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The US Women's Cycling Development Program announces the latest recipient of scholarship bikes to Alicia Pastore of Durango, Colorado.  Besides all of Alicia's accomplishments on the road and mountain bike competing in the junior expert division as a 14 year old she was also the the top J2 girl in Nordic skiing in the Rocky Mountain Division and is a two time All - American at the Junior Olympics.  Alicia is also a 3.8 Honor Roll student at Durango High School.

Christian Meier (Symmetrics) made one of a professional cyclist's key transitions this week, swapping his U23 national title for the Elite men's road title. However, despite the support of the powerful Symmetrics squad, it was not an easy victory, with Bruno Langlois (VW-Specialized) surging back on the final climb to finish less than a bike length behind Meier. Meier's teammate Jacob Erker took the bronze medal, while David Veilleux (Kelly Benefit Strategies-Medifast) finished seventh to win the U23 title on Sunday.

With 10km to go in stage 5 of the Tour de France, Mark Cavendish’s Team Columbia teammates drilled it at the front of the chaotic peloton, burying themselves to set up their British sprint star. With 150 meters to go — and early breakaway rider Nicolas Vogondy of Agritubel still barely clear of the chase — Cavendish lit it up and repaid his teammates with a dominant win ahead of Oscar Freire (Rabobank) and Erik Zabel (Milram). Race leader Stefan Schumacher (Gerolsteiner) finished in the bunch to retain the yellow jersey.

Thomas Rohregger (Elk) took the yellow jersey as Ruslan Pidgornyy (LPR Brakes) won the third stage of the 60th Tour of Austria on Wednesday. Rohregger took third in the 183.7km stage from Kitzbuehel to Prägraten behind Pidgornyy and Robert Gesink (Rabobank), but it was just enough to replace Anker Chris Sorensen (CSC) as the overall leader. The CSC man slipped to third overall behind Rohregger and Pidgornyy.

CSC is not a Shimano-sponsored team. Instead, it buys the Shimano components it uses. You might be surprised that a team like CSC pays for its drivetrain components, but there are multiple reasons why it pays. The primary reason is because of other sponsor obligations, namely to FSA. But it has always been the team’s practice to pick and choose the parts its director Bjarne Riis feels are the best. A byproduct of not being tied to a certain manufacturer’s parts is the ability to experiment.

There’s no arguing that this year’s Cascade Cycling Classic is filled with world-class talent. Two world champion time trialists took the men’s and women’s wins in Wednesday’s stage 1 Prineville Road Race in Bend, Oregon: Colombian Santiago Botero (Rock Racing) and Kristin Armstrong (Cervelo Lifeforce). Both part of large breaks in their respective races – Botero in a group of 12 and Armstrong in a group of 7 – they each left their competition behind on the final climb to the finish on Pilot Butte.

The French fans finally saw a real sprint finish Wednesday — resulting in a superbly confident first Tour stage win for Team Columbia’s young Manxman Mark Cavendish — but his well-placed GC teammates, along with the other race favorites, are already looking ahead to the next three stages through the low mountains of the Massif Central. Besides heading into the hills Thursday, the riders will be racing into summer temperatures as the Tour now heads south before arriving in the Pyrenees on Sunday.

Sun and a screaming tailwind made for what was one of the easiest days on a bike this year. We'd all prepared mentally for a hour-plus head smashing today before the break would go clear, especially after the relatively quick launches the past few, but people once again seemed content to relax. Twenty minutes of flying down wide open roads and when a few guys got a small gap the field was quick to sit up, yells to chill all around. A few minutes slow, a huge "nature break" as they call it on the radio here, and we settled in for a long one.

Wednesday’s 232km stage from Cholet to Chatearoux might have been the fifth stage of this 2008 Tour de France, but in many respects it was a day of firsts. It was the first hot, sunny day of a Tour that began in the rain and cold winds of Brittany — weather that seemed to follow the peloton wherever it traveled. Stage 5 was the first day spent in the malliot jaune for Gerolsteiner’s Stefan Schumacher, an unlikely hero who seems as surprised as everyone else to find himself leading the world’s biggest bike race.

Stage 5, Cholet to Châteauroux, 232km Weather: Partly cloudy in the morning, warm and sunny in afternoon, moderate westerly breeze with 20kph, highs in the low 80s

Valverde scare: It looked innocuous on the medical report, just cuts and scrapes, but Alejandro Valverde’s Tour de France was nearly short-circuited Wednesday in a pileup. Valverde, 28, flipped over his handlebars and landed on the same collarbone he broke in the 2006 Tour when his front tire slipped on a small, cat-eye road reflector. It was too close for comfort for the stage-1 winner.

Photographer Casey Gibson has been given full access to shoot behind the scenes with the Garmin-Chipotle team at the Tour. He will share some of his best shots from the first four days.

Stefan Schumacher (Gerolsteiner) rode to a dominant — if surprising — victory in stage 4 of the Tour de France on Tuesday, taking the yellow jersey from overnight leader Romain Feillu (Agritubel). The German posted the fastest time by far in the 29.5km individual time trial, 35:44, some 18 seconds faster than green-jersey Kim Kirchen (Team Columbia) and David Millar (Garmin-Chipotle), and a further nine seconds quicker than overall contender Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto).

French cycling legend and five-time world champion Jeannie Longo on Tuesday clinched a 55th national title in winning the individual pursuit at the national championships in 3:48:896 ahead of great rival and holder Cathy Moncassin. "I started off a bit less quick than Cathy but from half-way I gave it all I had," said the 49-year-old Longo, who later this summer expects to compete in her seventh Olympics. She booked a berth last month with an outstanding win in both the road race and time trial at the French championships.

Team CSC’s Anker Chris Sorensen slipped into the leader’s jersey at the 60th International Tour of Austria after winning the second stage on Tuesday. Sorensen finished 12 seconds in front of Thomas Rohregger (Elk) and 27 seconds ahead of Ruslan Pidgornyy (LPR Brakes) in the stage from Toblach/Dobbiaco up to the Kitzbüheler Horn. Dimytro Grabovskyy (Quick Step) and Michael Barry (Team Columbia) escaped the peloton after 40km and eventually built a lead of 13:40.