All Content
AToC Tech: Extras from the expo
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.
MTB News and Notes: BC Bike Race adds solos; Euro camps for XC racers
Solo male and female cross-country racers can race all seven days of the BC Bike Race, from the start in Vancouver to the finish at Whistler Resort. In its third year, the BC Bike Race has decided to open categories for solo men, solo women and solo men 40+. Kathy Lilyholm, the race’s public relations manager, said the move marks a step into unknown territory for the race, which has featured team-only competition since its debut in 2007.
Armstrong to Ireland post-Tour for race, cancer confab
Lance Armstrong’s racing season will continue after the 2009 Tour de France. The seven-time Tour winner confirmed he will race the third Tour of Ireland Aug. 19-23 and then host the first Livestrong Global Cancer Summit in Dublin Aug. 24-26. The 37-year-old Armstrong wrapped up the Amgen Tour of California on Sunday, where he finished a solid seventh overall in support of Astana teammate and winner Levi Leipheimer.
Kempy’s AToC TIPS
Check out CyclingTips's author page.
Fränk Schleck’s winning ride
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.
Het Volk opens classics season, Giro di Sardegna re-born
With so much racing going on in Europe at any one time, we start this new weekly feature previewing the upcoming racing action to help fans – and us – keep track of who’s going where. There’s the ProTour, the Historic calendar and the European Tour, not to mention women’s and amateur racing. For this space, we’ll keep our eye on "D," all of the above, minus the U23/amateur scene. It’s still late February, but there are plenty of races to keep things interesting. Het Volk – oops, we mean the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad – opens the classics season in Belgium.
A look at the stage 8 power readings of OUCH’s Rory Sutherland, who finished fourth.
Rory Sutherland, as usual, closed out the Tour of California with a top result. Just like in the 2008 edition, Rory finished the final stage a wheel length behind George Hincapie. But this time instead of coming for the win, George and Rory were sprinting for third place just 40 seconds behind the winning duo of Frank Schleck and Vincenzo Nibali.
2009 ATOC stage 8, Live Coverage archive
- 11:52 AM: Good day and welcome
to VeloNews.com's Live Coverage of the eighth and final stage of the 2009 Amgen Tour of California, a challenging 96.8-mile race from Ranch Bernardo to Escondido, punctuated by the hors- categorie climb up Palomar Mountain.
Many riders are saying that the most decisive climb, however, may come on the Category 4 Cole Grade.
Looking over at the GC and one can only conclude that this race is far from decided.
Levi’s hat trick, Schleck’s stage as Amgen Tour ends
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’s new R-SYS carbon spoke technology
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.