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Belgian cycling star Tom Boonen risks facing criminal charges over his positive test for cocaine, according to public prosecutors in Turnhout on Monday. Boonen, a former world champion and winner of Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders, tested positive for the recreational drug in an out-of-competition test in May.

Team Columbia and Team Garmin-Chipotle are hiring the Anti-Doping Sciences Institute, run by well-known anti-doping researcher Don Catlin, to provide independent testing program for the teams next season, the teams announced Monday. ADSI also will be testing Lance Armstrong next year. The ADSI program takes over from ACE, a company that had been doing testing for Columbia, Garmin-Chipotle and Team BMC before shutting down last month. Columbia's owner Bob Stapleton said Catlin's program complements the UCI's biological passport program.

Sub-freezing temperatures greeted the participants who braved the elements to contest the final Zipp Ohio Valley Cyclocross Tour event at Brookside Park in Indianapolis.  Although the ground was snow covered in spots, icy in others with air temperatures hovering around 20°F, the racing action was anything but frigid. 

Team Kenda is entering its year as a women’s road team with a cast of returning riders and a few new young rides. Jakie Kurth, two-time junior national champion, returns in her final year of junior eligibility. Espoir riders will include Denise Ramsden, the 2007 and 2008 Canadian junior road race champion, Ashley James, who is currently racing for Lindsey Wilson College, and climbing specialist Ally Stacher, from the Lees-McRae collegiate program.

Weight: 200g/pair Suggested retail: $599.99/pair Web site: www.zerogravitybike.com The Vanderkitten Elite Women’s Team will be using a limited edition version of the Zero G brakes, which also will be available to the public next month. Ciamillo Components’ Zero G brakes are made in the U.S and feature a patented Power Cam that provides a mechanical advantage with modulated stopping power.

Momentum Sports Group, owner and operator of Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis, is proud to announce that OUCH Sports Medical Center will take over as the team’s title sponsor starting in 2009. The team, which won an unprecedented fifth consecutive NRC Team Championship in 2008, will now be known as The OUCH Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis. The sponsorship presents a unique and timely opportunity for OUCH Sports Medical Center, a leading provider of sports-related medical services in Southern

Kazakh cyclist Alexandre Vinokourov, who was kicked out of the 2007 Tour de France for doping, was dropped from a Dutchmountain bike event on Friday in what would have been his comeback race. The 35-year-old was to take part in the Beach Challenge in the Dutch town of Scheveningen, but he was withdrawan from the list of entrants, the ANP news agency reported. The organizers, who had originally accepted the Kazakh rider into the race, did not give a reason for their change of mind.

VeloNews technical editor Matt Pacocha took a three-up sprint to win the Colorado state cyclocross championships Sunday in Boulder. Last year's champion Kerry Barnholt (Tokyo Joe's) defended her title, taking the women's open win over Lisa Matlock Strong (Tough Girl). With dry conditions, Pacocha took the hole shot and immediately opened a gap on the field. An elite group of five soon formed, containing Pacocha, Brandon Dwight (Boulder Cycle Sport), Jake Wells (Mafia Racing), Jonathan Baker (Vitamin Cottage) and Yannick Eckmann (Clif Bar).[nid:85762]

Having ridden in the service of Jan Ullrich for so many years at the Telekom and T-Mobile teams, and been an omnipresent in the constant battle with Lance Armstrong for the Tour De France title, Andreas Klöden now finds himself doing much the same job for his former rival at Astana. The German, however, has no reservations about the change of allegiance.

The OUCH Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis will feature returning pro Floyd Landis, much of the former Health Net - Maxxis team and several riders new to the team. The team's title sponsor is the OUCH Sports Medical Center, a provider of sports-related medical services in Southern California. The Center's co-founder and executive director, Dr. Brent Kay, has treated Landis since he seriously injured his hip in a 2003 crash. The roster: returning Heath Net riders: Rory Sutherland John Murphy Tim Johnson Karl Menzies Roman Kilun Floyd Landis

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Fresh off the success of the inaugural season that saw Ryan Trebon and Georgia Gould capture the individual titles, as well as the coveted “champions belts,” the North American Cyclocross Trophy is already looking ahead to its second season. The North American Cyclocross Trophy, created in 2008, is comprised of “the classic cyclocross races” of North America. Each race on the tour has a long history and represent the essence of the sport. The inaugural season included eight events: Full Speed Ahead Star Crossed on September 20 RAD Racing Gran Prix on September 21

Belgian Sven Nys (Landbouwkrediet) won Sunday's UCI World Cup in Igorre, Spain, retaining his overall lead in the World Cup series after five events. Countrymen Erwin Vervecken, Bart Wellons and Kevin Paulwels finished behind Nys. American Jonathan Page was 13th. Top Ten 1. Sven Nys in 1:06:36 2. Klas Vantornout (BEL) at 15. 3. Erwin Vervecken (BEL) at 27. 4. Bart Wellens (BEL) at 35. 5. Kevin Pauwels (BEL) at 1:09. 6. Zdenek Stybar (CZE) at 1:36.

Thankfully, the apocalypse was called off on Sunday as heavy rains returned to Portland and along with it some serious slop. What was Saturday an obvious motocross course transformed quickly into deep, goopy swamp.[nid:85721] The junior men saw the worst of the weather with heavy rain and cooler temperatures. As soon as the elite women were called up, the rain machine paused and racers had to contend with the leftovers. Katarina Nash (Luna) scored back to back wins and took the USGP series overall.

Dee Dee Winfield (Velo Bella / Kona) and Weston Schempf (C3-Sollay.com) rode to commanding solo wins in MAC Powered by SRAM’s season-ending Capital Cross Classic on Sunday. Winfield’s victory comes in the middle of a tough three-week stretch of travel that saw her working her way through the field to finish 21st in last week’s World Cup in Koksijde, Belgium, before traveling to Kansas City for next week’s U.S. National Cyclocross Championships.

Jamey Driscoll (Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com) and Laura Van Gilder (C3/Sollay) swept the final two rounds of the 2008 Verge New England Championship Cyclo-Cross Series this weekend at Goddard Park in Warwick, Rhode Island, with Driscoll and Rebecca Wellons (Ridley) taking the overall 2008 series.[nid:85723]

"I’m Stein Bagger," the well-dressed man told the desk sergeant at a Los Angeles police station on Saturday. "I'm a fugitive from Europe and I'm here to turn myself in." Understandably skeptical, police at the substation near the city’s toughest neighborhood initially assumed the man with a noticeable accent was somehow delusional. "We've had several people come in and tell us they were the king of Denmark," Officer Jack Richter told the Los Angeles Times.

Normally in Portland, when the sun shines and the temperature reads over 50 degrees in December, many consider it to be a sign of the apocalypse. But even without a drop of rain for days, the first day of the USGP finals still dirtied riders’ race kits, if only just a little.

Jamey Driscoll (Cyclocrossworld.com-Cannondale) and Laura Van Gilder (C3 Sollay) won their respective races at Saturday's NBX Grand Prix in Warwick, Rhode Island. Full elite results are posted. Check back for a race report and photos.

California-based mountain bike race promoters have finalized plans for the 2008 U.S. Cup, a 13-race series set to become the premier cross-country racing series on American soil. The U.S. Cup is being sponsored by the Los Angeles-based shipping company Sho-Air, and will offer competition for both professional and amateur riders. The news answers questions about the future of American off-road racing which were raised when the National Mountain Bike Series (NMBS) — North America’s premier off-road series since 2004 — closed shop at the end of 2008.