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This week’s column begins with an apology. My act of contrition goes out to anyone who had the misfortune of witnessing one of several temper tantrums I threw at the last couple Colorado Front Range cyclocross races. See, after having one of my best career ’cross races (a come-from-the-back-of-the-pack 11th in the 35+/cat. 4s at round No. 2 of the Boulder Cup), I’ve gone three straight without making it to the finish line. And in each case I was well ensconced inside the top 10 before being taken down by mechanicals (two poorly timed punctures, one busted chain).

The scabby blisters on my hands are all-but healed, and only a few bits of red clay remain buried in my fingernails. The dull soreness that, just days ago, throbbed in my calves and quads is long gone. After all, I’ve enjoyed four days of rest and downed an uncountable number of bottles of Imperial. My recovery from this year’s La Ruta de los Conquistadores mountain bike race is nearly complete.

Team Barloworld will continue into the 2009 season with hopes of forgetting an embarrassing doping scandal during the Tour de France and hinging its hopes on a bevy of young riders. The South African sponsor initially said it would end its three-year backing of the Italian-based, Britain-registered team after Spanish rider Moises Dueñas tested positive for EPO during the 2008 Tour.

Italian cyclist Leonardo Piepoli, one of seven riders to fail a drugs test at the Tour de France, saw his hopes of clearing his name shattered Friday when his B-sample showed traces of banned blood booster EPO CERA, the French anti-doping agency (AFLD) said. Piepoli tested positive at the end of the tenth stage of this year's Tour and was then dumped by his Saunier-Duval team.

Rock Racing is hiring former Telecom and T-Mobile coach Rudy Pevenage as director sportif for the 2009 season, adding some top flight team management to complement its expanded roster. The team's choice of Pevenage, however, is sure to get attention for another reason: as Jan Ullrich's former director, Pevenage was tied up in the Operacion Puerto scandal that ended the German racer's career.

Alejandro Valverde has won just about everything he’s wanted in his productive career, except a grand tour. Prolific in one-day classics and smaller stage races, Spain’s “Balaverde” has struggled in GC in three-week grand tours. With two podium finishes in the Vuelta a España, Valverde still believes he can win a major tour.

Australia's emerging pursuit talent staked their claim as the riders of the future with a dominant win over Spain in the 4km team pursuit final on day two of the Melbourne round of the 2008-09 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics series on Friday. Olympians Mark Jamieson, 24, and Jack Bobridge, 19, along with reigning junior World Champions Rohan Dennis, 18, and Luke Durbridge, 17 were the clear favorites after a strong qualifying round and they lived up to the expectation.

Well, today was my first meeting with Andy Pruitt at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine. I was warmly greeted by staff, filled out the requisite paperwork and waited to be called in. As I waited I noticed, among the many motivational photos of the outdoors, that there were various autographed photos of athletes from around the world thanking Pruitt for his help; I was quietly hoping that the day would soon come when I’d be able to send him a photo of myself offering him my thanks…

Although this week’s Garmin-Chipotle team camp has been a series of meetings, fittings, easy rides, meals and team-building exercises, it hasn’t been all fun and games for Tyler Farrar. The 24-year-old sprinter is staying in close contact with his family following an October car-bike collision that left his father, Ed, in intensive care with serious injuries, including spinal trauma.

One of the neatest features of Garmin Edge GPS bike computers is the "Virtual Partner," which lets you race against a previous trip over the same course, with your relative positions marked by little cartoon riders on the screen. It's a geeky fun distraction, even if its name is a little creepy. But what if you are a professional racer, looking for tools, not amusement? How could you use that feature?

Andre Greipel will be back to defend his title at the Tour Down Under Jan. 18-25 as Team Columbia confirmed its presence at the season kick-off in Australia. The big, burly German sprinter won four stages and the overall in the 2008 edition and later finished fifth overall in the UCI ProTour rankings. Supporting Greipel will be a strong Columbia lineup, including 2002 champ Michael Rogers and George Hincapie.

Team officials say they are confident of landing new sponsors to allow the Spanish squad Saunier Duval to continue next season despite the departure of its title sponsor. Team manager Joxean Fernández Matxin told the Spanish daily MARCA that the appropriate paperwork has been filed with the UCI to assure the team a presence in the peloton next year. Matxin said negotiations are continuing with potential new title sponsors, but he’s confident enough that he’s moving forward with plans to race in 2009.

The Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) is proud to announce that its founder and chairman, Lance Armstrong, today was named one of America’s Best Leaders by U.S. News Media Group, one of the nation’s leading sources of news analysis and service journalism, in association with the Center for Public Leadership (CPL) at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

Whitmore’s Offers Worlds Largest Women’s Purse -- Again November 20, 2008; Conshohocken, PA, USA:  Stories of an economic meltdown dominate the daily news and world politics.  But cyclocross, at least in America, seems unfazed.  Record entries are commonplace and increased purses are the norm.  Nowhere is that trend more apparent than this weekend’s Whitmore’s Landscaping Super Cross Cup on New York’s Long Island. 

The Tour de France is heading back to Holland in 2010. Tour officials announced Thursday that the 2010 Tour will start in Rotterdam. More details will be provided in an official ceremony on Dec. 11 in the Dutch port city, officials said. “Rotterdam is an important metropolitan area with assurance of success,” Tour director Christian Prudhomme told AFP. “It’s doing everything so that people can get around on the bike. It’s in this spirit that the city wants the grand départ.” The Dutch city was picked ahead of Utrecht, Holland, and Dusseldorf, Germany.

The first-ever USA Cycling Mountain Bike Summit went off Nov. 14-16 in Colorado Springs with the simple goal of providing a forum for industry stakeholders to share ideas. The three-day conference offered a variety of industry members the opportunity to collectively meet and discuss direction and changes within the sport, share best practices and develop initiatives to advance mountain bike racing in the United States.

The inaugural USA Cycling National Racing Calendar (NRC) Promoter Summit was conducted last weekend, Nov. 14-16, at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs as 32 individuals representing 23 events on the 2009 NRC converged to share their thoughts regarding the nation’s premier Pro-Am road racing calendar.

Two weeks ago, I wrote about the collision that hospitalized Dr. Ed Farrar (see Yet another collision). Since then, I’ve received a letter I’d like to share. First, C.S. wrote in to say:

We held Ed's rally this last Sunday. I figure 700 - 800 riders showed up. It was one of the greatest moments of my adult life. Watching this many people from all over the Pacific Northwest show and give their support to Ed. I actually got to see him. His eyes were bright and sparkly and he had the biggest grin on his face!