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Russell Downing of the British squad Pinarello CandiTV captured the race lead with a winning sprint on stage 4 of the Tour of Ireland. Downing took the kick from a 22-man group at the finish in Dingle, after Garmin-Chipotle’s David Millar shattered the field over the Cat. 1 Conor Pass. Downing started the day 32 seconds down on race leader Mark Cavendish. He took the lead through snatching time bonuses at the finish (10 seconds) and at the day’s first and last intermediate sprints (3 seconds a piece).

On the eve of the USPRO Road Race Championships, Garmin-Chipotle showed it intended to dominate the championship weekend in Greenville, South Carolina, taking four of the top five spots in the time trial, led by David Zabriskie. Only Bissell’s Tom Zirbel kept Garmin from taking the entire podium and then some, with a brilliant second place ride, coming in five seconds behind a clean-shaven Zabriskie, who captured his third straight USPRO time trial jersey.

Garmin's David Zabriskie and Christian Vande Velde are among the favorites for Saturday's USPRO Time Trial Championships in Greenville, South Carolina.

Three McQuaids and a friend: Race director Darach McQuaid (in black) with friend Ulrick O’Connor; flanked by Paul McQuaid and Madge McQuaid, who is mother to 10, including UCI president Pat McQuaid.

An Irish cross marks the race’s entry into the cliffs along Killary Harbour, Ireland’s only fjord, and into Connemara. Many of the villages along stage 3 are Gaeltacht, meaning Irish-speaking. Good luck reading the signs.

Astana announced Saturday that Dirk Demol will join the team in 2009 to work as a director sportif. The Belgian is a former winner of Paris-Roubaix (1988) and most recently worked as a team director with Quick Step-Innergetic, where he led Stijn Devolder to the biggest win of his career at the Tour of Flanders. Demol will join Team Astana for the 2009 and 2010 seasons.

Czech cyclist Ondrej Sosenka, who holds the world hour record, has tested positive and has been suspended, the CTK press agency reported on Friday. Sosenka's A sample tested positive for stimulant methamphetamine and, should the B sample prove positive, he would likely be sacked from the PSK Whirlpool-Author team. "The team has already distanced themselves (from Sosenka) and terminated the contract with immediate effect, pending the result of the B sample," PSK manager Vladimir Vavra said.

Sources have confirmed that the Saxo Bank cycling team will race on Specialized bikes during the 2009 season and beyond. Sources close to the team, which now operates under the banner of CSC-Saxo Bank, have confirmed to VeloNews that the Morgan Hill, California-based company is poised to announce the agreement with CSC-Saxo Bank team owner Bjarne Riis.

Scott Bicycles announced Friday that the firm has inked a deal to become the bike sponsor of the U.S.-based Columbia team. The news comes just two days after the Idaho-based bicycle company announced that it was ending its support of the former Saunier-Duval team, which has struggled since the expulsion of star rider Ricardo Riccò from the Tour de France, after testing positive for EPO.

Quick Step is seeing some changes going into the 2009 season, with Tour of Flanders champion Stijn Devolder sticking around and Spanish veteran Juan Manuel Garate heading to Rabobank. After turning pro with U.S. Postal Service in 2004, Devolder joined Quick Step in 2008 and everyone seems pretty pleased with the results. Devolder signed a contract that will keep him at Quick Step through the 2010 season, with a clause for a one-year extension.

Alexander Kristoff followed last year’s successful script and launched an early sprint with 350 meters to go, but Mark Cavendish, as he continues to do with his blossoming career, is following his own plan. At stage 3 of the Tour of Ireland from Ballinrobe to Galway, that plan was simple: win. Cavendish was one of many riders to go down on slick tarmac just over the top of the final categorized climb, but Columbia put him back into the front group and wound it up in the closing kilometers to 70kph.

In my last Legally Speaking column, "Bikes vs. Cars," I recounted some of this summer’s more egregious road rage incidents between motorists and cyclists, all of which happened in rapid-fire succession over a period of several weeks.

The 63rd Vuelta a España roars out of Granada on Saturday afternoon in a fitting start with a team time trial in what should be a dogfight between cycling’s two strongest teams and Spain’s two biggest stars. The showdown between Alberto Contador and Carlos Sastre and their respective Astana and CSC-Saxo Bank teams should provide plenty of drama during a three-week course loaded with hard mountains spread judiciously among a long string of sprint-friendly stages.

Editor's Note: The following column was written by Matt Shriver, an Exercise Specialist and Senior Level Coach with Colorado Premier Training. He also is a professional cyclist currently racing with the Jittery Joe's Pro Cycling team.

Team Columbia is bringing a star-studded team to next month's Tour of Missouri, with British speedster Mark Cavendish joining time trialist Michael Rogers and defending Missouri cahmp George Hincapie. The race announced Thursday that the Columbia will bring Rogers and Cavendish, along with the previously announced team roster of Hincapie, Austrian Bernhard Eisel, Canada’s Michael Barry, young Americans John Devine and Craig Lewis, and three-time Italian time trial national champion and Tour of Italy stage winner, Marco Pinotti.

The complete 2008 Tour of Missouri roster: