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The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority announced Wednesday that the International Court of Arbitration for Sport has ordered an increase in an earlier suspension handed down to Nathan O’Neill. Following a hearing in June of last year, O’Neill received a 15-month suspension for testing positive for the stimulant Phentermine at the 2007 Tour of Elk Grove, in Illinois. A hearing panel had found that O’Neill had not intentionally used the drug for competition and gave him a sentence lighter than the usual two-year ban for a first-time offense.

Scores of top names are heading to Spain in February and March to log some early season race miles ahead of the season’s first major races. Officials at the Mallorca Challenge (February 8-12) and the Vuelta al Castilla y León (March 23-27) announced that some of cycling’s biggest stars are expected to attend their respective races. Among the top names heading to Mallorca include Robbie McEwen (Katusha), Beijing Olympic gold medalist Samuel Sánchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and 2006 Tour de France winner Oscar Pereiro and Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne).

Cycling chief Pat McQuaid on Wednesday welcomed a Spanish judge's decision to reopen the Operación Puerto inquiry into blood doping. Operación Puerto, Spain's most far-reaching doping investigation, was put on ice last September but a Madrid court ordered it to be restarted this month. Public prosecutors, the Spanish Sports Council, the Spanish cycling federation, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and the World Anti-Doping Agency were among those calling for the probe to be re-opened.

Clif Bar is recalling 14 products in the U.S. and four in Canada because the peanut butter in those products was sourced from the Peanut Corporation of America. "PCA is under investigation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a recent salmonella outbreak thought to be caused by tainted peanut butter," a Clif Bar press release said. "In light of this investigation, and with an abundance of caution, Clif Bar & Company has enacted a voluntary recall. We take the health and safety of our consumers very seriously."

The SRAM Cycling Fund will make a $400,000 contribution to the League of American Bicyclists and the Thunderhead Alliance for Biking and Walking. The funds will be used to launch a nation wide initiative to dramatically strengthen state and local advocacy groups and help them make their communities more bicycle friendly.

Australian journalist Benjamin Fitzmaurice got a look at the underside of Lance Armstrong's Trek Madone at the Tour Down Under this week, and saw something unexpected: "The bike has some letters and numbers on the bottom bracket," Fitzmaurice said. "The guy from Trek said that he would show us but could not tell us what they meant. When we shot the bottom bracket a guy from Astana staff came rushing over to question what we were doing ..."

[nid:86746]Mark Legg is Katie Compton's husband, mechanic and one-man support crew at most races. He also captures Compton's races in still pictures and, more recently, in video. This week he is sharing his video of Compton's dominant win at the Roubaix World Cup on Sunday. Compton is skipping this weekend's Milan World Cup to focus on preparing for the world championships. Legg is preparing her worlds bike in part by removing the SRM Dura-Ace crank and replacing it with a Rotor Agilis crank. Compton will use round chainrings, instead of Rotor's oval rings.

CrossVegas is coming to a TV near you, if your cable package includes Universal Sports. A half-hour program on the international cyclocross race, held September 24 in Las Vegas in conjunction with the Interbike trade show, will air at 6 p.m. ET on Sunday, January 25. Encore presentations are scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Friday, January 30, and 6 a.m. Saturday, January 31.

Explainer,
While the new Columbia kit may represent good graphic design, why does the Tour de France (Amaury Sport Organization) and the UCI, for that matter, allow yellow uniforms? With Saunier Duval already among the 189 riders that constitute the TDF peloton, even an informed television viewer has a difficult time trying to spot the maillot jaune. Why add nine more yellow jerseys to the melee?

As we headed to the January 18 World Cup in Roubaix, France, I was excited to race again after 10 days of good weather and training rides in Spain. The race has a great atmosphere at one of the most special cycling venues in Europe.

The Gulf state of Qatar will launch a women's tour next month, bringing together 15 teams, including six national squads, and 90 riders. The women's Tour of Qatar will run February 8-10, following the men's tour, which runs from February 1-6. Although 90 riders from 14 countries on five continents will gather for the three-stage race, there will be no local riders competing. "We hope to gradually develop women's sport in Qatar," said Sheikh Khalid Bin Ali Abdulla al-Thani, head of the Qatari cycling federation.

Ivan Basso says he’s not worried about Spanish officials possibly re-opening the Operación Puerto blood-doping investigation because he’s “already paid his price.” Basso, making his season debut this week in the Tour de San Luís in Argentina, told the Spanish daily MARCA that he’s already turned the page after serving a racing ban.

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