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Lehman Brothers invests in SRAM

Component giant SRAM has a new minority owner: Lehman Brothers Merchant Banking. The fund manager is making an undisclosed investment in SRAM, which will retain its senior management, the company announced Thursday. SRAM, which markets products under the SRAM, RockShox, Avid, Truvativ, and Zipp brand names, expects 2008 revenues to approach $500 million. “We have now achieved scale where we believe it is prudent to add an experienced institutional investor to our shareholder base," Stan Day, SRAM's chief executive.

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News

Team Columbia sends 18 cyclists to Beijing

Team Columbia is sending 18 riders from twelve different nations to the Olympic games. While the riders will wear uniforms representing their home nation, it's still a remarkable turnout for the U.S.-based team. “To have so many riders representing their countries at the Olympics, a showcase event, is truly exceptional for Team Columbia. It’s actually made it a little tricky finding riders for all the usual competitions,” team owner Bob Stapleton said. The teams riders will race in the mens and womens road races and on the track.

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Road

The 2008 Olympics – The Battle of Beijing

The stage profile for the 245.4km Great Wall Olympic road course — which the elite men face on Saturday — looks like a comb placed on its end with seven sharp teeth pointing straight up. The section of the comb’s handle represents the flat 78.8 km tour of Beijing’s landmarks, including the Temple of Heaven, the Great Hall of the People, Tiananmen Square and the National Stadium.

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Road

Cyclists apologize over mask row

Four American cyclists who wore filter masks because of pollution concerns when arriving in Beijing apologized Wednesday to Olympic organizers, U.S. Olympic Committee chief executive Jim Scherr said. Mike Friedman, Bobby Lea, Sarah Hammer and Jennie Reed were among about 200 athletes from an American delegation of 596 who were issued masks by their national governing bodies to combat pollution in Beijing. "They've now seen how their actions have been perceived," Scherr said. "They were very eager to take the right action, which was to apologize to their hosts."

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Mountain

Lance Armstrong predicts top-five finish at Leadville 100

Lance Armstrong on Wednesday downplayed his chances of winning the Leadville 100 mountain bike race this weekend, saying a top-five or "on a good day, top-three" finish is more likely. "I'm not in it to win it, as they say," Armstrong told reporters in a conference call from Aspen, Colorado, where he has been vacationing and training for the 100-mile race, which starts in the considerably-less-posh nearby community of Leadville.

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News

Samantha Cools

Age: 22 (Airdrie, Alta)

EVENTS

BMX

PRIOR OLYMPICS

None Cools has been training in Switzerland since November, at a sports center with an exact replica of the Beijing BMX track. She is ranked fourth in the world in BMX, she is a five-time world junior champion and 13-time Canadian champion. Cools won her first BMX race at age three on bike built by her father.

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Kyle Bennett

Age: 28 (Conroe, Texas)

EVENTS

BMX

PRIOR OLYMPICS

None Bennett won the World BMX Championship in 2002, 2003 and 2007. His stepfather is John Purse, a well-known BMX racer from the 1990s. Bennett earned anautomatic spot on the Olympic team by making the finals of the UCI World Cup in Copenhagen, Denmark, this spring.

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Road

Scientist: Anti-doping tests don’t pass statistical muster

Anti-doping tests used at the Olympics and other major sporting events are too often based on faulty science and statistical methods that can yield erroneous results, a researcher charged Wednesday in a leading scientific journal. Donald Berry, an expert in biostatistics at the University of Texas, used the case of American cyclist Floyd Landis to point up flaws in anti-doping procedures, but cautioned that the problems he uncovered apply across the board to lab tests designed to ferret out athletes who cheat by using performance enhancing substances.

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News

Svein Tuft

Age: 31 (Langley, B.C.)

EVENTS

Road race and time trial

PRIOR OLYMPICS

None Tuft, 31, is best known to U.S. cycling fans for his win at the snowy 2007 U.S. Open in Virginia and the Redlands prologue that year. The Langley, British Columbia resident began bike racing in 1999 and had stints on the Broadmark Capital, Mercury and Prime Alliance teams before joining the Symmetrics team, which also is home to Zach Bell, who is racing on the track in Beijing. Tuft, the four-time Canadian time trial champ, is hoping to bring the country its first Olympic road cycling medal since Steve Bauer’s silver in 1984.

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News

Giddeon Massie

Age: 26 (Zionhill, Pennsylvania)

EVENTS

Team Sprint

PRIOR OLYMPICS

2004 An established track talent, Massie has earned the gold medal in the keirin at the 2003 Pan American Games, an event at which he also earned a silver in the sprint competition. Massie also acts as a spokesman for the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency in its “My Health. My Sport. My Victory. I Compete Clean” campaign.

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News

Geoff Kabush

Age: 31 (Victoria, B.C.)

EVENTS

Mountain bike cross-country

PRIOR OLYMPICS

2000 (9th) Kabush has Olympic experience is has been consistently one of the top North American cross-country riders on the international scene, with a silver and bronze at World Cup events and a 9th place at the 2000 Olympics. The 31-year-old Team Maxxis rider is having a great season this year, defending his Canadian cross-country title and taking second place at the Mont Ste. Anne World Cup.

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News

Gina Grain

Age: 38 (Burnaby, B.C.)

EVENTS

Points Race

PRIOR OLYMPICS

None Grain, like fellow Olympians Alex Wrubleski and Erinne Willock, is a member of the the Webcor Builders trade team. In 2006 she was ranked number one in the world in the scratch race.

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Adam Duvendeck

Age: 26 (Santa Barbara, California)

EVENTS

Team Sprint

PRIOR OLYMPICS

2004 A former kilometer racer, Duvendeck has made the transition to team sprint. A one-time student of 1984 Olympian Rory O'Reilly, Duvendeck has earned elite national titles in the keirin, team sprint, kilometer and matched sprint. He will team up with Giddeon Massie and Michael Blatchford in the team sprint, an event in which they hold the U.S. record.

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News

Jill Kintner

Age: 26 (Seattle, Washington)

EVENTS

BMX

PRIOR OLYMPICS

None Kinter, considered one of the best gold medal prospects on the U.S. Olympic cycling team, is also a top mountain biker. She is a former junior world champion in BMX and is ranked #1 by USA Cycling in the BMX category for 2008 and earned an automatic spot on the team.

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News

Ryder Hesjedal

Age:27 (Victoria, B.C.)

EVENTS

Road race and time trial

PRIOR OLYMPICS

2004 (Mountain bike cross-country) Hesjedal, who just completed his first Tour de France with the Garmin-Chipotle team last month, is one of the most successful converts from top-level mountain bike to the road. Hesjedal, 28, was second at the 2003 world cross-country mountain bike championships and on the road has won a Canadian time trial championship and the mountain competition at the 2007 Tour de Georgia.

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News

Amber Neben

Age: 34 (Irvine, California)

EVENTS

Road Race

PRIOR OLYMPICS

None Over the years, Neeben has distinguished herself as one of the world’s best road racers, twice winning France’s Tour de l’Aude. A former collegiate mountain bike racer, Neben made her road debut at the 1998 Hewlett Packard Women’s Challenge and earned a spot on the U.S. team for the world road championships that year.

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News

Donny Robinson

Age: 25 (Napa, Calif.)

EVENTS

BMX

PRIOR OLYMPICS

None One of the top-ranked riders in the world, Robinson won the 2008 Elite Men Supercross World Cup Champion and finished first at the Olympic qualifier event in June. He has been racing since he was five and is no won the Hyper Bicycles trade team.

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News

Todd Wells

Age: 32 (Durango, Colorado)

EVENTS

Cross-country

PRIOR OLYMPICS

2004 Wells has been racing mountain bikes since 1996 and is a two-time national cyclocross champion, a background that may suit him well on the Beijing cross-country course. He has been a U.S. national cross-country champion in 2001 and 2005. He competed in the Athens Games in 2004, turning in the top American finish in the cross-country race.

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News

Leigh Hobson

Age: 37 (Cambridge, Ontario)

EVENTS

Road race

PRIOR OLYMPICS

None Hobson is having one of best years ever on the bike, winning a stage at the Tour of the Gila and landing atop the NRC rankings for a time. She also was third at the Montreal World Cup. Hobson, a member of the Cheerwine team, plans to retire from racing at the end of this season and return to full-time teaching. But the Olympic road race, which is on her 38th birthday, could be one of her final chances for glory.

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News

Alex Wrubleski

Age: 24 (Regina, Saskatchewan)

EVENTS

Road race

PRIOR OLYMPICS

None Wrubleski is a former speed skater and triathlete who has been bike racing for just three years. She won the national time trial and road championships in 2006 and took the road title again this year. The Webcor Builders team member, 24, also won the Redlands Bicycle Classic overall title this year.

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News

Seamus McGrath

Age: 32 (Millgrove, Ontario)

EVENTS

Mountain bike cross-country

PRIOR OLYMPICS

2004 (9th) McGrath, 32, competed in Athens in 2004, placing ninth. He also won silver in the 2002 Commonwealth Games. McGrath started biking when he was 14 years old. This year he’s been Mr. Consistency on the World Cup circuit, with a 9th place finish at the Offenburg, Germany, race and 8th at the Mont Ste. Anne World Cup.

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Christine Thorburn

Age: 38 (Sunnyvale, California)

EVENTS

Road Race, Time Trial

PRIOR OLYMPICS

2004 Thorburn is a medical doctor who took up cycling at Stanford Medical School. She returns for her second Olympics, competing in both the road race and time trial. Thorburn is one of the country’s strongest time trialists, competing and training while still maintaining a full-time work schedule as a rheumatologist in Palo Alto, California.

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News

Mike Day

Age: 23 (Santa Clarita, California)

EVENTS

BMX

PRIOR OLYMPICS

None Mike Day turned pro at age 17 and has racked up many prestigious wins, including a first place in the AA Pro category at the ABA World Championship in 2005. He also was the 2007 Elite Men Supercross World Cup Champion. Day races for GT Bicycles/Redbull

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Dave Zabriskie

Age: 29 (Salt Lake City, Utah)

EVENTS

Road race and time trial

PRIOR OLYMPICS

None Zabriskie is a solid road racer and one of the world’s best time trialists. He holds the distinction as the only American to have won stages in each of the world’s grand tours, starting with his from-the-gun solo attack in the 2004 Vuelta and followed by time trial victories in the 2005 Giro d’Italia and Tour de France. With the record for riding the fastest individual time trial in Tour de France history, covering a 19km route at a speed of 54.66kph, Zabriskie has to be considered one of the favorites for a medal in the race against the clock. A teammate of Vande Velde’s on Garmin-Chipotle, Zabriskie returns to racing after a serious accident in this year’s Giro d’Italia.

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News

Catherine Pendrel

Age: 28 (Kamloops, B.C.)

EVENTS

Mountain bike cross-country

PRIOR OLYMPICS

None Pendrel, 28, who races for the Luna trade team, is in top form for the Olympics after scoring her first World Cup victory, at Bromont, Quebec, in July. Pendrel’s previous top placings include a sixth place at the 2007 world championships, a gold medal at Pan American Games that year and a second-place at the Canadian cross-country championships.

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Bobby Lea

Age: 24 (Mertztown, Pennsylvania)

EVENTS

Points Race, Madison

PRIOR OLYMPICS

None Raised in a family of bike racers, Lea entered his first competitive cycling event when he was just four years old. He is a full-time road pro with the U.S.-based Rite Aid team, but has managed to collect eight U.S. titles on the track as well. He earned a silver medal in the 2008 world Madison championships, riding with Colby Pearce in Copenhagen last February. Lea will team up with Michael Friedman in the Madison in Beijing this month.

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News

George Hincapie

Age: 35 (Greenville, South Carolina)

EVENTS

Road race

PRIOR OLYMPICS

1992, 1996, 2000, 2004 The U.S.’s top classics rider, Hincapie has to be considered a factor in any single-day event. The Team Columbia rider will be one of the experienced pros lining up in Beijing, competing in the Olympics since 1992 and riding in every Tour de France since 1996.

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News

Sarah Hammer

Age: 24 (Temecula, Calif.)

EVENTS

Individual Pursuit, Points Race

PRIOR OLYMPICS

None In 2006, Hammer became the first American woman to win a world pursuit title since Rebecca Twigg’s rainbow ride in 1995. She successfully defended her title in 2007. Hammer also broke Twigg’s 11-year-old national record in the women's 3-kilometer individual pursuit in 2006 with a time of 3:32.865. Since then she's lowered the mark four times, most recently with a time of 3:30.213. She remains among the gold medal favorites for the pursuit.

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News

Adam Craig

Age: 26 (Bend, Oregon)

EVENTS

Cross-country

PRIOR OLYMPICS

None A 12-time national champion in an assortment of cycling disciplines, Craig is recognized as one of the country’s best cross-country racers. Like his teammate Todd Wells, Craig has a solid background in cyclocross, which may be the ideal preparation for this year’s Olympic cross-country course. After winning three consecutive U23 national cross-country titles (2001-03), he won the elite title in 2007. Craig also won the unofficial world single-speed mountain bike championship in Aviemore, Scotland in 2007.

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Michael Barry

Age: 32 (Toronto, Ontario)

EVENTS

Road race

PRIOR OLYMPICS

1996-2004 Michael Barry, a member of the Team Columbia, brings a wealth of Olympic and professional experience to the team. Barry, 32, is a veteran of the U.S. Postal and Discovery Channel teams and was a support rider for Lance Armstrong. Barry, who writes a regular column for VeloNews.Com, attended Trinity College and the University of Toronto and lives most of the year in Gerona, Spain.

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Jennie Reed

Age: 30 (Kirkland, Wash.)

EVENTS

Match Sprint

PRIOR OLYMPICS

2004 Reed is one of the most successful sprinters Since winning her first gold medal in national competition in 1998, Reed has earned 12 more national titles, the World Cup title in 2004 and three medals at world championship events. She has also dabbled in endurance track events, recently as a part of the winning pursuit team at the 2007 national championships.

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Jason McCartney

Age: 34 (Coralville, Iowa)

EVENTS

Road race

PRIOR OLYMPICS

2004 The former Discovery team rider won a stage at last year’s Vuelta a España, which led to his current deal with CSC-Saxo Bank, just as the American team was winding down. McCartney earned a spot on the Olympic team in 2004 by winning the Olympic Trials Road Race. His impressive record as a professional in Europe earned him a discretionary pick to this year’s team.

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Michael Blatchford

Age: 22 (Cypress, California)

EVENTS

Team Sprint, Match Sprint

PRIOR OLYMPICS

None Blatchford is the youngest sprinter on the U.S. team, but brings a solid record in international competition to Beijing. Blatchford earned a bronze medal in the sprint at the 2006 world championships and gold in the same event at the 2007 Pan American Championships. Along with Olympic teammates Giddeon Massie and Adam Duvendeck, Blatchford holds the U.S. national record in the team sprint.

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Kristin Armstrong

Age: 34 (Boise, Idaho)

EVENTS

Road race and time trial

PRIOR OLYMPICS

2004 Armstrong made a strong Olympic debut in 2004 with an eighth-place finish in the road race. She has since distinguished herself as a solid time trialist, winning the world championship in 2004. The 34-year-old Armstrong will compete in both the road race and time trial in Beijing on the heels of a solid season of racing in the U.S. in 2008.

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News

Levi Leipheimer

Age: 34 (Santa Rosa, California)

EVENTS

Road race and time trial

PRIOR OLYMPICS

2004 Leipheimer earned his Olympic slot more than a year ago by becoming only the fourth American to finish on the podium of the Tour de France. The quiet man from Santa Rosa, California, will compete in both the road race and time trial and has to be considered among the favorites for both.

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News

Erinne Willock

Age: 27 (Victoria, B.C.)

EVENTS

Road race

PRIOR OLYMPICS

None Willock, a strong climber, has been a national team member since 2000 and raced for Canada at the Commonwealth Games and Pan American Games. She was 16th at the 2007 world championships. The 27-year-old Webcor Builders team member also the 2006 Joe Martin stage race. Willock’s father, Martin, competed in the team time trial at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Her uncle Bernie won bronze in the team time trial at the 1979 Pan Am Games and was also the 1980 Canadian road race champion.

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News

Mary McConneloug

Age: 37 (Chilmark, Massachusetts)

EVENTS

Cross-country

PRIOR OLYMPICS

2004 McConneloug has been racing mountain bikes since 1997, but really made her mark in 2003 with silver medals in the national championships and the Pan-Am Games. She finished ninth in her Olympic debut and hopes to improve on that performance in Beijing. A real “road warrior,” McConneloug has eschewed a traditional home, opting instead to live out of her van, travelling around the U.S. and Canada to compete in mountain bike races.

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News

Martin Gilbert

Age: 25 (Chateauguay, Quebec)

EVENTS

Madison

PRIOR OLYMPICS

None A former triathlete who began road racing in 2000 and track racing a few years later, Gilbert is a member of the Kelly Benefits Strategy/Medifast team. Gilbert will compete in the Madison event with Zach Bell.

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News

Georgia Gould

Age: 28 (Ketchum, Idaho)

EVENTS

Cross-country

PRIOR OLYMPICS

None Gould’s involvement in cross-country mountain bike racing began relatively recently, but it didn’t take her long to come up to speed. She earned a spot on the Luna team in 2007 after only a year on a regional team in Idaho. She won the women’s national cross-country title in her first year with Luna and has produced consistently strong results throughout her professional career.

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Michael Friedman

Age: 25 (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)

EVENTS

Madison

PRIOR OLYMPICS

None Friedman has distinguished himself as a track racer, most recently winning a gold medal in the scratch race in last December’s World Cup event at the new Olympic velodrome in Beijing. A member of the Garmin-Chipotle team, Friedman – known as “meatball” to his teammates – has also pursued a solid road career, riding in his first edition of Paris-Roubaix this past spring. Friedman will team up with Bobby Lea in the Madison in Beijing this month.

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News

VeloNews’ Fred Dreier arrives in Beijing with a lot of questions

The collective gaze of professional cycling has shifted from the scenic switchbacks on l’Alpe d’Huez to the hazy skies above China’s capital city of Beijing. Over the course of the next three weeks — August 8-24 — the world will watch as the top road, track, mountain and BMX cyclists compete for 18 gold medals.

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News

Marie-Hélène Prémont

Age: 31 (Chateau-Richer, Quebec)

EVENTS

Mountain bike cross-country

PRIOR OLYMPICS

2004 (Silver medal) Prémont has been one of the top women in the world for most of this decade, breaking into the top ranks with her bronze in the 2003 World Cup in Kaprun, Austria, and her silver medal at the 2004 Olympics. On the World Cup circuit, she was third overall in 2005 and then second overall in 2006 and 2007. She is leading the series this year, thanks to consistent top finishes, including wins at Mont Ste. Anne, Canada, and Fort William, Scotland, and three second-place finishes. Prémont, 31, races for the Rocky Mountain trade team. She plans to retire from racing after this season.

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News

Christian Vande Velde

Age: 32 (Boulder, Colorado)

EVENTS

Road race

PRIOR OLYMPICS

2000 After years of serving as a top lieutenant for team leaders on U.S. Postal and CSC, Vande Velde has emerged as a top contender in his own right, finishing the 2008 Tour de France in fifth place, capping out an impressive debut for his new Garmin-Chipotle team. A former pursuiter, Vande Velde is the second member of his family to compete in the Olympics. His father John competed in both the 1968 and ’72 Games.

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News

SoCal Interscholastic Cycling League launched

OAKLAND , CA — The Northern California High School Mountain Bike Racing League (NorCal League) will launch the Southern California Interscholastic Cycling League (SoCal League), in the 2009 academic year, with grant support from the Easton Sports Development Foundation II (ESDF II). The new league is based on the successful model of the NorCal League, now in its eighth year, which currently has reached a membership of over 400 high schoolers, 150 coaches, and 35 schools from within the region.

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Road

Brits brimming with confidence in Beijing

British cycling chief Dave Brailsford is confident his Olympic squad will blaze a trail to the podium in Beijing by medaling in 11 of the sport's 18 finals. The Manchester-based Performance Director of British track cycling conceded, however, they could leave some medal opportunities for their rivals. A total of 54 medals will be on offer from the 18 finals in cycling's four disciplines of road cycling, track, mountain bike and BMX in Beijing, and 30 of those medals will be won at the Laoshan velodrome.

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Road

Crash forces Albasini out of Olympics

Switzerland’s Michael Albasini will miss the Olympic Games after a crash during a training ride in Beijing on Tuesday. Albasini, who broke his collarbone, was examined in the Olympic Village clinic ahead of his return to Switzerland. The 27-year-old will not be replaced in the Swiss team for Saturday's race.

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Road

Evans arrives in Beijing

Tour de France runner-up Cadel Evans arrived in China for the Olympic Games Wednesday, putting a positive spin on a knee injury which temporarily sidelined his hopes of competing in the time trial. The 31-year-old slipped and injured his knee at a Post-Tour de France party last month. Uncertainty over his injury meant Evans, who will lead Australia's medal hopes in the road race this Saturday, gave up his time trial spot to Michael Rogers - a former three-time world champion.

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