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Rabobank will bring a strong and balanced team to the 2009 Tour de France, with a quiver full of stage hunters and podium contender Denis Menchov. It will be interesting to see how Menchov performs in the Tour after being pushed to the limit by Danilo Di Luca to claim a thrilling victory at the Giro d’Italia in May. Third last year at the Tour (after Bernhard Kohl's results are negated), Menchov will be one of the favorites for victory, especially if he can ride as consistently and strongly as he did at the Giro.

The Columbia-Highroad juggernaut continues, with German sprinter André Greipel charging to victory in the second stage of the Ster Elektotoer in Holland on Thursday. Greipel out-kicked Danilo Napolitano (Katusha) and Tom Boonen (Quick Step) in the second stage from Eindhoven to Sittard-Geleen. Overnight leader Niki Terpstra (Milram) finished safely in the pack to retain his leader’s jersey in the five-day Dutch race.

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The Astana team announced Thursday that it has reached an agreement with its Kazakh sponsors that will ensure its continued operation through the year. In a release issued Thursday, the team credited productive meetings between Johann Bruyneel and intermediary Rinus Wagtmans, who served as a representative of Kazakhstan’s government for an accord, “which gives riders and staff of the Team sufficient guarantees for the operation and functioning of the Team for the remainder of the season.”

The stage 3 crash that American Christian Vande Velde suffered at May’s Giro d’Italia, which resulted in vertebra, pelvic and rib fractures, dealt a heavy blow to the Garmin-Slipstream leader’s hopes for a strong follow-up to his fourth-place finish in the 2008 Tour de France.

A panel of independent experts has concluded that Quick Step’s Tom Boonen did not actually ingest the cocaine for which he tested positive six weeks ago, Belgian media reported Thursday. The panel based its conclusion on the small quantity of the substance found in the Belgian racer's hair samples examined by the Belgian University of Louvain and the University of Strasbourg in France, Sporza television reported.

Luis León Sánchez says he’s ready to lead Caisse d’Epargne if star Alejandro Valverde isn’t allowed to race. Valverde is appealing a decision by Italian authorities to ban him for two years for what they say is clear evidence linking him to the Operación Puerto blood doping scandal. If Valverde isn’t allowed to race the Tour, his Caisse d’Epargne team will lean heavily on the 25-year-old León Sánchez during the season’s most important race.

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The Race Across America is always a challenge—nothing about riding 3000 miles from the West Coast to the East Coast could ever be considered easy. But this year it is going to be particularly tough for a solo to win as possibly the most competitive, most experience field to grace this 28-year old event is now on course. Among those on an eastward heading to Annapolis, Maryland are two past winners and several riders with top five rides in their RAAM palmares.

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Former world downhill champion Melissa “Missy” Giove and two alleged co-conspirators were arrested in New York Tuesday, charged with plans to distribute some 400 pounds of marijuana. Drug Enforcement Administration agents arrested the 37-year-old Giove, 26-year-old Tamara Geagly and 30-year-old Eric Canori north of Saratoga Springs, New York. Earlier unconfirmed reports that investigators had also seized some $2 million in cash appear to have been inaccurate.

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The UCI’s anti-doping chief Anne Gripper said the vast majority of the elite peloton appears to be riding clean after months-long analysis of tell-tale blood parameters. Gripper was speaking at a press conference in Paris Wednesday where it was announced the pioneering 'biological passport' scheme launched by the UCI had snared five riders.

Milram's Niki Terpstra won the 6.9km prologue of the Ster Elektrotoer sgtage race in Holland on Wednesday, taking the first leader's jersey of the race. Terpstra beat Liuwa Westra (Vacansoleil) by two seconds.

Columbia-Highroad's Michael Albasini won the fifth stage of the Tour of Switzerland, a 202-kilometer race from Staefa in Switzerland to Serfaus in Austria. Tadej Valjavec (Ag2r) retained the race lead, even managing to drop his biggest rival on Wednesday – Saxo Bank's Andy Schleck - down the overall standings. Valjavec now leads Swiss rider Oliver Zaugg, of Liquigas, by 14 seconds with four stages remaining.

The Union Cycliste Internationale is seeking disciplinary measures against five riders based on results from its so-called “biological passport” program. The five — 2003 world road champion Igor Astarloa, Pietro Caucchioli (Lampre-N.G.C.), Francesco De Bonis (Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni), Ruben Lobato Elvira and Ricardo Serrano (Fuji-Servetto) — are said to be in “apparent violation of the Anti-Doping Rules on the basis of the information provided by the blood profile in their biological passports,” the UCI charged in a press release Wednesday.

Dear Explainer, I read with interest the story about Tyler Hamilton’s eight-year suspension from cycling. In the article you mention also that Geneviève Jeanson accepted a 10-year ban for her second doping violation.

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Lance Armstrong will continue his preparations for the Tour de France by racing in the Nevada City Classic on Sunday, the seven-time Tour de France champion has announced. Armstrong said he and Astana teammates Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner will compete in the 49th edition of the Nevada City Classic, which is run on a a 1.7km circuit in the historic mining town nestled in the northern California mountains.

The 2009 USA Cycling Masters Track National Championships have been relocated from Indianapolis to the 7-Eleven Velodrome in Colorado Springs. The event, slated for August 18-23, was moved “due to financial and logistical considerations beyond our control,” USA Cycling announced on its website. Colorado Velodrome Association spokesman Pat McDonough said his organization was “thrilled” to be hosting masters nationals. "As North America's fastest velodrome, we are excited for the opportunity to see many new world records broken here,” he said.

Former Rock Racing rider Tyler Hamilton has accepted an eight-year suspension from sport after a positive doping test earlier this year, his second violation since 2004. Hamilton could have faced a lifetime ban due to his 2004 suspension for homologous blood doping, a violation first noted by anti-doping officials at that year’s Olympic Games.

The strongest, most durable bike at the ShoAir Pro XCT mountain bike race in Colorado Springs this past weekend wasn’t a full-suspension, cross-country racing rig, or even an all-mountain trail bike. It was a 45-pound, coaster-braked singlespeed, equipped with riser bars, a rear rack, fenders and is capable of carrying a 100-kilogram cargo load. But it’s not a bike you’ll ever see in your local bike shop.

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Tejay Van Garderen (Rabobank) finished with the bunch on Tuesday to take the overall victory in the Circuito Montañes in northern Spain. Vicente Grau Jorda (Camargo-Ferroatlantica-Floortex) won the 152km seventh stage from Potes to Santander in a bunch sprint ahead of Van Garderen’s teammate Boy Van Poppel, with Jorge Martín Montenegro (Andalucía-Cajasur) third. But Van Garderen crossed safely in 39th place to claim the final leader’s jersey by 35 seconds over Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolas (Orbea). Sergio Pardilla Bellón (Carmiooro-A Style) finished third overall at 1:01.

Matti Breschel (Saxo Bank) triumphed in the fourth stage of the Tour of Switzerland on Tuesday. The Dane held off Astana's Maxim Iglinsky by a whisker to take his third victory of the year in the 195km ride from Biasca to Staefa. Tadej Valjavec (Ag2r-La Mondiale) finished third in the nine-man sprint to take the leader's jersey from Saxo's Fabian Cancellara, who crossed 1:03 down on the escapees. Cancellara had led the race since winning the opening time trial.