All Content

Tour de France

Andrew Hood’s Tour de France Notebook, stage 8

WHAT MAKES CAV SO FAST?
It looks like Mark Cavendish was born to win. Despite losing the wheel of his lead-out man Gerard Ciolek after riding cautiously through the final bend with just over one kilometer to go to avoid crashing on wet roads, Great Britain’s “Cannonball” was still able to blast across the line with apparent ease to win for the second time in a week. At 23, Cavendish is using his raw finishing speed and tenacious personality to make up for any lack of experience he might have in what is his third grand tour start.

Published
Tour de France

Frank Schleck says he’s happy to see Kirchen in yellow

CSC-Saxo Bank’s national Luxembourg champion Frank Schleck dismissed statements made by race leader Kim Kirchen Friday that there was no love lost between the compatriots. Following Friday’s difficult stage, which saw the CSC team of brothers Frank and Andy Schleck set a high tempo that nearly shattered Kirchen’s Columbia team, the race leader insinuated that the tactic had, at least in part, intended to shed the first Luxembourgian maillot jaune in 50 years.

Published
Tour de France

Beltrán case casts pall over Tour

One week. That’s all it took before a doping scandal erupted on the 2008 Tour de France. Photos of Spanish veteran Manuel “Triki” Beltrán doing a perp walk as French police hauled him away in handcuffs from the Liquigas team hotel Friday evening pushed the Tour back into the type of headlines the race is trying to avoid. Perhaps it was appropriate that clouds and rain greeted riders in Figeac before the start of the eighth stage as the pall of cycling’s troubled past reared its ugly head after a week of titillating racing seemingly pushed scandals off the headlines.

Published
Tour de France

Police take Beltran for questioning following positive test

French police have taken Spaniard Manuel Beltran away for questioning in the wake of the first doping scandal to emerge at this year's Tour de France. Beltran, best known for helping Lance Armstrong to the last three of his seven Tour de France wins, tested positive for the blood booster erythropoietin (EPO) on the Tour's opening stage, according to top anti-doping officials on Friday.

Published
Road Racing

Sanchez nabs stage 7 of the 2008 Tour de France

Caisse d'Epargne's punchy climber Luis Leon Sanchez won the seventh stage of the Tour de France on Friday, attacking the lead group several times on the run-in to Aurillac, before finally establishing a solo break in the final two kilometers. Sanchez was followed in by Stefan Schumacher, who had hoped to score a stage win to soothe his wounds after losing the yellow jersey due to a crash in the final kilometer Thursday.

Published
Road

Haselbacher wins after long break in Austrian tour

Astana’s René Haselbacher outsprinted his breakaway companion at the end of the fifth stage of the Tour of Austria Friday, winning the 185 kilometer race from Neustadt to Bad Vöslau and grabbing the points jersey for his efforts as well.

Published
Road Racing

USA Cycling announces full Olympic cycling squad

USA Cycling has added the final three names to its 24-member Beijing Olympic cycling squad. Roadies Amber Neben (Irvine, California) and Christine Thorburn (Sunnyvale, California) and mountain biker Mary McConneloug (Chilmark, Massachusetts) are the latest additions to the squad that will represent the United States in China next month. They join the 21 riders USA Cycling announced on July 1 (list below). The three earned discretionary selections and were nominated by a nine-person selection committee. A second Games for Thorburn[nid:79896]

Published
Tour de France

Kim Kirchen and the Schleck brothers are all from Luxembourg …

The first skirmishes in the battle for the Tour de France yellow jersey left damage in their wake during the tumultuous seventh stage to here on Friday. But the biggest souvenir from the second day of climbing in the 'medium' mountain stages was the full exposure of the existing rivalry between three of Luxembourg's most talented bike riders. In one corner is Kim Kirchen, the Columbia team leader who has been wearing the yellow jersey since the end of Thursday's sixth stage.

Published
Back Next