Road Racing

Empire Cycling's Jonathan Chodroff won the first stage of the 2008 Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic race in Massachusetts on Thursday. Chodroff finished the 6.2-mile race in 16:02, followed by Bissell's Graham Howard less than a second behind. Colatvita's Luis Amaran was third at 9 seconds. In the women's race, Colavita's Kristin McGrath won with a time of 18:57, followed by Cheerwine's Catherine Cheatley at 5 seconds and Cheerwine's Stacy Marple at 11 seconds.

This year’s edition of the Tour de France isn’t sanctioned by the UCI, so VeloNews readers have been curious whether the UCI's somewhat-infamous tech rules still apply. You’ll remember that before last year’s race, official rule clarifications led to frantic refinement of time trial bikes as teams readied them for the London prologue. That controversy centered on the use of the ‘praying landis’ position and whether or not a rider’s forearms touched his aero extensions. Race and stage favorites did modify their positions before stepping up to the start chute of the race.

Pro cycling fans may find themselves unclear who to root for at this year’s Tour de France. The list of familiar faces absent from this year’s race is as long as it is top-heavy. The exclusion of the Astana team of defending champion Alberto Contador and teammates Levi Leipheimer and Andreas Kloden means three former podium finishers will sit out this year. It's the first instance in modern history where the previous year’s Tour winner was eligible to race, yet not invited to defend his title.

American pro continental team Garmin-Chipotle presented by H30 made its Tour de France debut Thursday afternoon in Brest with the unveiling of its newly designed jersey. Flanked by Jon Cassat, Garmin’s vice president of communications, team manager Jonathan Vaughters introduced the recently re-branded squad, which has been run as Slipstream-Chipotle since the outset of the 2007 season. The team recently announced a three-year deal with Garmin, a GPS company based in Kansas.

The positive out-of-competition test for cocaine that put defending points champion Tom Boonen out of the Tour de France, and the absence of the top Italian sprinters Alessandro Petacchi and Daniele Bennati, has opened up this year’s green jersey competition; while the decision by exciting newcomer Mark Cavendish to start the Tour rather than focus entirely on his Olympic track preparations gives new interest to the early sprint stages.

Tour de France chief Christian Prudhomme is convinced this year's race can take place without the numerous drug-tainted scandals that have left the event fighting for its credibility. The 95th edition of the world's biggest bike race begins Saturday. Ahead of a tough three-week race, devoid of the traditional prologue and with plenty of action promised in an innovative first week, there remain plenty of detractors following the 2007 edition which was blackened by the unceremonious exit of race leader Michael Rasmussen, among others, over suspicions of doping.

Price: Not determined. Web site: www.sidisport.it Available: Fall [nid:79113] The Sidi Genius 5 pro woman shoes are part of the company's 2008-2009 season. The shoes feature several new technical features besides the floral fashion. The flower motif was first seen on the feet of Pippo Pozzato, the 2006 Milan-San Remo winner, who debuted the design at this year's spring classic.

Weight: 19 grams (Ultra Light), 27 grams (standard Nanogram) Suggested retail: $65, with aluminum bolts and a water bottle. Web site: www.speedplay.com Speedplay’s Nanogram carbon fiber bottle cages comes in two versions: the 19-gram Nanogram Ultra Light cage is intended for road bike use only, while the Nanogram cage, at 27 grams, gets the go-ahead for offroad use or behind the saddle triathlon use.

Alejandro Valverde has been a busy man since winning the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré last month.

Questions about inspecting carbon forks for safety, trying Wippermann chains with Campy 10-speed systems and using Shimano MTB derailleurs with 10-speed road systems. What to do? I'm low on funds and that's the main reason I haven't replaced them as yet. I will add there are no stress fractures or noticeable wear.

Pat McQuaid has expressed his wish for a trouble-free Tour de France but says that it was a mistake for the event to have broken away from the International Cycling Union (UCI). "I am saddened by this, but it is the decision of the organizers,” the international cycling chief said. “It is sad but it has to be accepted. In terms of world cycling it is not a good decision." Speaking to AFP four days before the Tour starts on Saturday in the Britanny port of Brest, McQuaid said he would not be attending the race, which finishes on July 27 in Paris.

Damiano Cunego will be brandishing a new look for the Tour de France and it won’t just be a fresh dye-job on his curly locks. The 2004 Giro d’Italia champ and Lampre team leader is supporting a new anti-doping campaign and has had its slogan tattooed on his left arm. It reads: “I’m doping free.”

It's almost July and the Tour de France season has begun. And this year, you can follow every move of the world's largest bike race, no matter where you are, on VeloNews.com. Say you are in line at your bank, or by the side of the road in St. André-de-la-Marche, with your cell phone handy: you can find out who is ahead with live text updates at mobile.velonews.com

Bouygues Telecom will start the Tour de France with a squad loaded with stage-hunters and almost no one for the overall classification. The French team will be headlined by Thomas Voeckler, remembered for his heroic defense of the maillot jaune in the 2004 Tour, and Pierrick Fédrigo, winner of a stage in the 2006 Tour. The team is betting on winning a stage rather than wasting energy in a futile fight for the overall.

Heading into this week's Tour de France, the French Ag2r-La Mondiale team will be looking to fill the void left by the departure of consistent Christophe Moreau with Cyril Dessel and Tadej Valjavec. Moreau, who has consistently been the best French performer in the Tour the past few years, is now racing in Agritubel colors. Ag2r will instead be hoping Dessel can win a stage and Valjavec can pop into the top 10.

Campagnolo’s three new 11-speed groups are tied by two bonds, the Ergopower Ultra shifters and 11-speeds. All are intended and designed for competition. There are numerous technologies, but each is tied to one of these end features — for a full report on the technical features of the group, reference our initial 2009 Campagnolo product report. Aside from that, Chorus, Record and the new Super Record are merely defined by materials.

David Veilleux (Kelly Benefit Strategies-Medifast) wrapped up the overall at the American Eagle Outfitters Tour of Pennsylvania on Sunday as Daniel Holloway (VMG-Felt) collected the final stage win in downtown Pittsburgh. Holloway — who also won the tour’s opening criterium Tuesday in Philadelphia — sprinted to victory in the finale ahead of Keven Lacombe (Kelly Benefit Strategies-Medifast) and Erik Barlevav (Time Pro Cycling). The 50-mile race, run on a 1.5-mile, four-corner circuit, was interrupted by a tornado warning and heavy rains that required spectators to take cover.

Luna swept the top three spots on the podium in Sunday’s short track cross country during the fourth stop of the National Mountain Bike Series at the Deer Valley Resort in Park City, Utah. Katerina Nash took the honors in 23:47, with Catherine Pendrel second at 11 seconds back and Georgia Gould third at 48 seconds. Geoff Kabush (Maxxis) won the men’s race in 23:39, four seconds ahead of Ryan Trebon (Kona) with Carl Decker (Giant) third at 11 seconds.

Française des Jeux on Sunday announced that Philippe Gilbert and Sandy Casar would lead its team, which includes three Tour novices, at the Tour de France. "The choice was not easy because three-quarters of the guys were on the same level," team boss Marc Madiot told AFP. Three newcomers, Arnaud Gerard, Yoann Le Boulanger and Jeremy Roy, will make their debuts when the Tour kicks off on Saturday in Brest. Belgian Gilbert won the Het Volk in Belgium earlier this year, while Casar won the 18th stage at last year's Tour.

Under brilliant blue skies and a hot summer sun, the BC Bike Race start gun fired to launch more than 400 riders from around the world into the first stage of the second annual multi-stage mountain bike event. Over the next 7 days, racers will cover stages totalling more than 550 kilometers as they race a combination of singletrack and logging roads from Victoria to Whistler.

Luna's Czech rider, Katerina Nash, beat teammate Georgia Gould to win the Kenda cross-country event at the Deer Valley Resort race on Saturday. In the men's race, Kona's Ryan Trebon prevailed over Jeremiah Bishop (Trek/VW) and Canadian Geoff Kabush, (Team Maxxis). Check back to VeloNews.com on Sunday for a complete report on the cross-country, as well as a report on the downhill, dual slalom and short track events.

Kyle Wamsley (Colavita-Sutter Home) outsprinted his breakaway companions Saturday to win the Cox Charities Cycling Classic in Providence, Rhode Island. It was the seventh edition of the hilly riverfront criterium and the race's first appearance on the National Racing Calendar. A stiff headwind along the back stretch — combined with constant primes for the first 20 laps — kep the field together for the first half of the race.

David Veilleux (Kelly Benefit Strategies / Medifast) won his second consecutive stage on Saturday and took the overall lead of the American Eagle Outfitters Tour of Pennsylvania. [nid:78968][nid:78965] Veilleux finished with his teammate and fellow Canadian, stage 2 winner Keven Lacombe, after dropping the remaining breakaway companion in the final kilometers of the 91-mile stage from Ligonier to downtown Pittsburgh. Phil Gaimon (Fiordifrutta) held on for third.

Samuel Sánchez will be back at the Tour de France only for the third time in his career, so he’s looking to make up for lost time. His two previous Tour starts, in 2002 and 2003, both ended early when he missed time cuts. Since then, Sánchez has grown in stature both as a rider and as a team leader. Despite riding into third overall at last year’s Vuelta a España, “Samu” has no pretensions about riding for GC in the Tour. He’ll leave that task to Euskaltel-Euskadi teammates Haimar Zubeldia and Mikel Astarloza, who finished fifth and ninth last year, respectively.

Kelly Benefit's Canadian strong man David Veilleux won Friday's soggy fourth stage of the American Eagle Outfitters Tour of Pennsylvania, surviving torrential rain and nearly 7,000 feet of climbing to win the sprint ahead of breakaway companions into Latrobe, Pennsylvania. South Africa’s Christoff Van Heerden (Konica Minolta) finished third and moved into the race lead. [nid:78955]

Specialized is on a roll with its sponsored athletes and not-yet-released bikes. Christoph Sauser just won the world mountain bike championships on a new Epic, which will be formally introduced next week and available later this year. But the bike that’s here now is the Roubaix SL2, the bike Tom Boonen won Paris-Roubaix on this spring, well before it was available for sale.

As the bike industry continues its headlong charge for stiffer-lighter-faster hardware, Shimano is keeping up its end of the deal with the upcoming Dura-Ace road group. VeloNews got a chance to ride the 10-speed group. Here are some brief first opinions.

More than 30 years after company founder Mike Sinyard brought the Specialized Turbo to market as a high-performance clincher, the Californian company is releasing another Turbo. This time, it’s a tubeless road model. Not yet available, the Turbo Tubeless was designed in conjunction with the tubeless Roval wheel that Specialized will sell. Weighing in at 290 grams, the S-Works Turbo Tubeless model features a supple 127tpi casing and, thanks to the lack of a tube, very low rolling resistance. Other models will be available later in the year.

Fiordifrutta’s Jamie Driscoll took a slim victory in the longest stage of the American Eagle Outfitters Tour of Pennsylvania on Thursday. The 168-kilometer stage was made even more difficult when strong winds and rain threatened the international field at the starting line in Camp Hill. While the sun broke through as riders lined up, but the strong winds continued to disrupt the day.

Belgian superstar Tom Boonen is the major absence from the Quick Step team's Tour de France roster, announced Thursday, due to a recent positive test for cocaine. The news of Boonen's career setback — which will not lead to sporting sanctions — left Tour de France officials to quickly decide he was not welcome at the July 5-27 race. The Belgian outfit had hoped for some clemency for the race's reigning green jersey champion, underlining the fact he tested positive for a recreational drug. But Quick Step has accepted the Tour owners' (ASO) decision.

Liquigas will lineup without green-jersey candidate Daniele Bennati for next week’s Tour de France. The Italian sprinter has been forced out of the Tour after problems with his Achilles tendon that flared up during Giro d’Italia, where he won three stages and the points jersey.

George Hincapie will be heading to France for the 13th time of his career as part of the Team Columbia-High Road roster revealed Wednesday. Hincapie, 35 on Sunday, said the team brings a diverse squad with strong options for stage victories and a shot at the top 10. “I’d love to win another stage,” Hincapie told VeloNews. “We have a good team. We’ll have a great team for the sprinters. We have Tommy (Lovkvist) for the young rider’s jersey and we’ll have Kim (Kirchen) for the overall, so hopefully we can meet all those goals.”

Suggested retail: $299 Web site: www.sampsonsports.com Available: This month. Sampson Sports' new Stratics SL road bike brakes tip the scale at 231 grams per pair. The brakes are dual-pivot front and rear, with cold-forged arms, carbon fiber pad holders, adjustable shoe angle, easy to use cable adjusters and indexed quick-release openers. The brakes are available with a red anodization, clear coated for durability.

Canadian all-rounder Keven Lacombe (Kelly Benefit Strategies-Medifast/USA) jumped ahead of a late-race, 18-rider breakaway to triumph in stage 2 of the American Eagle Outfitters® Tour of Pennsylvania on Wednesday. LaCombe took his first stage win ahead of the South African speedster Christoff Van Heerden (Konica Minolta) and Ryan Baumann (Sakonnet Technology).

High Road Sports has announced the riders that will start the 2008 Tour de France. The roster consists of nine riders from eight different countries, and five aged 25 and under. “We plan to be competitive in every stage without losing the focus on the support for Kirchen in the General Classification” explains Team Director Rolf Aldag. “This team is able to exploit and dictate the tactics on some stages”.

Philadelphia’s downtown cycling fans were offered a second round of excitement Tuesday afternoon when the current U.S. national criterium champion, Daniel Holloway (VMG-Felt) lit up the final 200-meters in Stage 1B of the American Eagle Outfitters Tour of Pennsylvania presented by Highmark Healthy High 5. Holloway captured a convincing field sprint victory in this elite U25 competition ahead of Jacob Keough (Kelly Benefit Strategies-Medifast) and Christoff Van Heerden of South Africa (Konica Minolta Continental) in the 25-lap criterium of day one.

Steven Van Vooren (Johan Bruyneel Cycling Academy) won the kickoff to the inaugural American Eagle Outfitters Tour of Pennsylvania on Tuesday in Philadelphia. Vooren took stage 1a, a 3.51km prologue time trial in Philadelphia, in four minutes and 18 seconds. Keven LaCombe (Kelly Benefit Strategies-Medifast) was second at three seconds back with Christoff Van Heerden (KON-Konica Minolta Continental) third at four seconds.

Russian Denis Menchov, one of the pre-race favorites, has been named as team leader for the nine-man Rabobank squad for the July 5-27 Tour de France, the Dutch team announced in the Netherlands on Tuesday. Menchov is a double winner of the Vuelta a España who finished fifth in the 2006 Tour de France. The team will also be in the hunt for stage wins, and perhaps the Tour’s points jersey, with the addition of Oscar Freire, the Spaniard who is a triple world road race champion (1999, 2001 and 2004). Freire won the Gent-Wevelgem ProTour one-day classic in April and is

The newly renamed Garmin-Chipotle team unveiled its Tour de France roster, which features three of only four Americans in the entire Tour peloton. The team, formerly known as Slipstream-Chipotle, is making its debut in the world’s biggest bicycle race, but the roster, released on Tuesday, includes several Tour de France veterans.

This year’s Tour de France should be a little more interesting following news Tuesday that outspoken Italian rider Riccardo Riccò will take the July 5 start in Brest. Riccò ? whose verbal outbursts are almost as lethal as his accelerations in the mountains ? will take aim at the best young rider’s white jersey during his second Tour appearance. The 24-year-old Riccò, seen by many in Italy as the heir to deceased Giro and Tour winner Marco Pantani, is considered a longshot for the Tour's yellow jersey.

Dear Readers,
I’ve got a bit of product testing and Tour de Suisse course scouting to tell you about.

Suggested retail: $20. Web site: www.mirrycle.com The Mirrycle Road Mirror was developed exclusively to fit Shimano STI shifter/brake levers while allowing the unrestricted use of the lever. The company says the mirror fits Sora, Tiagra, 105, Ultegra and Dura-Ace levers. The mirror can be folded out of the way or quickly removed for bike storage or rides where a mirror isn't desired. It can be attached to the right or left lever.

The San Francisco Twilight Criterium on September 13 is the newest race in the USA CRITS series. "Nothing compares to a 40 mph night-time race,” said event supporter Ryan Dawkins, president of Project Sport. Dawkins is working with Andy Ball, CEO of Webcor Builders, to put on the event. The four-corner, one-kilometer course will start and finish at Union Street—the so-called Rodeo Drive of San Francisco. The Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz and the San Francisco Bay will be visible from almost the entire course.[nid:78866]

Suggested retail: $79.99 Sizes: small, medium, large, extra large. Available from: www.kbsmedifast.com or www.mtborah.com The Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast domestic road team is using new jerseys manufactured from a knit fabric with 47 percent recycled fibers from post-consumer and post-industrial waste. Mt. Borah, which makes the team jerseys, estimates that for every dozen jerseys made with the process, two gallons of gas are saved.

Germany’s Gerolsteiner hopes it can crack the top 10 and win a stage in the upcoming Tour de France. The team brings Markus Fothen and Bernhard Kohl as GC hopes with Stefan Schumacher leading the charge in the hunt for an elusive stage victory. “Fothen and Kohl can challenge for the overall race, while we are looking for stage victories in the last week,” said team sporting director Christian Henn.

The Basque climbers at Euskaltel-Euskadi will be angling toward the podium this year. Haimar Zubeldia and Mikel Astarloza, fifth and ninth in last year’s Tour, headline the orange-clad Basques in its collective effort to improve on the team’s steady 2007 performance.

Bobby Julich won’t be heading back to the Tour de France for another crack at the maillot jaune. The 36-year-old veteran ? third overall in 1998 ? was left off the nine-man, Tour-bound squad revealed Monday by Team CSC-Saxo Bank. “I think we could have taken two teams to the Tour de France, with so many good riders to choose from,” said team manager Bjarne Riis on the team’s Web page. “We have taken the nine sharpest riders and we hope we can meet our ambitions with them.”

You’ve already seen Giant’s new road bike, the TCR Advanced SL. Prototypes have been in service by the High Road (now Columbia) team since last year’s Tour de France. The bike and its radically shaped tubes have been highly visible all season, so it comes as no surprise that it will be in the company's product line for 2009.

CSC's Fabian Cancellara chased down a last-kilometer attack by FdJ's Phillipe Gilbert, passed him and soloed to his second stage win in this year's Tour de Suisse on Sunday. The stage finished near Cancellara's hometown of Wohlen bei Bern, Switzerland. Liquigas's Roman Kreuziger finished in the main pack on the final day to retain the overall lead he took in Saturday's time trial.

Colavita-Sutter Home speedster Alejandro Borrajo won the 2008 AT&T Downtown Austin Criterium, the fourth installment of the 2008 USA CRITS Series. Borrajo fought off a well-stocked field of top-shelf criterium racers to take the fifth edition of the NRC race. Despite the Toyota-United train controlling the final five laps of the race, Borrajo found his way past Henk Vogels (Toyota-United) and Cuban teammate Ivan Dominguez (who came in second and third respectively.

Stage five of the 2008 Tour de Nez, a 45-mile up and down affair in and around the Village at Northstar resort, gave onlookers one last chance to see the main protagonists of the stage race fight it out on the tough technical course. The 1.75-mile loop took riders over stretches of the cobblestones that run through the village, lending an old-school feel to the race.

Liquigas’s Roman Kreuziger, a former world junior road champion, turned in a spectacular performance Saturday, winning the eighth stage of the Tour de Suisse, a 25-kilometer uphill time, and vaulting into the overall lead with just one stage remaining.

As expected, the fourth stage of the 2008 Tour de Nez stage race provided a big shake up in the general classification, as Kelly Benefit’s Andy Bajadali took the leader’s jersey away from BMC’s Ian McKissick. Eric Wohlberg of the Symmetrics team was able to come away with a hard earned victory on the 6.5 mile mountain circuit, while putting himself back into contention for the overall title.

BMC and Health Net-Maxxis made their mark at the Tour de Nez on Thursday, placing riders at the front of the morning uphill 2.75-mile time trial at Northstar at Tahoe and the evening Truckee Criterium. BMC's Ian McKissick won the time trial and his team helped him protect the lead in the crit, where Health Net's Roman Kilun won after outsprinting a three-man breakaway.

In his final year of espoir eligibility, Swiss phenom Nino Schurter stormed to his second world U23 cross-country title in three years. The 2006 U23 champ, who took silver last year, rode on the heels of South Africa’s Burry Stander for the first five or six laps in Val di Sole, Italy, before attacking on the penultimate loop for the win. “I attacked twice on the backside [of the course] and [Stander] could not close the gap,” said a triumphant Schurter. “It was in my advantage to have a mate riding behind us.”[nid:78672]

CSC's world time trial champion, Fabian Cancellara, won the seventh stage of the Tour de Suisse on Friday with a trademark solo attack in the final kilometers. Just like Cancellara's win at this year's Milan-San Remo and last July's stage 3 of the Tour de France, Cancellara attacked as the top sprinters were gearing up for a field sprint, and held them off for a narrow victory in a daring display of raw power.

One of the strongest pro fields in recent history competed at the 48th Father’s Day cycling classic in the Sierra foothills town of Nevada City, California on June 15th. As thousands of spectators lined the streets of this historic and bicycle-crazed town, it became clear with 10 laps to go in the men's race that the 48th winner of the Nevada City Bicycle Classic was likely to be one of the two riders who had built a 30-second gap from the pack.

Suggested retail: $8.95 for a tube of ten tablets. Web site: www.drinkzym.com BE Innovations has added 100mg of caffeine and B12 vitamins to its ZYM electrolyte tablets, which are intended to be carried along on a ride and dropped into 16-20 ounces of fresh water to create an electrolyte drink. The new ZYM Catapult tablets add the Guarana caffeine and the B12 to the ZYM Endurance tabs, which remain available for those who prefer no caffeine.

Retail price: $1.25 per wipe Web site: www.kongconcepts.com Grease Monkey Wipes are individually packaged degreasing towels that clean without water, perfect for cleaning up after a mid-ride repair. The wipes are non-toxic. Each package contains a 8-by-7 inch towel that can clean off grease, oil, road tar, permanent marker and adhesives. The wipes use a citrus-based formula enhanced with lanolin, vitamin E, and aloe vera.

Barloworld is hoping this year’s Tour de France is as good as last year’s. In 2007, the wild-card team was one of the Tour’s biggest surprises, winning a sprint stage with Robbie Hunter and a mountain stage and the King of the Mountains jersey with breakout Colombian Mauricio Soler. For this year, the team is heading into its second Tour with quiet ambitions that things will be just as good.

Luxembourg's Kim Kirchen, riding for the High Road team, surged into the overall lead of the Tour of Switzerland after winning the sixth stage on Thursday. [nid:78578] The stage was a 188km race from Ambri to Verbier, punctuated by two major climbs, the hors categorie Nufenenpass early in the race and the Category 1 finishing climb to Verbier.

The Tour de Nez, a five-stage race that bills itself as "the Coolest Race in America," got underway Wednesday with a criterium at a Reno, Nevada, casino. The Bissell team gave Michigan's Steven Howard a perfect lead out, setting him up for a bike-length win ahead of Riccardo Escuela (Successful Living) and Eric Wohlberg (Symmetrics). [nid:77952]

Felt Bicycles launched a new aerodynamic road frame under the legs of Garmin-Chipotle rider Martijn Maaskant last week. Maaskant rode the bike to a seventh-place finish in the 210k one-day Dutch Food Classic on Wednesday. Gerolsteiner's Robert Forster won the race. The new frame, called the AR, was intended to combine the aerodynamics of Felt's time trial and track bikes with the road manners of its road bikes.

Under course-drying Italian sunshine, Slovenia’s pint-sized wunderkind Tanja Zakelj swiped the U23 women’s cross-country crown from China, which had dominated the espoir field since 2006. The win earned Zakelj her third worlds medal in four years — she finished third as a junior in 2005 and won the junior title in 2006.