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Belgian Greg Van Avermaet (Silence Lotto) team won the second stage of the Tour de l'Ain on Monday. The 23-year-old edged ahead of Czech Frantisek Rabon and Maxime Bouet of France in a sprint to the line after the 169km stage from Trevoux to Hauteville. Sunday's stage winner Floris Goesinnen of the Netherlands finished in 18th and slipped to second in the overall standings, now tied with Van Avermat on time.

Travis Woodruff (MomentumEndurance) and Abigail Strigel (Polska/Fond du Lac Cyclery) won Sunday's Sunburst Showdown at Wisconsin's Sunburst Ski Area.. The race was the eighth event of the Wisconsin Off Road Series. After five laps of the course, Woodruff took the Elite Men's win (1:24:39), ahead of second-place Brain Matter (Geargrinder-Hyundai; 1:24:57) and third place Jeff Melcher (Team Pedal-Moraine; 1:28:05). By coincidence, all three rode Gary Fisher Superfly bikes.

Editor's Note: Last week we published a letter from pro racer Fred Rodriguez, urging his fellow pros to vote for Michael Ball for the position of at-large member of the USPRO Board of Trustees. Today we publish a letter from Team Type 1 director Ed Beamon, who is running against Ball for the position. Writers who support other board candidates are welcome to submit letters in their support.

When they call Swiss time trial specialist Fabian Cancellara “Spartacus,” it hits the mark. The 27-year-old battled uphill to a well-deserved Olympic bronze in the road race on Saturday, and is ready to fight off the specialist climbers to stand two steps higher on the podium of the time trial on Wednesday. "I've been building towards the Games for a long time and I've showed with this bronze medal that I'm on great form," said Cancellara, who has a list of victories that would make any professional proud.

Spanish cyclist Maria Isobel Moreno became the first athlete to fail a doping test here at the Olympic Games, the IOC revealed on Monday. The 27-year-old tested positive for EPO having undergone the test on July 31. She left the athletes' village on the evening of the 31st before she knew of the results of the test. Giselle Davies, IOC spokeswoman, announced Moreno's positive test.

TransRockies VII kicked off in true mountain fashion Sunday with temperamental weather and spectacular scenery as riders wound their way from host start community Panorama Mountain Village down to the historic K2 ranch on the shores of Lake Windermere. Wind, rain sleet and snow – in addition to spots of blue sky – introduced riders early in the week to classic TransRockies conditions. A dispatch from Checkpoint #1 noted the mid-day drop in temperature brought with it the ability to see one’s breath.

Floris Goesinnen (Skil Shimano) sprinted to victory in the first stage of the Tour de l'Ain in eastern France on Sunday. The Dutchman took the leader's yellow jersey after crossing ahead of Paul Moucheraud (Roubaix Lille Metropole) with the peloton led by Belgian Greg Van Avermaet (Silence-Lotto) arriving close behind. A breakaway group gained a 10-minute lead ahead of the pack early in the 149km stage from Lagnieu to Montreal-la-Cluse but the gap narrowed as the course became more mountainous.

Moments after finishing her seventh Olympic Games, Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli was asked the inevitable question. Would she be back for an eighth Olympics in 2012 in London? “Well, it rains a lot in London, just like today,” the 49-year-old coyly said after finishing a solid 24th at 33 seconds back in the women’s road race under torrential rain Sunday in Beijing. With that non-denial denial, she left the door firmly wide open for a London appearance. The idea that French cycling legend might be back for an eighth Olympic Games isn’t poppycock.

Dave Wiens pulled away from Lance Armstrong in the final ten miles of Saturday's Leadville Trail 100 in Colorado, winning the race for the sixth time, in record time. "The guy that I raced today was not the guy who won the Tours," the modest Wiens said at the finish.

Our man, Casey B. Gibson, braved a very soggy day in the Juyongguan Pass area of the Great Wall to bring you some great photos of the women's road race.

It took about 14 months for Nicole Cooke and the British cycling team to concoct a plan that would give her the best possible chance of winning an historic gold medal. But some would argue the 25-year-old Welshwoman has been preparing for an Olympic triumph all her life. Cooke on Sunday handed Britain its first gold of the Games and became the first Briton to win an Olympic road race when she beat Sweden's Emma Johansson to the finish line of the women's event here on Sunday.

Great Britain’s Nicole Cooke didn’t raise her arms in glory after uncorking a winning sprint at the end of Sunday’s rain soaked Olympic road race. The blonde Welshwoman, 25, instead let fly with an ear piercing shriek that echoed throughout the Juyongguan Pass area of China’s Great Wall.

Dave on his way to victory over Lance

George Hincapie is one cool character, but before starting his fifth Olympic Games on Saturday in Beijing, the veteran American broke into a sweat ahead of what’s being hailed as the hardest Olympic race ever. Why? Torrid is one word to describe conditions for what was, at 245km, the longest road race in Olympic Games history. Some were quickly calling it the most demanding as well.