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CAS upholds Ascani suspension
The International Court of Arbitration upheld a two-year doping ban against deposed Italian time-trial champion Luca Ascani in a ruling issued Monday. The court, however, moved the start date of the suspension back to August 4, 2007, instead of February 27, 2008. The Italian cyclist had appealed against a doping ban, imposed by the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) after he tested positive for blood-boosting drug EPO following the time trial at the Italian road cycling championships on June 26, 2007.
Live Report Archive: 2009 AToC Stage 1 (Davis to Santa Rosa)
- 12:02 PM: Good day and welcome
to VeloNews.com's Live Coverage of the first stage of the 2009 Amgen Tour of California, a rainy, rainy ride from Davis to Santa Rosa.
It's been raining for hours here in Northern California and riders are being called to the line. The boys from Saxo Bank, however, are among many who seem content to remain hunkered down in their busses. But the formal start should be soon.
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Power in the rain: Saxo Banks’s Gustav Larsson’s power readings from Sunday’s wet and long stage 1.
Positioning is everything on days such as Sunday’s wet and cold stage between Davis and Santa Rosa. It was only stage 1, but the day proved to be a costly one for many of the pre-Tour favorites. Gustav Larsson was one of the danger men that just happened to have a flat tire at just the wrong time. George Hincapie had just the same story to tell Sunday.
Swedish champ Emilia Fahlin wins a wet Amgen women’s criterium in Santa Rosa
Twenty-year-old Swedish national champion Emilia Fahlin (Team Columbia - High Road) received the perfect lead-out from veteran teammate, Kim Anderson, as she took the sprint win from a 13-woman break in the Amgen Tour of California’s Women’s Criterium in downtown Santa Rosa on Sunday. This put her two steps higher than she was on the podium at least year’s inaugural race just ahead of second placed Lauren Tamayo (Team Tibco) and Rachel Lloyd (Proman).
Saxo Bank team officials say Cancellara was sick even before his prologue win
Although he woke up in the middle of the night with a fever, Saxo Bank’s race leader Fabian Cancellara hoped to honor his Amgen Tour of California yellow jersey Sunday by pushing through his illness.
AToC Tech: Rock Racing has a new bike (and a new race leader)
From the beginning of this Amgen Tour of California, questions have surrounded Rock Racing. Up until a couple of weeks ago, one of the questions was simply, “What will they ride?” The answer arrived with an announcement that Kestrel would provide RT900 frames and forks, and Shimano would provide wheels and components. However, a visit to the team trailer to check out the new bikes invited only more mystery.
Rock Racing’s Francisco Mancebo wins after a long soggy day
Rock Racing's Francisco Mancebo won stage 1 of the 2009 Amgen Tour of California, a 107.6-mile stage held in brutal weather that not only affected racers, but the race itself. A long, Hail Mary solo effort earned Mancebo the stage and the leader’s jersey, and put Astana and the rest of the teams on the defensive, with a shattered field coming into the drenched finishing circuits in Santa Rosa. At day’s end, the list of general classification contenders shortened drastically, to those among the 18 riders who finished 67 seconds behind Mancebo.