That was one of the hardest days I've ever had on a bike. Just straight up suffering from 20 minutes in until crossing the line. I'm back on the bus now, 45 minutes yet 'til the hotel, where thankfully we get to enjoy our rest day (and Tour-special Chipotle burritos!!!) tomorrow.
The paint job on Erik Zabel’s Colnago was originally used 25 years ago, but even that classic look can not hide the new form beneath it. Zabel debuted Colnago’s new EPS (Extreme Power Special) frame at this year’s and is the only rider using in the peloton.
to VeloNews.com's Live Coverage of the 10th stage of the Tour de France, a 156-kilometer race from Pau to the summit finish at Hautacam.
Though not the French version he’d hoped to don this July, Levi Leipheimer (Astana) did appreciate the Oregonian yellow jersey he slipped on Sunday at the close of the Cascade Cycling Classic’s sixth and final stage, the Awbry Butte Circuit Race. Atop the podium alongside BMC riders Jeff Louder in second and South African Darren Lill in third, the two-time Tour of California winner smiled when handed the CCC trophy: “They didn’t even give me a trophy at the Dauphine!”
With a strong headwind on one of two climbs, tactics akin to road racing played a role in both the men’s and women’s pro short track races.
We live in an age of amazing technology. So amazing it is, in fact, that it takes much of the guesswork and mystery out of our daily lives, for an ever decreasing cost. Things that we may have never known about ourselves, like the regular status of our blood, can and should become a regular diagnostic routine.
Riccardo Ricco (Saunier Duval-Scott) won the ninth stage of the Tour de France on Sunday in a bold solo assault, while Kim Kirchen (Team Columbia) finished safely with the bunch to retain the overall lead.
Photographer Heidi Swift was near the summit of the final climb of Saturday's fifth stage of the Cascade Cycling Classic when a passing race moto driver told her to get her camera ready. [nid:80093] Soon enough, Swift saw a strange sight: Astana rider Chris Horner pounding along, with a rider — and bike — along for the ride. Swift learned later that Horner came across Billy Demong (Team American R.A.D.D./AGEL) about 2km from the summit. Horner, his work helping teammate Levi Leipheimer over, offered Demong a ride.
On a day when race leader Kim Kirchen of Team Columbia admitted he was suffering, and third-placed Stefan Schumacher of Gerolsteiner was dropped on the final climb, Garmin-Chipotle’s Christian Vande Velde rode as strongly as he has ever since the start of this 95th Tour de France — and he moved up to third place on GC. It’s already been a remarkable performance by the Chicago native, whose best previous Tour rides were 25th last year and 24th in 2006 when he was riding as a team player for CSC.
Not to minimize Stefan Schumacher’s surprising stage 4 time trial win, but the 2008 Tour de France saw its first truly amazing performance Sunday as Saunier Duval-Scott’s Ricardo Riccò rode away from the best riders in the world to take his second stage win in four days.
Hilton Clarke (Toyota-United Pro) sprinted to victory in the Louisville Metro Police Foundation Criterium on Saturday. The Aussie outkicked Adam Bergman (Texas Roadhouse) to win the 90-minute NRC event, run on an eight-corner course at Waterfront Park. The two had been part of a six-man break — three of them Texas Roadhouse riders — that eventually lapped the field.