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Challenge, the handmade Italian tire manufacturer, has a new tire that’s ready for the coming cyclocross season. The Grifo Fango mud tire rounds out the brand’s line that includes the Grifo XS file tread, which is built for sand and smooth courses and the Grifo, an all-conditions tire that’s over 20 years old, easily recognized by its chevron tread pattern.

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Off-the-cuff comments last weekend by Lance Armstrong that he wants to take his comeback tour worldwide raised hopes in Australia that the seven-time Tour de France champion’s return to racing might start in January’s Tour Down Under. Not so fast, matey. Armstrong, who turned 37 on Thursday, said he hasn’t finalized his comeback plans yet and will make a full disclosure Wednesday in New York while attending the Clinton Global Initiative.

David Arroyo won the second stage in a row for Caisse d’Epargne while Alberto Contador fended off last-gasp attempts to blow apart the race in Friday’s two-climb, 145.5km stage across the rugged sierra north of Madrid to safely retain the overall lead Vuelta a España. Arroyo, 28, is one of the worker bees who occasionally gets to taste the honey themselves. The veteran gregario was fulfilling his obligations to follow the breakaways over two first category climbs to set up team captain Alejandro Valverde when fate turned his way.

Team Redline Factory Team, based in Seattle, WA announces its final rosters and sponsor lineup for the 2008/09 Cyclo-cross Season. Based out of Seattle, WA but covering multiple regions around the USA, the team will be led by elite team riders with grassroots development programs in each of the regions. Look for Team Redline at many of the USGP CX races, UCI races, National Championships and in your local race scene! The 2007-08 Roster: Kevin Bradford Parish – Spokane, WA – Elite Racer Kristi Berg – Seattle, WA – Elite Racer Chad Berg - Seattle, WA – Team Leader/Elite Master

The Chicago Cyclocross Cup is proud to announce that Monique Ryan, MS, RD, LDN will be leading a presentation on fueling for the cyclocross racing on Tuesday, October 7 in Chicago. Advance registration is required. Monique Ryan, MS, RD, LDN is a nationally recognized nutritionist with more than 24 years of professional experience. She is founder of Personal Nutrition Designs, a nutrition consulting company based in the Chicago area.

Dear Readers,
This week, I’ll be sharing some reader responses to my recent columns on road rage (See “Bikes vs. cars," “Summer of rage” and “More rage”). But first, as noted last week, I would like to invite those of you who can attend to visit with me at my next speaking appearance:

Saturday, September 20, 2008
Nashville, Tennessee

Jesse Lalonde (Gary Fisher 29 / BKB / T6) and Holly Liske (Hayes Disc Brakes) won at the Smokin Spoke on Sunday afternoon. The Spoke, the tenth race in the 2008 Subaru-sponsored Wisconsin Off Road Series, was held at Camp Tesomas in Rhinelander, Wisconsin.

A self-propelled cycling art and fashion show, Interbike's latest addition brings the cutting edge of urban cycle culture to life Interbike, producers of North America's largest bicycle industry trade shows, today announced they have teamed up with Momentum Magazine to produce the first "Urban Legend Fashion and Art Show" at Interbike 2008 on Sept. 25 at 5 p.m.

Miles Ahead Events and Hudz Enhancement Brake Hoods are joining together to produce the first annual Rocky Mountain Bicycle Show. The November 1st and 2nd event - held in the Glenn Miller Ballroom on the University of Colorado campus - will showcase many of the best framebuilders in the country, and allow consumers the first chance to get their hands on the latest and greatest new components and accessories shown at Interbike.

Announcing the Spike Shooter Katie Compton Super Fan competition held at upcoming Cross Vegas, Wednesday night September 24th at the Desert Breeze Soccer Complex. See the Cross Vegas website for directions and race information. www.crossvegas.com Spike Shooter and Katie Compton are looking for Katie Compton Superfans. This year at Cross Vegas we are going to reward two superfans of Spike Shooter rider Katie Compton and women's cyclocross with a Superfan gift pack. We want to see painted bodies, screaming fans and happy people supporting our sport. Katie Compton superfans.

Olympians will not be the only ones walking around Interbike showing off new medals this year. Podium winners at CrossVegas and the USA CRITS finals, two evening races drawing some of the world’s best cyclocross and road champions, will also be able to sport medals, in the form of custom cowbell trophies by Cowbell.com, distributor of fun and cowbells to sporting events, fundraisers and businesses.

This weekend's Full Speed Ahead Star Crossed presented by Gerk's Ski and Cycle and the Rad Racing GP presented by FSA and Kona opens the North American Cyclocross Trophy with an impressive field. Current National champ Tim Johnson (Cyclocrossworld.com/Cannondale) will be met at the start line by '06 champion, Ryan Trebon (Kona) and '05 champion and Olympian Todd Wells (GT). Wells, who raced the Beijing mountain bike race, is on top form after finishing fifth in the cross-country at the Canberra, Australia, mountain bike World Cup on August 30th.

Last weekend, The Intermontane Challenge attracted people from all over North America to preview a part of one of the world’s most unique and lucrative mountain bike races. Some of the City’s dignitaries were also on hand to celebrate Kamloops introducing this world class event to the community.

Greg Minnaar (Santa Cruz Syndicate) has won the 2008 the UCI downhill mountain bike World Cup. The South African finished fifth at the World Cup finals in Schladming, Austria, on September 13 to inch his way by two-time defending champ Sam Hill (Monster-Ironhorse) 1354 points to 1293.

Spain is an uproar Thursday night over alleged comments from Tour de France champion Carlos Sastre accusing Team CSC-Saxo Bank manager Bjarne Riis of trying to undermine his efforts to win the Vuelta a España. Sastre — who is leaving Riis’s team to joining the start-up Cervélo team in 2009 — was quoted in a lengthy interview with the Spanish wire service, EFE, suggesting that Riis has divided the team against him during the three-week Vuelta. Sastre later denied making those statements.

Cycling’s biggest players will meet Friday in Madrid to try to heal the division and ill will that have split the sport the past few years. Whether the meeting among members of the UCI, the organizers of the three grand tours and the top professional teams can ease the way for resolution or reopen old wounds remains to be seen.

After numerous doping scandals surrounding the Tour de France in recent years, the German city of Düsseldorf has withdrawn its bid to host the start of the 2010 race, it was announced Thursday. Düsseldorf mayor Dirk Elbers formally withdrew the city’s candidacy after a meeting in the west German city on Wednesday night, saying it would have cost 6 million euros (8.5 million US dollars) to host the start. "We had promised ourselves a raised positive profile all over the world through the Tour's coverage, but that is not assured now," Elbers told German sports agency SID.

Spanish rider Imanol Erviti out-kicked Nicholas Roche from an 18-man breakaway that lit up Thursday’s 18th stage to pump some fresh excitement into the Vuelta a España. With the favorites cooling their jets ahead of this weekend’s final showdown in the mountains north of Madrid, two-time world champion Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) snuck away in the big, dangerous breakaway that the Vuelta was waiting for.

Feedback Sports racer Lisa Hudson used a steady approach to win the King of the Rockies Finale to the Winter Park mountain bike series, and in the process she took the season-long title. Her win was her first of the season in the series, but her consistency through the summer and her breakout performance on the toughest course of the year made the title fitting.

TIME? PRO ?Cycling’s ?Daniel? Ramsey ?took ?the? next-to-last ?leg ?of ?the? 2008? USA?CRITS ?Series ?in? San?Francisco Sunday at ?the ?inaugural? running? of? the ?San ?Francisco? Twilight? Criterium.? Ramsey,? one? of? the ?more ?experienced? members ?of? the? TIME? squad,? was ?the ?beneficiary ?of ?a? mechanical ?that? ?took third ?place ?finisher ?Jorge? Alvarado ?(Kahala/Lagrange) ?out ?of ?the? final? moments? of ?competition.? ?

This weekend's Mountain's Edge Cactus Cup in Las Vegas will feature several big names from the original 1990s version of Cactus Cup, as well as some top current riders, including 2000 Olympic medalist and current world champion Christoph Sauser. Riders returning from the Cactus Cup hey day include Mountain Bike Hall of Famer Tinker Juarez. “The Cactus Cup is one of those events that brings many facets and faces in the sport together,” said Juarez. “I’m looking forward to racing and to reconnecting with old friends from around the world,” he says.

It might seem odd that the rider who’s finished second in the past two editions of the Tour de France would welcome back the rider who ruled the race with an iron fist for seven years straight. But that’s Cadel Evans for you, perhaps the most polite rider in the peloton. Lance Armstrong’s looming return to elite cycling might have most pros quietly muttering in their muesli, but Evans is openly welcoming back Big Tex.

SRAM T-shirt off your back giveaway - Day 2 of Interbike: Stop by the SRAM booth while supplies last. SRAM employees will be wearing a commemorative T-shirt Day 1 of Interbike's indoor show (Wednesday September 24th). If you want one and are willing to wear it in exchange for the shirt off your back, here's what to do: - Stop by the SRAM booth on Wed.,Sept 24th to check out the shirt and see how cool it is. - Come back on Thurs., Sept. 25th wearing a shirt your willing to part with. - take off your shirt. (ladies you can head to the restroom around the corner)

The MAC Cyclocross Series opens its 2008 campaign this weekend with a pair of established races that are new to the MAC.  The season kicks-off in the cycling hotbed of Lehigh Valley Pennsylvania with the Nittany Lion Cyclocross at Penn State University’s Fogelsville Campus on Saturday September 20.  The UCI C-2 event features over $4,000 in prize money.  Even though two other UCI races are being held in America that day, the Nittany Lion Cyclocross, by virtue of its earlier Eastern Time Zone, is laying claim as the first American UCI cyclocross race of the 2008-2009 season.

TREK BECOMES FIRST NATIONAL SPONSOR OF FREIKER BIKE-TO-SCHOOL PROGRAM Grant Enables Nonprofit Advocacy Group To Build Meters, Expand Program Trek Bicycle Corporation —through its 1 World 2 Wheels SM initiative—has made a major grant to Freiker a bike-to-school program based in Boulder, Colorado.

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Chris Carmichael admits he was stunned when Lance Armstrong first started talking about coming out of retirement to make a run at an eighth Tour de France title. But a few months after first hearing the news, America’s best-known cycling coach has embraced the idea of trying to help Armstrong retake the yellow jersey in Paris.

Miguel Indurain doesn’t doubt that Lance Armstrong will be able to return to a high level in his comeback in 2009. But the five-time Tour de France champion wonders if Armstrong will be able to win the Tour again after being away from competition for more than three years. “I’m sure he will be able to return to competition, but to win again is something else,” Indurain said on Spanish television TVE. “It’s a lot of time, but he’s maintained his fitness. Above all, he’s a professional. The question is whether he can return to his same level.”

Tom Boonen and Paolo Bettini have each won two stages in this year’s Vuelta a España and had already planned to pull out after Wednesday’s stage into Valladolid, so the Quick Step superstars decided to sit up in their final sprint and leave it the second-tier sprinters to take a shot. Budding Belgian talent Wouter Weylandt stepped boldly into the void, holding off a wild sprint ahead of Matti Breschel (CSC-Saxo Bank) to win by a half-tire length to give Quick Step victory its fifth win at the Vuelta.

Veteran Belgian cyclist Rik Verbrugghe, who rides for Cofidis, announced Wednesday he will retire after next month's Tour of Lombardy. Verbrugghe said he had found it difficult to bounce back from a dramatic crash in the 2006 Tour de France, when he broke his leg after careering down a ravine. "I went through a dark period back then, a difficult reassessment. And even though I returned to the top level, after this incident I started to think of ending my career," the 34-year-old said Wednesday. Verbrugghe fell in last month's San Sebastian Classic, breaking his collarbone.

The United States Olympic Committee has apologized to four Olympic track cyclists whose decision to wear facemasks into Beijing sparked controversy on the eve of the 2008 games. In a letter to cyclists Mike Friedman, Bobby Lea, Sarah Hammer and Jennie Reed, USOC Chief Executive Officer James E. Scherr said, “We apologize if you felt that the USOC or your National Governing Body did not appropriately support you through this incident, and you should rest assured it was not our intent.”

Next year's Tour de France is set for a two-stage incursion to Barcelona, according to the Catalan city's Mayor Jordi Hereu on Tuesday. "This is important for the city, but also for the Tour, for cycling and sport in general," said Hereu. The city's top sports coordinator, Pere Alcober, said Barcelona would host a stage finish on July 8 and the start of a stage on July 9. Dates for next year's race, which is scheduled to start in the principality of Monaco, have yet to be confirmed by race organizers.

Olympic medalists Kristin Armstrong and Levi Leipheimer will headline a strong U.S. team for the upcoming Varese world road cycling championships Sept. 23-38. Seventeen athletes will compete in Elite and U23 categories as part of a squad that is defined by experience on the women’s side and youth on the men’s.

Armstrong hopes to make history

Cyclocross star Jonathan Page (Planet Bike) and Lea Davison (Trek-Volkswagen) escaped with overall wins at Wisconsin’s Chequamegon 40 on Saturday. The event is the highlight of the Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival, a weekend of mountain bike races and events in and around Cable, Wisconsin. The famed race once again began with a mass start of 1700 participants in downtown Hayward, Wisconsin, before following the American Birkebeiner ski trail to Cable.