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Boonen reportedly tests positive for cocaine for the second time
The Belgian-based Quick Step team has suspended Tom Boonen after learning that the three-time Paris-Roubaix winner has tested positive for cocaine for the second time in a year. Boonen, who recently claimed his third victory in the prestigious “hell of the North,” is alleged to have tested positive two weeks after that race, on April 24 or 25. News of the test positive led prosecutors to order a raid on Boonen's home, confirmation of which was given by top public prosecutor Jan Poels to the Sudpresse daily newspaper group and the Het Laatste Nieuws newspaper.
Columbia-Highroad wins Giro’s team time trial; Cavendish dons the first leader’s jersey.
Mark Cavendish was cool as a cat as he watched team after team fall short of besting Columbia-Highroad on the flat 20.5km course in Lido di Venezia. The Cannonball had plenty of time to consider he was about to become the first British rider to wear the maglia rosa. Columbia started first among 22 teams and he had to wait nearly two hours to secure the victory until Giro rookie Lance Armstrong led final-team Astana across the line 13 seconds short.
Div. 1 road race: UVM’s Driscoll and Dugan go 1-2, while Swart wins another for the women.
The University of Vermont took the top two spots at the division I men’s Collegiate National championship road race on Friday, while Carla Swart (Lees-McRae College) repeated in the D1 women’s road race title. In Division 2, Princeton's Nick Frey solo'd for the men’s title, while Emma Bast (Mount Holyoke College) took the sprint in the women's race.
Columbia-Highroad covering its Giro bases
With Mark Cavendish primed for the sprints, and Michael Rogers and Thomas Lövkvist riding with no pressure for the GC, Columbia-Highroad has its bases covered on the eve of the Giro d’Italia. The squad brings a balanced team with a heavy emphasis on stage victories and breakaways with no pressure but quiet ambition to perform well in the GC.
Sutherland grabs the race lead at Arkansas’ Joe Martin Stage Race
A deluge of early morning rain dampened Fayetteville’s Ozark Mountain roads on the Friday morning prior to the 110-mile second stage of the Joe Martin Stage Race. When the skies finally parted, it was OUCH-Maxxis’s Rory Sutherland outsprinting a large field to take second place behind Colavita-Sutter Home-Cooking Light’s Lucas Sebastian Haedo. Sutherland secured the overall lead in the process via a 10-second time bonus.
Lennard Zinn takes a look at Fabian Cancellara’s new Specialized time trial rig for the Giro
Saxo Bank strongman Fabian “Spartacus” Cancellara wants an even faster bike on which to trounce into submission those mere mortals who do their best simply to survive a race against the clock. Cancellara may now have the ideal weapon in the Specialized S-Works TTR, a sleek rig you will see raced for the first time in Saturday’s stage 1 team time trial at the Giro d’Italia. Most distinctive is the TTR’s stem/nose cone, which extends straight forward from the top of the top tube, covers the head tube and front brake and is integrated with the aero bar.
BMC’s Jeff Louder and Cervelo’s Kristin Armstrong lead the National Racing Calendar standings.
BMC Jeff Louder and Cervelo TestTeam's Kristin Armstrong lead the National Racing Calendar standings following last weekend's SRAM Tour of the Gila. Louder won the Redlands Bicycle Classic and has spent most of his time in Europe since then.
Collegiate Nationals come to Colorado
The USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships will be held in Fort Collins, Colorado, this weekend, May 7-10. For the second year in a row, Colorado State University, in partnership with the Fort Collins Cycling Festival, will host student athletes from up to 60 colleges and universities.
Michael Barry’s Diary – Waiting in Venice
In a crowded boat full of tourists, nine of us, dressed in our bright yellow team kits sat together as a calm wind blew our hair. The sun was low in the sky and the Adriatic a murky turquoise. School kids touring Venice with their class pushed, laughed and sang songs to beats tapped out on the boat rails while we spoke about the race course, our effort in training, the fluidity needed to win the team time trial, and the coming three weeks of racing.
Wheeled masterpieces
The most recent in a series of customized Trek bikes for Lance Armstrong will debut this weekend at the Giro d’Italia. Part of an “artist bike” series, production of which was coordinated by Jamie O’Shea of Supertouch (an art and culture blog), the latest bikes are especially eye-catching.
Andrew Hood previews the 100th anniversary of the Giro d’Italia
Weeks of hype and anticipation culminate Saturday as the centennial celebration of cycling’s most colorful and emotional race finally clicks into gear. The Giro d’Italia is celebrating its 100th birthday with all the raw emotion, intense passion and hard-edged racing that makes the Italian grand tour one of the season’s highlights. Stepping center-stage with aplomb is Lance Armstrong, back in his first grand tour since winning the 2005 Tour de France.
Lennard Zinn tries Mavic’s new superlight TraComp R-Sys Ultimate wheels
Mavic’s TraComp carbon-spoke system, in which the spoke works in both traction and compression, has had a somewhat rocky beginning. A recall this year of all R-Sys front wheels was a black eye for Mavic, a company that has always prided itself on the reliability of its wheels.
Jacques-Maynes and Powers win opening time trial at the Joe Martin Stage Race, the next stop on the NRC
In 2007, when Team Bissell’s Ben Jacques-Maynes raced to a fifth place finish at the Joe Martin Stage Race’s uphill, 2 1/2-mile time trial, he said time trial bikes were the norm. “This year I show up and everyone’s on road bikes with light wheels,” Jacques-Maynes said. “I know my time trial bike is light and I can get it up a hill just fine. There’s a half mile of flat road before the climb starts, and being in your time trial position for that section can be the one-second between winning and losing.”