vacansoleil) out of a successful breakaway in the 191km race in western Belgium. Weylandt was part of a six-man move that stayed clear late in the race. Joining him and Leukemans were Belgians Geert Omloop, Roy Sentjens and Jan Bakelants, with French rider Rèmi Cusin (Agritubel) coming across the line third. It was the first win of the season for the 24-year-old Weylandt and the eighth for Quick Step.
Graeme Brown (Rabobank) took vengeance on Greg Henderson (Columbia-Highroad) on Wednesday by winning the opening stage of the Vuelta a Murcia in Spain.
Mirco Lorenzetto (Lampre) continues on good form, out-kicking Grega Bole (Amica Chips) to win the Giro del Friuli Wednesday in Pordenone, Italy. It was the third win of the season for Lorenzetto, who took two stages last week at the Giro di Sardegna. Taking third in the 188km race in northeastern Italy was Manuel Belletti (Diquigiovanni) with Alessandro Petacchi (LPR) fourth out of a lead pack of about 30 riders.
Italian Gilberto Simoni (Serramenti PVC Disquigiovanni) attacked on the last climb to win stage 3 of the Vuelta Mexico on Tuesday and take over the yellow jersey.
With so many exhibitors combining to bring unlimited creativity to NAHBS this year, the stories and photos are far from exhausted. Among the myriad of bicycle configurations on display in Indianapolis, those with only a single cog and chainring represented a majority. Many were track bikes, urban fixed gear bikes, commuters, town bikes, and even a cyclocross bike or two.
Jackson Rodriguez (Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni) won Monday's second stage of the Vuelta Mexico, a 205km route from De Huajuapan to León-Puebla. Canadian Andrew Pinfold (OUCH-Maxxis) finished second while young American Peter Stetina of a composite U25 American team leads the Most Aggressive category of the eight-stage event.
Sid Taberlay (Sho Air-Specialized) and Krista Park (NoTubes-Magura) claimed victory at the Bonelli Park cross-country race in San Dimas, California on March 1. The race was the opening round of the inaugural US Cup, a 13-race series of mountain bike races across the United States. The race was also the first event of the Kenda Cup West, the seven-race West Coast half of the US Cup. The race opened with motorcycle rider Jason Britton, star of Speed Television’s show “Super Bikes,” riding a wheelie at the head of the men’s field through the neutral start on his stunt motorcycle.
Chris Hoy, Britain's four-time Olympic track-cycling gold medalist, announced on Tuesday he was withdrawing from this month's World Championships in Poland because of injury. Hoy, who has suffered complications following a hip injury sustained when falling off his bike in the keirin final of the Copenhagen leg of the World Cup in February, said: "I'm hugely disappointed that I'm not going to be riding in the Worlds."
Dear Lennard,
You may want to do a little better research when answering these questions next time because both of your CO2 answers were completely wrong.
Price: $80 Weight: 117 grams Sizes: EBB Shells 68 x 55mm Colors: Red, blue, silver, black Web site: www.ninerbikes.com Do you rely on an eccentric bottom bracket (EBB) for proper chain tension on your single speed, internally geared hub, or tandem? If so the new Niner Bio-Centric EBB may come as a relief to your current creaking and ovalized EBB shell woes.
More than 1,700 people attended Sunday's final day of the fifth annual North American Handmade Bicycle Show in Indianapolis, bringing the weekend’s total to almost 6,500. Exhibitors commented on Saturday’s huge crowds, and many shared the feeling that this was the best NAHBS ever. Awards for the best bikes on display were announced near the close of the show.
The 2009 Giro d’Italia promises to be a star-studded affair, with defending Tour de France champion Carlos Sastre expecting to be one of the favorites duking it out for the maglia rosa. The Cervélo captain has some unfinished business of sorts with the Giro. Boasting podium spots in both the Tour (1st in 2008, 3rd in 2006) and Vuelta (2nd in 2005, 07 and 3rd in 2008), the Spanish climber only lacks a top three in the corsa rosa to join an elite club of grand tour podium finishers.
Among all the builders and the wide selections of material, color, construction and size at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show, one common theme that I’ve noticed is a distinct respect for all-purpose, utilitarian bikes. Perhaps it’s a reaction to fuel prices during the summer, or simply an expression of the small builders’ ethic, but at least 70 percent of the builders on display are showing some variant of an urban town bike, a cargo bike or an all-purpose touring road bike.
Juan Pablo Magallanes of Mexico’s national squad won the opening stage of the Vuelta Mexico-TelMex, outsprinting his fellow breakaway companion, Francesco Rivera (Amica Chips Knauf). The two left the field early in the day, building up to a lead of 4:15 before being reeled back over the final lap of a nine-kilometer circuit in Lunes del Cerro, in the province of Oaxaca.
Quick Step's Tom Boonen claimed his first big spring classics win of the season at the Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne semi-classic on Sunday. A former world champion, Boonen finished ahead of Columbia-High Road's sprinter Bernhard Eisel of Austria and Britain's Jeremy Hunt (Cervélo TestTeam ), who was third in a bunch sprint for the line. At Sunday's race, held over 194km, the 194-strong field stopped to pay tribute to Belgian racer Frederiek Nolf, 21, who died in his sleep at the Tour of Qatar on February 5.
One striking juxtaposition (among several) that I’ve noticed at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show this year is the use of cutting-edge modern materials and design mixed with old world craftsmanship and utilitarianism. Hand built carbon fiber bikes are dressed in fenders and racks. A hand welded single-speed town bike is built with an integrated seat mast and carbon fiber fork. No matter what the blend of exotic materials, wheels and components, the most common saddle on bikes in the show is a classic leather Brooks.
Norwegian Thor Hushovd (Cervélo TestTeam) lived up to his promise to focus more on the classics this season by taking an important victory in Saturday’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad that officially opened the Belgian racing calendar. Formerly known as Het Volk, the semi-classic delivered a nail-biter to kick start the classics season as Hushovd steered clear of two late crashes to steer to victory ahead of Kevin Ista (Agritubel) with Juan Antonio Flecha (Rabobank) coming through third.
I came away from my first five hours at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show with more than 350 photos. OK, so only 15 percent of them are usable, but even so, the volume of eye-catching hardware on display is second to none. Most of the products on display are bicycles from small builders that show unique details, exquisite handwork, and timeless paint schemes. Yet even a multi-million dollar company like SRAM has a clever product to offer this market, which is oriented more toward singlespeeds, retro-styled road bikes and urban fixies.
With more than 100 exhibitors and a seemingly endless array of handcrafted bicycles and parts, the North American Handmade Bicycle Show feels like an oasis of optimism amid the current business climate.
Price: $230 Colors: Six colors Sizes: Small to Large Weight: 230 to 270 grams Web site: www.trialtir-usa.com LAS introduces their new top shelf helmet, the Victory. Designed with safety as the most important attribute, the Victory also excels in ventilation, fit, and style.
The night before the North American Handmade Bicycle Show begins, bikes are unpacked, booths are built, and one of the newest trade shows in the country begins to take shape. Held last year in Portland, Oregon, the annual NAHBS comes to Indianapolis, Indiana, for 2009.
Price: $1000 Colors: Burnt Orange Sizes: 26 inch Weight: 1865 grams both wheels Web site: www.crankbrothers.com New from the Crankbrothers production line: the all-mountain Iodine wheelset.
New Italian team ISD ended Mirco Lorenzetto’s two-day stranglehold on the Giro di Sardegna, with Oscar Gatto sprinting to victory in Thursday’s 181km third stage from Oristano to Tortoli. The hilly stage featured more than 3,000 meters of climbing, but the top teams reeled a two-man break, but not before 22 riders slipped away near the end. Giovanni Visconti led things out for his teammate Gatto to keep a lid on world champion Alessandro Ballan (Lampre), who finished second but is in good position to win the overall with two stages left.
One of the lingering tech questions from the Amgen Tour of California has finally been answered, at least partially. As early as the prologue, a reader wrote to inquire about Jelly Belly’s time trial bikes, which are GT-branded but not shown on the GT Bicycles Web site. The GT-sponsored team also used these frames (with a different paint scheme) last season. We finally tracked down Michael De Leon, PR and advocacy manager for the Cannondale Sports Group, to get some of the story.
Mirco Lorenzetto used to lead out Alessandro Petacchi; now he’s beating him. The Lampre sprinter dashed to his second consecutive victory in the Giro di Sardegna on Wednesday, winning stage 2 and taking the overall lead in the five-day Italian stage race. A day after beating Petacchi in Tuesday’s opener, Lorenzetto out-kicked Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) to win the 164km stage from Porto Torres to Santu Lussurgiu.
Price: $195 to $225 Weight: 160 grams at 225mm Sizes: 27.2mm by 225 to 400mm Colors: Red, orange, blue, green, pewter, pink and black Web site: www.kenteriksen.com The Sweetpost is a new boutique seatpost from Eriksen Cycles. Based in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, and established in 2006, Eriksen Cycles is a small producer of titanium bicycle frames and seatposts. [nid:88617]
Mirco Lorenzetto dashed to victory in a bunch sprint in the opening stage of the Giro di Sardegna in Italy on Tuesday. Lampre went one-two to fend off arch-rival Alessandro Petacchi (LPR) as Lorenzetto finished just ahead of teammate Enrico Gasparotto. Reigning world champion Alessandro Ballan gave a perfect lead-out to Lorenzetto to set up the victory in the 184km stage starting and finishing in Olbia. Pre-race favorite Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) came through sixth.
The Amgen Tour of California wrapped up successfully with another win for Astana’s Levi Leipheimer. Also "winning" were the spectators who were treated to both great racing and an impressive consumer expo at every stage finish. Despite nasty weather for the first three days, traffic at stage finishes was heavy, and downright crowded whenever the sun came out.
With two laps of the finishing circuit remaining in the penultimate stage of the 2009 Amgen Tour of California, Fränk Schleck attacked on his Specialized Tarmac SL2 — but victory eluded him. Undaunted, Schleck again took the initiative during the final stage on Palomar Mountain and then out-sprinted his lone breakaway partner, Liquigas’ Vincenzo Nibali, in a short kick to the line.
To win his third consecutive Amgen Tour of California, Levi Leipheimer needed every bit of help he received from his seven Astana teammates. That was emphasized on Sunday when 10 riders broke clear on the upper reaches of Palomar Mountain, and Leipheimer was the only Astana man who could follow the attacks. “But even though he was alone on Palomar,” said Astana team manager Johan Bruyneel, “I could see Levi was comfortable.”
Mavic France placed a voluntary recall on all of its front R-SYS wheels this winter and a domestic recall followed suit two weeks later. The reason for the domestic delay was the CPSC’s approval of Mavic USA’s action plan for the recall. That plan was considered voluntary, but Mavic used verbiage and took action that made is seem more serious. Mavic stated consumers should “immediately cease use” and took the added measure of shipping R-SYS owners its Aksium model, which relies on steel spokes, until the situation can be rectified.
Astana's Alberto Contador started his season out with a victory by winning Portugal's Volta ao Algarve stage race on Sunday. Contador finished in the pack — in 96th place — on the 166km stage from Vila do Obispo to Portimao. Contador finished in the same time as stage winner Henrich Haussler (Cervelo TestTeam). Contador had taken the overall lead on the strength of his second place in the stage 3 mountain top finish and then his commanding win in stage 4's 34km time trial.
Ag2r-La Mondiale’s Rinaldo Nocentini scored a tough win in stage 7 of the Amgen Tour of California aboard BH’s G4 Global Concept team bike on Saturday. While we don’t have the winner’s bike to profile, we did catch up with the team earlier in the week and managed to grab some shots and details about the team’s bikes, produced by Spain's Fabricante de bicicletas de Álava.
While the Liquigas team hasn’t had the race it might have wished for at this year’s Amgen Tour of California, it does appear to have a new bike. When questioned, Cannondale reps only acknowledged that the team has been testing prototype frames. The prototypes were created using the feedback Daniele Bennati provided after racing on a Super Six frame with custom geometry last year. That frame also served as a proving ground for Cannondale to test the use of high modulus carbon fiber, which is now found in the 2009 production model.
It can be difficult to judge just how difficult a race is until you can make a direct comparison with a previous result. That was the case Saturday, when enormous crowds, probably the biggest of the week, showed up at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena to see the finale to stage 7 of the Amgen Tour of California. This stage from Santa Clarita was identical to the one that George Hincapie won 12 months ago, when he covered the 89-mile course in a time of 3:50:57. This year, the time of stage winner Rinaldo Nocentini of AG2R-La Mondiale was 26 minutes faster!
A day after being relegated to a rare second place on a summit finish, Alberto Contador turned in an authoritative time trial victory Saturday to take the overall lead at Portugal’s Volta ao Algarve. Contador beat back the likes of teammate Andreas Klöden and reigning world time trial champion Bert Grabsch (Columbia-High Road) on a fairly challenging 33.7km course in the hills along the Algarve Coast to snag his first win of the season and secure the overall leader’s jersey.
Giant Bicycles had something special at the Amgen Tour of California: Two teams riding a time trial bike it’s developing. This isn’t out of the ordinary, except for the fact that one of the teams has a different bike sponsor. You’ll notice that Rabobank and Columbia are on quite similarly designed bikes, but one says “Giant” on its downtube, while the other sports a “Highroad techdev” label.
Price: $36 Sizes: About 28 servings, 125 calories per scoop Web site: www.myogenesis.net
Price: $100 Sizes: 90, 100 and 110mm Weight: 119 to 125 grams Colors: Dark gray or black Web site: www.sixsixone.com Sunline, a producer of high-end downhill components, will have a new crosscountry stem on the market beginning in April. The Sunline XC 1 stem is aesthetically similar to stems by Rotor and Thomson, which can be attributed to their machining process.
Price: $65 Colors: Carbon finish Weight: 28 grams Web site: www.arundelbike.com
Levi Leipheimer is an undemonstrative guy. So when the Astana team leader thrust up his arms and raised three fingers 10 meters before he crossed the finish line on Friday’s stage 6 of the Amgen Tour of California, that was big. The three fingers signaled his third consecutive victory in the 15-mile Solvang time trial, and it may well signal his third overall victory come Sunday night in Escondido.
Katusha’s early season haul continued Friday as Toni Colom out-kicked triple-crown winner Alberto Contador (Astana) in the final meters of a summit finish to win the stage and take the overall leader’s jersey in stage three at the Volta ao Algarve. Colom – fresh off winning the Mallorca Challenge earlier this month – had a stronger kick at the end of the steep, second-category climb up the Alto do Malhao to relegate Contador to a rare second-place on a summit finish.
There are two bikes in the Cervélo TestTeam stable here at the Amgen Tour of California. The S2 and S3 are new aero road models and are available to consumers in 2009 and what the team is currently racing. Interestingly, none of the riders are using Cervélo’s R3 frame. Even Carlos Sastre, a R3 holdout, is competing on an aerodynamic road bike.
There’s no better combination in bike racing than sunshine, Lance, Levi … and Mark Cavendish. While America’s two top champions are the favorites with their legions of fans all along the route of this fourth Amgen Tour of California, Columbia-High Road’s Cavendish is fast becoming a crowd favorite.
Price: $245 Sizes: 133mm length Weight: 175 grams Web site: www.fullspeedahead.com The K-Wing Aero Integrated seatpost by FSA was designed with the intention of unifying the aero seat tube standards in the industry. It is highly adjustable with carbon aero spacers and the ability to direct the saddle side to side by up to five degrees. The post is built with a carbon Kevlar composite and stainless steel hardware and weighs just 175 grams.
A steep, 200-meter rising finish at the end of Thursday’s hilly 183km second stage in the Volta ao Algarve looked tailor-made for Damiano Cunego or Alberto Contador. But those big-name riders have bigger fish to fry later this year, which opened the door for Basque sprinter Koldo Fernández to pull the double, taking the stage win and the leader’s jersey. The Euskaltel-Euskadi speedster bolted ahead of Portuguese sprinter Manuel Cardoso (Liberty Seguros) to claim his first win of the year, with Gerard Ciolek (Milram) coming through third.
The French Anti-doping Agency AFLD on Thursday handed German cyclist Stefan Schumacher a two-year ban from racing in France after failing a doping test at the 2008 Tour de France, his lawyer said. The decision issued by the AFLD applies only to events contested on French soil, said Schumacher's attorney Michael Lehner. That ruling, however, may be extended globally if the German cycling federation or the UCI pursue the case. Schumacher said he would fight the ban.
Davide Rebellin (Diquigiovanni) might want to reconsider his decision to retire at the end of this season. The veteran Italian snagged his second stage win of the week at the Ruta del Sol and almost snuck away with the overall in the fourth and final stage, a 168km leg from Torrox Costa to Antequera. Joost Posthuma (Rabobank) finished nine seconds back of the attacking Rebellin with the rest of the front pack to claim a two-second victory over Xavier Tondo (Andalucía-CajaSur) in the five-day race across Spain’s Andalucía region.
Even Mark Cavendish didn’t expect to win stage 5 of the Amgen Tour of California on Wednesday. “It wasn’t a stage I’d targeted,” he admitted after bringing home a furious field sprint in Clovis, just holding off Tom Boonen of Quick Step, with Saxo Bank’s J.J. Haedo in third. The field sprint meant that there were no changes in the GC, with Levi Leipheimer of Astana keeping the yellow jersey by a 24-second margin over Columbia’s Michael Rogers.
Racing is clicking into gear all over Europe and several big names are revving up their 2009 racing legs at this week’s Volta ao Algarve over the green hills draped along Portugal’s southern Atlantic Coast. The five-day race marks the season debut for triple-crown winner Alberto Contador (Astana), who admitted he’s here only to stretch his legs.
Price: $150 Colors: Black, silver, blue, red, and purple Weight: 77 grams Web site: www.canecreek.com The Cane Creek 110 headset, which was released last year, is now available in most of the common platforms on the market, including the tradition 1-1/8-inch, 1.5-inch, integrated, and now the Zero Stack, which is common on Giant, Scott, BMC, and Fisher frames.
Tuesday's stage marked the first bunch sprint of the Tour of California, with Thor Hushovd taking the win and Mark Cavendish in fifth. Cav’s leadout seemed to leave him without a good wheel to follow, but his 2009 Scott Addict SL was well prepared for the expected bunch gallop. Prior to the stage, we had a few minutes to catch up with Columbia-High Road team mechanic Nick Vandecauter, who gave us a quick tour of the Cavendish machine.
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Everyone was expecting Columbia-High Road’s Mark Cavendish to ace his first chance of winning a stage of the 2009 Amgen Tour of California on Tuesday, but a tussle on the final corner kept him from even challenging the eventual stage 3 winner, Thor Hushovd of the new Cervélo TestTeam. Hushovd easily took the windblown 101.4-mile stage from San Jose to Modesto by a couple of bike lengths from three-time world champion Oscar Freire or Rabobank, with Cavendish’s lead-out man Mark Renshaw in third.